"Jasper?" Steven questions as he makes his way down the steps to get a night time snack and spots the orange gem sitting by the window staring at the warp pad.
"Does she do this often?" Jasper questions through clenched teeth.
Steven wonders who Jasper is referring to before guessing that 'she' is Garnet.
"Who? Garnet? Yeah, she does this a lot." Steven scratches the back if his head. "She comes back after a couple days."
"How often does she do this?" Jasper asks the half-ling.
"Not that often but often enough that it's noticeable."
"This is new behavior for her," Jasper says. "Does she say why she leaves?"
Steven looks down at the ground. Suddenly, his face shows how tired he is. "She never says. I used to think she left so often because she missed my mom, but then you came." Steven looks up at Jasper. "Garnet is strong and she's always together. I think her disappearing so often on these missions is so she doesn't break down in front of all of us."
Jasper watches the young gem-ling as he shuffles his feet. 'Is this really why she leaves? Is this child, this spawn of Rose Quartz, another reason why she stayed?' Jasper asks herself.
"We're all so broken here. They all miss my mom and sometimes I feel like they blame me for her death and me, I never got to meet her. Garnet though, she's strong. She has so much faith in me. She tries to keep us all together. I guess, until now, I didn't realize how hard it must be hitting her. She's working so hard to keep us together and support us, but there's no one there to support her." Steven whispers the last sentence.
Jasper clenched her fist before abruptly standing and marching to the warp pad.
"Jasper? Where you going?" Steven questions as he turns to face the Homeworld gem.
"I'm going to find Garnet," Jasper says and warps away.
Garnet wasn't really up for fighting a gem monster but she needed to get away and she needed to hit something.
'What is going on? Why am I so angry?' Garnet questions herself.
Turning abruptly to the feeling of a presence behind her, Garnet is faced with a big monster with glowing blue eyes and a blue gem on its chest.
The creature snarls and spews yellow fire from its mouth, just missing Garnet.
'That's a weird color to come from it,' Garnet thinks.
Jumping up and back, Garnet summons her gauntlets.
"Let's just get this over with," Garnet says as she charges at the creature. Putting extra force behind her push off, Garnet uses her gauntlets to cut through the yellow fire and uppercut the gem monster in its chin.
The monster is reeled back and lets out a roar as it charges at Garnet, knocking her on her back. Getting on top of Garnet, it snaps at her face as she uses her hands to try and push it off.
Using her feet, Garnet manages to kick the beast off her and jumps to her feet.
She waits for the beast to climb to its feet before charging at it and landing a punch to its face. The monster howls in pain as it reels back before charging at Garnet. Garnet throws a punch at the beast but it captures her fist in its mouth and flings Garnet into a residing bolder.
Garnet struggles to get up but once she does, she quickly side steps the monster's charge and punches it, effectively flipping it on its back.
As she moves to send a punch to the creature's stomach, it uses its hind legs and kicks her into another bolder.
Garnet grunts as she collides with the bolder. Standing to her feet, Garnet makes her way to the top of the bolder.
"I'm really getting tired of you," Garnet says and brushes herself off. 'What are you hiding from me Jasper?' Garnet asks herself as she jumps from the bolder right as the creature slams into it, breaking it into tiny pieces and flipping itself on its back.
Twisting her body, Garnet uses her body as a projectile and launches herself at the monster's gem.
Coming down harder than necessary and harder than planned, Garnet manages to poof the monster but she also shatters its gem.
As the dust settles, Garnet falls to her knees and allows the tears to fall. She didn't mean to shatter its gem, she just wanted to poof it.
She just wanted something to hit, something to get her anger out at.
Jasper watches from atop the cliff as Garnet shoots into the gem monster.
'She's going too fast,' Jasper thinks to herself.
Jasper shields her eyes as the contact create a dust cloud around Garnet and the gem.
Jasper waits for the dust to settle and once it does she squints to see Garnet's figure.
Jasper's heart drops a little as she sees Garnet fall to her knees and her figure begin to shake. Jasper just knows Garnet's breaking down and Jasper has a feeling it's not because she crushed the gem.
Inhaling, Jasper jumps down from her spot on the cliff and walks toward Garnet.
"Garn?" Jasper whispers as she slowly reaches out to touch Garnet's shoulder. 'What is going on with her?'
Garnet freezes at her touch. "What happened?" Garnet lets out.
Jasper furrows her brows at Garnet's statement. "What are you asking?"
In an eerily calm voice, unlike her usually stoic voice, Garnet says, "What happened between you and Peridot?"
Jasper drops her hand at Garnet's question. "Nothing happened," Jasper says.
Calmly, Garnet stands to her feet. "Don't lie to me. I would not have gotten that vision if there wasn't some truth to it."
"You're still on that vision you had on top of the hill by the lighthouse," Jasper says.
Garnet turns to face Jasper. "I talked to Lapis, she wouldn't tell me what happened but I know she knew."
"Nothing happened between me and Peridot and that brat should keep her mouth shut."
"Why should she keep her mouth shut if nothing happened?"
"Because she'll start problems where there are none. Garnet, nothing happened between me and the nerd," Jasper huffs out.
Garnet shakes her head and turns her back toward Jasper. "Leave me," she says.
"No, you're going to talk to me," Jasper says and grabs Garnet's arm pulls her close.
"Jasper let go of me," Garnet says through clenched teeth and she subconsciously summons her gauntlet on her free hand.
"No, talk to me," Jasper says again.
"Jasper, let me go," Garnet says and punctuates each word before she slams her fist into Jasper's face, freeing her arm.
Quickly Garnet dashes off and away from Jasper. Jasper nurses her face and watches as her love flees from her.