Chapter Text
Eyes open when it’s finally all over. Trying to lift the arm and it feels so much heavier now. A pale green hand raises up.
Mine? Or Yours?
“This is us.”
The hand moved down to our collar, it trailed over the shoulder and followed the arm until it found our other hand. They grasped each other tightly, intertwining the fingers.
“Us… We?... No.” We lifted up this body, sitting upright. Something felt different. Our head? Our hands felt around and curved horns sticking out. The left one was broken, we touched the jagged edge and remembered what it was like to be broken. A twinge of fear and pain and warm water ran down the side of my face. “It’s me.”
The tears were a surprise. Who’s getting so emotional here?
I wiped the moisture from my face and with a deep breath I finally attempted to move again after so long. This body was always so confusing with multiple arms like I was always crawling, lumbering around in this dusted wasteland. Standing upright I looked over my surroundings, far off I could see the sparkling lights of Beach City and Little Homeworld next to it and the overwhelming dark space of the night above. Despite the new height of this form, the world feels bigger from up here.
“Where do we go?” I scratch at the side of my head, “I’ve never really thought about ‘where’ before.” I recalled whatever memories of this planet I had access to, colorful forests of falling leaves, the smog-filled towns and glimmering cities of lights. “I don’t know any of those.” Some feeling of alienation rose from the pits of my stomach, too many humans and nothing recognizable. I was stumped until I remembered the only home, well, sort-of home. Blazing hot stone of red and orange, “The Kindergarten? It’s nowhere near water.” I laughed, “Okay, yeah. Let’s check it out.”
With some new eagerness, streams of water emerged from my back and formed into an impressive pair of wings. Luckily, remembering how to fly wasn’t as difficult as walking on four arms. A couple of heavy flaps and this large body was lifted up into the air.
“Do you know which direction to go?” I asked myself, “Pfff, I could find the place in my sleep. Not that I ever do that, of course.”
Of course not.
Watching the landscape move below in a blur, fading beneath the cloud layer was a sight I hadn’t noticed much before. The only time I had flown before was when we were fighting but this? This feeling was new to me.
Below us, I could spot the familiar, lengthy fields of the countryside and slowed down at the sight of a crater that stuck out. What was that place? “I, uhh, used to live there for a while. Lapis and Peridot I mean.”
A moment of hesitant silence before a question came, “Why did you leave?”
I sighed before an answer came from inside, “...I was scared. I heard the Diamonds were coming and… I was too scared to stay.” My brows furrowed and an unease rose inside me, “I know I should’ve stayed.”
Our body sank in the sky for a moment, but I shook my head and gave my face some pats to wake myself up. “It’s alright. I’m good! We should keep going.”
The flight was long, even with our speeds. A couple of hours passed as we flew southward. The stars above us stood so still but we could watch the clouds moving by. There wasn’t much to talk about, but feeling this kind of freedom again was…nice.
By the time I could see the dusty red sands of the kindergarten, there was a faint sliver of the sun's light peeking over the horizon. The familiar dark of the sky faded and it dawned on me. This feeling? This world I was in? It was new to me.
As long as I've existed I've only l known the ocean, the heavy weight of water holding me down, the pure darkness, the pressure, and the struggle against it all.
Now I was here, weightless.
My sight was blurring and I urgently found a spot to land. The hand on my face wiped away more of those tears.
Who was this? Them? Or me?
"Don't!" I sputtered, "Enough of this stupid crying!" Now using my whole arms to dry this damp face. "You're better than this!" When they wouldn't stop, I got frustrated and slammed one if my many fists into the ground. It quaked the earth around it and left a crater in its face.
Keeping myself calm was an unusual and new challenge but I wasn't ready to unfuse quite yet. It took a while to breathe and cram down my frustration just to keep myself together.
My eyes pried open, vision finally clear again and I could see it all. An endless landscape of rust-colored sand and stone as the morning light revealed it to me like a curtain. My seafoam green body stuck out in this place but a Jasper would undoubtedly feel at home in a place like this.
I soothed my nerves down, and ventured into the expanse on foot. Even after so long I remembered the way back. Between the canyons of rocky desert walls you could see the scattered silhouettes of gems that were born here.
I remembered it all, waking up here and being the stand out gem amongst the rest. The human might have called me, "A diamond in the rough" though that would've been blasphemous to say to a gem back then.
"They all looked up to me back then. I was the strongest and they needed me. Simple as that really."
Is it really that simple? I fight because I can?
The faces of newborn gems, relieved to see someone who could carry them through the fight ahead. For me, there was no other option, it was written into my very core.
"I fight because I have to." I've never had to put it into words before.
I sigh loudly, exhausted by all this talk, "Now I don't have to and there's nothing left for me here."
After saying all that, I felt an embarrassing laughter bubbling up inside from somewhere. I struggled and failed to choke it down and broke the cool morning silence with a snorting chuckle.
"Nothing for you? Jasper…" My hands intertwined the fingers together like tight knots. "I never considered it before now. but you really sound like a protector more than anything."
Protector?
"You fought for the Earth before. Why not keep fighting for it? Those crystal gems aren't always ready to defend these days. Don't tell them I said this, but they were all pretty useless during the Giant Injector fiasco a while back when that one Spinel showed up." I let out louder chortle while thinking back to it. "You though? You're always ready for it, aren't you?"
We both know I'm not crystal gem material.
"Then don't be a crystal gem! Stay Jasper: The Kindergarten Quartz that could!" The old title spurred a rare smile out of me. "Defender of Earthlings, Guardian of Gems, Jasper Quartz!" I touted triumphantly.
Me? A guardian, huh?
"Hmmh, I'll… think about it." Though, I doubted my own resolve at this moment. Defending this world would be all the easier if it were the two of us.
Maybe it was the sudden idea of having a purpose again, but there was some ease resting into me. I laid my body down into the red sand and just took the world in for a minute. The sun was warm on my skin, like a blanket.
It took a lot to pry myself back up again but I was ready to see some place new by this point. I gave my arms and back a long stretch, ready to fly again.
"Ready now?" I asked, my voice sounding different than before.
…
I wait for some answer, but none came. "Hey… you there?" The silence persisted, I felt myself starting to panic.
"Lapis? Wh- Where-!?" A light enveloped me as I felt my being breaking apart at the seams. Splitting. Falling.
It was all hazy for Lapis as she started to wake up. The air whipped past her face as she and her partner fell to the ground. A large hand gripped her by the arm and pulled her in close before they finally plummeted down.
CRASH!
Lapis was fully conscious now, waking to a cloud of dust around her. When it settled, she found herself cradled safely in the arms of the quartz as she laid in a small crater. "No no! Jasper!" She grabbed the gem by her face, trying to get a close look at at her gem. "C'mon, wake up!"
Jasper coughed away some of the dust and groaned over the minor discomfort of her landing. "I'm here, no cracks."
The momentary relief quickly morphed into some anger. "Why'd you unfuse? It was going so well!"
The tiny blue hands so heavily squeezed both sides of Jasper's face, that the quartz had to pry them off to speak.
"I couldn't hear you anymore! You said we should unfuse if one takes over!"
Lapis stared at Jasper, dumbfounded and impressed by her in that moment. "You unfused… for me?"
"Why are you surprised? That's what we agreed on! Isn't it?" Jasper looked so earnestly confused. It was almost cute.
Lapis immediately failed to hold down her laughter, barreling so hard that she was crying a bit.
Jasper pouted, clearly getting tired of this.
"I'm Hah- I'm sorry! Haha!" Lapis tried apologizing through her giggling, "We were fused! Hahaha! We were really fused there!" She hurled her arms around Jasper, her laughter turning into a few happy tears.
Jasper was totally unsure about this, having never seen Lapis acting this way before. "You're uhh- okay?"
Lapis wiped the tears off her face, still sniffling a bit. "Yeah. I think I am now." Her face nuzzled into Jasper's chest, like she was trying to hide it away. "I… had fun…with you."
Jasper's face blushed slightly, "Me too…it was a lot different than before." The quartz stood herself up, carrying Lapis in her arms as she started trekking to the nearest warp pad she could remember. "I didn't know fusion could feel anything like that." Her arms wrapped tighter around the gem I'm her arms, "It was nice, I guess. While it lasted?"
"Oh!" The blue gem bolted up, "There was still so many places I didn't get to show you as Malachite! The changing leaves, the forest, Empire City… Jersey! You would've loved Jersey!"
She look up at the cool, stoic partner's face to see her smiling so gently down at her. She turned away once she noticed Lapis' attention on her.
"We-" Jasper mumbled, "We can still go. If you want, that is."
Lapis felt her own face flush some darker hue, "I mean, I said only on-"
"Like this. We can go like this." Jasper interrupted sternly. "I want to see it too. Maybe."
Lapis nuzzled her face back into the other gem's chest as she was carried back up to the warp pad. She was unsure about so many things she was feeling at that moment. How long would this feeling last for them? For all they knew, this peace and unity might escape them both by tomorrow.
Whatever she was feeling about Jasper was completely bizarre and new to her. Maybe it was foolish to want to cling to it so tightly. Right now, all she knew was that she felt tired from the night and she felt safe right where she was.
With Jasper's hand wrapped around hers, she smiled as the two of them warped back home.