It's Becoming Crystal Clear (Jasper x Reader)

Chapter 12: In the Dark

Jasper summoned her helmet and unleashed an all-out assault on the door, but she couldn't even make a dent. She staggered back to your side, dazed.

"You cannot escape your fate," said the voice. "I am death. I am fear. And I am the end. And so the two lovebirds die together at last. Or... perhaps not. Honestly, it no longer matters that much to me. Aquamarine and Topaz are collecting the others. If you can survive what I have planned for you, you both deserve to be brought before the Diamonds on Homeworld. If not... well, obviously nothing of value will have been lost. The Kindergarten Quartz Who Couldn't Protect Anyone She Cared About, and I am so glad you've ended up back here by the way, I did so want you to be here for this, and then this thing. This sack of organic matter with a few little pieces of a Jaspilite."

"Wait, what?" Jasper asked, her rage breaking for a moment, looking between you and the voice.

"I think you've got the wrong person. I'm not a Jaspilite. I'm all human." You turned to your companion. "I'm sorry, Jasper."

"Hah!" the voice wheezed. "There's too little of you, I suppose, even to remember. To remember how I've tracked you down and shattered you over... and over... and over. But, you're like me. Don't you remember, Jasper, how you left me there to burn? AND I DID," it hissed. "Remember how you thought the nightmare was over?" The hissing, echoing quality disappeared from the voice for the next sentence. "You were wrong. I came back. You and I, Jaspilite... you and I always come back. And now that we're all here, I will finish what I started." The voice paused, gathering up the perfect amount of malice for its next words. "After all, you did feel so good between the toes."

Jasper's eyes lit up so brightly that the entire room was faintly illuminated. She let out an incoherent vocalization of pure rage which could not be properly described as a shout, a scream, or even a roar. Even in the show, you had never seen anger of such intensity from her. She grabbed a nearby chair in her left hand and swung it with all her might. Sparks flew from freshly broken wires as the system from which the voice had been coming was torn loose from the ceiling and crashed to the floor across the room. She grunted in pain and fell to her knees. At first you thought she had hurt herself somehow, but then you noticed the spikes protruding from her left arm and her shoulders. Her arm was discoloured and looked enlarged and stiff, her fingers sticking out radially like an animal's toes. When she turned her head to look at you, you could also see that one tooth was sticking down over her lower lip like a fang.

You knelt beside her. She looked at you with a blank stare, growling and shrinking back when you reached out a hand.

"Jasper," you whispered, "hush now, it's okay. Shh, it's me. It's just me. Remember, Jasper. Remember?" You held her face in your hands. A familiarity reappeared in her eyes.

"I'm not looking so good, am I?" she asked sarcastically after catching her breath.

"Are you kidding? You're beautiful." There wasn't the slightest bit of artifice in your voice. Here in the darkness, the only light shining from her eyes, you felt confident that no living being had ever seen another as you saw her now, regardless of her partially corrupted state. You leaned forward to give her a quick kiss.

When your lips met her cheek, it happened again, just like in the barn. Your vision faded until images began to appear. At first they seemed to be random scenes, fragments of memories. Then one image stood out clearly. It looked as though you were watching through a broken window, but you could make it all out. Jasper lying damaged and immobilized on the battlefield. You bending down and kissing her. Watching her gem heal even as you lost all sensation other than that of being dust blown away in the wind. The broken glass through which you watched fell away in hundreds of little pieces. Now you watched looking up from a few of these shards. Suddenly, everything was dark. You were in... the fetal position? Then there was a sudden light in the darkness. You were born.