Chapter Text
How long has it been? Time never mattered to the gem soldier. She had been out for days, lying on what the humans call a beach . Why didn't she just retreat to her gem? She simply chose not to. She fought against it. Regeneration and healing was important, but right now she had something that was top priority.
This wasn't the same beach she had arrived on before, the Crystal Gem's base was nowhere in sight. Not that she was ever familiar with Beach City. Homeworld was all Jasper had ever known. However, after fusing with Lapis Lazuli, she'd probably be seen as a disgrace.
The orange gem lay on the soft sand, gazing up at the sky. From there she could see Homeworld's galaxy. She missed it there, but she knew after failing her mission and fusing with another gem, that she could never return. Jasper felt completely lost. Empty. Before she held up this strong persona, a leader type. Now? Well, now she's just a shadow of her past self. Forced into being Malachite for so long took a toll on her mentally, so far as to say she's become damaged.
Even so with becoming so damaged. Jasper can't help but think where that blue gem went off to. They unfused, but then what? For Jasper it was all a blur. The orange gem rolled onto her side and watched the waves steadily roll into the next. Calming, in its own strange way despite being trapped on the bottom of the ocean. No one would be around at night, Jasper quietly hoped. She didn't want the humans to find her, but yet made no attempts to hide. That fusion really took a lot out of her.
After several tries to get on her feet, Jasper finally succeeds. Now was the real challenge. To find Lapis.
The orange gem walked up the beach and onto the boardwalk. Everything was so foreign to her. Even though she wanted to stay hidden from humans, at this point she had no choice. She had no idea where she was and where to look for Lapis. Asking if anyone had seen her was the best option in Jasper’s mind.
“So you're saying an army's soldier took Lapis away?”
“Y-yes. That's what happened I, I swear!” The man Jasper had interrogated stammered. He was clearly frightened by the orange gem.
Jasper growled quietly. This didn't make it any easier. She thought Lapis would of been smart enough to not get caught. Figures. That's all she does is get caught. Jasper says to herself. “Take me to their base,” she commanded.
The man didn't respond. He was too overwhelmed with fear.
“Now!” She raised her voice, clearly irritated.
“Y-yes, right away! Let me… Let me just get my keys.”
The soldier waited impatiently on the sidewalk. She watched the man rush inside of his house to fetch his keys. One more step closer to finding Lapis, or rather, saving Lapis.
He ran out of his house, slamming the door in response. “Okay, just get into my truck and I'll bring you there.”
Jasper had no idea what a truck was, but she took a hint that it was a form of transportation. She opened the door to the truck and squeezed in. Clearly the truck's ceiling was too low for her, so she had to hunch down. The seat also was too far back, leaving her with no leg room. Human transportation was really inferior to Homeworld's.
The ride was uncomfortably quiet. Jasper wondered what the humans would want with Lapis anyway. She also wondered if it was going to be easy to get her back. To save her. Probably not.
Darkness, that was all Lapis Lazuli saw. The ground she lay on was cold and damp. She wasn't underwater, no. A cage?
The blue gem shot up quickly and her eyes darted around the small enclosed room. Metal bars over the window and a glass wall in front of her. Where was she?
Carefully she climbed up the wall to peer outside. It was morning. She remembers clinging onto control. She had Malachite in control. Then, something happened. That something she can't figure out. All she knew was the two broke from fusion. Jasper didn't retreat into her gem, but Lapis had for some time. When she was done recovering and regenerated, Lapis ended up in this cell. So, it makes a jumbled sense. Whoever was in charge of this place had took Lapis’ gemstone and brought her here, but why?
Lapis wanted to see Jasper again, but a part of the blue gem resents her. The way Jasper treated her, it was slightly rough and cruel. Jasper was only doing as she was ordered to do. If she wasn’t under orders, Lapis wonders how Jasper would treat her then.
The blue gem climbed down from the small window. She wished she could break free from this prison. She sighed and sat down on the cold floor. She hugged her knees up to her chest and shut her eyes. It wasn’t the first time she was imprisoned like this.
“This is it? This is their base?” Jasper asked sounding unimpressed. She squeezed out of the truck and stood in front of the building Lapis was being held in. Suddenly it hits her. The weakness she tried to brush off all this time, it came crashing down at her all at once. Her balance and vision slowly deteriorated. Jasper looked back to see if the human who brought her here was still present, but the truck was already gone.
Compared to Homeworld, this army base was nothing. The building was quite long and built with brick. Stone walls with barbed wire surrounded the area. Turrets were lined up on the top of the walls and yes, they were all active.
The orange gem slowly dragged on up the path leading to the gate. In her fuzzy mind, she wondered why the human who drove her here was so quick to leave. As she approached halfway up to the gate a startling alarm sounded. The noise shook Jasper out of her daze.
“INTRUDER ALERT! REPEAT, INTRUDER ALERT!” The turrets on top of the stone walls aimed directly at Jasper. Before she knew what was happening, she felt her body being shredded apart by bullets. The pain was unbearable but she held on to her physical form. Jasper fell forward and braced herself with her forearms.
Through the ringing in her ears she heard heavy footsteps. The turrets had stopped firing and returned to their stationary positions.
“Now, who might you be?”