Author's Note: This is the end. The chapter is called "Perfection," and you'll know what it's about. If you'd like chapters told from other perspectives, you can leave a comment below. I like writing this way, and I hope you enjoy it too.
Let's continue.
Jasper was furious. It wasn't just a passing annoyance or ordinary anger; it was a deep, thick fury that burned in her chest and tensed every muscle. Jasper was angry, indignant, boiling inside as if the air itself had become a battlefield. And the worst part was that she didn't understand how she could have so much pent-up fury without it completely exploding.
She had been defeated. Her. Jasper.
The same Jasper who had faced hordes without flinching, the same Jasper who had once told Yellow Diamond—with complete certainty, with her characteristic pride—that if she ever encountered the rebellious leader, she would drag her to her feet. The same woman who had vowed to destroy her without a second thought, and who, if by some miracle she was in a good mood, would simply take her to court. Now, that promise was reduced to ashes... just like her dignity.
Every memory of that fall burned her like red-hot metal. She trudged, her jaw clenched, her eyes blazing with rage. It was absurd. Unforgivable. Unacceptable. That she, a perfect warrior, created to win, should end up defeated by an insignificant rebel.
If only I hadn't brought her aboard my ship... she growled through gritted teeth, her fists clenched so tightly they seemed about to shatter.
The "what if..." kept repeating in her head, piercing it like a persistent drop of water. If only she hadn't let her in. If only she hadn't let her guard down. If only she hadn't trusted that the situation was under control. Every imagined alternative infuriated her even more. Her pride, that enormous pride that had once sustained her, was now a gaping, aching crack.
But that fury wasn't just directed at the rebel. No. It was also directed at herself for allowing something like this to happen.
How could she? How dare she fail like that?
As she strode through metal wreckage and dust, her steps grew more violent. Pieces of her ship scattered across the ground seemed to mock her. The echo of her footsteps resonated like a declaration of war.
It won't happen again, she told herself, breathing like a restrained beast. Never again. I will find her. Her. All the rebels. And then...
Her eyes flashed with a dark mixture of obsession and rage.
This time there will be no mercy.
And she kept walking. Her shadow stretched as far as her determination, a shadow marked by hatred, humiliation, and the need to reclaim what she felt she had lost: her glory, her name... and her right to be the perfect warrior.
She walked for two days, though it couldn't really be called walking. She had said she was walking earlier, hadn't she? Well, she was wrong. She wasn't walking, she was swimming. Two whole days moving through the waters without stopping for a single moment. She didn't tire, but she was wounded, if such a thing was even possible in a body made of light. The last time she had experienced a wound had been in the midst of war, and just remembering that chaos spurred her to swim harder, as if the water itself were to blame.
Her mission remained seared into her mind with a blazing clarity. To destroy the rebels. This time there would be no mercy. With that burning fury within her, she continued advancing through the depths, until, in the distance, a forest appeared on the horizon. The sight of the land's foliage filled her with profound disgust, yet she couldn't help but smile. It meant she was close, at last.
In a single bound, she reached the shore. The sand dipped slightly beneath her weight, and for a moment, she stood still, gazing at the ocean she had swum for so long. The water stretched to the horizon, as if to remind her that she had endured two whole days submerged in its liquid silence. She let out a sigh that released some of the pent-up tension, a kind of involuntary acknowledgment of her own effort.
Then she turned her gaze toward the forest. The contrast between the blue of the sea and the dense green of the trees made that terrestrial landscape seem even more repulsive. But as soon as she set foot on the firmer sand, something inside her stirred. Her instincts, honed by years of combat, vibrated with an indescribable certainty. There, deep within the thicket, was a portal. She didn't need to see it; she could feel it. That sensitivity wasn't something everyone possessed. Only gems who had participated in true battles could detect the distortion in the atmosphere that a portal left in its wake.
That's why a useless being like Peridot could never distinguish one. She was just support, a technician who clung to her screens and measurements as if that made her competent. The thought brought a smile to her face, revealing more teeth than necessary. Even so, as she began walking toward the forest, she remembered something important. However useless she might be, Peridot was the only one who could help her with her current plan. A small, flawed piece, but a necessary one. That irritated her more than she was willing to admit.
As she moved through the shadows of the trees, her mind drifted to the rumors of war. Some gems, desperate or strategic, had forcibly fused with rebels. There were cases where the resulting will was so contradictory that the gem ended up shattering. Jasper raised an eyebrow at the memory. She wouldn't shatter her gem. She didn't need to. Her will was relentless, as firm as a mountain carved with rage. She could crush her own essence before allowing anything to break her.
So the logic was simple. Peridot cooperated... or vanished from existence. And as she ventured deeper into the forest, the smile on her face widened, satisfied with the clarity of her decision. The portal awaited her, and with it, the next step in a mission that allowed no room for error.
The island was small, tiny compared to the places where I usually fought, but honestly, I didn't care. All I cared about was reaching the portal and getting out of there as quickly as possible. I walked through overgrown bushes and branches that seemed to want to touch me without permission, and I was just a few steps from my goal when a strange sound ripped through the air. I stopped immediately. Something rustled among the leaves, a sharp noise that put me on high alert.
I looked both ways, analyzing every shadow, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary in that organic and unpleasant place. Even so, my instincts insisted there was something else, something moving, something watching me. I slowly turned toward the area where the vibration was strongest, ready to crush whatever dared to emerge.
I didn't have time to finish the thought. A gem beast shot out from among the trees, a blurry mass that launched itself straight at me with a vibrant roar. I jumped to the left, and the impact slammed into the ground I had been standing on just a second before. A shudder of surprise ran through me when I saw the creature's outline. It was a topaz. Not just any beast, but a type I remembered perfectly, one of the elite on the front lines.
I opened my eyes, not out of fear, but out of sheer audacity at being attacked without provocation. I felt fury rise like a wave I had no intention of stopping.
What's wrong with you, I thought, gritting my teeth. Why are you attacking? Are you a rebel too?
The topaz didn't respond, of course. She only let out a guttural growl and charged again, her body hunched and her arms ready to crush. This time I moved head-on, crashing directly into her. The impact resounded like an explosion, both of us pushing against each other with the raw force of our forms. I felt my feet drag on the ground as she stumbled backward, each of us trying to subdue the other in a primal test of power.
The creature tried to grab my shoulders, but I shifted my weight downward and hurled it backward against a tree, which snapped with a sharp crack. The topaz landed on its feet and leaped again with an almost irritating ferocity. Its fist whizzed past my head, and for a moment I felt the vibration of how close it had come to striking me.
I was already growing weary of its persistence.
I advanced with a stomp that made the vegetation tremble and launched myself at it with a direct blow to the torso. The topaz was sent flying and rolled on the sand, but its resilience was remarkable. It rose again, though its form was beginning to distort as if its internal control were weakening.
It was enough to fully awaken something within me. My fury burned so intensely that I could almost feel it vibrating in my gem. Then I let that energy rise, expand, and take shape. An intense light surrounded my face, and my helmet appeared, solid, heavy, gleaming, a perfect extension of my rage.
I felt the familiar pressure envelop my head. The spiritual armor amplified my strength, my vision, my will. Now I was ready.
The topaz hesitated for a second, barely a blink, but I noticed. I lunged at her. The blow I delivered this time was so powerful that the creature doubled over. Her form trembled, and the inner light flickered. I seized her arm and slammed her to the ground with brutal precision. Her body crashed down with a muffled roar, and dust billowed around her.
She tried to rise, but I placed my hand on her chest, digging my fingers into the crystalline surface of her form. The creature roared, an animalistic protest that echoed throughout the forest.
I wasn't going to let a stray beast, rebellious or not, interrupt my mission.
I pressed harder. The purple glow trembled... and finally gave way. The form shattered in a flash, and the gem rolled across the sand, harmless now.
I sat up, taking a deep breath through my helmet, letting the fury settle inside me like still-hot lava. I looked at the motionless gem, then at the portal waiting ahead.
Nothing on this island was going to stop me. And anyone who tried... would end up the same way.
And I put on my most bullshit grin, the one I only wear when I feel like the entire universe should be thanking me for existing. Not bad for training, I thought as I stretched my arms and cracked my shoulders like I'd just woken up from a pleasant nap instead of destroying a corrupted beast. I looked at the gem that was left rolling on the sand, but honestly, I didn't care. I could leave it there or kick it into the sea; the result would be the same. Although one doubt did gnaw at me insistently.
Topazes rarely walk alone. Always in pairs. An inseparable duo, synchronized as if they had been created the very second. So, where was the other one? I looked around with a slight growl growing in my chest, moving my gaze from one corner to another, hoping to see a shadow, a glimmer, anything that would betray her presence.
Before crossing the portal, I decided to explore the island. Not out of concern, but because it might be useful to stretch my muscles for what lay ahead. Besides, if there was another topaz hidden away, it was better to crush it now than have it causing problems later. So I moved forward without wasting any time.
The days passed, though they meant nothing to me. The notions of organic time didn't apply to a gem, much less to me. I moved with constant vigilance, as if the island were a silent battlefield. Every sound forced me to turn my head. Every shadow made my fingers tense. I observed the trees from below, from above, from angles humans could never imagine. I walked among damp caves that smelled of salt and rotting earth. I examined rocky cliffs where the foam crashed violently. I even inspected the water more than once, diving until the pressure made the helmet I was still wearing vibrate.
And that wasn't all. Many times I leaped with superhuman strength just to rise above the trees, above everything, searching for a flying gem that might be lurking nearby. They weren't common. In fact, if I remembered correctly, they were practically nonexistent. But seeing what the topaz had become, it no longer seemed strange to me that another aberrant creature might suddenly appear, a corrupted form with wings or something similar.
I chuckled a little at the thought. Dragons. Those enormous things that existed on the yellow planet F901X3. They were shaped like gigantic reptiles, but made of crystallized light, warped by experimentation from ancient eras. I think I even remembered some rubies fusing together—maybe ten, twenty, I didn't know. The exact number didn't matter; I only knew that together they had created one of the largest dragons I had ever witnessed.
I shook my head at the memory of that scene. I was there, of course I was there. But it was millennia ago, so long ago that it sometimes faded in my memory like an old painting burned by the sun. Even so, the creature's majesty remained impossible to forget, though I preferred not to dwell on it. They were old, useless memories, irrelevant to what I had to do now.
Shaking my head, I continued my search, moving around every corner of the island. I broke logs to inspect cavities. I dug under stones that looked suspicious. I even struck certain spots on the ground just to hear the echo and know if there were hidden caverns. All with a mixture of military precision and growing annoyance.
But I found nothing.
Nothing but wind, sand, and the sound of the sea crashing against the shore.
And yet... that feeling persisted. That instinct that usually never failed me. There was something there. Something hidden. Something that moved when I wasn't looking directly. And with each passing hour, my irritation grew like a spark about to become a conflagration.
If there was another topaz on that island, I would find it.
And if not… well, the island was already going to have the privilege of putting up with me longer than necessary.
Out of nowhere, a crack sounded, dry, deep, too heavy to be a branch or an animal from that wretched island. I turned immediately, and a smile spread across my face, like an ancient reflex. Before me stood two gems. The topazes. The one I had shattered earlier, clumsily reassembling itself, and the other, new to me, with the same robust structure and the characteristic empty gaze of its kind.
I watched them. They watched me. And suddenly the air grew so tense I could almost taste it. The entire island fell silent, as if it knew what was about to happen.
I didn't need to think. I launched myself at them with everything I had, summoning my helmet in the same leap. I felt the momentum in my feet, the crystallized adrenaline coursing through my gem, the anticipation of impact. I was heading straight for them, ready to destroy them... until something ignited right in front of me.
A flash. A vibration. A larger shape.
I stopped dead in my tracks, instinctively, not out of fear, but out of pure, utter surprise. I dodged on the very impulse of an ancient feeling, a strange mix of alarm and a pang of joy. Joy! When had I ever felt that in a fight?
I landed hard, digging into the ground beneath my feet, kicking up sand and stones. I looked up.
They were no longer two.
There was only one. Tall, muscular, grotesquely strong. The two topazes had fused. And it wasn't a clumsy fusion like other gem beasts. This one had a presence... different. A little more steady. A little smarter. As if it knew that separated, it couldn't even touch me.
A laugh escaped me, a wild, raspy laugh that echoed across the island. I stood up with a smile bigger, more twisted, more satisfied than I'd had all week.
And I launched myself. With an inner roar, I kicked the ground, spun my body, and let the yellow electricity course through my limbs. The energy gathered, intensified, and soon I wasn't me anymore. I was a perfect sphere, an unstoppable projectile rolling at full speed.
The fused topaz read me. It jumped to the side clumsily but effectively, then slammed into the ground with such force that the sand erupted like a small volcano. The impact threw me off balance for a second. Just a second, but enough for me to feel it. Enough for something inside me to awaken.
I straightened up and launched myself again, faster, more aggressively. But this time the topaz didn't flee. She raised both arms and intercepted me head-on. The collision created a shockwave that shook the beach, raising dust, sand, and fragments of rock. Her force pushed me back, just a few centimeters, but it did. She succeeded.
The blow pierced me like an electric shock. A small pain. Minuscule. But real.
I laughed. I laughed as if I had waited for this for centuries. As if that simple impact were a gift.
The fusion roared and unleashed a downward strike. I dodged it, felt the wind cut my cheek, and then she returned the favor: her knee slammed into my torso. It didn't knock me down, but it did force me back a couple of steps. It was powerful, heavy, a hammer blow of concentrated light.
That pain again. Sweet. Raw.
The fusion charged once more, raising both arms to crush me. I lunged forward, colliding with her shoulder to shoulder. The impact sent us both reeling backward. I stopped myself by digging my hands into the ground. She fell, stumbling clumsily, but managing to keep her balance.
Before I could attack, the gem beast lifted a massive rock and hurled it as if it were nothing. I punched it away, but the remaining fragment struck my arm, leaving a strange sting. Nothing serious. Nothing I cared about. Just another mark I could ignore.
That's when she charged a third time. I didn't dodge on purpose. I wanted to test her. I wanted to feel that raw power engulf me completely. Her charge struck my side and sent me flying several meters. I swallowed sand as I fell, rolled across damp earth, and finally crashed into a cave entrance, pushing part of the rock wall under my weight.
The cave trembled. Dust rained down from the ceiling like heavy rain. The echo of my own impact reverberated inside, dark and endless.
I sat up with a smile, feeling the faint sting of a bruise that shouldn't have been there. Almost symbolic damage. But damage nonetheless.
And there was the fusion, entering the cave with a deep growl, blocking the light from the entrance with its massive body, as if the whole world shrank to leave us alone.
Perfect.
Closer.
More violent.
More intense.
Exactly how I like it.
The fight had only just begun.
You don't know who I am, defective gem. It's me, the damned Jasper, perfection itself. I didn't even think about breathing as I launched myself at the fusion again. Inside the cave, I had every advantage in the world. Enclosed space, no escape routes, no organic distractions, nothing to soften my blows. Even though this thing barely hurt me, I didn't want to waste any more time on that miserable island. But I wasn't going to leave without crushing these two useless creatures, even if I hadn't yet noticed the strange stains covering their bodies. Stains that perhaps signified corruption. I didn't care. I would report it to the Diamonds when I managed to escape that primal hole.
Yellow energy enveloped my body like a living cloak. I ran through the cave, leaving a trail of dust and vibrations on the walls, and the fusion followed me like a clumsy, noisy beast. Its breathing roared, a thick sound that echoed throughout the tunnel. I felt the air change every time it was behind me; it was like having a raging ox trying to rip my back apart.
When I saw a high point on the rock, a narrow, almost vertical ledge, I ran toward it without thinking. My fingers dug into the stone as I ascended as if my body weighed nothing. The fusion launched itself after me with heavy movements, too slow to be a real threat, but enough to keep me entertained.
In seconds I reached the highest point inside the cave, a height easily exceeding one hundred meters. I touched the ceiling with my feet, feeling the rocks vibrate with my accumulated strength. It was stable. Stable enough to hold for a second.
Just a second.
I pushed off with such force that the ceiling creaked like a brittle bone. The crash echoed throughout the structure, and at that same instant I let myself fall. I fell with perfect speed, aiming directly for the fusion that was just raising its head to understand what was happening.
Too late for it.
The impact was a monstrous explosion. The rock exploded beneath us, the air compressed, the earth trembled. Entire boulders broke away from the ceiling and rained down, filling the cave with deafening chaos. The shockwave enveloped us, sending debris flying everywhere and shaking the floor as if the entire island were about to sink into the sea.
The fusion's body couldn't withstand it. The pressure, the impact, my weight... it all broke. The yellow light surrounding my body exploded outward as the fusion lost its stability. And in a final flash, two gems shot through the air like projectiles, colliding with each other as they tried to regain their form.
I wouldn't allow it.
I leaped between the falling rocks, stretched out my arms, and caught both gems mid-air. My fingers closed around them with almost delicate precision, as if I were catching something precious. I felt their vibrations, their instability, the clumsy tremor of a newly broken fusion.
A smile escaped me. A wide, proud, victorious smile. I watched them calmly as the chaos continued around us. The rocks kept falling, the dust rose, the cave shuddered... but all I saw were those two useless gems that had just become my trophies.
I thought for a moment. Two topazes. Two beasts. Two resources.
I almost never put gems in bubbles. I didn't see the need. I preferred to break them, destroy them, leave them as formless crystals. But I felt something different this time. Something akin to a useful idea. These two could be useful to me. Perhaps as bait. Perhaps as currency. Perhaps as improvised weapons.
So with a simple gesture, I encased them in orange bubbles that slowly rose before me. They floated, motionless, clean, docile. Completely under my control.
And as the cave continued to collapse behind me, I straightened up, letting myself be enveloped by the dust and the noise, proud, unstoppable, perfect.
I had them.
And now there would be nothing and no one to stand between me and my next objective.
After a few hours, she finally emerged from the cave, not because she couldn't escape—not at all—but because she now had two gems trapped in bubbles, the same ones she cleverly decided to leave lying around. She knew that if she teleported them, they would appear in a place that, according to their code, they recognized as a base, and their base was located at the Homeworld station. And frankly, she needed those Topazes.
She walked to a corner and left the bubbles there, completely certain that they would prove useful at any moment. With a single leap, she reached the surface and surveyed the mess left behind by the fight. Even so, she wore a satisfied smile. It didn't matter. From what she'd half-heard Peridot say, this planet wouldn't last long, which was why that little girl was in such a hurry. Even if it took her a few solar rotations, no one would care about her, and why should they? She was perfect, and no matter how long it took, she always achieved her goals. Always.
She looked at the portal and mentally planned her next steps. She knew she had to find Peridot, and now, with two Topazes in her possession, her resolve was absolute. With a stronger determination than before, she stepped into the portal and vanished into the light, leaving behind a smile of pure superiority.
End of Chapter 40.