Jasper stumbled around, punching wildly in all directions the instant she reformed. Realizing she wasn’t hitting anything, she shuffled around nervously, looking for the xenotime.

“Down here,” you called in a weak voice. She looked down and froze in horror, her hands held over her mouth as she stifled a gasp.

“(Y/N)!” she exclaimed, her voice cracking so that it came out as almost a scream. She instinctively went to kneel beside you, but righted herself when she remembered the danger. “Where is she?”

“All taken care of,” you replied with a smile, patting your pocket. “Which reminds, me. You’d better… y’know.” You pulled the gem out. Jasper knelt, took it gently from your pale, shaking hand and bubbled it.

“(Y/N)... why? Why did you do this? Where’s Pinky?”

“He’s just in the car. I did… what I had to do. I love you too much. This was the only way.”

“But… but now you… we’ll get you through this. I’ll find someone to fix you!”

You raised your head to look down at yourself, and felt a wave of nausea at what you saw.

“I think we’re past that,” you chuckled.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I… I don’ t know what to do if I don’t have you.”

“I’m sorry. I never wanted to leave you. Definitely not like this. I shouldn’t even be able to talk to you right now, but I couldn’t go without saying goodbye.”

“Stop talking like that. You’re going to be fine.”

“Supposing I’m not… I’ve definitely had better days, yep, had better days… I want you to promise me you’ll do whatever it takes for you to be happy. I want you to find someone who can show you all the love I never got the chance to. I’m not scared, you know. It’s just that I’m going to miss you… so, so much.”

“(Y/N), I…” she started to protest. She paused, then looked down at you with tear-filled eyes, cradling your head. “Okay. I promise.” She shut her eyes against more tears and shook her head. “But I want that someone to be you!”

“I want that too.” The most you could manage was a whisper. Everything started to grow dark. “I… can’t see.” Jasper clasped your hand in one of hers, continuing to hold your head with the other. “Thank you. Jasper… there’s something you need to know. Something Steven told me.”

“Shut up. You don’t get to make any deathbed confessions. Because you’re not dying.”

“Jasper? Are you still there?”

“I’m here.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that I can’t feel you anymore.”

“I’m still holding your hand. Just hang in there.”

“The other xenotime!” you remembered suddenly.

“(Y/N)... I can’t do it. I’m not strong enough. I don’t know how you did it… I wish I could do it for you… but I can’t. Not alone. There’s only one kind of power I know that can beat her. I’m going to get help. We’ll defeat her and we’ll save you.” She set your head gently back on the ground, holding your hand lightly in both of hers. “I’ll come back for you. I promise.” You felt her touch disappear as she took her hands away. Your arm fell limply to the ground. All earthly sensation was fading fast.

“Do I at least get a kiss goodbye?”

“No. No goodbye. Just ‘see you later.’” She bent down and kissed you. It turned out you still had some feeling in your broken body after all.

“I love you,” you whispered as you heard her sprinting away. You heard the second xenotime beginning to bang against the inside of the ship, but there was nothing you could do about it. You shut your sightless eyes and allowed your entire body to go limp upon the wet grass.

You soon realized that you could not move even if you wanted to. Your breathing slowed until it was undetectable. Your heartbeat escalated, then ceased just as suddenly. You could feel your consciousness threatening to slip away from you, and medically and biologically speaking, there was no reason or way for it not to do so. But you refused to die. Your mind held its clarity. You began to feel countless sharp pains all throughout your body from deep within your flesh, as though you were being stabbed from the inside. You didn’t have the energy to scream. The pains intensified, but also began to migrate, shifting towards your right side and up towards your shoulder, then travelling down your arm to the back of your right hand. They all came together with an intensity of agony you could never have imagined. You cried out with the very last of your strength, then fell unconscious. You weren’t worried, though. You knew you would open your eyes again eventually. There was simply no other possibility.

You found yourself floating far above the Earth, yet able to watch every detail upon its surface. Around you and above you was the dark of space and the light of all the stars. After taking a moment to realize what was going on, you looked to your left. A figure in a hooded white cloak was standing there.

“So what is this?” you asked. “Does this mean I’m dead?”

“Almost. Right now we’re floating somewhere in the middle. I’m here to help you the rest of the way.” The figure’s voice was feminine, and oddly familiar.

“I can’t. I have to go back. I definitely can’t let Jasper come back to find a corpse. I can’t put her through that.”

“I’m afraid there isn’t really any choice. I’m not your enemy. I didn’t kill you. I’m just here to guide you. They always wish they could go back. But you cannot. It isn’t that I’m not going to let you. I don’t want us to be in this situation any more than you do. But your body’s damaged beyond repair. There’s nothing to go back to. You just… can’t.”

You sighed deeply, contemplating.

“Where will I go?”

“Well, that depends on where you want to go. If you would rather stay here for a while to watch over your world, you have that option, too. Whatever you desire, your paradise awaits.”

She gestured above your heads. You looked up and saw the space illuminated with brilliant white light until the stars could no longer be seen. You stared in awe and wonder… then turned your gaze back to the Earth. You could see the hurricane, by now clear of most of Beach City. You could see a faint and fading pulsing light where your mangled form lay upon the grass. And you saw something else: another light, more radiant than the brightest star you’d ever seen, halfway between your body and the barn. The shooting star that was the light of your life. Jasper.

You looked back to the heavens. Their light seemed to fade, gloomy stormclouds gathering there. Meanwhile, the light on the Earth beneath you was growing until its glow illuminated everything.

“I’m sorry,” you told your guide. “I get that I can’t go back. But I have to. My heaven isn’t up there. She’s down there.” The light below had now grown to the point that the two of you seemed to be floating in a void of pure white radiance. Your companion stood silently for a moment, then began to chuckle. She reached out an arm, which scared you for a moment, but she simply rested it amicably on your shoulders, pulling you near like an old friend.

“I figured you’d say that. We always were too stubborn for our own good.” By now the light was so intense that even the two of you were fading into it. “Okay. If you're that sure we can, we can. Back we go.” She pulled down her hood, and you were met with Jaspilite’s smiling face. She snapped her fingers. The warm white light engulfed you both completely.

You felt the sun shining on your face and opened your eyes. You were back in your body. Your lungs drew in cool, crisp air and then exhaled it. Your heart hurt like the place you'd been slightly worried you'd end up in, but was apparently forcing itself to carry on with a normal rhythm. Oh yeah, and the second xenotime was standing directly over you, her face (if you could even call it a face) inches away from yours. She snapped to attention when she saw your eyes open. You held perfectly still, unsure of what else to do. Her mouth flew open and her inner jaws extended. She reared her head back, and you had no delusions that she was setting up for the world's least desirable kiss. Her head started to shoot forward, then stopped abruptly as a huge spike of ice shot into the back of her head, the tip sticking out of her mouth, dangerously close to your face. She let out an alien shriek, muffled by a mouthful of ice, whirled around, and leapt off of you, charging her attacker.

Now that a hideous mutant wasn't filling your field of view, you were able to lift your head up to see your saviour. She was a proud, towering figure, twenty feet tall at least, slender but well-muscled, her skin a light green covered in intricate darker green stripes and swirls that looked like the work of a careful artist, her hair long, white, and slicked neatly back where it blew in the wind. Her torso flowed smoothly into another torso, from which extended four deer-like legs with well-formed feet, causing her to resemble a noble centaur. Her face was long and slender, set with two eyes with two bright green irises and two pupils each, and a very familiar gem for a nose.

“Malachite?” you said in shock and confusion. The xenotime leapt at one of her legs, biting and slashing. Malachite lifted her left front leg out of the way, then kicked the xenotime away. The corrupted gem landed in a tree, and used her new perch to fling herself at Malachite’s face. Malachite raised up the palm of her right hand, causing the water from a nearby puddle to levitate. A flick of her right hand flung it at the xenotime, where it wrapped around the monster as chains, causing her to fall out of the air. Malachite stuck out one of her front feet, morphing it into a hand and catching the xenotime in midair. She threw her back up in the air. Both of Malachite's hands gripped the xenotime, then pulled her in half. Malachite caught the gemstone between two fingers as it fell and bubbled it.

Now she turned her attention to you. Galloping over, she bent way down to see if you were alive.

“Thanks for the assist,” you joked, giving a weak thumbs-up. Malachite sighed in relief. She didn't sound like either Lapis or Jasper, but rather somewhere in between. Her enormous hands reached down to carefully scoop you up. Holding you protectively against herself, she extended angelic-looking wings of water and leapt into the sky. You shut your eyes. You weren't about to die, but you'd be lying if you said you weren't completely exhausted. You allowed yourself to pass out.

“(Y/N), please…” you heard as you faded back into consciousness. “I need you to wake up… I need you to… to... I need you.”

You found yourself in a bed, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, Jasper clutching your right hand to her chest.

“Where am I?” you muttered groggily.

“Ha! You hear that, Pearl? I told you that's what they always say!” said Amethyst's voice.

“Amethyst? Maybe not the best time?” Garnet suggested.

“Ah, good. (Y/N), is it? You're awake. I'm Dr. Maheswaran. I’m sorry, I told them only one visitor at a time, but they were insistent.”

“Hang on a second. Am I-”

“Dead? No. To say you were lucky doesn't begin to do it justice. For reasons I can't explain, you're alive.”

“Actually, I was going to ask if I'm pink.”

“No,” said Steven from the foot of the hospital bed, “you're the same shade as always. I guess you just never died.”

“Steven! Thank you! I assume you're the reason I'm back in one piece?”

“He is, which is good, because you were in a couple of pieces,” Peridot explained. Suddenly, you felt a crushing force around you and realized Jasper had you trapped in a hug and was forgetting to hold back.

“(Y/N), I missed you so much.”

“How long was I out?”

“Three hours,” she said in a muffled voice, her face buried into your shoulder. “I was afraid you wouldn't wake up, and I didn't know what I would do if that happened. I love you.”

“If you love me so much, why don't you marry me?” you said sarcastically, trying to bring humour back to an overly emotional room.

“Okay, I will!” she declared. Her tone was completely serious, her gaze steely with determination.

“Oh, whoa, Jasper, that was a joke. I mean, not that I don't - I mean sure, I'd - can we talk about this later? So Doctor, what kind of condition am I in?”

“Well, especially considering people who come in looking like you did usually get sent straight to the coroner’s office, you're completely healthy. Obviously you're worn out - your body’s undergone a massive ordeal - and you're fairly dehydrated - nurse, would you get the patient some water? - but you seem to have no remaining injuries or ill effects. In fact, comparing you now to your medical records, you're healthier than you were before.”

“Well,” you sighed, “that’s good to know.” You turned back to Jasper. “You formed Malachite again. I don’t understand. How did you get Lapis to-”

“Because we both care about you,” said a familiar voice.

“Lapis!” you sat up and saw the blue gem sitting on a bench across from you. “You’re here!”

“Of course I am,” she said without looking up. “And I can’t help feeling like maybe you wouldn’t have ended up here if I hadn’t overreacted.”

You swung your legs over the edge of the bed.

“I don’t think you should try to get up yet,” Dr. Maheswaran warned.

“It’s all right,” Garnet reassured her.

You were surprised to find that you were immediately steady on your feet. You made your way over to the bench (pleased to discover as you walked that your hospital gown was of a variety which DID cover the back of you) and sat next to Lapis.

“Are you kidding? That was the furthest thing from an overreaction. Honestly, if I were you, I probably never would’ve wanted to have anything to do with me again. I can see how all of this must look to you.”

“It looks like you did the only decent thing. I heard about what happened, that this all kind of just got thrust upon you. You're still my b-” she looked over at Peridot. “...um, second-best friend. That never changed. It's just… when I heard she was around and that you were helping her, I felt betrayed. I know that was silly. And I felt… guilty. I don't think she was an innocent victim, I'm not stupid, but I was terrible to her. So when I saw someone who matters to me being so friendly with her, it made me feel like I’d really been the monster all along.”

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that to you. I would never want to do that to you. I know it's cliché to say I never wanted you to find out, but there was no way I could be truthful without hurting someone. I know it was wrong of me, but I figured this was the safer bet. You might never have found out, and if you did, you have Peridot and Steven and a home. Jasper only had me, and before that she had nothing. But I never wanted to hurt you. You're my best friend.”

She lifted her head to look up at you, moist-eyed, then hugged you.

“I understand. It's okay.”

“No, it isn't.”

“What?”

“It isn't okay. You can't keep telling yourself you're the problem when someone else wrongs you. I'm not the victim. I did a rotten thing to you and I feel rotten for it, and that's the way it should be.”

“But if it weren't for me, if I hadn't started refusing to talk to you, maybe you wouldn’t have ended up here.”

“Oh, Lapis. You didn't cause any of this, nor could you have prevented it. The only involvement you had was saving my life. Besides, here I am, surrounded by my friends, safe from gem monsters, and healthier than I've ever been.” You gestured about the room, noticing as you did that a round jaspilite gemstone was on the back of your right hand. “Whoa, when did that get here? Steven, I didn't think you could do that!”

“I… huh?” he said. “I thought you always had a gem and I just never noticed. It was already there before I healed you.”

“Wha- what does this mean?”

“I guess it means whatever this means,” he replied, lifting his shirt to expose his own gem.

“...huh,” you said after a lengthy pause.

“Well then,” Lapis said, resuming your conversation, “the point is, I forgive you. That's something I need to learn how to do. Do you… think Jasper and I could talk?”

“I'll see if she'll agree,” you said, smiling and giving her a gentle pat on the back as you stood up. You went back over to Jasper.

“Hey! You changed your look!” You supposed it was not unreasonable that you had overlooked the changes while you were focused on not dying. Her hair was slightly shorter (only slightly) and a little less messy (only a little), her features were a bit more humanlike and defined, such as visible cleavage and clearly defined muscles. Her brow was no longer so hardened, and her eyes had a softer quality to them. And, you noticed, the diamond symbol on her uniform was now pink. “Nice touch,” you said, pointing this out.

“Thanks. Do… do you still like how I look?”

“Who's this cute gentle giant, and what have you done with my scary warrior?” you joked, causing her to blush deeply. “Anyway, would you be comfortable talking privately with Lapis?”

Jasper looked down at her feet.

“She'd never agree to that.”

“Actually, she's the one who asked. I think she might want to make peace.” She looked up at you in surprise. Smiling in reassurance, you held her hand and guided her to her feet. As you led her over to the bench, she looked as timid as a frightened puppy. Which reminded you about something. “Oh, Jasper, I just remembered, where's Pinky?”

“The one called Sadie is looking after him,” she said in a meek voice. Lapis stood as you approached. You took her hand in your free hand, then looked back and forth between the two gems, smiling at both. You started to walk away.

“Wait,” Lapis said, “you can stay if you want.” You could tell from her tone that she really meant she would be more comfortable if you stayed. They sat down with you between them. “Jasper, what you did was selfish and vile. You coerced me and used me, then you tried to blame me for what happened and for your own problems. I can't just forget that, and I can never let anything like that happen again.”

“I know. I was wrong,” Jasper replied, staring down at her feet. “I was abusive, manipulative, mad with power. It's unforgivable what I did to you, and I've spent a lot of time wishing I could take it all back. But why did you agree to fuse again?”

“I didn't want to at first. But then I realized you were being sincere. You weren't thinking about the past, or power, or control. You were just worried about (Y/N), and so was I.”

“Well… thank you. I couldn't have done it without you.”

They both sat in silence for a minute. Finally, Lapis spoke.

“I've done unforgivable things, too. Especially to you. I'm sorry for everything that happened.”

“You shouldn't apologize,” Jasper said with a sigh. “You bit the hand that put you in a cage. I feel disgusted any time I think back to even just the way I spoke to you. I put you through the worst experiences of your life. For what little it's worth, I'm sorry. I know that doesn't mean much.”

“Maybe more than you think,” Lapis replied, daring to make fleeting eye contact. “I don't think either of us will ever be able to move on completely from what happened, but… maybe we should at least try. Tell you what. Maybe the next time (Y/N) comes to visit, you can tag along if you want.”

“Yeah?” Jasper asked timidly, raising her head.

“Sure,” Lapis replied with a small grin.

You hugged your two best friends.

Dang! This story is #2 under the jasperxreader tag! You people rock!