“Sorry to make you walk,” you apologized as the two of you headed out the door. “Ordinarily I’d be able to get you there a lot more quickly in my car, or automobile, as you might call it.”

“I know what cars are. It's no problem. It can't be helped.”

“Yeah, that's true. Only way it would be here right now would be if you, um, weren't… Okay, that got dark quickly, maybe let's talk about something else. So how do you like Earth?”

“I try not to think about it. Nothing good has ever happened here in my experience. My Diamond, the war, all of my failures, I was made here even, along with all the other Beta Kindergarten defectives.”

“Nothing good, eh? Way to make me feel appreciated,” you said, sarcastic but smiling. “And why would you ever think you're defective? Every gem I've ever known to speak of you has remarked upon your physical affection, err, perfection. Even the Crystal Gems. And I'm inclined to agree.”

“It isn't about that. Just look at where I was made. And if I'm so perfect, how come I'm never enough, no matter how hard I try?”

“You know, there was a very famous rapper - rap is a kind of music, by the way, I'm not much of a fan of the genre myself, but that's beside the point - who was also a poet, and one poem he wrote was called 'The Rose that Grew from Concrete’ or something along those lines. I don't remember exactly how it went, but it basically talks about a rose growing from concrete against all odds, and about how much more beautiful it is for all it had to overcome. Do you understand the point I'm making?”

“I… maybe? I'm not good at your culture's concept of metaphor.”

“The point is, you aren't defective. You're an immense success who came from a place that otherwise only produced abject failures. That doesn't reflect negatively on you, it just makes you even more impressive. You're basically a miracle.”

Jasper was silent in response, and you couldn't see her face to read her expression. You decided to again change the subject.

“So… have you changed your thoughts on humans at all?”

“Look (Y/N), I get that you're trying to be friendly. But we can't be friends, got it? I've fought against your kind. I've tried to ensure the destruction of your planet and your species. Around 5,750 solar years ago, I killed dozens of humans.”

“What, during the rebellion?”

“Yeah.”

“Jasper, come on. We're not doomed to be mortal enemies or something just because you did some not-so-nice things in a war thousands of years before I was born.”

“I had you by the throat threatening to kill you only an hour ago.”

“Well that was just a misunderstanding, wasn't it? I'm not holding a grudge.”

“I've done things to your friends and allies. I hurt and later tried to kill Ro- Steven. I split apart the fusion and tried to keep her that way. I broke the Amethyst’s spirit. And Lapis… well, you already know all about that story, don't you?”

“Ehh, yeah, that does sound pretty bad when you say it all at once… but at least you sound like you feel bad about it. And yeah, I knew all of that. But I forgive you.” The barn was in sight, but you stopped walking and placed a hand reassuringly on her upper arm.

“What is your problem? I was obviously wrong to give your intelligence credit. I don't deserve forgiveness. I thought you'd be smart enough to understand that.”

“I understand perfectly. If you deserved forgiveness, they'd all be a bunch of jerks for not giving it to you. I forgive you because I care, not because you deserve it.”

“I… huh? How does that make any sense? You're starting to make me more eager to get off this rock.”

“I'm just saying,” you replied with a shrug of your shoulders, “that sometimes the people who deserve compassion the least need it the most of all. Does that make sense?” Jasper knelt to your level, and you could hear her sigh even through the scarf wrapped around her face.

“Look, (Y/N), you clearly have a good heart. And maybe that works well here. But on Homeworld, things are a lot different. Someone like you wouldn't survive in a culture like that. Not for five minutes. So I need you to understand; I can't afford to start looking at the universe the way you do. I need to stay as what I am, who I am, so I can survive and do what I'm for.”

“That's okay, although I really don't like it when you talk about yourself like you're just some kind of machine or tool. It's no matter if you can't act differently on Homeworld. You'll always have a friend back on Earth regardless.”

You smiled at Jasper. She looked aside for a moment, then back over her shoulder at the barn. She rose to her feet and resumed walking, as did you. Then she spoke without turning to face you.

“You never mentioned the Cluster. As far as I know, it's still active, and Earth's days are numbered.”

“Thank you,” you replied softly.

“Don't get all emotional over it. I don't have any particular wish for you to get killed and the rest of your kind along with you. That's the long and short of it.”

You were by now both approaching the barn, looking around carefully for Peridot and Lapis. You couldn't see in; the setting Sun left the interior in darkness.

“Hello?” you called. No answer. But when you listened carefully, you could hear Peridot’s voice coming from inside. You took the lead as the two of you entered. “It's just me, (Y/N)! And this is my cousin. Care to introduce yourself?”

“I am Jasp-umm, Jazz, of Toronto!” she declared. You winced, but rolled with it.

“Yes, Jaspumjaz flew here all the way from Toronto! Not the one you're thinking of, who has a name like Jaspumjaz in Canada? No no, she's from a different Toronto in, err, Kazakhstan! The uh, the “r” is backwards in it.”

There was no response. You noticed that Peridot's voice had continued while you had been speaking, and didn't seem to be stopping. Jasper groped about in the darkness until she found a cord. Pulling it, a single hanging lightbulb came on. You gasped. Peridot was nowhere to be seen. The voice was coming from her tape recorder on a workbench; it looked like she had been attempting to repair it, and it was repeatedly skipping and playing the same few seconds over and over.

“-aitorous clod! -aitorous clod! -aitorous clod!”

“Aaaaaaand apparently no one's home. At least that works well for us.”

“That was humiliating.”

“You said it, Big Buff Cheeto Puff.”

“What did you just call me?”

“Oh, err, heheh, ehh, that’s a popular nickname for you on the internet. It’s uh, not meant as an insult or anything. You actually have your fair share of fans on Earth.”
    “What’s the ‘internet?’”

“Ooo boy, you just asked a mouthful. That’s an entire explanation for anoth-” You paused, and your face fell. “I guess there isn’t going to be another time, is there? It doesn’t really matter, then. I don’t imagine Homeworld has an equivalent.”

“Is that the transport over there?” Jasper asked, pointing, seemingly unaware of the change in your mood.

“Yep,” you confirmed in scarcely more than a murmur. Your voice cracked, but you attempted to resume a normal volume as you asked, “Do you think you can figure out how to fly it?”

“If a second-era Peridot can do it, there isn't going to be a problem for me.” She walked towards it, unusually slowly. You followed a few paces behind. After removing her disguise, she opened the cockpit hatch, paused, and turned to you. “Well, goodbye. Friend.”

You smiled even as a few tears started down your face, and extended your hand.

“One last little Earth-lesson. This is a common way for humans to say hello and goodbye.” You took her hand and shook it a few times. You didn't let go as you said, “I'm actually going to miss you,” smiling as you looked into her eyes, their yellow glow distinct but not threatening in the dim light.

Suddenly, time seemed to freeze. All of your senses turned to grey, and the grey turned to static, until the static resolved into a series of images. A pink diamond in pieces. A hand-shaped ship exploding. Jasper fusing with Lapis into Malachite. The Ruby squad being sucked out into space. The Crystal Gems standing together and smiling, with Peridot and Lapis particularly prominent. Jasper fusing with the corrupted Ocean Jasper. Jasper becoming corrupted. In a bubble. On a strange yellow ship. Kneeling before Heliodor. Helping the Crystal Gems and some people and aliens you didn't recognize escape. Being beaten by Hematite. Shaking hands with you. An angular orange gemstone flying into hundreds of fragments as though made of glass.

“Wait!” you yelled as she prepared to lift herself into the cockpit. “If you go back, they'll shatter you! Think about it. You've done a lot of stuff they're not going to like. And you look fine right now, but what will they do with you when the corruption returns? I can't let you go!”

“And I can’t stay,” she barely more than muttered, letting her feet drop back to the ground and closing her eyes. “Do you think what you've just told me is news to me? I don't have options. If I go back there, I die. If I stay here, I'm trapped here forever. At least if I go it'll all be over quickly. Do you understand, (Y/N)? I can't run or hide from this. There's nowhere for me to go. There's nowhere I belong.”

All this while, you had a feeling like butterflies in your stomach, except in your heart instead. It grew so strong now that you were compelled to speak, even though you knew you might well end up regretting what you said next.

“That's not true. There is. There always can be,” you choked out past the lump in your throat. Shutting your eyes, you threw your arms around her and pulled her close to you. “Stay. Come home.”

There we are, I'm rather satisfied with how this chapter turned out. It's nearly double-length in comparison to the others, but I suppose that isn't a bad thing. And this isn't the final chapter, not nearly, just in case it might've sounded like it is.