The pain was unlike anything Jasper had experience. Sharp, intense, and enough to make standing impossible, she howled as another wave rendered her body in agonizing pain. Each contraction made her body go weaker and weaker, Jasper clutched her abdomen which had grown in size as the months pass, she knew her body was bond to go through the labor process of carrying eggs at some point in time, she just didn’t expect it be so soon, had she really been down here so long?
Jasper mentally cursed herself for being in this situation, if she and Peridot been more careful she wouldn’t had been stuck pregnant at the bottom of the ocean un-fusing and fusing, to form Malachite. Even the thought of the blasted fusion made her feel sick, she hated every waking moment of being Malachite. Having that runt maintain control of her for months, and even now Lapis had her chains locked tightly on her wrists, Jasper didn’t even have knowledge she was carrying eggs until a great many months later, who knows what condition they were in now, after fighting Garnet, the ship crashing, and Malachite, Jasper was surprised she haven’t lost them a long time ago, maybe now was that time.
Another contraction wrecked her body, she dug her fingers into the wet ground before her. She pondered why Lapis didn’t dragged her underneath yet, maybe she was just waiting for her to lay them, then drag her back before she could do anything foolish. Made sense, seeing how labor made escape unlikely, trying to fight the grip the chains had on her was pointless. She was exhausted, everything ached, she’s been like this for…. Jasper couldn’t even recall, counting the days seemed pointless after two months. But the pain had gone on for awhile, at first it was just a mild cramping sensation, nothing much. She endured far worst during the war, but as time slowly passed it went from mild cramping to feeling like a sword was puncturing her stomach.
Her hips rocked, trying to synch up with each contraction, the eggs were lowering, it wouldn’t be long until they left her body. Jasper was no mother, she was a warrior with war memories still fresh in her mind, knocking down foes was one thing, it was something Jasper considered herself knowledgable in. But birth? She didn’t know what to do, Homeworld spoke of pregnancy in whispers of gossip, it was so rare and unheard of, information in the topic was deemed useless. It felt like she was being ripped in two, screw Peridot for doing this to her, this was her fault!
What was she suppose to do? The urge to push with the pressure was there, but was she in a correct state to fallow through with that urge? She didn’t know, she didn’t know at all.
Did she have to wait longer? Was there something she was suppose to do while the birthing process took place? Jasper was working with nothing but natural instinct, she was one to usually trust her instinct, but now she was having doubts. Jasper found herself in a pattern, each time a contraction hit she would rock her hips while in a squatting position, trying to ride it out. She continued this five times until the watery ground broke in front of her.
She fell backwards onto her back, as she watch Lapis emerged from beneath the watery ground. Another contraction send her into agonizing suffering yet again, clutching her belly she could only look up as Lapis towered over her. Her eyes met Lapis’s, the gem’s facial expression was unreadable, unlike Jasper’s who had her eyes widen in both shock and horror, mouth open, heavily breathing as labour came closer and closer to an end. Her shoulder tensed up as Lapis plopped herself down, who knows what was going through Lapis’s mind. Seeing a once fierce and ruthless warrior gem like her, now tangled within her chains, full of eggs that were dead set on coming right now… she was a mess.
Lapis reached a hand out, an attempt to touch her, Jasper immediately slapped her hand away. Not the wisest moved on her part, but she was on no mood to be touched, especially by Lapis Lazuli of all gems.
“Touch me and I’ll break your hand!” Jasper hissed, she was not in a good position to pick a fight, but she would be damned if she would fall to this weakling, in labor or not.
“You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?” Lapis eyes narrowed at her. “Phase out of your clothes, these eggs are ready now.”
“Give me one good reason why I should listen to you?!” she snapped.
“Because you have no idea what you’re doing for starters.” Lapis stated.
“And you do?!” Jasper spat.
“Despite being little known on gems reproducing, the rumour that their are notes about the topic on Homeworld are true. I had studied them out of boredom, It’s not much really, but it’s certainly far more then you know.” Lapis informed.
“Why should I trust you?” Jasper glared at her.
“You had no idea you were pregnant when you came to earth, I doubt what took place on the ship helped, you’re in labor right now and I’m the only one with a decent amount of knowledge.” The way Lapis said everything, it was like she was taunting Jasper.
Not that Jasper could blame her, if their roles were reversed she may had done the same thing.
“So it’s either me or you do this by yourself, I suggest you be quick about it, judging by the looks of things you don’t have much time to decide.”
What Lapis said was true, as much as Jasper wanted to deny it.
If Lapis did possess the smallest of information about egg laying it could be useful, it was far more safer. But then what? What would Lapis do next? But that was the least of her concerns right now. Labor was coming too an end, but she was clueless on what to do. Her toes curled as she phased her outfit, rather then slacks it was a skirt, allowing Lapis to get a better look.
“Fine…” she grumbled, feeling her body prepare for another wave of pain.
Lapis didn’t even need to touch her or take more then a quick glance to confirm that Jasper could push.
“It’s definitely time.” she confirmed.“Push.”
As one could guess Jasper wasn’t too keen on having Lapis between her legs, she preferred Peridot, but after this if she ever met the smaller gem again she would pay for doing this for her. But Jasper could always just add Peridot to the list of gems that would pay for what they done. Mustering up what little strength she had, she pushed as another contraction hit, feeling the pressure of the eggs lower down a great deal, as well as the sensation of someone stabbing her. Jasper howled in pain as she continued to push, after the sixth push she felt relief wash over her as a bit of the pressure seemed to leave her body. Then it hit her, she just laid the the first egg.
“The first one’s out.” Lapis confirmed, Jasper managed to get a quick glance at the egg. It was oval shaped, a very light creamy colour, and covered in some sort of clear fluid.
She wanted to touch it, just reach on over and take it from Lapis. Maybe that would make this feel more real, because even now it felt like an illusion. Did her body really just do that? Did she really just add life to this universe? Jasper had little time to process any thoughts about now or the future with the current egg, another contraction reminded her their were more eggs to think about.
Not too soon after the second egg was into the world she asked Lapis how many she could be carrying, apparently to Lapis three was typically the norm, but considering Jasper was on the bigger side it was most likely their was a couple more. Jasper could barely fathom having one egg, let alone three or more.
Still in unbelievable pain the third egg was eventually out, by now Jasper was beyond exhausted. Returning to her gem was so tempting, just to regain her strength… but of course that was impossible, she had to see this through until the end.
“For the love of Yellow Diamond, just stop them from coming out of me!” Jasper cried, normally she had a high pain tolerance, but this was beyond anything she could imagine. Arrows to her shoulders, swords piercing her abdomen, and thumbscrews were far more preferable to the splitting pain that rippled throughout her body.
Lapis said nothing, she’s been quiet throughout the whole process, only alerting her once an egg had been laid.
Not that Jasper was complaining, quietness from her was better then taunting, not like Jasper needed a reminder of how foolish she had been, labor was more then enough of that. After another tiring push the fourth egg came, the pressure eased up a great deal after the fourth one.
“This one is the last one, it’s on the bigger side.” Lapis informed.
Bigger? What did that mean? Was bigger healthy? Was it an egg that would most likely take after her? Jasper’s mind was flooded with questions, she guessed they would be answered when the time came. She readied herself, her face scrunched up as she screamed again, feeling the weight of the egg slowly lower. For diamond’s sake this hurt, any gem who gone through this ordeal instantly earned her respect, and that wasn’t something Jasper gave easily.
After a handful of painful and gruelling time, at long last Jasper felt the egg leave her body. She could had cried, finally it was over… She was so tired, it was tempting to return to her gem, but she longed to truly see all the eggs, just to make sure this was real.
“Here…” Lapis had all five eggs in her arms, it was the first time she had seen them altogether.
Five, did she really just lay five eggs? It all seemed so surreal. Lapis carefully got all five into her arms, these were her eggs… there were her daughters, these were her and Peridot’s family.
……..
Ending 1
Five eggs, five eggs meant five gemlings, she and Peridot had five daughters. Their shells were smooth, still a tad sticky from whatever the goop was but Jasper didn’t care, she finally had a chance to touch them. She ran her index finger over each one, each egg varied in size, some were smaller then others while some were larger.
It was hard to believe these came from her body, that she managed to birth this clutch into the world, despite all that could go wrong going wrong these eggs were in perfect shape. Of course they were perfect, they were her’s of course! It was hard to explain, but even after these eggs put her through the most tiring and painful moments of her life, she felt an attachment to them, a need to have them, serve as their protector…. as a mother.
“You know they can’t stay here.” Lapis’s voice was as cold as ice. Her words hit Jasper like a bag of bricks, no… these were her eggs, she just had them mere seconds ago, she wasn’t ready for goodbye. “They won’t survive down here and you know that.”
“You aren’t letting me go?”
“I can’t, you know what we are, we’re Malachite.” she informed. “And you know she won’t be capable of caring for eggs and gemlings.”
Jasper sighed, sadly looking at her eggs before her, she should had known the sweet moment of meeting them wouldn’t last long. What Lapis said was true, her daughters were doomed if they were to stay here. She held the eggs close to her chest, trying to take in every detail of the eggs, she wanted to remember them, let herself know this wasn’t a dream, Peridot had made her a mother, she and Peridot were mothers….
Slowly and gently Lapis took the clutch from her, Jasper was powerless, even if she did keep them down here or wherever here was, they wouldn’t last long. Lapis created a strong current and one by one placed the eggs within in, Jasper could only watch as they were carried off by the ocean, where they would end up was unknown to her.
The chains around her wrists tighten, as yet again she was pulled under the watery grounds.
………
Ending 2
They were so small, even the largest one was small to Jasper. How did something so tiny and defenceless come from a mighty and large gem like her? It was unbelievable, Jasper was almost too scared to run her fingers across their fragile shells, but somehow managed to do so. They were so small and fragile, how they even survived all she’s been through amazed her, these eggs were tough, just like her.
“Hi there….” Jasper greeted, her voice weak, looking down at her eggs. They were but mere ovals now, but to her they felt like utter perfection. These were her daughters, her’s and Peridot’s daughters.
“Jasper, you know they can’t stay here.” Lapis informed, Jasper glanced up at her, Lapis’s face was unreadable. “They won’t survive.”
“You think I don’t know that?!” Jasper snapped. “Do you take me for a fool Lapis?!” her voice was like venom. “I know they won’t survive down here, and it’s no thanks to you!”
“I wouldn’t had fused with you if I known, I doubt you would had pushed me to either.” Lapis’s tone raised slightly, not enough to break her emotionless expression.
“Consider yourself lucky I even helped you through this ordeal, it would had been so easy to let you do everything by your lonesome.” She extended her reach to the eggs. “Jasper, don’t make this harder then it needs to be.”
“Think your tough, don’t cha? Think your something just because you managed to keep me here?” Jasper’s hissed. “These are my daughters… and if I can’t have my daughters…”
SPLAT!
“No one can.”
Lapis’s face shifted from emotionless to horrified and shocked so quickly, all five eggs laid to her left, each creamy coloured shell was cracked, the egg whites and yolks spattered on the watery ground, a few drops ended up on Jasper’s face from the impact. Both gems stared at each other, awaiting a reaction.
‘Don’t cry, don’t you dare cry Jasper!’
Jasper repeatedly thought, this was for the best… the eggs didn’t stand a chance drifting aimlessly in the sea… Plus Lapis needed to be reminded of who she was. A fierce warrior who fought time and time again, not some gem who had gone soft, this would prove her point.
But at what cost?
Lapis’s brows buckled in anger and disgust, her fingers curled into fists. The chains around Jasper’s wrists tighten extremely before pulling her down.
“As you wish, Jasper.”