Chapter 1

The December night was cold. From inside the small temple house, Steven could see the beach being thickly blanketed in snow. Wind knocked at the shutters and ran through the bushes outside, but was untouchable to him as he settled onto the couch with his best friend.

"Wow! I can't believe your parents let you stay the night here!" Steven exclaimed.

"Yeah, well…" Connie began, "Since my family isn't really big on Christmas, they were okay with me staying for," she changed tones, mimicking her mother. "Just. One. Night!" They both giggled.

"Howdy," Garnet gave the children a small smile, handing them each a cup of hot cocoa. "Amethyst and I just stopped at the store and got-"

"Dog Copter!" Amethyst flew in, shapeshifted into Dog Copter, with the movie in her mouth. "Limited Holiday Edition!"

"Aww, thanks guys!" Steven exclaimed. "wanna watch it now, Connie?"

"Sure, Steven! Just don't tell my parents," she giggled nervously.

They put the movie in and nestled under the blankets.

**POP!**

The last thing Phosphosiderite could remember was the war.

"Jasper, please, just listen to me. Maybe these humans have feelings-"

"Are you really going on about this again? Seriously, Sid, you're starting to sound like that traitor, Rose Quartz. You know there's no hope for her army," Jasper scoffed.

"Well, maybe Rose wasn't wrong…" she muttered.

"Listen, Sid," Jasper began. "Rose is delusional. All she sees is the life forms of those humans. She values that over how meaningless, uneventful, short… You get the point? Their lives aren't worth saving, not more than a grain of sand on their Earth's beach. They're nowhere near the strength or intelligence of us. They're weak, and I don't want them getting a hold of you. You're too important."

Sid couldn't believe Jasper's words. It was undeniable that humans lived shorter lives than gems, but she knew they were just as valuable as any life form on homeworld. She believed that all lives had meaning, no matter how weak they were made out to be, however Jasper had no concept of the value of Earth, and wasn't planning on learning, even from her best friend. The Earth was beautiful, though. Phosphosiderite couldn't bear to watch the creatures of it be enslaved by a race built on invasion and greed. She gazed into the other gem's eyes, and despite the millennia they had known each other, she was unable to tell her how much she loved her.

"Of course… I'm sorry, Jasper. I just get carried away sometimes-" She felt a blade pierce her center, burning her form and causing her to transform into violet dust. Yellow Diamond simply kicked the stone to the side, allowing the ocean to consume it and carry it away.

"We don't need any more traitors, now do we, Jasper?" she shrieked in laughter. "Trust me, I knew something was off about her attitude from the start. Not bloodthirsty enough, like you and I. Too bad though, she was powerful. The other side doesn't need that type of power, though."

Jasper fell to her knees, shoreline approaching her. She could hardly believe what had happened, how Yellow Diamond had destroyed a gem so easily, with pleasure, even. "Phosphosiderite…" Tears fell from her cheeks, blending with the salty ocean water. She looked towards her leader, sobbing. "She was my best friend, and you just… kicked her aside like she was some human!"

"Oh, lighten up, you'll find a new friend! I hear Emerald is looking for a training partner, if that's what you like."

Yellow Diamond brushed the incident off and left to tend to her troops. Once she had left, Jasper crawled beneath the surface of the water, searching desperately for her friend in between tufts of seaweed and coral. Retrieving her from the bottom of a tide pool, she carefully set the gem in a safe place. It was a flower peppered valley east of the war zone, where Jaser was sure she would be safe.

"Phosphosiderite," she whispered. "Stay here. You'll be safe, I promise." Jasper ran from the field before anyone could find her, leaving the gem behind.