Can You Spare a Gem? ( STEVEN UNIVERSE FUTURE / SPINEL FANFIC )

Not strong enough

Steven is nearly at a loss, but he refuses to give up on her, "Jasper, if you want to get to that gem, you're going to have to go through me-!" Jasper pushed him out of the way and started down the tunnels.  

"No!" He stumbles after her, close to tears, "Jasper, no! I can't let you! I'm not going to let you get killed - if you find her, you'll get eaten for sure!"

Jasper furrows her brow and looks over her shoulder at him, "no way some dumb old worm-gem's going to eat me; I'm too strong."

"No..." He sobs, "not strong enough... not strong enough-!"

"Steven, stop worrying," Jasper said in a slightly less abrasive tone, "I can take care of myself." She smirked, "after all, who's the toughest gem in Beach City?"

Steven wipes his nose and sniffs, "Garnet-"

"-No." 

Jasper smoothes back her remaining hair, "anyway, I can handle your little bull gem. 'Cause I'm the best there is!" She clenched her fist, "there's nothing too big for me to catch."

"Okay," Steven says unconvincingly. 

"Say it," Jasper tells him. 

"There isn't anything-" he begins. 

"-Nothing!"

"-Too big for you to catch!" He says triumphantly. He faltered, "but-"

Jasper cuts him off, "nothing!"

"Yeah but-" Steven says meekly.

"-No!"

"You see.-" Steven raises his finger in protest. 

"-No!"

"I-"

Jasper only responds with an irritated groan. She gazes into the dark caverns again, "she's in there."

"Are you sure...?" Steven asks.

"Of course I am!" Jasper snarls, "and I won't come out until I've made a steaming bowl of worm stew."

"Yeah!" Steven pumps his fist, then freezes - "wait - no, don't do that."

Jasper has already dived into the cave. Steven can't see her, but he can hear her footsteps echoing from miles down. Then her voice:

"Aha! There you are, you half-formed bastard!" Steven hears rock clash against rock. 

"I'm winning, Steven!" She yells.

"That's great!" Steven says anxiously. 

Wait- 

"Jasper that's not...!"

"This shouldn't take long," she grunts.

"Jasper that's not...!"

"Almost done-"

"JASPER!" Steven screams. 

"Yee-haw." Jasper emits her victory screech, climbing out of the tunnel carrying a large pink worm. 

"Jasper...?" Steven said uneasily. 

"Boy, howdy." jasper laughs, "this gem put up some sort of fight." She smirked, "but I'm a Jasper, and as you can see, no worm is a match for me. I even found my hair!" She flicked back her hair and it billowed magnificently in the wind like the great white sails on noah's arch. 

"That's not the gem." 

Jasper folded her thick arms in annoyance, "what?"

"That's not the gem," Steven said numbly, "that's her tongue."