Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Man, Garnet, it really has been weird to go this long without seeing you. And I know technically I am seeing you now, but..."

Steven had started a habit of video-calling the Gems whenever they aren't busy with something, and Garnet was pretty dedicated to the practice- she was able to effectively parse out when he may call and when she'd be available, and she didn't tend to have anything more important to do than talk to her precious Steven. 

"I know, Steven. I wish I could be right there with you, but Beach City still needs the Crystal Gems."

Giving a nod of understanding, Steven pondered, "I have been thinking about that lately... do you think there's another reality where the Crystal Gems don't live in Beach City? Or, is that not how it works?"

"Don't worry, Steven, you got it exactly. Every individual choice, whether conscious or entirely subconscious, leads to entirely different universes- and yes, that even includes different Universes."

Giving a chuckle at the obvious joke, he leaned into his laptop with curiosity, asking, "How much of that do you see?"

"I tend to focus on the current reality rather than the hypothetical ones that we aren't living, but it is hard to stave off my curiosity, so... I have started a habit of journaling the most fascinating ones."

Gasping, he urged, "You have to show me!"

"Man, I've missed your enthusiasm. And it's a good thing you're this excited, because I haven't been able to find the time to show this to anyone else. Hm, do you mind if I do a monologue first, though? I've been practicing something for this specific occasion..."

Giving a nod, he declared, "The monologue may commence!"

The fusion smiled, giving a gentle nod, before clearing her throat and beginning.

"In the universe we know, things seem as if they are the way they are because that is how they were meant to be, but the truth is that reality only is the way it is because of a series of coincidences and specific choices made in the heat of the moment. Every little alteration could drastically impact the fate of millions, whether obvious at the time or not. A person may not meet another person, resulting in a great bond never forming; two people may meet when they wouldn't have otherwise, causing alliances to form that may seem unthinkable.

"That is the nature of the universe... or, better put, the multiverse, a series of branching paths that start at similar points but transform into completely different events. Just like the idea of the butterfly's wings causing tsunamis, every choice causes things that can't be undone. Venture forth into a glimpse of what reality may be like... in an alternate universe."

Steven, growing giddy, pleaded, "Can you tell me one now~?"

"Heh, we may make a habit out of this... but yes, I think I have one for you. Sit back, because I feel like you may enjoy this story..."

Chapter Text

"This first story is about... two people you know, Steven, who never got along, and a universe in which they did."

"Man, that could be about so many people..."

"Mhm. But I think you'll know who it is shortly."

--
One was the perfect soldier born for nothing but fighting.

The other was sent from planet-to-planet to terraform until there was nothing left, made to view each world as nothing but an obstacle to destroy.

Neither knew of the joys of creation, nor the value in comradery. 

In our world, their paths crossed after thousands of years of imprisonment had ended.

Upon having her gem healed, the powerful terraformer spread her wings and flew from Earth, only to be captured and used for information as she had been before.

When she finally had the chance to escape, she instead willingly fused with her captor to trap her under the ocean.

--

"Oh, this is about Lapis and Jasper! Wait, but how would they have become allies...?"

"Well, as you know, they're both far older than you can imagine. Just think what may have happened if their paths aligned sooner."

"Ah, okay!"

--

This story, though, starts thousands of years prior to this.

In the Beta Kindergarten, Pink Diamond oversaw the creation of many Quartz soldiers- and while she was already planning her rebellion, she laid witness to what we know as the most loyal Homeworld gem.

The universe would change forever at the moment Blue Diamond decided Pink Diamond needed extra protection from the threat of an uprising, and she sent to her... a Lapis Lazuli, one who could manipulate a planet's water to use as a weapon.

She arrived in the Kindergarten, greeting Pink Diamond, only to turn and notice what... or who was emerging.

"Who... is that?" she asked, eyes glistening in wonder at the muscular figure.

Pink Diamond, shrugging, did not answer.

While Lapis continued her assigned duty of simply protecting Pink, she found herself coincidentally running into Jasper over and over again. 

The soldier was made for war, and war was brewing very shortly. Jasper rarely took her mind off of the training she needed to endure in order to make herself the most cunning soldier possible. However, she too began to take notice of the Lapis Lazuli.

She was beautiful, and Jasper had trouble taking her eyes off of her. Why did she feel this way about someone?

--

"Wait... did they fall in love just from the first time they met...? I thought true love didn't exist..."

"They found each other attractive, but that's different from being in love. Keep listening, you'll enjoy what happens next."

-- 

One day, with Pink Diamond being busy attending a meeting off-planet with the Diamonds, the Quartz soldier remained on Earth using her fists against nearby rocks, shattering them easily.

The Lapis wanted to strike up a conversation but had no idea how- she had never spoken to anyone who she was not told to speak with, so this was a daunting task.

Instead, she manipulated water from a nearby puddle and created a near-exact replica of Jasper down to her pointy nose.

"Do I look like that...?"

Lapis, gasping, instantly lost focus and let it collapse.

Getting flustered, she assured her, "No, that was sloppy of me! And um, sorry for doing that!"

"I didn't say I was mad. You're really fidgety, you know that?"

Standing up, she scoffed, "Well, you're really uh... big."

"Yeah, that's because I'm the perfect soldier! Pink Diamond is gonna love seeing me out on the field!"

Curiously, Lapis asked, "Is there supposed to be a war?"

"...well, yeah. Didn't you hear? There's a rebel soldier called Rose Quartz who plans on destroying everything Pink Diamond built here, and I'm gonna be leading the army to stop it!"

Lapis Lazuli knew what her purpose of being here was, or at least she knew what she was told it was- protecting Pink Diamond. She began to ponder, however, why someone may rebel against someone such as her.

Looking up at Jasper, she asked, "What else do you know about Rose Quartz?"

"Um, I don't know, I never met her. But I know I will soon on the battlefield!"

Giving a sigh, she admitted, "I don't like the idea of being involved in a war... which is weird, because I'm always using my powers to destroy things. I guess it feels different when I'm just cutting down mountains, instead of cutting down Gems..."

"Heh, I'm sure you couldn't cut down a fly."

Smirking, Lapis asked, "You wanna bet?"

"Oh, you know I do. Show me what you got, Lazuli."

In their first bonding exercise, the two began to spar, with Lapis spreading her wings and lifting into the air before flying straight at Jasper with the intent to strike.

The soldier rolled out of the way, but did not account for Lapis's water abilities, leading to her to need to dodge several water spikes.

Chuckling, she commented, "Pretty good, but I can do you one better!"

Forming her helmet, she began to roll around at great speeds, taking off and briefly taking into the air. 

"Heh..."

Lapis, getting cocky, lifted a ball of water into the air and tossed it down at the spinning Jasper, getting her soaked and causing her to lose momentum, falling to the ground. 

Landing on her feet, Jasper took a moment to catch her breath...

...but did not account for Lapis swooping down and wrapping her legs around her neck to choke her out!

Still entertained, she chided, "N-never leave yourself open!"

She reached her hands up and grabbed Lapis by the sides before swinging forward, slamming Lapis's face into the dirt.

After a moment of laughing, she grew concerned by the silent on her brief opponent's part, quickly moving to see if she was okay...

...only to get a surprise attack in the form of several tiny water droplets being launched at her face, blinding her.

"O-okay, we're even, we're even I said...!"

After that moment, both grew to respect each other as fighters, but they only had the slightest inkling of what was lying beneath the surface for the two. 

Pink Diamond made fewer and fewer appearances on Earth, but the two were already finding it to be quite the home, and they took to exploring it at their leisure. One day, they came across a large tree overlooking a nice pond.

Lapis sat at the edge of the pond, her bare feet dipping into the water as she made the water swirl around, and Jasper leaned against the tree with uncertainty.

Giving a soft sigh, Jasper confessed, "I'm not sure if I really want to fight in a war after all."

"What...? What are you talking about?"

Stepping forward, she gestured around and remarked, "Look at everything we've seen... all of this could be gone."

"Well, isn't that what you'd be fighting for? Keeping this under Pink Diamond's watch so the rebels can't get their hands on it?"

Kicking a pebble with her foot into the water, she grumbled, "Rebels, Pink Diamond, how do I know that it'd be any different with any of them?! Just one big playground to ruin!"

"...then maybe you don't go to war."

Turning to face her, she sighed, "I can't just do that!"

"Why not?"

Face in her hands, she reminded her, "I'm the ideal Quartz soldier, that's what they've been saying since day one! Even if I don't wanna fight, they're gonna make me just so other people have a reason to join! They need someone to inspire others into believing the Homeworld cause!"

"Hm... sounds like you don't even believe the cause anymore."

Soon sitting at the edge of the lake next to Lapis, she responded, "No... I don't know what it is."

The two leaned against each other, not knowing what to say. Lapis Lazuli could sense the confusion in Jasper's voice- she had grown to enjoy the time spent on this planet, and yet, a part of her didn't know what she would do if she wasn't fighting. Meanwhile, Lapis didn't know what it was she wanted... but she knew that the Earth had grown to be something fascinating to her. All the things that could be found on this one world were so unique... she wished that she had noticed this on the planets she destroyed time and time again.

The two reached their hands toward each other, gently clasping.

"Hey... Lazuli?"

Lapis, turning to face her, questioned, "Yeah?"

"Do you... want to do something right now?"

Eyebrow raised, she replied, "That's... vague."

"I was thinking... we're both strong apart. And Rubies always fuse to become stronger..."

Inching back in confusion, she asked, "Are you wanting to fuse?"

"I mean, if you don't like it then I'm not, but...!"

Calming her down, she responded, "I'm open to trying, but... I've never done anything like that before."

"If it doesn't work, we don't have to try again, okay? Let's just try."

The two stood in the knee-deep water, doing an awkward waltz that shifted into more of a ballroom dance. They knew each other's moves on the battlefield but never saw what the other could do when just moving for the sake of moving. 

Music started playing in their head- something gentle, something soft.

They felt a glow of energy, and then they felt themselves disappear.

--

"So... did they just-"

"Mhm..."

--

She took form for just a moment- barely fitting into the cramped space of the lake- but disappeared a second later.

Briefly, she saw someone staring through the bushes curiously.

Jasper and Lapis would climb out of the lake, clearly confused by what they just did. They knew they must've fused but barely were able to process what that moment was like where they just... vanished, something else appearing in their place. Jasper thought that fusing would be like entering a mecha, sitting side-by-side with your fusion partner and pressing buttons to control the movements. This was beyond anything she could've pictured, though.

The two then gasped in shock as someone emerged from the bushes with a kind and warm face.

There was Rose Quartz, leader of the Rebellion herself.

Although she held her sword in one hand, she did not hold it with the intent to strike- though she was always ready for if that was needed.

Pointing accusingly, Jasper asked, "Were you spying on us...?!"

"Y-yeah, that's not cool! It was a private moment!"

Blushing, Rose assured them, "I had been just passing by, and I caught a slight glimpse... but what I saw was just majestic!"

"Yeah, what would you know about it?"

She then admitted sheepishly, "Not much. I've only met one fusion before in my life."

"Why are you talking to us like we're friends...?"

Rose, stepping a bit closer despite the pair's hesitation, explained, "From what I've seen of you, you both love this planet as much as I do, don't you? You know that it means more than Homeworld could ever understand. They devalue your power to just destroying when there's so much worth protecting."

"...yeah, I have started to like this planet. I was so excited to fight, and to fight... you... but all this time here has made it hard to think of fighting."

Lapis, giving a gentle nod, added, "There's so much water can do... without hurting a single soul."

"You two don't have to join me, but... I know that Pink Diamond is not going to hesitate to destroy this planet if we do not do something."

The two looked at each other, gently nodding, and back to Rose. They knew that this was the right call.

Weeks passed, and the two helped in the fight against Homeworld as the war continued. Rumors spread of Jasper, a Gem who had been created by Homeworld as the ultimate soldier, turning around and abandoning the Diamond Authority to join the Rebellion. Less word spread about a Lapis always at her side.

Whenever time was had, the two attempted to fuse, struggling to keep the form for long. One day, though, the air felt just right, and...

"I'm... me?"

There standing in a smaller-than-average lake was one who could only be called Malachite.

She was a bit flustered for the others- including Garnet- to see her, but she took it in stride.

They were not exactly ready to be a permafusion, but... they certainly started staying together for longer periods of time.

One day, they walked into the Forge and saw a conflict emerging... Rose and Bismuth arguing about shattering the Diamonds.

Jasper stepped in, urging them to try to stick together- the Diamonds would destroy them if they fought amongst themselves.

Lapis could barely stand in the Forge with the blistering heat, so she barely listened to a word of the argument. However, she was relieved to see the three emerge safely- though Bismuth and Rose were still not speaking to each other. 

One day, Rose told the group that she planned on ending the war- taking Bismuth's advice, she would shatter Pink Diamond with her sword.

Bismuth wanted to say something but stayed silent, trusting Rose knew what was right.

It was odd to think about her old Diamond being shattered, but... Jasper knew that Rose was on the right track, as she was the one fighting for Earth. She even offered to come for protection, but she insisted that it would be just her and Pearl for whatever reason.

They witness from afar the event unfold- Lapis and Jasper held each other closely, having trouble watching.

It felt like the war had ended for a few brief moments, but then the sirens rang.

Rose urged everybody to rush out, with Bismuth, Jasper, Lapis, Garnet, and Pearl all in front.

When the light in the sky came, she couldn't fit everyone under it, so they had to compromise. With their permission, the bulkiest of the group- Jasper and Bismuth- were poofed and held respectively by Lapis and Pearl.

When everything settled down, the two reemerged into something unfamiliar- they could barely find their fellow Rebellion soldiers, just finding... monsters, rushing out in various directions.

Bismuth sobbed into her hands, wishing she had stopped Rose before she did what must've lead to this. Garnet urged calm and rational thinking. Pearl was flustered as one could be.

Lapis and Jasper were silent.

The two continued to follow Rose as long as they could, fusing whenever the time felt right and unfusing when they wished to see each other again. They stumbled upon another Quartz who Jasper took to calling her sister. They settled down in a small town.

When Rose decided on giving up her physical form, they didn't argue or fight with her, as Pearl and Garnet did. They would not worry about being lost, because they already had each other for guidance. They were prepared for whatever challenges her child may bring... and Malachite would be ready just the same.

-- 

"Wow, Garnet... I never fought a story about Malachite would get me teary-eyed in the good way."

Giving a nod, Garnet admitted, "It may sound far-fetched, but Lapis and Jasper in another life could've become great allies. It was simply a mix of circumstances that caused them to become so opposite to each other."

"So all it would've taken was Lapis to be there on Earth when Jasper emerged...? You were right, little things do make all the difference."

She gave a nod, assuring him, "I have many more stories like this."

"Heh, you know I'm gonna wanna hear more."

Chapter Text

"Steven, you recall those five little Rubies we've encountered before, perhaps."

"Oh yeah, I do. Even though they were troublesome, I feel bad for leading them in circles..."

"Hm, well this may make you feel better..."

--

Five Rubies were given the seemingly impossible task of finding Jasper, who had been lost on Earth ever since she arrived for her mission to check on the Cluster. Foul play was suspected with fingers pointing to Peridot, but the Diamonds were eager to quell these rumors by having this team retrieve her and then return to press her for information on what occurred.

The team went the route of sweeping every last mile of the Earth in their ship until they came across a sign of Jasper, knowing they could not risk a Crystal Gem spotting them and trying to lead them astray. 

Finally, something was found- the sight of an orange blur barely peeking out on the surface of the ocean.

The Rubies could not bare to see Jasper suffer like this and flew their ship down to try and retrieve her.

It was a hard job, trying to pull the mighty Quartz soldier from the water, but soon she was freed.

--

"Man, so they just didn't come to us for information, and they were able to find her just like that?"

"I am abridging it a bit; it takes them some time before they spot her. I didn't want you to miss out on the good parts."

"Oh, okay, go on!"

-- 

Jasper sat dripping wet in the middle of the Ruby ship, exhaustion pouring over her body. After falling into the ravine, she had struggled to find any way to pull herself out of the ocean's depths, and there was a very real moment of fear that she'd remain there forever.

Eyeball, approaching her slowly, asked, "Jasper... are you okay...?"

"...where are they?"

Not knowing what she meant, she tilted her head and asked, "Who...?"

"The Crystal Gems, the ones who humiliated me and took away my chance to be powerful!"

Doc, stepping forward now, stated, "We had word of them being in Beach City but we felt like they would only distract us from what was important."

"...hm... honorable."

Their hearts lit up with excitement hearing that single utterance.

Leggy, gently kicking her legs, questioned, "What're we gonna do now?"

"Um, duh! We take Jasper back to Homeworld!" Doc proclaimed.

Shaking her head, Jasper urged, "We don't need to go so soon. Maybe we can just... take some time to explore."

The five were unsure what to make of this, but did not want to deny her words, so they went forth with her request- spending a good stretch of time just admiring the Earth's surface and oceans.

-- 

"Wait... what? Why wouldn't she want to go back to Homeworld?"

"Simple. She felt humiliated to have lost and wanted nothing more than to save face. That's why she refused to let you heal her."

"Oh, wow... guess that does make sense."

Chapter Text

"As I've said, a lot of alternate universes here imagine if one choice had been made that hadn't been made before... but here is a story about a choice not being made that would've otherwise led to great friendships being formed."

"Man, I'm already so excited..."

"Oh, I'm very glad."

--

Five thousand years ago, shortly after the war ended, a Gem emerged from the ground having no idea who she was or where it was that she had been created. All she knew was that she was alone and that there was nobody else there.

In our reality, she was discovered by the Crystal Gems, who were in desperate need of extra companionship after the end of the war had left them with so few people.

In this one, though, the Prime Kindergarten went overlooked. Nobody thought to look into the possibility of anything still being alive there, and therefore, Amethyst was given no opportunity for a family.

Wandering around the barren land for what felt like forever, inspecting every last inch of it, she came to the unfortunate conclusion that there was nothing left here. 

With nobody coming for her any time soon, she sought her own people elsewhere

Stumbling upon ancient Mesopotamia, Amethyst discovered what we know as the first human civilization ever documented- the Sumerians. They were in the process of building their first structures when she stumbled upon them, and while at first they were wary of her odd appearance, they quickly chose to treat her as their own.

Having never learned Gem writing, nor how to speak, Amethyst began to learn from them and the many practices that they had started for humanity. 

In turn, using her impressive strength, she assisted in the creation of many grand structures that could still be seen standing today

It felt as if Amethyst finally had a home among these people, and though she had trouble at first understanding their practices just like they struggled to understand why she was purple and had a gemstone stuck in her chest, a common appreciation was formed amongst them.

--

"This sounds like a pretty nice story. What happens next?"

"Hm... you may not be happy to hear."

"I'm ready for anything, Garnet."

"Alright, if you say so."

--

Due to Amethyst's nature, never aging amongst those who had such short life spans in comparison, she began to get worshipped as some sort of holy figure- shaping their beliefs just by being around. However, Amethyst was not a god, nor was she all-powerful. This would become evident when the crops began to grow difficult to manage because of rising salinity and an arid climate, and they pleaded with her to do something to help them. At this time, Amethyst had learned much about crops, but the only special talent she had was the ability to alter her physical form and pull an odd whip from her body.

She grew weary seeing the population of what became her home dwindle more and more over time.

All of this came to a head when an invasion occurred, and she struggled to keep up due to knowing very little of fighting. By the time the invasion had ended, she barely recognized the place she used to know as her home.

Roughly a thousand years after she had arrived there, Amethyst left once more, searching for a new place to call her own.

Continuing to explore the world, civilization by civilization, the small and curious Gem acted as a sponge for every culture the came across.

For four-hundred years, she settled in China, learning their language and respecting their ways. Knowing nothing about the ideals of Homeworld, she took many of the beliefs formed- such as Confucianism- at face-value, finding them just as intriguing as a human may find the idea of an advanced alien society.

After that, when she began to grow restless, she bid her farewell to the dismay of many who grew to find her a comfort and arrived in Israel where- for about eight-hundred years- she became a mainstay as the country was divided between two kingdoms which started to feud with and destroy one another. Seeing everyone there as her family, she attempted to bring them together with what she had learned of their language, but to no avail. In time, it became too much for her to bare to see so much violence, and she bid ado to King Cyrus before leaving to find something new for herself.

She next stumbled upon the ancient civilization of Rome, where she took to donning a toga and worshipping the many gods that were believed to exist. With her strong knowledge of history, she had the experience to eventually join the consul due to the public favor, making her a beloved figure of the Roman republic.

As she had experienced before, many took to worshipping her, while others merely believed that she had been blessed by the Gods without her own volition.

Hundreds of years went by, and she eventually became an accomplice in the murder of Julius Caesar- using her own whip to strangle him as he chokingly pleaded for his life from his good friend Brutus. Shaken by her own violence, she accepted her own punishment despite having the means to easily escape, but her willing arrest turned her into a martyr, only leading to more violence between the loyalists and the rebels.

Twenty years later, she finally broke from her imprisonment as Rome burned, managing to get the fire out and save many who may have died otherwise. With many having forgotten about her past actions, the current Emperor Nero gave him her blessing.

Remaining in Rome for many centuries later, she witnessed the fall of the Western Empire and- having begun to grow numb to the sight, to her dismay- looked for a way she could create something, rather than let it fall.

She arrived in what would become the Kingdom of Essex and became among its founders, and she felt quite satisfied by how she was able to keep the civilization going. It grew to be not enough, though, as it was only three hundred years later that a battle broke out that lead to it falling under new power.

--

"Uh... Garnet? It seems like this story has a lot of... just really bad things happening. Does Amethyst ever get to find a place to just settle down?"

"Don't worry, Steven, she does."

"Oh, great!"

"Eight hundred years later."

"...wait, what?"

--

She sailed the open seas on a hand-crafted boat, wishing to master it to the best of her abilities. Along the way to becoming a skilled sailor, she grew familiar with many- vikings and pirates alike- and even helped a lost explorer find his way to Asia. Eventually, she came across Jamestown and began to make it her home.

Over time, she grew quite respected to the point that many followed her word without question. This became very beneficial when slavery began forty-ish years later, and she quickly made it clear that she found that quite distasteful to put it mildly. 

These odd colonies were fascinating to her, and she became one of the defining founding members of them.

Two hundred years later, when the Crystal Gems assisted in the safe arrival of William Dewey on the free ocean-side land, they had already heard many tales of her traveling the land without being held down in any particular fashion.

Despite her appearance, she was the most knowledgeable out of any of them of human culture, so she became great help in making sure Beach City did not repeat the same mistakes that have been made before.

-- 

"Wow... can't believe Amethyst went to so many places, and still ended up meeting you guys."

"Hey, it isn't that big a planet."

Steven, getting curious, asked, "What happened next? Was everything just like it is now?"

"Not quite, Steven. Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet may have united one way or another, but this was not the same Amethyst you know. In fact, when you were born in this universe, she was better at teaching you than Pearl."

Chuckling, he joked, "You better not tell Amethyst about this, she may get a big head."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll save this story for when I need to bring Pearl down a peg," Garnet snickered, having a bit of a sense of humor about these tales.

Chapter Text

"Steven, a long time ago, you were introduced to a fusion of mine that we don't see very often anymore... I want to tell you a story of a reality where that changed."

"Oh, sure! Should be a fun story!"

"...it'll be interesting. I'll begin with what you may remember."

--

When television signals were being disrupted one fateful day, the Crystal Gems arrived in order to try and resolve the issue. Pearl insisted that grace and precision was needed, but ultimately, it was decided to form Sugilite- combining the most chaotic aspects of her components, she dedicated herself to raw power.

Unwilling to unfuse after one measly bout of destruction, she was left behind until she eventually arrived back on Beach City with a vengeance, wishing to get back at Pearl for having left her there by battling her.

Steven, very eager to prove that Pearl was just as strong even if in a different fashion-

--

"Come on, say the real line!"

"Strong in the real way."

"Eheheheh..."

"Never change, Steven."

--

-he urged that she prove herself against the fusion despite her anxiety over not being able to take her on.

"You gotta show her what you showed me! That you're strong, strong in the real way!"

Pearl, weakly standing up from where she stood before, rushing forward with her spear.

She had a plan- leading Sugilite toward the cliff, she'd take advantage of the behemoth's "act first, think later" attitude. 

She jumped off the edge, anticipating that she would swing that flail in an attempt to hit her on the way down.

In our universe, Pearl's plan works exactly as intended...

...but we're not talking about our universe here.

The flail hits her directly, and the impact poofs her instantly.

"Pearl...!"

Steven rushed to the cliffside, looking down at the gemstone of his mentor in the same way he had seen her not long ago. This felt different, however, due to the circumstances of how and by whom she was poofed.

Sugilite was about to laugh in celebration, but then, she glanced between the lone pearl resting on the ground below, and the teary-eyed face of Steven, and...

...she split apart, and not in two, but in three.

Steven, barely recovering from the grief of seeing his motherly figure poof, let out a gasp at the sight of these two new figures.

The short and red one, hands in her face, bellowed out, "This is our fault...!"

"I should've foreseen this, I should've stopped this," the one in the blue dress muttered, feet beginning to freeze.

Amethyst, the only familiar face here, groaned and urged them, "Stop freaking out, she was the one who- I mean, we- ugh, whatever...!"

Before she could walk off, Steven rushed over to her and grabbed her leg to remind her, "We need to get Pearl!"

"Geez, Steven, Garnet can just... oh, yeah..."

She realized that they had not yet told Steven about... them, who were still melting down over what an apparent failure.

Pearl's gemstone was placed on a soft pillow, and the two gems- named Ruby and Sapphire, as Steven learned- stood there anxiously.

Steven sat nearby, straining himself to not ask any questions, but it was quickly realized by the others he probably would not be able to hold it in long.

Ruby, turning to him and giving a sigh, told him politely, "You can ask us anything you want."

"Oh my gosh, thank you! How long have you two been fused? Do you fuse all the time or do you unfuse whenever I don't see Garnet? How do you sleep?!"

Sapphire, kicking the ice out from under her that was already beginning to form, answered all three in quick succession: "Five thousand seven hundred and forty-nine years, we stay fused unless we become destabilized, and we don't."

Thinking about that for a second, he then asked, "So... you two became destabilized because of what happened with Pearl?"

"Can we not talk so much about this?" Amethyst urged, resting upon the hand-railing above in a glum fashion. "I already feel bad enough."

Sapphire, in a monotone voice, assured her, "It isn't just you. Sugilite is simply a chaotic force of nature."

"Yeah, because of me! Garnet is calm, always knows what she's doing, thinks things through- then you add me in there, and bam, we end up poofing Pearl for no reason!"

Clutching her head, the short red Gem proclaimed, "It isn't just you, it's me too...!"

"Ruby, please do not say that."

Shaking her head, she reminded Sapphire, "I'm the one you always have to rein in, Sapphire! If it was just me calling the shots-"

"That isn't how Garnet works. She takes the good and bad from both of us. And I'm partially to blame for what happened, too."

Amethyst and Ruby both looked at her with disbelief, while Steven just leaned in as if listening to a story.

Continuing, she elaborated, "I... always think I know what's going to happen, because I can peer into potential futures. But I never keep in consideration that the future is always changing based on our actions, and even the smallest of changes can effect things. I get careless just like you two do, and it's because of my powers, not in spite of it."

"Sapphire..."

Ruby gave her a hug, squeezing her tight, and then Pearl's pearl floated off the ground.

Upon reforming, Pearl first noticed that Garnet was split- it was unheard of for her to be unfused unless something terrible has happened. And then she remembered that something terrible did happen.

Looking up at her, the two gave their apologies- Ruby being frantic and disjointed, struggling to get two words in a row out, while Sapphire was slow and methodical, picking every syllable as if it may be her last.

Then, Amethyst rushed down the stairs, jumping to give Pearl a tight hug- nearly poofing her again.

She cried into Pearl's chest, and Pearl began to cry with her.

--

"Wow... this is really sad... but I thought you said-"

"I know, I know. Just listen."

-- 

After that, Ruby and Sapphire were separated for quite some time. It was as if the event of losing themselves to Sugilite to the point of poofing their own Crystal Gem brethren had shaken the fusion to her core, making her question what it was she stood for.

Pearl felt guilty somehow for the presumed leader of the team being gone while at the same time wishing she had been able to beat Sugilite those many days ago. Conversations with Amethyst grew quite infrequent.

Finally, Steven decided he could not take this anymore, and he urged Ruby and Sapphire to do something to fix this. He needed his parental figures to get along, and if they weren't going to talk this out, they needed to find another way to resolve it.

It was the day after that that Steven urged Pearl to follow him blind-folded to the Warp Pad, then whispered into her ear where he wanted them to go when he had trouble getting it to work, and only removing the blindfold a few seconds later to reveal quite an interesting sight indeed.

An apologetic Sugilite stood among the strawberry-filled land of the Gem Battlefield, and it was clear what the intention was... especially with Steven excitedly standing nearby.

Pearl, giving a soft sigh, asked her, "Do you really think this'll help?"

"Come on, Pearl... you think I'm any match for you at your best?"

Smiling a little, she responded, "Ah right... you haven't seen me at my best yet. Guess that needs amending."

She whipped her spear out and rushed at the triple-fusion at great speeds, with Sugilite just barely managing to lift a hand to intercept her, tossing her across the field with a mighty swing.

Grinding her feet into the ground to bring herself to a stop, she ended up taking the route of flinging her spears at her from a distance with Sugilite having trouble dodging due to how much of her there was for the spears to hit.

One managed to graze her side and she could feel she may end up being split, but she was not going to let Pearl have an easy win. Picking a giant strawberry up from the ground, she tossed it at her with a mighty roar...

...and Pearl quickly bisected it.

"Woah!"

Pearl, smirking at the sight of the fusion being impressed, dashed forward and managed to duck and weave underneath and around the swings of that flail, swinging her spear and cutting right through her.

This time, when the fusion split, Garnet was there. Steven looked at the gemstones on her hands and could almost see Ruby and Sapphire standing there.

Pearl gave Garnet a hug, happy to see her again, before turning to Amethyst.

Fiddling with the whip, she assured her, "Look, P, me and Garnet, uh... we're gonna be more careful about fusing from now on, so-"

"Amethyst, you two can fuse whenever you like. But you know, try to keep me in the rotation- I know Opal hasn't made a lot of appearances lately."

Blushing, Amethyst dissipated her whip and gave Pearl a big hug. 

From that day forward, fusion became less of a one-in-a-while treat and more of something the Gems did to help to further develop their relationships. And in the meantime, Garnet took to unfusing when she felt like Steven deserved to get to know her components better. After all, he can only know someone so well without knowing what makes them... well, them.

--

"Wow, Garnet... I didn't even think there'd be a happy ending after how that started, but you surprised me."

"Don't thank me, thank you."

"Huh..?"

"You were the one who encouraged Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst to come together once again and really give Pearl the fight she deserved and prove to her that she was strong, and because of that, the meaning of fusion was changed for them."

"Hm... I really do need to see Opal and Sugilite more often."

"Heh, come to Beach City sometime and maybe you will."

"Blackmailing me, Garnet? Alright, I think I have some time~"

Chapter Text

With them wearing their crop-top, they exposed the familiar gemstone, evoking gasps from everyone.

Flying closer to inspect it, she admitted, "It does look like Rose's gem... alright, I guess that works for me. Not sure how I'll explain... this, to the Diamonds, but I doubt they'll care."

She dropped the rest of the humans, along with Alexandrite- who ended up unfusing into her core four components.

Jumping from the water and looking up at him, Garnet urged, "Don't do this! Get down here!"

"Normally I'd listen to you, Garnet, but... I have to fix this."

Stevonnie knew that, if Connie was there and Steven was the one leaving, she would be saying what all of the Gems were saying right now. Now, though, it all made sense to them. Homeworld wouldn't stop if it didn't have someone they could blame everything for, and that person had to be whoever they thought was Rose Quartz. It wouldn't make a difference to them what body they had as long as they could somewhat reasonably make the claim that it was them who did it. 

As the doors closed behind them, though, they began to feel... doubts internally.

Suddenly, Steven and Connie split apart as the ship took off, with both of them being quite distraught.

Rolling her eyes, Aquamarine lamented, "And now you unfuse. Alright, Topaz, go ahead."

"No, don't! We gave ourselves up to you, the least you can do is give us the courtesy of a comfortable flight!"

Bawking at Connie's boldness to speak back to her, she shrugged and admitted, "Doesn't make a difference to me. Topaz, take off, and keep an eye on them. I have better things to do than watch over Rose Quartz and her rowdy human pet... I mean, Connie."

It was clear that Connie found her attitude quite distasteful, and with Rose's sword, she felt like she could do something about it. However, Steven soon interrupted her to ask some pressing questions.

"Connie, why did you want to come with me...? This isn't safe for you, I...! I don't wanna see you get hurt..."

Looking at him sympathetically, she assured him, "I don't wanna see you get hurt! But we're in this together, remember? Jam Buds! Whatever you do, I wanna do too, and it isn't like I'm still just a nosey bookworm- I know how to defend myself."

"...yeah, you're right, Connie. I guess I just felt like I had to do this on my own, I almost forgot what we trained for... should we come to the Diamonds fused together, though? I'm worried that if you come there by yourself they may try to put you in the Human Zoo or something."

She gave a nod and stated, "Stevonnie will know how to handle them."

Aquamarine chose not to watch this time as the fusion formed, but Topaz couldn't help but give a glance- she envied them having such a relationship without being ashamed to show it.

When the ship came to a stop, Topaz stood up and moved to grab Stevonnie, but...

"I can follow, you don't have to grab."

She glanced toward Aquamarine who just stated, "She's going on trial either way."

"It's... they, but alright..."

Aquamarine didn't give that a response, clearly not caring, as Topaz lead them along to the room where they'd be waiting.

Stevonnie sat in wait in this empty blue room for what felt like ages, before finally, someone entered- a frantic blue Gem with a monocle, clearly not having much better of a day than the fusion was having.

When she finally took note of them, she gasped and questioned, "Are you really going to be going on trial looking like that?!"

"What's wrong with how I look?"

Pausing for a second, she responded, "Well... I suppose nothing, it's just... the Diamonds are expecting Rose Quartz, and you do not look like Rose Quartz."

"Hey, I have the sword, I have the Gem, what else do they need?"

Gasping at the sight of that infamous sword, she politely asked, "Can I... take a look at that...?"

"Depends, are you giving it back? I kind of want to use this."

A bit nervous by the sound of that, she admitted, "I... don't know, but I can see what I can do."

"Alright! What's your name, by the way? I'm Stevonnie!"

Pausing at the contradiction here, she nevertheless answered, "Zircon. Or, uh, Blue Zircon."

"So uh, what's this trial I've been hearing about?"

Before Blue Zircon could answer, the walls opened to reveal the Trial in question- Blue and Yellow Diamond positioned above everything else as if to act as the judges, a Yellow Zircon on the other side of the room clearly in the position of the prosecutor, and the Diamonds' respective Pearls taking on the role of the court inscribers.

Soon, before they could process anything going on, they were made to take the stand- with Blue Zircon awkwardly holding the sword since Stevonnie obviously couldn't carry it with them.

Narrowing her eyes, Yellow Diamond asked, "Why does she... look like that?"

"I go by they/them, actually, and... I feel a lot more comfortable staying like this than unfusing."

A gasp echoed throughout the courtroom, with Yellow Zircon snarking, "Oh, what a great start, fusing in front of the Diamonds."

"I don't care what form Rose takes... as long as they're here."

Wait, did Blue Diamond just use the correct pronouns...? Definitely a low bar, but it's certainly something.

Yellow Zircon made her opening argument, declaring that Rose Quartz's guilt was quite apparent just by looking at her... or, them, as she quickly corrected herself.

The first witness brought forth was Eyeball, who claimed to have met Rose Quartz before, but...

...looking at Stevonnie long and hard, she stated, "I've never met them before."

"Oh, yes you have, just look at the gem!" Yellow Diamond urged.

Shaking her head, Eyeball responded, "Nope, Rose Quartz was short, curly hair, and a little chubby."

"Well, I'm a fusion of Steven and Connie, and I have Rose Quartz's gem!"

Yellow Zircon, under her breath, muttered, "The fusion talk will not help your case..."

"Eh... sure, whatever, I guess that's Rose too," Eyeball responded, throwing her hands in the air before being lifted off.

Tilting her head, Yellow Diamond admitted, "That witness seemed far more convincing before..."

"Well, clearly, Rose Quartz has changed appearances. We can't rely on a witness who claimed to have seen them when they're able to look so different."

Turning to Blue, she questioned, "And what witnesses CAN we trust to testify?"

"I... hm. I call for a recess while we discuss."

Soon, Stevonnie returned to the room with Blue Zircon, and they casually asked, "So, how am I doing?"

"Well, we don't usually have a recess before the witness makes their case, so this is definitely unusual... are you sure you can't unfuse?"

Rolling their eyes, they commented, "Yeah, so the Diamonds can take Connie and throw her in jail and then can have an easier time interrogating Steven. Yeah, no, if they have anything they wanna say to Rose, they can say it to me."

"...but aren't you Rose Quartz?"

Sighing with exasperation, Stevonnie admitted with frustration, "I honestly don't know right now! I don't have any of her memories, but I have her gem, and that's enough. And look, I can even do this!"

They summoned the shield, showing it off to Blue Zircon.

"Hm, well, this is... wait, okay, I got something! You say you don't have any of her memories, right? So go out there and try to say what you think happened! If your recollection contradicts with what was witnessed, that'll demonstrate you can't be the person who did the crime and you'll be deemed innocent!"

Tilting their head, they asked, "Will that really work?"

"...look, I'm really desperate, just try it and don't say anything that'll anger them."

Stevonnie took the stand again, and Blue Zircon dramatically declared, "My client would like to explain what they recall happened on the day of the event! Um, do you wish to be called Rose, or..."

"Stevonnie, Stevonnie is fine."

Blue Zircon, nodding, urged, "Everyone, listen to Stevonnie's case."

"Okay, uh... well, I was there in front of a palanquin, like that..."

They gestured to the blue palanquin, acting as a visual aid.

"And... well, Pink Diamond was there, obviously. And I would've had the sword with me, which I swung, but... hang on, this doesn't make sense."

Yellow Diamond, leaning forward, asked, "What part of what you said are you referring to as not making sense?"

"You can't shatter a Gem with a sword. Bismuth made this to cut straight through the physical form without harming the gem, and how could Rose be able to slice it through Pink Diamond in the exact position to cut through the gem? If she was one centimeter off, she would've just poofed her and then she'd be shattered."

The prosecution, speaking up, questioned, "Are you doubting hundreds of eye-witnesses?"

"Um, yeah, I am. Think what you want about Rose Quartz, but she wasn't stupid- she was the leader of a Rebellion that managed to fight Homeworld to a standstill for millennia! And we're just expected to believe she rushed in with no protection, with Pink Diamond having the guard and power of... well, a Diamond, and she just managed to slip out without any problem?"

Blue Diamond, clearly on the verge of tears, insisted, "You don't know what you're saying. Pink Diamond was shattered, we saw it happen."

"Um, if I may interject, I think what they're trying to say is that there are some... slight holes in the story of Rose Quartz's attack," Blue Zircon stated, worrying that Stevonnie may be pushing a bit too far.

Wiping her tears away and giving a sigh, the Diamond responded, "Okay... perhaps there are some things we don't know, but Rose Quartz is our only possible suspect, so unless you can come up with someone else-"

"Hey, wait, since when is it the defense's job to figure out the real culprit? All Blue Zircon has to do is prove that there is a reasonable doubt."

After a moment of silence, Blue Zircon politely asked, "Is this... true, my Diamond...?"

"...yes, they're right. You have no duty to find the real culprit, just to defend your client, and we can't reasonably shatter Rose Quartz with these lingering doubts."

Gasping, Yellow Diamond questioned, "Are you really saying this?!"

"You heard what they said!"

She quickly argued, "They clearly are just trying to save themselves!"

"If I was accused of a crime and I didn't even know how it happened, then surely I would want to defend myself too! Please be reasonable, Yellow!"

Clearly quite upset, Yellow stated, "I am being reasonable! You're the one letting your emotions be manipulated by this war criminal!"

"Don't speak to me like that! If you did not wish to have a fair trial, you should've stayed in your room!"

As the argument continued, Stevonnie realized that this may not actually be... well, a very fair legal system, and mostly just a way for the Diamonds to vent their frustrations. Backing up slowly, snagging the sword from the defense and giving them an apologetic wave, they soon managed to climb into the palanquin and work to pilot it out of the courtroom entirely.

The two Diamonds, too distracted by their squabbling, were unable to stop them in time, and they watched as Stevonnie clumsily managed to get the palanquin out of there with it bursting through the ceiling. 

As they plummeted in the palanquin, Stevonnie mumbled to themselves, "This is so insane, this is such a bad idea...!"

And then it crashed on Homeworld's surface down below, with Stevonnie forming a bubble around themselves just in time.

"Man, glad I didn't split- I can't imagine what would've happened to Connie. Okay, now to uh... figure out where I am..."

They trudged forward, looking around for any safe place to hide, only to need to start running as they saw some threatening robots. Ah, good thing they have that sword to swing through them!

Then, Stevonnie heard a voice calling out, and they cautiously snuck over in order to climb through that gap...

...and stumbled upon a group of oddball Gems managing to hide out from the Diamonds and their awful robots through pure luck.

One was a Sapphire who could foresee only events that already transpired...

...one was an anxious fusion of a Ruby and a Pearl...

...one was a gem born as some sort of Siamese twin...

...and the other was a massive fusion of six different Gems.

They went by the name Off Colors due to the way Homeworld viewed them- mistakes that had to be gotten rid of to make the Diamonds happy.

Tilting her heads as her, Rutile asked, "Are you... an Off Color too?"

"You don't look like any Gem I've seen..."

Wanting to clear things up for them, Stevonnie decided to briefly unfuse to show off their components, and then Steven lifted his shirt to show his Gem- revealing him to be Rose Quartz's son.

They all appeared quite unnerved by the sound of that, but there was hardly any time to think about it, as Robonoids began to attack!

Quickly, Stevonnie formed once more, moving to try and gather them all up and form a shield to protect them while slashing at any that got too close!

Grunting, they questioned, "How long have you all had to put up with this...?!"

"We have to find new places to hide, like, every other day!" Rhodonite proclaimed with great distress, with Stevonnie cutting a Robonoid in half just as it aimed for the fusion.

Sighing with exasperation, Stevonnie declared, "This is no way to live! I need to get you guys out of here! If I didn't wreck Blue Diamond's palaquin, I could've used that, but now..."

Suddenly, Rhodonite screamed as a Robonoid aimed a laser at them.

Stevonnie unfused once more, the laser firing through the blank space that Stevonnie used to be and hitting the ground. 

Connie, panting in exhaustion, rubbed her head as she stated, "I don't know how long we can keep up!"

"I don't know what else we can do, though!" Steven stated as he tossed shields at them. "They'll keep sending them until they get what they want!"

Perking up, she then asked, "What if we bring the Off Colors to the Diamonds and tell them to leave them alone?"

"Are you insane?!" Rhodonite exclaimed. 

Standing up firmly, she explained, "Blue Diamond was at least willing to listen, it's Yellow we really need to convince!"

"I'm willing to... do anything... if it means... being safe," Fluorite declared in a slow voice.

Re-fusing, Stevonnie lead them out of their hiding spot, slicing through various Robonoids before getting to where they initially fell- the wreck of the palanquin still visible.

Turning to Fluorite, they asked, "Can you climb up that wall with us on your back?"

"I... can... try."

They all climbed onto her back, trying to hold on tight as she climbed up- Robonoids becoming less frequent the higher they went.

Inside, the Diamonds were still there- clearly not having gotten over the confusion of what just happened- and it did not get any clearer for them as the saw the giant fusion enter with the rest aboard.

Gasping, Blue Zircon exclaimed, "Are you really sure this is going to help your case?!"

"I don't care about my case!"

Blue Diamond, stepping forward, questioned, "Who are these... unusual Gems?"

"This is certainly not any kind of trial I've come to expect, but I suppose you don't want to hear what I have to say, do you, Blue?"

Sighing, she urged Yellow, "Please do not act like this, you know how I feel."

"Oh my, we're about to be seen by the Diamonds!" Padparadscha exclaimed in a panic.

Clearing their throat, Stevonnie began to explain, "These Gems have been hiding on Homeworld for ages, terrified of being destroyed by your Robonoids all because they are deemed unworthy to live due to the way they were created. I propose that, if you are to keep me here, you must give them a ship and let them leave."

"You're clearly not Rose Quartz, so we have no reason to want to keep you here, do we?"

Blue, turning to Yellow, asked her, "What are you meaning by this?"

"We said so just before. If they can't remember how Rose did it and don't even think she did, how are we to believe they are anything but just a half-human with a similar-looking cut?"

The prosecution, exasperated, exclaimed, "But what of the sword!?"

"And they did show me their shield," Blue Zircon commented.

Stevonnie, turning to her, questioned, "Aren't you on my side?"

"I'm just saying..."

Yellow Diamond, shaking her head, sighed, "I am too tired to keep going on about this. We'll find the real Rose Quartz eventually, but this... well, we'll need to get onto Aquamarine for bringing us such a poor replacement."

"We never said that this couldn't be Rose, Yellow. It's just... if they are, then Rose must not..."

Not ready to entertain this line of thinking, she urged, "I'm giving them this one victory, now let them leave."

"...does this include the ship...?"

Waving a hand, Yellow Diamond stated, "We'll give you a simple Ruby ship, nothing more. We have hundreds of them. My Pearl will escort you."

"I will...?! ...I mean, of course!"

Yellow Pearl, clearly not happy about any of this, did as her Diamond requested- she was on the page of at least wanting to get this over with.

They were brought to a simple Ruby ship where they were urged to squeeze in as best they could.

Blue Zircon rushed out to give them a goodbye, having some... specific words to say to them.

With a confused expression, she asked, "For the record, you really aren't Rose, are you?"

"...no, I'm not. I'm the fusion of her son and his... best friend, and although people want Steven to be her, I don't think he ever will be."

She gave a nod, hardly understanding any of this, but assured them, "I believe that, the next time you come here in... this form, you will be safe. But if your gem-half decides to come here by themselves, there may be another incident."

"I'll be careful."

And so, Stevonnie and the Off-Colors left Homeworld headed for Earth.

--

"Wow, so... they just got to leave?"

"The concept of a human-gem fusion was hard for us to believe, so imagine how hard it was to think about for the Diamonds, especially during a trial. Yellow Diamond wanted to appear rational, but really, she just didn't want to admit that none of this made sense to her."

"Man, I wish I really did fuse with Connie now."

"Well, that's just one thing that may have happened. Every choice can yield many results. I just prefer the happier endings."

"Heh, don't hold back on me, Garnet!"

"Oh, I won't, I promise."

Chapter Text

"Steven, this next story happens to pertain specifically to me. And I think you may find this universe to have less of a happy ending than the others."

"Well, I'm intrigued..."

--

Five thousand seven hundred and fifty-two years ago, an attack from Rose Quartz and her terrifying renegade Pearl led to what was supposed to be the end of the Rebellion, but instead would be just the beginning.

All but one Sapphire's Ruby guards, along with Sapphire herself, were said to be poofed in the calamity, which would then result in the end of the Rebellion. 

However, one Ruby soldier refused to let her Sapphire suffer that fate, and she risked herself to get her out of the way... causing the two of them to fuse.

"...Let's go."

"Uh... bye!"

Rose and Pearl escaped before they could be defeated as per the vision, and Blue Diamond was bewildered.

...but, in this universe, something else manifested.

Before Garnet could defuse, Blue Diamond urged, "Wait... I want to see what you can do."

"What...? What do you mean?"

Gesturing to a nearby Gem, she stated, "Show me if you can fight."

The Gem in question was unsure what to make of this but didn't have much time to figure it out- Garnet rushed over with the hope to do something to them, and with a mere punch, she poofed them. Her strength was clearly impressive, much greater than an average Ruby.

"Hm... Homeworld saw fusion between different Gems as nothing but an outrage, but... perhaps you can prove this notion wrong."

Looking up at Blue Diamond, she asked, "So... Ruby and Sapphire won't be separated?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it. You two are stronger together, and you will serve Homeworld with a strength unmatched by any single Gem."

The newly formed fusion, still confused as to her true meaning for being, was led to a training room where she was urged to go wild on a series of concrete dummies. Entering behind her as she was just getting the hang of the act of punching would be a soldier with quite a reputation.

Tapping her foot, Jasper asked, "Do you really think your Diamond cares about you?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

Laughing, she mocked, "It's like all you know how to do is ask questions! You really don't know anything!"

"What do- I mean... I'd like to know what it is you think my Diamond wants me for."

Leaning against the wall, she responded simply, "She's using you. Once she realizes that nothing a fusion can do can beat a naturally-born warrior, she'll go back on her promise and have you shattered."

"...I don't believe you."

Stepping closer, Jasper growled, "I'd love for you to repeat that, you whatever-you-are."

"My name is Garnet. And I said I don't believe you. If my Diamond really didn't think I should exist, I wouldn't. She believes that me being who I am can help Homeworld, however that may be."

This only amused the Quartz soldier further who snarked, "If you don't even know what help you'll be for Homeworld, there's no reason to think that Blue Diamond does either. She cares about feelings and being soft- my Diamond knows what's best, and if you were hers, you'd be dust!"

"In that case, I'm glad I'm not your Diamond's."

Angered now, Jasper got into Garnet's face and declared, "You wish you were hers, Garnet! You're lucky to set a single foot on her planet looking like that!"

"And tell me, Jasper, what have you done for your Diamond?" Garnet asked.

Grabbing one of the stone statues, she lifted it into the air and moved to smash it over Garnet's head, exclaiming in fury, "I said no more questions...!"

Before Garnet could move to dodge or deflect, she heard a soft voice from just outside the room.

"Excuse me, um, Garnet?"

Turning over, dropping the statue harmlessly on the ground, Jasper saw that Blue Diamond's Pearl was nervously standing in the doorway.

Garnet, ignoring Jasper and stepping toward her, questioned, "What is wrong?"

"Blue Diamond wishes to speak with you directly."

That both excited and terrified Garnet while greatly angering Jasper.

Approaching Blue Diamond's throne, she politely asked, "What is it you need, my Diamond...?"

"You do not need to be apprehensive. I have much faith in what you can do for Homeworld and will make sure nothing can stop it. Now, what I need to know is this... how did Ruby and Sapphire now how to fuse like they did?"

A slight blush forming on her cheeks, she admitted, "Well... it wasn't something that I think they knew how to do, just... hm... maybe it'd be easier for them to explain."

"I do not mind. I'd love to see them."

Garnet unfused, revealing Ruby and Sapphire standing there- one of them a bit more nervous than the other.

First, Ruby gave her own explanation: "Well, I really wanted to protect Sapphire because I didn't want her to get hurt and she looked so nice and pretty- I mean, pretty nice, eheh- and I jumped to push her out of the way, and I didn't even think about fusing when I did it, one moment I was just holding her there and we were spinning and then suddenly-!"

"Ruby has communicated my feelings quite well," Sapphire stated, giving a faint smile.

Blue Diamond, amused, pondered, "I should've considered it sooner... the individual strength of the Gems is not what is important. Strong emotional bonds are what we need between soldiers to allow fusion."

"If I may say something, my Diamond, I am curious how you would be able to instill such bonds between Gems. What happened between Ruby and I was quite spontaneous."

Slowly standing up, she responded, "Fusion between different Gems has been forbidden for as long as I can remember. If we declare it to be approved by the Diamonds, we will see new fusions begin to reveal themselves."

And so, a public statement was made shortly after by the Diamonds- White Diamond came out of her place of hiding, convinced to give her stamp of approval to any skeptical Gems, with Yellow Diamond being the most apprehensive about the change but willing to do what Blue Diamond thought would help them. Due to the urgency of this announcement, Blue Diamond gave specific orders for how to broadcast it- any world that even had the faintest of signals needed to receive this message.

"Huh...? What is this...?"

A lone heart-shaped Gem received this message and faltered in her position...

Rose and Pearl were still alone in their quest against Homeworld's hold of Earth, and it felt as if they were even more alone now- with Homeworld making this bold declaration of ridding themselves of one of their longest-lasting prejudices, many failed to see the need for a Rebellion against them.

Still, a good number of Gems were able to see through it as just a cheap tactic to recruit more soldiers under the guise of being welcoming, and the Rebellion was able to garner the strength it needed to wage a good fight... which they were going to need.

Deep in the trenches of Homeworld, a group of rejected Gems found themselves struggling to understand if this was really something they should trust- they were all freaks in Homeworld's eyes, weren't they? It was only when a personally delivered Robonoid found them and projected the message that they began to ponder on leaving, soon heading to Earth to explore.

They would stumble across Rose and her slowly growing army, deciding that perhaps they should stop hiding and join a cause worth fighting for. It was uncertain if those like Padparadscha or the Rutile Twins would be given the same welcoming treatment.

Garnet and Jasper continued to act as rivals even while on the same side of the war- the latter hating the former for managing to get so much attention, with Jasper simply hoping to make herself stand out to Pink Diamond and prove she doesn't need to fuse. Garnet, meanwhile, wanted to prove that it didn't matter what anyone thought of her- she deserved to fight alongside everyone else and exist the way she wants to exist.

A begrudging respect slowly formed between the two, though, as the war kicked into high gear and things got quite grim.

On one of the final battles that Rose would fight against Homeworld before ending the war in the way she deemed fit, she found herself facing against Garnet and Jasper with Pearl by her side. It was quite an intense duel with Homeworld loyalists and Rebellion fighters alike being poofed and littering the ground.

Just as she raised her sword to poof Garnet, she saw the glimmer of those gems on her hands and paused- although hundreds of years of training and fighting for Homeworld has smoothened out the edges, it was still clear who this fusion was deep down.

Before she could try to say anything to her- convincing her perhaps that the path she chose was not right- Jasper rushed forward with the intent to strike.

Rose was frozen, but Pearl swooped in and swung her spear- slicing through both the fusion and the Quartz soldier, their gems laying still on the ground.

Reaching down, before anyone could make any note of it, she scooped Ruby and Sapphire's gems off the ground and tucked them away- she prayed she could convince them to join her when they reform and there is less tension... she can only hope, right?

When Jasper inevitably reformed, groaning to herself after such an intense battle, she realized that someone was gone. She scoured through the army in search of them, and though she found many fresh fusions happy just for a chance to be themselves in any respect and many split Gems refusing after having been poofed, she did not find the specific fusion she was looking for.

"Rose... I must tell Pink Diamond...! She must be here somewhere, I just have to find her palanquin...!"

Desperate, she rushed to find Pink Diamond- she needed to show her loyalty even to a fusion!

Stumbling upon her palanquin after much searching, she made out the distinct shape of her Diamond... and the shape of Rose Quartz standing near her.

Many Gems who had just recovered from the intense battle had stumbled upon this scene, and Jasper- too exhausted to move much closer- tried to do something.

Reaching out, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "My Diamond...!"

She saw Pink Diamond look toward her, giving sad eyes... and she didn't even try to stop the attack. The sword sliced through her, and her fragments fell to the ground... Pink Diamond had been shattered.

Jasper, overcome with anger and grief, did what no other Gem could think to do- try to rush at Rose and destroy her! By the time she reached the palanquin, though, she found that Rose was already gone.

"My Diamond..."

She scooped up the shards, tears in her eyes.

Gripping them in her hands, she promised, "Rose will pay, and I will get Garnet back!"

The news of what happened spread fast... all the way to the Diamonds. An attack is declared, with a message being sent to all Homeworld gems to evacuate immediately.

As Jasper rushed to the Galaxy Warp, she found a lone mirror on the ground... with a gemstone on the back end.

She could gather some idea of what this was... and she just hoped that whoever was in here could help her.

--

"Wow... so, is that it...?"

"Not quite. I want to paint a picture of how this would change future Homeworld conflicts going forward."

"Oh, okay, go on!"

--

Fusion was a very open concept on Homeworld with it being actively encouraged for even Gems from different courts to intermingle. Romance was no longer a taboo- anyone could fuse if they felt a strong bond.

Of course, the end goal was to have them join in the war against the Rebellion, but now that Rose Quartz and her army were presumed wiped off the face of the Earth, many fused just for recreational and personal purposes. 

When Garnet eventually unfused and returned to her normal form shortly after the war was over, it was obvious she would not be thrilled. Rose Quartz pleaded with her to stay and fight for Earth- maybe even just see if she enjoyed her time there any more than she did on Homeworld. Reluctantly, she gave Rose Quartz a chance.

She grew nostalgic for her time bonding with Jasper, and she pondered many nights on running away and finding the Galaxy Warp. However, the Crystal Gems began to rely on her for her Future Vision and her strength, and she enjoyed being relied upon after centuries of fighting in the war. Her will to turn away from them diminished as time went on, although she never became fully loyal to their cause.

Meanwhile, Jasper's vengeance and anger toward Rose Quartz never had been stronger, seeking to reunite with her unexpected comrade. The Gem she removed from the mirror, a Lapis Lazuli who had been tormented and interrogated for false reasons, took the opportunity to do anything for Homeworld, and so... a new reluctant alliance was made with the hopes of using their combined forces to find Garnet.

As time went on, while the Diamonds gave up on Earth and chose to leave it alone and focus on encouraging Gems to perfect their fusions, many on Homeworld only grew more resilient in making sure that these Crystal Gems were wiped out once and for all.

--

"Man, this reality seems bleak... I thought Homeworld allowing fusions would be a good thing, but I guess it makes sense they would've only done it for bad reasons."

"There are some good sides to this reality, sure. With fusion no longer being a taboo and being accepted, the forced fusion experiments and the Cluster itself never came to be, with Earth being left to its own bidding for the most part. But yes, there were a lot of problems that arose with this- the Diamonds were viewed as being even more rational and sensible because of their inclusion of fusion."

"Hm, I am definitely thankful that Homeworld eventually come around to the idea of fusion."

"Indeed, though it took far longer than it did in this reality for it to come to pass. We have to take the good with the bad in any reality, as there is no such thing as a universe with no problems."

"Heh, you got that right... man, I'm tired."

Chapter Text

"Steven, this next story will about... something I'm sure that has stuck with you for quite some time now."

"You may have to be more specific, Garnet, a lot of things have stuck with me... for better or for worse."

"Eheh, yeah, you're right. I'm talking about the day that Malachite first formed... and what would've happened if she never did."

"Oh, well... that sounds intriguing!"

"Mhm. I'll begin now."

--

The Homeworld ship had just crashed into Earth, Steven's bubble having protected everybody just nicely. Lapis and Jasper emerged from the rubble, and Lapis moved to fly away.

However, she was firmly grabbed and pulled back by Jasper, looking determined to do something with her... something that would ordinarily go against all of her beliefs.

"Lapis, listen, fuse with me!"

"What?!"

Steven tried to run over to help Lapis, but Pearl and Amethyst held him back, fearing what the bulking orange may do to him.

"How long did they keep you trapped here on this miserable hunk of rock?"

She suddenly dropped Lapis, letting her thud on the ground painfully with her eliciting a pained grunt.

"These Gems, they're traitors to their Homeworld. They kept you prisoner. They used you. This is your chance to take revenge!"

She came closer to her face, giving an insidious grin- having no positive intent behind it apart from benefiting herself.

"Come on, just say yes."

Steven, in desperation, cried out, "Lapis, don't do it!"

--

"Garnet, I think I've heard all this before, do you have to repeat it?"

"Eheh, I just wanted to set up proper context. It changes from here on out, don't worry."

--

Lapis thought for a moment, and then turned to look out at the vast ocean- on a planet like this, she was at her most powerful... even with a crack in her gem, she was amazed by what she was able to do. She doesn't need to fuse with someone to be strong... Jasper is the one who needs her, not the other way around.

She turned back to Jasper, raising a hand as if to take hers... only to lift her hand up further, a large water hand forming from the ocean.

Jasper, looking up at it, gasped in a mix of confusion and fear, urging, "W-what is this...?!"

"This is what happens when you try to make a deal with someone who doesn't need you, Jasper."

She raised her arm into the air, fingers splayed, the water arm doing the same.

"Lapis, wait...!"

Before she could say anything more, Jasper felt an intense amount of pain and then... nothingness.

No, she did not shatter- the water hand passed through her gem harmlessly- but she did poof.

Lapis fell to her knees, a bit winded from doing that sort of attack- any moment she expected herself to be poofed herself.

Steven, shocked by what just happened, was soon released from the grip of Pearl and Amethyst so he could run over to Lapis and give a hug.

Watching over the whole scene, Garnet decided to go ahead and bubble Jasper- she may be a bit of trouble for them, but they needed her for information... and, if they're lucky, she may wanna stick around in a more permanent capacity.

Later on, Lapis Lazuli sat down on the couch looking at the ground, fiddling with her fingers. Being inside the house of the person she once tried to suffocate to death... definitely was surreal. It felt like she had broken in here and was waiting for him to come back, but he was just in the other room.

"Okay, Lapis, I made you some... uh, are you not in the mood for churros?"

Looking at him, she assured him, "I'm grateful for... whatever that is, Steven, but I'm just having a bit of a moment... you ever get that feeling that you did something wrong even when you know you shouldn't?"

"Oh, like... second-guessing yourself? I get that all the time."

She shrugged and admitted, "It's just... when Jasper gave me that offer, I had to think it over, and in the moment I felt so certain that was the right call, but now I just don't know..."

"Wait, you mean you actually were considering fusing with her and fighting us?!"

Giving a sigh, Lapis assured him, "No, I wasn't... well, I almost did, but then I started thinking about how I could use this against Jasper. I had an idea in my head of like, fusing with her and trapping her in the bottom of the ocean, because then she'd feel the helpless that I felt...!"

"But... you'd be trapping yourself too, Lapis. Why would you wanna...?"

Massaging her temples, she stated gently, "I have no idea what I want."

"Well, if you want a churro, then..."

He set the plate of churros down on the table in front of her and stepped away, figuring she needed some time to think.

Later on, with Lapis still sitting on the same spot relatively unchanged, she was greeted by someone else- Amethyst, that purple Gem she recalled sparring with at some point.

Raising a hand to her, Amethyst questioned, "You good, Laz?"

"My name is Lapis, Lapis Lazuli, not Laz."

Chuckling, she teased, "Just a nickname, brah. Anyway, you barely ate your churros, so I call dibs."

She lifted the plate up, dropping the churros in... and the plate.

"I don't eat food, anyway. I was just thinking about stuff for a while, didn't think it would take me this long."

Amethyst, saddling up next to her, remarked, "Well, maybe if you had someone really cool and smart to talk with, you'd be able to do that no prob! ...but you're stuck with me right now, and I'm nosey, so spill it."

"Well, okay... firstly, I've been having some weird feelings about Jasper. Part of me hated her, part of me wanted to actually be with her for a moment, and then another part of me... just doesn't care."

Leaning back against the chair, the purple Quartz sighed and lamented, "Not caring is usually what I try to do, but it doesn't usually work."

"So, what does work? How do I make myself feel like I made the right choice?"

Getting comfortable in her spot, she snarked, "I feel like the person who could lift the ocean off of Earth with a crack on her gem should be able to figure that one out."

"Yeah, but... that wasn't really that good of a choice."

Shrugging, Amethyst joked, "I thought it was pretty cool, if it makes you feel better."

She cart-wheeled out of the room and into the kitchen to get herself something else to eat, and Lapis Lazuli felt no better than she did before.

She returned to the place where it happened- the sandy shore of Beach City's beach. She sighed, back against the ground as the water touched her feet.

By this time, the Crystal Gems managed to discard whatever bits of refuse were still littering the ground, so it was pretty empty... until someone came onto the beach, spotted her, and decided that now was the best time to strike up a friendly little conversation.

"Oh, hello, Lapis! Good to see you're alright after yesterday! Are you um... busy at the moment?"

Lapis, glancing up, saw Pearl overenthusiastically trying to greet her as if there was no tension between them.

She formed her wings and flew herself back to her feet as if not feeling like physically moving her legs to push herself up before responding, "No, just feeling the weight of my decisions on me."

"Oh, I know that feeling, totally get where you're coming from! Anyway, I have something very important to do that I felt like you would be absolutely perfect for!"

Raising an eyebrow, she asked her, "Did Steven put you up to this?"

"...well, he did mention you were a bit on the glum side, so I figured maybe you just need some proper motivation to kick you into high gear!"

Rolling her eyes but giving a little smile, appreciating that the kid saw something in her that she didn't, she questioned curiously, "What did you have in mind for me to do that would somehow be suited to my skillset, which is... flying and controlling water?"

"Well, it is something to do with cleaning something high off the ground."

Lapis found herself flying through the air while carrying a large bubble of water, soon proceeding to hover it over the very peak of Beach City's cliffside and drop it so that the water flowed down and it washed away all the bits of refuse and rubble.

Not exactly thrilled, she snidely commented, "Seems like I'm just doing the work that nobody else wanted to do, not anything specifically suited to me."

"I'd be lying if I said that I didn't just do this so I could have a chance to speak to you privately, and I didn't think you'd jump at the chance to have a chat."

She then admitted as she did another round of water-dropping, "I'm honestly down for anything at this point if it can get my mind off of Jasper."

"So... is talking about Jasper off the table? Because that was the big thing Steven said you might need help with talking about."

Rolling her eyes, she began to express how she felt: "Okay, well... first of all, it isn't as if I care that I poofed her, you know? I'm happy that she's not bothering me anymore or hurting anyone that I care about. And uh, no offense, but that mostly includes Steven, because I don't really know you guys that well."

"Yeah, figures. Anyway, go on."

She continued to speak: "Okay, so... with Jasper out of my hair I thought that would be all and I could just lie back and relax but I just have this nagging feeling like I shouldn't have done it, like somehow if I said something to her then I could've gotten her to realize what she was doing wasn't right."

"Eheheh..."

Turning her head, she asked, "What's so funny?"

"What you said, it sounds exactly like Steven."

She pondered on this before chuckling a bit herself and admitting, "Oh yeah, I guess it does- he's a bit infectious, isn't he?"

"Oh, you're telling me. I wouldn't know anybody's name here if Steven hadn't introduced me to them, and I've been around Beach City for two hundred years!"

That entertained Lapis further who guffawed, "Oh man, he really has a way of getting you...! Just wish I could nail the part where I actually follow through on doing something nice instead of just taking my anger out on someone... like I did to you guys, and then her."

"I would've done the same thing if I were you. I should've never kept you in that mirror for as long as I did and yet part of me just felt like if I kept waiting eventually it'd be the right time..."

Smirking, she rhetorically interrogated, "And you thought that the best thing to do was to hand me to the most empathetic boy in the world and say I'm just a toy?"

"Well, I had no idea you could even speak! Not that it makes it any better, but, well... anyway, what do you want to do after this?"

Looking up at the sky, reminded of the ocean by its blue hue, she pondered, "That is just the best question ever... I think I may need to fly a few laps to really get my mind around that."

"Knock yourself out, really- I'm honestly way more passionate about keeping things orderly than you could imagine."

She gave a snicker and spread her water wings, flying off with the intent to circle Beach City's perimeter until she either saw something that interested her or got bored and settled on a random spot. Hopefully, the former happened before the latter did.

"Okay, here goes nothing..."

Back in the Burning Room, Garnet was going to take a big risk- unbubbling Jasper to try and ask her some important questions. She was the only Crystal Gem who could stand up to her in strength, so if things go wrong, she'll handle them alright.

She reached forward, taking the bubble in which Jasper's gem was held and then squeezed to pop it, allowing the small and jagged orange gem to float up into the air and begin to manifest the physical form of the Homeworld soldier.

When she formed, she did not manifest in a battle position but in one of fear- as that was the last thing she remembered.

Then, when she noticed she was not on the beach anymore, she slightly straightened herself out, stepping toward Garnet.

Clearly not in a great mood, she urged, "Get me out of this filthy prison of yours."

"You are not in a position to negotiate. You hurt Steven and tried to force Lapis into a fusion she didn't want, among other things. You are lucky I am giving you this chance to comfortably give us information when Homeworld would've done far worse things for less."

Giving a laugh, Jasper mocked, "You really think I'm intimidated by you?"

"Hey, if you're wanting a round two, I'm up for it, but this isn't exactly the best place for it."

Giving a glance up at all the bubbles floating in the air, she asked with sincere curiosity, "What... is this?"

"The gems of many who had been corrupted by the Diamonds' final attack on Earth."

Scoffing, Jasper then claimed, "No way the Diamonds would orchestrate an attack that foolish, that would harm even their own soldiers!"

"Indeed, it did. But the Diamonds didn't care who was caught up."

As she processed the fusion's words, her eyes darted between each bubble, trying to count in her head how many were here. She was even trying to think in her head of if she recognized any from her time fighting in the war. Indeed, many seemed to be old allies.

Clenching her fist, she muttered, "What a... poor decision..."

"Yeah, we've all had our moment where we realized the Diamonds were not as rational as we thought. Mine was discovering that my very existence was deemed an insult to them. Of course, some do take longer than others to realize."

Stepping back and leaning against the wall, she gruffly remarked, "Don't get so brash with me, Garnet. If you were fighting on my side of the war, you'd be in the same position as me."

"Oh, I'm sure I would be. But I've never had to think much about that."

It didn't take Jasper too long to realize what that actually meant, and soon she was pondering what options (if any) she had in this situation.

Perking up, realizing that time has passed since she poofed, she questioned, "Where's Lapis?"

"Heh, seems you haven't learned much from what she did."

A bit embarrassed, she claimed, "It was my approach that failed, if I give it another try she... mph, I'm just curious what she's doing."

"No need to be embarrassed around me, I'm the last person who you need to impress. Anyway, she's doing a bit of soul-searching in town."

There was the casual thought to go and find her, but even if Garnet let her do that, she definitely would not go far. Lapis probably would be appalled to see her face again, and the other Crystal Gems would attack her on sight. Her best shot was to talk.

Seeing her expression changing, Garnet commented, "Good to see you're understanding your position."

"Hey, don't act like you know what I'm thinking!"

Garnet could only give a light chuckle, assuring her, "I couldn't possibly know that, but future vision is helpful in showing me what may or may not happen."

"...what information do you want from me?"

Satisfied that they were actually getting somewhere, she stated calmly, "I want to know why exactly Homeworld sent you."

"Peridot said we were supposed to be here to check on the Cluster, but when I realized Rose Quartz had been hiding on Earth in such a pathetic disguise, I felt like it was my chance!"

Wagging a finger at her, she corrected, "His name is Steven. Rose Quartz is long gone."

"Ridiculous. How can 'he' have Rose's shield if 'he' isn't Rose?"

Looking at the ground, she admitted, "That's almost beyond my understanding."

"I miss when things actually made sense, before the Diamonds made that... foolish decision to fire at the Earth, ending the war and leaving me without a fight."

Stepping closer to Jasper, Garnet reminded her, "You definitely have been fighting quite a bit, but I don't know if you've been fighting on the right side. And you said it yourself- the Diamonds were foolish to do what they did. So really, there's no reason for you to be loyal to them."

"I don't need to be manipulated to know that, so don't bother."

Returning to the previous subject, she inquired, "Tell me about the Cluster and what it is."

"That's Peridot's business, I couldn't care any less about it. I was hoping to get on this planet, let her do whatever it was she was going to do, and then leave. Your... Steven was just a distraction that ended poorly."

Gently nodding, the fusion lamented, "Guess we got someone else to try and find. Now to decide what we do with you."

"If you intend to poof me again, I swear-"

Shaking her head, she assured her, "I'm not that predictable, Jasper. You get to stay, but under our rules."

That was the last thing she wanted to hear, but she hated being in this room any longer, so she begrudgingly nodded.

Lapis Lazuli, still flying through the sky, soon came to a slow stop when she saw a young girl in empty glasses struggling with a... weird rectangle device.

Stepping over to her, she raised a hand and greeted, "Hey."

"Oh...! Um, Lapis, are you... okay?"

Leaning against a nearby wall, she answered back, "If you're asking whether or not I'm about to steal the ocean and drown you again, I'm kind of past that. And uh, sorry, that was really not okay."

"Heh, well, I'm almost over it."

Leaning closer, she asked, "What are you doing with that thing?"

"Just trying to call Steven- you know him, right? He's not responding to any of my messages for some reason."

Thinking about that, she asked, "Have you tried coming over to see him?"

"Oh, yeah, I should try to see him in person- almost forgot how close we live to each other. I know I shouldn't be so worried about him, but... he's pretty much my only real friend, and I want to know if something really bad happened."

Lapis Lazuli found herself envying the way Connie cared so deeply about Steven's happiness and wished that she had someone like that, and she soon offered, "I can give you a ride there on my back."

"Oh, you're okay with that?"

Shrugging, she snarked, "You can't weigh that much, right?"

She proved herself right as she was effortlessly flying through the air with Connie on her back, and although at first Connie claimed she wanted to fly straight there, she did take up Lazuli on her offer for a few extra laps around.

Finally, they gently landed by Steven's home.

"Okay, just need to knock on the door and ask if Steven's home... unless Steven answers the door, then I'll just talk to him."

Lapis nodded in agreement to that simple plan, and she leaned back and waited as she went to the door with it opening to reveal Pearl who was eager to ramble on about how Steven was so busy and may need some time alone.

Before Connie could turn around and claim maybe they should just head out, Lapis spotted him climbing out one of the side-windows, and she zipped over to stop him from getting away.

The boy briefly attempted to push past Lapis, but that was no good- even with his superhuman strength, he can't outmuscle someone like Lapis in his emotional state. Therefore, he was forced to admit to Connie right on the porch why he hasn't been talking to her very much lately.

It appeared as if Steven was fearful that letting her be involved in his life was only going to get her hurt or just generally lower her quality of life, and therefore, he had considered the idea of breaking off their friendship to protect her. Of course, he didn't commit.

Connie Maheswaran assured him that, even with the amount of danger that he may get into, she didn't care- it was her choice to want to be involved with him, and at this point, he had little choice but to let her into his life and tell her what's wrong.

Lapis Lazuli got to act as the therapist when they finally went back inside, listening to the two talk about their issues and what exactly is bothering them, and it made her feel as if she'd be able to handle her own emotional problems just as Amethyst said she should.

--

"Wow, that sounds like... a way easier universe."

"Heh, well, every universe has its own problems. Trying to get Jasper to be hospitable after everything that happened between us before would be a real challenge, and Lapis had a long way to go before she could recover from the trauma of being trapped in that mirror. But there were some improvements- she had no negative feelings toward the ocean, and we no longer have to chase Jasper around the world."

"Man, Garnet, I hope you don't run out of these stories."

"Trust me, I don't think that's really a possibility."

Chapter Text

"Steven, I assume you remember using Peridot's tape recorder before and listening to her thoughts."

"Oh yeah, I feel kind of bad for snooping, but it was interesting to learn how she's changed."

"Mhm. Well, there is a future where things went quite differently for her."

"Ooh, let me hear!"

--

Peridot, a former technician for Homeworld, found herself needing to adjust to life among the Crystal Gems. It was an odd predicament- she didn't know whether she could truly trust anyone just yet, and she didn't know if any of them truly liked her. Over time, though, things became clearer.

She found Amethyst to be confusing at first in her joking attitude but came to quite enjoy her.

As for Pearl, she was impressed by her intellect if a bit bemused by how hard she tried.

Steven was definitely her favorite of the Crystal Gems, treating her the most like a friend, and his father... well, apart from that one incident with him, she didn't interact much.

The most elusive figure to her, though, was Garnet- the fusion who chose to stay fused seemingly just for recreation. Peridot struggled to understand the purpose, and Garnet wanted her to understand somehow.

When the two of them sat under the stars one night by the barn, a surprising offer was made- she asked Peridot if she wanted to fuse with her to try to understand what fusion was like, and Peridot ultimately decided she would.

In the reality most familiar to us, Peridot ultimately backed out- not feeling ready for something as serious as fusion, and thus finding another way to understand Garnet. 

However, things go differently here. With her paint-can shoes, she completes the dance with Garnet, and the two began to glow brightly as their forms merged into something new.

Their shades merged, and they had a total of five eyes- the fifth being just over the visor while the other four where hidden underneath.

She appeared to be a head taller than Garnet, hair of a hexagonal dark-green shade.

Replacing Peridot's diamond emblems on her knees and chest, she had multiple small stars. 

Four arms extended from her curvy waist and she had quite a pair of long legs.

Oh, and one cannot forget her tight maroon-and-green one-piece outfit that really accentuated her wide hips.

"I... oh my goodness..."

She looked at her hands and realize who she was.

Her name was Zoisite, and she came to being out of a spontaneous offer to help one Gem understand another.

"T-this is absolutely improbable! Logic dictates that a Gem such as Peridot would never partake in a fusion, and yet I exist now! Now I suppose I need to conduct some experimentation to determine what my next course of action is, such as what powers I have innately built into me..."

Forming her gauntlets, she found that they were able to take the properties of limb enhancers- individual fingers able to fire off like little missiles and then retract back.

She raised a hand toward her tape recorder, needing to make a verbal note of this quickly.

It seemed to just lift itself into her hands...

"Wait, do I have power over metal? Wait, does PERIDOT have power over metal?! That is the only logical conclusion..."

She was quite flabbergasted but very excited by all of this information, but all the noise got the attention of someone nearby and she found herself face-to-face with Amethyst... who definitely was not ready to see a completely new Gem at this time of night.

Blinking a few times, she asked, "Who're you, dude?"

"I am Zoisite, fusion of Garnet and Peridot."

Amethyst didn't react at first before her eyes bulged out and she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, what?!"

"Y-yes, I understand this is quite a surprising turn of events...!"

Amethyst rushed over and gave her a giant hug, happily proclaiming, "Man, after all that time of you thinking Garnet was some weird anomaly, she managed to convince you!"

"Eheheh, y-yes, I suppose so," she replied, ignoring the incorrect referral of her as being Peridot, giving her a hug back.

Separating from the hug, she questioned, "Do you think you can still unfuse, or...?"

"Well, I could, but I've barely had any time to test out the full extent of my abilities."

Nodding, Amethyst pondered, "I wondered if your future vision is any different now."

"Oh, hm, I can check... okay, I think there is something different about it. With Peridot's intellect and ability to survey calculations, Ruby's spontaneity, and Sapphire's innate future sense, I am capable of perusing an entire array of futures and determining the most likely option. For instance, I can see a high possibility that, once I unfuse, Peridot is going to act incredibly disoriented and trip over a rock."

In response to that observation, Amethyst immediately began to laugh hysterically.

Zoisite, chuckling awkwardly, commented, "Yeah, I predicted you would do that, too."

"Man, you are just a whole new bag of fun, Zoisite. I can't wait to show you to Steven, he's gonna have a blast asking you questions."

Giving a nod, she surmised, "It did appear highly probable that he would be the most curious out of anyone about my formation."

"Wow, you're really confident about everything, huh? Are you confident about... THIS?"

Amethyst made a move with her whip, but Peridot extended her gauntlet-fist out and caught it, proceeding to give a sharp tug and swing Amethyst around in the air before finally letting her plummet downward.

Grunting as she landed on the grass, she got to her feet, and admitted, "I definitely wish I had future vision so I knew you were gonna do that."

"Hey, you asked," she teased, giving her a poke before laughing in a way reminiscent of Peridot. "Man, I just love being... me! I I've barely existed and I already love it!"

Nodding, she reminded her, "Steven will be disappointed if he goes too long without seeing both of you, though."

This did seem to sit with Zoisite, and so, she decided she'd want to accomplish two goals using one action- or, as someone else would put it, kill two birds with one stone. Accurately predicting that Steven's curiosity would get the better of him, she made sure to place Peridot's recorder on a very specific area of the barn and then wait patiently.

"Wait, what-?!"

Yep, right on cue- approximately thirty-eight minutes after he began to listen to the tapes, every so often fast-forwarding past some boring areas, he got to the part recorded specifically by Peridot's very surprising fusion.

The recording went as follows: "Log date 7 14 2. I have recently formed after a chance offer from Garnet to teach Peridot what fusion is like, and although Peridot had been unsure of herself, I can already tell her view of fusion will be far different when she retakes her form. Now, Steven, I know you are most probably listening to this right now, so I want you to step out of the front door of the barn and turn to your left so you can meet me for yourself."

Steven immediately rushed outside and did exactly as told.

He nearly fainted upon seeing the incredible fusion, the combination of Peridot and Garnet's best features!

"W-what is your name~?" he gasped, stars in his eyes.

Patting him on the head, she responded, "I am Zoisite, Steven. Oh, and if I'm not mistaken, there's going to be a cold wind in a minute, so we may want to head back to the house."

"A minute? I can't get all the way to the house that quickly!"

Snickering, she admitted, "I apologize, that was an exaggeration- it will be a bit more than a minute."

"Wow, you can even make jokes...!"

The fusion and Steven went to the house, plopping themselves onto the couch where Steven eagerly looked up at her like she was his number one idol.

Grinning ear-to-ear, he questioned, "H-how did this happen, and how are you two... or, them two feeling?"

"I don't want to speak for them, so I should defuse and show you exactly how they felt. I knew that, even with your excitement to meet me, you would still wish to see Garnet and Peridot again shortly, so this was the best way I saw to both satisfy your curiosity and your friend needs."

He nodded in agreement, and soon, Peridot and Garnet were back- there now being slightly less room on the couch, though luckily, Steven only needed to move over a little bit.

Quickly, Peridot began to gush, "Oh my stars, I had no idea fusion was like that, it was like I vanished but at the same time it was like, I don't know how to describe it- and double oh my stars, look what I can do!"

She proceeded to lift her tape recorder into the air, hovering it a few feet off the ground before letting it lower back.

"Wow, you can manipulate metal...?! That's really cool, Peri! And Garnet, how did it feel like for you?"

Chuckling, Garnet remarked, "I've fused before, Steven, but it did feel interesting to fuse with someone who had never fused before- Zoisite certainly had a unique story to tell."

"Oh, no doubt! Zoisite had gauntlets that acted as limb enhancers, can you believe that?! We have to show you what she can do sometime!"

Steven, tilting his head, asked, "Why can't you do that now?"

"...because I am absolutely exhausted."

She slumped over onto the couch, quickly passing out like a corpse.

After that, Peridot was given some time to recover from her bout of exhaustion so she could continue her work with the Drill, and Garnet prepared for Steven's big birthday surprise- all the while, the former had gained a greater appreciation for how fusion should be, and Garnet felt satisfied that Peridot was one step closer to being a real Crystal Gem.

Steven, meanwhile, wondered if he and Peridot could ever fuse... that would just be something spectacular. It'd surely have to wait, though- who knows when they'd get the opportunity to do something like that with what's going on?

--

"Wow, Garnet, I can't believe it- a reality where Peridot fuses with you?!"

Garnet, nodding, stated, "Every reality has varying degrees of possibility of happening, but this one in particular was quite close to happening- Peridot had genuinely considered fusing and ended up backing out at the very last moment."

"Man, it is crazy to think how many realities there are... like, what if there was a reality where like, Peridot had dreamed everything that happened to us and woke up thousands of years earlier, or the Rubies were the ones who raised me? Could those things possibly even happen?"

Thinking it over, she answered, "Those realities are a bit more spontaneous and improbable and rely on a lot of varying factors, but yes, I am seeing realities in which they occurred."

"Oh, can you tell me about them?!"

Tapping her chin, she then admitted, "Those realities are a bit more complicated to delve into- I'd probably need a good while to transcribe everything that occurs in those realities without missing any important details."

"Eheh, well, I'm very patient- not like you guys have much work to do without me around to goof off with you and cause trouble, right?"

Amused by his comment, Garnet teased, "I'm still waiting on you to come by and visit so I can tell you one of these stories in person with the others."

"Oh yeah, I definitely could make time on my road trip for that! Been feeling a bit nostalgic, even though it hasn't been that long. Hope you have some good stories cooked up for when I'm back!"

Nodding, she assured him confidently, "When you finally arrive in Beach City again, I will have a great story for you, I guarantee it."

"Heheh, well, I'm definitely holding you to that, Garnet!"

Chapter Text

"Okay, Steven, are you ready for another story?"

"Of course I am! Man, it has been so long since we spoke! Uh, what did you have for me this time?"

"Hm... well, you know Onion, I assume."

"Oh, yeah, of course I know him! He's a bit weird, but he's become a pretty good friend."

"Hm, well... I see an interesting reality where your friendship was altered."

"Oh, in a bad way, or...?"

"Eheheh, that is up to you."

--

It was just after Steven had begun to understand Onion a bit more, realizing that his woodland friends were leaving until next year. It seemed as if the primary reason Onion liked to hang out with Steven was because he had no friends his age, and he quite looked up to the boy in a way.

When Steven understood this, he gave Onion a declaration that the two of them could have as much fun as he wanted. 

The two exchanged a meaningful hug, and suddenly... there was a bright glow.

In a moment's instance, their physical forms began to merge until only one person stood in that spot. Combining their clothing and their notable physical details, they were known as...

...Stonion! 

"Mah mah... my... my body...?!"

It was a shock for them to realize that, well, they existed! 

Stonion looked down at themselves, noticing their white star shirt with their blue jacket tied over the top, their red jeans with matching red sandals...

...oh, and a larger onion-shaped head with some fluffy black and white hair in streaks. 

"I can... speak... normally...?"

They spoke a bit slower, probably not used to communicating this much.

"Let me, um... try to..."

Bringing a foot forward, they took a careful step... and then another...

And soon the fusion was running around in excitement.

Not knowing quite where to go from there, Stonion ended up arriving at... well, Onion's house.

Vidalia definitely was shocked to see someone who looked like a mix of her son and her son's favorite playmate suddenly show up, but once there was an explanation, well... she was still very shocked, but at least she wasn't threatening them with a bat.

Sitting down on the couch across from them, she sighed, "This is... definitely a lot to take in... but as long as Onion is okay, then..."

"Onion is fine. I can unfuse, if it helps you feel more comfortable."

She gave a gentle nod, and soon, the fusion split to reveal their components.

Vidalia gave Onion a hug, questioning him on how he felt with Onion being unable to answer- not just because of his lack of linguistic skill but because he was just so frazzled by the experience. 

It was clear Steven and Onion had become a bit more understanding of each after that, but the question was how this may change things going forward when it came to their friendship. 

Well, to make things simple, they started to have a lot more playdates- Steven coming to Onion's house with Amethyst tagging along when possible to give Vidalia something to do, or Onion at Steven's house- and they'd eventually decide to try fusing again to see if anything changed.

Each time they fused, Stonion formed more and more of their own unique identity. They were mischievous but also deeply caring. They were often quite quiet but could be very funny in the right moments. Blending together Onion's chaotic nature and Steven's pure-of-heart persona, the fusion was definitely more on the morally grey side with a lean toward wanting to keep people out of harm's way when it's possible.

It was delightful for Vidalia to see Onion smiling and conversing so much, and as time went on, he started to actually speak... well, actual English sentences. Not anything long, but it was clear that he and Steven were sharing their knowledge with one another as they fused. In exchange, Steven ended up learning how to commit various crimes and began to really dig into the psychology of someone like Onion... it was a lot to handle, so he had to take it in small chunks to ease himself into that world. 

Now, how would the Crystal Gems react, exactly?

Garnet, as usual, was excited about any new fusions forming. Sure, it was odd that it happened with someone like Onion- she had no idea they had that good of a friendship. Regardless, she was encouraging of Stonion's general existence.

Amethyst was chill about it mostly since it offered more opportunities for her to hook up with Vidalia.

Pearl, well... she was probably the least knowledgeable of Onion, only knowing him really for the time he got his hands on her Replicator Wand. Therefore, she was a bit nervous at first about what exactly this fusion may get up to due to the powers they possessed.

Luckily, Stonion had enough of the positive elements of both to balance out the less savory parts.

Connie Maheswaran would soon find out about this new fusion and, while jokingly acting jealous about Steven fusing with someone else, was quite excited that someone else knew what it was like to fuse with Steven! That meant that a friendship was formed between two unlikely people, and a third was added to the usual playdate with them swapping between who fused with Steven and who then got to have some fun with the newly formed person.

--

"Wow, that... is definitely something interesting!"

Nodding, Garnet admitted, "It isn't nearly the dire and drastic change as the usual predictions, but I definitely found it to be fun."

"I wonder if I should try to fuse with Onion now... I mean, I'm on a road trip, but whenever I come back, I mean."

Chuckling, she joked, "For all you know, Onion is already there with you."

"Hey, it's hard to tell when you're just joking about that, since I know that you would know!"

She gave a shrug and teased, "Anything is possible, and Onion can be very slippery."

Chapter Text

"Steven, this next story will be... a bit sadder, but it will have a happy ending."

"Well, I'm okay with being a bit sad sometimes, so lay it on me."

"Alright, I did warn you though."

--

Connie Maheswaran expected that her playdate with Steven would be pretty light and fun, but it felt... a lot different than that. In fact, he seemed as if he was in mourning.

"Steven... you haven't said anything to me the whole time."

Looking up at her, he responded with a sad expression, "Yeah... sorry, I've just been thinking about things..."

"Did something happen, Steven?"

He gave a light nod.

To start off, he explained, "Amethyst likes... liked to play around a lot, and so she was teasing me by going near a really big cliff. She didn't expect it to break off, though, and she fell from really high. When I saw her hit the bottom I rushed to get the others, but by the time we found her... it was too late."

"What do you mean by too late? Wait, why did you say she liked to play around...?"

Connie began to grow concerned by his wording, fearing that the worse has happened.

Trying not to cry, as he's clearly already done it a lot that day, he gave another sip of his juice before stating in his calmest voice, "The Gems told me it isn't my fault and I couldn't have done anything to stop it, but that's exactly the reason I feel so awful. If I had been stronger... if I had been more like mom, maybe she'd still be..."

"Um, I don't know much about this stuff, but how bad was it...? Is she completely um, gone?"

He gave a sigh and elaborated, "We at least have all the pieces, yeah."

"So... what can you do now?"

Not being very excitable at the moment, he answered, "I don't know... they say the Diamonds had a way of being able to bring a Gem back if they were shattered, but we don't have the Diamonds... and they'd never help us."

The young girl liked to be optimistic, and she assured him, "Even if it takes a while, I'm sure you'd be able to find a way to bring Amethyst back. There's no reason to give up, is there?"

"Yeah... I guess..."

He was clearly not in an optimistic mood, she observed.

Thinking it over, she decided to change the subject, urging, "Could we uh, trade juice boxes real quick? I think I'd like a taste of your... apple, I think..."

"Yeah, you can. It's mostly backwash, though."

They traded boxes, with both taking silent slips and thinking over things. Connie couldn't understand the idea of Amethyst being gone when it felt like the Gems were invincible... Steven, who saw it all happen, couldn't quite piece together how it was possible either.

Suddenly, Connie began to find herself overcome with a headache. Steven got worried, but then, she took her glasses off...

...and she was able to see as if nothing was wrong at all.

She was baffled, questioning, "H-how is this possible...?"

"Oh my gosh... Connie, I think I might've... healed your eyesight!"

Even more confused, she asked, "How do you figure that?"

"Oh, well uh, long story short... the Gems told me that my mom had the power to heal people with her tears, so if Amethyst's gem had just been cracked, they would've brought her to Rose's Fountain. But I guess instead of getting healing tears, I must've gotten healing spit!"

Steven felt pure jubilation, breaking his misery spell.

Now, Steven was confident that he wasn't some sort of jinx to the team- it wasn't his fault that Amethyst got shattered, and now that he knew what he could do, he knew that he'd be of great service!

He soon gave Connie a great big hug, thanking her for offering him this chance to uncover what he was missing about himself.

She hugged him back, just happy to help in some way to raise his spirits... plus, she just liked his hugs.

He would make it a ritual to visit the bubble where Amethyst's shards were kept. He could see just the way they'd be able to piece back together... if only they had some way to do that. 

When the Gems determined Steven was a bit too fixated on the loss of Amethyst, they gave him a mirror for him to speak to that would help entertain him... but, having been focused as well on his healing spit, he took quick notice of the crack on the back of the gem and gave it a quick lick. The mirror, now able to properly communicate with him, urged for him to let her out.

Then, Lapis Lazuli flew away.

Garnet and Pearl were baffled by the fact that Steven had just let a Homeworld gem free, but... they couldn't stay too mad at him. They knew that, after the loss of someone he considered family, he was going to have some trouble thinking things through all the way.

Things went on in Beach City as they would be expect to for most- although interesting things did occur. With no Amethyst there, there was little choice but for Sardonyx to be formed on any missions requiring someone a bit bigger, and that managed to raise Steven's spirits up a tad.

Steven eventually fused with Connie after trying and failing to fuse with the others due to his amazement at the formation of Sardonyx and his nostalgia for seeing Opal form, and their connection and understanding with one another only grew as Steven allowed Connie to understand the true extent of his heartbreak over the loss of Amethyst.

Without the levity of Amethyst, all he could focus on was trying to be of good service to the team and to use his powers well. He looked for every opportunity to try and make himself useful, whether it was safe or not.

When he saw a strange green figure in the Warp Stream, he pleaded with the Gems that he was worried something was coming to try and hurt them and take them away from him, and they were not going to let him beat himself up over something else... so they decided they would keep watch of the Galaxy Warp.

Several hours into their watch, they saw a series of Robonoids crawling toward it to fix it... and soon, the green figure that Steven had seen was there!

"She won't get away...!"

Steven, displaying sudden aggression, summoned his shield and threw!

It was shocking to the Gems to see him just poof her like that... what was getting into him?

After they poofed the gem and put her limbs in a secure place, they found ways to try and help ease Steven's growing stress. 

Garnet chose to help him with cleaning out Greg's shed while giving him a speech about how important it was to keep your environment tidy- both in terms of your literal surroundings and in your head. Steven found it to be a good lesson, although that was mostly because she spoke in such a serious deep tone.

With Pearl, she found another way to try and help him- bringing him to a place that belonged to his mom and explaining to him how much he reminds her of Rose, and how even his mom had a lot of issues as a leader when it came to being overcome with emotions. When she discovered Steven had found mom's sword inside of the Lion, she was at first upset... but she gave a sigh, realizing there were bigger things at stake than whatever Rose had kept secret from her. It was just nice to have that sword back again.

A message was sent from space by Lapis Lazuli- thankful for Steven for having freed her despite not knowing who she was, she explained that she had been captured on her way back to Earth, having flown to the closest Homeworld colony to warp her way there only to be captured and brought in for questioning. Not only that, but because of Peridot's sudden disappearance, Homeworld had increased suspicions on the Crystal Gems still lurking on Earth, and Lapis ended up being unable to keep quiet about the location of them... and they were gonna send their strongest Homeworld soldier.

Steven began to panic, but the Gems assured him that things would be okay... but they ultimately convinced Greg to try and get him out of town, thinking that it would be dangerous for him to be in town when this legendary Quartz arrived. 

He was not going to let them do this without him, though. Amethyst shattered while he was there with her, and it was because he was not strong enough yet to keep her safe... now, he felt like he had what it took.

Running back to Beach City, he stood beside Garnet and Pearl and waited...

The ship landed, and out of it came Jasper clutching Lapis to her side and an Aquamarine flying alongside both of them. Her impeccable memory was lauded by many, so she was the second-best option after the lost Peridot for this sort of mission... at least on the technical side of things.

The Aquamarine would be easy to deal with, Steven though, so he managed to summon his shield and toss it at her.

The Gems were surprised, but not so much as the last time, to see him poof someone so quickly. Jasper managed to catch Aquamarine's gemstone before it hit the ground, so Steven felt secure he didn't do any real harm...

...but then, Jasper gave a squeeze, leaving shards behind.

"Anyone who isn't strong enough to survive Earth doesn't have a right to stand on, or fly above its surface."

She placed Aquamarine's shards in a secure place before squaring up the competition- a freak of nature, a lost Pearl, and... was that Rose Quartz's shield? Well, if Rose wanted to take on a laughable form, that was her prerogative. She wasn't going to let her get away with any of her tricks again, though, not after-

Before Jasper was able to expound her knowledge, she was given a double attack- a punch across the face from Garnet and then a stab through the gut by Pearl. The mighty soldier was unable to react, and she poofed.

Steven, standing by his morals, poofed Aquamarine's shards and Jasper's intact gem as well. 

Lapis Lazuli stood in shock, not knowing what to do next. The Gems looked at her welcomingly, though, and she knew deep down she would never last on Homeworld... so, she agreed to stay with them, but she wouldn't forgive them for leaving her in there.

The Gems would have to take their time to work out what to do next. First, they opted for unbubbling Peridot and interrogating her over what she was doing on Earth in the first place.

Learning about the Cluster shocked everyone, and soon, attention drifted toward helping with that.

In the span of a few months, a Drill was created, and Peridot- now feeling like she owed the Crystal Gems for how they helped her discover herself- assisted in piloting it down toward the Earth's core.

Steven managed to find a way to stop it without hurting them... for now.

Peridot and Lapis did not hit it off at first, but given that Peridot had nothing to do with Lapis's imprisonment or her recapture, it was easy for them to work out whatever differences they had to start getting along.

The way the two of them acted sometimes reminded Steven of him and Connie... but other times, he thought about how he and Amethyst would banter back and forth...

Connie Maheswaran would try to be of good help by training with Rose's sword, and Steven made sure that Pearl was patient and fair with her... after all, she was a human. Even as just being half-human, he knew the limitations there were.

Jasper took a lot longer for them to get around to unbubbling her, and when they did, she was very... difficult. With them still having her ship in custody, it was basically up to them when she got to go back home, so they urged her to help them with getting through with the Diamonds. She asked what was in it for her, and they simply replied that her freedom was in their hands. After much banter, she came to the conclusion that they were most likely right.

Jasper and Peridot reluctantly worked together, with Lapis staying behind... she didn't wanna go near Jasper after how she treated her on the ride there. 

On the days before they would take off toward Homeworld, Steven gave Lion a big hug... and accidentally fell back inside of his mane, rediscovering a bubbled gem and freeing her.

Now, they were given a new crewmate aboard the ship- Bismuth. Being woken up and suddenly told that she'd be boarding a ship with two Homeworld gems, a half-human half-Rose, and the only remaining Crystal Gems to talk to the Diamonds was definitely something.

She explained to them on the way there why she was poofed, and it was heartbreaking for all to hear. Steven gave his own story to her, and she gave a sigh, stating she would've loved to meet Amethyst. Confidently, he assured her that she'd meet her soon enough if the Diamonds listened them.

The ship had used up a lot of energy on the voyage, so- even with warping most of the way there- it'd take a bit of time before they finished the trip. Luckily, they brought plenty of rations.

Steven called Connie to apologize for not taking her with her... but he feared what would happen to her if she came.

In response, she explained that... well, she was dealing with her own issues. A Ruby convoy landed on Earth in search of Jasper, not getting the news of her leaving for Homeworld, and Lapis and Connie had to keep them from causing a ruckus.

Luckily, the Rubies were very dumb, so they told them they'd have to sit around and be nice if they wanted to see Jasper. Lapis didn't even need to threaten to drown them... not that it'd work, but hey, they'd believe it.

Everyone got paired up on the ship- Peridot with Jasper, Pearl with Garnet, and Bismuth with Steven. It was an awkward arrangement, but he was happy to get to know her more over time.

Peridot and Jasper definitely were not likely to do a lot of bonding, but Jasper at least was trying to be nice... even if she wasn't great at it. 

When the time came for Steven's fourteenth birthday- at least according to his phone's calendar- Garnet revealed to him that she had been a fusion the whole time, giving him quite a burst of amazement and wonder.

He hugged Ruby and Sapphire to greet them before asking them the touchy question... if they were both also sad about Amethyst, the same way Garnet had been.

Ruby burst into tears proclaiming how sorry she was, while Sapphire shed a single tear and explained that there was nothing they could do... but that she wished there was.

Pearl seemed like she had trouble keeping quiet, covering her mouth as she cried, but Steven didn't think much of it at the time... surely she was just heartbroken over Amethyst's shattering and didn't know what to say to make things better.

Soon, they landed on Homeworld with everyone having changed a little during the journey... Jasper the most, mostly because she's never been in an environment requiring her to change her personal beliefs. All of these emotions definitely got to her even if she tried to pretend that they definitely didn't.

Landing on Homeworld, they soon found themselves being guided to the Diamonds with Jasper at the front- she knew she'd be easier for them to swallow than the Crystal Gems. Pearl seemed to be having trouble stomaching the idea of approaching the Diamonds, more than anybody else seemed to have.

The Diamonds looked down upon them with confusion, wondering how Jasper had went about capturing these Gems... but she explained that, reluctantly, she was trying to help them give their case to the Diamonds.

Blue Diamond narrowed her eyes at the group, and then found herself... recognizing two of them.

"You're the fusion from my court so many years ago, and you're... Pink Diamond's Pearl."

Everyone gasped, turning to Pearl for confirmation of this reality. 

She found herself forced to speak now- with all these eyes on her, she had no real choice, so she began to explain the truth.

Minutes later, everyone was left in shock and confusion- Pink Diamond was Rose Quartz, meaning Steven was actually half-Diamond.

Nobody knew what to do with this information, but the only logical step now was to tell White Diamond... if all three Diamonds were on the same page, they could help everybody on Earth. 

Blue and Yellow Diamond were unable to talk her out of her own head, but after fusing successfully with Pearl and Garnet, Steven made it inside and was able to find a way to... inadvertently explain to her what she's gotten wrong all this time.

Arriving back on Earth, all the Diamonds would go to Rose's fountain and join together, bringing all the corrupted Gems... with Amethyst finally taking back her form, alongside the less celebrated Aquamarine. Amethyst got a group hug from everybody, and Jasper even looked a little happy to see another Quartz soldier return.

--
 
"Man, that was... intense!"

"Yes, indeed. You had a harder journey without Amethyst to provide the humor she always brought with her, but you were still able to find a way to bring her back."

"Heh, how many other sad stories do you have?"

"Oh, you have no idea, Steven."

Chapter Text

Today was a bit different for Steven, as he had actually met up in person with Garnet- they met somewhere in the middle, as he didn't quite have enough gas on him for the full drive to Beach City. After catching up on what they've missed, Garnet decided to jump back into their newest trend.

"I imagine you must've been thinking about what things would've been like if Spinel had gone to Earth with Pink."

Steven, taken aback, admitted, "Y-yeah, I guess I did... how did you guess?"

"It wasn't so much future vision as much as me just having good intuition as to what the most intriguing possibilities were."

Nodding in understanding, he questioned, "Do you have a story for me about that?"

"Mhm. Keep in mind that I've seen many possibilities of what may have happened if Spinel went to Earth with Pink Diamond- after all, every minute decision has an array of possible results based on every surrounding person's reactions which then branch out into further possibilities so I will narrow things down to what I believe will be most interesting to you."

Smiling widely, he urged, "Well, don't leave me hanging, let's get going with it!"

---

It was six thousand years ago that Pink Diamond got the news- she was to get her own colony! Spinel was just as excited as she was, although she was expressing it in a far more visible fashion.

Deep down, Pink Diamond felt some pressure to try and outgrow Spinel in order to show the others she was mature... and yet, she had trouble fathoming just leaving her behind. Wasn't Spinel part of her court, in a way? If she were to be responsible, maybe it would be far better for her to bring her with her to the Earth...

As she walked toward the Warp Pad to zip her way there, she kept feeling Spinel hugging into her leg, and eventually she felt the need to stop so she could talk to her before they went down.

"Listen, Spinel... I love you, you know that, don't you?"

Spinel, pretending as if she was thinking about that deeply, soon nodded rapidly while exclaiming, "Oh, of course you do, and of course I do!"

"Great. Well, I just wanted you to know... we won't always be able to just play while we're on Earth, you understand? Things will be much different."

Spinel, tilting her head, asked, "Why's that?"

"Well, the Diamonds sort of gave you to me to... entertain me and distract me from what I didn't have, or from what I... used to have. I don't need to be distracted anymore, but I still can't let go of you, so... I'm hoping you'll be able to know when it's time to play and when it's time to be serious."

Scratching her head, she admitted, "That sounds pretty tough, maybe you'll need to give me some pointers."

"Anything for you, Spinel. Oh, this is just so exciting, wait until Pearl hears!"

"Y-you're really not going to have her stay here, are you...?"

Pearl glanced at Spinel just bouncing around the Moon Base, looking at the various charts as if they were games, and she felt like she was watching a crazed animal who needed to be given a handful of tranquillizers.

Pink Diamond, smiling optimistically, assured Pearl, "There's no reason to be worried. Spinel told me she'll try to be serious when the time comes. Spinel, um, did you get your arms in a knot again...?"

"Uhh, I meant to do it this time!" she claimed, struggling to pull them apart.

It was hard for Pearl to try to not laugh even if she wanted to be annoyed... after all, she was given to Pink Diamond to help her stay serious. How could anyone expect her and Spinel to mesh well together when they were meant for the exact opposite reasons?

Luckily, Pink Diamond would try to act as the glue to hold this whole thing together. She'd help Pearl lighten up and understand that not everything needed to be so serious, and for Spinel... she'd try to rein in her goofiness so as to not look like this was playtime.

As Pink Diamond sat down at her chair with her two allies at her side, she sighed and remarked, "This could definitely be a bit more entertaining..."

"Hm, maybe we can draw on the charts?" Spinel suggested, jumping up and down, feet squeaking loudly.

Snickering a bit, she teased, "That's not what I meant, you goof. I mean, well... I wish we could get a personal look at Earth, instead of having to see it through graphs and charts."

"Oh, but you can!" Pearl exclaimed, earning eager looks from the two of them- making her feel a little bit bashful.

Demonstrating, she proceeded to take the floating orb in the center of the room and give it a poke, causing the room to change to show the full image of the Kindergarten on Earth with Quartzes popping out left-and-right.

Spinel and Pink Diamond looked amazed, and Pearl had to note how similar the two were at times... even if she doesn't really like to think about that so much.

She moved into try to give one of them a hug, forgetting it was just a projection, and they went right through her... leaving her to feel just a bit disappointed.

Giggling, Spinel assured her as she wrapped her arms around her, "You can always give me a hug! Oh, and don't forget Pearl!"

She stretched an arm out and yanked Pearl closer, with it now being a big group-hug.

"Eheh, I appreciate that gesture. It'd be nice to get my feet on the ground in the Kindergarten, though... I'm just not sure if the Diamonds would be happy about it."

Pearl, after getting over her embarrassment over the sudden hug, began to think up an idea: she could shapeshift to look like she was a Quartz to blend in naturally!

At last thinking up an actual rational thought that doesn't involve games, Spinel questioned, "Won't people recognize us as being yours and suspect something? And if they see us come in from the warp-"

"Spinel, I know I said you needed to know how to be serious, but that doesn't mean being a buzzkill," Pink Diamond snarked, ruffling Spinel's heart-shaped ponytails before assuring her, "Nobody is on Earth to monitor things, and those Quartzes are only now experiencing life- it isn't as if they're going to be able to call the Diamonds and tell them that we snuck down there."

Convinced completely, she basked in the glory of Pink Diamond's transformation- this time, her and Pearl being in sync that oddly made the latter jealous. She looked just like a Rose Quartz, and in fact, she would ask the two of them to call her Rose Quartz while she was in that form just to make it believable.

They soon arrived in the Kindergarten and began to give greetings. While Pearl was nervous to really steal the spotlight from Rose's work giving out delighted hugs and smiles, Spinel was definitely not as shy, happily shaking hands and tossing out kisses.

It was clear that the trio were quite excited about getting to see the work being done to produce all these Gems, but although Pearl was feeling tempted to just head right back to the base, Rose and Spinel both thought of a similar idea: go out and explore past the colony.

Tilting her head, Pearl asked, "Is that really necessary...? We didn't exactly make all of that..."

"That's what makes it exciting, Pearl! Who knows what could be out there in the untamed wild!" Spinel proclaimed, pumping a fist as Rose nodded along and happily encouraged her hyperactive behavior.

Of course, what they found when they went out there wasn't untamed wild- it was civilization. Humans had built their owns, formed their own communities... heck, they were even gardening! And to think this was just a little ways off from... the Kindergarten.

Spinel, looking at Rose, questioned, "Why do you look... sad?"

"What we're doing on Earth... it'll take away these living beings' livelihoods, and eventually, their lives. And for what...? What are we adding to this planet in the end apart from gems who then go off and take other planets just to strip them of their resources?!"

The two were realizing Rose was getting really worked up, even raising her voice to the point of catching the attention of a few of those humans.

Patting her on the arm, Pearl stated calmly, "I understand how you must feel, but... I can't see what we can really do here. If we go back to the Diamonds and just tell them we don't want a Kindergarten anymore, they'll most likely take it under their hands and continue it as planned, and then you'll be back to how things were before."

"At least before I wasn't contributing to all this..."

Despite the guidance of Pearl, Rose... or, Pink Diamond soon went to the Diamonds and asked them if they could suspend the production of Quartzes on Earth. However, they simply gave a laugh and remarked that she's always been too passionate about things that don't matter and that soon the Earth will be used for something far more important. She considered going to White Diamond, but... she didn't really like talking to her, and going to her palace just brings back awful memories that she doesn't want to relive. 

In the end, it was fruitless... leaving her with one option.

Well, at least the one option that felt like it made sense. Since they didn't care what Pink Diamond had to say, she figured that if she was someone else and she started stirring up trouble, it'd give more incentive for the Diamonds to have the Kindergarten shut down completely.

Spinel and Pearl, not wanting to just stay on Homeworld, joined her and took on the form of renegades who abandoned Pink Diamond's court to fight alongside her. Pearl got quite a majestic spear, and Spinel opted for just using her stretchy body as a weapon with springy kicks and punches.

To be fighting alongside Rose Quartz like this was quite exciting for Spinel- it was like the best game possible because it had such incredible stakes! However, she always got the impression that Pearl didn't really like her being around. Maybe she didn't enjoy her jokes, or she thought she made too many faces...? Eventually, though, she started to catch the way Pearl would look at Rose, and the way Rose looked at her in turn, and... yeah, it seemed like there was a bit of a connection going on that Pearl was worried of Spinel intruding upon now.

What Pearl didn't realize was that Rose was not exactly a monogamous person. Even between her and Spinel, some romantic sentiments were shared mutually, and it didn't lessen the amount of love she had for Pearl. It was simply the case that Pearl wanted Rose to be hers and hers alone, and she took Spinel's presence as a constant challenge. 

She'd try to one-up Spinel in any way imaginable, and Spinel tried to play along... because of course she did, she loved playing games! It never occurred to her to just tell Pearl that she didn't have to be jealous.

Rose, meanwhile, didn't seem like she really took anything of Pearl's odd behavior. She found it entertaining, and- while she didn't view Pearl as a servant- she didn't really have the same view of their relationship as Pearl thought she did. She loved loving people and didn't see any reason to restrict it to one person, so when she saw Pearl get grumpy over Rose embracing Spinel and maybe even offering a kiss on her forehead, she just took it as Pearl being overdramatic. She was going to give her plenty of love, too, so why fuss over Spinel's affection?

For quite some time, the trio fought purely for the liberation of Earth to try and keep Homeworld off of it. It was one faithful day that they discovered that it was not just those inhabiting the worlds colonized that suffered from Homeworld- it was common Gems too. It should've been more obvious before- Rose never considered how she had been handed Pearl and Spinel as if they were mere accessories because she always put in some level of effort to... well, care for them. Even if she didn't always do the best in some areas, she tried her best.

A fusion had formed miraculously in Blue Diamond's court. The prediction stated that, in total, Spinel and Pearl would batter all of the Ruby guards and even poof the Sapphire. One of the Rubies slipped away at the last second, though, and collided with Sapphire in an embrace to protect her from the Spinel's fist- resulting in something incredible forming.

"Wow...~"

Spinel outwardly expressed her amazement before Rose grabbed the two of them and fled.

Standing in a pretty field of flowers, Rose professed her astonishment about the idea of a fusion between two different gems, wondering how it happened.

Pearl and Spinel both looked at Rose with interest, stepping closer... but accidentally bumping into one another, toppling to the ground so they both pinned each other down.

Looking each other in the eyes for an awkward second, they reached to grab each other's hands and get up... and for a brief moment, they glowed and their formed merged before they toppled apart.

Pearl, realizing what just happened, turned to Rose and urged, "F-forgive me for that, I didn't know what I was doing!"

"I did know what I was doing, but you can forgive me for that too, eheh...!"

Looking up at Rose with incredible passion, she expressed a fantasy she had begun to have- imagining a scenario where Pearl and Rose met on Earth, and even though she didn't belong to her, she made her so happy. Spinel listened to this with awe, having not realized the full extent of her feelings for Rose Quartz. 

Rose, putting her hands on the two of their shoulders, insisted, "Neither of you have anything wrong with you. You're perfect... and I would never change you."

In that moment the two were united in their love for Rose... but then, something happened.

The group heard the sound of leaves rustling and branches snapping, and the noises lead them to the same fusion they witnessed earlier. She was terrified of them, not yet seeing how they could be on the same side.

"I'm sorry, I'll- I'll unfuse right now-!"

"No, don't... I'm really happy to see you."

It took some adjusting, but the fusion known as Garnet soon had joined the group. She was certainly baffled by the entourage here- a Rose Quartz, a Pearl, and a Spinel? How in the world did they meet? And yet, this team would only expand onward.

---

"Wow, it sort of seems like, with Spinel here, things went pretty much as they did before... wouldn't there be some pretty big ripples from having her around longer?"

"You're not wrong, Steven, and don't worry- things will change very soon."

---

Even as the team grew larger and larger, it was clear that Spinel and Pearl were still the ones closest to Rose's heart. One day, when everybody else was resting in their own tents, Spinel and Pearl would have a private conversation.

"Pearl... I know how you feel about Rose, and... to be honest, I feel the same way."

Looking at her, she questioned, "How can you... feel the way I do for her?"

"I know, I'm just a silly jokester, how can I possibly understand? But... I really do. And you don't have to try to fight with me for her attention, Pearl. I know she loves us both just the same and she wants the best of both of us."

Looking at her feet, Pearl sighed, "I know... it's just hard sometimes. I've felt so strongly for her since I was first given to her, but that was because she was... well, you know. And now, well..."

"Yeah, I get it. I just worry that if we spend all our time fighting over Rose, that... if she ever ends up having to leave us, we'll be unable to know what to do. That's why I think, well... we need to start looking out for each other, too."

The two held each other's hands and smiled at each other, not knowing Rose was silently listening outside. Rose felt happy to know they would be there for each other even when she was gone... whenever that time may come.

Rose Quartz felt as if she had to end things.

The war had gone on long enough, and she realized the Diamonds were still rigid in their thinking- this was Pink's world, she needed to take responsibility and squash the Rebellion herself. Therefore, she felt as if there was only one way to protect the Earth from Homeworld's destructive desires.

The only two people she told about this were Spinel and Pearl. She was going to stage the killing of Pink Diamond, having Spinel and Pearl act alongside her- Pearl shapeshifting to resemble Rose and Spinel standing alongside her to make it all the more convincing that this was real.

She had them promise to not tell anyone about this, wanting to live the rest of her life as just Rose Quartz. Spinel didn't like the idea of having to keep a secret that long, but... she nodded along with Pearl before they orchestrated this fake attack in front of all of those people.

"Rose Quartz?! Get away...! Spinel, I'll forgive you for your betrayal if you save me...!"

"It's too late for that, Pink Diamond!"

The fight was made to look as convincing as possible- punches and kicks thrown- before the sword sliced through Pink Diamond's body, poofing her.

Having swallowed some fake gem shards, she ended up convincing all of Homeworld that Pink Diamond was shattered using Rose Quartz's sword... and while she hoped it would mean Earth would be abandoned, that was not quite what happened.

Heartbroken by what occurred, the Diamonds proceeded to unleash an attack directly on Earth- wiping out all but a select few of the Rebels. 

It was heartbreaking for Pearl and Spinel to realize what their actions inadvertently lead to, and... over the next several thousand years, they began to grow closer while drifting apart from Rose, able to bond over their conflicting emotions.

Rose's guilt only grew over the years seeing the hurt caused to her closest friends due to what she thought would end the war. Not wanting to live in guilt the rest of her life, she tried to make things right wherever she could.

She went out to the desert and found the Lion in which she stored Bismuth, and when she released her, she could not stop herself from crying into her chest.

"I've made so many mistakes... I don't know how I can live with myself. I have so much to say, but I don't know-"

Bismuth silenced her, assuring her she didn't need to say anything- as long as they were back together, things would be okay, right?

It was a delightful reunion even if it felt in a way to be some attempt at recompense for Pearl and Spinel- trying to reward them for how they helped her. However, it was still great to be back together with another long-lost member of the Crystal Gems.

Keeping the secret locked away was maddening, and Pearl and Spinel discussed this struggle greatly. Eventually, Pearl went to Rose to confront her about this great burden they carried.

She understood how they felt but feared what would happen to their team if she admitted she was lying. She had always felt like she was not enough for anyone and that she needed to hide the worst parts of herself in order to get anyone to listen to her.

A compromise was reached- they'd be allowed to tell everything to the others, but only when she was gone- whether she left the team on her own, was shattered, or.... any other way one could leave their friends.

It was not much, but it felt like a weight was lifted.

Despite this, Pearl and Spinel never quite got back what they had with Rose Quartz before, and their relationship with one another only grew stronger. Bismuth noticed this, finding it quite admirable, and Garnet herself had trouble predicting what may come of this in the future. Rose, meanwhile, thought about if she could ever find a relationship as real and honest as that. Spinel and Pearl never had any issues to work out in terms of seeing each other as equals- they already were on the same level. She needed to find someone who would understand they were her equal.

Rose Quartz formed many relationships with humans on Earth over the years but never quite found the right person until one fateful night in the mid-nineties when she met an aspiring rock star named Greg. 

He was not the kind of person anyone expected Rose Quartz to start dating. He was weak, short, incredibly dorky, and he knew nothing about who or what Rose was. And yet... there was something about him that made her so happy. He was completely sincere in everything he did and he didn't see her as someone to worship... just another person on this planet.

Pearl knew thousands of years ago, when she still held Rose to a pedestal, she'd be intensely jealous... this is what happened when Spinel became an active member of their lives, after all. However, things were different know, and she felt happy to see her finding someone that suited her.

Even with how their relationship had changed, though, she was still distraught to learn she planned on giving up her physical form. She tried to talk her out of it- surely, there'd be some kind of way to have a child without giving up her physical form and completely disappearing!

Rose Quartz simply stated that that was how it had to be- never having it be spoken that, well, there were indeed methods she could've taken to give birth and still remain alive. However, she wanted to give her child her gem... and she felt like the world may improve without her in it.

And so, she gave up her physical body and her life for the sake of bringing a new one into existence. Spinel and Pearl told the others about everything they hid, and the Crystal Gems disbanded for a short time to short out this inner turmoil.

Eventually, though, they came back together and concluded that- while Pink's identity as Rose was fabricated- what she stood for was not. They all believed in what she believed, and they didn't need her around to know that.

And with Rose gone, Spinel and Pearl's bond would only grow stronger. Nobody would be able to predict how close they'd get, but needless to say, Pearl was not going to be spending too much time longing for Rose to return now that she has someone to comfort her who knows so intimately how she feels. Things felt like they'd be okay.

---

"Wow... Spinel and Pearl...?"

Garnet, nodding, admitted, "I did not anticipate them to form a strong bond like this either. Then again, anything is possible, as we've learned."

"Mhm. yeah, seems so. That's really interesting... I wonder if I should tell Spinel about that."

Shrugging, Garnet joked, "If you do that, you know Pearl will find out just as fast."

"Is that meant to talk me out of it? Because that sounds hilarious."

Shaking her head, Garnet stifled a giggle as she stated, "Do whatever you want with that information."

Steven definitely had a lot to tell those two Gems.