Steven is seen fast asleep on the back of a truck in the barn, snoring loudly. A shadowy figure then approaches him, and Steven snores a final time before waking up.
"Steven!" Garnet says excitedly, without her visors on.
Steven gasps. "Garnet! Is it morning already?" He asks.
Garnet grins. "It's midnight! Happy birthday, Steven!"
Steven grabs his cheeks, then sits up and grabs Garnet's cheeks. "Oh man! Are you finally gonna tell me that you're a fusion of the Gems Ruby and Sapphire like you promised?" Steven asks.
"You already know about all that, Steven." Garnet says.
Steven sighs. "It's true." He lets go of Garnet and falls back into bed.
"But what you don't know is how Ruby and Sapphire first met." Garnet says.
Steven sits back up and grabs Garnet's cheeks again, blushing with stars in his eyes. "O-M-G! I don't!" Steven says excited to learn.
"Might I learn of this story as well or would one be intruding?" Y/n asks suddenly revealing his presence.
Garnet nods and chuckles hinting it is okay, as she begins retelling her story of how Ruby and Sapphire first met.
"The Earth, 5,750 years ago; it was a promising site of a new Gem colony, but progress was being thwarted by a small, persistent group of rebels. A team of diplomatic Gems were sent from Homeworld to investigate. Among those Gems was Sapphire, a rare aristocratic Homeworld Gem, with the power to see into the future. Assigned to her were three Rubies, common soldiers, with a mission to protect her." Garnet begins and the scene changes to a flashback.
The first Ruby guard walks up to second Ruby Guard. "Hey! Can't wait for those rebels to get here!"
"Haha, yeah! When I see those rebels, I'm gonna punch them right in their faces!" The second replies.
"What are you sayin'? I'm gonna punch them all over their bodies, and then it'll be over."
"What if, I just punch you!" The second Ruby says.
She punches the first Ruby Guard playfully in the back of her shoulder, sticking her tongue out, and the Ruby Guard yelped out in pain.
"Oh, come on. We'll punch 'em together when we fuse. That's why they sent, uh, three of us?" The third Ruby says.
"Three this!" The first Ruby guard says and she attempts to punch the third Ruby, but She blocks the attack. The Ruby was knocked backwards, causing her to collide into Sapphire. Onlooking Gems gasped in shock as Ruby quickly stepped away from Sapphire.
"Oh, I, um, I'm so sorry, I, let me, uh..." The third Ruby quickly says nervously.
"I'm fine." Sapphire says.
"What?" The Ruby asks.
"It's okay. It was bound to happen." Sapphire brushes it off.
" I, uh... okay." The Ruby says confused.
"Now please wait here. I must attend to my duties." Sapphire says.
"Right." The Ruby says
"Mmm."
" Yes."
The other two join and the three Rubies stood in attention as Sapphire walked up to Blue Diamond's Palanquin, where Blue Diamond's Pearl was seen standing next to Blue Diamond's throne.
"Sapphire had been called to Earth by Blue Diamond, specifically to share her vision of the future." Garnet begins to narrate again.
Sapphire enters the palanquin. "My diamond, I've arrived."
"Blue Diamond spoke, Sapphire, tell me what will happen here." Garnet narrates.
"I foresee the rebels attacking the Cloud Arena. Before they are cornered, they will destroy the physical forms of seven gems, including two of my Ruby guards, and myself. Immediately after my form is destroyed, the rebels will be captured. The rebellion ends here." Sapphire says.
"Thank you, Sapphire. Blue Diamond said, relieved. That's all I needed to know." Garnet narrates again.
"I look forward to speaking with you again once I reform back on Homeworld." Sapphire says to Blue Diamond. Sapphire gave a curtsy to Blue Diamond before returning to her Ruby guards, standing next to Ruby.
"Sapphire knew she would be a casualty, but it did not faze her. She saw her whole life laid out before her, and she had already accepted all of it." Garnet says.
Sapphire speaks to Ruby from earlier. "What a beautiful place to build a colony. I wish I could have seen more of this planet."
"Uh... there's still time." Ruby replies.
"That is a nice thought, but... no." Sapphire says.
"Blue Diamond, leave this planet! This colony will not be completed!" Rose Quartz can be heard declaring.
"It's the rebels!" The second Ruby guard from earlier shouts.
Various Gems muttered among themselves, one of them shouted, "Who are you!? Show yourselves!" Pearl, wielding two swords, appeared standing on a pillar as Rose Quartz floated in from above.
"We..." Rose starts.
" ... are the Crystal Gems!" Both she and Pearl says together.
The Palanquin carrying Blue Diamond and her Pearl closed, sprouted mechanical legs and walks off.
"The attack was right on schedule." Garnet says.
Pearl used her swords to defeat four Gems, before the Ruby guards intervened and fused into a much bigger Ruby. The Ruby fusion charged after Rose Quartz, but she counter-attacked, instantly defusing the Ruby fusion. Pearl then instantly jumped in and destroyed the forms of the two other Ruby Guards, leaving just Ruby on the ground. Pearl then prepared to strike Sapphire.
"Thank you, Ruby. You did your best." Sapphire says accepting her fate.
"Ruby suddenly realized what Sapphire meant. She had known that Ruby would fail. Sapphire had accepted it. But Ruby... Ruby could not." Garnet says.
"NO!!" Ruby got up and charged at Sapphire, pushing her out of the way of Pearl's attack. As the two of them spun in the air, they accidentally fuse into Garnet for the first time.
"Wha..." The past Garnet says as she examines her newly formed body, and the two gems on her palms. "What... !?"
Onlooking Gems gasped, horrified, as they muttered among themselves.
"What...what is this?" Past Garnet asks.
Pearl looked on in, amazed, but shook it off and prepared to strike again, before being stopped by Rose.
"Wait! This is... hm?" The other Gems noticed her and began to approach, ignoring Garnet. "... Let's go."
"Uh... bye!" Pearl shouts.
Both Pearl And Rose then leap away.
"Is this... ?" Past Garnet defused back into Ruby and Sapphire, and the onlooking Gems turned their attention back to the pair.
"The furious crowd closed in around Ruby and Sapphire. They'd never seen fusion of two different types of Gems. "Unbelievable!" "Disgusting!" "This is unheard of!"" Garnet narrates. "Blue Diamond's voice cut through the crowd. "The rebels have fled. Sapphire, this was not the scenario you described!"
"This is... not what I saw! I don't know what happened, I..." Sapphire stammers.
"No! It was me!" Ruby says.
"Clearly." Said Blue Diamond. "How dare you fuse with a member of my court?"" Garnet narrates.
"Forgive me, I... !"
"You will be broken for this!" Garnet continues.
The angry Gems began to close in on Ruby and Sapphire, but Sapphire grabbed Ruby's hand and dashed off with her.
"WAAAIT!! What are you dooiing!? NO!!" Ruby shouts.
Sapphire jumped off the Cloud Arena, and the two disappeared into the clouds.
Sapphire gently floated Ruby down somewhere at the base of a mountain and dropped her into the ground. It then began to rain heavily.
"Ugh, why'd you do that!? I have to get you back up there!" Ruby says.
"They were gonna break you!" Sapphire says.
"Who cares!? There's tons of me!" Ruby says frustrated.
Ruby looked up at the rain, and the area around the mountain. She then groaned in panic.
"Gahh! What do we do now!?" Ruby asks Sapphire.
"Sapphire had known every moment of her life. How it would happen, and when. But because of Ruby's impulsive gesture, she suddenly jumped the track of fate, and everything from that instant on was wrong, and new. She couldn't see, she couldn't move. She was... frozen." Garnet says.
Ice began forming around Sapphire's feet, freezing her onto the spot.
"Ah! We have to get you... out of here!" Ruby says.
Ruby grabbed Sapphire from behind and pulled her out of the ice. She then carries Sapphire bridal style.
"Come on." Ruby carried Sapphire away from the mountains and into a nearby cave. Ruby set her down inside and examined the surroundings.
"Alright, this should be good for now." Ruby says.
Sapphire sat down and pushed aside her bang, uncovering her eye.
"Thank you..." Sapphire says.
Ruby looked at her, stunned and speechless. Fire then formed around her feet, causing her to step back in shock. A bonfire was made from the flames and Sapphire began warming herself. Ruby, however, kept pacing around in panic.
"What kind of Ruby am I supposed to be? Look at this! It's my fault you're stranded here. How am I gonna save you?" Ruby groans.
"You already did." Sapphire says.
"What!?" Ruby asks surprised.
"You already saved me." Sapphire says.
Ruby sniffled and sat down next to the bonfire, still perturbed. The two remained silent for a moment, thinking about the accidental fusion they performed earlier. Ruby stared at her gem, and then at Sapphire's gem.
"I... I've seen gems fuse before, but I had no idea that's what it felt like. I always thought... I never realized that fusion... that'd you'd disappear like that." Sapphire says.
"It's never like that! Whenever I've fused, it's always just been me, but bigger, I... I've never had a third eye before." Ruby says back.
" I've never had more than one! It was nice." Sapphire says.
Ruby blushes. "Ha... yeah..."
Eventually, the rain stopped, and Ruby and Sapphire stepped out of the cave. They climbed over a hill and witnessed a sunset in the horizons. They both began to sing as they explore Earth together.
♫ Where did we go? What did we do? I think we made something, entirely new. And it wasn't quite me, and it wasn't quite you. I think it was someone, entirely new. ♫
Sapphire walked through a forest when a butterfly landed on her hand. Ruby came over to observe it, but it flew away and got eaten by a frog. Ruby then picked up the frog and showed it to an excited Sapphire.
♫ Oh... Um... , Well I just can't stop thinking ♫ Ruby sings
"♫ So... Um..., Did you say I was different? ♫ Sapphire sings
♫ And you hadn't before? ♫ Ruby sings.
♫ Of course not! When would I have ever? ♫ Sapphires sings.
Night fell, Ruby and Sapphire lay in the grass to gaze at the moon, while talking about the accidental fusion.
♫ I'm so sorry. ♫ Ruby sings.
♫ No, no, don't be. ♫ Sapphire sings.
♫ And now you're here forever! ♫ Ruby sings.
♫ What about you? ♫ Sapphire sings.
♫ What about me? ♫ Ruby sings.
♫ Well you're here too. We're here together. ♫" Sapphire sings.
Sapphire placed a reassuring hand on Ruby's hand and then led her into a forest. She began humming her song, to which Ruby then joined in too, forming a reprise of Stronger Than You and Strong in the Real Way. They danced together in the forest, and eventually fused together back into Garnet. Past Garnet began stumbling around, unfamiliar to her body yet.
" I was back, I was someone and I didn't know who. But I felt I was getting the hang of my strange new form. ...And then I fell." Garnet narrates as Past Garnet tripped and rolled down a hill.
" ... Ouch." The past Garnet says.
Suddenly, a sword was pointed at Past Garnet's face, causing her to flinch and recoil.
" Ah! Don't hurt her! Don't hurt... me?" The Past Garnet says.
The sword bearer then revealed to be Pearl.
"It's you! The fusion..." Pearl says.
"We didn't mean to fuse! Well... well, we did this time. We'll unfuse! We, we'll..." Past Garnet rambles.
Rose Quartz approaches from behind Pearl.
"No, no, please... I'm glad to see you again." Rose says.
"And there they were: Rose Quartz, the leader of the rebellion, and her terrifying renegade Pearl." Garnet narrates.
"I don't upset you?" Past Garnet asks.
"Who cares about how I feel? How you feel is bound to be much more interesting." Rose says.
"How I feel? I feel... uh, lost... and scared... and happy. W-why am I so sure that I'd rather be this than everything I was supposed to be, and that I'd rather do this than anything I was supposed to do?" Past Garnet says.
Rose begins laughing. "Welcome to Earth!"
"C-can you tell me!? How was Ruby able to alter fate? Or, why was Sapphire willing to give up everything? W-what am I!?" Past Garnet asks Rose.
"No more questions. Don't ever question this." Rose holds past Garnet's hands. "You already are the answer."
The flashback ends as Garnet concludes her tale.
"So... ? What was it?" Steven asks.
Garnet raises an eyebrow.
"The answer." Steven says.
"Love." Garnet whispers.
"Wow... I knew it." Steven says happily
"So did I." Garnet smiles.
Y/n thinks about Garnet's story and the meaning of a power formed by the fusion of love.
I know there is not a lot of Y/n in this one but I felt it was important for Y/n to hear Garnet's story as a way to start learning about fusion. Sometimes there will be the odd moment where Y/n is not present for plot reasons so hope that is okay? I'll see you all Friday for the next Chapter!