Author's Note: This is a crossover between Steven Universe and Legend of Korra- or rather, perhaps a more apt description is that it's a fusion (see what I did there?). Basically, it's a Gem AU. As such, very little of SU should be needed to understand it. Hope you enjoy!

oOoOoOo

Chapter One

When Asami spots her across the room, the first thing she notices about her is the gem.

That sounds completely shallow, she knows, but she can't help it. It's a red forehead gem, just like her own, though the cut is far sharper and angular, the red brighter and more pure than her own black-ribboned carnelian. It's a promising sight, nonetheless- Asami is the only one of her model, and she can't help but feel a jolt of excitement at meeting someone who may have a similar program to her own.

After scanning her eyes across the rest of the stranger's body as she approaches, however, Asami quickly realizes that besides the gemstone, they have very little physical similarity. The stranger's skin is a deep brown to Asami's pale white, and her brown hair is tied back in a foreign style, framing sharp blue eyes. She must be from a warrior class, Asami speculates- not that she minds, of course. There's something quite attractive about those well-toned muscles.

She hides that particular thought behind a professional smile as she reaches out to shake the other Gem's hand. "I'm Asami Sato, pleasure to meet you."

"Korra," the Gem says politely, but with a hint of discomfort. She's trying to hide it, but she seems awkward surrounded by the ostentatious finery of the Republic Sea Spire. She's wearing an outfit which incorporates thick blue 'furs' which have become fashionable on the icy, outer planets, and Asami suspects that the Gem- Korra- hasn't been in this Cluster for long.

Asami wonders what she can do to put this pretty new Gem at ease, so after the initial customary parts of the introduction are over with, she asks how Korra spends her time, hoping to steer the conversation into comfortable territory.

"Travelling, right now," Korra says with a shrug. "I spent most of my life pretty isolated, but now I've finally gotten the chance to explore the rest of the galaxy."

"That's so cool!" The Carnelian says, and she means it. She's spent her entire life, short as it, on the Homeworld, and while she adores it, Asami wouldn't mind the chance to travel herself. "What's it's like? What's the most amazing thing you've seen?"

Korra laughs, and then launches into stories about her journey across the cosmos. About her own home planet, covered in oceans and ice, which at night has skies filled with beautiful dancing ribbons of light. About some of the earliest colonies, millennium old and now practically abandoned, covered in ancient crumbling temples overgrown with local flora. About one moon she visited which was almost entirely covered in desert, and how she'd almost been eaten alive by a massive worm which had slithered beneath the sand's surface.

Asami remains enraptured through it all, especially when Korra begins to relate the harrowing time where, due to a malfunctioning navigational system, her space-ship had been nearly dragged over the event horizon of a black-hole, only to escape at the last moment due to some truly spectacular work on the pilot's part. At that point, Asami's enthusiasm bubbles through her polite facade; "I can hardly believe it- that must have been so terrifying! How did the pilot remain calm throughout all of that? What model ship was it?"

"Um." Korra rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. "I'm not actually sure. I wasn't even in the cabin...and I basically know nothing about space-ships. I mostly Warp, whenever I can. Sorry."

"Oh, no. No, it's fine," Asami assures her, then laughs self-consciously. "I just adore space-ships, and get a little carried away sometimes..."

"You're a pilot, then?"

"Engineer, primarily," the Carnelian explains. "But I like to test drive everything I build, and piloting kind of- caught me, I guess. I love racing."

"Racing?" Korra's eyes glitter as brightly as any gemstone. "That's wicked! I'd love to learn how to do that, some day. It sounds so fun."

"...I could teach you, if you like." Asami grins at the off-world Gem from beneath her eyelashes.

"Really? Would you? That would be amazing!"

"Long as you don't warp off-planet too quickly, I'd be happy to."

"Oh, don't worry," Korra says, stepping a little closer. "I don't think I'm going anywhere soon."

Suddenly, Asami feels distinctly over-heated. Perhaps the other Gem feels it too, because she raises her hand to absently push a lock of hair out of her face- and something catches the light, glittering brightly. It's another gemstone, Asami realizes, embedded in the back of Korra's hand, circular-cut and brilliant blue.

"Oh!" the engineer exclaims before she can think. "You're a fusion!"

"Yeah, I am." Korra moves backwards slightly, and though she still appears outwardly calm, her feet shift into a fighting stance. There's something iron in her voice when she looks Asami straight in the eyes. "You got a problem with that?"

Asami feels her face flush with a totally different emotion- embarrassment at her own forwardness. She's suddenly aware of the many Gems milling around them, enjoying the event. She'd forgotten about them all, being so engrossed in the conversation, but of course, they're still there, and they could easily overhear everything they say. Anybody could notice- anybody could decide to take offence. Korra has no way of knowing if that anybody might include her.

"No, I don't," Asami tells the other Gem, meeting her gaze steadily. "I was just a little...surprised. You don't see many fusions here. But my fam- my designers, they used to fuse a lot."

"Used to?"

"One of their gems were shattered."

"Oh. Oh." Korra stiffens, shame filling her face. "I'm sorry- I should have realized-"

"It's okay," Asami says, though her voice sounds flat. She closes her eyes; she can see Yasuko's gem, radiant yellow, struck by the heavy hammer, seeming to hold for a moment before shattering into a dozen tiny pieces, shards clattering against the floor...

She opens her eyes, and she's back at the party; her screaming and Hiroshi's sobs replaced by the murmur of conversation and the melodies of music. And Korra is there, by her side, clearly looking concerned, but unsure what to do. "It's okay," Asami repeats again. "It was decades ago."

Korra doesn't look convinced- and dammit, Asami just doesn't want to talk about it. They were having such a nice conversation!

"I really am sorry," Korra repeats, voice softer, and Asami knows that she's apologizing for much more than her own words. Asami appreciates the sentiment, she supposes, but it's one she's already heard hundreds of times before- and she knows that no amount of 'sorrys', no amount of wishing, will change things. So she just gives the other Gem a tight smile, and casts around for something else to talk about.

She glances down at Korra's blue gem, the one that got her into this whole mess- and then she pauses mentally. Blue? Blue, when Korra's other gem is red? That's impossible, of course- during fusion, all gems become the same colour, unless-

"-You're the Avatar," Asami says, suddenly, as all the pieces fall into place.

A grin- practically a smirk- replaces the look of concern on Korra's face. "Yep, that's right."

Asami feels more than a little ridiculous. Of course, nobody could be expected to know what the Avatar looks like...but who would assume she'd be here, at this party, completely unannounced, talking to her?

The Avatar has been absent for nearly a century, nearly as long as Asami has been in existence, but of course she knows all about her. The political vacuum Avatar Aang left behind influences practically every element of Homeworld politics, and though Asami has little interest in all of that, she's more than aware of the speculatio surrounding the new one. Everyone knew that after the past Avatar's body was destroyed, the stones were whisked away to a safe location to regenerate, but the Beryls overseeing their new formation and training were being notoriously secretive. Some whispered that there had been a kidnapping attempt; others said that was just rumour, and that the Beryls were being paranoid. Everyone knew that sooner or later, the Avatar would have to be let out of hiding, step back into the spotlight- but everyone had assumed that such an event would be surrounded by fanfare, with speeches and performances, with even the Diamonds in attendance.

But instead, it appeared that the new Avatar had decided to make her first appearance at a minor gala, unannounced.

She's undeniably curious about that, but any enquiries to that end would be far too blunt. So Asami merely allows herself to blush again as she glances towards the floor. "I feel rather foolish."

"Don't," Korra says, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You actually caught on faster than most."

"Really?" Asami asks, genuinely surprised. "Well, that's something. I suppose most people aren't very observant."

After all, why would anyone be looking out for a second gem?

"I guess," says Korra. "Mostly they're just bigoted jerkfaces, though."

Asami winces. "Do you get a lot of discrimination, then?"

"As the Avatar, no. As a supposed fusion, yeah. I don't mind though," she says, with a laugh. "I mostly let people go on thinking whatever they like, before just, y'know, letting it slip that I'm the Avatar. The looks on their faces. Priceless!"

The Carnelian giggles, though she veils the laugh behind a polite hand. She can only imagine.

Beneath her amusement, however, her mind is racing. She knows it's a matter of debate, the exact nature of the Avatar- fusion or not? The Avatar has five gems, of course, and certainly is as powerful as any five-gem fusion would be. But the nature of that power is different. All fusions are inherently unstable- or so it's said- but the Avatar is anything but. Whereas fusions are a complicated, conflicting mash of different personalities and desires, the Avatar is whole, centered, balanced.

This is because they truly have only one personality. One person, wholly in control. At least, at any one moment. Over the millenia, the Avatar has had many, many personalities.

When a normal Gem's physical body is heavily damaged or destroyed, it's merely an inconvenience. The mind retreats back inside their gem, resting, until a new body can be formed. That is, basically, also what happens to the Avatar when their bodies are destroyed, but it's also far more complicated than that. A new body is created, yes, but the mind- or at least the mind's dominant personality- is also someone completely new, each time. The Avatar is reduced to their most basic programming, and must be trained and raised anew. Their past memories and training can only ever be accessed after a great deal of practice and meditation.

It's always sounded immensely uncomfortable, Asami has thought. She had never actually had to regenerate- this body was her still her first- but she was certain that the process had to be infinitely nicer than, well-losing yourself like that. She's read about Avatar Aang, of course, and heard plenty of stories; from the sounds of it, that sweet and quiet Gem, small and lithe, was nothing like the bold one standing before Asami now.

Not that the Avatar's unique adaptation doesn't have it's advantages, of course. There's the reason they have had so may personalities; they had lived a long, long time. Longer than any living Gem could remember, certainly. Over the millennia, many had tried to kill the Avatar, but all had failed- because while a normal gem only has only a single gem that must be destroyed, the Avatar has five, and if a single one, or two, or three are cracked, the rest of the Avatar's gems will heal them, protecting them from harm. Death is practically an impossibility. With such a regenerative mechanism in place, there's no telling how old the Avatar truly is. Some legends say that the Avatar was birthed alongside the very universe, during the Big Bang itself.

Asami isn't sure if she believes that, but still, her palms itch at the possibility. For all the Avatar's power and political importance, so little is really known about them- or her, she's a her in this life- and now, with the new Avatar standing right in front of her, Asami yearns to investigate, to study. What's her code? How was she created? How old is she? What's the extent of her powers? How do her five gemstones remain coordinated? Asami can't help the flood of questions running through her mind. Curiosity is just part of her programming.

Asami makes herself clamp down on that programming. Korra is not an engine for her to tinker with, or a mathematical problem which is giving her trouble. Korra is a Gem; a nice one, too, it seems, well-traveled and funny, and really, really cute. She's being rude, acting like she's a thing to be studied.

Korra doesn't seem to be offended by Asami's clear interest at all. In fact, she seems rather amused. Or maybe even proud. Self-satisfied, certainly.

"Hey," says Korra, shooting her another bright grin. "Do you want a closer look?"

"Pardon?" Asami asks, blinking.

"At my Gems," the Avatar explains. "I could show you the rest of them. You know. If you wanted."

Some part of Asami's mind are scrambling, searching for the polite, proper way to agree to such an invitation; but that part, raised on the intricacies of Homeworld politics, finds itself superseded by some other, wilder part of her, a part which can't contain her excitement at such an opportunity."Yes! Yes, I would love to."

oOoOoOo

Author's Note: So, this was inspired in two parts; firstly, from the good dozen or so beautiful pieces of fan-art I saw of Korrasami Gem fusions, which were all so creative and different. Secondly, by the Mark Does Stuff Community; Mark Oshiro has started watching and reviewing 'Legend of Korra' again, and the wonderful commentary from both him and his commentators have got me on something of a Korra kick.

Now, this was initially going to be just a straight forward 'Korra and Asami dance to fuse' one-shot, but then my mind started trying to work out the logistics of this crossover, and suddenly it had spiraled out of control into some excuse for me to practice world-building and to share speculation about how Gem society works. Whoops.