Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe!
Title: Red And Blue And Brown
Summary: Garnet knows Greg is a bad thing from the moment she lays eyes on him. (Or in which future vision, while not always clear, still sucks).
Setting: Pre-canon
Warnings: Probably incredibly O.O.C.
...
Garnet knows Greg is a bad thing from the moment she first lays eyes on him.
Well, no. It isn't Greg specifically. He's a good person, as far as humans go. But there was a feeling she had, a churning in her stomach that warned her that the futures he would bring wouldn't be happy.
But Rose Quartz wanted to play with him, and she is the leader. Garnet doesn't have the right to butt in unnecessarily.
(Besides, Pearl will probably scare him away in a few months. Just give it time).
Ruby never feared future vision.
She'd never wanted it, obviously. No one ever really wanted the power to see all the ways you and everyone else you love can get hurt and die.
But Sapphire had future vision, and Ruby loved Sapphire. Even if she had to go through all those horrible visions and never-ending what-ifs, it was all worth it to be with her and to be a part of her. To be a part of Garnet.
Ruby never feared having future vision, despite the pain and fear it inevitably brought upon her. Likewise, Sapphire never feared Greg.
They've been singing together again. Garnet can tell by the brighter-than-usual smile, the starry eyes, the thing humans call a 'blush' on her face.
Pearl's noticed it as well. She huffs and sticks her nose in the air. Amethyst grabs another handful of junk food out of the bag she's carrying and enjoys the show. Her hair, once only to her chin, now just barely brushes her shoulders.
Garnet knows, theoretically, that it's an easy choice to make. Tell the truth. Help Pearl split them up. Get involved. Something, anything to rid herself of that nerve-wracking feeling watching those two gave her.
But they look- no, they feel the same way she does. Love; the very feeling that gave her sentience was so deeply ingrained in both of them that, had Greg not been human, they might have formed a new level of sentience all on their own.
Greg and Rose were a fusion of love in ways Garnet couldn't even grasp. She both loved them and hated them for it.
"We should tell them." The side of her that was distinctly blue repeated over and over again.
"Let them figure it out on their own." The red side of her always answered.
Anniversaries. Garnet doesn't really understand them. She's been a part of Ruby and Sapphire- the love, not the actual fusion. That came later- for thousands of years now, and every single day has been wonderful. She's never felt the need to set a certain day aside to celebrate herself when every day was already a celebration all on its own.
They've been together for over twenty years now. Not very long, all things considered, but the feeling is only getting stronger by the day.
Garnet never says anything about it, but deep inside, in a place that used to be silent and content, voices are arguing back and forth almost constantly.
"It's an important day for them." Red says.
"We need to tell them." Blue argues.
"We should go the party and be happy for them. It's what Rose wants."
"This is only going to cause pain."
"That isn't our decision to make."
In the end, Garnet goes to the party and stiffly nods her congratulations, as though she wasn't already happy for them every day anyway. The arguing doesn't cease, however; it only grows more intense.
The problem is that Garnet understands.
That giddy feeling and warmth and the realization that you never want to live a life without that person; at least not for long periods of time. It was that very feeling that gave her life.
But she also understands how Pearl feels. Insecure and unsure of herself and wondering if you were enough for that special person, and, if you aren't, then how is that other person they want to spend their life with any better? You've fought alongside this person and would give your very life to make them happy, wasn't that enough? It was those insecurities that started giving her form in those places deep inside Ruby and Sapphire.
And Amethyst. Being hidden away for an innumerable amount of years, sometimes conscious, sometimes hidden away even from herself, and then suddenly gaining the means and courage to thrust herself into the public eye. The odd one out. The difference when someone said 'one of these things is not like the other.' Left out and unwanted.
The problem is that Garnet understands every perspective in the matter, and she can't decide who the right gem is to hurt. It isn't something she can just punch her way through or ignore, like Ruby, or strategically pick apart and study, like Sapphire.
She's starting to become two separate beings inside one fusion. And that scares her.
Garnet doesn't argue it when Rose and Greg scrape the money together to build a human house onto the temple.
Amethyst is all for it. Pearl is reluctant at first, but upon realizing that this means she'll be able to watch the duo on a closer scale she's decidedly neutral on the topic.
Neither of them seem to realize the possibilities, both good and bad, that adding on an entire house can bring.
Garnet helps by carrying the heavier materials. The more hands on deck to help, Rose says, the better.
"This isn't working."
Garnet tilts her head to the other side. "I noticed." She answered herself, this time her voice a tad rougher.
"We can't avoid this forever."
"I didn't think we were."
Silence, then a loud noise and a flash of light, and suddenly it's Ruby and Sapphire, falling to the ground with a loud thump, rather than just the red and blue parts deep inside of Garnet.
"What the-"
"I told you, we can't avoid this forever." Sapphire says firmly, shakily getting to her feet. She looks both fragile and strong all at once.
"So we unfused?"
"We need to talk this over. It's not working as Garnet."
Ruby breathes in to start yelling, because yelling always feels incredibly satisfying, but then Sapphire trips and she shoots forward to steady her, grabbing her hand reflexively while letting her fall onto her chest. "You okay?"
Sapphire swallows and nods. "I forgot. Dress. Easy to trip over."
"You wanna re-fuse?"
A shake of the head. "Not yet."
Ruby blinks, because this is the first time either one of them has ever said no to fusing before, and even if Sapphire has a point, it still kinda hurts. "Okay."
"I'm just gonna... sit down." She sunk down to the hard floor of the room. (Their room? Garnet's room? It's hard to tell at a time like this). Ruby didn't answer, deciding instead to pace the floor in front of her, hands gripping and tugging harshly on her hair.
Normally pacing made her mind feel clearer, but all it was doing right now was raising her already high irritation levels. "Ulgh!" She finally exclaimed. "Why can't things ever be simple!?"
"Ruby, lower your voice. You're going to draw attention."
Oh. Right. They were audible now. Deflating instantly, as she didn't want to draw attention, Ruby flopped down next to Sapphire with none of her partner's grace, twitching anxiously.
Neither of them spoke for a time, silently immersing themselves in each others company.
"Garnet?" Rose called, hesitantly poking her head around the corner. "I thought I heard voices and... Ruby? Sapphire?"
The two small gems quickly got to their feet. "Hello, Rose." Sapphire says politely, smoothing the fabric on the front of her dress down.
"Yeah, hey." Ruby waved awkwardly.
"I- It's so good to see you!" The large woman drew them both into a hug. "Not to be rude, but, why are you here?"
Ruby goes to answer, probably with a poorly constructed lie, but Sapphire speaks before she can make up an excuse. "We're arguing."
"Oh, dear." Her brow furrows. "About what?"
"Nothing!" Ruby blurts, just as Sapphire says; "Nothing important."
Rose blinks at them, surprised at the abrupt answer. "Okay? Well then, since you're here, would you like something to drink? I know you like tea, Sapphire. Unless... you were planning on re-fusing soon?"
"Soon." Ruby agrees.
"But not yet." Sapphire adds pointedly, giving her a glance. "If we re-fused now, we might not come back whole. I don't want extra arms if I can help it."
"Well, we wouldn't want that." Rose says, although it's obvious she doesn't believe it.
Rose leads them both towards the newly built living room. Sapphire goes to follow, but Ruby grabs her arm. "Are we really that bad?"
The blue gem checks to make sure Rose is out of earshot before shaking her head. "No, we're not. But I want to discuss this- separate."
She breathed a small sigh of relief and follows them out of their- Garnet's room and into the kitchen, feeling incredibly vulnerable.
Sapphire quietly accepts a half-full cup of tea, and Ruby does the same with a glass of water, because why the heck not. Liquids are already going to be surging through their body- she might as well add to it. She pulls herself up on a bar stool next to her partner and takes a drink from her glass.
It feels... weird. Being un-fused. They don't talk much, mostly because they're used to not needing to talk.
"Hey." A small finger prodded Sapphire's back. Amethyst stared up at the two of them, looking surprisingly vulnerable. "Are you okay?"
"We're fine." She says, used to answering for the both of them.
"But you never un-fuse. Not unless things aren't okay."
Pearl is staring at them as well, but, unlike Amethyst, her gaze is filled with curiosity. "Amethyst does have a point, you know."
It suddenly dawns on them both that neither gem has seen them un-fuse willingly in quite some time. Pearl has only seen it two or three times, and Amethyst, so much younger than the rest of them, has only seen it once before.
"They're fighting." Rose informs them, voice lowered, as though she were revealing a dark secret.
Amethyst gasped (hopefully theoretically) and stared at them. "You two can fight?"
"Of course we fight." Ruby says. "Everybody fights."
"Hmm." Sapphire agreed with a nod. "But normally we can overcome it without un-fusing."
"Which begs the question... what were you two arguing about that made you want to un-fuse?" Pearl asks hesitantly.
Sapphire stares into her cup of tea and doesn't answer. Ruby decides that it's in her best interest not to open her mouth and promptly stick her foot in it by saying something wrong, so instead she says nothing.
But, really, was it honestly that obvious? Were they really that noticeably frazzled?
Eventually the gems slowly returned to their rooms and left the duo alone. Sapphire took their empty cups, set them in the sink, and grabbed her hand. "Let's go outside."
"Sounds good to me."
Sapphire had always had a love-hate relationship with the stars. She saw every possibility; every possible invasion, every probable hardship, and every definite death. Despite this, she always loved to watch them. Ruby just liked seeing Sapphire happy.
Sapphire took a seat on the porch, then gestured for Ruby to sit in front of her. Ruby did so, allowing the other gem to gently card her fingers through her hair.
"So." She says eventually, tilting her head back to look at her.
"So." She agreed.
"This is really weird."
"Yes."
"So, uh... are we gonna talk about this, or..."
Sapphire nods but doesn't say anything. Ruby breathes out a long sigh.
"Sapphire, what are we even doing? All this fighting, it's just not like us."
The small gem nods. "I... I just feel that it's only right that we warn them, but..."
She trailed off. "But?" She prompted.
"But..." She sighed. "But they probably already know by now anyway. At least, Rose probably does. We've spent so much time making a decision that our decision doesn't matter anymore."
"Did it ever?" Ruby asks, and she has a point. "Rose loves him. He loves Rose. They'd do anything for each other, no matter what. We both know how that works."
Sapphire doesn't say anything for a long moment. "Ruby?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you so determined not to tell them?"
Ruby stared ahead and shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. It's just... They're so happy, you know? I wish more people could be like that. Like us. I didn't want to ruin it for them."
Sapphire was silent a moment before letting out a chuckle and bending over to press a kiss to her forehead. "You're really sweet, you know that?"
"Me? Sweet?" Ruby jokingly scoffs, jumping to her feet. "Please. I'm a tough warrior."
"A warrior who might as well be made of candy." She giggled. Ruby's heart soared at the sound. Sapphire sobered almost immediately. "We should re-fuse soon. They're getting worried about us." Then, as an afterthought; "I'm getting worried about us."
"Soon?" Ruby says hopefully, because that's the best thing she's heard all night.
"Soon." Sapphire agrees with a nod and a smile, staring up at the stars. "But not yet."
Rose is pregnant.
Pearls looks and acts both happy at the news- a new gem; and Rose's offspring, even!- and decidedly displeased- mostly because the baby was with a human- with Greg- and not with her. (Not that that was possible, but details details).
Amethyst lets out an inhuman shriek and races across the room to hug her, pressing her ear against Rose's stomach.
Rose chuckles. "You won't be able to feel the baby for a little while yet, Amethyst. It has to grow a bit first."
Amethyst pouts, but only slightly. "Just you wait, little dude." She says, talking to the life forming inside the tall gem. "We're gonna have lotsa fun together. It's gonna be a riot."
Pearl rolls her eyes and huffs because slang is not proper English, Amethyst; which, of course, spirals off into another argument. They've been doing that a lot more than they used to- actually, they never really argued before- but it's probably just a phase. Garnet is hopeful it will pass in time.
Under her glasses, Garnet stares at Rose, wide-eyed, because this is it, this is what that bad feeling was, that premonition, it was too late to stop this future from occurring. She'd lost.
Well, sort of. Despite the harsh reality lurking under her words (of which her companions seem oblivious, at least for now) Garnet has never seen Rose look happier. She was practically glowing with pride and glee.
Garnet didn't give any congratulations. Rose didn't ask her for any.
"So, tell me, Garnet." Rose asks once everyone has left the room. "What're the possibilities for the baby?"
There are a lot of them, obviously. The baby could be born perfectly normal and human, without the need of a gem to survive. It could die during childbirth. She could die during childbirth (spoilers; that future has the most backing it up). They both could die during childbirth. It could be born with any number of abnormalities. It could be a boy. It could be a girl. Garnet didn't need future vision to see all of that.
"...You already know the answer to that, Rose. Don't make me say it."
Rose sobered a little at her tone of voice and gently set her hand on top of her slightly bulging stomach. "Garnet, this is the happiest I've ever been. I need you to understand that."
"It's not natural." She answers, voice wavering only slightly. "Gems aren't capable of giving birth to children."
"They are if they figure out how to shapeshift the right parts." She responded cheerfully.
Garnet doesn't answer. Rose sighs.
"Garnet, you know I've always wanted to bring life into this world-"
"We could rebuild the kindergarten. Make them better, safer. It doesn't have to come to this."
"We could." She agrees. "But they would still do damage to the Earth. I don't want that. I want to be able to bring life into the world, without having to destroy the world to do so. At least this way my life will be recycled rather than destroyed."
Garnet frowns at her. Rose gently pulled her glasses off, worriedly examining the bags under her eyes (from stress, not from tiredness.). "Is that why you're fighting?"
"We're not fight-"
"Garnet. You can't lie to me. I know that thing with Ruby and Sapphire wasn't a one-time squabble." She sighes. "You look so tired." She informs her gently.
"I haven't un-fused." She offers helpfully, because she hasn't. It was only a one time thing; unlike the arguments, which have been going on for awhile, off and on.
"I know you haven't. Ruby isn't exactly a quiet person. Someone would've noticed." Rose smiles at her. "And that's what makes you so amazing, Garnet. Most gems can't hold their fusion through large amounts of stress, but nothing about you looks out of the ordinary. Your bond is that strong." She lightly tapped her forehead with her knuckles. "Hey, you in there. Settle down. You're tearing yourself apart."
"I'll be fine." She brushed it off. "You're the one I'm worried about."
"Don't be. This is what I want."
"Think this through, Rose. We won't be able to function as a team without you. We need a leader."
"And you're the perfect candidate!" She put a hand on her shoulder. "You're tough, intelligent, and always willing to listen to all sides of an argument. You'll be able to pull through when they can't."
Garnet knows, realistically, that Rose has a point. Pearl is too insecure, and Amethyst is too excitable. Even still, the idea of taking control when it's always been Rose's team makes her want to refuse.
"Take care of them, Garnet." She pleads. "Not for forever. Just... until they're able to move on."
Garnet silently surrenders, shoulders slumping. "Okay."
It's a boy.
It was both expected and not. For one thing, gems have always defaulted to the female gender, if only to simplify things, but Rose had always been one to break the mold. Her offspring, she supposed, was no exception.
Pearl has yet to reappear from her room. She disappeared not long after Rose went into labor, unable to watch the woman she loved more than everything die in front of her, while Amethyst, her lip split open from her biting it to avoid sobbing, stayed by her and Greg's side long after Steven had been born, and was the first to hold and rock him to sleep.
Garnet held Rose's hand and let her bury her head in her shoulder, gaze kept straight ahead.
Greg fell asleep not long after midnight, tear tracks dried into his skin, but not before handing her the newborn to be put to sleep in a proper bed. Amethyst fell asleep once she was no longer of any use, and was now snoring on the floor next to the couch.
"You were right." She said softly, head cocked to the side. Her blue eye shimmered, then dimmed with tears. The baby in her arms made a noise.
"No, no." Blue says to red. "You were right. I just didn't want to admit it."
Author's Note: My third Steven Universe fanfic!
I'd like to mention this is only my second time working with fusion, first time with a full-time one shot. I know Garnet's probably more than a little O.O.C. at parts, but I like it.
This all started when I started thinking about a post I saw on tumblr talking about how, despite having given Greg advice on how to 'fuse' with Rose, she didn't look particularly happy about it, so maybe her future vision saw what was going to happen? It spiraled into this.
I headcanon that fusion like Garnet, who are made of emotions like love, are usually capable of holding their form as long as the thing keeping them together (love, in this case, and pardon the pun) is still there. Also, fusions still exist in a way, even if they are never formed, and are in a sort of sleeping state.
No flames! Don't like don't read! Review!