Things weren't supposed to turn out this way, she thinks, staring at her white-gloved hands that should have become nothing but wisps of cloud and dust two minutes ago.
"Unbelievable!"
"Disgusting!"
She hears the gathering crowd jeer and hiss at her, at them. The ruby beside her slowly sits up and rubs her head, no doubt still dazed from the recent conflict—
Conflict. The rebels.
They should have been captured. They should have been cornered after destroying her form, cornered by these very same gems surrounding her now. But where are the rebels now? And why is her form still whole?
She shouldn't be here— why is she still here?
Sapphire continues to stare at her hands. At her right hand, where her deep blue gem thrums with the gem song pulsing throughout her form. And then at her left hand, which suddenly feels lacking, as if a gaping hole, an aching emptiness begging to be filled has replaced the appendage.
For a brief moment, Sapphire had become something else—someone else. Tall and vibrant and complete. But now...
"Sapphire, this is not the scenario you described."
Blue Diamond's palanquin looms over her even at a distance, its shadow drowning out any glimpse of light ahead. Sapphire tries to explain what happened, but how can she when she doesn't understand it herself?
Things weren't supposed to be this way. The future was supposed to be set in stone.
The ruby jumps in front of her, defending her from the towering Authority. "It was me!"
"Clearly," Blue Diamond coldly intones. "How dare you fuse with a member of my court."
The crowd moves towards them, cornering them as they should have cornered the rebels in a once-certain future that did not come to pass, where Sapphire's form had been destroyed and that one ruby was safe and sound. But she is still here, and the ruby that saved her is about to be broken for good.
You cannot fight fate, Sapphire has been told, has been conditioned since she first emerged. Every gem, her duty. Every job, its gem. Yours is to the One Future.
Future Sight is a gift, but also a burden— everything blurs into a single path and life becomes nothing more than ticking off events on a checklist. But the once-certain future did not come to pass, and she can no longer See ahead of her the way she used to.
Perhaps, that means, perhaps, she can choose a different path?
She cannot see the repercussions that will stem from such a decision, but that doesn't matter. For the first time in her long predictable life, Sapphire chooses her own fate.
She grabs the ruby's hand and runs, taking a leap of faith into the unknown.
Things weren't supposed to be this way.
But the future isn't certain, established, inevitable— she knows that now.
They fall through sky, hand in hand. She doesn't know what will happen next—Will they land safely? Will they be eaten by the natives? Will Blue Diamond catch them? Will the rebels?
She doesn't know, and it terrifies her so much that she cannot move.
The ruby—no, Ruby keeps moving forward, has kept her moving forward. Amidst the warmth from the crackling fire and the pitter-patter of rain outside their small cave, Sapphire's fears gave way to contemplation.
Things weren't supposed to turn out this way, but that's okay.
"How am I gonna save you?" Ruby asks.
"You already did."
"What?"
"You already saved me," Sapphire replies.
The future isn't certain. But that's okay.
They can face the uncertainty together.