Title: Unbalanced Conversations
Rating: K+ (10+)
Summary: Garnet is their fury, and their patience. No one ever talked specifics.
Warnings: Non-binary characters/language, brief panic, spoilers s01.e52
A/N: Not exactly a tumblr drabble… But I thought of it while on tumblr after seeing so many Ruby=fury Sapphire=patience posts. It was a stressful time, and they'd been Fused for a while. Who wasn't to say that hadn't affected how they each acted?
They had been one so long that they forgot what being two was all about.
But they were quick to remember. Fear for the others – for Steven – and the pain of defusion saw to that. They remembered who they were without one another, and they despaired. They had learned how to be better together; apart, they were weaker and directionless.
-UC-
Ruby, so used to using Sapphire's ability to know what might happen, panicked. The diminutive Gem screeched and railed against the prison and the separation. Red clouded unclear vision, and all of who Ruby was had been torn out and slashed about when Sapphire disappeared – Ruby let instinct be the lead.
(When Steven came, Ruby pulled from Amethyst's book; rage was better than breaking down. If Ruby broke now, there would be no one to find Sapphire, and no one to put them both back where they belonged.)
For all the memories that had come crashing back, being Garnet was still clearest. Garnet was a fighter, especially when loved ones were threatened. When Ruby was freed, the Gem used what was at the forefront, and charged forward with vicious cries – Sapphire, and Steven, and Pearl and Amethyst, were all in danger. It wasn't who Ruby was, exactly, but Ruby had long-since stopped being Just Ruby, anyway.
-UC-
Sapphire, feeling the burn and need to go and do, shivered. If the Gem gave into that, the only thing coming would be the nasty shock of a force field. Normally, that still wouldn't be a problem, but the fear that permeated Sapphire from the moment just before defusing was still standing in the way – Garnet was still there, ghostly and waiting – of Sapphire doing what was instinct.
Ruby needed someone. Steven needed someone. Pearl and Amethyst needed someone… Someone to be aware, and able-bodied, and focused. Garnet had always been good at focusing. So Sapphire bottled it all up, and released the tension the only way that could be done without a partner or a Fusion: the Gem sang.
Singing had never been a favorite past-time, but Sapphire had come across too many Gems who insisted that a voice like that could only be helpful – if only because singing meant an easier time keeping beat, which was essential in Fusing. And, trapped here in such a cramped space, singing was the most distracting thing to be done without causing injury. It wasn't who Sapphire was, exactly, but Sapphire had long-since stopped being Just Sapphire, anyway.
-UC-
Garnet was a conversation. Garnet was the fury inherent in one, and the patience borne in the other.
-UC-
(There was no panicking at Steven's birthday; their defusion was willing, calm, and easy.
There was no distracting terror, or uncertainty, or worry. Both could be who they were… when they were not busy being parts of each other, anyway.
At the end of the day, Steven's room got a new wall. Sapphire, in a bout of impatience and frustration at Amethysts' antics, threw the purple Gem through said structure. Ruby, sighing in a familiar manner, spent the three hours that Steven willing distracted the other four Gems, carefully building a new one.)
-UC-
Garnet's rage was bright blue. Garnet's peace was a warm red. It always had been, even if things sometimes bled over, when circumstances made the one become two.