"It's you."
Ruby hadn't expected anyone else to find this place, but there she was, a blue gem with her eyes hidden and her body shrouded in a typical water-mage dress. She couldn't tell if the sapphire was staring at her or not, but she had only ever seen one who looked like that.
She would never have imagined she'd ever see the gem she had to fight to show off her abilities again. They were from different Diamond factions and weren't meant to interact, though corundums of different colors were occasionally paired up in situations that called for it. Besides, she'd heard that this one was special, and was kept as Blue Diamond's personal seer.
"It's me."
Sapphire hadn't given much thought to who the red gem in her vision was, only that she needed to leave quickly and that route looked like an adventure no matter what. She was a bit afraid-despite her small size, this gem was a ruby and they were powerful.
The little gem was already on her feet, balling her hands into fists. "What are you doing here?"
"I-I was-" She doesn't know whether to tell the truth or not.
"Did a Diamond send you here?"
"No." The ruby is glaring at her, but she's trembling slightly. Sapphire doesn't think she'll be reporting back to any of her superiors.
"You're her-Blue Diamond's oracle, right?"
"Right. How'd you know?"
"I overhear a lot of gossip. I guess you wanted to escape?"
Sapphire relaxes. "Yes. You, too?"
"Well, who wouldn't, in my place?"
Peaceful, is the only word either of them can think of to describe this place. Plants with violet-colored leaves form an arcing canopy over their heads, and all manner of vibrant flowers bloom under their feet. Somewhere deep inside the forest, animals call to each other and rustle through the undergrowth. The gems have never seen anything quite like it.
"Why did you want to leave, anyway?" Ruby asks her new companion. "Your place seemed a lot nicer compared to where most of us have to live."
"They didn't let me out," Sapphire tells her simply. "What about you? Did they hurt you badly?"
In response, Ruby holds up her hands. On each wrist is a cold gray manacle. "Remember those heat powers I had when we first met? Not anymore."
"But-"
"If you can't control your power, you don't get to use it outside of battle. Just like that."
"Do those let you summon your weapon?"
As it turns out, neither of them know how. So they practice together.
Ruby finds hers first. It takes a while, but she eventually gets it while punching a tree.
"I can't do anything right!" she exclaims. "They're right, I am defective, it's a good thing I'm here instead of clogging up their ranks with my worthless—"
"It's alright," Sapphire tells her. "It's not your fault." She doesn't like seeing Ruby like this. Clearly they've made her think she's nothing, which Sapphire never had to worry about.
"I bet you anything it's these stupid—useless—horrible—things—oh!"
She swiftly withdraws a smoking fist from the now-splintered wood. It's now covered by some kind of red glove. "I did it-I think."
"Gauntlets?" Sapphire nods approvingly. "Nice."
Something thumps heavily next to her foot. It's one of her wrist shackles.
"How'd I even do that?" Ruby murmurs.
"I guess all the anger inside you had to manifest somewhere," Sapphire says.
"Yeah," Ruby grins. "I guess so."
A flicker of a smile twitches Sapphire's lips.
"Hey, you do have emotions after all."
Ruby realizes this might not be a very sensitive thing to say.
"Sorry, I mean-"
"It's fine." Sapphire smiles a bit more, showing hints of what she might look like genuinely happy. Ruby wants to make her laugh. She gets the feeling Sapphire hasn't had the chance to really talk to another gem in a long time.
"You have no idea what I'm concealing," Sapphire says. "Now, I'll try to muster up enough rage to get that thing off your other hand."
As it turns out, Sapphire has a hard time summoning her weapon, too.
"Maybe I just can't do it," she finally says.
"That's okay," says Ruby. "If we run into any trouble, I can do the fighting. You can be the brains and I'll be the brawn."
"How about we're both the brains and the brawn?"
"What?"
"I mean, we can figure out what we'll be good at later, right? Who knows, maybe you're actually a brilliant strategist and I can take on a full-sized quartz gem." Sapphire doesn't know if either of those things are true; there are so many possibilities in her future vision that she can't decide where to look first.
She likes it. It's exciting to not know what will happen for once.
"So when we go back—or not." Ruby is gazing up at the sky. "I don't want to go back to a place where we don't know what we're capable of because they never let us try anything new."
"See, you can be the smart one," Sapphire says.
"That wasn't me being smart. We both know it."
"You're right again," says Sapphire. "I think we'll make a good team."
"Yeah," says Ruby, "a good partnership, at least."
