AN: This chapter is set between chapters five and six of "Homeworld Bound".
Wow, it's been eventful since I last updated. "Sadie's Song" and all episodes after it are not canon to my Steven Universe fics. Peridot is not short in my fanfictions (she's around Pearl's height without limb enhancers - long story), and "Cluster" will still refer to the Tier-3 fusion between Heliodor, Amazonite, Zircon, and Red Beryl.
Speaking of which, this chapter features the fusion between Rose Quartz and Red Beryl.
I have also posted my official theory on Pink Diamond's identity. Go to my DA page to see it. Pink Diamond is not Rose, but an actual diamond and Rose's predecessor.
Enjoy! ~ T. Nerdinator
Rhodocrosite yawned. "I'm...so...bored..." she groaned.
"Would you like me to take the next watch?" came a voice.
Rhodocrosite jumped. She turned around to see a reddish-pink four-eyed Gem, with a circular, pentagonal-faceted gem where her navel should have been, and a square gem above it. Her red irises could pierce directly into your soul.
"Oh. Hello, Rhodonite. Didn't see you there," Rhodocrosite said. "Are you really sure you want to do this?"
"Rose Quartz is one of my components too. I know you want to talk to this malachite, but your Amethyst side is holding you back. Let me speak to her."
"If you say so." Rhodocrosite left Rhodonite with the larger green fusion, still trapped in the bubble of unidentifiable liquid.
"Why would you want to speak with a monster like me?" Malachite growled.
"You aren't a monster. You're an unstable fusion forged from hatred." Rhodonite turned around. Malachite squatted (if you could call it that) to get a better look at the pyroxene, instantly finding herself lost in Rhodonite's eyes.
"Normally," Rhodonite continued, "a fusion is formed from two Gems who know and trust each other. But malachites such as yourself are not. The types of Gem your components belong to have a long history of animosity. The relationship between my components, on the other hand, was much more stable, hence why my only extra parts are my second set of eyes."
"You said 'was'," Malachite said, snapping out of her trance.
"My red beryl component was killed nearly five thousand years ago in the Crystalline Rebellion. My rose quartz component gave up her physical form to give birth to the first confirmed human/Gem hybrid. I will never be summoned again."
"Hybrid?...That little munchkin guy is Rose's SON?!"
"I guess he is. And his name," Rhodonite said, "is Steven."
Malachite withdrew into her bubble, dumbfounded. Could it be?
Could a Gem really mate with a human?