Chapter Eight
Objective Intervention
Garnet had never seen Amethyst wolf down something so efficiently, and yet so unenthusiastically. Her devouring speeds were always impressive, to be sure, but there was always a particular brand of joy present in the proceedings, however brief. The sullen avoidance now smeared all over Amethyst's actions and expressions made Garnet's head ring with warnings in two separate yet familiar voices, and she was sure that, had it been possible, Amethyst would have made the Temple door slam shut behind her.
Garnet turned back to the table, where Greg still sat, wide-eyed, his spoon awkwardly stuck halfway to his mouth and mostly empty of the chowder it had once contained. Garnet looked over to Steven, sitting right next to his shell-shocked father, looking more worried and pained than anything.
He met her gaze with a blatantly pleading one of his own. Garnet suppressed a sigh and moved to get up. "I'll go talk to her."
Steven's grateful and hopeful little smile was reward enough for any future efforts on her part. Having such immense faith put in her could certainly feel like a burden often enough. Garnet had often wondered if Rose had properly understood the full weight of the responsibility she was placing squarely on Garnet's shoulders by leaving.
Perhaps now she'd be able to find out.
But later. Amethyst first.
(A small part of her wondered, casting a quick glance over the past few days and her own uncharacteristically blind actions during them, if she should have had that particular thought a bit sooner.)
The way to Amethyst's room was familiar and simple in a way that made Garnet think back, idly trying to pinpoint when it was that her frequent and casual visits had been reduced to something that only happened in the case of an emergency, like corrupted Gem monsters on the loose. It wasn't really all that hard to trace. Like so many things, it had happened after Rose's… departure. Responsibility always felt like it required distance.
Garnet huffed at herself as she stepped out of a puddle amidst piles of trash and treasure. It wasn't really the time for pointless, retrospective indulging in might-have-beens.
But then, it never was.
Luckily, she still knew Amethyst well enough to know where to look for her, even without glimpsing into the future.
"Amethyst. It's me," Garnet called out, half in warning, in the general direction of the pile containing Amethyst's favourite Soft Things and a couple of choice Slimy Things.
"Go away," the pile shouted back.
Garnet allowed herself a quiet sigh and began making her way around the Amethyst-made hill, displacing a few knick-knacks as she went. "I want to talk to you."
"Yeah, well, save it, Garnet. I don't need another rundown of how I keep messing stuff up for everyone!"
"That's not why I'm here."
"Sorry if I find that a bit hard to believe," Amethyst grumbled, very obviously determined to continue her sulk.
Garnet was face to face with her now— or as close to that as she was going to get— with Amethyst curled up into a ball, her nose peeking out just above her knees. She was idly poking at the goopy remnants of one of the robonoids nestled beside her in the pile. The highly advanced bit of Homeworld tech that had once come so horrifyingly close to fixing the Galaxy Warp and dooming them all was now split in half, not unlike the couple of very low-tech, very Earthly coconuts lying a few feet away.
"Peridot said it was fine to keep it, so whatever." Amethyst sounded defensive as ever as she caught the direction of Garnet's glance, clutching the robonoid closer and getting some of her hair stuck in the goop. "I don't care if Pearl has a fit over it."
Garnet shrugged, and sat down on a relatively clear patch of ground close by, leaning back against what may have once been a traffic sign. "Pearl doesn't need to know. Wouldn't recommend having it for dessert, though."
The noise the statement prompted from Amethyst wasn't a full-blown chuckle, perhaps, but Garnet would take it for the time being. She didn't need Future Vision to know the next part wouldn't go over nearly as well. "Listen, about what you said—"
"There we go, I knew it. Can't get any peace and quiet around here, I swear—"
"Just let me finish, Amethyst," Garnet interrupted the grumbling. "Something would have done it sooner or later. Probably better for all of us you made it happen sooner. Pearl being upfront about it herself would have been best, but that just wasn't happening."
"The ol' 'Get open, get honest' that you like seeing happen so much?"
"Yes. Which is why I think you and Pearl need to have a talk, too."
Amethyst's response was a grunt as she sat up a bit, turning to face Garnet more easily. "Yeah, I guess. Not the worst thing you've ever suggested while trying to get us to play nice."
She brightened up suddenly— it felt only slightly forced, and Garnet wondered for whose benefit it really was. "Hey, but how many grisly futures of me eating weird space slime did you just flip through?"
"None."
"Oh," Amethyst replied in a small voice, green-coated fingers trailing through said space slime with the slightest hint of nervousness. "Still bad, huh?"
Garnet managed another wordless shrug. She hadn't done much in the way of checking futures, not since the first few disastrous attempts after Rose had made her dramatic entrance. Everything approaching focus on the newest re-addition to their family was especially discombobulating and painfully disorienting, leading to little more than splitting headaches. Garnet had managed, in the past few days, to curb her long-honed habit of quick, just-to-make-sure glances, lest the 'splitting' become rather too literal for comfort. The price, of course, was a lack of a sense of direction she hadn't felt in a very, very long time.
So she slowly removed her shades— no barriers on her part— and did something she hadn't done in millennia.
"How are you feeling?" Garnet asked. Amethyst's head shot up at that, with a look that was as surprised as it was wary.
There were many things Amethyst still wasn't fully aware of, a good amount of them things Garnet had long hoped she would never need to be aware of. And maybe she hadn't been there when Garnet had first burst into existence, or when she'd, revelling in the simple truth of being herself, sworn off questions for good. But Amethyst had come to know Garnet , had been eager to understand her as much as Garnet would allow ever since that very first day in the abandoned Kindergarten, and that was clearly enough to make this blatant admittance of uncertainty highly disconcerting.
Then Amethyst huffed, any lingering remnants of pretence and guardedness falling away, making way for slightly confused frustration. "I don't know? I mean, it's just like… Ugh! I feel like I should be happier Rose is back? Like, we all should be..? But, man. It's so… weird, and complicated. I think I was just kinda getting used to the idea of her not being here, you know?"
"I know," said Garnet.
"Yeah, 'course you do. Or, I guess—" Amethyst looked at Garnet from behind her bangs. She'd gotten up and started pacing at some point during her rant, and she still had to look up. "How're you doing?"
Garnet let another brief silence stretch between them, then smiled a humorless smile. "It's complicated."
"I bet." Amethyst shifted from foot to foot, toying with one of the robonoid's two remaining legs. "Um, well, if you want to talk about it… uh…"
"I think I'd better talk about it with myself first."
"Right. Right. You go and, er, do that." Garnet wasn't sure if Amethyst sounded more relieved or disappointed.
"And thanks," she added after a small pause. "For checking in on me, I mean. 'Preciate it."
Garnet liked to think she had a decent enough idea of how her teammates worked, and what they needed. After the thousands of years spent together, and recently fourteen years spent trying to keep them all from falling apart in countless constantly threatening and potentially disastrous ways, she certainly hoped that she did. It had been a bit harder to learn what she needed from them in return, and when.
She pulled Amethyst into a hug, robonoid and all, tangling one hand in her hair to hold her closer. "You're important to us, Amethyst. You're important to me. Don't ever doubt that."
"Aw, geez, G." Garnet could feel warmth flooding the face that had immediately nuzzled into her shoulder, and she gave a little squeeze in return. "You got me all… mushy." The puffs of air Amethyst's giggles were now producing tickled the side of her neck. "Get it? Mushy? 'Cause-"
No Future Vision would have spared her the line of green robonoid goo suddenly and surprisingly precisely smeared over her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Garnet sighed, but couldn't keep the smile off her face as she broke the embrace and pulled away just enough to face a grinning Amethyst.
"Love the new look," Amethyst said. "Say hi to the lovebirds for me."
"Will do."
Garnet stood up and turned away, not bothering to rematerialize her visor as she followed the familiar path back to the Burning Room.
The heat from the lava pool washed over her like a wave as soon as she emerged from the ceiling puddle. It couldn't harm her, of course, and usually she found it quite pleasant— enough to often take a few moments and indulge in just letting herself feel it— but just then all it felt like was oppressively thick. In bubbles above her hung hundreds upon hundreds of Gems: friends, enemies, and strangers alike— all of them in pieces one way or another, suspended, waiting, waiting, waiting...
Her eyes couldn't help but seek out the newest bubble, the one which held the Breaking Point. She let her gaze trail further up and it hitched almost painfully on the bubble that still contained Bismuth herself. A rather large part of her felt tempted to retreat back into the comforting twilight of Amethyst's room and the always anchoring, and always welcome tangibility and physicality of its owner.
That wouldn't help, though.
What Garnet found she'd been craving for quite a while, was a break . She felt worn down. One crisis after another, with nothing even remotely like enough time in between to recover from things like the painful betrayal of one's oldest, most trusted friend; or the threat of invasion from forces which hopelessly outmatched anything Garnet could hope to put together; or another sorely missed companion coming back from the dead only to expose a web of lies— of omission and not— tangled around them all.
And now, Rose herself, bringing with her not a single solution and opening up so many new avenues of disaster. An utter muddling of potential futures that no amount of meditation had any chance of clearing up.
Pearl was a conflicted mess, and Garnet couldn't fault her for it. Amethyst was grappling with things her own way. Greg seemed both unimaginably happy and subtly, remotely sad about this odd, barely dreamed-of second chance, and Steven, well... Steven was something of a puzzle, as was true of his entire existence, but he was a loving, caring, and eternally meddling one, striving to make the best out of every situation.
What about you?
What about her? Well, she'd done her best to be the pillar, to reassure, to stomp out fires before they could get out of hand, to urge people to talk before things between them went from frosted over to permanently ice-bound. Exactly what she'd always done her best to be and to do for all of them, ever since—
Ever since Rose had left.
Garnet set down on the hard rock floor and crossed her legs. She cupped her hands in her lap, closed all three of her eyes, and let herself sink into feeling nothing but the glowing warmth that matched the hues playing on the inside of her eyelids.
Though she did not need to, Garnet breathed.
An infinite plane stretched out before her, blues and reds and purples swirling together. Through the expanse walked Ruby and Sapphire, hand in hand.
Ruby watched her partner sidelong as they continued on. At first glance, Sapphire seemed as calm as ever, her face serene, steady. But Ruby could see the signs of stress, subtle as they were. The way Sapphire's gaze would remain fixed on the nonexistent horizon, before her brow would pinch and she'd look down quickly. The too-stiff way she held herself that made Ruby want to look for the tell-tale dusting of ice crystals. The resistance, the pull on Ruby's hand, which made her think that if she let go, Sapphire might just stop moving entirely.
And of course, Ruby could quite literally feel Sapphire's anxiety, fluttery and frantic.
"Okay," Ruby said, forcing some confidence into her voice. "Alright. We just gotta make a plan."
"Easier said than done."
Ruby threw her hands into the air. "Gah! Everything's easier said than done!"
Sapphire stopped walking.
"Sorry," she said. "You're right, of course. We do need a plan. It's just…"
"Frustrating!"
Sapphire nodded. "I'm sorry you have to put up with this."
Ruby's eyebrows flew up. "You're sorry?"
"If I could just See clearly…"
"Hold up." Ruby swept forward, wrapping her arms around Sapphire and looking her straight in the eye. "This isn't your fault, okay?"
There was a pause. "I know," Sapphire said. "But it helps to hear you say that."
Ruby put on her most smouldering of looks. "Would it help to hear me say other things?"
Giggling, Sapphire leaned into her. "Maybe ."
Focus, Garnet thought.
The two sobered, though they did not pull away. Rather, they pulled each other closer, and moved to rest on the ground in the kind of wordless agreement they were long used to. Ruby curled up so her head laid softly against Sapphire's chest, keeping one arm around her waist and letting the other slowly run through Sapphire's thick hair. She held herself uncharacteristically still otherwise, but even through this show of restraint Sapphire could feel Ruby's anger, could sense the desire to just get up and charge forward and demand answers. Knew, almost as well as she knew her own feelings, that the steady, soothing, repetitive motion was Ruby's way of clamping back on that instinct.
"Let's ask tonight," Ruby announced. "Like we said before: better sooner than later."
They all considered the prospect. This was probably the best opportunity they'd get for some time: Pearl had gone out, hopefully to have a long conversation with Sheena, and Amethyst seemed in no mood to leave her room. Eventually Steven and Greg would fall asleep, and Garnet would hopefully be able to corner Rose Quartz on her own.
Or they could delay longer. Keep watching Rose. See if they could glean any other hints that might provide important context. See if their Future Vision might finally settle down.
But it had already been almost a week, and it hadn't improved yet. And the best context they could hope to receive would be from Rose Quartz directly.
"Maybe…" Sapphire began, then trailed off.
"Yes?" said Ruby.
"We could unfuse. Confront her separately."
Unconsciously, Ruby's hand clutched at Sapphire's hair. "Do you… do you want to unfuse?"
"I don't— no. No," said Sapphire. "But I'm not certain if I'm helping you very much right now. Maybe you'd be better on your own for this. And maybe it'd show Rose just how serious this is."
"I'd just end up yelling at her," said Ruby.
"Maybe she deserves to get yelled at," said Sapphire.
There was a pained silence.
Maybe she does, thought Garnet. Maybe she doesn't. But getting angry for the sake of getting angry won't help any of us.
The couple sighed.
"Being the reasonable one sucks," said Ruby.
"Yes," said Sapphire.
Slowly, Ruby's grip loosened, and she allowed her hand to fall and rest on Sapphire's shoulder. Sapphire reached up and placed her own hand on top of it, taking a moment to appreciate the difference in size and the familiarity of the gesture.
"We need to ask her how she came here," said Sapphire. "Exactly how."
"Yeah," said Ruby. "But the why she came here is even more important. We gotta know what happened, and gotta make sure we're not in danger."
"We must to tell Rose what happened in our time, as well. She needs to understand how things are different."
That would be perhaps the most daunting part of all of it. So much of these past fourteen years would be so difficult to explain— so much they still barely understood themselves.
"Should we plan a script?" Sapphire wondered.
After a moment, Ruby shook her head. "Let's just go to Rose and see what happens. Maybe she'll open up on her own."
Sapphire smiled ruefully. "Seems unlikely."
Unlikelier things have happened, thought Garnet.
Strange new ground was waiting to be covered, riddled with potential and threat, and the need for direct, unflinching honesty was what they all found themselves agreeing on. Ruby and Sapphire smiled at each other, bright, and pure, and earnest. Neither of them knew how the rest of the night would go, or what would happen in the perfectly opaque days laid before them. But there was always comfort to be found in the enduring truth that whatever else, they had each other, and they had Garnet.
They pulled each other close, and kissed, lightly and sweetly.
Garnet got up, stretched her legs, and made for the door to the Temple.
oOoOo
Authors' Note: And we're back!
We want to give a huge thanks to everyone in the comments— the response to this fic so far, and especially to the last chapter, has been amazing. We've even got a TVTropes page now! Shoutout to whoever is responsible for that, you have no idea how encouraging it all is. Reading everyone's speculation and theories is always a blast.
Alternate Summary: Garnet gets introspective, Amethyst gets goopy (literally), Ruby and Sapphire get goopy (figuratively).
