All aboard the angst train.

Also, It took me until now to realize a schedule isn't going to work for me, and since I've been pumping out chapters really fast these past few days, I'm returning to the whole I upload when I upload, dynamic; Maybe I'll take another shot at scheduling later, but for now, they'll kinda just happen when they happen.


S- Weeks passed, going by quickly yet so terribly slow; complete dissension.

Ruby, as per Amber's orders, became the predominant gem to supervise me, which, of course, infuriated her.

Sure, Tiger, Amber, and even Lemon and all of them had come, their visits being much more pleasant, but none of them stayed with me for as many shifts as Ruby had.

Tiger gave me her word that she would warm up to me soon enough (no pun intended), but it seemed as though the elemental wasn't an easily swayed gem.

Each day that she was on duty passed in deafening and agonizing silence; with her staring out the window, not saying a thing, myself remaining mute as well.

I had grown quite tired of it, frankly. Her presence alone generated batch after countless batch of visions; all of them, for some inexplicable reason, about her.

If she were to inevitably become a "main character" in the life I were to have in the future, then why was there no progress being made in present day?
It still didn't make sense, and I sat dumbly through it all, not knowing how to advance time, either.

Stuck in the same place, day after day.

I had to do something though, right?


A month into the trip and Ruby's visitation had created a schedule we both subconsciously followed: She arrives when each new cycle begins, I open the door as she climbs the stairs, and we promptly sit in the same spot for hours on end. Some days the pattern changes; she'll switch from a seat in one of the chairs, to the windowsill, to the corner of the room, or even to standing just outside the door. I report my visions to Pink Diamond's Pearl all the while, the ones that didn't involve Ruby, of course; because, like I said, she didn't need to know about those...

But today in particular, the stillness of the room began to wear me down, mostly due to the lack of visions to even remotely busy me. Enough was enough.

As a force of habit, floating to and from the bed on which I sat was my normal "mean of travel", but today, I decided to mix things up a bit.

(Talking to her was definitely "mixing it up". Best to keep with the theme.)

I crawled to one side of the bed, sliding off of it feet first, my dress balled in fists so as to not trip on it upon landing. Glancing up, I came to realize that she hadn't even deterred from her gaze into space (literally).
Slowly, I walked over to the right side of the windowsill, resting myself in the corner. Finally, though without turning her head, eyes met where mine was hidden away, and quickly shifted back to stare at the galaxy. She was blushing again, and, subsequently, so was I.

I had my reasons for it; though, most of them reactions to what I knew was to come in the future; But, I didn't really know why she was flushed.

Allowing myself to stare for a moment, I took notice as to how the color refused to fade from her face, and how she had turned in an attempt to mask it.

That won't help...

I began to look out the window to mimic her, carefully thinking about what to say, so as to not exacerbate the problem at hand.

Don't ruin this, Sapphire...

"It's weird, isn't it...?" I asked, twisting my body to face her, my back leaning against the edge of the window.
She turned quickly, looking at me up and down before furrowing her brows and frowning.
"What is?" She responded, seeming genuinely confused; her shoulders lifting closer to her neck as she crossed her arms.
"This. This whole mission. It's weird" Relaxing, I rolled my head to the left to look at the stars once more.
A lull of silence, mixed in with a small sigh of bewilderment from the other side of the window was sounded.
"Don't you travel all the time?" The warrior questioned, staring at me with puzzled eyes, afresh.
"I was talking about you." I stated stoically, seeing her expression widen out of the corner of my eye. "I can imagine it to be weird for you: leaving Homeworld for the first time, being on the ship, actually going into battle; all of it."
"Excuse me?" She snapped back, her hands in her lap now.

Oh no...

"Who ever said we were going into battle?" Her neck angled, shooting her head forward "Who ever said this was my first time off Homeworld?"

Great...Good going, Sapphire. The one thing you were supposed to avoid.
Hope you're proud of yourself.

"I mea-I didn't..." I stammered, placing my gloved hands up in surrender.
"What, you think I can't handle myself?" Leaning forward, she slammed her palms down onto the ground in front of her twisted torso, her legs remained slightly angled towards the window, cross-crossed over each other. She scoffed, turning to look towards the ceiling to her right, throwing her hands up in front of her, waving them harshly (During which, I noticed the gem in her left hand, opposite to where the one on my right had been hidden away. That's...incredible...) "Oh, yeah, 'must be weird, little elemental probably can't deal with it all!', oh, poor me!" Her volume began to escalate. A breathy laugh laced her words together "Coming from the gem who needs to be watched all the time! I bet you don't even know how to fight! Let alone protect yourself!"

Don't let her get to you; she's doing it on purpose...

"Heck, I bet you don't even have a weapon yet!"

Don't do it...

"Why are you acting so childish?!" I yelled back, slapping my empty hand against the crystal flooring on my side in order to assist in lurching myself forward.

Dammit, Sapphire...

She turned back to me, her hair slamming into her face from the force of the movement; her eyes were creased with fury, her face flushing a deep red.
"Who exactly do you think you are, princess?" She wailed through probably the most furious of expressions.

I remained still, unmoving as I processed it all; That vision...came true.
Ruby continued to stare at me, absolutely boiling over, waiting for me to retaliate.

"Don't call me that." I muttered through gritted teeth, my face angled down but still looking through the glass pane next to me.
"Don't call you what? Princess?" She barked back, sitting on her knees now.
"I said, don't call me that."
"What? You are one! It'd be oh-so-rude of me to call you by the wrong name, wouldn't it?!" Her voice absolutely drenched in mockery
"That's not my name."
She laughed, placing a hand on the window "Might as well be!"

"Shut up!" I screamed, feeling cold begin to surround me "You're not the only sensitive one! So just shut up!"

It caught her off guard, shoving her back in surprise. It was a fleeting moment of peace, though. Her face quickly twisted into one of rage (and to a lesser extent, defeat,) as she stood up, steam pouring from her person; a loud grunt escaped her mouth as she stomped over to the door, quickly opening it and slamming it as hard as she could behind her. I'm surprised it didn't shatter it completely, to be honest.

Like I said; good going...

I sat in place, staring at the door for a long while. And then, down at the floor as I rose to my feet.

I'm such an idiot...

Walking closer to the doorway, I could still feel the searing heat that had faded from the rest of the room.

Is she still standing outside?

My hand clasped onto the small knob to open it, only allowing myself to open it a fine crack.
Peering to the left, just next to the negligible opening, I saw a splash of red.
She had her face in her knees as she sat against the wall, the steam that had been flowing from her now dancing down the balcony-way.

I closed it carefully as to not make a sound, standing dumbly with my hand still griping the latch.

Why didn't she leave?

My sight locked onto the floor beside me, in the exact spot Ruby would be, had she been on this side of the room.
And then I glanced behind me, only to find that my room was bright blue, every surface covered with ice.

Oh, what a surprise. Totally didn't see that one coming...

To where the elemental was on the opposite side of the barricade, I sat, slumping against the frozen wall, (which only caused it to gloss over with a new sheet of frost) staring once more antrorse.

Now what am I going to do?