Thankfully Rose was able to heal Pearl with a few Healing Tears. I sobbed as I shamefully told her what I had done. She didn't seem angry with me, more like sympathetic. However, even after the healing, I couldn't bring myself to look at Pearls Gemstone, or even the Gem herself once she had regenerated. I felt so guilty at what I had done in my rage, that I isolated myself from everyone. Sapphire was the only one who could find me, and even then, I refused to speak a word. Twenty years passed by in this manner, with me secluding myself from everyone, even my own partner and La La. Eventually it seemed as though Rose had had enough, and she came to find me huddled away under the roots of a tree.
At hearing the sound of the large Gem's dress brushing the ground, and feeling Rose's familiar presence, I curled up tighter and shuddered, sure that she was going to be angry at me for having disappeared for so long. But Rose simply sat down on the dirt before my little cove. She said nothing for a few moments, before she sighed, "you have to stop blaming yourself at some point Ruby" she began. I stayed silent. "It wasn't your fault you know, you were under a lot of pressure and-" I cut her off with a humourless laugh, "not my fault?" I asked incredulously, "oh yeah, because it's not like I did anything like almost Shatter a friend, not at all!" I scoffed. "Bethany," Rose tried again, this time with my old name.
I looked up at her, "please stop blaming yourself, Pearl is fine" the pink Gem said softly. I looked away, "but, she could have been Shattered, and I would have been the reason" I sniffed, clenching my fists. The pink Gem sighed, and when she spoke again, it was with authority: "alright, that's enough wallowing- I tried to be sensitive and give you time, but this is ridiculous- you are a Crystal Gem Ruby, and you need to act like it! you say this planet is your only true home and you love it? then prove it" Rose demanded.
I stared up at my leader, "I'm sending Garnet on a mission- with Pearl" she explained. My eyes widened. I opened my mouth to say something, but the Quartz held up a hand, "let me finish please," she said. My mouth snapped closed instantly. "Thank you, you need to do this because Pearl is your teammate, and you need to be able to work with her" Rose replied. I looked at the ground, "but- but what if I hurt her again?" I asked uneasily. The Quartz smiled, "you won't" she replied softly. I huffed slightly, "okay, I-I'll try" I said.
R
Leaving my cove for the first time in years, I found my partner to already be waiting for me. I looked down and rubbed my arm with my non-Gem-embedded hand, "hey" I said awkwardly. Sapphire nodded, "hello" she replied. I sighed, "look, Sapphire- I'm really sorry for disappearing for the last twenty years- I swear I didn't mean to cut you off, I just- *sigh* needed some time to myself" I looked up at her shyly. The blue Gem walked up to me. I braced myself for anything. What I wasn't expecting, was for her to wrap her arms around me and lay her head on my chest "I understand that you might need some space sometimes, and I accept that- but next time could you at least tell me what you're doing before you disappear? If I didn't have Future Vision and didn't know you so well, I might have gotten worried and not have known where you went" she explained.
I sighed, wrapping my own arms around her form, "I promise you I will, and I hope that there won't be a next time for a while," after we'd both spent a little time simply standing there and holding each other, the blue Gem pulled away. I looked at Sapphire and held out my hand, "shall we?" I asked with a small smile. She smiled back and took my hand. I twirled her then dipped her. Both of us laughed as we were engulfed in the purple light. When the blue and pink splattered Fusion appeared she stretched before sighing, "okay then, let's get this over with" Garnet said, before turning and walking away. Rose, who had followed Ruby out of the cove, sighed. She hoped that by sending the three of them out together, they would be able to mend their relationship. "I really hope this works" she said to herself.
R
Garnet walked through the dessert with Pearl. Both were silent, with neither having the desire to talk. From within the Fusions mind, Sapphire sighed, "you know, you are going to have to speak to her eventually, right Ruby?" she asked. "I know, but- *sigh* I don't even know what to say- I mean, how do you start a conversation with someone you almost killed?" I asked, burying my face in my hands. "You didn't almost kill her Ruby, it was an accident, Pearl understands that, but she doesn't know how to talk to you about it- please Bethany, you can't just avoid her forever" Sapphire begged. I groaned, "but I don't know how to talk to her about it!" I exclaimed. Sapphire fell silent. "Would you find it easy to talk to me if you had cracked me?" I demanded, turning to look at the blue Gem. "If you had almost Shattered anybody, would you really be able to just walk up to them and just casually start a conversation?!" I asked.
Sapphire was silent. "It's not that easy Sapph, especially if it's right after your best friend was just killed right in front of you then taken!" I collapsed to my knees in the purple space and sobbed, "it's not that easy to just let go, or pretend everything is perfectly normal" I clenched my eyes tightly and focused on my breathing in an attempt to calm down. My partner was silent, while I cried out all my anger, frustration, guilt and pain. After all, I had barley had enough time to recover after Temple's Shattering, and then this whole thing happened. Of course it would hit me hard, and I would have trouble getting over it. I knew that most of why I was holding onto my self-resentment at what I had done to Pearl was because of what I had let happen to Temple.
I knew that. But I just couldn't let it go. And Korra still hadn't forgiven me for it, whatever word you wanted to use. I shuddered, unable to stop. "Ruby, we're coming up to where Rose said that shipment for the Prime Kindergarten is going to be" Sapphire said. I nodded, shaking my head to rid it of those useless thoughts, "okay, let's do this" I replied. Garnet and Pearl crept up a slope and came upon the sight of a group of Peridots in the beginning stages of building Injectors. I shuddered. Something about that image was making me terrified, but I couldn't remember what. Suddenly I heard Pearl's voice, "Garnet?" she called softly. I shook myself out of it and steeled myself. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and calmed her nerves.
'Focus' I thought. Sapphire scanned her Future Vision for outcomes of possible actions and what we could do to cause the best possible result. "Okay," the Fusion spoke up, "first, I need a distraction, then, I'll go down and start smashing the Injector parts. When they notice me, I'll tip over one of the containers so that it's harder for the enemy to reach me and you run around and meet up back here again. By then they will have grouped together for a proper attack and we don't want to be cut off from each other when that happens, okay?" Garnet asked. Normally Pearl would have insisted that she knew what to do, having thousands of years worth of battle experience.
But Garnet had Future Vision, that meant that she knew better than Pearl what their plan should be.
R
The plan went fine. Up until Pearl tried to meet back up with Garnet. Unfortunately their distraction worked a little too well and Pearl was cornered by Peridots and their Amethyst bodyguards. 'Shit!' I thought, racing back around to try and reach the other Gem. "Why didn't we see this as a possibility?" I asked. Sapphire looked apologetic, "I'm afraid that I'm still not good enough at looking through multiple futures, I'm sorry" she replied. Garnet leapt over the enemy Gems heads and grabbed Pearl's arm, "let's go!" she cried, using Sapphire's super speed to run into a tunnel network and avoid the other Gems.
"What are you doing?!" the smaller Gem demanded. "There are too many of them, we can't take them on by ourselves!" Garnet replied, turning a corner. The Fusion took many pathways to try and lose the Peridots and Amethysts until they came out into an enormous cavern, dotted with giant sparkling stalagmites and stalactites. There was no time for being impressed however, as Garnet could hear the other Gems following them. Sapphire quickly dove into her Future Vision, looking for a way they could win this, or even just get out of it. Suddenly she perked up, "Ruby, I've looked through all the possible futures, and the only one where we win is if we-" suddenly their enemies started pouring into the cavern.
"Are you sure that's the only way?" I asked as my partner finished explaining what she saw. Sapphire nodded. I clenched my fists and looked down, "but-" I began, as Pearl pulled her twin rapiers from her Gem and the Quartz's and Peridots also redyed their weapons, "there's no time, it's the only way!" Sapphire replied. I took a deep breath, "okay, then let's end this" I said in determination. Garnet turned towards Pearl, "Pearl, I can only See one way out of this, but you have to trust me," I began seriously, watching for her reaction. The skinny Gem looked at me from out of the corner of her eye. The Fusion held out her Ruby-embedded hand, staring Pearl straight in the eye.
I took another breath, "fuse with me?" Garnet asked in a whisper. Pearl turned to face her fully with wide eyes, "I-" she bit her lip, "yes, if it means we get out of here alive!" she exclaimed, as it seemed the 'born for fighting' Quartz Gems had grown tired of waiting and had begun to charge forward. Taking Garnets hand, the two spun through their attackers, before she took Pearl and threw her into the air. Knocking two Peridots away, Garnet caught Pearl in her arms before both disappeared in a column of crimson light. Our body grew larger, our colours changed and we gained two more arms. Reaching out, the new three Gem Fusion parted the light like a curtain.
"Goooood after-noon, everyone!" she boomed, her voice resonating throughout the cavern. The other Gems stared up in shock, "what the heck is that!?" one of them exclaimed. "It's a freak, that's what it is! A disgusting mash-up of weaklings!" one of the Amethyst's cried. From within the Fusion, my eye twitched. Sapphire's mental reprisentation put her hand on my shoulder, "let's show them just how wrong they are" she said calmly. Both Pearl and I nodded. Outside, the Fusion placed her bottom left hand on her hip, "a disgusting mash-up of weaklings, hm?" she asked, as she reached up with her top right hand and pulled Pearls spear from her forehead Gem, before taking it with her bottom right. Then the gems on the palms of her two top hands glowed and Garnets gauntlets appeared, only these were red. The Fusion banged them together on top of the spear and suddenly it transformed into a giant hammer with a yellow star on top.
"I wonder just how weak this will be?" she asked, before looking down at the other Gems with a wide grin on her face, "let's find out, shall we?" and the top half of her body spun around as she moved her hammer back, holding it with her top left and bottom right hands, before spinning back around and smashing it into the Amethysts. They were all knocked down like bowling pins. "oh, ho, ho, ho! It seems like I just got a strike!" the Fusion laughed. Within her mind, Pearl looked over at me, "what?" she asked in confusion. I shook my head, "don't worry about it, let's just focus on this for now" I replied, hoping that she wouldn't ask me about it.
Thankfully, it seemed Pearl was too wrapped up in her first Fusion to really mind the strange jokes. After a few more attacks, where the Home World Gems were knocked around like pin balls, they decided to retreat. Once we were sure they were all gone, the Fusion sighed and disappeared with a 'pop' and a cloud of smoke. Sapphire and I were left standing their holding hands, while Pearl looked shocked. I looked up at the skinny Gem, "hey Pearl, I am really sorry about before" I began, causing her to look at me, "I really want to be your friend, and we do make a good team, so-" I held out my hand, "I'll try harder to keep my anger in check, and we can just be, well- friends?" I asked hopefully.
Pearl blinked, before she laughed, "of course, and I've already forgiven you" she replied, taking my hand. Sapphire smiled.
R
When we got back to the base and told Rose what had happened, she was amazed. She immediately wanted to meet Sardonyx, but I was still unsure. Fusing with anyone other than Sapphire or Korra was still hard for me, and despite what we had done before, that was when there was no other way. Though it was slightly different when we Fused with another Gem as Garnet, still, letting anyone else in was something that took a lot of trust. I didn't really feel up to Fusing with Pearl again right now, so Rose agreed to wait.
After thanking Pearl and apologizing to Rose, the two of us went off on our own. As we walked, I sighed. Sapphire looked over at me, "hm, what's wrong Ruby?" she asked gently. I took my partner's hand, "Sapphire, do you think how I feel about Fusion is wrong?" I asked. The blue Gem tilted her head, "what do you mean?" she asked. I sighed again, "it's just that- at first, maybe it was warranted, I mean, I had been a human for so long, and suddenly being asked to share everything with a stranger, especially when I didn't know what would happen to me was scary, so I didn't want to do it," I paused and squeezed Sapphire's hand slightly.
"Then once I realized it was okay, and we could Fuse without that, I was fairly alright with it, other than insisting on getting to know those I was Fusing with more first- and with you, it just sort of happened, but we still got to know each other more before going too deep," I paused again and clenched my fist, "but even in a battle situation, where not doing it would have resulted in Shattering, I could barely stand to make myself Fuse with a friend, I- am I too wary? Wh-why don't I trust others, or myself enough to know that it would be okay?" I asked.
I buried my face in my hands, "I just- can't" I cried. Sapphire put her arm around me, "but you did, and you were okay, right?" she asked. I shrugged, "I-I guess- heh, I suppose, Sardonyx was pretty fun, huh?" I asked slowly. My partner chuckled slightly, "what did you mean about a strike?" she asked. I giggled, "It's a bowling joke, it's this sport game from my world where you have to roll this heavy ball down what's called a lane and knock over ten pins, which are a group of tall skinny, um-" I stopped, wondering how to describe them. "Ah, here, why don't I just show you" I knelt down in the dirt and drew a bowling pin with my finger, "they look like this, and you have to knock over as many as possible to get the most points. If you can knock over all ten pins at once, you get a Strike" I explained.
Sapphire nodded, "I see, and the joke was that you knocked all the Gems down in one hit, so 'Sardonyx' got a strike" she replied, before giggling a little, "that's actually pretty funny Ruby". She wrapped her arms around me, "are you okay now?" she asked softly. I hugged her back, running my fingers through her hair, "mhm, I'm okay now, except for, well- I haven't seen Korra for Twenty years, and part of that, I know is my own fault, but is she doing okay?" I asked. Sapphire sighed, "she's been in a depression for a long time Ruby, in fact she's pretty much retreated into herself, though only metaphorically- she still has her physical form but-" I sighed and clenched my fists, "I should probably go and talk to her too, huh?" I asked.
The blue Gem leaned her forehead against mine, "you don't have to- if you feel like you can't right now, you can go later" she soothed. I closed my eyes, "thank you Sapphire, but I've put this off for long enough- it's time for me to take responsibility for my actions and friends" I replied. "Do you want me to come with you" Sapphire asked. I considered this for a moment, but ultimately decided that, no, this was something I needed to do alone. Thankfully she seemed to understand and chose to go see if anyone needed help around the base. I wondered where Korra could have gone. I really hoped it wasn't too late to fix our friendship.
To Be Continued