Act 2: The Exciting Middle Part
Chapter 23: The Answer
Edit Finished On 11/1/18
Published On 11/16/18
Author Note: Nothing too big to say, except for how long this chapter is, and I wasn't going to include the SU episode, "The Answer", in this, but I then realized that it would be important for later. Also, this chapter makes the story exceed 100k! Wow, that really is an accomplishment.
Hopefully a new Steven Universe episode airs soon, speaking of that.
Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
Review Response
Wishmaker1028: Well, it's fanfiction, so anything can happen!
Mario and Bowser walked through the door ahead of them. Inside was a small room with another robotic cat servant, except this one looked more like a butler, which the two walked up to.
"You have reached the door to Master's private room." The robotic servant said. "For security purposes, you must confirm your identity. Answer the following security questions with either 'true' or 'false.'"
"Alright, sounds easy enough." Mario responded.
"First question: 'Video game soundtracks are totally hi-technical!'" The servant asked.
"…What?" Bowser asked, dumbfounded.
"Alright, Bowser. In order to answer this, we need to think like a nerd would." Mario explained.
"So… would it be 'true'?"
As it turned out, the answer was in fact 'true.' And… all of the answers were true. The two thought that getting the key would be easy, until… "Now, you must say the 4-letter passcode."
"Um…" Mario said nervously. The chance of either of them getting this correct was basically none, but they had to try anyway. "1987." At Mario's shot in the dark, the robotic servant began letting out excruciatingly loud meows, forcing Mario and Bowser to both cover their ears. After a few seconds, it finally stopped.
"You are not the master! Deploy security measures!" The servant yelled. In an instant, the floor disappeared except for where the servant was, leaving the other two to fall.
Meanwhile with Violet, Peach, and Junior, they were sort of… stuck. When they went into the room, nearly the entire length of the room was just long rows of spikes, with a door on the other side. Meaning, there was currently no way to cross. So, they decided to go back into the other room and wait. The three sat down on the floor next to the door.
"So, when do you think Mario and Bowser will be back with the key?" Violet asked.
"Who knows." Peach answered. "I'm not sure if it was a good idea to leave those two together, I'm afraid they might try and kill each other."
"I'm sure they'll be fine." Violet said.
"Are you sure?" Peach asked. "It's not really so much Bowser I'm worried about, it's Mario."
"Cause of what we talked about earlier?"
Peach nodded. And then she sighed. "You know, sometimes I think about the future. The Mushroom Kingdom as it is… isn't really in a good state."
"I can tell." Violet said. "The constant battle with Bowser over you has caused a lot of damage, and that combined with the currency inflation makes me very worried."
"Well… maybe you can just stop the fighting?" Junior cut in. "It should just be as simple as that, right?"
"Junior…" Peach began. "It's not as easy as that. If it could all be solved by just stopping the fighting, then… well… oh, I don't know. But it's not always just going to be that easy."
"Why?" Junior asked. Peach could almost cry at how innocent it sounded.
"Well… not everyone will have the same way of thinking." Peach explained. "Some people… won't want to stop fighting. Like if something that they truly loved and cared for was taken away, they would do anything to get it back, even if it meant fighting… and that's what Mario and Bowser both feel. But… what about what I want? And what about how others are affected?"
"Well… I usually only have all my siblings to hang around with." Junior said. "And… while I was stuck on Earth with Timmy, it felt nice to be able to hang out with someone else for a change."
"Timmy was a nice kid." Violet added. "Everything he did, I could tell that he cared about the safety of others, prioritizing them over himself."
"Yeah… he was nice." Peach agreed. "You know what… all of this talking has inspired me."
"In what way?" Violet asked.
"Well… after all of this is over…" Peach stood up. "I'm going to start doing things my own way. I'll make sure that the Mushroom Kingdom gets back into the best state it possibly can. And nothing will stand will stand in my way."
Violet also stood up. "And I'll be by your side every step of the way. Both me and Luigi will."
"I'll help in whatever way I can." Junior added, standing up. "Maybe I can see if my dad will help also. But… what about Mario?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Peach answered. "For now… let's just focus on our current problems."
Miraculously, Mario and Bowser both landed on a well-placed cushion when they fell after giving the wrong password. They looked up. They were in a small dungeon, containing a large red switch, a block, and a Chain Chomp. They quickly took care of the Chain Chomp, and then brought the block over to the large red switch.
After the switch was pressed, a pipe appeared. The two went through it, and ended up in another dungeon-like room. There were more of the robotic cat attackers from earlier, but the two ignored them. There were two ways to go, a platform high up with a block to help them get up, or a lower pathway that was lined with spikes on the floor. It was obvious which path they took.
On the upper path, there was another sign, and they were relieved it was there. It read, "FOR FRANCIS'S EYES ONLY! Room on the right: 2323. Room on the left: 2828." Now they knew both passcodes, and if they made it in time, could relay the information to the other three. They kept going, and dropped down to a lower part of the floor, near the spikes.
And there was, behind a large cage, yet another Pixl, and a big blue switch. Bowser used Thudley to hit the switch, and the bars on the cage rose up into the wall, freeing the Pixl. The Pixl looked like a square box that had been opened and flattened out, with two eyes in the middle and had wings.
"Freedom!" The pixl, named Carrie, yelled in excitement. She floated upward. "Oh, finally I'm out! I didn't know what I was going to do! Thank you, thank you! I've been shut up in here forever… You'll never catch me in there again. I must repay you! I'm at your service. I'm sure you can find a use for my talent!"
There was a pause. "Hold on a second." Carrie continued. "Before we get all friendly, we should see if we're on the same page. You met Francis, right? What do you think of the guy? Your first impression?"
"Well…" Mario began. There was a lot of more… explicit things he would've liked to say, but he held back. For now. "He's… really nerdy."
"Ah, I see. I see. Anything else about him catch your eye?" Carrie asked.
"From what I could tell, he's really into butterflies." Bowser answered. "Really, really into them…"
"Oh?" Carrie responded. "Yes, I see how you would think that. So…sum it up. What do you think about him?"
"He's a monster!" Mario yelled suddenly, catching even Bowser off-guard. He paused and took a few deep breaths. "Yeah, a monster."
Carrie waited a few seconds before saying anything. "So you think Francis is a… Nerdy and butterfly fanatic? Basically, a monster? Well…imagine that! You and I feel the same way about him! We've got great harmony. Yep, I think we'll work perfectly. Together, nothing can touch us!" Carrie floated down to them.
"So, what exactly can you do?" Mario asked.
"Well, I can carry you and make you move a bit faster!" Carrie explained. "You see these spikes over here?" Carrie floated over to them. "Well, I can carry you across them like this!" Carrie folded into a large, floating platform that would let Mario and Bowser cross the spikes with ease.
The two stepped onto Carrie, and she floated across, safely bringing them to the other side, near the pipe they came in. They stepped off of Carrie, and went to the left end of the room, where there was a pipe.
They went through it, and ended up in a dark, completely black room. As Mario tried to feel for a wall, he ended up pushing a section of it away completely, revealing that it was just a fake wall. They stepped out, and saw that they were back at an earlier part of the castle.
They made their way back through the castle to the room with two doors. To their surprise, they saw the other three standing outside their door.
"How'd you come back from over there?" Violet asked.
"It was some stupid passcode that we couldn't answer, so we got dropped into a dungeon but we escaped." Bowser quickly explained. "Did… you find a key?"
"When we tried to go into the room, there were a bunch of spikes." Junior explained. "So we had to wait out here."
"Well, we found another pixl that can help with that." Mario explained. "Her name is Carrie, and she can help you get across spikes. Also, if you're getting asked questions, always answer true, and the passcode if you get asked for it is 2323."
Peach tried to take in all of the information. "Thanks… Mario." She paused. "Are… you doing okay being alone with Bowser."
"I'm fine." Mario said. That seemed to be his answer to a lot of questions about himself. "We're… working together pretty well."
"Uh, yeah. We… are." Bowser confirmed.
A small smile was on Peach's face. It looked like things would move in the right direction.
Mario and Bowser went back through their door, while Peach, Violet, and Junior now had Carrie, and were actually able to make some progress.
The three used Carrie to get across, and in the next room, they found themselves in a small room, similar to the one Mario and Bowser were at earlier. They walked up to the robotic cat butler in front of them.
Like Mario said, all the answers to the questions were 'true', and the passcode at the end was 2323. After answering all of the questions and giving the correct passcode, the butler said, "Welcome home, Master! Master's fantasy fortress is safe from intruders." And then, an elevator that wasn't there previously opened.
The three went inside, and waited as the elevator slowly rose. About a minute later, the elevator dinged, and then opened. They were in a room that… they would expect to find from a nerd, to say the least. There were posters plastered all over the wall of various animes, video games, and other media. Lined across the shelves were boxes, filled with various things in them.
"Alright," Peach started. "Let's look around the room and see if we can find a key."
"And see if the Pure Heart is stashed somewhere." Violet added.
The three looked around, pulling open drawers, rifling through shelves, and looking pretty much anywhere else they could.
Junior pulled out a piece of paper, though what was on it caught his eye. "In a shocking twist, the main character of 'The Grodus Chronicles' turns out to be the great-grandson of the emperor, when it was thought before that his great-granddad killed said emperor." It intrigued him, but only for a moment, so he tossed it aside.
Violet was pretty much dumping out entire boxes at a time, trying to get to the key or the Pure Heart as fast as possible. "This is taking forever." She grumbled. Though, in the next box she dumped out, she heard something… it sounded like a key. She quickly rifled through the papers that fell out and found what they all had been looking for. Well, one of the things they were looking for. One of the keys.
"Should we keep looking for the Pure Heart?" Junior asked.
"I think we should rescue Tippi first." Peach said. "She has an ability to sense where any Pure Hearts are."
"That makes sense." Violet responded.
The group of three had gone back down to the bigger room where the giant cat double doors with two keys were. At the same time, Mario and Bowser also came back with their key, but sadly no Pure Heart.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Mario and Violet put their respective keys in the keyholes. Though, when they did, the giant cat face on the door… began speaking? Not like it was out of place compared to everything else here.
"Both keys confirmed. Meow!" The cat door said. "Wait a meow moment. You look nothing like master! Only Master Francis and 'totally hot babes' are allowed to enter, and three of you are not!"
"…Is this thing serious?" Mario asked, appalled.
"Step back or you'll get the kitty lasers!" The cat door said. Mario, Bowser, and Junior nervously stepped back. With only Peach and Violet at the door, the cat door was pleased. It then started asking the two adults questions, similar to the ones from earlier, which all of the answers were 'true'.
After the questions were answered, the door finally opened, and the cat eyes closed. The three males tried to walk closer again, only to step back once the cat door eyes started to reopen.
"It looks like we'll have to do this alone." Violet said to Peach.
"Alright. Let's just try to see if Francis will be able to hand over Tippi peacefully, without a fight." Peach said.
Violet nodded in agreement. After looking back at the other three, she and Peach went into the room, unsure what to expect.
The room itself was big, though there wasn't much in it. Only… Francis with a camera, still taking pictures of Tippi; the butterfly was still trapped inside the cage.
"Nerr! Who are YOU?" Francis questioned, turning around. "H-hey! What are you two doing sneaking into my room, huh? Ever heard of p-privacy?"
Peach and Violet walked up to Francis. "There you are, Francis!" Peach yelled, angry. "We've been looking ALL OVER for you!"
"For… me?" Francis asked in confusion. He put his hands against the sides of his face and began sweating. He was starting to panic. "Oh my gosh… It's… It's two h-hot babes… Wha-What do I… Oh man… TWO REAL girls in my room! This is so hi-technical! Must… ca-ca-calm… down… I'm get-get-get-get…"
Right then, Peach and Violet were considering just trying to run past Francis and get Tippi.
"Getting way too excited…" Francis continued. "Sweatles…forming… Can't talk to…girls… Must get…my…laptop…from…Frannypack…" Francis grabbed his computer and begun typing a bunch of stuff. "Booting up ! Activating Nerr2Babe interface mod with real-time wooing!"
Then, for some strange reason, all three of them were… in a dating sim of some sorts? It didn't really make any sense. It didn't last long, though. Peach and Violet soon found out that they could use manipulate the options, and they used Boomer to destroy the dating sim. Francis's main computer was destroyed, and the dating sim was over.
Francis was… upset to say the least. "That was the only known copy of the Nerr2Babe patch, and now it's gone forever! Nerr… Real babes are scary!"
"…Peach? …Violet?" Tippi's soft voice rang out, reminding the two ladies of her presence.
"Tippi!" Violet said. "We were so worried about you!"
Tippi was a little surprised and relieved at the same time. "You… you came. To save me?"
"So…" Francis began, now knowing what was going on. "So you've come to raid my fort and steal Francine? W-Well… No! I won't let you." Francis blushed a little as he turned back to Tippi. "B-By the way, I came up with the name Francine on my own! Isn't it schweeet? At first it was a little weird that you could talk and everything. But the forum reaction convinced me you were hi-technical! You're my only…offline friend, Francine…so no one will take you away from me!"
"Eek!" Tippi managed to squeak out, before her and the cage she was in was lowered beneath the floor into a secret compartment.
Francis turned back to the two ladies. And then, he turned invisible. It made sense, since he was a chameleon. "Nerr! Can't see me? That's 'cause my invisibility powers are totally hi-technical! Little Francine is hidden, so you can't take her! Feel the wrath of the jilted X-Naut in the season finale of 'The Grodus Chronicles'!"
Peach and Violet knew that they had no other choice than to fight Francis. They didn't want it to have to come to this, but Francis gave them no other options. But how were they even going to defeat him? He was invisible, which made it near impossible to track where he went.
"Wait." Peach said. "If we listen very carefully, we can still hear his footsteps.
Violet strained her ears to listen. She could hear the footsteps. They were across the room. Violet used her ice powers and summoned a long pole of purple ice. She didn't want to hurt Francis too badly, just enough to get the message across.
Francis reappeared a bit away from them. Violet started running toward him first, followed by Peach. But before they could get anywhere close to him, Francis pulled out a large camera and took a picture with the flash on, temporarily blinding Peach and Violet. When they could finally see again, Francis was once again gone.
Peach and Violet tried to hear where his footsteps were. On the other end of the room. They ran to the other side of the room, right on time for Francis to reappear. Francis lashed out his tongue, though Peach and Violet were both way far away from it. They didn't want to know what would happen if they got caught on it.
Peach had already jumped in the air. She stomped onto Francis's head, dazing him for a moment. That gave Violet the perfect opportunity to hit Francis in the side with the pole, landing a clean hit, causing the chameleon to topple over onto his side.
After a moment, Francis vanished again. He reappeared moments later, several feet away from them. Francis got out another laptop and begun typing stuff into it. "Meowbombs, away!" He yelled, vanishing again.
A couple seconds later, several of the said Meowbombs dropped from the ceiling, some closer to exploding than others. Violet got an idea. Francis reappeared a couple feet away from them, about to pull out his camera again.
Violet put her plan into action. It was the perfect moment. She swung her pole at the Meowbombs, sending them flying toward Francis. The chameleon didn't have time to react. The Meowbombs all exploded into his face. He fell over. He was defeated.
A moment later, Francis got back up, tears in his eyes. "MERCY!" He yelled, running out of the room, slamming the doors open, not even noticing Mario, Bowser, or Junior as he ran past them.
Was the room finally safe to set foot in? The three walked in, and nothing happened. Looks like it was. They walked up to the two women.
"What happened?" Mario asked. "Where's Tippi?"
"She's-" Peach started, before the cage Tippi was in rose back up, and then disappeared. Tippi was… finally free.
"Mario… You guys came to save me…" Tippi said. There was… a feeling she couldn't explain, emanating deep within her.
Mario simply nodded in response. "It's good to finally see you again."
For a moment, Tippi didn't know what to say. "Thank you… Thank you, Mario!" 'I'm so happy…' To everyone's surprise, Tippi started glowing even more than usual.
"What the heck is going on?" Bowser asked.
Tippi was also pulsating, it getting stronger every moment. And then, against all odds… the Green Pure Heart appeared out of Tippi, and floated above Mario. Needless to say, everyone was shocked.
"The Pure Heart…?" Tippi asked, confused. "But…how…"
Peach thought up of an explanation that to her, made sense. "It's like Tippi's heart just burst with happiness and released a Pure Heart! Or…" She didn't have anything else to say.
"Mario…" Tippi began. "I was just so happy when I saw that you'd come to save me. Please… Take it."
"Alright. I will." Mario said. All of the previous pixls they've collected so far came out and danced around Mario as the Green Pure Heart slowly floated down to him.
In terms of collecting Pure Hearts, they were halfway there.
The fourth Pure Heart appeared in a dazzling flash of mysterious light.
What made it appear? The group was puzzled by this and many other riddles.
"…So you're not hurt?" asked Tippi, full of concern.
Somehow, Tippi seemed different than before. She had started to change.
Mario simply shook his head, even though that was a lie, and promptly used the Return Pipe to avoid a long journey back to Flipside.
It was around midnight at the barn. Steven was sleeping in the back of a truck that had a mattress on it, along with a pillow and blanket. Though, his sleep was soon interrupted as a large shadow was cast over him. He looked up and saw Garnet looking at him with her visor off, revealing all three of her eyes.
"Steven!" Garnet said with a smile on her face.
"Garnet!" Steven said. "Is it morning already?"
"It's midnight! Happy birthday, Steven!" Garnet answered.
"Oh man! Are you finally gonna tell me that you're a fusion of the gems Ruby and Sapphire like you promised?" Steven asked, holding Garnet's cheeks.
"You already know about all that Steven." Garnet pointed out to him.
Steven sighed and lied back down. "It's true."
"But what you don't know is how Ruby and Sapphire first met." Garnet added.
"Oh my gosh, I don't!" Steven said, stars in his eyes.
The Earth: 5750 years ago.
"It was a promising sight in the new gem colony." Garnet began. "But progress was being thwarted by a small, persistent group of rebels. A team of diplomatic gems from Homeworld were sent to investigate. Among those were Sapphire, a rare aristocratic Homeworld Gem, with the power to see into the future. Assigned to her were three Rubies; common soldiers, with a mission to protect her."
The four gems were walking on the Cloud Arena above Earth, passing by many other gems.
"Hey, can't wait for those rebels to get here." Ruby 1 said to Ruby 2.
Ruby 2 laughed a little. "When I see those rebels, I'm gonna punch 'em right in their faces!"
"What are you saying?" Ruby 1 questioned. "I'm gonna punch them all over their bodies, and then it'll be over."
"What if… I just punch you?" Ruby 2 said, walking behind Ruby 1 and punching her.
"Oh, come on." Ruby 3 said. "We'll punch them together when we fuse. That's why they sent three of us."
"Three this!" Ruby 1 yelled, quickly turning around and punching Ruby 3, causing her to accidentally bump into Sapphire.
At that, the other gems that saw it gasped. Ruby 3 was also in shock. "Oh, I, um, I'm so sorry, lemme, uh-"
"I'm fine." Sapphire said.
"What?" Ruby 3 asked, confused.
"It's okay. It was bound to happen." Sapphire said, her future vision already foreseeing this.
"Oh… okay." Ruby 3 said, understanding what Sapphire meant.
"Now, please wait here." Sapphire said. "I must attend to my duties." The three Rubies stood firmly in place as Sapphire walked up to Blue Diamond's palanquin; though Ruby 3 couldn't help but keep looking at her.
"Sapphire had been called to Earth by Blue Diamond, specifically to share her vision of the future."
"My Diamond, I've arrived." Sapphire said, parting the curtains to Blue Diamond's palanquin. The Diamond herself was sitting in her chair, while her Pearl was standing next to her.
"Sapphire. Tell me what will happen here." Blue Diamond said.
"I foresee the rebels attacking the cloud arena," Sapphire started to explain, using her future vision. "Before they're cornered, they'll destroy the physical forms of seven gems, including two of my Ruby guards, and myself. Immediately after my form is destroyed, the rebels will be captured. The rebellion ends here."
"Thank you, Sapphire." Blue Diamond said, relieved. "That's all I needed to know."
"I look forward to speaking with you again once I reform back on Homeworld." Sapphire said. She bowed to Blue Diamond, and then exited the palanquin, walking back to the three Rubies.
"Sapphire knew she would be a casualty. But it did not faze her. She saw her whole life laid out before her. And she already accepted all of it."
Sapphire returned to stand by Ruby 3. "What a beautiful place to build a colony." Sapphire remarked, causing Ruby to freeze up a little. "I wish I could've seen more of this planet."
"Uh, there's still time." Ruby 3 said.
"That is a nice thought," Sapphire said, smiling slightly. "But no." Then, there was a booming voice.
"Blue Diamond, leave this planet! This colony will not be completed!"
At that, many of the gems nearby started to yell up a storm, demanding things like, "Show yourselves!" and "Where are you!"
Pearl, holding a sword in each hand, stood on a pillar, many feet above the other gems while Rose Quartz, the other Crystal Gem, floated above her Pearl. "We are the Crystal Gems!" The two said in unison.
"The attack was right on schedule."
Blue Diamond activated her palanquin to move out of the way. Pearl jumped down to the floor and ran up to two gems charging at her. In an instant, she sliced through both of them with her sword, destroying their forms, forcing them to poof into their gems. Two other gems then raced toward Pearl, and again she sliced through their forms, making that a total of four poofed gems.
The three Rubies let out war cries as they quickly fused into a singular large and strong Ruby. The Ruby fusion ran up and tried to punch Rose, but even though she was standing still, she had a trick up her sleeve. With a flurry of punches and kicks from Rose, the Ruby fusion was forced to unfuse.
In a split second, Pearl sliced through two of the Rubies, poofing them, leaving only Ruby 3 behind. She fell to the ground while the other two Ruby gems made a large clanging sound. And then, Pearl jumped in front of Sapphire, ready to slice through her form.
"Thank you Ruby, you did your best." Sapphire said solemnly, knowing what was going to happen to herself.
"Ruby suddenly realized what Sapphire meant. She had known that Ruby would fail. Sapphire had accepted it. But Ruby… Ruby could not!"
"No!" Ruby suddenly yelled. Against all odds, in a split second, as Pearl was about to strike, Ruby sprinted forward and grabbed Sapphire, getting her out of the way. The two were holding each other for a brief moment before… they fused. Into what would now be known as Garnet.
A fusion between two different kinds of gems was unprecedented, though all Garnet could think about at the moment was her new form. Because it was their first time ever fusing with each other, their form was unstable. Her hair was a mess of blue and pink, one leg had a boot on and the other didn't, her clothing was partly ripped, and all sorts of other things.
Garnet looked at her gems. Before the fusion, both gems had been the color they should've always been, Sapphire's blue and Ruby's red. But now, both of their gems were a darkish red. "What… what is this?" She finally managed to say.
The other nearby Homeworld gems didn't know what to say or do about the fusion. Pearl shook her head, and then was about to go in to attack, though Rose stopped her by grabbing onto Pearl's arm.
"Wait." Rose said. "This is…" She paused, noticing the Homeworld Gems closing in on her and Pearl.
"Uh, bye!" Pearl said as the two of them jumped up, none of the Homeworld Gems knowing where the rebels went.
Garnet was still in disbelief about what she was. "Is this…" She began, though she accidentally unfused, leaving behind Ruby and Sapphire.
"The Homeworld Gems started closing in around Ruby and Sapphire. They had never seen fusion of two different types of gems."
The Homeworld Gems' voices rang out to Ruby and Sapphire. "Unbelievable!" "Disgusting!" "This is unheard of!"
Blue Diamond's voice cut through the crowd. "The rebels have fled. Sapphire, this is not the scenario you described!"
"This is… not what I saw…" Sapphire said in fear of what wrath her Diamond might invoke upon her. "I don't know what happened, I-"
"No!" Ruby said, jumping in front of Sapphire. "It was me!"
"Clearly," Blue Diamond said. "How dare you fuse with a member of my court."
"Forgive me, I-"
"You will be shattered for this!" Blue Diamond said, making a shattering motion with her hand.
The Homeworld Gems started to close in around Ruby and Sapphire, intent on capturing the two. Though, Sapphire had a plan. Quickly thinking quickly, she grabbed Ruby's arm, and ran past the Homeworld Gems.
"Wait! What are you doing?" Ruby asked in a panic. Sapphire jumped off the edge of the Cloud Arena, and fell to Earth, Ruby in tow. "No!" Ruby yelled.
Eventually, they landed on Earth, though their landing was light, thanks to Sapphire's dress making them float. After they landed, Sapphire let go of Ruby. And to make matters worse, it started raining.
"Why'd you do that?" Ruby asked. "I have to get you back up there!"
"But they were gonna shatter you!" Sapphire argued.
"Who cares? There's tons of me!" Ruby said. She looked up at the clouds, rain pouring down from them. She then looked at the open fields ahead, the hills going for miles. "What do we do now?"
"Sapphire had known every moment of her life. How it would happen, and when. But because of Ruby's impulsive gesture, she suddenly jumped the track of fate. And everything from that instant on was wrong. She couldn't see, she couldn't move, she was… frozen."
The area around Sapphire slowly became encased in ice, though Ruby was quick to pull her up out of it and carry the blue gem. "We have to get you outta here. Let's go."
Ruby carried Sapphire until they came across a small cave, just big enough for them to hide in until the rain stopped. Ruby set Sapphire down gently, allowing her to sit down. "Alright, this should be good for now." Ruby said.
Sapphire parted her hair for a moment, allowing Ruby to see her singular eye. "Thank you." Sapphire said in true thankfulness. Ruby stared for a moment until she realized, at her own feet, a small fire formed. She laughed nervously.
Soon, after putting out the first fire, they used some of the stray twigs and sticks on the ground to create another, more controlled fire.
"What kind of Ruby am I supposed to be?" Ruby asked herself, pacing around the small cave. "Look at this, it's all my fault you're stranded here. How am I gonna save you?"
"You already did." Sapphire answered.
"What?" Ruby questioned, not understanding.
"You already saved me." Sapphire said.
After a moment, Ruby sat down and looked at the fire, just as Sapphire was doing. And, as the two stared at the fire, they both couldn't help but think back to the fusion the two of them had created back at the arena. How it was so new, how everything about it was just… right.
"I've seen gems fuse before…" Sapphire started. "But I had no idea that's what it felt like. I always thought- I never realized that fusion- you just disappear like that."
"It's never like that!" Ruby argued. "Whenever I fused, it's always been just me, but bigger… I've never had a third eye before."
"I've never had more than one. It was nice."
Ruby laughed a little. "Yeah…"
After the rain had stopped, the two went out of the cave and back into the open fields. The sun was slowly coming up, so Ruby shielded her eyes for a moment. But the two of them both couldn't look away due to just how beautiful it all looked.
"Where did we go? What did we do? I think we made something entirely new."
Ruby and Sapphire explored a nearby forest. Sapphire ducked under a lopsided tree, though she didn't notice the butterfly that landed on her hand. Ruby walked over to look at it, but it tried to fly away. But, a lone frog latched its tongue onto the butterfly, attempting to eat it. But it didn't get the chance as Ruby quickly picked up the frog and chuckled at it, allowing the butterfly to escape. Sapphire soon joined in the chuckling, because the frog was just an odd and strange creature to the two of them.
"And it wasn't quite me, and it wasn't quite you, I think it was someone entirely new."
Before long, night befell them again, and they lied on a hill, looking at the moon.
"Oh, um… well I just can't stop thinking…"Ruby said.
"So, um… you say I was different." Sapphire added.
"And you hadn't before,"
"Of course not, when would I have ever?"
"I'm so sorry,"
"No, no, don't be,"
Ruby sat up. "And now you're here forever!"
Sapphire also sat up. "What about you?"
"What about me?" Ruby repeated.
"Well you're here too. We're here… together."Sapphire placed her hand over Ruby's hand.
Later that night, the two went back into the forest, knowing what they both had to do. While humming, the two began a slow dance. They were going to hold hands on both sides, but since on one side their gems would get in the way, Sapphire decided to hold Ruby's shoulder, while Ruby decided to hold Sapphire's hip.
And then, their dance had begun. At first, it was slow, but soon, the dance became faster, and they started turning each other around. And then, once again, their forms seemed to turn into light for a moment as they fused into Garnet.
"I was back. I was someone and I didn't know who. But, I felt like I was getting the hang of my new form. And then I fell."
Garnet tripped and tumbled down the large hill for several seconds until she finally came to a stop at the base of it, small pink pedals clinging to her. "Ow." She opened her eyes, only to see a sword pointed at her, so she quickly jumped to sit up. "Don't hurt her! Don't hurt… me?" She tried to correct.
Pearl looked down and saw exactly whom she was pointing her sword at. "It's you. The fusion."
"We didn't mean to fuse!" Garnet quickly tried to explain. "W-Well, we did this time. We'll unfuse! W-We'll…" She was stopped by the leader of the Crystal Gems herself, Rose Quartz, walking up to her. Pearl walked over to the side to allow Rose to see Garnet.
"No no, please." Rose said, in her smooth, calming voice. "I'm glad to see you again."
"And there they were. Rose Quartz, the leader of the rebellion, and her terrifying renegade Pearl."
"I don't… upset you?" Garnet curiously asked, sitting up a little.
"Who cares about how I feel," Rose laughed, bending down to Garnet's level. "How you feel is bound to be much more interesting."
"How… I feel?" Garnet asked, unsure. And then, all of her emotions began spilling out. "I feel… lost. And scared. And happy. Why am I so sure that I'd be this, than everything I was supposed to be? And that I'd rather do this than everything I was supposed to do?"
Rose laughed in amusement, standing back up. "Welcome to Earth." She smiled, with Pearl smiling alongside her.
"Can you tell me?" Garnet stood up. "How was Ruby able to alter fate? Or why was Sapphire willing to give up everything? W-What am I?"
"No more questions." Rose simply stated, stopping Garnet in her tracks. "Don't ever question this." She grabbed both of Garnet's hands and turned them over. "You already are the answer."
And that was a promise that Garnet just had to keep, almost like it was an order.
Garnet's story was finished.
"So… what was it?" Steven asked. Garnet smirked and raised an eyebrow. "The answer?"
"Love." Garnet answered.
"Wooow, I knew it." Steven said.
"So did I." Garnet said.
Ruby and Sapphire would remain together for as long as existence as itself, but even though they did have a fight in the past, nothing could cause them to potentially split up in the future… right?