[Author's Note: This isn't actually based on the SU episode of the same name, but mainly the first part of The Question. I originally planned for all of The Question to be one chapter, but as it became fairly long, I decided to split it and name it after an episode where Ruby doesn't even appear. The name still fits, though.]

"DON'T TELL US HOW TO FEEL!" Anger S slammed down with all her might on the control panel, sending a wave of emotion as to cause Ruby and Sapphire to separate.

"Gah!" yelled Fear R, the only one of her kind in Ruby's control room. "We've separated! And not in order to trick Homeworld this time!"

"Everything is falling apart!" Sadness wailed.

"First we find out Rose was Pink Diamond, and now this," Anger said. "I hate to say it, Sadness, but when you're right, you're right."

"Maybe this is a good thing?" said Joy. "Maybe we can reason with Sapphire's emotions through Ruby more easily than we can directly."

Sadness dabbed at her tears. "Maybe," she said. "Maybe, now that they're not vying with us for the controls, they'll be able to work together to each an understanding."

"Or maybe without any of us there to help moderate, her emotions will push her as far as they can," said Fear, pointing at the screen.

"She lied to us!" Sapphire was yelling. "She lied about everything! She held our hands, looked at us right in the eyes, and told us to never question who we are as Garnet. We never questioned ourselves, or her!"

"Okay," said Sadness. "She's feeling guilty that she wasn't able to use her future vision to find the truth. We just have to assure her we couldn't have possibly known-"

"No, you couldn't had known. You never know what's going on. That's what I'm for!"

"Okay, and now she's insulting us?" Anger fumed.

"She's kind of right," Disgust murmured.

"But I never looked into her," Sapphire continued. "I trusted her... I let her make fools of us all!" She turned and headed toward the warp pad.

"She's leaving us!" Sadness wailed.

"No!" Fear cried. "If we can just get her to stay a little longer and talk-"

"Talk about what? How our relationship is based on a lie? What else is there to say..."

With that, she warped away.

"Come on, Pearl," said Steven. "Help me explain everything to Sapphire. Sit tight, Ruby." They warped away as well.

Ruby's emotions sat in silence around the controls until, finally, Fear spoke.

"This is an appropriate time to panic, right? This definitely feels like a time to panic."

"Don't worry," Joy said. "We've had fights before, but we've always made up. See?" She pulled up the memories of their stay at Keystone Motel. "And over our mixed feelings towards the deceit of a friend, too."

"But in that case, we were the ones who were more upset," Sadness said. "Her patience and introspection are what helped get us through it. Here, though…"

"Here, she insults us!" said Anger. "Saying we never know what's going on!"

"Well, we don't," said Fear. "We're not the one with future vision. We don't know what might happen. We have no idea when Sapphire will even come back." She gasped. "What if she never comes back? What if she and Ruby remain separated forever? What if-"

"Shut up!" Anger shouted.

"Look," Joy said, stepping between the two, "I'm sure she'll come back eventually, especially after Pearl and Steven talk to her. This is a stressful situation for all of us. But she does love Ruby, and I'm sure when she realizes she's wrong, she'll-"

"Maybe she's right," Disgust said quietly.

"What?" Joy said.

"Maybe she's right. I mean, she's always right. So why not now? When Garnet met Rose, she was confused. She didn't know how to feel about herself. Rose told her to stay as Garnet, and we listened because we thought she was this wise, all-loving, perfect being. But if she wasn't perfect… if she was, in fact, a Diamond… then we still don't know how to feel."

"You're right!" said Joy. "Rose told Ruby how to feel. That's our job!"

'Exactly. So I think we should remain separated until we get all this figured out."

"But what if Sapphire comes back and they've convinced her to form Garnet again?" Anger asked. "What's Ruby supposed to do? Tell her now she doesn't want to form Garnet?"

"I don't think I could stand to see her heartbroken like that," said Sadness.

"And then they'd start arguing again," said Fear. "Then, even if we eventually decide we do want to be Garnet, Sapphire might be so upset that she doesn't!"

"And that's if we do decide we want to be Garnet," said Disgust. "I'm not saying that we won't, but..."

"Right, so we just need to not be here if or when Sapphire returns," said Joy, "until we come to a final decision."

"We should leave a note," said Sadness, "so she won't worry about where we are."

"Can I get a pen and paper?" Ruby asked.

"Why?" said Amethyst, retrieving the writing implements. "Actually, never mind; I don't care. Do what you want; I'm through with all this drama."

"I can kind of understand that," said Anger.

Ruby took the pen and began her letter: "You were right. I need some time to think, so I am running away. Love-"

"No, I- I don't think that's best in this scenario," said Sadness

"Right," Disgust said. "It's much too loaded of a valediction."

So Ruby crossed out the L and just signed her name.

"Now she just has to address it to Sapphire," Sadness said.

"Wait- she's starting too far in the middle," Fear said. "She's not going to have enough room to fit it all in!"

"Quit being such a worrywart, would you?" said Anger.

"Yeah, there's plenty of room! Look- oh."

"Well," said Disgust, "it's not like Sapphire fell in love with Ruby for her calligraphy."

"If she truly fell in love at all," Sadness said.

Ruby placed the note on the floor where Sapphire was sure to see it and left the beach house.

"So, we'll need to find a place to think. Any ideas?" Fear asked.

"The ocean's pretty big; that might work," said Joy.

"What? No! It's too big; we could get lost! Or swallowed by a shark!"

"And it's wet," Disgust added.

"Okay, into town, then," said Joy. "But where, exactly?"

"Maybe Greg knows a good place," Sadness suggested. "At the very least, he might be willing to listen to our troubles."

"Yeah!" said Joy. "After all, he's pretty much the only non-Gem we know."

"Or at least, he only one who knows Ruby," said Fear.

"You don't think Rose told him the truth about herself, did she?" Disgust asked.

"If she told a human she had known for less than a decade, but not any of the Gems who were loyal to her for millennia," Anger said, "then… well, I won't be happy."

"Ruby?" Greg said in surprise as she approached the car wash. "What are doing… being Ruby? Where's Sapphire?"

"Well," said Sadness, "here we go."

Ruby told Greg about Pink Diamond's masquerade as Rose Quartz, to his shock, and about her massive fight with Sapphire. He, of course, didn't know how to solve her problems, but expressed his sympathy as best he could. When Ruby said she needed someplace to think, he drove her up to Brooding Hill and ordered some pizza from Fish Stew Pizza.

"He realizes we don't need to eat, right?" Disgust asked.

"But we can eat," Joy said. "It's just that Garnet rarely does so, and Ruby never has."

"Well, humans have foods that give them comfort," Sadness said. "They call them comfort foods. Maybe pizza is one of them?"

"Well, no harm in trying it," Fear said. "Wait! What if we choke? No, wait, we don't need to breathe. Or what if it's too hot, and it burns us? No, wait, Ruby can tolerate extreme heat. But what if-"

"While you where busy blithering," Anger said, "We had Ruby just shove the whole thing in her mouth."

"And it tastes really good, too!" said Joy.

"A bit greasy," Disgust remarked, "but nothing too bothersome."

"I also have some comics," Greg said. "They might help get your mind off things."

"All right!" Joy exclaimed. "Words and images arranged in a sequential fashion!"

Ruby and Greg spent the rest of the day up there, just letting time go by. The afternoon turned to evening and then to dusk.

"You know," said Joy, "this is actually kind of nice, not being a fusion all the time."

"Yeah, I don't have to share my controls with anyone," said Anger. "That can be frustrating sometimes."

"Just the one of us," Disgust said. "Or five of us. Depends on how you want to look at it."

"Plus Greg," said Sadness.

"Still," said Joy, "It's a peaceful feeling, just taking in the scenery, no one bothering us..."

"Hey, guys!" said Steven, who was coming up the hill, accompanied by Amethyst.

"Wha- how'd they find us?" Fear said, startled.

"We heard you ordered pizza," said Steven.

"Oh," said Fear, leaning back. "That makes sense."

"So," said Steven, "how are you holding up, Ruby?"

Joy looked at the others. "I'd say we're doing pretty well."

The others nodded.

"Wait, really?" said Steven. "You seemed so sad before."

"Yeah," said Sadness. "I definitely used my controls more than usual back there."

"But we're fine now," said Disgust. "Greg helped us a lot."

"Sapphire was kinda right about everything," said Ruby. "We really did stay Garnet because Rose told us to be her answer. It's my first time thinking about it. It's my first time really thinking about… me."

"What do you mean?"

Anger pulled up some memories. "Back when Ruby emerged, the first thing she did was get crammed together with a bunch of other Rubies! And then she was always with Sapphire. She never got a chance to be herself."

"But now she can go wherever the wind takes her!" said Joy. "She's up here, eating pizza, reading comics-"

"Does Sapphire want to read comics? Who knows?" said Anger. "We don't need to know!"

"Ruby could be like this the rest of her life, just on her own!"

"What?" said a distressed Steven. "But you guys love each other! You're my favorite couple! You're like sugar and flour! I love eating them separately, but I still want cake!"

"Wait, he eats flour? Like, on its own?" said Disgust.

"Maybe we should start taking a closer look at his diet," said Fear.

Steven continued. "I'm sure Sapphire would want-"

"Who cares what Sapphire wants?" Anger said. "We've seen our own future… and it's nothing but Ruby!" She high-fived Joy.

"So, where you going after this, dude?" Amethyst asked. "You just gonna stay out here?"

"I wanna live free!" One with the wilderness! Facing danger in every turn, not leaving nothing or nobody to get me by, just like this guy!" She held up one of the comic books: Dolphin Tail.

"Suggesting the ocean before was premature," Joy said, "but maybe, if we're emulating this dolphin…"

"Do you mean something like this?" Steven asked, holding up a comic called Lonesome Lasso.

"Oh! A western!" Joy said. "That's even better!"

"The open range is a much more inviting place than the open ocean," Fear said.

"And drier, too," Disgust added.

"Dolphins remind me too much of Sapphire anyway," Sadness said. "Not sure why, though. Just something about the aesthetic."

"Then it's settled!" Joy said. "We're gonna be a cowboy!"