"Come on!" Fear pleaded. "Just a little bit of nervousness!"

"No!" Joy said, manipulating the control panel and her team members restrained Fear. "This is going to be happiest day of Ruby's life, and I'm not going to let you change that!"

"We should have left her unconscious," Disgust remarked.

It was the day of the wedding and everybody was preparing for it both inside and out. Thoughts of the recent revelation about Rose having actually been Pink Diamond were cast aside in favor of focusing on the upcoming celebration. The hour was fast approaching, and it was time for Ruby and Sapphire to change into their wedding apparel. Although both of them could have shapeshifted their bodies to an appropriate appearance for the wedding, they decided to actually wear actual clothes, in part to have mementos of the occasion besides just the rings a recently unbubbled Bismuth had made for them. However, this meant that they had to physically get dressed, which meant having to pass through the beach house were everyone was gathered. This necessitated that two brides-to-be cover their eyes.

"Okay, Sapphire," Ruby said. "I gotta get dressed for our big day now, so no peeking. And no future vision either!"

Over in Sapphire's mind control room, her Fear whimpered. "Do they really have to have their eyes covered?" she asked. "This seems like a good way for one of them to knock over something and break it."

"Didn't you hear Steven?" Anger said. "It's bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony!"

"Pretty sure it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride," Disgust said.

"We don't have a groom," Sadness said. "I mean, Sapphire's going to be in a tuxedo, but she's not male. Well, technically, she's not female either, but..."

"It's ridiculous, yes," Joy said, "but it's also fun. It's their wedding day; we should let them have a bit of fun."

"What about future vision?" Fear said. "What if the ceremony doesn't go like we planned it? What if it's a disaster?"

"Whatever's going to happen will happen whether we foresee it or not," Sadness said. "So we should just let it happen and not worry about it."

"See?" said Joy. "Even Sadness is being optimistic about this!"

"That wasn't optimism; that was simply resigning myself to fate."

Joy frowned. "How about we resign ourselves to the wedding instead?"

"I suppose that could work."

Two sections of seats had been set up on the beach, forming an aisle between them Almost all the humans Garnet knew were attending; this admittedly wasn't a large group, but quality counted more than quantity for occasions like this. Steven, who would be acting as the officiator, joined Sapphire beneath the awning at the front.

"You nervous?" Steven asked her.

"Nervous?" Fear said, laughing nervously. "Why would Sapphire be nervous? I mean, it's just a ceremony and subsequent pledge of her and Ruby's eternal love for each other. Nothing to be nervous about at all."

"Then maybe we should take care of that ice forming around her feet?" Disgust said sardonically.

Fear let out a squeak as Sapphire kicked it away.

The ceremony began. Greg provided the music; Peridot deployed flowers to the audience. On her cue, Ruby emerged from the beach house, wearing a white dress. She spied Sapphire waiting for her at the altar.

"Wow," said Ruby's Disgust. "She can really pull off a tuxedo."

"She looks so beautiful!" Joy squealed. "We have to get to her as quick as possible! Come on!"

'Wait!" cried Fear. "Ruby's fire powers!"

But it was too late; Amethyst was hurried stomping out the flames from the petals that had been strewn on the ground.

"Oops," said Sadness.

"Should have put the alter closer," Anger said.

Steven made his opening remarks to the audience, and then it was time for the couple to exchange vows.

"Okay, vows," Ruby's Fear said. "Vows. Okay."

"It's kind of silly, though," Disgust said. "I mean, they've been together for 5,750 years."

"And 8 months," Sapphire added.

"We just have to speak from the heart," said Sadness. "Tell how we used to feel when it was just Ruby on her own: no good."

"Yeah," said Joy, "but now, with Sapphire, it feels okay."

"So I want to be me with you," Ruby said. "And not even the Diamonds will come between us!"

"And if they try, we'll beat them up!" Anger said.

"You think maybe we should have rehearsed that a bit more?" Sadness asked.

"No; it just seems more authentic when spoken off the cuff like that," Joy said. "And Sapphire seemed to enjoy it."

"I really enjoyed that," Sapphire's Joy said over in her own mind control room. "Fear, have you got Sapphire's vow ready?"

"Of course," Fear replied. "I've been working working on it all morning, making sure every word was perfect."

"Ruby," Sapphire said, "my future used to look like one single, obvious stream, unbending till the end of time. In an instant, you pulled me from that destiny, and opened my eye to an explosion of infinite possible futures, streaking across space and time, altered and obliterated by the smallest force of will."

Ruby and Steven looked at her, eyes wide.

"Er, I think that may have a bit too grandiose," Sadness said.

"Oh, no!" said Fear. "All that work, and she hates it!"

"Don't be so dramatic," said Disgust. "She doesn't hate it; she's just overwhelmed. I'll have her whip up something a bit simpler."

"What I mean is," Sapphire continued, "you changed my life. And then, I changed your life. And now, we change our lives."

Bismuth handed the rings over, and Ruby and Sapphire exchanged them.

"Ooh!" Joy R squealed. "This is actually happening! She's-" She glanced at Fear and slapped her hands away from the controls. "I told you, no nervousness!"

"But this is such a momentous occasion!" Fear protested.

"Ruby," Steven said, "do you take this gem to have and to hold on this and every other planet in the universe?"

"I do!" Ruby said with glee.

Steven turned to Sapphire. "And Sapphire, do you-"

"Yes."

Inside Sapphire's mind, Anger glanced at Joy. "You didn't let him finish."

"Sorry," Joy said sheepishly. "It's just really exciting."

"By the power invested in me by the state of Delmarva," Steven said, "I now pronounce you Garnet."

Ruby and Sapphire kissed, and while they were kissing, they fused. Their emotions once again found themselves in the same control room.

"Oh, Joy!" Joy S said, turning to her counterpart. "I've missed you!"

"I've missed you too," Joy R said. They, like their hosts had before them, starting kissing.

"You do realize how weird that looks, right?" Disgust R said. "I mean, you two look almost identical. It's like making out with yourself."

"I don't know," Disgust S said. "I feel I'm attractive enough that I wouldn't mind."

Disgust R blushed. "Well, um… hey, look!" she said, pointing at the memory rack. A new core memory had formed and was rolling to the center of the room. The emotions watched as it replaced one from nearly six thousand years ago. Outside the window, the statues on Garnet Island changed and were now wearing their wedding attire.

"I didn't know that could happen," Fear S remarked.

"It's appropriate, though," Joy R said. "Now the core memory for the island will revolve around when she became Garnet because Ruby and Sapphire truly wanted to and not just because someone told them they should."

"It'd be hard to rank the memories we have in terms of happiness," Joy S said, "but I have no doubt that this would be the happiest."

A dance floor had been set up on the beach for the reception where guests both Gem and human intermingled. Sour Cream provided the music and Bismuth unwittingly caught the bouquet. It was almost as wonderful as the wedding itself.

"This was such a great idea," Joy R said. "I'm really glad Steven thought of it."

"He seems to be having a good time as well," Joy S said. "He's so happy, he's crying tears of joy!"

"Wait, no," Sadness S said. "Those aren't tears of joy; I can tell the difference. They're tears of sadness."

"And they're not stopping," Sadness R added.

"Oh dear."

"Oh no!" Fear S cried, frantically pounding at her controls. "I had the future vision turned off-"

"What?" Fear R exclaimed. "Why?"

"You told us not to use it!" Fear S said.

"Pretty sure that was only for the ceremony, not the reception," Disgust R murmured.

Fear S pulled a scenario up that confirmed what was all but certain: Blue Diamond's ship was fast approaching, and Yellow Diamond was with her. Moments later, the shadows that cast themselves over the reception party showed the vision to be accurate.

"Oh, come on!" Anger R said. "Of all the days they could have come back to Earth, why today?"

"We can get upset later!" Anger S said. "Right now, we have to get ready to fight."

As it turned out, the Diamonds hadn't come to fight them; they had come to awaken the cluster.

"That could destroy the entire planet!" Fear S gasped.

Fortunately, the cluster seemed able to prevent itself from forming completely, emerging only as a single giant arm which wrestled with Yellow's ship.

"All right!" Joy R said, pounding her fist in the air.

However, this left Blue's ship to be able to land and let Blue Diamond off.

"Like I said," Anger S said, "we have to get ready to fight."

"Wait, there's no reason to fight," Steven said. "Let me talk to her." He went to try to do so.

"Yep, this isn't going to go well," Fear S said, glancing at the future vision.

"I suggest that Garnet and the others form Alexandrite," Anger R said.

Garnet and the others did just that, managing to catch Steven when he was blasted back by Blue Diamond.

"She's lucky Steven's tough," Anger P said. "If any harm came to him, we'd be even madder than we are right now."

"Still gonna pummel her down, though," Anger A remarked.

"Hey, don't get carried away," Fear S warned. "We have to stay in sync in order to maintain the fusion. We should be fierce, yes, but we also need to be focused."

"Eh, it doesn't matter that much," Joy A cockily asserted. "Now that we're in a body that's the same size as her, we can take her down in no time."

"You cannot fathom how much I've mourned, what thousands of years of grief have done to me!" A wave of emotion emanated from Blue Diamond, affecting all the Gems in its range.

"No!" Fear P exclaimed. "It's too intense! We won't be able to keep together!"

"Hey, Sadnesses," Disgust A said, "quit making Alexandrite so sad!"

"We're sorry!" Sadness P cried. "The controls aren't working! They're-"

The level of sorrow was too much to keep the fusion stable, and they split back into Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.

"Okay, so that won't work," Disgust S noted.

"At least Garnet's still together," said Sadness S.

"But the sadness controls still aren't working," Sadness R said.

"Great!" said Anger S. "So all of us are too depressed to fight back!"

"No, look- Connie!" Joy R said, watching on screen as the girl rode past astride Lion, prepared to attack. "She's unaffected!"

"Well, of course she's unaffected," Joy S said with a laugh. "She's human! Fully human, not just half like Steven!"

"Yeah, but she's human," Fear R said. "And she's going up against a Diamond?"

"Don't worry, Pearl taught her excellently," Joy R said. "I'm sure she'll- oh."

"Oh no!" Sadness R said. "She shattered Rose's sword!"

"Or Pink's sword, I suppose," Disgust R said. "Which is kind of ironic, considering."

"I knew that was a bad idea!" Fear R cried. "And now the only one of them that's immune to Blue's powers is unarmed! And they'll all get poofed or worse!"

"Wait!" Fear S said. "Here! On the future vision! Lapis is back! And she's bringing the barn!"

"Doesn't look like she's able to get the drop on Blue Diamond, though," Sadness S said.

"Then we'll just have to distract her!" Anger S said.

"And this'll be the perfect excuse for us to vent at her for ruining our big day!" Anger R added.

"And with her help," Joy S said, "we might be able to turn the tide!"

And for a while, they had. With the eight of them (nine if you counted Lion) volleying a constant stream of attacks from all sides, Blue was overwhelmed and unable to counter. Then, the Cluster managed to win its tussle with Yellow, destroying both her and Blue's ships in the process before retreating back to the center of the Earth. However, this left Yellow free to join her companion on the ground, and the course of the battle quickly became unfavorable for the Crystal gems.

"I… I don't know if I can handle this," Fear S said. "Fighting not one, but two Diamonds? It's… it's too much."

"The beach house is destroyed, Peridot and Lapis are poofed, and Steven's unconscious," Sadness S lamented.

"We don't have a chance," Sadness R said in despair. "Garnet's going to lose this fight."

"Garnet's not going to lose!" Anger R shouted. "She can't!" Her eyes started watering. "She… she just can't!"

"Keep it together, everyone!" Anger S said. "We have to hold together! We have to stay strong for everyone else!"

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the control room. It didn't come from the viewscreen, but seemed to be from the room itself, even though no one else was there.

"You can do it, Garnet! Remember, you're made of love!"

"What? Steven?" said Fear R. "How did he-?"

"Oh, look. Another new power," Disgust S remarked. "Yeah, Steven being the son of a diamond makes a lot more sense in hindsight."

"Yeah," said Joy S with a chuckle. "Always full of surprises, isn't he?"

"Everybody, stay focused!" Joy R shouted. "We may not be able to win this fight, but maybe we can buy enough time for Steven to do something amazing!"