Ruby stared out the window beside Pearl. Pearl'd asked her to watch out with her, but what was going to be outside anyway? Sure as heck it wouldn't be Quartzes. Well, besides Rose.

She sat down and turned away from the window. "Why do you even want me?" Ruby asked for the umpteenth time. "This is taking forever too." She stamped her foot against the floor and noticed the scorch marks up and down it.

Pearl stared down at her. "I'm a Pearl, what do you expect me to do?"

Ruby suspiciously glared at her. She certainly seemed to be doing quite a bit. Doing special investigations for Rose, figuring out how to summon her weapon in seconds… She had a mind. She just wasn't letting it on.

"Put that out!" Pearl said and Ruby felt her hair getting pushed down like it was getting hit. Oh. She was on fire, wasn't she?

In the kindergarten, this wasn't a problem. She had to make a conscious effort to put out her flame. Wait. She'd just put her hand in flame. "See? As a Pearl who can put her hand in fire, I think you're fine to look after yourself!" she growled and pushed away from the wall. She turned back to notice the scorch-marks on the wall, parts of it peeled back enough to show blackened wood frame.

Pearl held her hands out like she was going to lay down a point. There she was again, trying to hide that she wanted to be superior. It got annoying after a bit. Rose made it clear she wasn't going to shatter anyone for not doing their job right. Sapphire told her how she'd spared her, and this was before she wanted everyone to call her Rose.

"Look. I don't really think that I need help. I just think you're spending too much time with them."

Ruby started. "Why's that a problem?"

Pearl pursed her lips and looked down at Ruby. "Well, it's, um…" She made motions with her hand, which included a less than graceful display of them getting smashed together.

Fusion? Ruby almost wanted to laugh. "Oh, how do I tell you?"

"You've already fused with them?"

Ruby shrugged. "Well, Amethyst and I have." She also really wanted to fuse with Sapphire, but wasn't going to let that on. "I tell you, Pyrope's quite the personality. She's really fun." She sighed dramatically and just wanted to see the disgusted look on Pearl's face.

It certainly came up, but only for a second. "You're lying."

"What?" Well, she was, but how did Pearl know?

"Well, you aren't burning a hole through the wall. So there's no feeling in that," she pointed out, patting Ruby's head patronizingly. She felt her back stiffen.

"So? Pyrope's real, I tell you!" She stood up taller and stared at Pearl. She looked smug for a second until orange light reflected off her face. Then it turned into recognition.

"So you're not lying… but there's no feeling when talking about Pyrope. That must mean…" Her face downturned so fast, Ruby was surprised Pearl didn't sink into the ground. "You're disgusting!" she shouted, her face blue.

Rose wiggled her eyebrows. God, this was funny. "Yep. Amethyst and I fused soon often." She said. She looked up at Pearl. Now for something to really make her squirm. "I know who you'd like to fuse with…" She grinned even more than she was already. Her red skin was feeling warm. "Rose Quartz."

Pearl started, standing back. If it was possible, she blushed harder. "I would never!"

Ruby wiggled her brows over-dramatically. "Come on. You've been her Pearl for who knows how long…" She sniffed loudly, taking in the smell of smoke. She didn't really care, but sat up so she didn't set the manor on fire. "I smell romance."

"I smell smoke. Put that fire out before I throw water on you." She turned to Ruby and grinned. "Or throw Sapphire on you." She stopped dramatically and put a hand to her mouth. "No, you'd like that," she sneered. She then stared out the window like nothing happened.

Ruby spattered at the barbed comment. She'd caught on fast, Pearl had. She grinned and punched Pearl's leg playfully. "You done good!" she said.

Pearl rubbed her leg nervously, like she was checking for burns. "I was just joking," she muttered.

"It doesn't matter. I knew you had it in you." She didn't really. She was actually quite surprised.

"Had… what? Humour?"

"Aw, don't go sounding like Peridot," she said. "And yeah. You've got humour."

There was a silence. "Well, thank you."

Ruby didn't hear any more crackling from her. "You're welcome." After a moment, she stood up next to Pearl. The night was nice, she had to say. It was a calm time of day, and was the time where Ruby and Amethyst would do all their raids.

"You're the first ones that caught us, you know," she found herself saying as she crossed her arms on the window pane.

Pearl looked down at her. "Really?"

"Yeah. Sapphire caught us taking some stuff." She stopped, realizing that she was pretty much admitting to stealing from them. "And then…" She shrugged. "I don't know what happened…" She really didn't.

"You took Sapphire," Pearl said dryly.

Ruby tilted her head and raised her brows. "Yeah. Like I said, didn't know what was thinking."

"You said you didn't know what you were doing…" Pearl nudged Ruby, and she nearly stumbled off the pane.

She grinned. "Well, you know what I mean!"

They looked out the window, Ruby watching the golden grass. She remembered hearing it called wheat. It seemed to have no use, though. Not to mention that it looked more grassy than… Wheat-y.

"So," Pearl began. Ruby met her gaze. "Why do you steal stuff?"

Ruby shrugged. It was just a sort of given between her and Amethyst. Suppose the both of them just wanted… "Comfort," Ruby said at last. "We feel stronger surrounded by our own things." Maybe that was why Gems took over planet. They feel stronger knowing that they have things that they took for themselves.

She kept that sentiment to herself.

"What's…" Pearl glanced out, then back at Ruby. "They must be back!"

"The hover should be coming in on the opposite side of the house."

Pearl shook her head. "But they'll be coming through the door on this side." She pointed down. "There they are, see?"

Ruby nodded. "I see that. Sure." She looked down at where… four… silhouettes were walking. "Who are the others, though?"

"What do you — Oh." Pearl glanced at Ruby. "They look… Quartizine."

Quartizine? Was that what they used to call quartz-looking Gems? Quartz like, Quartizine, Ruby could see the resemblance. But what was Rose doing with a bunch of Quartzes. She stared more closely. Blue Diamond's insignia was branded on their chests.

"Oh, God. No," she whispered frantically. She hopped down off the sill. "There's got to be something wrong." They'd found out that Rose was rebelling. If they didn't, they'd find out soon. What would happen when the house was half-torn apart? Not to mention all the burn marks that Ruby was causing! Would they figure out that a Ruby — a Gem that should have been shattered five-thousand years ago — was running free in the house?

"Calm down." Pearl grabbed Ruby's shoulder.

"Calm down?" A familiar blast of heat met Ruby's feet and hands. "I've got to tell Amethyst! Do you know what Blue Diamond and her troops do to defective Gems?"

At this, Pearl stiffened. "What? I know Blue is intolerant, but…" She paused. "God?"

Ruby inhaled quickly. "A human word. It's their Stars. But that's not the point!" She raised her hands. "Blue Diamond's troops immediately shatter any Gem that doesn't work right!" She shrunk in her shoulders. "Immediately!"

Pearl now looked terrified.

"You should act like a normal Pearl," Ruby said to her, careful not to touch her. "I've got to warn Amethyst."

The door opened with a creak.

"This place is a wreck," she heard a rough voice say. "Has anything been wrong?"

Ruby started to run down the halls, careful not to let anything but her feet touch the manor.

"No, don't worry. We found it like this," she heard Rose hurriedly say.

Ruby turned a corner. Where would Amethyst and Sapphire be?

Another voice this time. "We could tell Heliotrope to send some Peridots to fix this up."

Amethyst would be… with Sapphire? No, of course not.

"I said, don't worry," Rose said, harsher this after.

She'd probably be in the training room. She ran down the flight of stairs that went from the third to second floor. She met the pretty much destroyed dining room. Amethyst was in it for sure, swinging her whip at any dummy and tearing the head off of it.

She looked absolutely angry.

"Amethyst!" Ruby whispered hurriedly.

Amethyst turned around. "Have you come to say sorry?" she whisper-yelled back. "And who's with Rose?"

Ruby ran to Amethyst. "Quartzes! From Blue Diamond," she said, waving her hand to beckon Amethyst. "Hide! I've got to tell Sapphire!"

There was a second as Amethyst made her whip disappear in a flash of light. "Why? She's not defective," she said bitterly.

Ruby raised her hands, another burst of flame erupting from her head. By Blue Diamond's standards, anything that was out of order was defective. "You wouldn't understand."

Amethyst pulled her whip out and strung it around the table with a target on its underside. She pulled and the table fell down with a crash.

"Amethyst!" she whisper-shouted.

"What was that?" the first Quartz's voice said.

"It's nothing," Rose said.

"It's our job to check," the first Quartz said.

"Hide!" Ruby said before running down the hall. She stopped before the stairway and turned. Sapphire must be in one of these rooms. Sure enough, familiar frost was creeping up a door on the left side. Ruby sighed and went in. She immediately melted water as she stepped in.

"Sapphire!" Ruby said. She seemed to be deep in thought. "Sapphire, we've got to hide!"

"Why?" she asked cooly, but didn't seem to move.

Ruby tightened her mouth, restraining herself. "Blue Diamond sent Quartzes. They'll shatter all of us!"

"That's an unlikely outcome," she said. She stood up, levitating. "But as always, we need to make any outcome so." Frost receded from the walls. "Where do we hide?"

Ruby took a second. Somewhere they were together, so they would balance each-others temperatures. And not in this room, because they would just be freezing and re-heating water. In other words, sending water flowing down the halls.

"Somewhere on the third floor." She grabbed Sapphire's hand. "Let's go!"

What Ruby didn't expect was to be the one pulled by Sapphire. She was running at full speed much faster than Ruby could ever hope.

At the stair, she caught a glimpse of an orange Quartz and a black-and-red one in the training room. No.

She was swept off her feet as Sapphire silently pulled her up the stairs. They quickly found a door and shut it behind them.

It was completely dark. As soon as Sapphire let go of Ruby she held her hand out to grasp it.

There were creaks up and down the stairs. "Are you sure that you aren't swinging torches around the place, my Diamond?"

"I'm absolutely sure. Our Peridot's limb enhancers went awry. That's all."

"Then the estate would be burned down," the one with the rough voice said. "Or at least have holes blasted through it."

There was silence as Ruby saw a small orange candle-light erupt from her fingertips.

"That's… what the holes in the walls are," she heard Rose say shakily.

"But the scorches are in different places!" the smoother-voiced one said. "Not that I mean any disrespect, my Diamond."

There was quiet.

The rough-voiced one spoke up loudly, sending a chill through Ruby's spine. "I think I mean it. You're obviously hiding something from your fellow Diamonds. I think we need to investigate. What do you think?"

"She's our superior—"

"No-one but Blue Diamond and Heliotrope 15R2 are our superiors. It doesn't matter if she's a Diamond—"

"Actually, I believe it does."

"Not if we have orders from Blue Diamond saying exactly who our superiors are. We might have rebelled on Homeworld, but Blue Diamond put us in our place. And so, if you don't mind, I'll go on and have a look at that massive puddle running into the room."

There were stomps. She felt Sapphire's grip start to freeze on Ruby's hand.

"No, we've got to stay calm. Otherwise…"

It was too late. She felt her feet flare, sending a small flash of light throughout the entire room. It went away quickly as soon as Ruby noticed it. But it did it's damage, and revealed some of Sapphire's. Frost went up the wall, and now that Ruby sent a flame out, was melting down onto the floor.

"No!" she managed a gasp. "Sapphire!"

"Ruby," Sapphire said.

She curled her lip. Her hair started to cast an orange glow around the room. "How could you? We weren't supposed to use our temperature powers!"

"You never mentioned anything about Pyro and Cryokinesis," she said calmly. "Now please. Calm down. Your erratic behaviour is blocking my future-vision."

Her future vision? That was all she cared about? She threw her hands in the air. "So that's what's on your mind? Not imminent death, not the fact that Quartzes are searching for us!" She seemed to be overtaken by anger. If she could see the floor, she thought she'd see scorch-prints all over it. "But no, all that you care about is your future vision!"

"Ruby, please calm down. My future vision will get us out of this situation. Or at least tell us how likely shattering is right now. With your shouting, I can guess that it's rather likely."

"You!" she stopped. Sapphire had a point. "Fine," she muttered, sitting down and tapping her toes lightly. She just had to calm down. That's what Sapphire needed to pull them through this? Then alright. She was calm when there was no fire. So all she needed to do was… She willed her feet to lose their flare. She did this for her fingers, and then finally for her hair-tips. The small, ember-esque glow disappeared one hair by one.

"Happy now?" Ruby asked. "What do you see?"

She heard nothing from Sapphire. So now she was ignoring her. Great. She crossed her arms, but tried extra hard not to get angry.

They sat in silence, Ruby scratching her arms to let out the stress. She could hear the Quartzes coming closer. Doors slammed open and closed. Ruby held her breath as the door from the other end of the hall opened.

"As your superior, I command you to stop!" Rose shouted, close enough her smooth voice was clear.

The rough-voiced one stood up. "We already said. You aren't our superior. Now why would you be hiding Gems?"

"I'm not, though," Rose said. Her voice seemed raw.

"The obvious training room. The mannequins torn apart. The fact that nobody besides you and that human are up and about. There's something wrong, and I have to report you to Blue Diamond if that's the case."

There was silence from Rose until Ruby heard a deep sigh. "Fine. If I'm lying, open that door."

A jolt of fear shot through Ruby. She stood up as her hands caught flame. "No," she whispered.

"Who was that?"

"Nobody. Just my Sapphire."

"With fire?"

"Yes… yes," she said, more firmly the second time.

"Fine." The door opened to reveal two Quartzes. One was orange with red stripes on her face. She had a gem where her right eye should be. The other was a black one with red and green patches on her face and chest.

"What is that?" the orange one said, sounding offended.

"My Sapphire, like I said," Rose managed cooly.

"No." The orange gem looked absolutely offended. She gave a withering glare behind her. "The red one."

When Rose didn't respond, Ruby saw a blue screen pop out from the black Gem's outfit. "It's a… Ruby…" There was silence as the Gem's multicoloured eyes traced the screen. "Apparently, they were all shattered when we came along."

Ruby stuttered for a second. "Apparently we weren't," she said.

"And a feisty one too." The orange Gem pulled something out from her pocket. It looked like a two-pronged fork glowing yellow. "What's the story with the Sapphire? She isn't talking."

"What's wrong with a Sapphire that isn't talking."

The black Gem turned to Rose. "Sapphires are always, and I mean always, spouting off their predictions. Are all your Gems defective?"

Ruby took a protective step back, her hand already summoning her gauntlet.

"Apparently so," the orange Gem said. "I'll get the Sapphire, Heliotrope. I'll get the Ruby."

Ruby's breath hitched, her hair flickering.

"She's cute, when you think about it," the orange Gem said.

Ruby's shoulders tensed, her hair bursting into a small fire.

"Little flames coming up and down her hair…" She gave a taunting sneer. "They're quite funny to look at."

At that, Ruby growled. She wasn't some rabbit to look at! She ran at the Gem, fist raised. Just as the electrified fork came running at her, she punched it out of the way and used her bare fist to hit the Gem in the stomach. She didn't even shirk. She just picked Ruby up by her underarm. Ruby squeaked in pain.

"Break my destabilizer, will you?" she asked, with a false sweetness. "I'll show you."

Ruby looked behind her in fear. The other Gem, Heliotrope, was stalking towards Sapphire like she'd try out some of Ruby's tactics. She wasn't. Oh how she hoped she would! She wasn't.

Ruby had to help her! She grunted, using her feet to push off the orange Gem. She looked dumbfounded for a second until Ruby hit the ground.

The Heliotrope smiled and prepared to strike Sapphire with her "destabilizer."

"No!" Ruby shouted as she ran for Sapphire. She pushed her out of the way and prepared to stand in the way of the weapon. Sapphire's skirt tumbled out from beneath Ruby's feet, though, and the both of them stumbled together. Just as the destabilizer swung next to Ruby's head, she felt Ruby and Sapphire's gems collide. Instead of feeling a crack as they hit the ground, she felt something far different.

She felt like she was losing herself for a second. A flash of white blasted into her eyes. This was… familiar. In the moment, she couldn't place it. She couldn't feel anything anymore. Who was she? She forgot just for a moment, before her mind started coming back to her. She was strong. She was calm. She was… herself. When the white fell away from her vision, she felt different. Almost sick. All her fury and fear from seconds ago melted away.

And when she opened her eyes to see three shocked Gems and one destabilizer clatter to the floor, she had three eyes.