Chapter 8: Time for a Talk

It was a long time before Ruby stopped running. She didn't know where she was going, and even if she did her vision was too blurred from her tears to have any sense of direction. So with only a journey and no destination she continued her full on sprint. As she ran Agate's words grew to a level similar to torture as they endlessly repeated in her mind.

"Do you even realize the damage you've done to your own kind! So many gems died! Even more were corrupted!"

Her mind was brought back to memories of her fallen friends. Each and every one of their gleaming smiles being replaced with the horrified looks of death about to overtake them. Their once joyous laughs with one another now echoed shrieks of agony that only seemed to end when she imagined their gem shards hitting the floor. Or their forms being mutated while who they once were was trapped deep in corruption.

Finally the weight of it all caused Ruby to collapse onto her hands and knees. The soft green grass turned a charred black under her fingers. But as she cried she suddenly became angry. Rage bubbled inside her and she roared out to the sky above. Slamming her fist at the ground and causing small fires to burn around her palms that dissipated before they could spread too far.

"It's not my fault!" She screamed to no one.

"I was just doing what I was assigned to do! Protect Sapphire! How was I supposed to know all of this would happen?"

With her speed Sapphire could have easily caught Ruby at any time. But she of all gems knew that it would be better if Ruby just burnt herself out. So even when Ruby finally stopped running Sapphire took her time approach her. Going even slower as Ruby's last bits of anger burned away the field. When she finally devolved into burring her head into the ground and sobbing, Sapphire walked over to Ruby and sat down next to her. Gently placing her hand on top of Ruby's as she spoke in a calm and soothing voice.

"Are you okay?"

Ruby sat up and stared at the ground. Barely acknowledging Sapphire as more tears replaced the ones that the remains of the grass had wiped away.

"Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if I just let your prediction happen." Ruby admitted.

"...We would never be together." Sapphire replied in a neutral tone.

Ruby groaned and grabbed at her face. Looking away briefly, Ruby sighed before grabbing Sapphire's hands and looking her in the eye.

"I know that Sapphy, and I do love you!"

Ruby looked down at the ground again.

"But sometimes I can't help but think that...were we really worth the lives of thousands of gems? So many of them being our friends?"

For once this wasn't a question that Sapphire could answer. Not even able to muster a response that danced around the subject, she remained silent. That only seemed to make Ruby feel worse as she continued.

"And to think that it's my fault that so many of friends are corrupted, or shattered, or in a forced fusion! Jade...Sunstone...They just wanted to be happy and now they have to suffer! Nobody, not even those Homeworld Gems deserve that! Why do I have such a happy life with the gem I love when it's my fault that others never got the same!"

Sapphire simply sat there as Ruby let go of her hand to grab her head. Watching as tall and intense flames surrounded Ruby. Outwardly showing the frustration she knew Ruby was experiencing her mind.

"Our fault." Sapphire corrected.

Ruby looked up as she felt a cold hand touch hers. One that calmed the flames around her and brought the two to an equilibrium of warmth and sorrow.

"I could have easily dodged Pearl's attack, but I didn't because my future vision said it should happen. This is as much of my fault as it is yours."

Ruby immediately tried to open her mouth and refute Sapphire's statement. But before any words could leave her Sapphire continued.

"Besides, Jade and Sunstone appear to not be too upset about their situation. So neither should we."

"Huh?" Ruby exclaimed as she looked confused at Sapphire.

"I recognized Jade and Sunstone's voices. They kept trying to stop Agate as she was yelling us. If they were truly upset about their situation then don't you think they'd be yelling along with her. Or at least not trying to hold Agate back?"

Ruby looked down again. "I guess."

In an attempt to cheer Ruby up Sapphire gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

"What happened is in the past and we can no longer change that. But at the very least we now have two of our friends back. And in a way, they do get to have the happy lives that they fought for."

Ruby still didn't look convinced.

"When you're ready, we should talk to them. And if they're okay with being a forced fusion...then we should be to. What matters now is that they're happy."

Ruby looked away, then smiled, then chuckled a bit as the two leaned on each other.

"You're right. You're always right."

It was completely silent in the void inside their gem. Having gotten over the initial shock of what happened, and taking a moment to collect themselves, none of them had anything to immediately say to one another.

Naturally, Jade and Sunstone stood together while Agate was several feet away with her back to them. Unable to fold her arms, Sunstone resorted to wrap the limp she did have around herself. Jade, in a similar dilemma, instead put a hand on her hip. Their stance similar to two parents about to scold their child.

"Agate listen."

"No, you listen!" Agate barked, singling Jade out as she finally turned to them.

"I will never apologize to that abomination! I will never disgrace gem kind with this fusion again! And I will never forgive Rose Quartz for causing all of this!"

Unexpectedly Jade looked at Agate not with anger, but as a concerned friend would.

"Is...that what this is about?"

Agate nodded fiercely before turning away and looking at her twitching hand. "If she had just let the colonization of this dirtball happen then we would have never gotten stuck like this."

The next part she said quietly while lowering her head in respect.

"And Pink Diamond would still be here."

Agate raised her head back up and her voice returned to it's loud volume.

"That's why I will always despise you two traitors. And why I will never forgive anyone!" She screamed, with her voice echoing through the void.

Agate glared at the two, daring them to try and come up with a counter. Shocked by the outburst, Jade and Sunstone just blinked at her. But just as she started to turn away from them again...

"I did though."

Slowly Agate turned to Sunstone. "What?"

"Pink Diamond was My Diamond...But I was willing to put that behind me." Sunstone explained, fear slowly growing in her voice.

Sunstone started to regret opening her mouth as Agate approached her. She tried to back up, but the more she did the more Agate seemed to get closer to scream in her face.

"That's the worst of it! How could you forgive and fight along side the one who shattered your diamond!"

"Well I-"

"I may hate Jade but you're the worst of the two!"

"Agate I..."

"You can't even pay respect for the gem that was your only reason for existing by fighting to avenge her! Instead you wanna be some rebel, who thinks she can be above the one's who allowed you to exist! You are-"

"SHUT! UP!"

Agate's eye widened before her glare returned and she turned to Jade, ready to unleash a long awaited rant directed at her. But before that could happen Jade had already started screaming back at her.

"Shut up Agate! She rebelled because of me!"

Agate paused, giving Sunstone the chance to maneuver around her to get to Jade.

"Jade no! You don't have to-"

"You sided with Rose Quartz because I did and you know it Sunstone!" Jade yelled, pointing to Sunstone with an accusing finger.

"Jade..." Was the only reply Sunstone could think of before her friend continued.

Jade went around in circles as she grabbed the light that represented her hair.

"I was so excited about all of us being free to be whoever we wanted that I didn't think about what would happened until it was too late. It's my fault that so many of our friends died, including you!"

Jade turned to Sunstone. A look of sadness and self-hatred in her eyes that Sunstone had seen before, but never to this magnitude.

"If it wasn't for me this would have never happened to you. I'm...I'm sorry..."

Sunstone stared for a long moment before surprising Jade by pulling her into a tight hug.

"But if it never happened then I wouldn't be here with you now."

Sunstone pulled away from Jade, who had yet to leave her shocked state.

"It takes the three of us to make our gem. If one of us were gone then we'd just end up like all the other gem experiments. So... I'm happy to be here. Especially with you Jade."

Sunstone offered Jade a smile that didn't change her friend's mood in the slightest.

"And Jade, you didn't force me or anything to rebel against Homeworld."

Those words made Jade glare hard at Sunstone. "Then why did you join the Crystal Gems?"

Her smile fell, and Sunstone turned away from Jade before sighing heavily.

"During the Gem War and after Pink Diamond was shattered I was reassigned to Yellow Diamond. But the thing is that you can't just reassign a gem and expect everything to go right. I was made for Pink diamond and when she was gone I...I felt that I no longer had a purpose. A reason to exist! And what made it worse was that all of you were gone too! Pearls, Peri, Moonstone, Scheelite, Erinite, Tourmaline, even you were gone Jade! I was starting to believe that you were never coming back after your ship was destroyed and the moment you do you leave again?! For some dirtball floating out in the middle of space?! I just...I just...I just felt so alone."

A new form of guilt fell over Jade. "Sunny..."

Sunstone continued. "And then came that day. Oh that day! The rebels proved to be harder to taken down the Homeworld thought so anyone who could summon a weapon had to get out there. Which lead to the day when I too had to fight in the war. You remember it too right Jade?"

Jade looked down and nodded. She let out a small chuckle as the old memory was brought back to her.

"I had known we were on opposite teams for awhile now. I respected your choice, but I still dreaded the day if and when I saw you out there. Then in that battle I got distracted and a Jasper almost had me. The next thing I knew that Jasper was shattered and you were standing over me. You looked just as shocked as I did. Then a Homeworld Gem shouted over to you "What do you think you're doing". And I cried tears of pure joy when I heard your response."

"I'm a Crystal Gem."

Jade looked to her friend and nodded with a small smile. Sunstone reflected that smile, giving it more of a loving feel, as she put a hand on Jade's shoulder.

"Do you know why I did that Jade?"

"Not anymore I do."

"I did it because in that moment, I knew what my new purpose was. If I couldn't fight to protect My Diamond then I'd fight protect everyone that I still cared about. Yellow Diamond wasn't MY diamond. But my friends were still my friends and I was not about to lose them too."

Jade nodded in understanding before giving Sunstone a puzzled looked when she backed away and started laughing.

"And you know what? I don't even like Rose Quartz!"

"What?" Both Agate and Jade said as they stared at Sunstone with looks of disbelief.

"I hate her!" Sunstone repeated in an almost disturbingly upbeat tone.

"One of the reasons I started running off was because I was avoiding her! Our friends coming to me with their problems came after the fact. Sure, she was a great leader, but there were so many things about Rose's ways that I didn't and still don't agree with. But I never said anything because I saw how happy she made you Jade. When you came back with the rescue squad you were the happiest I had ever seen you. Even our friends seemed like completely different Gems when I saw them again on Earth. So I said 'what the heck', maybe this world is worth something. You guys were happy, so who was I to say otherwise?"

Sunstone looked sternly at her friend as she once again put her hand on Jade's shoulder.

"That's why I joined the rebellion Jade. I'm sorry for ever letting you feel that way. Just know that joining the rebellion was my choice. You didn't force me, you just opened my eyes. This is the path I had chosen and I have yet to look back."

Jade nodded again before sharing another tight hug with Sunstone. When they broke away Sunstone turned to Agate.

"And I'm sorry for lying to you Agate."

Agate, who had actually been paying full attention to this conversation, could only say "Huh?" as she didn't expect to be included.

"My positivity isn't just to balance out how negative you've been this entire time. I've been so positive because...this is honestly the best situation we could be in given the circumstances."

Agate gave Sunstone a funny look, and Sunstone shrugged."I mean...we're all still sane. We're not just mindlessly roaming around trying to find the missing pieces of ourselves. Or attaching others in an attempt to forcibly get those pieces. We don't need to do that because we complete each other. My legs, you guys have it. Agate's arm, we have it. Despite being shattered we come together and create a full gem."

Sunstone placed her hand on her stomach. Looking visibly pained as she refused to look at what her hand told her were her gem shards. But through her distress a small smile found its way onto her face.

"And sure, given the option I'd give almost anything to have my full gem back. But I'm still grateful that I'm still me. And that I have this second chance to...to live again. Right?"

Jade nodded. "I agree."

"I give up."

The two turned to Agate, who sighed as she rubbed her face before looking back at them.

"I have to admit, I wouldn't know what to do ether if it were My Diamond that had been shattered. But you Sunstone...you still knew where your loyalty lied and, to some degree I...I respect that."

Sunstone nodded while Jade looked jokingly taken aback.

"Agate respecting one of us? And here I thought that I'd sooner see Yellow Diamond fusing with her Pearl."

Agate smirked and shook her head. "You let your mouth run far more then you should Jade...You're a very confident Gem."

"Same can be said about you Agate. I haven't had this much fun going back and forth with someone since I used to deliberately try and make Pearl mad."

Laughter was shared among them. As it calmed down Agate could only bring herself to shake her head again.

"It's funny. Despite how much I wanna say otherwise, the three of us aren't so different."

"I guess that's why our shards fit so well together."

Jade went over to Sunstone and the two put their hands together. Once more leaving a space in between for a third hand. Smiling, they turned to Agate and gestured for her to fill the space.

"So what do you say Agate? Can we disgrace Gem kind with our fusion again?"

Agate smirked at the two before rolling her eyes and lifting up her hand.

"Whatever."

Laying on his belly, Steven swung his legs in the air as he waited on the couch. In front of his was Sunagade's gem, having been carefully positioned upright on a pillow. Near him Pearl and Amethyst had gone from arguing about the destroyed counter, to make their best attempts at putting it back together. Steven paid no attention to that though as he continued to stare at the cluster gemstone. Fantasizing every scenario he could think of in his head, most being bad, and wondering just what was going on in there.

He was about to get his answer as the gem suddenly twitched and rose up over his head. A light burst from it, and at first Steven looked worried at the monstrous pear shaped form it started to take on. The form then grabbed at its head and it let out several different grunts of concentration. It's form then started to forcibly shape itself to look like a normal gem. Hair and clothing sprouted from the light before it faded and Sunagade fell to the ground. They sat up and, with their eyes shut tight, Agate rubbed the side of their head which had broken most of the fall.

"Okay, so we got formation down. Just gotta work on sticking the landing." Jade noted.

"Sunagade! You're back!"

Looking over their body Steven took notice of the immediate small differences in their form. Their highlights seemed to slightly blend together more with the mostly tangerine hair. And the long jumble of colored hair on the back of their head was now tied in a braid that rested on their shoulder. Topping it off was the yellow fabric that had made an X around their chest, was now instead a sash. With a split near the shoulder that left half of it to replace the loose sleeve on their right arm.

"Hey Steven." Sunstone greeted with a small wave.

When the pain finally went away they stood up. An action that looked more fluid and instinctive rather than stiff and calculated.

"So...did you guys talk it-" Steven stopped when Agate put up her hand.

They opened their eyes and Steven singled out Agate, as her eye was the one that had a different feel to it. What was once a hateful stare that looked ready to burn a hole into him. Was now a relaxed indifference that no longer conducted a sense of hostility.

"Where is she?"