A/N: Woo! Who else is excited for Steven Bomb 4?

Speaking of, with this chapter, if what I am certain is going to happen re: Ruby and Sapphire meeting happens, we are officially Canon Divergent! Also, most likely going to have another divergence point with Steven's birthday in earlier chapters.

Sorry that this one took so long. We had a computer tragedy occur so I'm using my husband's computer to write. This one was finished during a stream today. Clouds should have its next chapter up soonish!

Thank you again for all of the reviews, favorites, and messages! It's really been cheering me up to see that people like this story! And now that it's Canon Divergent, I feel like I have even more freedom for the next couple of chapters! Woot!

Feel free to review! And if you are interested in seeing streams of either story (or the drabbles that I'll post later), then hop over to my tumblr, auratusuniverse, where I'll link up the streams whenever I do them!

-FourFaces

"Alright, I think I'm ready. You can pop the bubble."

Pearl smiled sadly at the gem hybrid who sat on the couch. She popped open one of the two bubbles that Garnet had given her before retreating into the Burning Room (and making sure that no one could follow her), releasing the shards of the Chrysoprase into her palm.

Connie sat next to Steven, gently rubbing circles into his back. They woke up that morning still fused with Pearl staring at them quizzically. Connie had forgotten that Pearl liked to watch Steven sleep and Steven had hoped she had grown out of it. The two unfused quickly, embarrassed that Pearl had seen them in such a state. They had expected a long talk from Pearl, but instead were left alone in Steven's bed as Pearl smiled and went down the stairs to retrieve the bubbled gems that Garnet had brought to the living room.

They had gotten dressed before Amethyst or Peridot had come out of their room and luckily had missed Garnet escaping into the Burning Room. Pearl had wanted to go in after her at first, but the door was rendered inaccessible as soon as Garnet disappeared into it.

Steven took a deep breath and then licked his palm. Pearl gently placed the gem shards in Steven's hand and they waited.

It felt like an eternity before anything happened. Steven was about to give up and return the shards when they glowed slightly. He stared in amazement as they stitched themselves together, healing and reforming into the smooth Chrysoprase gem.

Then, nothing.

"She ... she could just be taking her time to reform," Pearl started. "Let's try the other one."

Steven nodded and gently placed the now intact gem on the table before turning his attention to the gem that Pearl had released.

Lapis.

He repeated what he had done for the Chrysoprase and waited, watching her gem shards reform. Much like the other gem, after the glow subsided, she too was inert.

Peridot watched from the other side of the room, not wanting to intrude as Steven stared at Lapis' gem. She could see tears forming in his eyes and felt her heart break. She had known that this would happen. No one had ever been able to recover a gem that was this badly damaged.

A part of her felt guilty for Lapis' shattering. She had been the one who threw the bomb at Jasper and Lapis protected her from the explosion. Even before they truly defected to the Crystal Gems, Lapis and Peridot had gotten along better than most gems that Peridot had known. Even though she had been her informant and her prisoner, Peridot never wanted to see Lapis get hurt. She had just wanted to do her job, all those years ago.

She thought back, wondering how she had been so lucky to be spared by the Crystal Gems. She could have been bubbled for eternity or harvested. She could have been destroyed by the cluster.

It was all Steven, of course. He was the one that truly brought them all together. He was the one one tried to hard to get the gems to accept Peridot and Lapis. He had saved her from corruption and had been responsible for so much growth that she never would have had on Homeworld.

She watched as Connie gently held Steven close as he sobbed into her shoulder. When they had come into the room that morning and seen the two of them, Amethyst had joked about their "sleepover" and how she was glad that they were "obviously finally doing it" ... whatever "it" was. Peridot couldn't think of anything closer than the fusion that the two had already been doing constantly (which was a closeness she was almost addicted to). Steven had blushed furiously and Connie had playfully pushed Amethyst off of her telling her "Oh my gosh, Amethyst! Nothing happened!", careful to not mention fusion, lest Amethyst continue he teasing even more. Now though, the joking demeanor of Amethyst was gone and the small quartz was somber and walking over to comfort Steven as well.

Pearl stared at the two inert gems. She couldn't remember Lapis regenerating during the war at all, the gem being more of a messenger than a warrior during that time, but she remembered the Chrysoprase. If she felt she was in the middle of a battle, she would regenerate almost as quickly as Amethyst would.

She didn't want to admit it, but it was possible that the shattering of these gems was truly the end for them.

It did not bode well for the future battles if anything happened to any of them.

Garnet screamed and pounded her fist into the wall of the Burning Room. She was so close to splitting apart from the pain that Sapphire was feeling, but she wanted to stay together. Ruby wanted them to stay together. She couldn't let her other half feel the pain by herself.

I'm here for you. Please let me stay!

No! I won't let you! This is too painful!

Please, Sapphire -

Garnet split apart with a pop. Ruby collected herself, suddenly not feeling any of the pain Sapphire was enduring, before she ran over to the love of her life. Sapphire was curled up, howling in pain as sweat poured down her face. After Sapphire seemed to calm down, Ruby gently placed a hand on the cooler gem who recoiled and cried out again.

"It hurts!" She finally got out. "They're killing her! She didn't mean to hide it! She just wanted to keep us safe!"

Ruby froze. She had known that Sapphire was suddenly struck with a vision that had sent them both into excruciating pain, but she had not prodded into it, trying simply to keep her love from feeling the pain any more. Now though, she was hit with memories of Homeworld and of Sapphire's true purpose. She wanted to reach out to her lover, but she knew now that any touch would send her (and possibly the entire cloister on Homeworld) into even more, unbearable pain.

Ruby had come out of the hole in the Kindergarten at the perfect time and looked around that the rest of the kindergarten. Her batch of Rubies were all small gems, waiting for instruction. They would be sorted into those that would be front line cannon fodder or workers in one of the weapons factories on one of the colonies (or maybe even Homeworld!).

She could hear the wall next to her open up and looked to see something unexpected crawl out. She was light blue as opposed to the other red gems that were emerging, and wore a tight fitting, dark blue body suit. Her lighter blue hair hung low around her face and she grabbed the walls for support as she came out.

She lifted up her hair to reveal the single eye in the middle of her face. Ruby felt something that she couldn't describe as she watched the gem look around. She met eyes with Ruby. Her eye widened before she immediately slammed her eye shut and grabbed her head.

The Kindergarten was silent.

The silence was broken by the wail of an alarm as two older Rubies arrived into the Kindergarten and approached the blue gem. One of them pulled out a device and prodded it into the blue gem's side, poofing her into her gem. Ruby watched in confusion, wondering what would make them want to do this to such a new gem. Perhaps it was because she was blue while all of the others were red. Maybe it was the eye. That had to be it.

"Tell Blue Diamond we have a Sapphire for her," one large Ruby told the other one. "She will be thrilled to have another to add to her cloister."

Ruby wasn't sure what a Sapphire was, but it had to be bad if she was instantly poofed like that. She didn't need to be told anything to know that being poofed was terrible.

Soon, she was rounded up with the other new Rubies and taken to a factory, destined to work day in and day out on warships to fight their enemy. She worked hard, finding some enjoyment in the purpose she had been created for. Occasionally her thoughts would turn to the other gem, the Sapphire that had emerged the same day. She wondered where she was or if she had ever regenerated.

She worried that her superiors would discover her thoughts wandering and would throw herself into her work even more. It was a rare occasion that led to her path changing drastically. Homeworld had a victory against the enemy and many factories were closed in honor of the fallen and the victorious. The Rubies from the factory that she worked in had congregated at one of the hangers (a Larimar had let them in secretly) to enjoy the rare pastime of gem brawling. The Ruby that fought the hardest and went the longest without being poofed would get winnings that had been pooled together from the rest of the workers.

Ruby had gone through about five others before the Larimar ran in, terrified. They had been found out and needed to evacuate immediately.

She was too slow and was soon standing in front of Pink Diamond. Her gaze immediately dropped to the poofed Rubies at her feet. She could feel something from Pink Diamond but was unsure of what it was. Was it shame? Sorrow?

The towering gem nodded to another gem that stood next to her. This was one that Ruby had never met personally, but had heard of before. Pink Diamond's second in command. She was a quartz type gem (of course), but she had a certain softness to her that Ruby couldn't understand.

"That was impressive," the quartz finally said. "It's such a waste to have you spend all of your days in that factory."

That was that. Before Ruby could even protest, she had her purpose changed. She was now in the army of Rose Quartz, second in command to Pink Diamond. It was 500 years (and many poofings in battle) before she would see the Sapphire again.

The Sapphire was given to Rose Quartz as a gift after she had succeeded Pink Diamond. Ruby had heard murmurings within the ranks about this gift, that it was an insult to the new Diamond. That she had been given a defective Sapphire. Ruby was walking through the barracks when she saw the Sapphire for the first time and instinctively recognized her.

The Sapphire was wearing a dark blue dress now. She looked horribly out of place walking through, staring at the other gems through her single eye. She looked over at Ruby and gasped.

"I wondered if this would happen," she started. "This was in the realm of possibilities, but I wasn't sure if you had been shattered or not."

Ruby quirked an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"There were so many futures where we never met ... but we're meeting now."

It was a century before Ruby even began to understand Sapphire. It was another thousand years before she had fused with Sapphire out of desperation in a battle against the enemy when she truly understood what she saw ... and what she felt.

"Garnet!" a voice cried out from outside the door, snapping both gems out of their trances. They were not quick enough to react, their guard having been down enough to drop the lock on the door to the Burning Room.

Ruby met eyes with Connie first, then Steven who covered his mouth to stifle a gasp. She turned to Sapphire who was staring ahead, terrified.

"Steven ..."

"What happened?" Steven asked. "What did she see?"

Ruby sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Sapphires spend a long time in a cloister after they are created, Steven. It creates a bond that is not different from fusion. When one of their own is injured or ... destroyed ... then it can hurt the entire cloister," she began. "I think Homeworld just shattered a Sapphire."

Steven stared, first at Sapphire and then at the bubbled shards above him.

"Why?" Steven started. "Why would they do that?"

"Jasper ..." Sapphire started, trying to collect herself, " ... she had to have been talking with them about what to do with us. The Sapphire was trying to hide what she knows about you ... about Connie ..."

"What?" Connie asked.

"If they come to Earth, they will take both of you ... They'll shatter us, I'm sure of it ... They need a new weapon. They need something that can't be detected by ... AUGH!"

Sapphire curled in on herself even tighter. Her form glitched once before she poofed into her gem.

"Sapphire!" Ruby cried out, running to her gem, cradling it gently in her hands.

"Ruby ..." Steven started.

"She couldn't take it. I never have seen this happen, but she told me it was a possibility," Ruby sniffled, holding Sapphire's gem close.

Steven gently set a hand on Ruby's shoulder while he helped her inspect her gem for any physical damage. Once she was confirmed to be intact, Steven helped up the mourning gem and led her out of the Burning Room with Connie's assistance.

He wanted to ask her what Sapphire was going to say before she had been poofed. Why would they need Connie for a weapon? Or himself? Gems already had strong enough weapons to shatter each other in seconds. There had to be something else.

He didn't get to ask yet. Pearl saw Ruby and immediately helped her over to the couch, a knowing glance shared between the two gems. Amethyst ushered Peridot to their room to give them privacy, leaving the inert gems of Lapis and Chrysoprase on the coffee table. They would be taken care of later. Right now, they were down a teammate and needed to give Ruby time to recover.

She could vaguely remember what happened to her as the haze of pain washed away.

She remembered the horrified, anguished face in front of her.

She could remember hoping that this wasn't in vain.

She remembered Steven. How sad would he be when he found out she did this? Hopefully she would be found in time and repaired.

She remembered pain. Shattering pain. She was soon a mess of thoughts, memories, and emotions as she tried, desperately, to piece herself back together.

Memories warred with each other, each trying to take precedence over another.

Memories of the war and flying from Earth to Homeworld, delivering messages from the front.

Memories of a warm embrace, stolen during the night before flying off to let Homeworld know that the war was not going to end in their favor. They would lose the colony.

Hopes that somehow she could convince her to come home and they could find a way to stay together.

Her dark, green face, always smiling when they met.

The wild, unkempt hair that was so common in quartz soldiers.

The warm smile when she would fly in to receive another message.

The sadness when she finally saw her gem, bubbled in the Burning Room.

Steven releasing the gem from the bubble, not knowing who she really was.

The creature didn't even seem to remember her, or if she did, it wasn't the same.

She remembered watching her eat from Steven's hand, a shadow of her former self.

Pearl had said that there was no way to reverse the corruption that she was aware of. That they barely were able to save Peridot after they discovered one of the weapons that caused it. If they hadn't acted immediately, then she would never have returned to her normal form.

It had been too long for her and she knew it.

She felt horrible, bitter sadness.

She wasn't even sure if she had survived the battle.

Would it be worth it to regenerate? Did anyone survive?

Someone had to have survived. She hadn't been harvested and re-purposed. She was still thinking. Slowly piecing herself together.

Maybe ...

Connie sat on the bed next to Steven as he wrung his hands nervously. They watched from the bed as Ruby sat on the couch, staring at Sapphire's gem. Eventually, she would regenerate and then Garnet would be back. They didn't have much of a frame of reference for Sapphire's regeneration times. She had regenerated quickly on the Homeworld ship because of necessity, but that was the only experience Steven had with Sapphire being poofed. Ruby was almost as impatient as Amethyst when it came to regeneration, so it was very possible that her other half would take much longer, with how different she was from the other corundum gem.

Ruby stared at the blue gem, never taking her eyes off of her. She had wanted to at least share in the pain to avoid this from happening. She wasn't sure how long Sapphire would have to take to regenerate because of this. She didn't even know if she would still be in pain after regenerating. While she had never truly experienced being harvested or re-purposed, she had to imagine that it was more excruciating than even the pain she had tried to share.

The Beach House was silent for what felt like hours before Pearl finally reappeared from her room, bringing a blanket for Ruby. Even though the fiery gem wouldn't really need it, it was comforting.

"If you like, you can stay in my room until Sapphire regenerates," Pearl offered.

"No. I'll stay out here. Besides, one of us has to keep an eye out down here since we don't have anyone to see ..."

A hot tear rolled down Ruby's cheek before she wiped it away, hastily.

Steven watched her, his heart breaking with each tear that Ruby wiped away. This was probably how Connie had felt ... how they all had felt. He didn't even know, when it had first happened, if he would regenerate or not.

He felt Connie's hand on his back and turned to look at her. She smiled sadly before hugging him tightly.

"She'll be back soon," she whispered. "I know it."

Steven nodded and held her tighter. He had so much he wanted to tell her. That he was sorry he had been gone for so long. That he was sorry that she had been in so much pain.

Instead, the pair continued to sit in silence.

Steven didn't remember falling asleep, but he soon found himself in a strange dream. For a moment, he wondered if it was another dreamwalking episode as he walked through the darkness. His attention was drawn by a very faint green glow. As he ran forward, he could see someone crouched ahead of him. She was tall, thin, but broad shouldered. Her long, unkempt white hair hung down her back, shielding most of her from view. Her form shuddered.

"Hello?" Steven asked as he cautiously approached her.

"How long has it been?" She responded with a raspy voice.

"Um ... Since the battle?"

There was no response.

"I think it's been a month ..." he started. "Were you on our side?"

"... Yes ... I think so ... I can't remember ... I think this is what I looked like ..."

Steven came closer. He watched her lift one dark green arm. She stared at it for a minute before setting it down.

"I haven't looked like this in centuries ... I don't know what I'm supposed to be anymore. I was ruthless ... I think. I killed so many."

She buried her face in her hands. Steven walked around to look at her. She wore a uniform that was so dark green it was almost black. He could make out what had to be a pink diamond on her chest. She shook with sobs, her wild hair frizzing even more.

"It's alright ... we all had to -"

"No ... during the war. So many deaths ... And I couldn't help her. I'm a monster ..."

Steven gently set a hand on her shoulder, "No ... you're not a monster at all. Who were you trying to help?"

She lifted her head. Steven could see she had one eye, much like Sapphire in the center of her face. The eye stared down at her hands. Her mouth hung slightly open, to where Steven could see a faint, green glow.

"You don't understand ..." she murmured. "I was defective ... I should have been re-purposed ... I should never have fought in the first place. But I did and I killed so many ... And then I couldn't even protect her ... They had to have known that we were ... " she trailed off, finally looking Steven in the eye. Her eye widened. Her jaw dropped, revealing the source of the green glow in her mouth.

Steven gasped.