A/N: My headcanon is that Ruby and Sapphire invented fusion, based upon the conversation they had via Garnet in Keeping It Together. I also don't think they needed Rose or the rebellion to figure it out. So, with those things in mind, this is my take on the subject.

While Garnet has only been around for the last 7,000 years, Sapphire and Ruby have existed much longer. You wouldn't know it by looking at them, but they're actually the oldest of the Crystal Gems, even including Rose Quartz.

The first time Garnet appeared was… an accident, kind of.

"My theory is that—"

"…What?" Sapphire stops dead in her tracks, frowning.

Ruby is instantly burning with anxiety. She summons her boxing gloves and sinks into a powerful stance almost without realizing it. "What? What is it? Tell me!" Only after searching the entirety of the sterile, steel hallway twice does she realize. "Oh. You're seeing something, aren't you?"

Sapphire does not respond, but that's to be expected. Sometimes her visions are all-consuming, and she loses track of what's happening on the outside. Times like this are when she's most vulnerable, which is why Ruby is around. Well, at least, it was to start. While it may have started off as a surreptitious guarding assignment some 3,000 years ago, she's here of her own volition now, and there's nothing and nobody that can tear her away.

Ruby straightens and allows her gloves to fade as she waits. If danger were coming their way right now, Sapphire would have ripped them out of its trajectory with that incredible speed of hers. They have truly become a team. Sapphire's saved Ruby's life at least as much as Ruby's saved hers, at this point.

There was once a time where Ruby would have been insulted at the very idea of a psychic gem in a flouncy blue dress looking out for her, but these days she's just happy they managed to find each other. This universe is so big, and they're both pretty small—the chances of their meeting at all had been so slim, and it had happened anyway. She knows enough about probability to be grateful for that now.

Ruby scratches under her bright red headband and bounces on the balls of her feet. She glances idly around the empty hallway of Homeworld's Containment Unit 6, bored. Sapphire's lips are slightly parted, and her body language is still stiff and unfeeling, detached. She hopes this vision is a useful one. Sapphire can't help it either way, but Ruby had been mid-sentence this time and she hates being interrupted by visions about someone being bullied to death by wasps. It's just—such a waste of time!

Ruby's gotten good at sensing when her partner is back in the here and now. Sapphire has an excellent poker face, especially with those long bangs of hers, but there's no mistaking the way her body language warms and animates once the vision releases her.

In this case, Sapphire is making the distinction pretty easy. The instant she's back in the present she puts a hand on Ruby's elbow to brace herself as she sways and murmurs, "But that doesn't make any sense."

Unfortunately, with visions what you see is all you get. There are no instant replays. But Sapphire has been dealing with visions her entire 6500 years of existence (nearly a thousand more than Ruby, she'll tease in their more immature moments). Even though Ruby hasn't known her sixty-five hundred years, at this point she's heard about all the most interesting visions, and none of them have ever inspired a reaction like this. What did Sapphire see this time that was so special? It was clearly enough to throw off her equilibrium; what does that mean?

"Are you okay?" she has to ask, because she's feeling the panic creep up her throat and the guilt coil in her stomach and she should have found a way to protect her, that's her job, what the hell is she here for if she can't—

"I'm fine, I promise." Still, the gloved fingers that weave between hers, and the warm, pulsing gem that presses into her palm is a comfort. Ruby lets out a breath as all of the pressure fades. She gives those delicate fingers a small squeeze, and is rewarded with one in return.

"Tell me what you saw. We can make sense of it together," she suggests.

Sapphire shakes her head, soft blue bangs swaying. "I don't know if this is something that can be made sense of."

"I don't understand."

Sapphire looks around, and while the hallway is still deserted she nonetheless breaks into a sprint that half drags, half carries Ruby the five kilometers to her quarters, a metal box with a communication station in the center of it. Once there, she double checks that the door is locked.

To say that Ruby is bewildered would be a bit of an understatement. "What's going on? What did you see?" she demands—well, actually, it's more of a plea at this point.

Sapphire isn't really listening, though. She's shaking her head again, raking her long hair back (sans bangs, of course). "It was impossible. I've never even heard of it."

"Of what?"

When Sapphire leans back against the locked entrance and sinks down onto the cold metal floor, it's all Ruby can do to keep from letting the panic consume her. Instead she just kneels in front of her partner and grabs onto her wrists helplessly. She gives Sapphire a small shake. "You're killing me, Saph. You have to talk to me. I want to help. I have to help. Please!"

She doesn't realize there are tears in her eyes until Sapphire is gently touching her face, thumbing them away with the white fabric of her gloves. "I'm being awfully cryptic, aren't I?" she realizes.

"Yes!" Ruby cries, gripping her elbows now. "What did you see? What's going on?"

"It wasn't a bad thing," she says, and for the first time it occurs to Ruby that Sapphire hasn't out and said it already because she doesn't have the right words. "It was… oh, Ruby, it was beautiful."

"Beautiful like how? Was it a policy change? A new world to be discovered? Something else entirely? I'm trying, but I don't understand."

"I know," she says softly, still stroking her cheeks. "And I'm not doing a very good job of talking about it, either."

"Not really, no." But the little smile on Sapphire's lips can't be a bad thing. It's almost—almost dreamy. What in the cosmos could she have seen? Ruby finds herself relaxing anyway, just because Sapphire is. Whatever incredulity her partner felt before has faded into a strange kind of contentment.

"I wish I could show it to you," Sapphire confesses. "It would be so much easier."

"Is language really not enough to describe it?" Now that they're both a little more collected, Ruby stands and helps Sapphire to her feet. They stay close though, their arms automatically winding around each other. They rest against each other, comfortable in the way that only 3,000 years of working together and falling in love somewhere along the way makes you feel. Little by little, Ruby is starting to vicariously experience the wonder that Sapphire is trying to convey. She still doesn't really understand, but she trusts Sapphire more than herself. That has to count for something, right?

"There are literally no words that come close enough, but we'll find them one day," Sapphire vows. They sway and turn gently, unconsciously, and their foreheads graze together as their eyes lock.

Ruby offers a somewhat tentative smile, asking without words for a confirmation that everything is going to be okay. When Sapphire nods and smiles back, the emotional and physical security she feels is complete.

"You know," Ruby says. "I'm almost glad our conversation was interrupted by something important. If it had been another damn wasp vision…"

Sapphire laughs. "Those are the worst! At what point will it ever make sense for someone to be bullied to death by wasps?"

"When all of wasp kind rises up and tries to take over the universe in the most immature way possible?"

Just the idea is enough to get them cracking up in each other's arms, and that's when it happens. The glow is warm and friendly, and it consumes them with the invitation of such closeness that they can't resist.

The next thing she knows, Garnet is crouched in the tiny metal cubicle, staring down in awe at the gems embedded in her palms. Such graceful, slender hands. Ruby's are square and sturdy, just like the rest of her, but these hands… they clench, and she feels their power. It just doesn't look like it should be there.

Garnet is not truly an individual yet, and yet she's not exactly two people either. But she's steady, and clear headed, and—good great cosmos, she can feel the strength in her limbs already, waiting patiently for an opportunity to really let loose.

Sitting down is better than crouching, but she misjudges just how long her legs are and accidentally kicks at the communication center. It immediately crumples and dents.

"How did…" She stops when she hears her own voice. Who has an accent like that? Certainly neither of them.

It's pretty nice to hear, though. She could get used to it.

"Is this what you were trying to describe?" asks Ruby. She reaches up with the hand that's not really her hand—that's her gem in the left palm, certainly, but can it really be her?—and feels the familiar curly texture of her own hair. Except it's bigger, way bigger than she usually keeps it. Is it even proportional to her body?

Well, it has to be, right? She's huge now.

There's an interest that doesn't quite belong to Ruby as she maps out the expanse of the curly mass. It's academic, but it's also childlike—so this is what it's like! It's so bouncy and fun!

"It didn't happen like this," Sapphire says when she remembers the question. "Not even close to like this, actually."

Well, no wonder she hadn't been able to describe it. She had never heard of anything like it before, much less a word for it.

"What, no wasp jokes?" she asks anyway, just to keep things light, because this experience feels like a good one and she doesn't want to ruin anything.

"Not a single one."

There is a pause as they take in this new form—this new identity. Is this how the bigger gems feel all the time, or is this notion of full disclosure unique to them? In the 3,000 years they've known each other, from co-workers to friends to lovers, Sapphire and Ruby have told each other everything there is to know about themselves, but somehow it feels like there's even more to learn. There is no mistrust, no hiding, no fear. I would have told you anyway, if you said you wanted to know; but I never would have thought to ask.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but the bullying wasps were actually relevant for once."

"Who'd have thought?"

Garnet grins to herself, the ultimate inside joke. Certainly not me.