A/N: In Future Vision, Garnet mentions that sometimes the water of time flows over waterfalls and into lakes. This is an interesting turn of phrase, in my opinion-waterfalls have a lot of momentum behind them, don't they? And lakes tend to have more than one tributary in and out. So what does that mean about future vision itself? Hence, the reasoning behind this conversation.

"Can I ask you something?" says Ruby as Sapphire is finishing up with typing a response to one of the Diamond Authority's future related questions.

"What is it?"

Ruby shifts her weight, suddenly shy. "Well, it's about your visions. I know you don't like prying questions about them because it makes you uncomfortable, but I can't help but wonder about this and if you don't want to answer it, that's okay, I just—"

"Ruby, just ask," Sapphire says, but there is a small smile on her lips that she can't help. Seeing Ruby flustered is… endearing? Is that the right word for it?

"Okay." Ruby lets out a breath. "I know most of them are only a couple of days ahead, at best, but are all of them like that? I mean, have you ever gotten any about the—you know—far future?"

"It's hard to tell," Sapphire admits. "But yes, I think so."

"What makes them so hard to pinpoint? Wouldn't it be obvious?"

"Not always. For every reasonably probable outcome I see just as many, if not more, unlikely futures. They range from slightly improbable to the utterly preposterous, but they are still technically possibilities, which is why I see them. But sometimes I'll see something that doesn't make any sense, and it's not because of how ridiculous it is; it's because I'm so removed from the context of the situation that I don't yet have the tools to understand it." She gestures helplessly. "Often, having those visions that far in advance is about as good as having a highly improbable vision, because the pieces often don't all fall into place until a couple of days before it actually happens anyway. If it happens at all."

"That sounds pretty overwhelming," says Ruby frankly. There is real sympathy in her demeanor, and Sapphire appreciates that. "Are you ever able to tell if these far-future visions are more likely to occur?"

"Some things seem to be more inevitable than others," Sapphire says. "It's like—there's more momentum to them, or something. Often, those are the things I'll catch glimpses of. But like I said, I often can't understand them well enough to do anything with the information, so the point is more or less moot."

"Huh." Ruby hums thoughtfully. "Sounds like more trouble than it's worth."

"Often, yes."

"Have you ever met another gem with future vision?"

Sapphire shakes her head. "As far as I know, I'm an anomaly. At least, I assume that's why I work twenty hours a day, anyway."

"Probably not an inaccurate assumption. I've never seen the supervisors put this much effort into a defective gem before this."

The word defective doesn't hurt when it comes from someone else bearing the same label. As such, Sapphire doesn't react to Ruby's reference, except to say, "How long have you been here, anyway?"

"Well, let's see. I'm nearly 2,300, and I've been here since…" Ruby frowns, visibly doing the calculations in her head.

Sapphire blinks, surprised. "You're only in the two-thousands?"

"Are you not?"

"I'm a thousand years older than you, almost exactly."

"What?" Ruby makes a noise that sounds a lot like indignation. "First you're taller, and now you're older…"

Sapphire laughs despite herself. "So young," she tsks, keeping her tone serious. "You have so much to learn, little Ruby."

"Okay, if that was an intentional reference to Onyx I might just have to punch you."

"Oh yeah, she does call you that," Sapphire realizes. "It wasn't purposeful at all. Sorry?"

Ruby's stern expression of warning gives way to a smile. "It's fine. I was just messing with you."

"Why don't you two get along, anyway? Too similar?" That's Sapphire's theory, anyway.

Instantly, her companion's expression sours. "You mean other than the fact that Onyx thinks she's so special because she's actually symmetrical, when really that makes the fact she's stuck down here even more humiliating? Or the fact that she's a bully?"

"Wow. Tell me what you really think, Ruby. Don't hold back now."

Ruby rolls her eyes. "Sass received, Sapphire. It was also unappreciated."

At first Sapphire opens her mouth to return the banter, but then she thinks better of it. "This seems like a pretty sensitive subject. I can back off, if you want."

Ruby shakes her head and lets out a breath. She's sitting on the floor, and she crosses her legs and gestures with her arms. "It's just—we used to get along, actually. We used to get along really well, and then…"

Sapphire waits, but after a pause she has to ask, "Is this the part where I let the subject go, or prod for more information, or…?"

"It's not that." Ruby scratches just behind her ear awkwardly. "It's just—then we broke up, and we've more or less been at odds ever since. At this point, it's sort of developed into animosity for its own sake. But you have no idea what I mean by 'break up', so the rest of that story doesn't really follow, does it?"

"Not really. Both of your gems look unbroken to me."

"It's breaking in a figurative sense. We used to be more than friends, and then we stopped, only it wasn't like with Citrine where we could go back to just being friends afterwards, so it became adversarial instead." She glances at Sapphire. "Am I making it worse by trying to explain it like this?"

"Actually, no," Sapphire says. "It puts everything into perspective, actually. Onyx resents you for having friends besides her, and then for having others who are, or have been, more than friends afterwards."

Ruby groans and rubs at her face. "It sounds awful when you put it like that!"

"But isn't that how things are?"

"Technically, I guess, yes." Ruby makes a sound of discomfort, and then one of indignation. She braces her hands on her temples. "But that all happened when I was new here! I had no idea what I was doing. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Well, how long ago was it that you broke up?" If it's been recent, then maybe that would explain it. Galaxy knows that Sapphire can hold onto a grudge for a couple of centuries, herself.

Ruby thinks about this for a minute or so, her hands falling from her temples to rest on her knees, which she's drawn up to her chest. "Eighteen hundred years, give or take a couple of decades?"

So Ruby has been in Containment Unit 6 for about two millennia. That leaves only 300 years in the outside world prior to capture—or in another Containment Unit.

"Huh." Sapphire frowns. "Seems like a long time to hold a grudge."

The red gem lets out a breath. "Like I said, it's become antagonistic for its own sake at this point. We could never go back to how things were. We've both changed a lot since then. Onyx used to be a lot nicer."

"Well, I should hope you wouldn't want to become more than friends with Onyx as she is now," says Sapphire dryly.

At this point Sapphire can more or less tell why Ruby is laughing. In this case, it's mostly because of her inflection, and the rest is out of discomfort at the thought of being more than friends with the current Onyx. To the latter Sapphire has to admit to concurring. Maybe Onyx was a lot nicer, once upon a time, but she certainly isn't now.

"Trust me," Ruby says. Her tone is partially joking, and also far more serious than one might think. "There is no way that's happening again."

Sapphire smiles, amused at her friend's vehemence. The smile fades after a moment or two, as she asks the thing she's been wondering for… oh, it's been years now. "Is it normal?"

Ruby blinks, bemused. "Is what normal?"

"Being more than friends with another gem. I've never heard of it until I came here. Is this just something that defective gems do to pass the time in Containment Units, or does it happen up above as well? Do you know?"

Ruby doesn't answer immediately, but when she does it feels honest. "I don't think it is normal up above," she admits softly, leaning her arms on her legs. "I mean, maybe it was present and I just didn't know what signs to look for, or maybe it's more subtle up there than down here, but I don't remember seeing it, even in hindsight." She gestures with open hands, uncertain, gazing at her own palms. "All I know is my own experience, which is that I don't become more than friends simply to pass the time, and neither do the people I choose. It feels like that kind of bonding is supposed to happen, but maybe that's just my defective nature talking. I don't know."

"Does it bother you? The not knowing?"

"Sometimes."

"What about the rest of the time?"

"The rest of the time…" Ruby looks at her hands a little longer before meeting Sapphire's gaze. There is a small, helpless smile in her eyes. "The rest of the time, it just doesn't make sense to be bothered by something that feels so natural. You know?"