A/N: I miscounted the amount of Unit 6 updates I had written out, so I whipped one up real quick for you guys :)

NOTICE: After tomorrow's update, I will be going on hiatus. I'll be going to Arizona to help my brother move in to his dorm room (he's going to be a college freshman, and I'm stupidly excited about it), and so will understandably not have the time to write/update as per usual. I should be back on Tuesday of next week :)

Being involved doesn't make you any weaker. At least, it doesn't in Ruby and Sapphire's case. If anything, they've only made each other stronger. Even at Ruby's most destructive and vulnerable moments—moments where she's so overcome that it feels like she can't even see—Sapphire did not shy away. She held her ground, and when Ruby came back into herself the first thing she felt were arms around her, steady and reassuring. Her recovery time was cut in half. No one's ever been willing or able to do that before.

Gem romance, while debatably a natural phenomenon, is more or less something others turn their noses up at. Sharing your vulnerability with someone else is close to unthinkable—they will use it against you! Ruby's never subscribed to that mentality, herself, but there again she doesn't think she's ever had a bond with someone that's made her feel this strong either.

Naturally, the Supervisors and bigger gem bullies tend to follow the popular dogma, but ultimately Ruby's not too bothered by their ignorance. If she has to knock a few Supervisors around to prove a point, then that's all right with her.

Onyx in particular seems more than a little perturbed to come across them holding hands and laughing, seemingly without a care in the cosmos, on their way to the recreation facility. Ruby can see the way she tenses from here.

Why nobody's ever changed their route through the sterile metal halls is a mystery to Ruby. Well, maybe not in Ruby's case. She refuses to give Onyx the satisfaction of influencing anything she does anymore. Actually, how and why Onyx wonders around without her cohort has always been a bit of a mystery. Is she going out of her way to stumble upon Ruby and Sapphire? Why would she want to do that?

Well, it's not like Ruby's ever going to stop and ask. Best get comfortable with not knowing.

"That's illogical," Sapphire says, apropos of nothing.

"What?" says Onyx blankly.

Oh. Ruby gets it now.

Sapphire's fingers squeeze around Ruby's own, as if to prove a point. "You are going to say that Ruby's affection has made her weak," she says matter of factly. "That's illogical. You're trying to force two unrelated things together and infer a causal relationship."

"You would know all about forcing incompatible things together, wouldn't you?"

"Hey!" Ruby barks out. She takes a threatening step forward and starts to release Sapphire's hand, only to be yanked sharply back.

"Well, there is a reason I've never tried to make friends with you, Onyx," Sapphire says mildly.

At first the much bigger gem honestly doesn't seem to know what to say. Her dark skin seems to deepen ever so slightly in color, and then she crosses her arms and scoffs. "As if I would have let you, anyway! Ha! Just the idea of it makes me laugh."

"Then why do you go out of your way to find Ruby?" asks Sapphire.

Ruby stops tugging against the grip on her fingers and gapes. Really, she's doing this now? Did she See something happen?

"Why?" Onyx cackles. "Because Ruby's—"

"Right here, Onyx. I'm standing right here."

Sapphire squeezes her hand—just let me do this; trust me—but while Ruby doesn't wrench away and start a fight like she wants to (since when was Onyx this much of a pain in the ass, anyway? Sure, they haven't had the misfortune of running into her in the last few years or so, but…), none of that says she can't glower. And oh, Ruby has glowering down to an art, if she says so herself.

"You don't bully any other gems," Sapphire says as Onyx rears about to retort, her arms unfolding and hands grasping the air like she wishes she could strangle something. "In fact, you protect them. You're honorable in what you do to anyone else—so why this? What makes Ruby the exception?"

Ruby grumbles. She can't remember ever feeling more ostracized and awkward. "I'm still right—"

"Yes, Ruby, we both know you're still here. Please stop burning my hand now."

Oh. She is, isn't she? "Sorry," she mutters as she cuts the temperature. The gently billowing steam of the volatilizing ice that Sapphire had been using to protect herself also fades out. This is embarrassing—but so is having your current partner talking to your ex like this.

Onyx casts Ruby a funny look, either surprised at how quickly she's backed down or struck by some other behavioral benchmark she's not sure she recognizes.

"Aren't you going to answer the question?" Sapphire's voice is far more patient and gentle than the words themselves would lead you to believe.

Onyx's gaze snaps back to Sapphire, and she scowls. Her arms are crossed again, closed off and defiant. "Don't see why I should."

"Doesn't your cohort wonder where you go when you're gone?"

"You may not understand what it's like, but they don't worry about me because they know I can defend myself."

Sapphire's lips are set in a stoic line, utterly unimpressed.

Onyx tosses her hair and scoffs. "That's what I thought."

Ruby can't take it anymore. She knows Sapphire wants her to stand back and let this happen, but it's not a lack of trust that has her wrenching her hand to herself and grinding out, "You know what, Onyx? You can just—"

Sapphire has moved Ruby before. She's even done it using her speed before. Somehow, though, Ruby is shocked to find herself being set down in a different and completely empty hallway, Sapphire's skirts still a flurry from their abrupt halt.

Ruby lets out a wordless shout. She can't tell whether she's more frustrated, confused, or just plain disappointed that she didn't get to beat the snot out of Onyx's annoying damn face. Maybe it's an even mix.

"Sapphire, what did you just do? I was gonna—"

"It wouldn't have ended well."

"What wouldn't have ended well?"

"As antagonistic as she can be, Onyx is not someone we should be fighting," says Sapphire calmly. "She defends gems who can't defend themselves."

"Yeah, well, just because we can defend ourselves doesn't mean—"

"I'm not making excuses for her. Whatever she is trying to do when she seeks you out, she's not doing it well. But she's not an enemy."

"How do you know that, Sapphire?" demands Ruby hotly, hands on her hips. "Huh? How are you so sure?"

"Because I've been trying to understand her reasons for being so antagonistic, and whenever I See what she'll do, it's almost always in someone else's defense." Sapphire pauses, gaging Ruby's expression as it changes, and her hands slip from her hips. "Why are you surprised? Is this new behavior for her?"

"No," says Ruby softly. She feels hollow. Sapphire said it to Onyx's face, sure, but that had just felt like a bluff. Hearing it like this is different, somehow. "That's exactly how she was before our cohort was split up."

"I thought cohorts weren't supposed to be split up."

"It was either another one of Blue Diamond's experiments or some upper administrative moron who thought that changing things up would be good for everyone—doesn't matter which, though." Ruby dismisses the semantics with a wave of her hand. "That whole fiasco is the reason cohorts aren't split up anymore. I think we lost fifty gems, in total? Almost all of them were low Mohs."

Sapphire doesn't say anything, but the corner of her mouth twitches, and Ruby knows her well enough at this point to tell that it's in distaste.

"Yeah, I know. I didn't like it either. Some of them were my friends, gems that Onyx and I—" she stops as the realization dawns on her, and then looks at Sapphire with new eyes. "What would have happened, if you hadn't taken us out of that situation?"

"Nothing good."

"I got that much on my own, thanks. What would have happened, Sapphire?"

Sapphire doesn't reply at first. Her lips purse together, and Ruby can see her tangle her fingers in her skirts.

Ruby waits for it—patience isn't her forte, but damn if the answer to this question isn't important to her. Sapphire can't hold back under an expectant gaze forever, right?

"Sapphire, I'm asking. I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't prepared to deal with a straight answer."

She lets out a hard breath. "You would have cracked her. It would have been an accident, but…"

She doesn't need to say anything more. Everyone knows what happens to damaged gems in Containment Units.

"Oh." All of her self-righteous fire is gone now. Where did it go?

Onyx irks her to no end, but that doesn't mean Ruby wants to see her damaged like that. She certainly doesn't want to be the one responsible for it.

"I apologize for upsetting you, but I couldn't let that happen."

"No, I—I get it now." Ruby looks at her, trying to meet her eye through the curtain of bangs. "Thank you."

Whether it's to comfort Ruby or herself, or simply to pick up where they left off, Sapphire's hand slips into Ruby's all the same. "Shall we go to the rec center now?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Ruby pauses, and looks around. She doesn't recognize the placard posted on the metal wall that details the name of the hallway. "You do know how to get there from here, right? Because I actually don't think I've been in this part of Unit 6 before."