A/N: I'm back! Arizona was way too hot for me, and I'm very glad I don't have to live there, but otherwise it was an awesome trip and I'm pretty jealous of how awesome my brother's school is. Thank you all for the well wishes! :D

In other news, while I did get my brother to binge-watch all of SU with me this last weekend (he loves it now, and Garnet is his favorite character; mission accomplished), I am woefully behind on my own writing schedule. Most of this chapter was written while in transit (holy cow, it's over 4,000 words-no wonder my hand cramped up on the plane!), and while I think it could still use some editing I think ya'll have waited long enough, so here it is! Someone wanted to see what would happen if Ruby met another ruby.

It's not the same for everyone, especially when gems of low Mohs almost always work in groups, but Ruby's never met another ruby that she's liked. Ever. The gut instinct to detest what a talc or pearl may call her sisters has always gone both ways; she's never met another ruby who's taken a liking to her, either.

Okay, so she's only met two other rubies in her life (outside of the tiny moon near Vega where she and the other rubies were incubated, of course, but nobody counts their time in Kindergarten, anyway). Still, though. As a general rule, rubies tend to irritate the hell out of each other.

"I haven't seen her before," says Sapphire with a puzzled frown.

Only after Ruby has searched intently around the otherwise empty hallway they are strolling through on their way to the recreation center does she realize that Sapphire's comment is preemptive.

"Who are we supposed to be meeting?" she asks. She doesn't know if Sapphire's making spontaneous remarks like this as a demonstration of trust, or if her future vision is that convincing these days, or if she's just trying to make conversation, but it can admittedly be annoying to catch herself looking for things that haven't happened yet. Ruby needs to work out a system for better understanding when Sapphire is being influenced by her ability.

"Well, she's either a red beryl or another ruby, but either way she's not a part of our cohort, or the Supervisors assigned to us."

Ruby feels something within her shift and drop. "She was in a Supervisor's uniform?"

"A fairly high ranking one, too. Have you heard of any inspections happening today?"

"I hear what you hear, Sapphire. We spend all day, every day together."

"But you notice the patterns of this place more than I do."

While that is true, Ruby's pretty sure that Sapphire relies on it. She's never outright said so, but her behavior makes it obvious.

Honestly, Ruby likes that she's obviously being depended upon.

"There aren't any scheduled inspections happening today, if that's what you mean."

Sapphire hums, and then cuts herself off. "Oh."

" 'Oh' what?"

"She's another Ruby." By her tone, Sapphire seems to have already seen the implications of that.

"Have you ever met another Sapphire?"

"No. We're fairly rare, from what I gather."

Rubies, unfortunately, are not rare enough. Containment Units usually make a point of keeping them separated, though—so how and why has this one squicked through?

"There is a way to avoid her," Sapphire says. "If you'd prefer."

"What would that entail?"

"Not turning left at the next fork in the hallway." She gestures some hundred feet ahead of them. "The most reliable method will be to avoid the recreation center entirely for the next two days."

That doesn't sit right with Ruby. For starters, it feels like running away. She will also miss their friends. Lastly, "Can you tell why she's here?"

"No."

"I don't like it, Sapphire." Especially when a foreign, high ranking Supervisor prowling amongst Containment Unit inmates is most likely due to the way that Sapphire and Ruby have been stirring up trouble amongst the regular staff. Ruby can't think of another reason for a gem like that to be here.

"Neither do I," Sapphire agrees.

She doesn't want to talk to another ruby, but she also can't stand the thought of her friends being harassed by some impulsive, stuck-up meathead in a Supervisor's costume, either. Ruby asks, "She's looking for us?"

"I can't tell."

Perhaps it would be easier to simply retreat to their room and let this ruby do her worst, but Ruby knew she would not be able to forgive herself for making a choice like that.

"This would be the fateful turn," Sapphire says as they reach the fork and both stop walking. "It's up to you."

"We can't just run off like we're ashamed of ourselves."

"I tend to agree."

Ruby gives Sapphire a funny look. "It's obviously not a huge altercation, then."

"That depends entirely upon your response to her," Sapphire replies calmly. "She tends to react the same no matter what, from what I can see."

Ruby can't help the way she groans. "What kind of system depends on an inmate to be the civil one, I ask you."

Sapphire flashes a small, wry smile. "Obviously, the broken and ironic kind. You have roughly thirty seconds to make your decision, by the way."

"Well, I don't really have a choice at this point, do I?" she grumbles, though a tiny and calmer part of her appreciates the fact that Sapphire is willing to stick with her, no matter which course of action she ultimately decides to take. Even the bad one.

Sapphire waits for a beat, clearly expecting there to be more to it, but then she nods. "Okay."

True to prediction, as they start walking again a ruby twice her size tromps around the corner. Upon seeing two gems walking alone and unescorted, she frowns. She outright glowers when she sees Ruby.

For her part, Ruby can't help detesting the big Supervisor for her size and the location of her gem, right smack-dab in the center of her torso.

"You there!" the ruby calls, breaking into a stomping jog to reach them faster. Sapphire halts, and because she does so does Ruby. "What are you two doing separated from your cohort? Where is your Supervisor?"

Ruby can't help it. She thought she'd be able to control her annoyance, but this gem is just so damned full of herself. She can't stand people who immediately jump to the wrong conclusions and then act like there's absolutely no way they could ever be wrong.

"Oh, so you're telling me that no one's briefed you on this," she says, crossing her arms and planting her feet shoulder-width apart. "Not a single memo from anyone."

The other ruby's red eyes narrow. "You need to watch what you say in front of your betters," she growls warningly.

"You know, I would, but I don't see anyone like that around here."

At first the larger ruby looks about ready to blow a proverbial gasket, but then she cups her palm around her ear and sneers, "What was that? You're so skewed you're going to stumble out of my way just by trying to walk a straight line? And here I was, thinking defective gems all needed such heavy-handed guidance." Here she gives Ruby's left hand a pointed glance. "No pun intended. Of course."

"Wow, if that's the most insulting thing you can think of I'd hate to see the way you handle anything intellectually strenuous. I guess they'll give Supervisory positions to anyone these days."

"That's rich, coming from a gem so useless and unstable it's a wonder they haven't recycled you already," the Supervisor replies. "Who'd you have to suck up to so they'd take pity on you and let you keep living like this? Actually, I don't want to know," she says as Ruby opens her mouth. "If I were in your position, I would have begged to be crushed by now for being such a disgrace to corundums everywhere."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby sees Sapphire's full lips press into a thin line. She's becoming angry herself.

Well, actually, Ruby doesn't know that for sure. She's so worked up at this point that the sheet metal beneath her boots is starting to turn red from her heat. At this point, everything looks like an expression of anger to her.

"Oh, have I upset you?" the other ruby affects a mocking tone of surprise as she places her hand on her cheek. "That was so easy! Maybe that's why you obviously don't have any friends who are kind enough to put you out of your misery."

The next thing Ruby knows, her gloves are on and she's falling into a stance, ready to fight.

"Ruby." Sapphire's even tone and steady hand on her elbow cut through her rage like a knife. She's still enraged, but it's been divided just enough for her to see through it. "We have more important things to do than listen to her try to insult you."

"More important things to do?" the bigger ruby repeats furiously. "I am the closest either of you will ever get to your own wasted potential, you shameful waste of precious carbon! You should be worshipping me!"

"Sapphire, are you hearing this?" says Ruby, gesturing sharply to the Supervisor with her boxing glove. "Isn't posturing one of your pet peeves? Let's teach this clod what so-called defective gems can do!"

"Even if we do, it won't help. She's too stubbornly set in her ways."

"Then let's do it for the sake of making ourselves feel better!"

Ruby has to admit, seeing Sapphire seriously consider that as an option is nearly reward enough on its own.

Of course, Sapphire then has to ruin it by maintaining "There are better uses for our time" over the bigger ruby's insulted and indignant exclamation of, "As if you'd be able to land anything on me, you pathetic runts! Neither of you are a match for a Supervisor like me!"

"Ruby, she's obviously from Unit 3," Sapphire continues, neatly ignoring the protests in the background. "Supervisors there beat inmates into submission as quickly as possible, and enjoy the brokenness of their spirits ever after. If intimidation and violence don't work, then the inmate is usually shattered or cracked in a showy demonstration of power. Even if we engage with her, she will only—"

Sapphire doesn't get the chance to finish her sentence, interrupted by the enraged "I'll show you a demonstration of power!" The Supervisor, well and truly provoked, lunges with her weapon, a wickedly curved dagger, bared and ready to inflict fatal damage.

Well, Ruby figures, since she's started it…

The red Supervisor is so focused on Sapphire that she doesn't see Ruby's kick coming, and her dagger breaks apart into fragments of light as it clatters to the metal floor. Immediately, Sapphire takes advantage of the bigger gem's stunned pause and darts in. She's out of range before the other ruby has finished doubling over from the stinging blow that's been delivered to her torso, just under her gem. If the duration of the Supervisor's pause is indicative of anything, then Sapphire hasn't used any of her elemental abilities. Ruby's temper has already gives hers away, though, so there's no point in holding back as she moves into the space Sapphire has left behind and delivers a scorching roundhouse to the back of the taller gem's knee.

The big ruby's stance buckles, but while she stumbles she does not fall. Sapphire weakens her a little further by zipping by again, disorienting her. Ruby is yanked back at the sudden slashing lunge that is aimed at her, and then she hears the screech of metal on metal as Sapphire somehow finds a way to parry the dagger with her spiked knuckledusters, and then dashes in to sink her fist into a bundle of nerves on the bigger gem's side.

For a gem that is apparently accustomed to beating weaker beings into submission, this ruby can take her lumps like a champ.

In fights like this, tagging in and out is the name of the game. Her power is greater than either of them, individually—Ruby is well aware of this—but can the Supervisor outlast two defective corundums that never give her a chance to get her bearings?

As Ruby bounces on her feet and dodges a series of increasingly uncoordinated slices with the dagger, she has to wonder. The red Supervisor's inherent durability and raw power might just be enough to win her this fight, if Ruby and Sapphire can't break her will and/or mind first. It's possible that they might exhaust her, but Ruby doesn't think it's likely. Not if she's anything like Ruby herself.

And, unfortunately, with beings sharing your same gem that is true more often than it isn't.

To be honest, Ruby's glad that her teamwork with Sapphire is so airtight these days, or the other ruby might have actually found an opening in which to properly retaliate.

"ENOUGH!"

As things are, Ruby doesn't expect actual fire to suddenly flash into existence and fill the vacuum of the empty metal hallway. The flames don't bother her—she's a heat elemental herself, after all—but Sapphire is a completely different story.

"Sapphire!" she screams, batting harmless flames out of her line of vision as she searches frantically through them. She doesn't see any steam. Oh, sweet stars above, she doesn't see the volatilizing water of an icy defense anywhere. "Sapphire! Sapphire!"

She can't have been caught off guard by this, right? Sapphire's future vision would never fail her in a time like this, would it?

Would it?

Laughter, cackling and mean, floats above the crackling flames that are still blazing all around them. The other ruby. "Sapphires can't stand the heat. Such a pathetic weakness, even for the non-defective models."

Insulting Ruby is one thing, but taking a crack at Sapphire?

Ruby doesn't lose control. She knows exactly what she's doing when she lunges at the source of the laughter. It doesn't bother her when she is cut with the curved dagger—it doesn't hurt; not really—all that matters is making sure that this monster goes down. She puts nearly of her strength into the blow she delivers.

The other ruby isn't hurt by the mighty punch, but the inferno flickering and licking the smoothing metal walls dissipates as she loses her focus, too busy swatting Ruby away to keep it up.

Please, please be okay. Please still be here…

In the few quick seconds between ducking one of the Supervisor's punches and kicking out herself, Ruby glances frantically about for any flash of blue. There isn't any, not even a gem glinting on the floor.

What does this mean?

One of the most annoying things about sharing an element with someone: no matter how scalding either of them gets, the other is impervious to the heat. This doesn't bode well for Ruby, for whom her element is sometimes her only advantage. She enjoys a challenging fight, sure, but while she is much stronger than someone her size should be she still isn't as strong as a symmetrical ruby. Her limbs are shorter, too, and when you're both close-range combatants these few inches can make a big difference. Sure, sometimes she can get in so close that the other ruby's larger limbs can't maneuver anymore, but when her strikes do land Ruby nearly always ends up embedded into the nearest wall. And in those times when Ruby can't get inside of her guard, she is uselessly bouncing on the balls of her feet just outside of the Supervisor's striking radius, not able to do any damage at all.

At times like these she sorely wishes her weapon was something sharp that she can throw.

She isn't angry anymore, she's just trying to maintain. Ruby likes a good fight, but she knows when she's been outmatched—and fighting this ruby alone will surely spell out the end of her, if she doesn't either come up with something clever or get help soon.

"Come on, Sapph," she mutters under her breath as she hops out of the way of the larger gem's dagger slicing in from the left. "Now would be a great time to show up again."

"What's that?" The other ruby lets out another laugh; it's brief, but it sounds distinctly unhinged. If this is how she truly is, then she must hide it well because Ruby knows there's no way in hell an unstable gem would ever be given a Supervisor's job. "Are you finally admitted defeat? Has destroying that Sapphire destroyed your will?"

That's when Ruby sees it, and understands.

"Ha! You wish." Ruby isn't as quick-footed as Sapphire, but she's got a few tricks that make it feel like she could be. It's one of the things she's been working on while Sapphire answers questions for the Diamonds.

It explains the Supervisor's look of surprise when she finds Ruby in her face again. With a shout, Ruby leaps up and throws all of her strength, weight and density behind the gloved fist she smashes into the bigger gem's face. She takes another slash from the dagger, but as the other ruby slips on the thin sheet of ice and receives a quick but violent electrical shock to the temples as she goes down Ruby finds that she just doesn't care about that. She finishes the hulking red gem off with a brutal kick. The Supervisor doesn't poof, but she is knocked unconscious after she slams skull-first into the wall.

"We've got a few minutes until she comes to," says Sapphire helpfully.

Frankly, Ruby doesn't give a damn about the Supervisor anymore. She rushes forward and hugs Sapphire tightly. She hugs back like she isn't hurt, and she doesn't even smell singed. "Are you hurt? Please tell me you're okay."

"I saw the inferno coming and ran before it could incapacitate me. You did a great job of distracting her while I figured out a plan." She pulls back and smiles, but it disappears almost instantly. "Ruby, you're hurt."

"What?" On instinct, she checks her gem. Not even a scratch. "No I'm not."

"Ruby, look at yourself! She nearly cut you to ribbons!" Sapphire holds Ruby's arm under her nose. It does, admittedly, look pretty gross from this angle.

"Who cares? We won, and it'll regenerate," she says of her own sliced skin.

"I know that, but that isn't the point! This kind of recklessness isn't like you, Ruby. What if it hadn't just been your form?" The look that Sapphire gives her would have made her melt in any other circumstances. Right now the worry she sees just makes Ruby feel guilty.

"You didn't let what she said get to you, did you?" asks Sapphire softly. Her fingers are cooler than usual when they lightly pass over Ruby's bruised cheek. Ruby tenses slightly in surprise, but the chill doesn't actually feel bad, so she doesn't move away.

"You've never met another sapphire," she mutters. "You wouldn't understand."

"Is it because she makes you feel defective for not being tall and symmetrical like her?"

"I guess so." But Ruby can't look her in the eye. Sapphire waits, and at first Ruby resists, but she can't keep it up forever. "You forget about it when you're surrounded by different people all the time," she mumbles at length. "But when you meet someone who has your gem like that, it just reminds you that you're not everything you could be."

"Can I ask you something?"

This gets Ruby's attention. It's the slight tone of hesitance that catches her, she thinks. "What?"

"Are all other rubies like her?" Sapphire inclines her head toward the bulky red heap still sprawled on the floor.

"More or less. Why?"

To say that Ruby is taken aback by the soft kiss she receives is something of an understatement. She can only cling to Sapphire and watch, befuddled and wordless, to see what happens next.

"I see why you can't stand them," Sapphire says frankly. "She didn't have any sense of humility or justice. She abused her strength and power, instead of harnessing them as tools to help make life better for us all." Sapphire's gaze becomes that rare, special kind of tender as she grazes her cooling thumb over Ruby's sore cheekbone. Ruby's breath catches in her throat. "You say she reminds you of everything you never became. Why does that have to be a bad thing, when you're this wonderful?"

Ruby doesn't realize what's happening until she hiccups, and something hot and wet rolls down her cheek. She's never looked between herself and other rubies like that, and the realization that she can—that, in Sapphire's opinion, she should—hurts, somehow. "Sapphire, I-I'm not—"

"You don't get to tell me how to think about you, Ruby," she says, gentle but firm. "Besides, I've already made up my mind."

And stars know how hard it is to combat that.

Ruby starts to protest anyway, on principle, but she stops when she notices the odd look at Sapphire is giving her. It's unlike any she's ever received before. Almost… shy? Well, that's not quite it either. "Sapph—"

She stops breathing entirely when arms pull her closer and she feels the softness of Sapphire's lips press against her eyelids as she blinks, literally kissing away the tears. Ruby sucks in a sharp breath when Sapphire kisses her other eye, and there's just something about the gesture that breaks her. The next thing Ruby knows she's gripping Sapphire around the shoulders and sobbing for all she's worth.

Sapphire doesn't seem to mind. She doesn't speak, but she holds on to Ruby just as tightly, and she only stops stroking her back is when she scoops Ruby up and tactfully sidesteps the soon-to-be-stirring Supervisor as she zips back to their room. There, in the safety of their own quarters, she sets Ruby on her own two feet, cups her face in her cool palms, and leaves a kiss on the corner of her lips like an apology. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Ruby shakes her head and sniffs. "No, you didn't, I just…" She rubs her gem-free palm over her damp eyes. "No one's handled it like this before. No one's ever said that I…"

She doesn't finish the sentence. She doesn't have to.

"I meant it," Sapphire tells her softly. "Ruby, you are so much more—so much better—than that. Your compassion, your integrity, your modesty—if other rubies are anything like the one we just fought, then they don't even know what those words mean, much less how to embody them the way you do." Sapphire reaches up to lightly trace the line her headband makes across her forehead with her fingertips. "You never cease to amaze me, Ruby. I admire you so much."

Ruby hiccups. Swallows. Her lips tremble and her chest shudders as she struggles to think of something—anything—worth saying. Sapphire's made it very clear that she wants to hear no form of self-deprecation right now, but there is also no amount of gratitude or adoration big enough to express everything else that's on her mind.

Truly, Ruby can't remember a time she's ever felt this warm, this safe, this accepted.

No, it's more than mere acceptance—it's preference. For whatever reason, Sapphire prefers her to everyone else. Ruby doesn't understand it, and she's not convinced that she ever will, but at this point Sapphire's making it very difficult to deny.

"You've never talked like this before," Ruby says, her voice small from more than just the emotion that's weighing her down.

"I'm starting to think I should have." She lets out a little laugh that betrays exactly no humor at all, and then slumps against Ruby like all of this has really taken something out of her. She curls her arm around Ruby's shoulder and presses her forehead into the side of Ruby's neck. Her cheeks are hot from the blush that Ruby has been far too involved in herself to notice until now. "I've never been good at expressing myself."

She can't express herself, and Ruby expresses altogether too well. What a pair they make.

Suddenly, Ruby laughs. She picks Sapphire up and swings her around until she starts laughing too, and her flush is from the joy of being carried rather than her unfamiliarity with self-expression. When they're both giggling freely and atmosphere between them is a little lighter, Ruby sets her down and cups her cheek with her right hand. She leans in and presses their foreheads together. Sapphire touches her wrist as her fingers flex around Ruby's waist, holding her where she is. They're both smiling, and all of the words that could and should be said are suddenly just not necessary anymore.

Really, Ruby thinks, if she hadn't fought to stay, she would have regretted missing moments like this for the rest of her life.