A/N: My intent was to wrap up the Unit 6 storyline before thursday. That is not going to happen, mostly because I went on that weeklong hiatus instead. ^^" It'll probably be done sometime early next week, though. For now, however, enjoy!

"If we just shuffle our routes to and from the recreation center, then it's likely that we won't ever see her dumb face, and we should be fine," is Ruby's first instinct.

"It's been nearly 800 years since we last encountered that Supervisor," is Sapphire's reply. Use logic, that's it. Just keep things logical. "We have been given no indication that she remembers us at all, much less that she is going after us. I won't go out of my way to avoid something that I can't See happening."

"No indication that she remembers us—Sapphire, two defective gems nearly poofed her. I kicked her head into a wall, and you electrocuted her. As the leading authority on other rubies, just trust me when I say that she remembers us."

"Remembering us isn't irrefutable evidence that she is going to be prowling the halls looking for a fight during our recreation time—which is two shifts ahead of her cohort's, might I add. The two things are not one and the same, Ruby."

Ruby huffs, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "No, but they could be."

"No, they can't. While she can remember us and want to fight us simultaneously, that does not mean the first necessarily requires the second. The two notions are independent of each other."

"I'm sorry, who's the leading authority on rubies again?" Ruby unfolds one arm and cups a broad red palm around her ear expectantly.

"Ruby—"

"That's right, it's Ruby. And Ruby is telling you, Sapphire—maybe in a perfect world remembering us and wanting to fight us are not linked, but in this world they are. It's a matter of when, and not if."

"I don't See anything like that happening," Sapphire maintains. She keeps her voice even, but only barely. Why isn't Ruby listening?

"Then it must happen further down the proverbial road than you can See," says Ruby, folding her muscled arms together again. "But it will happen, one of these decades. I'd swear that on my gem itself. She's a ruby, and we don't forget being humiliated like that."

"Okay," says Sapphire, holding up her hands in defeat. "Let's say she will inevitably come after us—"

"There is no 'let's say' about it. If she is anywhere within the confines of this Containment Unit, she will find a way."

"Fine." Sapphire's voice is getting tight as she loses her patience. It doesn't help that Ruby's vehemence is scaring her a little bit. "Inevitably, she will come for us. If you're certain, I will accept this as fact. I will constantly be on the lookout for those possibilities, but until I See one of them in the near future I don't comprehend the purpose of shuffling our route to the recreation center now. Unless you are trying to give anyone who happens to be scouting for her a change to learn our multiple routes, that is."

This changes Ruby's demeanor. Her hands drop to her sides like leaded weights and her red face becomes ruddy and maroon for an instant before the flush clears and she cries, "No, of course not!"

"Then why are we arguing about making this harder on ourselves than it strictly needs to be?"

Ruby starts to say something, but then her mouth shuts with a click of teeth and she turns away, grumbling under her breath. Sapphire catches something about "…makes me so mad."

"I didn't mean to upset you," she says, daring to place her head on the stout gem's shoulder.

"It's not you, it's her!" Ruby bursts out. Sapphire feels a small wave of heat roll under her palm as her partner emits a noise of frustration and steps away to gesture widely with her arms. "Other rubies ruin everything!"

"Not this time."

Ruby pauses and glances over at her. "Huh?"

"She won't ruin everything," say Sapphire evenly. "Because this time we'll be ready for her."

It takes a moment for this statement to percolate, but then Ruby is offering a small smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she says. "We've already beaten her once; doing it again shouldn't be any harder—and besides, this time we'll be expecting her."

Sapphire mirrors her smile. It's small, but it's real. As long as they're a team, they can do anything. "My sentiments exactly."

As the years pass, and pass, and pass, their paranoia fades. Time tends to do that. Sapphire still Looks for the other ruby, but after a few decades doing so no longer feels like simultaneously looking over her shoulder for something she's missed. After 831 years of knowing that the other ruby is in Unit 6 with them, and neither seeing hide nor hair of her, she can feel Ruby and herself become complacent.

The logistics of being a Supervisor from two cohorts away is a nightmare if you wish to divagate from your typical patterns. First you'd have to find out where the other cohort is in their work cycle, and—more importantly—then you'd have to find Ruby and Sapphire's base of operations. With the latter being highly classified information under the protection of White Diamond herself, Sapphire doesn't see, either logically or with her future vision, how the other ruby is going to manage it. Perhaps if she tortured an inmate for information—but even then, the inmates don't know where Sapphire and Ruby spend their time, either.

In truth, the closest the Supervisor would get to finding them would be to march through the halls the two defective gems had been seen in and try to trace her way back from there, and the halls of Unit 6, while not necessarily convoluted—they actually make sense, if you see a floor plan and keep in mind that cohorts are not encouraged to co-mingle—do have a labyrinth-like quality to them. Unless a gem were unreasonably obstinate, the mission would have been given up as a lost cause years ago.

Ruby insists that other rubies are that obstinate, though, and Sapphire believes her. Ruby wouldn't fight to make her concede to something so unrealistic if she felt the threat wasn't warranted. After knowing each other nearly 3,000 years now, Sapphire trusts Ruby and her judgement implicitly.

That doesn't change the fact that Sapphire doesn't See the other ruby finding them any time soon. Perhaps it is inevitable, but sometimes the inevitable is at the end of a very, very long timeline. Until then, they just need to go about their lives and wait.

Sapphire stops mid-step, frowning at what she's Seeing. "Onyx?" They haven't seen Onyx in…

Ruby does a double take. "Wait, Onyx? Sapphire, what are you—"

"She's looking for us. It's urgent." With that, Sapphire grabs Ruby's arm and pulls her along as she speeds down Diamond-insignia-decorated halls and whips around corners. When they come to a halt, it is without ceremony or flourish, and Onyx—whose outfit is different from the last time they saw her—stumbles in surprise.

"Warn me before you do that, would you?" says Ruby irritably. She grumbles under her breath as she rolls her shoulder from where it feels as though it's been partially yanked from its socket.

Onyx's dark eyes are wide with shock. She blinks at the much smaller pair of gems in front of her as if she can't believe the data her ocular nerves are processing. "How did you…?" she begins, either fascinated or horrified. Then she shakes her head as if to clear it. "That doesn't matter right now. Ruby, are you aware there is another ruby in Unit 6?"

Sapphire stills.

Ruby's red skin is too vibrant to blanch by much, but it does its best now. "Yes," she says slowly, her arms falling to her sides. "What have you heard?"

"Oh, I've heard plenty, trust me," Onyx says with a wave of her hand. In that brief moment of wry sass Sapphire thinks she catches a glimpse of the sort of gem Onyx truly is. Maybe, in a different lifetime, they really could have been friends.

Then, in an instant, that portion of Onyx's personality is closed off. She becomes urgent and anxious once more. "Whatever it is exactly that you did, that ruby wants revenge. She wants to see you—both of you—" for what seems like the first time, Onyx actually looks at Sapphire directly "—crushed to powder."

"We knew that already," says Ruby.

"Yeah, well she's bringing her friends into it now. She's got a chrysoberyl on her side. There's an emerald and a topaz, too. These gems are all 8 Mohs and above, Ruby, and they're all huge. If they gang up on you—"

"We don't stand a chance," Sapphire whispers. Fighting that one ruby had been hard enough, but going up against her and three other high Mohs Supervisors simultaneously? Sapphire and Ruby are strong as individuals, and their teamwork is impeccable, but they're not invincible.

"They don't know where to find us, though," says Ruby. She gestures to Onyx. "I mean, the only reason you do is because it was an accident that first time."

Something flinches across Onyx's face. Maybe it's guilt. Maybe it's a painful memory. Maybe it's both—either way, her voice lowers as she says, "They know where to find you."

This isn't the sort of thing that any self-respecting gem would joke about, but a hysterical sliver of Sapphire's mind is suggesting it must be so anyway. Onyx went out of her way to find them. She's obviously afraid of something—or someone—and is speaking to them despite that. She's a gruff gem, but her lingering affection for Ruby is clearly strong enough to prod her into action.

"Our location, or a route to our location?" asks Ruby.

"I don't know the details. All I know is that they have enough information to make finding you possible."

"Thank you, Onyx," Sapphire says, cutting off Ruby before she can start. There is no time for extraneous conversation right now. Onyx is twice her size, so Sapphire has to tilt her head up to see her face. "There are no words to describe our gratitude for you taking this risk for us. I know it couldn't have been easy."

"Yeah—well." Onyx scoffs, and her already dark features seem to darken a shade or two as she shifts her weight and crosses her arms in front of her chest. "Just don't like the idea of Supervisors picking on the inmates, is all. It's nothing personal."

Except that it is, even if she will never say as much.

"No, she's right," says Ruby, her voice suddenly much softer and less commanding. "Onyx, we really owe you for warning us like this. Thank you."

For a second, Sapphire could swear that Onyx was about to smile. Instead she scowls and makes a rough noise, turns on heel. "Well, I've got to get back before they notice I'm gone. I've got Hematite covering for me, but everyone knows how trustworthy hematites are under pressure."

She leaves before Ruby or Sapphire can say anything else to her, but as the thuds of her jogging footsteps fade Sapphire can't resist saying to Ruby, "I told you she was never our enemy."

Ruby makes a noise of mostly superficial aggravation and throws up her arms. "You were right! You're always right! Do you want an award or something?"

It's not the right situation to laugh, not even close, but Sapphire does it anyway. Just a little. "No awards," she says lightly. "Just knowing it's true is enough for me."

Ruby rolls her eyes, but they should have known that stilted levity wasn't going to be enough to free them from the gravity of this situation. "Can you see what routes they'll be taking?" she asks.

Sapphire nods. "If we continue on this one, we'll make it to the rec center long before they get here. It should be safe there."

" 'Should be'?" repeats Ruby skeptically.

Sapphire presses her lips into a line. "The probability that they'll give up when they can't find us in the halls is about fifty percent. There's only a thirty percent chance that they will make a scene in the recreation facility."

"Oh, goody," says Ruby, heaving a breath. "The next few days are going to be fun, aren't they?"

"Days?" says Sapphire. "You mean years—assuming we make it through today, of course."

"Of course." Ruby grabs her hand and starts to walk, but then realizes that she is in an entirely unfamiliar part of the Containment Unit and gestures for Sapphire to lead the way to the rec center instead. "Let's see if we can get this over with."