Garnet stared out the window, her glasses reflecting the light as usual. She had just moved into her apartment-it hadn't taken long. After all, it wasn't like there was much to move. She turned her face away from the light, turning back into the four-room apartment.

"Huh. This is like the place where I grew up, only cleaner."

Garnet took a few steps away from the window and sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. She fumbled idly with the hem of her vibrantly red jacket, staring at the plain beige wall across from her. Her battered keytar lay against it, amid a mess of sheet music. Aside from that and a few books and clothes, she really hadn't brought anything. Honestly, having furniture was a waste. She had blankets. And a blow-up mattress. That counted, right?

"...Holy shit, this sucks."

She flopped her head back against the wall. The popcorn ceiling was pretty clearly falling off.(wait, why the hell did those still exist? Society had reverted somewhat, but still...Man.) She combed her fingers idly through her thick, messy hair. Mostly, she was waiting for someone to knock at the door. Her old friend Peridot was coming over. They had grown up together, although Dot was four years older-and had never caught up in height, but made up for it in aggressive platform heels and those weird robot arms.

Three quiet knocks at the door. Garnet jumped up, opening it almost immediately. She was pleasantly surprised by who it was, however.

"Oh, hey, Pearl. How's it going?"

Pearl rocked back on her heels a little. "Fine, I guess. Dot couldn't make it, so I thought that I should tell you, since I got off early..."

Garnet grinned. "Hey, thanks. Good thing you remembered that my phone broke a few months ago." Pearl smiled, matching Garnet's expression perfectly. "Anyway, I brought your work schedule, which is the official reason I'm here." She handed Garnet a small flash drive. "Um, you do have a place to print this out, right?"

Garnet shrugged. "Eh, library probably has some printers."

"...Did you spend the last three years on one of the Brittish colonies?"

"Five years, actually."

Pearl stifled a laugh. "Your voice sounds cool now, G."

"It didn't before?"

"...You sounded really, really, normal..."

Ruby stared at her hands, unwilling to look at the hospital bed before her.

"So...uh...I don't know if you can hear me or anything, but...Garnet's back in town. She lives down the street now. Pearl's gonna go and see her before she comes home. I think she'll come you soon, but I;m not really sure..." Ruby lifted her eyes to Sappphire's face. She looked perfectly calm-as if she were merely asleep, and not in a coma that had already lasted two and a half weeks. The doctors were saying that it'd be okay. That she'd wake up soon, and everything would be back to normal.

Ruby couldn't help but feel that they were liars.

"I miss you, Sapph. Think you'll wake up soon?" Ruby stared at her closed right eye, the scar over her left...and closed her own eyes. "I just...I think that maybe, you'd know what to do if this happened to me. I'm really bad at dealing with this. Without you, Kronos...Humans...Earth...Well, it's like betting them all on a bad team! Without you, all of us...we just...we don't know what to do. I-I'm sorry, Sapph. If I had seen all that damage coming, then maybe you wouldn't have had to do that stupid thing with Atlas..."

A nurse knocked on the door and came in. "Ma'am, it's closing time." Ruby nodded and stood up. "Thank you for telling me. I'll get goin' now."

Ruby nodded politely as she went past the nurse and stepped into the hallway. Like most hospitals, it was white with the occasional colored tile, and occasional painting by various artists. Very nice, if you think about it. It was efficient, too, with everything accessible. Not surprising, considering it's location at a large peninsula sticking out into the Atlantic, with huge lights and a constant buzz of human activity(not to mention the remains of a past land sticking up out of the ocean), all of which attracted Fae. It was designed to house up to twenty thousand people at a time, and was mostly underground, which helped the security issues.

Ruby opened the front doors of the pale pink hospital, leaving the building and stepping into the cold winter air. She flipped up the collar of her jacket-Pearl would be annoyed, but it was windy, to say the least. She jerked her head up at the sound of an emergency helicopter, the streamlined vehicle landing on the roof behind her. She didn't bother watching the exchange behind her, and started walking down the street.

Leaves blew around at her feet. Ruby broke into a run, darting for the only place she could think of. As the wind hit her in the face, she had to hold back tears as she skidded to a halt at the nearest train station. It only took about ten minutes for one of the bullet trains to arrive. She boarded as fast as possible, showing her train pass as she went. She took a seat towards the back of the first compartment, absently fiddling with the hem of her jacket. and staring at the incomprehensible scenery that flashed by. Buildings, trees, oceans, and the city lights on the horizon as they skirted around the edge, all blurred into one as it started to rain. Before long she pulled out her phone, calling Pearl, telling her that she'd be late.

After about twenty minutes of circling the edge of New Beach City at lower speeds than average, the train stopped at a station downtown. She got off, running through the rain as she left the building. The streetlights lit the way, showing the rapidly forming ice on the streets and sidewalks. Sooner or later, this would turn into snow. Ruby kept running, her shoes gripping the ice easily as she ran. The shops and apartments on either side of the street cast long shadows from the cars and the occasional other person. After about ten more minutes of running, she stopped at her favorite spot in the city-the gym.

It was about fifty years old. It was bit of an eyesore. The robotic janitors left something to be desired. No one seemed to care, though. It had everything needed, from a good basketball team to an advanced ballet course upstairs, which Sapphire took while Ruby did her own thing, usually with Amethyst.

"Hey, Ruby!"

She looked up. One of Sapphire's classmates, Lila, called out from across the lobby. Ruby nodded in response, waiting for Lila's coming statement. "Where's Sapphire been lately? She's missed the pass ten classes, and the Nutcracker's coming up pretty soon, so..."
Oh. Right. The met four times a week.

"She...got in a car accident. She'll probably have to miss the performance." Ruby spun around and left the lobby, grimacing at Lila aying something despairingly about the understudy for whatever role Sapph had gotten being kinda bad.

Ruby let the glass door to the gym close. It was empty, which wasn't very surprising. Eight in the evening on a Wednesday? Everybody was probably gonna be tired and at home. Ruby leaning heaviliy against the wall, staring at the ceiling. Classical music came through somewhat. Lila had probably been late. She closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and let out a heavy breath.

The rain continued to fall heavily over the huge city.