"So that's everything?" Ruby asked, absentmindedly kicking a snow pile.
"Until we found Amethyst..yes. That's everything." Pearl said. She was holding her own hands, looking at the ground in front of them.
"What happened then? What happened when you found me?" Amethyst demanded.
"Rose was so happy. A gem untouched by Homeworld. Something whole and pure in lifeless devastation."
"Devastation I made." Amethyst growled, sounding madder than Ruby had ever heard her.
"No! Amethyst we did that, not you!"
"So what? I was just some charity case? So she didn't have to feel guilty? Is that all I was to her?"
"No, Amethyst, of course not!" Pearl reached out a hand but Amethyst hit it away.
"You never wanted me!" Amethyst yelled, tears running down her cheeks, "Well, I never wanted you either! I had plenty of friends before you!"
She flung her arms about wildly and turned into an owl flying away in rage.
Ruby watched her fly away. Unsure what was happening.
"Friends?" Pearl muttered looking confused.
Ruby looked around. It was just her and Pearl left, Pearl sunk to the ground as Amethyst flew out of sight. Tears again leaking from her eyes.
"Sapphire! I've got to find Sapphire! Where would she go?"
"I don't know. I don't know anything." Pearl said, wrapping her arms around herself.
The snow beneath Ruby's feet melted as she paced. "Maybe she would be near here? Somewhere tall? Where I can't get to?"
"Maybe." Pearl muttered. Barely seeming to hear her.
"But the tallest place is the lighthouse…or maybe..the cliffs over there?" Ruby turned to the direction of the cliffs and started to walk.
"Wait!" Pearl said desperately. "Ruby, please, don't leave me alone."
Ruby turned back to Pearl. Sitting in a curled ball in the snow. Tear tracks stained her face and despite begging Ruby to stay she looked convinced she would leave.
Ruby remembered her own first few days on earth. The fear, the uncertainty….only made easier by Sapphire's presence.
She walked back to her friend. And sat in the snow next to her. "I won't." She vowed. "I won't leave you alone."
They sat on the ground for a few minutes, Ruby watching the snow around her melt into puddles. Before Pearl pushed herself to her feet. "Come on, Ruby. We have to find Sapphire for you."
Ruby hopped up eagerly. "Let's go this way." She said, and pointed to the way she'd been planning.
Pearl followed only a step behind her. They walked in silence. They searched all of Beach City. The hills around it. They asked humans if they had seen a small blue gem.
The sun lowered in the sky. Ruby felt Pearl's eyes on her, questioning. "Did you want to stop for the night?" She asked her.
"No." Pearl answered "but maybe we should check the warps?"
"Yeah. That sounds good." Ruby said, with a sinking feeling from inside her gem. How far had Sapphire gone?
They walked back to the temple. Pearl paused for a moment to stare at the setting sun.
"Why don't you hate me Ruby?" She asked, staring at the sun.
"I…why would I hate you?" Ruby asked. Pausing in her walk to the warp pad.
"I've lied to you for millennia."
"Yeah…I guess you have." Ruby admitted. "But…we knew you had secrets. And we didn't ask many questions. I don't know…I don't feel the need to know much. Garnet gets that from me. Sapphire feels like she needs to know everything…that's why she's taking this so hard. But…I'm okay…I just miss Sapphire."
"We'll find her, Ruby. We won't stop until we do." Pearl promised.
It took 2 months to find her, she wasn't at any of the warps and she had flown far away.. Pearl and Ruby didn't stop. They didn't rest. They walked. They swam. They warped.
They didn't talk much as they searched. Occasionally checking in with each other on the search. But otherwise not acknowledging their missing friends or the many things Pearl had revealed.
They were climbing a mountain in Canada without hope, Ruby melting a trail in the snow ahead of Pearl to make it easier for her. "Should we?" Pearl asked hesitantly.
"What?" Ruby asked, turning back to look at her.
"Should we check the palanquin?" Pearl whispered softly.
Ruby paused, Rose had never wanted to go back to the palanquin. No one had been there in 5000 years. She waited for a second for Sapphire to answer. Then remembered she was alone. "Not…not yet." She said, "I've got a good feeling about this mountain." She didn't. She didn't feel good about anything anymore.
They continued their walk in silence. "There!" Pearl called out a few hours later.
Ruby turned and saw the ripple of ice spikes appearing. "Sapphire!" She yelled and ran searching, "Sapphire!"
She slammed her way through ice spikes and found Sapphire sitting on a frozen rock staring away from her.
"Sapphire! I'm here."
"I see that." Sapphire answered her coldly.
Ruby ran to embrace Sapphire and found herself met with an ice wall. It broke around her but she stopped. "Sapphire?" She asked hesitantly.
"Why did you come here, Ruby?" Sapphire asked.
"What? What do you mean? I..I came for you. I love you Sapphire…don't you love me?"
"Our relationship was based on a lie Ruby, our love was a lie."
Ruby took a step back. "It? It was?" Her face fell in despair. She glanced back at Pearl as though she would have some answer for her.
Pearl looked on in horror, a few tears ran from her eyes "Sapphire. I can explain everything to you, I promise."
"I don't want to hear your excuses for her! I don't want to hear how much we need Garnet! I don't want to hear anything you have to say!"
Pearl lowered her head. Ruby's head was swimming. She didn't know what was happening. Everything was supposed to be better once she found Sapphire. So how did it feel worse?
"I love you." Ruby said again "Don't you love me?"
Sapphire paused. "She took our hands. She looked into our eyes and she told us never to question who we were as Garnet. So we never questioned it, well I'm questioning it now. And I'm not going back to that. I'm not going back to being her toy."
"We can figure something out. You don't have to leave me!"
"I do. It will be for the best."
"You can't know that! That's not how it works!"
Sapphire floated into the air.
"I don't want to talk to you, we have nothing to talk about. It's over Ruby."
"No it's not! Stop leaving me!" Ruby stomped on the ground. Leaving a burn mark in the stone. "Come back!" She yelled but Sapphire didn't react. She waited. As Ruby raged against her, against Rose, against everyone. Pearl tried to speak a few times, but Sapphire told her not to bother and she stopped.
Finally Ruby sank to the ground. Feeling hollow. Like someone had carved out her gem and left only a shell behind.
"Take her, Pearl." Sapphire said.
And Ruby felt Pearl's arms around her.
"The nearest warp pad is in the Prime kindergarten." Sapphire said.
"Thank you, Sapphire." Pearl said, as she carried Ruby away.
Ruby lost track of the time as Pearl carried her. The snow was light where Pearl put her down. "We're at the Prime Kindergarten." Pearl said with strain in her voice.
"Okay." Ruby said without moving.
"Amethyst is here. She always comes here when she's upset." Pearl pointed out.
"Yeah." Ruby agreed.
Pearl sighed. "I'll be back, Ruby. Don't go anywhere."
"I won't."
Pearl walked away, Ruby stared up at the sky. Sapphire had thrown her away. Over 5,000 years together, what did it mean now? If Sapphire didn't want to be with her, didn't want to be Garnet…was she anything at all if she wasn't Garnet?
Pearl came back, looking like she had been in a fight. "Amethyst will let us use the warp to go home."
"Is she coming?"
Pearl sighed. Tears welling up in her eyes. "No, she doesn't want to talk to us right now. We'll try again later."
Ruby dragged herself to her feet and followed Pearl to the warp. They reappeared in the temple. And Ruby turned to look at the door behind her, 5 gems started back. "What do we do now?" She asked.
Pearl sounded tired, "I'm going to do what Rose Quartz would want me to do. I'm going to be a Crystal Gem. I'm going to take care of her son, and continue to help with the corrupted gems."
"What Rose Quartz would want? That's not what I want to do…I…I think I might hate her."
"She thought you would…I can't blame you for it. We lied to you. What do you want to do, Ruby?"
Ruby stared at the ceiling, "I don't know how to do anything when I'm not Garnet."
"You don't need to be Garnet, you were Ruby before you were Garnet. A ruby protects. And the only way we have to protect our friends right now is to bubble them…I would do this even if it wasn't what Rose would want, because it's the only thing I can do for my friends. If you want to help me…I would appreciate it. But if you want to just… stay in your room. Or throw stones into the ocean, I won't stop you."
Ruby thought about it. Lying in her room sounded tempting, but it also sounded…lonely.
Staying with Pearl sounded less scary than being alone. Pearl was right. Their friends needed them. Ruby sat up and looked at Pearl. "I'll be a crystal gem too. Our friends still need us."