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“And you should see the lovely filigree work that Blue Pearl has been creating! She’s an absolute natural. She has one piece with hundreds of tiny birds molded into it -- I don’t know how she does it.”
“That does sound beautiful.” Sapphire was seated on the couch next to Pearl, only half-listening to her chatter, distracted by anticipation of the moment when Ruby would come home and they could fuse once again.
“You should join us for metalworking classes sometime, Sapphire. You might really enjoy it. I’m sure Bismuth would love to have you.”
Sapphire smiled. “Perhaps. I doubt I’d have much of an aptitude for --”
She was cut off by the sound of the warp pad activating, unable to keep herself from jumping to her feet. “Ruby!”
It was not Ruby.
“Hey, sorry to barge into your home,” said Zebra Jasper. “There was an accident cutting firewood, and, well…” She held out a small, circular, red gemstone.
Sapphire gasped and rushed to take the gem from her hands. Ruby still felt warm -- or perhaps that was her imagination, since she so strongly associated her wife with warmth. She ran her hands over her facets quickly, checking for damage.
Her mind jumped ahead, unbidden.
...a freshly regenerated Ruby, her new outfit a fuzzy blur, laughed and took Sapphire into her arms…
It was the most likely outcome by far. Of course it was. Ruby had merely been poofed in a careless accident. She was not damaged. There was no danger. Of course she would regenerate safely.
“So, yeah, one of our newbies was a little too overzealous. I’ll give her a good talking to about safety. Ruby should be fine, though. Sorry about the trouble.”
“It’s fine,” said Sapphire. “Thank you.”
Sapphire checked the future again. Ruby was still there. Unfused, she could only see one future, the most likely future where she didn’t intervene. Any other possibility was closed off to her. Even some parts of that future were vague -- she couldn’t see Ruby’s outfit because the number of equally likely outcomes was too large.
Somewhere inside of that gem, Ruby was deciding what she should look like.
“Sapphire? Are you okay?” Pearl put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Of course,” said Sapphire. “This is nothing more than a natural part of a gem’s lifecycle. I can clearly see the future where Ruby comes back to me. There’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“Are you sure? Because…” Pearl gestured downwards to the enormous patch of ice that had formed on the floor.
Sapphire sighed. “I admit that I harbor some anxiety over Ruby’s current condition, even though I have clearly seen the path of fate. It’s pointless. Worrying will not change anything.”
“Just because you know Ruby will be okay doesn’t mean you can’t be upset about this, you know,” said Pearl. “If you really want to, you could always try to draw her out with fusion…”
“No. Absolutely not,” Sapphire said firmly. “She’s choosing her appearance right now, and it’s important that I don’t rush her.” She ran her hand over the gemstone fondly. “Besides that, she deserves the rest. She’s been working so hard lately.”
Retreating into one’s gemstone -- if it happened as a result of an accident or other benign situation -- was often a pleasant and beneficial experience for the Gem in question. It allowed them to set aside the concerns of daily life for a brief moment in time, quietly dreaming and drifting along as they designed their new appearance. Ruby would not be consciously aware of Sapphire’s presence, but she must know that her scout troop would deliver her gemstone to Sapphire right away, and that her beloved wife would keep her safe and sound. Sapphire was actually proud of her for taking her time and not rushing her regeneration immediately, as patience was not Ruby’s strong suit.
Ruby had been so joyous and full of life ever since she had started her scouting program. It was sometimes difficult for Sapphire to be without her, but it made the time they were together so much sweeter. They brought each other memories of new experiences that they could share with each other in vivid detail once fused. Sapphire had grown to anticipate the smell of pine trees and the feeling of dirt under her feet as she lived Ruby’s day vicariously.
The time spent separated was good for them.
Except for her fear that one day, Ruby would not come home.
“Sapphire!” Pearl was looking around in astonishment. The entire interior of the beach house was coated in ice, icicles hanging from the ceiling and snow piled up in the corners.
“I’m sorry, Pearl,” said Sapphire, tears flowing from her eye as she clutched Ruby tightly to her chest.
Pearl knelt down and enveloped Sapphire in a hug as she cried. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. I know how hard it is for you to separate.”
“It’s just… sometimes I think about… what if I lose her…?”
“Is that something you’ve seen in the future?”
“I haven’t, but you know that my future vision is often useless when it comes to Ruby. That’s one of the things I love about her.”
Pearl broke the embrace. “You should tell Ruby how you feel about it.”
“I don’t want her to think I don’t want her to separate. She’s been so happy scouting. I don’t want to ruin that for her.”
“I think she’ll understand. Don’t you think she worries about you when you’re away?”
Sapphire smiled through the tears. “My Ruby? Of course she does.” She looked down at the precious gemstone in her hands. She wasn’t sure if it was warm on its own or warm simply from her clutching it so tightly. “You’re right, of course. I should talk to her about this. I should trust her to understand.”
The ice began to slowly recede from the walls and floor.
Sapphire lay on her back on the couch in the house, not sleeping, exactly, but dreaming. She held Ruby close as she immersed herself in the visions she saw in the near future: Ruby laughing, Ruby returning from the woods with her hair full of pine needles, Ruby getting frustrated teaching Steven how to tie a knot and burning an entire length of rope in an instant.
It wasn’t like impulsive, impatient Ruby to take this long. The couch began to freeze solid again. “Just a thought,” Sapphire whispered to herself, trying to calm down.
Before she could retract the ice, Ruby’s gemstone suddenly glowed and lifted into the air. “So that’s why you wanna be careful with…” she said, before looking around in surprise.
“Ruby!” Sapphire cried out, throwing herself at her wife. “I missed you!”
“Sapphire! Are you okay?”
“Why are you asking me? You’re the one who was poofed!”
“Aw, I’m fine,” said Ruby, rubbing the back of her head.
“I missed you. What kept you so long?”
“Well…” Ruby blushed and fidgeted. “It used to not matter so much what I wore because we were fused all the time, but now that we see each other more often, I wanted to… y’know… I wanted to make sure I look good for ya.” Ruby shyly presented her new form with a heartbreakingly sincere grin. “Well, do you like it?”
Ruby’s new form now had a bright red, open shirt over a dark red tank top. She was still wearing her bandana, but her leggings now had pockets on them -- no doubt for use during camping trips, for quicker access to common items than her gemstone would provide.
“It’s beautiful.” said Sapphire. “I couldn’t possibly imagine a better outcome than this.”
Ruby’s smile was bright enough to power a starship. “You look awfully good too! C’mere, Sapphy.”
Sapphire’s gem began to glow warm as Ruby gathered her into her arms and planted kisses all over her cheeks and neck.
A moment later, Garnet sat on the couch, admiring the new shirt she had acquired courtesy of Ruby. “Lookin’ good,” she said to herself as she headed off to Little Homeworld for yoga class, her two components quietly discussing the events of the day.