Work Text:
but if you change your mind, you know where i am,
yeah, if you change your mind, you know where to find me...
//
“I’d like to try again.” Peridot says.
Well, more precisely, blurts out - in a rushed, squeaky manner. She’s looming over Garnet in the soft, pale sunlight of early dawn. She found the fusion, lying here in the grass, basking in the sunrise. Peridot has no idea why Garnet would do such a frivolous thing, but no matter. She has an objective and a goal, and she plans to succeed this time.
Under her visor, Garnet pries open one eye, her vibrantly purple one, all aglow. “Try fusion?” she muses, in a soft, lazy voice, dripping like syrup.
Peridot clears her throat, giving a sheepish nod.
A squeak escapes her as she notices Garnet sit up, and Peridot takes scurried steps back, giving the fusion some room to stretch. Those long, delicate arms with slender fingers; the firm yet fragile face structure; and her body, curves and sharp edges all in one. How? Why? Peridot had so many questions. Where did Garnet get which features? What sort of Gems was she even made of? She had never seen the tight-knit fusion separated before…
“Peridot,” Garnet speaks up, her tone going stern. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes, of course,” Peridot replies.
She surprises herself by not sounding the least bit hesitant. But she is alarmed by the sudden outstretched hand.
Even more questions press against the floodgates of her mindset. “Don’t we need music?” she asks. “S-should I go get my stilts?”
“You don’t need any of that,” Garnet assures. “Not if you’re ready for this. Besides-” A chuckle escapes her, and her lips curve to the left in a half-smile. “-the buckets don’t exactly help like you think they do. You’re fine, just the way you are.”
A soft “oh” escapes Peridot, and she takes both of Garnet’s hands, which feel twice the size of her own. When in retrospect, they fit almost like puzzle pieces. There’s no debate on who should lead, and Garnet takes gentle steps in the tall grass, letting them glide through it together.
Peridot feels lost, more lost than she’s ever been on Earth. Could it be? Weeks after betraying a Diamond, she’s dancing with a fusion? A fusion, no less of two different Gems?
She’s so lost, so confused … and yet, so elated.
It’s a strange source of happiness, a delirious one, like she doesn’t know what to do but she’s not bothered by it.
Garnet begins to hum a few bars, a simple melody, really. Peridot starts to hum along, catching the tune but not knowing what it’s from. She lets her arms get lifted up over her head, and she’s easily twirled - once, twice, three times, before she’s lifted up off the ground a few inches. Garnet is holding Peridot around the waist, and there is no protest, no nagging.
Why Peridot is letting all of this happen, she isn’t entirely sure. She’s done crazier things since she’s teamed up with these Crystal Gems. This is a pebble compared to the boulder she’s been faced with.
Peridot drapes both of her arms around Garnet’s neck, her fingers creeping up to raise the visor. Garnet’s afro acts like a stand, absorbing the edge of the glasses and keeping them in place.
All three eyes focus on Peridot, who gasps and stares and then…
...it happens.
The glow, a soft pink and green shrouds them both. Of course, Garnet is so carefree, allowing this effortlessly. Peridot lets a nerve or two shock her system awake, to let her know she’s alive, and the aura surrounds her, and then there’s nothing.
Nothing at all.
There is nothing in her vision but Garnet.
Garnet, still holding her hand, and staring into her eyes.
They’re in a void of sorts, a blurry colorful one, and they watch in each other’s eyes as a new life plays out.
Rhodochrosite. That’s what they’re called. The name just comes to them all.
A part of Peridot wants to panic, to flee, to pretend all of this nonsense never happened. Yet somehow, there is a larger part that lets her stay, and just be. Garnet is just so, practically meditating her way through.
Together, they have a tunnel vision of sorts. Five eyes, each one focused on a different sight.
There’s the sunrise. The ocean. The grass. The barn. Most importantly, themself.
A voice that is foreign and recognizable slips out; “So this is what it feels like.”
The statement is on both of their behalf.
This voice has all the elegance of Garnet, the firm boldness and the accent, with an undertone of Peridot’s wavering worry and wit. It’s strange, but fitting. Rhodochrosite sits on the grass, fiddling with their torn leggings, worn and shredded at the place where Peridot’s diamonds should be, and there’s a mini-skirt over top. And her colors are so wonderfully mismatched, greys and pinks and yellows.
Garnet is amused, this is so much like her first form.
They have a structure that is soft and appealing, but that is simply a facade to the muscle and strength.
She seems to be a well-placed balance.
Three gems are on their body, each one feeling perfectly in place.
There’s a star, bursting across her top, and her hands trail across her new body until she grips the shirt, taking useless breaths.
“Is this what it means to belong?”
That’s Peridot speaking, but in an entirely different voice. A voice she wouldn’t mind getting used to. Now she sees why Garnet stays permanently together; there seems to be a uselessly wonderful sensation in being fused. Besides, as she watches them, her, it - she’s not even sure what Rhodochrosite is capable of.
Would she be a fierce warrior or incredibly intelligent? Both? Neither?
They can’t get her to move.
As frantic as her vision might be, Rhodochrosite’s body does not wish to act the same.
(It’s actually a simple body; four arms and five eyes being her only oddity.)
Peridot and Garnet leave her be, let her lean back on two of her hands and watch the sun come up. Her other hands occupy themselves with inspecting her new form. Both sets of arms are identical, rounded out perfectly and a little more than just slender - with skin to spare, in fact. Her torso is all Garnet, buxom and curvy, but the small child-like form of Peridot is in the lower half. Nimble and average, but surprisingly powerful.
And her hair, oh, how ridiculous her hair is.
It’s a star.
In the name of all that is good and glorious on this Earth, why did the hair have to be in the shape of a star?
Rhodochrosite’s laughter is unlike anything in this world; full-bodied and feminine and goofy. She actually falls back, her outfit slightly fluttering in the wind. As she looks down at herself, she’s not much taller than Garnet.
“This is nice.”
This statement is all her own.
Garnet and Peridot are simply viewers at this point.
Rhodochrosite is her own gem now. She could do so much, but she chooses not to. Instead, she watches the pink sun rise up over the soft rainbow of clouds. It could have been seconds, or minutes, maybe even an hour that passes, but she gets lost. And she’s never alone.
Neither are they.
“Peridot! Garnet!”
There’s the familiar call, and it causes her to diminish.
The glow doesn’t entrance them or cause them to get lost, it’s more of a flash, and they fall apart, splayed through the field apart from each other.
Steven galavants over the small hill and gasps, “Did you guys fuse?”
He seems to recognize all of the signs, he goes on, mumbling about he wishes he could have seen it and he asks what it was like for them, and it’s all too many questions for Peridot to process at the moment. She covers her ears, groaning as he drones on. As she squints, trying to get back to seeing with only two eyes, she watches Garnet easily get up, comforting Steven, reassuring him.
Before Peridot knows it, Steven is laughing and smiling once again, practically skipping his way back to the barn.
Once he’s out of sight, Peridot blinks rapidly, staring intently at Garnet. “You … really care for him, don’t you?” she asks.
“More than anything,” Garnet says breathlessly.
“I could feel it,” Peridot muses. “Your love, how strong it is. When w-we- we were-”
For some reason, she can’t bring herself to say the name. It seems too powerful, like she’s not worthy of saying it.
Garnet smiles sweetly. “When we were Rhodochrosite,” she declares. “I felt your anxieties and worries, you know. That’s what fusion is, balancing each other out and finding your own way to be.”
Peridot notices the tint on Garnet’s shades have changed.
They were pink before, and now they’re blue.
“What Gems are you composed of?” Peridot retorts. It comes out more harshly than she wanted to be, but when she’s confused and torn apart, such as now, she can barely control herself. It’s a tic that Yellow Diamond used to reprimand her for- but not anymore. “If you don’t mind my asking.”
Holding up both of her hands for display, Garnet lets out a soft laugh that shakes her whole body. “I’m Ruby and Sapphire,” she explains. “They’re so close together, they can’t stand to be apart.”
Peridot pauses. “So that’s why you exist,” she mumbles.
“It’s a longer story than that,” Garnet says, stepping forward.
Everything seems so much to Peridot. The way Garnet sashays in her step, how the grass crunches under her weight, her warm hands cradling Peridot’s face.
Garnet’s smiling now, much more than Peridot has ever seen before on her.
“I’m glad you understand now.”
“Not one hundred percent.”
“It’s close enough.”
Their banter is simple, yet says everything that they can’t put into words. Peridot wants to look into those enchanting eyes again, ponder why they’re such bold, different colors. But looking into those eyes make her feel small again. Like she’s not … not something she should be.
Instead, she starts blurting out words without thinking, as per the usual. “I have a request,”
“Yes,” Garnet says, in an even more rushed, surprised tone of voice.
Peridot is too flabbergasted to indulge in the soft, warm lips being placed upon her own. She always thought kissing to be so intimate, but now, compared to fusion? This is the tip of the iceberg. It causes her entire being, every nerve, to spark up and accelerate. She loves it, she can’t get enough, her tiny hands clutch the collar of Garnet’s suit and they simply stand there, awkwardly embracing and lips gently pushing against each other.
“H-how did you,” Peridot stammers when they break.
“Future vision,” Garnet says slyly, and in the sunlight, Peridot can see the silhouette of her top eye winking.
With a shaky smile, Peridot is scared and excited and confused at what’s going on.
But she doesn’t seem to care anymore.
She lets Garnet pick her up, clutching her against her chest as they go back to join their fellow Gems at the warehouse. Peridot realizes that everything for her ended … and began, seemingly at the same time. She hasn’t a clue of what Garnet thinks, but judging from her minuscule, almost-hidden smile, it’s clear to see they’re both shining as bright as the sun on the inside.
They share a light, and Peridot secretly vows to herself, that sooner or later, Rhodochrosite will feel that light too.
//
...and never did i think that i would be caught in the way you got me.