Aftermath

Steven has to run.

He has to, he has to, she's right behind him, he can hear her laughter, maniacal and desperate, but there's nowhere for him to go— he's trapped in the bubble— his legs are screaming, his lungs are burning, there's not enough air —

She's on top of him, right on top of him. She's going to plunge her dagger into his stomach and cut out his gem, and she can't she can't she can't—

Steven's eyes snap open, it's dark, but he can see her dark red shape looming over him— he grabs the Ruby, pushes her off, jumps back, shield springing into existence— he has— he has to get away —

"Steven?" the Ruby says, picking herself up from the floor.

She doesn't sound angry, or mean— she sounds concerned.

Steven looks around him. He's not in space, he's not in his bubble. He's at the Temple. In his bed, the sheets knotted and tangled around him. Through the darkness, he blinks at the Ruby. Two eyes. A headband. Not a single Diamond symbol in sight.

Not Eyeball. His Ruby.

His arms drop down, shield disappearing. He's still gasping for breath.

"I heard you thrashing around," Ruby says. "Bad dreams?"

"Mmm."

Ruby takes a step closer. Steven flinches. She freezes.

Steven grimaces, and lets himself fall back down on the bed. He needs to change the subject. "Is something wrong? Where's Sapphire?"

"Nothing's wrong. Sapphire's in the Temple." Ruby's voice is soft, placating. She keeps her distance, not coming any closer.

"Why'd you unfuse?"

Ruby gives a little laugh. He can't be sure without any light, but based on the sudden wave of warmth, Steven thinks she might be blushing. "It's kind of silly."

"Silly's good," Steven says, a little too quickly.

"Ah, well… we really just did it for fun," Ruby admits. "Sapphire's very pretty. I don't get to appreciate that as Garnet." She winks at Steven. It startles a giggle out of him. "We were gonna refuse right away, but I decided to get a bite to eat," explains Ruby, gesturing down towards the kitchen.

"You like to eat?" asks Steven.

"More than Sapphy does. Food's fine as an occasional treat." Ruby shifts a little, and her light tone falls away. "But is anything wrong with you?"

"I'm fine," Steven mutters, staring down at his duvet. "Bad dream. Just like you said."

Ruby makes an unconvinced little sound.

Steven doesn't respond, just sits there, at a loss for words. He thinks about forcing a yawn, putting on a show of being really tired, even though sleep is the last thing from his mind. That'd probably convince her…

But when he looks up, Ruby hasn't moved an inch. She's just staring at him, worry written on her face.

"Is— is this about Rose?" she asks. "Or Jasper? Or getting lost in space?"

"Kinda."

"Oh Steven," says Ruby. "I'm so sorry. I wish— I wish we'd been quicker, Sardonyx should have been able to catch you—"

"It's not that," says Steven. "It's— Eyeball. You know, one of the Rubies?" Ruby nods. "We ended up floating together. She was really, really upset— and then, her Gem got cracked— I brought her into my bubble—"

Ruby's brow furrows. "But she wasn't in the bubble when we found you— oh." Horrible understanding spreads across her face. "What happened?"

Steven buries his head in his hands. "She tried to kill me."

He takes quick, deep breaths, feeling for a moment as though all the air might vanish.

It isn't that he almost died. He's— he's used to that, really. It's scary, but you can just push through it, and once it's over, forget that any of the fear ever happened.

But Eyeball attacked him. And Steven ran, and reasoned, and tried his best to make her stop, to be friends, to help her understand— but still, she kept attacking, and he had no choice but to throw her out into space—

It was like Bismuth all over again.

And then she was gone. And he was cold, so cold, and he could barely breathe, and he'd been certain that he was about to die, all alone.

"She thought I was Mom," Steven says. "Just like Jasper. They both— they both seemed really upset about Pink Diamond."

"Yeah, well." Ruby rubs her neck. "Diamonds inspire a lot of love and loyalty in their subjects."

Not in you, Steven thinks. Whatever loyalty Ruby ever had for her Diamond was given up for Sapphire, for Earth, for the Crystal Gems.

"You're all so different," Steven says.

"Huh?"

"Rubies," says Steven. "Garnet made it sound like you were all— I don't know. Basically identical. But you're not. I mean, there's similarities, but you're nothing like Doc or Army— or Eyeball—"

"Ah. Yeah." Ruby sighs. "I guess maybe I— Garnet— had sort of… forgot. It just… everything before I came to Earth… it feels so dull. I was Ruby and they were Ruby and we were all— all just the same. And then I fused with Sapphire and everything was— entirely different. New and bright. I never even thought it was possible to see the universe like Garnet does."

Steven can sort of understand that. He knows how… disorientating fusing can be, to be a new person, to be Stevonnie or Smoky. And at least he'd known what fusion was, at least he'd already known Connie and Amethyst before it'd happened. How weird it would have to have been, to suddenly be sharing minds with someone you'd barely even spoke to before?

Weird, but not a bad weird, considering how it worked out.

Ruby creeps closer, moving slowly, hesitant, ready to stop if Steven so much as twitches. He doesn't. He lets her sit down on the mattress besides him. "I missed them," she says.

"…Who?"

"Other Rubies," Ruby says. "I hadn't even realized. But they were my only friends, before. It's fun being around them. I'd forgotten." She chuckles softly, wistfully. "There were quite a few Rubies in the Crystal Gems. You would have liked them. There was Hotshot— she was one of our best pilots. Oh, and Lilac. She liked to put flowers in her hair, and then she'd get so sad when she burned them by mistake…"

"I wish I could have met them."

"Well. Maybe you will, one day."

Steven glances over at the Temple door, just barely visible from his bed. There's a lot of corrupted Gems on the other side. He hopes he'll be able to heal them all.

He leans against Ruby, burrowing his head into the crook of her neck. She's surprisingly soft, and very warm, like a giant, person-shaped water bottle. "I feel sorry for all the Rubies in space."

"They attacked us," Ruby points out.

"They didn't know any better," says Steven. "Maybe if…"

He trails off.

Ruby wraps an arm around him. "They'll be fine for now. Gems are built for space, and we Rubies are pretty hardy. But when we get the chance, we'll go looking for them. Okay?"

Steven nods into her shoulder. "Okay."

"But for now," she says, "you should sleep."

Steven mumbles something which might be an 'okay'. It doesn't sound particularly genuine.

Ruby pulls herself gently out of the hug. "How 'bout this?" she says, lightly pressing Steven to lie back down on the bed, and pulling the covers up over him. "If you go to sleep, Garnet will have a waffle breakfast ready for when you wake up."

"Really?"

"Promise."

"Okay," Steven says, more clearly this time. He smiles up at her, then obediently closes his eyes. He feels her press a warm kiss onto his forehead.

oOoOoOo

Author's Note: Because I need more interaction between Steven and Ruby and Sapphire as individuals. (Also, shout out to LadyRavenEye for finding a non-angsty way to justify her being separate from Sapph for a while).