Together- A Ruby x Sapphire Fanfic (Homeworld AU)

Chapter 3

Ruby looked around her room, admiring her new surroundings. It was definitely much bigger than her old room. Her old room was more like a closet than an actual room.
The thing that caught her eye was the enormous window Sapphire was talking about.

She could see the whole view of the stars and cosmos from it. In the distance, Ruby noticed the small globe that was green and blue with white swirls all around it.

Earth.

Ruby smiled, thinking of the memories she had on Earth. She remembered when she had to go to Earth for a simple mission. Earth was absolutely beautiful. 

Ruby walked away from the window and started unpacking. 

She only brought some of her most prized possessions. They were mostly small stuff that reminded her of good memories. She started placing them on her desk, shelves and she pinned any photos (without frames) and posters on her wall.

She noticed her walls were more of a shade of pink than red.

"I need to fix that," Ruby mumbled to herself. 

Ruby went to see what her next item was, but the only thing left was a framed picture. She stared at it for a while before hesitantly picking it up.

She rubbed the picture through its glass frame and examined the picture with sad, hurt eyes.

It was a picture of Ruby, herself, with a certain half-human boy. 

They were on the beach. A few specks of sand were blowing in the wind. The sun was barely setting giving the sky a beautiful mixture of clouds that came in the colors of cyan, dark blue, blush pink, pale purple, and fire orange. The ocean behind them had the reflection of the sunset rippled on the surface. 

In the picture, Ruby had her arm around the boy's shoulder. Her eyes were happily closed. Her smile was real and bright. She was giving the camera a thumbs up. Instead of her usual outfit, she wore a black tank top with cherry-red shorts. She walked barefoot at the time.

The boy also had his arm draped around Ruby's shoulder. His black eyes shined in the light of the sunset. It almost looked like stars in his eyes. His free hand was in the shape of a peace sign. His curly, black hair blew in the wind, dancing along with the specks of sand randomly flying in the photo. He had on a salmon shirt with a bright, golden star in the middle. His blue jeans neatly wrapped around his legs and he was also barefoot. His salmon sandals were sitting in the sand in the background.

Ruby smiled depressingly at the memory she had on the beach. She looked at the boy for a while. Soon, horrible memories flashed in her mind. 

His last words returned to her again, "keep living, stay alive for me...Ruby." 

Ruby's tears started slipping down her cheeks. She closed her eyes, accepting the failure to keep her tears in her eyes. Her back was to the wall and she slowly slid down. She buried her head into her knees.

She stayed like that for a few minutes until her tears started to die down a bit. 

Ruby sighed, rubbing the glass again to where the boy was displayed. 

"I am so sorry, Steven," Ruby almost choked on her own words. Ruby couldn't stop the tears, as much as she wanted to keep them from escaping. The small droplets were gliding down her cheeks like a waterfall falling down a cliff.

 A tear fell onto the picture, right where the boy was displayed. 

Ruby gasped, noticing the stray tear that landed on the frame. She gently placed the picture on the desk next to her bed. She wiped away the last remaining tears and hesitantly stepped out of her room. She needed to get that sickening memory out of her mind.

"Sapphire!" Ruby weakly called out.

"I'm downstairs!" Sapphire's voice echoed quietly. Ruby quickly walked down the stairs, but Sapphire was already at the bottom of the stairs.

"My Sapphire, I would li--" Sapphire quickly interrupted Ruby when she noticed something strange about her.

"My Ruby, have you been crying," asked Sapphire.

"Uh, what...I-I don't know what you're talking about," Ruby shrugged, chuckling nervously. Sweat trickled down the side of her face. 

"Something clearly isn't okay with you. Your eyes are all red and...are you sure you're okay," Sapphire rose her voice a bit higher in concern.

"I-I'm fine, I just...allergies?" Ruby mentally slapped herself. Gems can't get sick (excluding food poisoning). 

Sapphire shook her head and sighed, "there is something wrong with you. It's okay to talk about it, I'll listen." Sapphire took a step closer to Ruby, but it only caused Ruby to take a step back.

"N-no, I'm fine...really," Ruby held her hands out in front of her and faked a smile, though that didn't help tears from rushing to her eyes. 

"Ruby," Sapphire's tone became sterner, "you aren't okay." Sapphire took Ruby's hand in her own as a way of comfort. 
"It's okay, I'll listen. I'm here," Sapphire said.

Suddenly, in Ruby's eyes, there was a flash and Sapphire's place was replaced by Steven. The tears escaped and she had no way to stop them. 

"Ruby!" Sapphire exclaimed, removing her hand from Ruby's.

"I'm sorry!" With those two words that came out of Ruby's mouth, she was out and running away from the sanctuary. Amethyst noticed a flash of red and hot wind when she ran out the door. She heard Sapphire calling Ruby's name repeatedly.

Sapphire quickly ran out. 

"Sapphire, hold up!" Amethyst called out, grabbing Sapphire's small wrist. Sapphire skidded to a stop and looked back at the short Amethyst whose face was also filled with concern. 

"Don't go after her," commanded Amethyst.

"Why not," asked Sapphire, "I was just trying to help her."

Amethyst sighed, walking towards Sapphire. 

"Look, you barely know Ruby so it isn't your fault, but stuff like this is going to happen. She had a really fucked up past, okay? When she starts to think about her past she gets really emotional. She mostly wants to be left alone at times like this. That or either she wants someone by her, but not being bombarded with questions. Since Ruby barely knows you, it's kind of different. She doesn't want you to know anything...serious yet," Amethyst explained. 

"I really messed up then," whispered Sapphire to mostly herself than to Amethyst.

"No, you didn't. All I'm saying is, try and get to know Ruby before you get to know her past. She'll be back, by the way. She's most likely just going on a walk to get whatever she was thinking about out of her mind, so you don't have to worry about her leaving permanently," reassured Amethyst. 

"Is Ruby worth getting to know?" Sapphire asked. She instantly regrets asking that since it sounded a bit rude.

"Believe me, she is. Ruby is awesome and she's funny. You can trust her with everything. Thing is, she might have a tantrum here and there, but it's hilarious," Amethyst paused to let out a snorted laugh. 

Amethyst continued, "you'll like her a lot, trust me when I say that. Honestly, I didn't like her at first. It was my fault for judging her at first sight, but she turned out to be my best friend. Oh yeah, when Ruby comes back, let her rest, okay?" 

"I will. Thank you, Amethyst," Sapphire sighed, walking back into her sanctuary. 
As soon as the door closed, Sapphire slid her back against the door until she was sitting on the floor. She looked around the soundless sanctuary. 

"Please tell me you're okay," Sapphire softly spoke to herself.