Together- A Ruby x Sapphire Fanfic (Homeworld AU)

C h a p t e r 9

Amethyst and Ruby teleported to a place that was unknown to Ruby. 

"Where are we going and why are we going," she asked.

"There's this place where it kind of looks like Earth. I'm doing you a favor. I found a place that could be perfect for you and Sapphire to be alone. Y'know, just to hang out or something," explained Amethyst.

Soon, the two gems started walking into a place that resembled a forest pretty well. 

"Huh, it's actually pretty nice out here, like something entirely new," said Ruby. She struggled to avoid stepping on any stray twigs. 

Tall pine and white oak trees surrounded them. The sound of the crunching leaves beneath the duo's feet satisfied the two. After a while of walking through the lanky grass, the path of bushes and plants seemed to be ending. Amethyst moved a large fern out of her way and a circle that was surrounded by trees was revealed. Ruby's eyes examined the place in awe. There was a nice, sparkling pond that had two logs (to sit on) around it. The grass was perfectly cut and was a nice shade of green. All types of flowers with different colors popped out of the ground. It was absolutely beautiful. It wasn't as beautiful as Earth itself, but it was definitely something new to Ruby. 

"Wow," Ruby gasped. "I actually think Sapphire will like this place. When I was talking to her about Earth, one day, she said she wanted to see it," Ruby said. 

She wandered around, resisting the urge to touch everything she found interesting.

"I'll go get Sapphire. She should be back by now. I'll come back if she isn't." With that being said, Amethyst left. 

Ruby waited until she saw a beam of light shoot into the sky. She lied down on the soft yet scratchy grass, running her fingers through it. After a minute, Ruby noticed a warp pad activating. She found this suspicious. 

She sat up, investigating the area around her. Amethyst just left, there was no way she could've come back so quickly. It couldn't have been Sapphire either. She decided to brush it off as it might've just been a random gem passing through. Though, there was something inside Ruby, telling her to watch out. 

She tried to relax, but the eerie atmosphere was making her anxious. The sound of crunching leaves interrupted the quietness that surrounded her. It made Ruby jump. She started to examine the place again. The sound of the crunching leaves got louder. Ruby stood still, staring at the trees in front of her. Abruptly, the noises stopped. It made Ruby petrified, but she hid her emotions. After two minutes of nothing but quietness, Ruby shrugged. 

"It was probably just my imagination," she mumbled to herself. 

She thought it was.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, large, heavy hands pushed Ruby, hard. This caused her to stumble back and fall into the pond. As she picked herself up, she heard a familiar evil chuckle coming from behind. 

Ruby's eyes widened. Her arms started to tremble. Hesitantly, she turned around to be met with intimidating, yellow eyes. 

"Jasper..." Ruby whispered to herself. 

Jasper let out a menacing laugh. 

"You're pathetic. Let me guess, you are waiting for your Sapphire and for what? To warn her about me? Oh, wait...you already failed at that," Jasper gutturally said. 

Jasper's words infuriated Ruby. Her body started to burn and her fists were clenched. She summoned her gauntlet, preparing for any sudden moves of violence.

"So what Sapphire didn't believe what I said. I'll take you down on my own," Ruby barked. 

Jasper let out another laugh. "You failed when you tried to save poor, worthless Steven," Jasper spat.

Ruby's body trembled with anger. It was true she failed, that was one thing. What angered her the most was the insult about Steven.

She lifted her head and glared down Jasper's smiling face. She kneeled down so she reached Ruby's level. Ruby was caught off guard when Jasper picked her up by her shirt. 

"Listen to me, you weak, little runt! You are nothin--" Jasper was interrupted when Ruby took her weaponed hand and punched Jasper in her face. She winced in pain causing her to drop Ruby. To Ruby's luck, she landed on her feet.

"You can say all you want about me, but do not make fun of Steven," grumbled Ruby. A tear of madness escaped her left eye. 

Without warning, Jasper kicked Ruby, right in the stomach. This caused Ruby to stumble back. She held her stomach and groaned in pain. Before she could get up, Jasper placed a foot on her chest. 

"Don't you get it? How could you not see it? You're nothing but another weak, worthless, dumb Ruby. To make it worse, you're defective, making you even more worthless. I could easily shatter you, but it'd be more fun to see you suffer. Just like with Steven! You better hope Sapphire doesn't...slip up. I will hurt her, possibly shatter her," Jasper warned.

Ruby placed a hand on Jasper's ankle. 
"L-look, Jasper, I d-don't care wh-what y-y-you d-do to me. You c-can hurt me, you can beat me, you can t-t-torture me, j-just whatever you do, don't touch her," Ruby said, in between coughs. 

With one last kick in the chest, Jasper left, leaving Ruby enraged. She had that feeling where she was so mad, she started to cry. Frustrated, she sat down on the log. Ruby ran her fingers through her poofy hair. Her hands covered her face. 

Ruby started hearing crunching leaves again. They weren't intense like Jasper's footsteps were. They were softer. Ruby recognized them. They were Sapphire. She wasn't prepared to be bombarded with questions from her.

"Ruby, I'm here. Amethyst asked me to meet you here. Is that correct?" Sapphire spoke. Ruby didn't dare turn around, but she felt Sapphire put a hand on her shoulder and her own hand, Ruby faced Sapphire.

"R-Ruby, what's wrong," asked Sapphire.

"Nothing!" Ruby snapped, causing Sapphire to wince a bit. 

"Yes, there is! You're crying tears of madness, obviously, there's something wrong," Sapphire said.

"Sapphire, if I tell what just happened, you'll say something like, 'oh, that's nonsense! Stop your bigotry!' Of course, why would you believe me!? After all, I'm just some dumb, worthless Ruby," she mimicked. 

Sapphire put one hand on Ruby's shoulder and another under her chin. She gently lifted her head up so Ruby would look straight at her. 

"Ruby, don't ever put yourself down like that. You are not dumb and you are not worthless. I need you to know you are worth something, to me, Amethyst, Rose. Homeworld can't see all your perfect imperfections, and that's okay. I do, your friends do," Sapphire caressed Ruby's cheek. 

Ruby put a hand over Sapphire's. Her body started to cool down and the tears started to disappear. 

"I'm so--"

"Don't apologize. Let's head back to my sanctuary. I still have to tell you about the news Rose told me to tell you," Sapphire lead Ruby out of the forest. 

Even though the whole meeting up Sapphire just for a normal chat thing didn't go as planned, Ruby felt quite satisfied with what she got. It was like Sapphire was all she needed to make her happy.