The Answer

[Open. Int. Greg's Storage Shed]

(The episode opens with the camera panning over to a truck that Steven is sleeping and snoring in. Steven snores a final time before waking up.)

Steven: Mm.

(A shadowy figure approaches him, waking him up.)

Garnet: (excitedly) Steven!

Steven: (gasps) Garnet! Is it morning already?

Garnet: It's midnight! Happy birthday, Steven!

Steven: (grabs his cheeks, then sits up and grabs Garnet's cheeks) Oh man! Are you finally gonna tell me that you're a fusion of the Gems Ruby and Sapphire like you promised?

Garnet: You already know about all that, Steven.

Steven: (sighs and lets go of Garnet) It's true. (falls back into bed)

Garnet: But what you don't know is how Ruby and Sapphire first met.

Steven: (sits back up and grabs her cheeks again with stars in his eyes, blushes) OMG! I don't!

Garnet: (blushes and giggles)

[Flashback begins; Trans. Ext. Cloud Arena]

Garnet: (narrating) The Earth, 5,750 years ago; it was a promising site of a new Gem colony, but progress was being thwarted by a small, persistent group of rebels. A team of diplomatic Gems were sent from Homeworld to investigate. Among those Gems was Sapphire, a rare aristocratic Homeworld Gem, with the power to see into the future. Assigned to her were three Rubies, common soldiers, with a mission to protect her.

Ruby (Right Shoulder Gem): (to Ruby Guard 2) Hey! Can't wait for those rebels to get here!

Ruby (Right Back-Hand Gem): Haha, yeah! When I see those rebels, I'm gonna punch them right in their faces!

Ruby (Right Shoulder Gem): What are you sayin'? I'm gonna punch them all over their bodies, and then it'll be over.

Ruby (Right Back-Hand Gem): What if, I just punch you!

(She punches Ruby (Right Shoulder Gem) in the back of her shoulder as she yelps out in pain, and sticks her tongue out.)

Ruby: Oh, come on. We'll punch 'em together when we fuse. That's why they sent, uh, three of us?

Ruby (Right Shoulder Gem): Three this!

(Ruby (Right Shoulder Gem) attempts to punch Ruby, but Ruby blocks the attack. Ruby is knocked backwards, causing her to back into Sapphire. Onlooking Gems gasp.)

Ruby: Oh, I, um, I'm so sorry, I, let me, uh...

Sapphire: I'm fine.

Ruby: What?

Sapphire: It's okay. It was bound to happen.

Ruby: I, uh... okay.

Sapphire: Now please wait here. I must attend to my duties.

Ruby: Right.

Ruby (Right Shoulder Gem): Mmm.

Ruby (Right Back-Hand Gem): Yes.

(Sapphire walks to Blue Diamond's Palanquin, where Blue Diamond's Pearl is standing next to Blue Diamond's throne. The Rubies stand at attention.)

Garnet: (narrating) Sapphire had been called to Earth by Blue Diamond, specifically to share her vision of the future.

Sapphire: (enters palanquin) My diamond, I've arrived.

Garnet: Blue Diamond spoke.

Blue Diamond (voiced by Garnet): Sapphire, tell me what will happen here.

Sapphire: I foresee the rebels attacking the Cloud Arena. Before they are cornered, they will destroy the physical forms of seven gems, including two of my Ruby guards, and myself. Immediately after my form is destroyed, the rebels will be captured. The rebellion ends here.

Blue Diamond (voiced by Garnet): Thank you, Sapphire.

Garnet: (narrating) Blue Diamond said, relieved.

Blue Diamond (voiced by Garnet): That's all I needed to know.

Sapphire: I look forward to speaking with you again once I reform back on Homeworld.

(Sapphire gives a curtsy to Blue Diamond before returning to her Ruby guards.)

Garnet: (narrating) Sapphire knew she would be a casualty, but it did not faze her. She saw her whole life laid out before her, and she had already accepted all of it.

Sapphire: (to Ruby) What a beautiful place to build a colony. I wish I could have seen more of this planet.

Ruby: Uh... there's still time.

Sapphire: That is a nice thought, but... no.

Rose Quartz: (off-screen) Blue Diamond, leave this planet! This colony will not be completed!

Ruby (Right Back-Hand Gem): It's the rebels!

(Various Gems mutter among themselves. One Gem can be heard shouting, "Who are you!? Show yourselves!" Pearl, wielding two swords, and Rose Quartz appear.)

Rose Quartz: We...

Rose Quartz and Pearl: ... are the Crystal Gems!

(The Palanquin carrying Blue Diamond and her Pearl closes, sprouts mechanical legs, and walks off.)

Garnet: (narrating) The attack was right on schedule.

(Pearl uses her swords to defeat four other Gems before Ruby and her fellow guards intervene and fuse into a much bigger Ruby . The Ruby fusion charges after Rose Quartz, but she counter-attacks, instantly defusing the Ruby fusion. Pearl then jumps in and destroys the forms of the two other Ruby Guards, leaving just Ruby. Pearl then prepares to strike Sapphire.)

Sapphire: Thank you, Ruby. You did your best.

Garnet: (narrating) Ruby suddenly realized what Sapphire meant. She had known that Ruby would fail. Sapphire had accepted it. But Ruby... Ruby could not.

Ruby: NO!!

(Ruby charges at Sapphire, pushing her out of the way of Pearl's attack. As the two of them spin in the air, they fuse into Garnet for the first time.)

Past Garnet: Wha... (She examines her newly formed body, and the two gems on her palms.) What... !?

(Onlooking Gems gasp, horrified. They mutter among themselves.)

Past Garnet: What...what is this?

(Pearl, amazed, looks on, but shakes it off and prepares to strike. She is stopped by Rose Quartz.)

Rose Quartz: Wait! This is... hm? (The other Gems notice her and begin to approach, ignoring Garnet) ... Let's go.

Pearl: Uh... bye!

(The two of them jump away.)

Past Garnet: Is this... ? (She defuses into Ruby and Sapphire.)

Garnet: (narrating) The furious crowd closed in around Ruby and Sapphire. They'd never seen fusion of two different types of gems.

Various Gems (voiced by Garnet): Unbelievable! Disgusting! This is unheard of!

Garnet: (narrating) Blue Diamond's voice cut through the crowd.

Blue Diamond (voiced by Garnet): The rebels have fled. Sapphire, this was not the scenario you described!

Sapphire: This is... not what I saw! I don't know what happened, I...

Ruby: No! It was me!

Blue Diamond (voiced by Garnet): Clearly.

Garnet: (narrating) Said Blue Diamond.

Blue Diamond (voiced by Garnet): How dare you fuse with a member of my court?

Ruby: Forgive me, I... !

Blue Diamond (voiced by Garnet): You will be broken for this!

(The crowd of Gems begins to close in on them, but Sapphire grabs Ruby's hand and dashes off with her.)

Ruby: Waaaiiit!! What are you doooiiing!? Nooo!!

(The two of them disappear into the clouds.)

[Trans. somewhere on Earth]

(Ruby and Sapphire land at the base of a mountain, where it is raining heavily.)

Ruby: Ugh, why'd you do that!? I have to get you back up there!

Sapphire: They were gonna break you!

Ruby: Who cares!? There's tons of me!

(Ruby looks up at the rain, and the area around the mountain. She groans in panic.)

Ruby: Gahh! What do we do now!?

Garnet: (narrating) Sapphire had known every moment of her life. How it would happen, and when. But because of Ruby's impulsive gesture, she suddenly jumped the track of fate, and everything from that instant on was wrong, and new. She couldn't see, she couldn't move. She was... frozen.

(Ice begins forming around Sapphire's feet.)

Ruby: Ah! We have to get you... out of here!

(Ruby stands behind Sapphire, grabs her, and pulls her out of the ice. Ruby, carrying her, looks back for a moment.)

Ruby: Come on.

(Ruby carries Sapphire away from the mountain and into a nearby cave. Ruby sets her down there and examines the area.)

Ruby: Alright, this should be good for now.

(Sapphire sits down, and uncovers her eye.)

Sapphire: Thank you...

(Ruby looks at her, stunned speechless. Fire starts forming around her feet. Ruby steps out of the flames, startled. They make a fire, and the two warm up beside it, but Ruby keeps pacing, still panicked.)

Ruby: What kind of Ruby am I supposed to be? Look at this! It's my fault you're stranded here. How am I gonna save you?

Sapphire: You already did.

Ruby: What!?

Sapphire: You already saved me.

(Ruby sniffles and sits down next to the fire, still perturbed. The two remain silent for a moment, thinking about the fusion they performed. Ruby stares at her gem and Sapphire's gem for a while.)

Sapphire: I... I've seen gems fuse before, but I had no idea that's what it felt like. I always thought... I never realized that fusion... that'd you'd disappear like that.

Ruby: It's never like that! Whenever I've fused, it's always just been me, but bigger, I... I've never had a third eye before.

Sapphire: I've never had more than one! It was nice.

Ruby: (blushes) Ha... yeah...

(Ruby and Sapphire later leave the cave, as the sun is coming up and it is no longer raining. "Something Entirely New" begins to play, with Ruby and Sapphire singing. Afterwards, the two of them fuse into Garnet once more. Not used to this form, Garnet stumbles about.)

Garnet: (narrating) I was back; I was someone and I didn't know who. But I felt I was getting the hang of my strange new form. ... And then I fell.

(Past Garnet trips and rolls down a hill.)

Past Garnet: ... Ouch.

(Suddenly, a sword is pointed at Past Garnet's face. Past Garnet recoils back towards the hill.)

Past Garnet: Ah! Don't hurt her! Don't hurt... me?

(The camera pans, revealing Pearl as the sword bearer.)

Pearl: It's you! The fusion...

Past Garnet: We didn't mean to fuse! Well... well, we did this time. We'll unfuse! We, we'll...

(Rose Quartz approaches from off-screen.)

Rose Quartz: No, no, please... I'm glad to see you again.

Garnet: (narrating) And there they were: Rose Quartz, the leader of the rebellion, and her terrifying renegade Pearl.

Past Garnet: I don't upset you?

Rose Quartz: Who cares about how I feel? How you feel is bound to be much more interesting.

Past Garnet: How I feel? I feel... uh, lost... and scared... and happy. W-why am I so sure that I'd rather be this than everything I was supposed to be, and that I'd rather do this than anything I was supposed to do?

Rose Quartz: (laughing) Welcome to Earth!

Past Garnet: C-can you tell me!? How was Ruby able to alter fate? Or, why was Sapphire willing to give up everything? W-what am I!?

Rose Quartz: No more questions. Don't ever question this. (Rose holds Garnet's hands.) You already are the answer.

[Flashback ends]

[Trans. Int. Greg's Storage Shed]

Steven: So... ? What was it?

(Garnet raises an eyebrow.)

Steven: The answer.

Garnet: (whispering) Love.

Steven: Wow... I knew it.

Garnet: So did I.

(The star-shaped iris closes on Garnet, ending the episode. The shape closes with hearts popping out as opposed to the usual stars.)

[END]