secret santa fic

[unification]

What is it like being a gem?

It was an innocent question that he brought up while chatting with Amethyst that quickly got out of hand.

First there was Amethyst’s response, as she ate the sandwich he made for her. The Gems didn’t have normal food…or a kitchen or place to actually store food in. They never talk about it but he’s pretty positive that they don’t need to eat because they’re, well, aliens. He was still getting used to that fact more than he could accept. Amethyst seemed to always like the snacks he brought her, so he thought it’d be nice to share some real lunch when he decided to ask her this question. Of all the gems she seemed to like him most.

He was not expecting her to shove the sandwich into her mouth and eat it in one bite, but immediately afterward she answered his question.

“It’s awesome!” She pipped happily. “You get to shapeshift, have special weapons, fuse with other gems and, and, we get to make up how we look!”

Wait, what?

“Well our bodies aren’t actually real, they’re just projections we make up for ourselves. At least that’s what Pearl said.”

He just smiled and felt a little bit of his brain rattle up. Totally normal when he interacts with the Gems.

“So yeah, it’s pretty awesome. We don’t need to sleep or eat like humans, but that stuff is a lot of fun if you ask me. Garnet and Pearl never do it. I think Rose did once just to give it a try and I think she does it sometimes if she isn’t busy.” She rambled on and on without even taking a breath, because Gems don’t need to breathe either. “We also live forever – oh Greg,” she stopped to snicker “guess how old I am?!”

It must be high. A thousand?

“Haha!" She topples over onto her back, unable to even contain one laugh. "Not even close dude!”

***

He thought it was over then. It was just an innocent question to make conversation. If he really wanted answers, he knew it would be best to go to Garnet. Pearl, maybe, but she made no secret of her disapproval of him and his relationship with Rose.

“Excuse me, Greg? I would like a word with you, if you have the time.”

He did not expect her to approach him that day, as he was waiting by the warp pad for Rose to come out of her door. She was running a little late, but he figured she was just busy with the usual Gem stuff.

“Amethyst told me that you approached her with a question about us. As in about Gems. Is that right?”

Well he got her there.

She gaffed and giggled a little. “Well! If you wanted to know, you should have just come to me! I can tell you everything about our history and culture.”

Really?

“Certainly! Although it would take some time. The history of our kind as a whole spans even longer than the existence of the Earth itself!” She took a moment to pause, her index and thumb coiling around her chin in thought. “I guess the beginning would be appropriate and from there we could keep progressing further and further to the known present.”

Okay so the thought of going to Pearl was completely wrong.

“So you don’t want to know about the history of our kind and our planet. Rose’s planet.”

No, no! It isn’t that Gem culture and the world isn’t interesting, he’s sure it is, but he doesn’t exactly have all day here. He just wanted to know more about being a Gem so he could connect with Rose better.

“Oh, well, that’s kind of silly don’t you think? You’re not a Gem, so what good would it do for you?”

Does she want to tell him or not?

She hums in that way that makes it clear she’s annoyed. “Well if you must know, being a Gem…it’s like…” It was rare for Pearl to be at a loss for words. She was always so confident and quick to speak before anyone else. “If I had to look at it from the perspective of a human, I would say being a Gem is like…being something – mystical. Yes, mystical and wondrous is how I would put it. We exist as constructs of light, while our true core lies in the gem. Our race is ancient and far more advanced than Earth’s, but I wouldn’t say that puts us above Earth.”

It kind of sounds like it does.

“Greg, look, you have to understand – we don’t know a lot about humans honestly. We defend your planet because we thought what our world was doing to the Earth was wrong and savage. But you’re very different from us. For instance, you all look different and don’t have strict class structure.”

Look different? So do all Gems look the same?

“Not all Gems, but it is rare for a Gem to be truly unique in their existence…compared to others…” She trails off to the end, suddenly looking quite sullen as her words fade off. “Look, Greg, this question is silly. Just forget about it!”

So he tried to, but he got the sense that being a Gem may not be all that he thought it was cracked up to be.

***

“Greg.”

He was approached by Garnet as he was leaving the temple, night already fallen and his eyes wishing to close for a rest. He spent his time with Rose and now it was time for him to go while she went off to do more Gem-stuff. Of all the Gems, Garnet was the most intimidating. It always felt like there was a barrier, a mystique, that he could not penetrate with her. She wasn’t unfriendly, but she wasn’t chatty either. While he knew where he stood with Amethyst, Pearl and even Rose, he had no idea what she thought of him. She was…cool. Absolutely impossible to faze in her demeanor. He thinks if Rose weren’t the leader, then she would take the spot naturally.

“I know you spoke with Pearl and Amethyst about Gems.”

So they told her. Should have figured.

“They didn’t tell me. I just know you did.”

That’s…really creepy.

“I want to tell you my perspective. But first, tell me about your feelings with Amethyst and Pearl.”

Amethyst seemed more focused on what Gems could and couldn’t do. Pearl was more interested in the culture and history of the planet.

“And you were put-off by their responses.”

Well that’s a bit harsh. He was more confused by all they were throwing at him.

“I see. Then let me tell you what I think.”

He nodded, suddenly a lot more awake than he was moments before.

“First you need to understand: Gems are nothing like humans. Comparing our kinds is like comparing the sky to the ground. We exist in the same large space, but other than that there is nothing about us that is alike. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

It kind of sounds like one.

“Gems exist to serve a larger purpose. On our planet, every Gem has a class and every Gem must obey what that class tells them to do. That system exists to enhance our planet and its place in the galaxy. It’s a system that has worked for millenniums. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not broken in its own way.”

Yeah, it doesn’t sound pleasant. He couldn’t ever imagine being part of some assembly line, that does what they’re told to and nothing more. Maybe if he went down the path his parents kept telling him to make, it would have felt more like that, but he struck out like he did for a reason.

“The problem is we didn’t realize how broken that system was. There was no way we could when we were never exposed to anything else. When we realized it, we chose to leave it behind for something else. Not just Rose and the three of us, but the other Gems that rebelled and followed her into war to protect the planet.”

Wow…that’s really heavy. He had no idea. He never considered that Gems could be so cold and heartless.

She smiles. “That’s because we’re the only Gems you know.”

Very true. He would never want to meet another one knowing that.

“So when you ask what being a Gem is like, I want you consider a different question – why did the four of us leave our home, leave everything we knew behind, for a planet we knew so little about?”

He nods, feeling his heart twist up a little. He asked Garnet a favor, one he feels bad for asking but one he knows is for the best.

“Hm. Alright. I won’t tell Rose about our talk, or about your talks with Amethyst and Pearl. However, I assure you she wouldn’t be shy about sharing her disappointment with our planet and the ways we once lived.”

And so he didn’t, for many years.

***

“Wow, Greg… I had no idea you talked to everyone but me about this. Why wouldn’t you ask me?”

Many years passed since that night. Even though it would slip from his mind from time to time, he never forgot the talks he had with the three Gems. He never spoke of it to Rose, deciding it may be better to leave the past where it belongs.

But things are different now. In the next month, he’s going to be a father. He has no idea how childbirth is going to work and Pearl keeps fretting about Rose’s health and safety with delivering the first half-Gem half-Human child, but he knows once the oddity of it passes that they’ll all be a happy family.

“Yeah, I know, it’s dumb,” he laughs nervously, shaking a hand through his long locks. “But I dunno, with our son on the way…I guess I want to know your perspective now. Back then I don’t think I was ready, but now I know I am.”

Rose smiled and closed her eyes, pushing her hands against the sand of the beach, raking her toes in it and leaning back a little. He smiled back, finding her as beautiful and mysterious as the day he first spoke to her.

“Well, I guess I could tell you how I feel,” she says coyly, opening her eyes and grinning at him. “But if I do, you need to answer a question for me.”

“Oh, sure! Anything you want, babe.”

She laughed airily, always finding his strange human words for him to be delightful.

“Being a Gem…for me, it’s the feeling of just being alive. Being part of something greater than I am alone. I could tell you lots of stories Greg. Happy ones, sad ones–”

“You’ve already told me so much.”

“— And yet so little.” She says with a sadness in her voice, like she knows she’ll never have the time to tell him all of them, as she looks toward the shimmering sea with the sun raised high above it. “But the stories aren’t what’s important. What’s important is what we make of our life now, in this moment. All life is incredible in its own way Greg. From Gems, to Humans, to animals and plants and so much more beyond what we know.”

She lifts herself up again, looking at him straight in the eye, expression full of peace and wisdom.

“Being a Gem is about being something greater than oneself. And I don’t think that’s much different from what all other life is.”

He feels his heart stop for a moment, captured by her words and the grace behind them. Finally, he takes a small breath and smiles back at her.

“That’s beautiful Rose.”

“Thank you Greg.”

She kisses his forehead in a quick peck and he bashfully reclines, only to clumsily push forward and peck her nose.

Rose laughs. “Why did you kiss my nose?”

“Uh, ahaha, sorry, I was aiming for your lips.”

“Oh, you silly man you,” she snorts out between her laughs and puts her hands on her stomach, round and fuller than before.

He chuckles along and leans in, this time actually pressing against her lips. She presses back only ever so slightly, before pulling away with a grin.

“Okay Greg, now it’s your turn to answer my question.”

Oh, right, of course. He grins with tooth. “No problem! Hit me with your best shot Rose, I’m ready for anything!”

“Anything, huh?” She sways her head a little, ready to take him on the challenge. “Just one simple question, Greg.”

He would answer any question in the universe for her.

“Tell me…what is it like to be a human being.”

And the answer wasn’t nearly as simple as he thought it would be.