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Living alongside humans, Garnet learns to keep herself at a distance; unlike Rose, who steals away to their civilizations during the quiet times of the war. They’ve seen it all: empires rising and falling like the tides, looming, luxurious castles being reduced to rubble, being built up only to be returned to their original state of being. Futile; ephemeral. There’s never a sense of permanency to anything they do, yet they keep going.
They’re such noisy creatures, running around scared that their short time on Earth would be nothing but a blink in the eyes of the vast expanse of the universe, but they love and hate and feel so much more passionately because of it.
Once, on her way to retrieve Rose for a war summit, she stumbles across a human funeral.
“It’s fascinating, Garnet,” Rose says that night, as the two make their way back to the base. “They lay the body to rest one final time as a send-off to the afterlife. The finality of it helps the living move on.”
The concept of a life after death is foreign to gems because they don’t experience it the same way humans do. When they shatter, they don’t cease to exist in their physical forms but rather spend an eternity desperately trying to find their missing pieces - searching, needing to be whole once more.
The thought of being trapped like that in the same dirt that once gave them life…
Garnet shivers, imperceptible. “It’s obscene.”
Rose notices the change in tone and dips her head, inspecting the grains of sand between her bare toes. “Perhaps, but they have nothing to fear like we do.”
“It seems like death itself should inspire fear.”
“One would think so, but the way these humans live speak differently.” Rose’s lips curve into one of her bright, hopeful grins that inspire gems to fight - and shatter - for her cause. “Their lives are so full because it has an end, and it’s beautiful.”
“Unlike us.”
Rose lifts her head and steps onto the warp pad. “Yes.” She reaches for Garnet, an invitation and offer of comfort. “A domineering race taken to the stars, forcing countless worlds under its rule… Yet, it still has much to learn.”
But comfort is the last thing Garnet takes from that conversation thousands of years later, as she comes face-to-face with the evidence of their immortality warped into a grotesque resemblance of fusion.
This whole time, they’ve been suffering beneath the Earth’s crust. Alone. Screaming.
Steven yells at her to keep it together.
Garnet just stares.