Fusion isn't about love. Love is a type of fusion.

It took Steven four years to understand that, to feel such differences, and to see many different fusions in such ways. There are many different forms of fusions and meanings behind all of them. They all have different forms of connection, async thought or feeling of the beings involved within the new creation. Fusion is a connection, and not all connections mean love. In his first life, all the fusions he knew and were part of weren't forms of love, but different branches of that much larger pond. He met Garnet, Suglite, Sardonyx, Alexandrite, and even Opal. Each having their own version of fusion, their own sense of connection. He saw fusions of hate, fusions of friendship, love, family, worth ship, power, understanding, sorrow, and even temptation. Even fusions of his own were different branches of connection. He had seen and felt them all. This connection was special, it was the key to fusion at its finest. Now however, it felt like the diamond hybrid had lost that connection when he died the first time.

He already knew this though. Steven had felt that deep disconnection when he woke up to this rewind world. There was no denying it, no sense of mistake. There was just disattachment to it all and with that came just distance to the hybrid and his world. Without the connection or the sense of belonging to the boy, he saw fusion as nothing interesting to know about. At least not a second time.

"Look Steven," Pearl explains to Steven, kneeling down towards the sand. "When our bodies sinicize, we fuse and form a powerful being named Opal."

The hybrid, watching with slight uninterest as he looked at the sand. He already knew this stuff and he already knew what to do to get them to fuse, but he still thought to point it out before Amethyst did. "Uh... expert Amethyst doesn't dance like that."

Pearl gave a slight look of shock towards the hybrid, while Amethyst just crossed her arms and nodded in agreement. The white gem just ignored the small bored tone of the boy and continued with a smile, "Well yes, if she wasn't such a mess." She then ignored the small glare from the purple quartz and continued. "Opal is an amalgam of our combined psychical and magic attributes fused into a single entity."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Steven sighed, moving to pick up the checkers and the broad that goes with it before turning to Amethyst. "Come on Amethyst, let's see if Garnet is back."

The quartz shrugged, giving the white pearl a small glance before following the boy. "Sure Stev-man."

The young boy started to walk to the Temple, hearing the same confused squeak Pearl gave when her feelings were a bit hurt. Steven sighed within his mind, knowing he was rude to the white gem again for just pushing Opal away like that. He just couldn't bring himself to be excited about as he was before when Opal was around. It wasn't because he hated Opal, no he loved her just as much as he loved Amethyst and Pearl, but he just couldn't bring himself to want to see her. It was already hard enough to look at Garnet and see the perfect fusion she was. Fusing, that connection, it sort of worried and scared the hybrid all at once.

Sure it will be a long while until Steven could even try fusing, unless he wants to speed up the process himself through training, but it's just the thought of fusing with the gems or others. When fused, you feel and see the memories of others attached to the fusion. The memories mix, the feelings are one, until a whole new person is made in place of the people who made them. The hybrid knew that he were to fuse with another, then it would cause more harm, and bring too many questions and problems to his already complex new life. Besides, it wasn't like Steven had that connection with anyone. Even though he has gotten close to Amethyst thanks to wesling. It was a mask over another mask. She was close to Steven Innocent Universe. She was friends and hanging out with the twelve year old and not the truth underneath. Their connection was fake, so was Pearl and Garnet. He broke his connection to Connie before it started, and there was no way he was gonna try to be Steg again. Even in this world, he knew that having an attachment was always too much. The connections aren't real, so no fusion would work even if he wanted them to. Seeing Opal, seeing that connection he just doesn't have and can't have, was too much for the diamond prince to handle. Even hearing about her was making him feel nothing guilty and sorrow in his chest.

He felt so detached.

"Heh... It sucks huh? Standing on a familiar road, but looking up at the sky to see it not the same blue as before..."

Steven smirked, letting out a small airy chuckle. "Yeah... I get it now."

He sighed, looking at the decaying world around him before shivering at the small gush of wind that came behind his back. It seemed that it was windy and cold here. Everything was hard to look for in the hybrid. The greys and blacks, the rotten and the death that lingered in the air. It smelled familiar and he wondered if it was because it smelled what he smelled like. Death and broken, rotten and ash. He wondered if they both smelled like that maybe. It was awful, but yet felt oddly and creepily enough like he was back where he belonged. It felt like home here.

"It took only three hunred fifty-two days, you know..." He turned back to the figure before him, the dull colors of lingering pink and cotton white facing him. He didn't like seeing that color. "Everything faded away after that day. Now, it would feel so weird to see it all alive again."

Steven didn't say anything, but his eyes were filled with understanding. He can hardly see the life this place used to have. It would be beautiful to see, but so weird and off for her. He knew that. Liking seeing her now, in a form filled with lies, was uncomfortable to see. The flaten pluff buns on her head, the thick gloves and round bounce like boots, the smooth and bare cheeks that looked as dry as stone. Everything just looked wrong when he looked at her. She sighed, not moving from her spot, still facing forward. He hated it. He wanted to see her.

She hummed softly, clasping her hands behind her, "I feel safe here... but... I don't want this safety here. This place doesn't feel like home. It isn't my place anymore. Just like your place isn't with them."

"Yeah..." Steven agreed softly, his tone just as dead and blank as hers. It wasn't as scary to feel this hollowness when he was with her. Everything she said was true. "They have faces, but they aren't my family. I feel... I feel so-"

"Steven," The hybrid looked up from his memories, seeing none other than Garnet holding a small lava rock in her hand. She said, "I got something for you."

Smile. Fake the connection. Play along.

Steven smiles brightly, rushing over to take it from her hands and says happily, "Cool! A rock! Thank you Garnet!"

Walking away with it, he groaned a little inside before chewing on it like he remembered doing oh so long ago. He wanted to kick himself so bad in the jaw for doing something so stupid, knowing now that this rock was a bit warm and still covered in dirt. Still, Steven continued to chew it as he heard the gems chatting about the next mission. It most likely had something to do with the heaven beatles. The hybrid couldn't help but smirk a bit before keeping his back turned. It was a good thing that he already figured out where the heaven beetle was and retrieved it four days before. Though he decided that it was best to make sure it stayed safe in it's little beetle home. The hybrid wasn't able to destroy the shard bird, so that was still a problem that Amethyst and Pearl had to go through. That also meant him which he felt a bit off about. This would be his literal mission since the water temple. He skipped the strawberry field mission, and every other mission Garnet tried to get him in. It wasn't that he felt rusty or anything, but just going on a mission he already knew how to finish was just kind of boring and weird for him. Plus Pearl will be extra protective because of this being his 'second' mission.

Still, Steven needed to do something right now. He was getting kind of bored with everything in his house, and since some of this planning is placed on hold for now he might as well stick to the script. Act up and get eaten, see Opal, and give Garnet the heaven beetle. Pretty easy enough.

"You three go together," Garnet pulled Steven out of his thoughts again. It didn't look like he had a choice anyway. "I'm going alone to the Earth Beetle."

Pearl looked offended and rebuttal with, "why do you get to go alone?"

The fusion just shaped shifted her shades into goggles as she answered, "The Earth Beetle is at the bottom of a Lava cavern, and only I can swim in lava."

'So could Bismuth. Heh, it was practically her bathwater.' Steven chuckled to himself, something only Amethyst picked up on.

Pearl just groaned and waved the two short members to follow her while the hybrid just looked at his rock a bit. Garnet tensed a bit when he decided to bring it with him and pocket it. He didn't notice the tiny change in her gaze at him, causing him to think about using the rock to anger the bird and get the beetle. It was better than seeing the two gems fight and try horrible to fuse into Opal. Still that didn't stop from the light in Garnet's eyes to shift and look a bit unfocused, her mind scrambling to figure out what this change meant. This little detail brought yet another change to the timeline, one that still left the fusion to a confusing state.

"Steven," She called out to the young hybrid, watching him turn around and smile softly. She fought and Chill got looking into his brown eyes, seeing something lingering in them that didn't sit right with him. "Remember; Keep the harmony."

Steven grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes. The stars in them looked dull and cracked. "You got it Garnet!"

With that, the three wrapped off to their mission, leaving Garnet as she finally let her stoic side drop. Her heart raced, her gems glowed, and she was not breathing like she was choking. With a painful, frightened shout, Garnet hugged herself and broke. She split and fell...

Leaving only a trembling Sapphire and a raging Ruby where she once stood.

"W-Wha... What the flying fuck was that!?" Ruby was shouting, gripping her hair and pacing back and forth. "It happened again! It... jus-Urgh! It keep fucking happening again!"

Sapphire shook her head, tring to calm down about her panic as she tried to reach for her lover. "Ruby please. We need to calm down and focu-"

The short red gem just growled and pushed her white gloved hand away. "How the hell should we calm down," She spat and gripped her head like her brain was having a melt down. "You... You saw it too, Sapphire... The timelines keep changing... He... H-He keep throwing us off to dead ends!"

The blue gem nodded, even with her eye covered she had a deep grim look on her face. She knew what ruby meant, she saw it her first anyway. She knew what her beloved was reminding her about in their visions as Garnet. It was a dead end.

Sapphire can only see a one track vision on her own, if it changes it throws her off and keeps her blind for a short amount of time. When fused as Garnet, she can see many time lines and visions all at once. It can be so overwhelming it would be all they could see, but over the years they controlled them and blocked them out. Still to see a dead end was rare and even frightening to see. Dead ends are ones that Garnet can't see, timelines they shouldn't become anything and leave the fusion blind. It was worse than Sapphire's change of vision scrambles, they always corrected themselves and brought her back to the singal road she could see. With Garnet's dead ends, it left them blind to what was next. Taking these roads meant she knew nothing, that they couldn';t see any future and had to play it by ear. There was no changing it, no fixing the dead ends and getting back on track. They would have to guess and find a different road that goes the same way, not getting lost in the currents of possibility.

These ends were frightening, the unknown still frightened Sapphire even when she came to peace with understanding that not everything is set in stone. It scares them both though when they seem to always come whenever Steven made decisions. Ever since he was born, Ruby and Sapphire had more dead ends that left them guessing. They were small and easy to move out of and find a different route to. The boy was a special case, a hybrid unlike anything the fusion had ever seen. He didn't have a pattern yet for them to fully understand, and humans were always ones to change their futures to the point of scrambling Garnet.

Now though, ever since he woke up screaming that morning, the dead ends have become larger and more in massive numbers. Garnet would try to stir away from them, to figure out the future Steven was setting himself to, but then he would lead them to another dead end. Then another.

Than another.

Again.

Again.

And Again!

It was causing garnet to have panic attacks, to freak out and almost break from her cool dementor. Pearl and Garnet didn't notice the stars, but she knew that something was wrong. She was always able to see something in Steven, always see the good and bad forms of his futures. Now though it was like he had found a code to scramble to wave links, to cause a storm and flood the lakes. They would feel the cold and rotten smell of meat and blood when hitting these dead ends. The halls would be filled with screaming, words that echo and fuzzed out, and just more of the lovable hybrid screaming like he was suffering and dying. They couldn't see anything though, Garnet was blind to the horrors that these dead ends have become. They were all the same, and each change Steven made now was leaving her so lost and utterly terrified.

Sapphire knew what was happening, she knew what was frightening her stone cold Ruby, but she didn't know how to stop it. And sadly, neither did Ruby.

"I know Ruby," Sapphire sighed, standing back up as she took her beloved hand in hers. "But we have to keep pushing through. It will be alright."

Ruby just shook her hand, but didn't push her love away. Her eyes looked close to tearing up though in frustration. "Something... just isn't right Sapphy. These... dead ends are getting out of hand."

She nodded. "Yes, but we're getting something. I think Amethyst and Pearl notice something too."

"The refusal of missions, Mr. Smiley's freak outs, and these disappearing acts. Something isn't right Sapphire," Ruby frowned deeply, her free hand turning into a fist. "Steven isn't the same anymore."

"I know Ruby, and i'm just as worried as you are." The small blue gem moved her bangs out of her way, showing her love that her blue sky eyes were just as distressed as her own.

Ruby sighed, moving forward to hug her love close to her body. Too distressed to fuse into Garnet yet, the two just held on to each other. After a minute, her warm arms heated up and clung to the cold gem tighter. "We need to do something... We need to talk to Steven."

She wanted to, oh by the stars did Sapphire wanted to hold their baby and tell him everything and open up, but... "We can't... I'm seeing a future where it would damage Steven more if we did."

"...Damn it I know."

"It's not the time Ruby. We need to wait, just a bit longer." She mumbles softly into her neck, her burning in a frozen chill.

Rubby just pulled away slightly and growled. "I know but damn it. Sapphire those dead ends are getting worse. Even though I can't see anything, I-I can just feel that something terrible will happen to him. It almost feels like something did happen to him!"

"The best we can do for him Ruby," Sapphire said firmly, taking a shaky breath in as she looked deep into her lover's eyes. "Is to act like we know nothing. I see it, even slightly, that Steven will tell us what's happening. All secrets will be uncovered if we act docile."

"I don't like Sapphire..." She bit her lip, clinging to her love's arms tightly, her own body shaking. "Something isn't right about it. I know you can feel it."

"It's still Steven, he still is our boy and... for now he is safe."

Ruby whimpered, whispering in the same cold shattering fear that latched onto her freezing girlfriend. "But... for how long?"

Sapphire's eyes widened, but she said nothing. She didn't know how to answer that cause even in her vision she could not see the end. It wasn't black, but it was fogged and too far from her reach. She didn't know when and Ruby knew this, making the red gem choke back her sobs and turn her head slightly away. The two stood like this, unsure and just holding onto each other in desperation. They hated this feeling, this feeling of loss and weakness.

They deeply worried about Steven, they worried about their family and their world falling apart at the seams. Something was definitely going on with their hybrid and for now they didn't know what or how to stop it. Themselves, Garnet, were for once at a loss on what to do. They couldn't tell Pearl because she would watch the boy like a hawk and pesture him with questions before he snaps. They couldn't tell Amethyst cause she would ask him up front, and something told the two that she already knows something is wrong with their boy. They knew as well.

Steven thought he was hiding it, and for now he is mostly, but Garnet knows that he was planning something. He knows that she is watching him though, she's playing a faze, a costume to block them away. The two knew enough to know that for whatever reason, he was scared to tell them what was eating away at him. His eyes held so much back, blocking something haunting that they believed he was even blocking from himself. He watched the three with something so heartbreaking like glass and yet cold like ice. Ruby and Sapphire saw it from their third eye, they saw how different the hybrid was becoming from the pure boy they keep seeing in their visions. He acted out of place, spoke out of character, and looked at them as if all knowing and yet frightened. This Steven, the new version of the boy was broken and scared. He was on the defence and for once they couldn't reach out to hold him. It wouldn't work because something's keeping this way. If any of them reached out too soon, they knew it would do way more damage. There wasn't anything they could do now, and Garnet hated feeling that helpless.

Sapphire wiped the small tears from her eye though, a new look in her eye. "Just cause we got these ends though Ruby, doesn't mean we can't keep trying to help him."

Ruby looked a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"Steven needs us Ruby. He needs Garnet to be strong and be there for him," She clenched her fist as her gaze hardened. "Whatever this means, whatever is happening to him, we need to be there and prove it to him that he doesn't have to turn away from us. We need to be strong and help him."

"Yeah... you're right," Ruby smiled a bit, wiping her own eyes as she nodded. "So what's the plan Sapphy?"

She smirked, taking her lover's hands in her own. "We'll train him sooner rather than let Pearl start later. Something tells me that he is already training on his own."

"What about Pearl and Amethyst?"

"We... We can't tell them for now," Sapphire stated firmly, shaking her head. "Pearl would just butt in. If Steven wants to tell them he can, but we need to keep it between us three. We can gain his trust then and figure out what's going on."

Ruby bit her lip at this idea, knowing it might be the only way to ease the boy into telling them what was going on, but even she could see the risk even with the visions. She asked softly, whispering, "Are you sure?"

She saw her blue beloved sigh, closing her eye for a second before shaking her head. "No, but isn't that the beauty of the unknowing." She opened her eye again, the blue them sparkling like crystals in a lake. "We have to try Ruby. I won't stand on the sidelines and watch Steven do this alone."

The hot redhead gem smiled a bit at that determined look in the small gem's eyes, it made her gem glow and beat with love and pride. Her lover was just as hot headed as her, and protective of her loved ones. With a nod, the two kissed and fused once more with this same love and determination. Their mind now linked to their plan and one real mission to help their boy. They were going to help Steven and save him from the dead end future.

With that, Garnet stood up once more and shifted her shades into goggles. Her eyes landing on the wrap pad as she gave it a long and firm gaze, the gaze turning into a glare as she clenched her fists tighter in their grip, almost nursing the gems they carried. Her eyes only lingered on the spot for a bit longer, looking at the shadow it casted before turning away from the wrap pad and taking the long way to find the Earth Beetle. They still had to get to that before the three come back, or rather two come back anyhow. With a smile on her face, Garnet turned away and opened the door to leave the house. She jumped high and out of sight to the Lava cavern, not seeing that the shadow on the wrap pad twisted and formed.

A gowling creature glared at the door, anger and yet small excitement in its eyes. It huffed, looking at its hands as it formed sets of eyes that viewed almost like mirrors. One showing a perfectly still and rotting garden leading a wrap pad, and the other on top of a windy mountain with two gems groaning in annoyance. A small sinister chuckle escaped its rotting lips.

That song... it was so silly to hear it again. It still never gets old.

Finally!

Not even going to explain or say how long you wanted. I can see that on my edit profile for this book.

Don't worry, i have it planned better this time! Till next chapter

High Five The Sky Readers!