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The first time Garnet met Steven, she loved him.
Ruby and Sapphire were still grieving the loss of Rose, but Garnet looked at Steven’s little chubby cheeks, saw his wide smile, heard his infectious laughter, and knew that there would never be another creature alive she loved as much as him.
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Garnet has never been so afraid in her life.
Steven Universe is an unpredictable variable that is constantly changing the future. He should have died on multiple occasions, but he always finds a way to bounce back, better and stronger, usually with a new friend or power to show for it.
But when he disappeared through the warp after a fight with Pearl Garnet had damn near split with worry. Her mind was filled with hundreds of visions where Steven somehow ends up on home world, picked apart and killed by the diamonds, or in the hands of home scorned home world gems who would like nothing more than to kill Roses Qurtz’s child.
Luckily, he was fine and was just trying to prove a point, which he did, and Garnet had a very long talk with Peral about actually listening to Steven, but from then on, Garnet always kept one eye on Steven.
She couldn’t let him die.
Not because he was Rose's child.
But because he was Garnets child.
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As time goes on, Garnet watches her boy grow and change. He changes the world, and the people around him, too.
Plants are healthier, the sky is bluer, and people are happier.
Garnet's gem swells with love.
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The diamonds were defeated, or in Steven's terms, rehabilitated.
Thousands of gems are being returned to their original forms.
Gems are embracing intergem fusion.
There's love.
There’s change.
There’s Steven.
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Who is she?
She feels…… A sapphire? A ruby?
Both?
The tall creature, human, the sapphire part of her brain provides, calls her Garnet, but she does not know this name.
Who is she?
What is this feeling?
It’s familiar, but there's something, someone? Missing.
She wonders what it could be.
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It was Steven.
It was always her boy.
Sapphire and Ruby's love was tested when the truth about them came to light, but they withstood it.
They always would.
But the truth of Garnet's love? It belonged to Steven. Everything she had to give belonged to her son.
Seeing him in trouble, even when she couldn’t remember him, sent a stroke of fear through her gems that she couldn’t explain with words.
Sapphire and Ruby's love for each other makes up Garnet. But Garnet's love for Steven makes her who she is.
Steven Universe is Garnet’s truest love.
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Garnet’s worried.
Steven’s been acting strangely, but the more he masters his powers, the less Garnet is able to see of him.
She thought a quick and nostalgic game of Steven tag would help.
She was wrong.
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Sapphire feels powerless.
She doesn’t know how she missed this.
Years of war and fixing adult problems, of course, her son was hurting.
She missed so much.
She has to fix it.
But what can she do when the only thing the future shows is her failures?
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Ruby is angry.
Ruby is so angry with herself for not seeing the anger within Steven.
Thousands of years spent with her love, and she still doesn’t have an ounce of her foresight.
Ruby never felt the kind of love Sapphire felt for Steven. At least she thought she didn’t. Steven was an extension of Rose to her at first, then a pretty cool friend to have around after the forced separation on Jasper's ship.
In retrospect Ruby’s been lying to herself for a long time.
Because, of course, Steven is her son. Garnet wouldn’t, couldn’t, love him half as much as she does if Ruby didn’t feel that way.
But this isn’t about her.
Her son needs to know his anger is justified.
She’s going to fix this.
She has too.
Otherwise, how would she live with herself?
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Steven is leaving.
Garnet is crying.
She lets him go.
He’ll be back.
Her son always comes home.