#original chapter

“Both of who?” the young Gem asked, aptly confused.

“You’ll get it soon enough,” the Gem leader said as she made her way to the warp pad. “Or at least, I hope you’ll get it…”

Steven frowned, still quite befuddled as Amethyst and Pearl hopped up onto the pad alongside their leader. “Well, have fun with your wild party anyway, Steven!” the purple Gem called casually. “Wish I could be here to show your hundreds of guests how to really let it lose!”

“Amethyst, please,” Pearl scoffed, rolling her eyes. “He’s not going to have hundreds of guests.” She paused briefly, concern flashing over her face as she glanced to Steven. “Are you?”

“Nah,” the young Gem said with an honest shrug. “It’s just gonna be me, Connie, Dipper, and Mabel. We’re just gonna hang out around here, eat some snacks, watch some movies, you know, normal stuff for us.”

“Oh well that’s a relief,” the white Gem sighed calmly. “Though ‘normal’ stuff for you four usually seems to involve some kind of deadly monster or dangerous mystery or some other mishap… Just try to be careful, ok?”

“Got it!” Steven nodded firmly.

“Geez, can we just go already?” Amethyst asked with an impatient huff. “You guys act like we’re gonna be gone for years.”

“Hm… I suppose we should be on our way…” Pearl frowned before turning to the young Gem one last time. “Goodbye, Steven! Have fun! And remember to-”

“Stay safe, I know,” the young Gem let out a good-natured laugh. “Bye, guys! See you tomorrow!”

The Gems all waved their farewells back to their young charge as they warped off, leaving him alone, though, as he anticipated, not for long. Steven grinned to himself, his back still to the front door as he counted aloud in anticipation. “Three… Two… One-”

“It’s party time!” Mabel proclaimed, carrying Waddles as she burst into the house, Dipper and Connie following not too far behind her.

“Yeah it is!” Steven chimed in zealous agreement, spinning around to face them. “And it’s gonna be so awesome!”

“Well, as awesome as it can be with just the four of us,” Dipper remarked with a bemused smirk.

“So, what are we going to do all day since we have the whole place to ourselves?” Connie asked curiously.

“I think the better question is, what aren’t we going to do?!” Mabel replied with a huge smile as she sat Waddles down so he could join Lion on the couch. “Ever since Steven told me the Gems were gonna be gone overnight, the two of us have been planning out all of the wild and crazy fun that’s gonna fill the next 24 hours!”

“That’s right,” Steven nodded eagerly. “We have it all figured out. We’ll watch movies, play video games, maybe even hang out in my mom’s room again since the Gems aren’t here to tell us we can’t.”

“Ooo, Steven!” Connie chuckled jokingly. “You’re really living on the edge with plans like that.”

“Heh, maybe a little,” the young Gem laughed with something of a bashful grin.

“But no matter what we do, it’s all gonna be the best time ever!” Mabel quipped excitedly. “And you guys know why?”

“Um, because hopefully we won’t have to deal with anything that could get us killed this time?” Dipper guessed with a shrug.

“Nope! It’s because me and Steven planned everything,” Mabel beamed proudly as she threw an arm over the young Gem’s shoulder. “And nobody knows how to have fun like the two of us!”

“We really can’t argue with you guys there,” Connie said, sharing a laugh with Dipper as the pair decided to prove their point. In a perfectly coordinated move, Mabel tossed up a handful of the glitter she always had on her up into the air while Steven threw some confetti that he had gotten for the party. Together, both substances created a colorful, sparkling rain, one that covered the two entirely as they laughed and reveled in their shared enthusiasm. They didn’t even bother trying to shake the glitter or the confetti off as the laughter petered out and Steven let out a sudden gasp.

“Oh! That reminds me!” the young Gem exclaimed. “Before you guys got here, I was thinking about how we’d kick things off, and I figured that there’s no better way to get a party rolling than with snacks! You guys did bring the snacks, right?” he asked the twins.

Neither of them answered right away, instead exchanging a tentative glance that was soon broken as Dipper let out an aggravated sigh upon noticing Mabel guiltily biting her lip. “Seriously, Mabel?” he asked, exasperated. “I told you like, 20 times before we left the shack not to forget the snacks!”

“Aw, what can I say, Dipper?” Mabel said, putting on a charming, apologetic grin. “I was just so excited about the party that I couldn’t think about anything else!”

“I know, right?” Steven interjected. “I was so pumped for this that I actually forgot to eat breakfast this morning!”

“No way, me too!” Mabel exclaimed, awestruck by the coincidence.

“Whoa!” Steven gasped, stars in his eyes as he was clearly getting carried away by their shared excitement. “Then that means that instead of being Crying Breakfast Friends, we’re actually No-Breakfast Friends!”

“Steven, that’s the most hardcore thing ever!” Mabel practically shouted with verve as her and Steven enthusiastically high-fived. “No-Breakfast Friends forever! Or at least until the next time we eat breakfast.”

While, Dipper was far less entertained by their hyperactive zaniness, Connie couldn’t help but let out an amused laugh upon hearing their somewhat nonsensical proclamation. “What are we gonna do with you two?” she asked, shaking her head with a wry smirk.

“Love us because we’re great,” Mabel suggested coyly as Steven chuckled his agreement.

“Well, I’ll tell you what I’m gonna do,” Dipper spoke up staunchly. “I’m gonna go get those snacks. Come on, Mabel.”

“Oh, you know, I would come, but I-” Mabel cut herself off as she plopped down onto the couch, squeezing in between Lion and Waddles. “Just got comfy. So sorry, bro-bro, but I’m a no-go.”

“Figures,” Dipper scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“I’ll go with you to get the snacks, Dipper,” Connie offered. “It’ll give you a good chance to finish telling me about that theory on the Wizard Wilds you mentioned the other day.”

“Oh yeah!” Dipper instantly perked up at this, already leading the way to the door. “Well, we might as well get going. We’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said to Steven and Mabel.

“Try not to cover the house in glitter and confetti, ok?” Connie asked with a smirk.

“No promises,” the young Gem saluted jokingly. Dipper and Connie shared a small, amused laugh as they left, leaving Steven and Mabel behind to exchange a wide, eager smile. “So are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Steven,” Mabel began, leaping off of the couch. “If you know me, then you know I am. So…”

“Let’s get this party started!” they both shouted in boisterous unison before doing just that.

Knowing that Dipper and Connie wouldn’t mind if they kicked things off early without them, Steven and Mabel proceeded to jumpstart the fun by haphazardly tossing the streamers and the rest of the confetti that the young Gem had on hand all over the house. From there, they made sure Lion and Waddles were both properly equipped with party hats before taking copious amounts of cheerful selfies with their respective pink pets. But still, the party didn’t really begin until Steven turned the radio on to a pop station, one that instantly got them both excited the moment they heard the familiar tune playing.

“Oh my gosh, I love this song!” Mabel exclaimed brightly, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

“Me too!” Steven laughed, already dancing around to the fast beat of the song. Mabel readily did the same, her movements uncalculated but energized and free nonetheless. Steven’s moves weren’t any more controlled as he slid across the floor, only to end up falling flat on his face as a result, chuckling loudly all the while. Mabel laughed hard as she hurried over to help him up, and though Steven surprised her by grabbing both of her hands as he stood and pulling them both into a fast, loose spin. By now, both of them were laughing so much that they could barely breathe, but they didn’t care. Instead, they just kept on “dancing”, twirling around the room together and scarcely even thinking about stopping any time soon. After all, how could they think about stopping when they were having so much sheer, unbridled fun?

As the song playing on the radio picked up its speed, so did Mabel and Steven, both of them throwing their heads back to accommodate their breathless laughter. For the most part, they remained steady, even if the world around them seemed to spin just as much as they were, though they hardly paid it any mind. Still, for as long as they had been dancing, it only made sense that one of them would trip up eventually, and this time it was Mabel. As the back of her heel happened to catch on one of the floorboards, she began to tumble backwards, inevitably pulling Steven down with her. Still, their laughter didn’t cease even as they crashed to the ground, even as they fell squarely onto each other, even as Steven’s gem lit up with a sudden, but familiar pink light, and even as that light enveloped them both.

In fact, they only continued to laugh as they lay on the floor, breathless but content and heedless of how their laughter sounded a bit… off. Yet as they opened their eyes, they noticed that something was off about their vision as well, though they couldn’t exactly pin down what. Their laughter faded into a curious frown as they lifted a hand up to their eyes, which widened upon noticing that hand was quite a bit larger than it should have been. Still, they waved it up and down, their confusion only doubling upon noticing that it didn’t leave their field of vision even as they lifted it up to their forehead. Bewildered, they slowly reached a finger to their forehead, only to somehow end up poking themselves in the eye.

“Ow!” they exclaimed, bolting upright into a sitting position as they gingerly rubbed the injured eye. “Why is my eye-” they cut themselves off with a gasp upon hearing their own voice clearly, singular, bright, and remarkably different. Still, the eye mystery was far more disconcerting for them, though they soon got their answer to it as they reached their hands to the edges of their head, and without poking any of them out this time, they managed to feel out just how many eyes they actually had. “Four eyes…” they whispered, shocked. “I have four eyes! Wait, I do?! That’s so cool! But how—what—what happened?”

Taken aback, they looked to their hands, seeing that there was only two of them as opposed to four, and two legs as well, both much longer and more shapely than they usually were. Long white socks, akin to the ones Mabel usually wore, reached up almost to their knees, yet somehow they were wearing a pair of pink sandals that were unquestionably Steven’s. By the time they glanced at the blue-violet skirt they were wearing, half of them had managed to piece it together, and as they found the pink stone over their exposed stomach, the inevitable realization dawned upon the other half.

“Oh my gosh…” they breathed, all four of their new eyes huge as their jaw dropped in shock. Still, it didn’t take them long to break out into a smile so huge that it practically made their cheeks hurt. “We FUSED!” A rush of elation filled their newly shared mind and body as they let out a delighted squeal, letting themselves fall back down as they hugged themselves tightly. “We fused, we fused, we fused!” With another loud gasp, they sat up again, looking over to Lion and Waddles, who were both watching them curiously from the couch. “I gotta see what we look like!”

Unable to contain their immense excitement, the fusion placed their hands on the ground and slowly began to bring themselves to a standing position. However, since they weren’t exactly used to their new height, they were quick to end up toppling to the ground once more, thick brown hair falling over their upper set of eyes as they did. “Ok…” they huffed, blowing the hair away. “Let’s try that again…” They did so, managing to unsteadily pull themselves to their full, rather tall height, their legs shaking all the while as they tried to maintain balance. “Hey, look at us!” the fusion exclaimed with a proud grin. “Standing and all that cool junk. We’re doing great already! Now… to the bathroom!” Of course, no more than a second after this resolved proclamation, the fusion ended up tripping over their own two feet, falling to the floor yet again. After several false starts and clumsy trip ups, they miraculously managed to inch their way towards the bathroom, mostly learning how to properly walk by the time they practically fell on top of the sink. Still, despite how haphazard their brief journey had been, the fusion let out an amazed gasp as they glanced up at the mirror and took in their reflection for the first time.

Indeed, they looked like a perfect mix between Steven and Mabel, with a fair complexion, round face, and sure enough, four eyes, the upper pair being a fair bit smaller as they rested evenly above the usual pair. Their hair was a thick abundance of loose, medium-brown curls, coiffed and poofy at the top and pronounced with a pink headband. Aside from the long socks and violet skit, their top was a plush pink sweater, one that cut off at their elbows and at the midriff to reveal their gem. The design on it was a clear mix between the star on Steven’s usual shirt and Mabel’s favorite sweater, a star with colorful streaks pouring out from underneath it. The fusion smiled broadly as they looked over their tall, slender, admittedly appealing form, only to notice something else about their dimpled grin.

“Whoa…” the mused, leaning a bit forward and grinning to get a better view of the glimmering braces on their teeth. “These are new! Heh, yeah, they might take a little getting used to for you... Sorry… What? No way! I think they’re cool! Really? Yeah! Well, I think this is cool! What is? This!” They cut off their one-sided conversation between their two halves as they pointed to themselves. “Us! Just look at us! We look so awesome together! Yeah, we do! I mean, four eyes? That’s at least twice as many eyes as most people have! Which makes us twice as-”

The fusion found themselves being interrupted by the sound of the front door of the house opening. “Mabel! Steven! We’ve back!” Dipper called as him and Connie stepped into the house, both of them toting bags filled with a wide variety of snacks. However, what neither of them saw was the fusion as they tucked into the bathroom corridor, just out of their sight.

“Oh man, this is going to be so great!” they whispered to themselves excitedly. “Dipper and Connie are gonna totally flip out when they get a load of us! We should surprise them! Great idea! Thanks, I knew it was a good one.”

“Ok, so let me see if I’ve got this straight…” Connie said to Dipper as they sat the snacks down in the kitchen, still referring to the Spirit Morph Saga theory they had been discussing ever since they left. “So, according to your theory, the Wizard Wilds were actually a gateway to another dimension that Lisa’s been in this whole time?”

“Yeah,” Dipper nodded firmly. “I mean, it only makes sense in context. Like I said, all the other characters just felt… off after she passed through there. And in my experience, even the smallest thing being off is usually cause for alarm.”

“I think you might have been reading a certain journal a bit too much then,” Connie remarked with a small chuckle, one that Dipper couldn’t help but join in on a beat later. However, their levity was short lived as a certain fusion finally decided to emerge from their hiding place.

“Ta da!” the fusion chimed loudly, leaping out into plain view with an excitable flair. Startled, all Dipper and Connie could initially do was stare at them in absolute bewilderment, but even so, a wide, cheerful smile claimed the fusion’s face as they looked down at the pair. Still, there was only a very brief moment of silence on both sides before the fusion spoke up again. “Oh wait, can we do that again? I feel like our ‘ta da’ was a little flat. Oh, good point, good point. I think this time we should come out with a little more ‘sha-pow!’ or ‘ba-boom!’ Or maybe some-”

“Uh, whoa, hold on,” Dipper cut in, trying to not sound completely dumbfounded, even if him and Connie both very much were. “Before you redo your… uh, ‘grand entrance’, do you mind telling us exactly who you are and how you got in here?”

The fusion gasped, seemingly offended, though they still smiled slyly nonetheless. “Why, Dipper! It hurts that you don’t even recognize your own sister!”

“What?” Dipper raised an eyebrow, looking over the mysterious stranger once again only to realize that the sweater, headband, and braces were all unmistakably familiar. “Mabel?!”

“Well… you’re half right…” the fusion winked, subtly motioning down to the gem on their navel.

“No way…” Connie gasped, her eyes widening in realization. “Steven?!”

“Mm hm,” the fusion nodded, a huge smile on their face as they held their hands behind their back.

“Wait,” Dipper looked to them with newfound shock upon figuring out what was going on. “Did… did you guys-”

“Mm hm!” the fusion cut him off, nodding once again, this time more enthusiastically.

“So…” Connie ventured, her jaw dropped in awe. “So you’re a-”

“Mm hm!”

“And you’re-”

“Mm hm! Mm hm! Mm hm!” the fusion was hopping up and down in unbridled elation by this point. “And it feels great. Oh, you guys can’t even imagine—well, I guess you can, Connie, since you and me—er, Steven have fused before, but still—it’s incredible!”

“Heh, yeah it… it really is…” Connie said with a small, awkward smile, subtly glancing away from the fusion as she rubbed her arm.

“So, what do you guys think?” they asked, twirling around blithely, though almost tripping to the ground in the process. “Don’t we look awesome? Admit it, we totally do.”

“Uh, sure…” Dipper said halfheartedly, still quite bewildered by this strange situation. “So um… why do you guys have four eyes?”

“I dunno,” the fusion shrugged honestly. “But isn’t it neat? Check this out. Now I see you…” they smirked, covering up their upper set of eyes with their hand before moving it down to their lower eyes. “And now I still see you! It’s like some sort of crazy fusion eye magic!” With a bright laugh, the fusion continued shifting their hand between both sets of eyes, blinking and winking and crossing them all the while just for fun. In the midst of this, they didn’t notice Dipper and Connie exchange a perplexed glance, neither of them entirely sure of what to make of the fusion’s sudden appearance and exuberant demeanor. But in the end, Connie was the one to finally break through their fun, a wave of newfound worry washing over her as she looked to the sanguine fusion again.

“Um… Steven? Mabel?”

“Yeah?” the fusion answered, though Connie never got the chance to pose her question as they gasped sharply. “Oh my gosh! Connie, you just reminded me! We don’t even have a cool fusion name for ourselves yet!”

“What are you talking about?” Dipper asked, confused.

“Y’know, like how I—or, Steven and Connie went by Stevonnie when they were fused?” the fusion explained. “I want something like that too! It’ll be way easier than you guys having to call us ‘Steven-and-Mabel’ all the time, at least. So let’s see here…” the fusion’s cheery tone turned thoughtful as they began to pace around the den. “Steven plus Mabel equals… Stabel!” Their excited smile quickly faded upon saying this name out loud. “Huh, that sounded a lot cooler in my head… Or is it our head…? Eh, whatever. Either way, Stabel is out. We can’t go around calling ourselves another word for a barn! No, instead we need something exciting, something really us…”

“Uh… you guys?” Connie tried to get their attention again, only for the fusion to instantly quiet her.

“Shhh!” Stars were in all four of the fusion’s eyes as they let out a softer gasp this time. “I got it! Mabel plus Steven equals… drumroll please!” They looked to Dipper and Connie expectantly, only to receive confused stares in return. “I said: drumroll please!” This time, the pair loosely complied, lightly tapping on the nearby coffee table to create a rather weak drumroll, but still, it was more than enough for the fusion to proclaim their new name by. “Maven!”

“Maven?” Dipper and Connie repeated in puzzled unison.

“You heard me,” the newly-dubbed fusion grinned proudly. “From here on out, just call us Maven! It just sorta rolls right off the tongue, doesn’t it? Maven, Ma—ven, Mmmav—en, Mave—ennn, Mav-”

“Maven?” Connie interrupted, using the fusion’s new name rather hesitantly.

“Yeah?” Maven grinned, clearly relishing being called by their shared moniker.

“Uh… well… I was just…” Connie frowned, unsure of how to go about posing this question to the new fusion. After all, a part of her remembered well just how odd and different it felt to be part of a fusion, and the last thing she wanted to do was make either Steven or Mabel as uncomfortable as she had frequently felt that night. So instead, she redacted her question and reshaped it as an observation instead. “Um… you guys sure do seem like you’re having a… a good time together…”

“Good? Are you kidding? We’re having an amazing time!” Maven gushed, ecstatic. “I mean, one minute we were just dancing and laughing and having fun and the next—bam! We’re a totally awesome four-eyed fusion! This has seriously gotta be the best day ever. We’ve only been fused for like, I dunno, how long as it been?”

“Uh, maybe around 15 minutes?” Dipper guessed, checking his watch.

“Whoa, really?” the fusion asked. “It feels like it’s been so much longer! Still, all 15 of those minutes have been some of the funnest I can remember!” To accentuate their point, Maven attempted another twirl, only to end up completely falling this time. Still, they hardly cared as they instead burst into zealous laugher as they lay on the floor, their long hair strewn around them in a haphazard mess. Their laughter only increased as Lion and Waddles both sauntered over to them, both of them gently licking the fusion’s face, somehow recognizing them as the amalgamation of their respective owners.

“Are you guys sure you’re not having a little… too much fun?” Dipper asked, aptly concerned upon seeing Maven go into what was essentially a full-on laughing fit. Still, the fusion was quick to calm down a little, pulling themselves upright into a sitting position as they urged their pink pets away.

“Whaaaat?” they asked, their tone joking and incredulous. “No way! Since when was having ‘too much fun’ ever even a thing? Now, you know what would be fun?”

“Um… actually starting the party we all came here for?” Connie suggested with an admittedly anxious smile.

“Hm, that could be fun…” Maven mused. “But I was thinking of something even funner: taking this fusion show on the road!”

“Uh… I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, you guys…” Dipper remarked, looking the fusion up and down skeptically.

“Pfft, come on, Dip-bro,” Maven playfully scoffed. “I know you guys both love me, but you can’t keep all this excitement to yourselves. Now come on!” They quipped, picking themselves off of the floor and rushing to the door, throwing it open with gusto. “The world’s just dying to get its first taste of Mav—ah!” As the fusion attempted to make their way down the steps, their balance was thrown off yet again, their clumsiness showing as they loudly tumbled over the porch railing. Alarmed, Dipper and Connie rushed to make sure they were unharmed, and sure enough, as they looked over the railing, Maven confirmed that they were. “We’re ok!”

“Oh boy…” Dipper sighed tentatively to Connie. “Something tells me that this is gonna be a long day…”

Connie simply frowned as she watched the buoyant fusion easily pick themselves up off the ground, laughing warmly all the while as they wrapped their arms around themselves in something of a tight, celebratory ‘hug’. “Tell me about it…”

The walk down to the Mystery Shack was anything but uneventful as Maven enthusiastically led the way, not sparing any of the countless quips that happened to come to their shared mind. Neither Dipper nor Connie had much of a chance to say anything in edgewise as the fusion recounted in excruciating detail exactly how they fused and how they felt. Aside from externally conversing with themselves, Maven had a bit of a habit of repeating themselves, which was why it ended up taking them most of the walk for them to explain why they unanimously loved their shortened sweater. Their excited banter was only broken up by them occasionally stumbling over their own two feet, a testament to their newfound shared clumsiness, though for the most part they managed to remain standing. Still, by the time they made it to the shack, the fusion had already come up with a rather intricate plan for their first ‘public’ appearance, one that they ended up roping Dipper and Connie into helping them with, even if they were nowhere near as enthusiastic about it as Maven was.

Regardless, the fusion eagerly waited right outside the gift shop entrance as the pair went inside. It was a rather slow business day, so Stan and Soos were really the only ones around, but before either Dipper or Connie could even say a word to them in greeting, Maven ended up bursting in far ahead of their cue. “Did somebody mention Steven and Mabel?!” they chimed, their usual huge smile wide on their face.

“No, because we literally just walked in here,” Dipper deadpanned, giving the fusion a somewhat exasperated look.

“I thought you said you were going to wait at least five minutes before coming in,” Connie added with a frown.

“Oh…” Maven’s excitement dimmed down, but only a little. “Whoops. Dang it! That makes two botched entrances in one day… We gotta step up our game! Oh! I know! We should-”

“Hey, you!” Stan cut in, sending an annoyed scowl at the fusion, clearly not recognizing them. “Tall, loud, and kooky! Close that door, buy something, and get out before I have you run in for having two too many eyes.”

Instead of being offended by this remark, Maven simply let out a boisterous laugh, one that admittedly caught the conman, as well as everyone else off guard. “Oh, Grunkle Pines, you’re so funny!” they chuckled, deriving even more confusion from the others.

“What?” Stan simply asked flatly after a moment of bewildered silence as the fusion walked over to him, heedless of the apparent awkwardness of the moment.

“And whoa, look at that!” Maven gawked, stars in their eyes. “I’m even taller than you are, Mr. Stan! I mean, it’s cool enough being taller than Connie and even more taller than Dipper, but we’re like a giant! You know, in a way, maybe you could even call us a… giant woman! Eh? Eh?”

The fusion’s excitement was once again met with blank stares of bewilderment from both Stan and Soos, while Dipper and Connie merely frowned apprehensively over how carelessly Maven seemed to be presenting themselves. Still, the conman was the one to break the silence, shaking his head to clear his puzzlement away as his usual stoic manner returned. “Alright, someone care to explain what the deal with four eyes over here is?” he asked, not even noticing as the fusion’s usual smile turned to surprise upon hearing this. Fortunately, before they could attempt their own extravagant way of explaining themselves, Dipper cut in and did it for them.

“Uh, well… you see, Grunkle Stan…” he began tentatively, not quite sure how to describe the situation in a way the conman would understand. “That’s sort of… Mabel and Steven… fused together into… the same person…”

“Fused?” Stan raised an incredulously eyebrow as he glanced towards Maven, who’s usual smile had returned in full. “You mean that crazy thing the Gems do with each other where they turn into huge broads with a bunch of eyes and arms?”

“Yep!” Maven beamed proudly. “And this broad just so happens to have four of those! The eyes, I mean. We only have two arms! By the way, what’s a broad?”

“Geez,” Stan rolled his eyes, his aloof scowl returning. “Well, there’s no question about it. That’s definitely Mabel and Steven in there. Nobody else is as goofy or naive as those two.”

“Aw, thank you!” Maven gushed, not fully understanding what the conman had meant. “Though if you want, you can just call me Maven. It’s a lot easier and a lot awesomer.”

“Dudes, this is so cool!” Soos exclaimed as he walked up to the fusion. “You’re like, exactly what I pictured a Steven-Mabel fusion to look like! See?” The handyman grinned as he held up a rather sloppy sketch, one that only bore a very vague semblance to the fusion themselves, but it managed to easily impress them nonetheless.

“Whoa!” Maven gasped, taking the drawing and glancing over it. “It looks just like us!”

“Soos, did you draw a picture of Mabel and Steven fused?” Dipper asked, aptly confused.

“…No reason…” Soos replied tersely, awkwardly stuffing the drawing away into a folder simply labeled ‘fusions’.

“So, you kids aren’t doing anything… weird in there, are ya?” Stan asked, eyeing the fusion up and down suspiciously. While Maven didn’t quite catch onto his train of thought with this question, Dipper and Connie did and both of them were more than flustered enough for the fusion at the mere implication.

“Weird?” Maven asked innocently, raising an eyebrow. “Like what?”

“Oh, you know,” Stan shrugged flippantly. “Like holding hands or hugging or-”

“O-ok!” Connie quickly interrupted, flustered and somewhat angry as she lightly pushed Maven towards the door. “Hey, why don’t we go into town for a while? After all, you did say you wanted to, uh, take your ‘show’ on the road, right?”

“Oh yeah!” the fusion exclaimed brightly, straightening up and heading for the door voluntarily. “You know, I’ve already been planning out meet and greets with everyone in Gravity Falls! Whoa, really? That’ll be great! We’re gonna have to go fast if we wanna say hi to everyone! Eh, I’m sure we’ll have enough time. After all, if I know you, and if I know you, then I know we-”

“Ok, we get it. You guys are excited, what else is new?” Dipper cut in, somewhat annoyed by Maven’s near-constant back-and-forth amongst themselves. Even so, the fusion continued to happily ramble really only to themselves as they stepped outside the shack, Dipper and Connie dully following them and leaving Stan and Soos behind.

“Whoo,” the conman breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad they left when they did. I was worried I was gonna have to give them ‘the talk’.”

“You can always give me ‘the talk’, Mr. Pines,” Soos offered blithely, clearly not gathering what Stan had just implied. “And when you’re done, then I can show you the fusion I drew of you and me!” The handyman pulled out another rough sketch from his fusion folder. “I call him ‘Stoos’!”

“Soos, put that thing away,” Stan cringed upon seeing the drawing, making his opinion of it clear, even if Soos was hardly offended. “It’s making my eyes hurt just looking at it.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Mr. Pines,” the handyman reassured. “The next version will be even better. Maybe I’ll give us four eyes, just like Maven! That way we can be Super Stoos!”

“Yeah, you go ahead and do that…” Stan deadpanned dryly, heading to the den. “I’ll just… be over here. Way over here…”

Needless to say, Maven was as cordial and talkative as ever as the kids headed into town. As the fusion had planned, they offered a cheerful greeting to every single person they passed by, be they acquaintances or total strangers. Of course, they got plenty of curious stares due to both their odd number of eyes as well as their incredibly lively demeanor. But even so, Maven hardly noticed seeing as how they were having far too much fun to even overhear the bewildered gasps or confused whispers concerning them.

“So I think I’m finally getting the hang of this whole ‘walking without falling’ thing,” Maven remarked to Dipper and Connie as they followed behind them. “There’s really nothing to it once you—ow!” The fusion cut themselves off as they abruptly ran into a pole that they had been too distracted to notice. “Hey now!” they laughed it off, rubbing the sore spot on their head as they stepped past the pole. “Who put you there, you sneaky little pole? Ah well. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah! Walking!”

Undeterred by their clumsiness, Maven continued their chipper monologue, only interrupting themselves to see hello to any new faces they saw. “Yeesh, do those two ever stop talking?” Dipper remarked to Connie with a small, sardonic smirk.

“I heard that, Dipper!” Maven interjected before Connie could respond, though all the same the fusion was grinning wryly. “And you know what I think? I think you might just be a little bit jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Yeah! ‘Cause you’re the only one out of all of us who hasn’t gotten to fuse yet!” Maven goaded. “And you should really try it sometime! No joke, it’s one of the best feelings ever.”

Dipper didn’t reply to this appeal right away, instead glancing the fusion up and down skeptically before tersely looking away. “Uh… no thanks. I’m good.”

A look of slight disappointment filled Maven’s face for a moment, but once again, they were quick to shake the negative emotion off. “You don’t know what you’re missing, but oh well, I guess. More fusion fun for me!”

Jaunty as ever, the fusion skipped on ahead, continuing their parade of greetings, much to Connie’s bewilderment in particular as she watched them casually and sociably interact with everyone they encountered. “How do they do it…?” she asked softly, staring at Maven incredulously, though the fusion didn’t notice. “They make it look so… so easy…”

“Make what look easy?” Dipper asked, having overheard her.

“Being fused!” Connie huffed. “When me and Steven were Stevonnie, it was great, yeah, but were nothing like… like that,” she nodded towards Maven, who was in the midst of heartily shaking Mr. Smiley’s hand. “We were shy and scared and… awkward. So why was Stevonnie so anxious when Maven’s so… so not anxious?”

“Well they are made up of two of the biggest social butterflies, like, ever,” Dipper pointed out. “Still, I’m sort of getting the feeling that maybe they were wrong about me being the jealous one here…”

“What?!” Connie scoffed, offended. “I am not jealous of them!”

“Whoa, calm down,” Dipper said with a small laugh. “I was just kidding. To be honest, I kind of agree with you. ‘Maven’ is… well, they’re a lot to handle. If we’re lucky, then Steven and Mabel will probably just end up wearing themselves out and split up before they get too out of control.”

“I hope so…” Connie muttered, sending a small, brief, almost resentful glance the fusion’s way.

All the same, Maven was still effectively in their own little world, though their already constant excitement only doubled upon seeing a familiar pair heading down the street in their direction. “Candy! Grenda!” they shouted exuberantly, running on ahead to greet the girls. “Hi, guys! Notice anything different about us?” They laughed, twirling blithely and not noticing Candy and Grenda exchange a befuddled glance of apt confusion.

“Who are you, you mysterious, sparkly stranger?” Candy asked curiously, noting the glitter that covered the fusion from when Steven and Mabel had thrown it over themselves earlier.

“And where did you get that adorable sweater?!” Grenda asked in her usual boisterous way.

Maven simply laughed once more, quite used to people not recognizing them by now. “Both of those questions have a pretty simple answer that’s totally gonna blow your minds!” they exclaimed with a dazzling grin. “You see, girls, I’m what happens when you take a Steven and a Mabel and fuse them together into an awesomely magical, always loveable Maven!”

“Whaaaat?!” Candy and Grenda asked in stunned unison, looking to the fusion in incredulous amazement upon hearing their astonishing claim.

“Crazy, I know, but it’s completely true!” Maven smirked broadly. “And if you don’t take my word for it, just ask Dipper and Connie. They were there!”

“No, we weren’t,” Dipper clarified. “We showed up right after you guys fused, remember?”

“Oh, right,” the fusion shrugged. “Eh, close enough.”

“You two look incredible together!” Candy quipped to Maven, clearly impressed.

“I know, right?” Maven smirked confidently. “I’m like, the total package! Beauty, brawn, and… uh… that third thing!”

“Brains?” Connie suggested dryly.

“Ew, no!” the fusion stuck their tongue out. “We don’t have brains all over us. That would be gross!”

“Oh my gosh, you guys! Oh my gosh!” Grenda interjected with a huge gasp. “I just realized something awesome! You guys fusing is just like me and Candy when we fuse into Grendy!”

“Whoa, you guys can fuse?!” Maven asked, awestruck, even though Dipper and Connie were quick to exchange a doubtful glance.

“Yes!” Candy readily agreed. “Allow us to demonstrate.” With a large smile, she began to climb up Grenda’s back, easily perching herself upon the larger girl’s shoulders. They were still a good bit shorter than the actual fusion, but even so, Maven was quite impressed.

“Wow!” they gasped, stars in their eyes as they looked the other ‘fusion’ up and down. “And I thought our fusion was cool! You guys make such a beautiful fusion!”

“They can’t be serious…” Dipper remarked to Connie, both of them aptly bewildered by the fusion’s bizarre excitement.

“It’s very nice to meet you, ‘Grendy’,” Maven winked as they shook Candy’s hand.

“Nice to meet you too, ‘Maven’!” Grenda and Candy attempted to say in unison, though they did stumble up a bit, though the fusion only chuckled warmly in response. However, this levity happened to catch the attention of a certain heiress who was passing by, and as usually, she didn’t hesitate to throw a scathing remark the group’s way.

“Hey, Candy!” Pacifica called as she walked past, smirking haughtily all the while. “How’d you manage to hitch a piggyback ride from a real pig? Ha!”

The girls’ shared cheerful mood was instantly shattered upon hearing this biting insult, and without even a word in edgewise, Candy slowly dismounted from Grenda’s shoulders. Still, even if they didn’t have anything to throw back at the heiress, Maven was more than prepared to do the job for them. “Hey!” the fusion shouted, pouting impetuously. “That was a really mean thing to say, Pacifica!”

“Oh really?” the heiress turned to face Maven, a brief look of bewilderment washing over her expression before it returned to her usual smug scowl. “Uh, have we met before? Because I’m pretty sure I’d remember meeting an oversized, loud-mouthed, four-eyed freak like you.”

For a moment, the fusion’s eyes widened with what seemed to be hurt, but they were quick to shake it off in the midst of their righteous frustration. “You haven’t met me me before, but if you know Steven and Mabel, then you know me,” Maven paused for an awkward moment before clarifying. “Mostly because I am them. Fused together. By the way, its ok to be impressed by how great we are. Honestly, I would be too.”

“Are you kidding me?” Pacifica scoffed, raising an eyebrow upon hearing this. But all the same, this information gave her more than enough ammunition to tease them with. “Who would ever be impressed with you?”

“Oh, lots of people,” Maven grinned. “For starters, these two were pretty impressed,” they nodded to Dipper and Connie, who could only glance at the fusion somewhat worriedly. “And so were Soos and Grunkle Pines. And when the Gems get back I’m sure they’ll be super wowed by us too!”

“Yeah, well I’m not,” Pacifica rolled her eyes. “I mean, just look at you. You look like you’re a teenager but you’re dressed like you’re five. Your hair’s just one big frizzy mess desperately in need of some conditioner. And as for those four eyes of yours? I don’t even think I need to say that they’re downright creepy.”

“W-what?” Maven asked, their usual cheery demeanor diminishing quite a bit upon being verbally thrashed in such a way.

“And honestly,” the heiress continued, heedless of her hurtful words. “If you really are some weird fusion of Mabel and Steven, then that just makes you an even bigger walking disaster.”

Maven seemed to shrink back a little upon hearing this, their expression conveying both surprise and distress, as though Pacifica had physically injured them instead of emotionally. And oddly enough, the fusion didn’t even have any sort of retort to any of it, instead glancing down meekly as they tried to reconcile the matter between themselves silently. Which was why both Dipper and Connie unanimously decided that it was time for them to intervene.

“Hey, Pacifica, why don’t you back off already?” Dipper asked hotly, sending the heiress a cross glare.

“Seriously, what’s your problem?” Connie asked, just as incensed. “Maven didn’t even do anything to you, so leave them alone!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that something weird always happens whenever you guys are around,” Pacifica scowled. “You know, I’m surprised that you two haven’t ‘fused’ into the world’s biggest nerd yet.”

This insult hardly even phased Dipper or Connie seeing as how they were both too mutually frustrated by the heiress’s callous manner and especially by her harsh treatment towards the fusion. “Say you’re sorry,” Dipper said rigidly, eliciting yet another scoff from Pacifica.

“What? To you two? Ha, as if.”

“Not to us,” Connie glowered. “To them.” She pointed at Maven, now standing behind them, still uncharacteristically silent and morose.

“Oh, sure,” the heiress deadpanned. “I’ll be sure to do that as soon as I-” Pacifica abruptly cut herself off, her smug smirk turning into a look of surprise upon stealing another glance at the fusion. Maven held onto themselves in a tight, protective embrace, their mouth buried into the collar of their sweater as they looked away fretfully. Though what oddly enough got the heiress to finally change her teasing tone was the transparent tears welling up in all four of the fusion’s eyes. “Whoa,” Pacifica breathed, her own eyes wide and filled with incoming regret. “Uh, I didn’t mean to… Look, you guys aren’t… I… Um…” she trailed off, letting out a remorseful sigh as she looked away herself. “Sorry.”

Upon hearing this, Maven finally glanced up, letting out a small sniffle as they hurried to wipe their first few tears away. The fusion was surprisingly quick to bounce back, and in mere seconds they were back to their usual perky selves. “Aw, don’t worry about it, Pacifica!” they beamed, looking as though they had never let sadness overtake them at all. “I know you really didn’t mean any of that! Besides I know it’s kind of hard to find the right words to describe a super cool fusion like me.”

“Uh… yeah…” Pacifica said stiffly, still not making eye contact with the fusion out of guilt. “I… I’m just gonna… go…”

“Bye, Pacifica!” Maven called out after the heiress as she awkwardly departed. “We’ll have to meet up for another game of mini-golf sometime soon! Hopefully we won’t run into any murderous living golf balls next time!”

“Ugh,” Connie groaned after Pacifica was out of earshot. “You know, you’d think that whole disaster would have taught her not to be such a little-” She cut herself off as Maven suddenly placed a hand on both her and Dipper’s shoulders. They both glanced up at the fusion curiously, only to see them stifling a huge, grateful smile by biting their lip.

“Uh… you guys?” Dipper frowned in confusion upon seeing this, but before he could question their sudden elation further, Maven suddenly knelt down to their level and wrapped them both into a tight, practically crushing hug.

“I knew it!” the fusion gushed, refusing to relinquish their embrace with the startled pair. “I knew you guys really do like me!”

“W-what?” Connie asked, finding it somewhat hard to breathe with Maven holding onto them so tightly. “Of course we like you! We always have. I mean, you are Steven and Mabel after all.”

“Yeah, I know,” Maven finally let them go, though they were still kneeling to remain on eye level with the pair. “But I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about me: Maven! I could tell you guys were a little iffy on me when you first saw me, but after how you just came to my rescue like that, now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you two really like me on my own! Which is just… so… great!” Unable to contain their building delight, the fusion pulled Dipper and Connie into yet another hug, not even noticing the concerned glance they were exchanging all the while, especially in light of the confusing, rather alarming points that Maven had just implied.

“Uh, yeah…” Dipper said apprehensively as Connie let out a small, awkward, forced laugh. “It’s… great…”

For the remainder of the afternoon, Maven continued their excitable trip around town, stopping at all of Steven and Mabel’s respective favorite spots, including the Big Donut, the ice cream shop, Gravity Fries, the pet store, and more. Of course, Dipper and Connie tagged along, mostly for the sake of making sure that the boisterous fusion didn’t accidentally get themselves into any trouble, but the entire affair was punctuated with an underlying sense of worry that neither of them dared to bring up to Maven themselves. Still, neither of them could deny that they were concerned. Seeing as how they had been fused since that morning, Maven had already surpassed the amount of time Stevonnie had been fused for, a fact that bothered Connie in particular. And yet even so, they showed no signs nor made any mention of wanting or needing to split up, almost as if they had no intentions of doing so at all. As a matter of fact, they were still going strong by the time the group returned to the shack as the sun was just starting to go down.

“Woo!” Maven exclaimed, contentedly plopping themselves down onto the couch on the porch. “Some day, huh? I know we kind of missed out on our party, but if you ask me, this a ton more fun! Don’t you guys think so?”

“Uh… yeah…” Connie dully nodded along with Dipper, both of them looking away from the fusion. “Well, it’s getting late. My parents will be expecting me home soon…”

“Aw, already?” Maven frowned. “But we were having such a great time! Are you sure you gotta go, Connie?”

“Yeah, I really should…” Connie shrugged, finally glancing towards the fusion with a sense of newfound hopefulness. “And… I was kind of hoping to say goodbye to Steven and Mabel before I left…”

“Oh,” Maven leaned forward, their expression innocent and oblivious. “Ok, bye!”

“Uh… I don’t think that’s what she meant, guys,” Dipper interjected, crossing his arms.

“Huh?” the fusion raised a confused eyebrow before turning back to Connie. “Then… what did you mean?”

“I mean I want you to-” she cut brusquely herself off, biting her lip anxiously. She had no idea how to phrase this in a way that wouldn’t offend or hurt either of them, which is what blurting out how she really felt about the situation would certainly do. So instead, she continued awkwardly dancing around it in the hopes that they’d comply. “I… I meant… I wanted to say goodbye to both of you: Steven and Mabel.”

“Ohhhh I get it!” Maven exclaimed with newfound supposed understanding, rising from their seat. For a moment, Dipper and Connie looked to them in anticipation, but their hopes were quickly dashed as the fusion remained just that and merely pulled Connie into a fond, farewell embrace. “Bye, Connie! Have a great night! We’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Uh… yeah…” Connie replied halfheartedly, clearly disappointed as the hug dissipated and she turned to leave. “See you guys… tomorrow…”

Maven continued to cheerfully wave after Connie as she headed off, heedless of the disapproving look Dipper was sending them until they happened to steal a glance down at him. “What?” they asked, not understanding his apparent exasperation.

“Um, don’t you guys think you’ve been at this for… long enough?” he asked, trying his best to tread carefully with what he said.

“At what?” the fusion asked, though there were quick to glean what he meant. “Oh, you mean being fused? Come on, Dip-bro! We’re barely even getting started! I at least gotta stick around long enough to show the Gems when they get back tomorrow!”

“So… what? You two are just gonna stay fused overnight then?”

Maven paused, taking an apparent moment to consider this possibility before reaching their unanimous conclusion. “I don’t see why we can’t,” they shrugged blithely. “It’ll be just like a slumber party!”

“Wait, you’re not serious, are you?” Dipper asked, looking to the fusion dubiously.

“Well, of course we are! And this slumber party will be even better than our last one since hopefully this time Lion won’t barge in and try to sleep on your face! Plus, I’ve never slept as a fusion before… What if we end up having the same dream? Oh my gosh, that would be so awesome! I really hope we do!” Maven continued to excitedly ramble to themselves as they headed inside the shack, already coming up with plans for their latest slumber party. Dipper followed not too far behind them, letting out a tired sigh as he silently hoped the evening would go by quickly.

Unfortunately, the evening went by anything but quickly for Dipper, though for Maven, it passed far too fast. Fueled by their seemingly boundless energy and ecstasy, the fusion launched themselves into the array of festive activities they had planned, from baking cookies, to mixing together a new take on Mabel juice that they aptly called “Maven juice”, to sneaking Lion into the shack so he could join the cuddle session they were having with Waddles, to trying on different pairs of sunglasses over both sets of eyes. By the time they finally decided to start settling down and getting ready for bed, they had managed to fill at least several pages of Mabel’s scrapbook with a colorful retelling of their self-proclaimed “fusion fun”. Fun that they had every intention of continuing into the next day after a good night’s sleep.

“Hm…” Maven mused, holding Mabel’s usual night shit up to themselves and seeing that it was a good deal too small for them to fit into. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to sleep in our sweater for tonight. That’s not a problem. It’s so cozy, after all! No wonder you wear these things all the time! Heh, yeah, they are pretty great, aren’t they?”

As the fusion continued to converse to themselves, Dipper subtly observed them whilst sitting in bed, pretending to read the journal, though even so, he kept his pressing concerns to himself, just as he had for most of the evening. Yet at the same time, he was quickly starting to come to the conclusion that perhaps it would be better to finally present them to Maven, especially after spending the past several hours of watching their unbridled enthusiasm run amok. The lengthy stint of their fusion’s stay, as well as their general intensity and apparent disregard for anything aside from themselves as certainly alarming. In fact, all of those things combined had Dipper admittedly worried for what the long-term effects on both Mabel and Steven might be, even if he didn’t have the experience in fusion himself to know if it was potentially harmful at all. Still, as Maven continued to ready themselves for bed, he decided that perhaps it was time to at the very least bring the matter up to them.

“Uh, Maven?” Dipper spoke up, still not quite used to calling them by their shared name.

“What’s up, Dip-bro?” Maven brightly replied, spinning around to face him with a bright smile.

Dipper hesitated before continuing, largely out of the fear that what he was about to ask could very well offend them, which was honestly the last thing he wanted to do. Still, he knew that this had to be addressed. “Um… so exactly how long do you guys plan on keeping this up for?”

“What, you mean being fused?” the fusion asked, stretching out a bit. “I dunno. Till whenever, I guess. I figure we’ll just keep riding it out for as long as it feels good. And to be honest, it still feels pretty darn good.”

“Ok but… you know you can’t stay fused forever… right?” Dipper asked tentatively.

Now it was Maven’s turn to take pause, their four-eyed gaze subtly shifting downward as they offered a hasty response. “Oh, uh, yeah, I know. But, for right now, I really don’t see any problems with us staying like this. We’re all having a great time, everything’s great, we’re all great! So… yeah! No worries!”

“Well… I kind of can’t help but be a little worried about you guys…” Dipper admitted with an apprehensive frown. “I mean, the Gems said so themselves; this whole humans and Gems fusing thing is totally new territory. We still don’t know if there’s any crazy side effects to it or not. I just… don’t want to see either of you guys get hurt…”

A look of immense concern washed over the fusion’s face upon hearing this, but once again, they were quick to chase it away and return to their normal sense of complacency without a hitch. “Aw, don’t be silly, Dipper!” they scoffed with a small, reassuring laugh. “We’re not gonna get hurt just from being fused! I think that you’re maybe being just a little paranoid, but I guess that’s usual.” Maven let out another light chuckle as Dipper simply rolled his eyes, somewhat frustrated by their refusal to take him (or anything else for that matter) seriously. “Still, we feel fine. Better than fine, actually, we feel-”

“Let me guess,” Dipper interrupted with a dejected sigh. “Great?”

“You got it!” the fusion exclaimed, winking with both sets of their eyes. Their cheeriness did diminish a little though as they took notice of Dipper’s rather crestfallen expression, one that a part of them couldn’t help but feel somehow strangely responsible for. “But hey!” they added, speaking without really thinking. “Uh, if it’ll make you feel better, we’ll… we’ll, uh… we’ll unfuse after the Gems get back to tomorrow. Does that sound ok?”

“Really?” Dipper asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at them though there was clear hopefulness in his tone. “You guys really mean that?”

“Um… o-of course we do!” Maven laughed awkwardly, conspicuously hiding their hands behind their back. And with good reason too, seeing as it kept their tightly crossed fingers conveniently out of Dipper’s sight. “I… I promise.”

Fortunately for the fusion, Dipper seemed to buy this as he let out a relieved sigh and closed the journal for the night. “Well, that’s good. You guys probably need a break from each other by now anyway, right?”

“Uh… maybe?” the fusion somewhat lied, knowing that their two halves were anything but tired of each other. If anything, the longer they remained together, the more they wanted to remain so. But given the nature of the ongoing conversation, they suddenly felt as though they couldn’t admit that. So instead, they simply walked over to Mabel’s bed, flopping down onto it and instantly noticing that their long legs dangled over the edge by quite a bit. “Aw, the bed’s too short!”

“Well, given that you guys are like, 6 feet tall now, I could have told you that a twin-sized bed wasn’t going to be the most comfortable fit,” Dipper deadpanned with a small, amused smile as he turned the attic light out. “Good night.”

“Yeah…” Maven frowned, for the first time feeling uncomfortable and out of place as they curled up into a ball under the covers just so they could fit under them. “Good… good night…”

Despite their brief bout of insecurity the previous night, Maven had, as usual, bounced back to their usual perky, overzealous self by the time they woke up, still fused, the next morning. A fact that Dipper found out the hard way as the fusion abruptly and excitedly shook him awake. “Dipper, wake up! Wake up, Dipper! Wake up!” Maven practically shouted, pulling on his arm in an attempt to rouse him.

Of course, Dipper couldn’t very easily remain asleep with the fusion essentially yelling right in his ear, so instead he groggily sat up and wiped the seep from his eyes. “Ok, ok, I’m up-”

“Get up already!” Maven exclaimed obliviously, grabbing him by the shoulders now as they continued to shake up. “We gotta hurry! The Gems will be back from their mission any minute now! I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when they see us, they’re gonna go nuts!”

“I think I might know somebody who’s already there…” Dipper remarked as Maven finally let him get out of bed. Still, he could hardly be bitter towards the fusion, especially upon remembering the reassuring promise they had made last night.

“Come on, come on! We gotta go!” Maven barely gave Dipper any time to put his hat or vest on before grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him along after them. It was apparently still quite early in the morning as they were already out the door of the shack before Stan was up to open for business. Though Dipper was clearly having a hard time keeping up with the excited fusion as they ran all the way up to the temple, Maven didn’t slow their pace for a second, not wanting to miss the Gems’ arrival. And sure enough, they didn’t, bursting into the house just as the warp pad lit up and the Gems returned.

“Steven!” Pearl called with a contented smile. “We’re back!” The white Gem opened her eyes to glance around for the young Gem, but instead of finding him, all three of the Gems were met with a familiar yet unfamiliar figure eagerly standing a few feet away from the warp pad. “Wha-?”

“Hi, guys!” Maven greeted with a chipper smile and wave, scarcely able to hold back their delight, though they did for the sake of remaining inconspicuous.

“Uh… who the heck are you supposed to be?” Amethyst asked, hopping off the warp pad to tentatively approach the fusion. However, before Maven could begin to explain themselves, Dipper finally made it to the temple himself, quite tired after having essentially chased them all the way up the hill.

“O-ok!” he exclaimed breathlessly, having to lean against the door to regather his bearings. “I made it. What did I miss?”

“Like pretty much everything,” Maven rolled their eyes good-naturedly. “Try and keep up next time, Dip-bro.”

“Dipper,” Pearl spoke up with a befuddled frown. “Do you know this… person?” her tone became even more confused as she glanced towards the beaming fusion.

“Uh yeah?” Dipper shrugged. “They’re-”

“Shhh!” Maven abruptly cut him off. “I want them to guess! Though really, it’s not that hard of a guess once you take a look at the clues…” Their smile widened as they pointed towards both their gem and their braces, looking towards the Gems expectantly all the while. The trio was admittedly stumped, or at least, Amethyst and Pearl were, until the purple Gem finally managed to piece it together.

“No way!” she gasped loudly, her jaw dropping in surprise. “Steven? And Mabel?”

“Maven,” Garnet interjected, already knowing their shared name thanks to her future vision.

“Ding ding! Correct!” Maven cheered, clasping their hands together happily. “Amethyst, since you guessed it first, you win!”

“Oh yeah?” Amethyst smirked, crossing her arms. “Win what?”

“Uh… a high five from me!”

“Eh, good enough,” the purple Gem shrugged, accepting the fusion’s high five with an amused laugh.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Pearl cut in, looking to Maven incredulously. “You mean to say that you two—you two being Steven and Mabel… fused?”

“Yep!” Maven grinned proudly. “And aren’t we awesome at it? I mean, check us out! We even have extra eyes and everything, just like you guys get when you fuse!” The Gems exchanged a stilted glance at this, none of them quite sure what to think, but even so the fusion continued with a gasp of realization. “Oh my gosh! I just thought of something! Technically, I’m a Gem now too, just like you! And if we have your Gem, then that means we can break that flashy shield out, can’t we? Oh yeah! It’s worth a try, at least! Then let’s do it! Maven Fusion Weapon Summoning Powers… go!”

With this bold proclamation, the fusion held their arm out, eagerly anticipating that the iconic pink shield would appear over it. And though nothing initially happened, Maven was more than prepared to try again. “I said go!” they shouted once more, glancing down to their gem this time only to see it was still bereft of any sort of glow. “Go!” Their determined expression turned to one of disgruntled confusion, their arm lowering as they reached towards their gem. “I wonder if I’m not saying the right thing… I don’t think that’s how it works… It’s more like… a feeling. What kind of feeling? I… haven’t really figured that out yet… But it’s a good feeling, whatever it is! Oh, sort of like how we feel? Yeah! A lot like that actually…” Maven trailed off into a warm smile, though it was short lived as they noticed their gem finally start to shine in its lustrous pink light.

“T-they… they can’t really summon the shield while they’re fused…” Pearl whispered to Garnet, clinging onto her arm tightly amidst her almost disturbed confusion. “Can they?”

“It’s not just the shield,” the Gem leader replied, her stoic expression fixed as she watched the fusion’s face light up with excited awe while an entirely new weapon materialized in their hand. “It’s a-”

“Grappling shield!” Maven exclaimed with huge smile, holding their very unique, somewhat odd weapon up for everyone to see. Indeed, it couldn’t really be described as anything else but a grappling shield. Its body and barrel looked largely normal, aside from its deep pink shade and the familiar rose insignia on its side, the sake colorful trail that poured from the star on the fusion’s sweater streaking out from it. However, its defining feature was clearly the miniaturized version of Steven’s shield attached to it in place of a hook, tethered to the barrel with a sturdy, thorny rope. The entire weapon seemed to sparkle and glimmer continually, something that excited Maven even more as they looked over it admiringly.

“A grappling shield?” Dipper repeated incredulously. “How are you supposed to use that as a weapon?”

“Like this!” the fusion exclaimed, taking aim with a daring grin. Not putting too much care into accuracy, Maven fired the shield off, watching with delight as it slung forward and darted across the house with each broad swing of the barrel they made. The Gems were just quick enough to leap out of the way as the shield darted towards them, ricocheting off of the warp pad and towards the kitchen. In the process, it ended up crashing into the microwave door, easily shattering it before the shield zoomed over to the loft, tearing right through the pillows on the bed and sending feathers flying everywhere. Maven panicked somewhat at the unintentional damage they were causing, which was why they were quick to yank the shield back towards them. By the time the shield zipped back into its original position against the barrel, it had made quite a mess, something that the fusion could only let out a small, awkward laugh over. “Heh, whoops! Guess this thing can really pack a punch, huh?”

“Could you two please be a bit more careful?” Pearl asked, already fretting over the mess. “I know this is new for both of you, but still try to exercise some form of self control, ok?”

“Aw, don’t worry, Pearl!” Maven smirked as they casually twisted the barrel of the grappling shield around in their hand. “I totally got this-” The fusion was abruptly interrupted as the weapon suddenly fired, the shield flying out and its flat face smacking them squarely against the head. The force of it was enough to knock Maven completely to the ground hard, much to the alarm of the Gems and Dipper, but sure enough, the fusion was quick to recover, like always. “I-I’m ok!” they assured, haphazardly picking themselves up as they rubbed the new sore spot on their head while the grappling shield disappeared into a brief burst of sparkles.                                                                                                                                                            

“Pffft, oh my gosh, dude, you are hilarious,” Amethyst laughed hard at the fusion’s antics, catching a small look of ire from Pearl, though she hardly cared. “Steven and Mabel should have fused a long time ago! Maven’s a total riot!”

“Yeah, I am!” Maven brightly agreed. “I’m just full of laughs! And charm, and excitement, and a bunch of other stuff! Aren’t I, Dipper?”

“Oh, you’re full of something…” Dipper muttered sarcastically, crossing his arms as he looked away from the fusion.

“So, when exactly did this happen?” Pearl asked, giving Maven a scrutinizing glance. “Did you two fuse just a few minutes ago, before we got back?”

“Nope,” Maven shook their head. “It happened yesterday morning right after you guys left. And we’ve been keeping this fusion party rolling ever since!”

“W-what?!” the white Gem gaped, aghast. “Y-you’ve been fused… since yesterday?! T-that’s… unheard of, especially for a first time fusion! A few hours is understandable, but an entire day and night?! There’s no telling what effect that could have on either of you! Clearly, you two need to un-”

“Pearl,” Garnet cut in just in time, calming her teammate with a firm hand on her shoulder. “I’ll handle this.”

Though they had been caught somewhat off guard by Pearl’s sudden alarm, Maven was quick to perk up again as the Gem leader stepped up to them. “Hi, Garnet!” they greeted brightly, their hands behind their back as they smiled up at her.

“Hello, Maven,” Garnet replied, her tone even, gentle, yet steady. The Gem leader didn’t say anything else after this though, as she instead seemed to start staring the fusion down. Maven’s smile quickly faded at this, and without really meaning to, they shifted rather uncomfortably under Garnet’s shade-obscured, yet still intent gaze.

“Uh… Garnet?” they frowned apprehensively. “I-is something wrong?”

The Gem leader still didn’t answer right away, but when she did, she let out a deep breath, as if to harden her resolve. “There’s something you both should know about fusion…” she began tentatively.

“Oh, what? You mean that it’s amazing?” Maven asked, their smile somewhat returning. “Because we already knew that! In fact, it-”

“No,” Garnet held her hand up in an unspoken command for the fusion to remain silent and let her speak her piece. “When we fuse, most of the time, we do it for the sake of a mission or a goal. It allows us to work off of each other’s strengths and become beings greater than ourselves. And that’s exactly why it feels so ‘amazing’. The excitement that you’re feeling is exactly what you’re supposed to feel. It means that your bond is stable, strong, healthy. And as a result, so is your fusion.”

“Aw, thanks so much!” Maven beamed happily, wrapping their arms around themselves. “You know, I knew we-”

“But,” the Gem leader interrupted once more, her tone shifting somewhat. “There is a danger to that excitement, and to fusion itself, one that, due to your lack of experience with it, you both might be at risk of.”

The fusion’s eyes widened, a small hint of fear flashing over their expression upon hearing this. “W-what is it?” they asked, their usually loud voice but a mere whisper now.

“Losing yourselves,” Garnet answered simply, though she did elaborate upon noticing Maven’s clear confusion. “For some Gems, but not all, the longer they remain fused, the more their individual personalities begin to fade away into the fusion. And if they stay together for too long… then those personalities…”

“They… they disappear?” Dipper guessed, growing even more worried for both Mabel and Steven as Garnet only nodded gravely in response.

Maven themselves sucked in a sharp breath at this confirmation, their expression awash with confusion, dread, fear, and far too many other emotions, none of which they really knew how to handle. But right before they let those pressing emotions rise to the surface, they quickly shook their head clear, pulling themselves to their full height as they pushed their incoming anxiety away. Just like they always did. “Whaaaat?” Maven asked, forcing out a scoffing laugh. “Come on, guys, you know us! We’re not gonna ‘lose ourselves’ or anything like that! We’re totally fine! I mean, we’ve only been fused for a day. And we can just unfuse any time we want to!”

“Oh, you mean like right now?” Dipper asked, glancing up at the fusion incredulously. “After all, you guys did promise that you’d unfuse after you showed the Gems, so…”

“Oh, uh… yeah, I guess I did…” Maven frowned, awkwardly scratching the back of their neck. “But um… w-we should probably wait for Connie to get here first! You know… j-just because…”

“Because what?” Dipper raised an eyebrow, already getting the feeling that the fusion wasn’t going to uphold their bargain.

“Just because, ok?!” Maven exclaimed, somewhat frustrated. They instantly let out a startled gasp as soon as they said this though, especially upon seeing the unimpressed look Garnet was giving them. “Uh… I… I mean-”

“Maven, listen,” Garnet said, her tone patient as she placed a hand on the fusion’s shoulder. “I’m not going to tell you that you have to unfuse. That’s your choice, and not anyone else’s. But I do want you to just remember what I said. When the time is right, you’ll both know what is for the best.”

“Uh… y-yeah…” Maven unsteadily agreed, their hands in tight fists at their sides as they swallowed hard. Upon hearing the Gem leader’s warning, the fusion could tell that something suddenly felt off for both of their respective halves, something that might have always been there but had only been unnoticeable until now. But as for what that something was… they had no idea. “We… we’ll know…”

Upon arriving at the shack later that morning, Connie was both surprised and somewhat disappointed to see that Maven was still around, though much like Dipper was, she mostly kept her peace about it. Still, it was basically impossible for her not to start worrying about the situation even more as the fusion hotly recounted what Garnet had told them earlier.

“And then she told us that we might ‘lose ourselves’,” Maven ranted as they paced around the den, Dipper and Connie dully listening to them as they sat on the couch. “Which is crazy because who’s more us than us!? But I told her I’m fine and I am! I mean, I look fine, don’t I?”

“Uh… sure,” Connie frowned, noting how the fusion did look somewhat out of sorts amidst their apparent aggravation. “But… you guys are going to unfuse eventually… aren’t you?”

“Uh, yeah, ‘eventually’,” the fusion assented, even if their tone was quite noncommittal. “For right now I’m just… waiting for the right moment to split up. I don’t wanna rush this sort of thing, you know.”

“And you guys really aren’t worried about what Garnet was saying actually happening?” Dipper asked tentatively. “You know, that whole thing were your personalities basically just disappear?”

“Of course, they’re not!” Maven scoffed, crossing their arms. “They’re both still in here, in me! And I’m totally in control, just like I have been from the beginning and just like I’m going to stay until… until whenever!”

Connie and Dipper exchanged an aptly concerned glance upon hearing the fusion’s odd phrasing of this incensed proclamation, and they didn’t hesitate to question them on it. “‘They’?” Connie asked, raising a confused eyebrow.

Maven froze, their eyes widening as they quickly tried to correct themselves. “I-I meant we. We’re both still in here.” The fusion paused, noticing the questioning, doubtful look that both Dipper and Connie were sending them. “Oh come on, guys! Quit worrying about me! Like I keep telling you, I’m fine, really!”

“If you say so…” Dipper sighed, finally seeming to relent. It was merely a ruse though, one that the fusion bought as they smiled, allayed for the moment, clearly not wanting to address the pressing matter at hand any longer. “Hey, Connie? Do you mind helping me grab something from the kitchen really quick?”

“Uh, sure,” Connie nodded, somewhat understanding his intent with this sudden request. “We’ll be right back,” she told the fusion, who simply nodded cheerfully as they plopped down onto the recliner.

“Ok, but don’t take too long in there, you two!” they called after the pair as they stepped into the other room. “I have big plans for a lot more fusion fun today and I wanna get started on them as soon as possible!” Almost as soon as they had brightly relayed this message, however, Maven’s smile quickly faded, their four-eyed gaze drifting down to their hands resting in their lap. They still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, and the more they thought about it, the more they realized that this feeling was far from new. In fact, it had started plaguing them as early as yesterday, really only a few hours into their fusion. And only now were they starting to realize what it was. When they had first fused, they could both feel each other within their new form, fully and entirely, as though they were sitting beside each other and holding hands. Both of the halves that composed them manifested themselves so clearly, through words, actions, and even conversation amongst themselves. There was a clear divide between where Steven ended and Mabel began and vice versa, one that the fusion had been content and comfortable with amidst their mutual excitement. But the longer they remained fused, the more Maven stopped feeling that clear divide, almost as if it was thinning out entirely. The back and forth between them had gradually lessened, to the point that their shared streams of consciousness had almost become singular. It was almost as if the two halves of their whole had gone quiet, or instead, they had fused into one internal voice, much like their bodies already had. In a strange, almost frightening sense, it was almost as if they had-

Maven let out a soft, audible gasp, quickly steering their mind away from the thought before it could even be completed. Of course, they weren’t disappearing. If they were disappearing, then that meant that they were losing themselves, and if they were losing themselves, then that would mean that they weren’t in control. But they were in control; they had said so themselves and they firmly believed it. This was their fusion and they could handle it. They could stop any time they wanted to.

The only problem was… they didn’t really want to.

Maven was soon broken out of their deep musing however, upon overhearing brief, quiet snippets of Dipper and Connie’s conversation in the kitchen. And even from what few bits and pieces of words and sentences they could hear, it was more than enough to tell the fusion that the conversation was focused on them: “-out of hand-”, “-too long-”, “-losing themselves-”, “-unfuse-”. That final word, one that came from Connie, was what at last prompted Maven to stand up, and, as if guided by mere dread alone, sneak over towards the kitchen, hiding themselves just on the other side of the wall so they could eavesdrop on what the pair was saying.

“Knowing them, the last thing they’re gonna wanna do is unfuse,” Dipper said, his tone quite exasperated. “Every time someone so much as brings it up to them, they just shrug it off or dance around it, like it’s not even an option for them.”

“Yeah, it needs to be their only option!” Connie huffed, distressed. “It’s for their own good! If they don’t, then they’ll be gone and we’ll just be stuck with… ‘Maven’ forever!”

“And what’s so bad about that?!” Maven spoke up, their tone already quite upset as they emerged from behind the wall.

“Y-you guys!” Dipper exclaimed in apt surprise. “We… we didn’t know you were-”

“I don’t understand!” the fusion quickly cut him off, their expression both angry and morose. “Yesterday… You guys… I thought… I thought you two actually liked me for me, and not just because of what I’m made of! But now I guess the truth comes out… you guys hate me!”

“Ugh, seriously?” Dipper exclaimed, not hiding his frustration with the fusion this time. “How do you still not get it?”

“Get what?”

“Maven,” Connie began, her tone a good bit softer than Dipper’s, but still quite adamant. “We don’t hate you. It’s just… we really miss Steven and Mabel.”

“B-but…” Maven’s brows furrowed in bewildered confusion as they looked down at themselves. “I… I am Steven and Mabel! Why isn’t that good enough for you guys, or for the Gems, or for anyone else?!”

“Because you’re not just Steven and Mabel anymore,” Dipper sighed tiredly, glancing away from the fusion pleadingly. “You’re Maven. Garnet was right; you two really are losing yourselves.”

“You’re both already so far gone that you just don’t even see it!” Connie shook her head sadly. “And that’s why you have to unfuse. Before you guys disappear… forever…”

Tears were finally starting to form in all four of Maven’s eyes, but they just barely managed to hold them back. A part of them desperately wanted to understand, aside from what just their words and expressions conveyed, exactly how Dipper and Connie must be feeling, and yet, for some reason, they couldn’t. The only emotions they could feel were their own, and those emotions were not only conflicted, painful, and pressing. They were huge. “W-well… well…” the fusion stammered, trying their best to reconcile all of the negative feelings racing through them, even if they were powerless to keep them from running wild. And so instead, those countless feelings manifested themselves in the only way they could at the moment: through anger. “Well… maybe I don’t want to unfuse!”

Maven’s furious shout hung heavily in the air for a moment seeing as how neither Dipper nor Connie really knew how to react to it aside from staring at the frustrated fusion with wide, shocked eyes. Still, when the stilted silence was broken, Connie was the one to do it, and with a sudden sense of rage that was almost equal to Maven’s own. “It doesn’t matter if you ‘don’t want to’,” she scowled, her usual calm demeanor anything but. “You have to!”

“No, I don’t!” the fusion argued back fiercely. “What if I wanna stay like this, huh? What’s the problem with just letting me have fun and be me?!”

“The problem is that if you guys stay like this,” Dipper began, his tone calmer than Connie’s but notably dejected and glum. “Then Steven and Mabel will basically just… fade away. And I honestly don’t think I have to tell you why that’s a problem, seeing as how, like you said, they are you.”

“O-oh, yeah? W-well...” Maven trailed off, still filled with far too much anger, desperation, and grief to even think rationally as they fired off an intense response without even thinking about it. “Well, I don’t really care if they fade away or not!”

Of course, the very moment these words left the fusion’s mouth, they instantly regretted them, especially as they watched Dipper and Connie both freeze with surprise and mutual disappointment and despair. Still, it was too late to take them back now, as much as Maven wanted to, especially as a heavy wave of familiar fear and anxiety washed over them. And this time, there would be no pushing it away. “I… I didn’t-” the fusion struggled, a choked sob finally escaping them. They knew they had crossed a line, a line that they had never meant to step over, but had recklessly crossed nonetheless. And because of that, they had absolutely no idea how to try and make it right.

So instead, they didn’t.

Without so much as a single word, Maven turned on their heel and rushed out of the kitchen, ultimately running out of the shack without so much as even entertaining the thought of turning back. They didn’t even slow their pace as Dipper and Connie hurried after them, pleading with them to stop so that they could talk all of this through instead of arguing about it. But Maven knew that it was far too late to simply talk about it now. Really, if there was any suitable way to solve this problem, then it was far beyond their knowledge or reach.

Though it had recently started raining outside, even that didn’t stop Maven as they burst out of the shack, still refusing to let their pressing tears fall as their sandals splashed quickly in the mud with each running step. Because of the rain, Dipper and Connie were quick to stop following the fusion, especially as they ran into the nearby woods, but still they barely noticed. At this point, the only thing guiding them was their own deep, intense desperation to escape. They didn’t know what they were really doing or where they were really going. All they knew was that they had to get away. From their guilt, from their overwhelming emotions in general, from perhaps even themselves.

In the midst of trying to block everything out, Maven had no idea how long they had been fleeing for, or even where in the woods they were. They were effectively drenched, thanks to the rain, their poofy, curled hair sopping with water and their sweater and socks both heavy and soggy. And yet as the adrenaline of their flight finally started to fade, they gradually slowed their pace to a walk, before ultimately stopping to hunch over and catch their lost breath. For once, their thoughts were oddly as silent as they were, though they figured that was because there were just too many of them bouncing around their head for any single one to take dominance. In fact, by this point, the only thing they felt was cold, both inside and out, though this cold was occasionally punctuated by regret, dread, or sorrow, or sometimes even all three. What had once been fun and exciting had all at once become suffocating and painful. Yet they knew they couldn’t stop yet. Because somewhere, hidden deep down inside of them, beyond the dread and fear, that fun and excitement was still there, waiting to fill them with their warmth and pleasure once again, just like the return of the sun after the rain.

A sudden, familiar laugh sounding out from nearby was what finally broke the distraught fusion out of their breathlessness. A sharp gasp escaped them as they bolted upright, their four eyes widening as they listened for the laugh again, only to hear a different, but still very familiar one. The first laugh echoed through the area only seconds later, and before Maven was even aware of what was happening, the back and forth laughter had pointed them towards a sight that deeply alarmed them. The fusion only saw them for a second, but they saw them nonetheless: Steven and Mabel both running laughingly through the woods just ahead of them. The two halves to their whole, already slipping away from them altogether.

“W-wait!” Maven choked, a deep sense of fear racing through them like lightning. The fusion stumbled forward, running after the pair without even thinking about the logistics of how they were seemingly separate and apart from them. “Wait, come back!” They shouted desperately, tears finally slipping down their cheeks as they tried to catch up with the two fading halves of themselves, knowing that if they didn’t, they could very well lose themselves forever. “Wait! Please, we-”

Maven was cut off as their sandal suddenly caught onto a rock in their path, one that instantly tripped them up and sent them crashing to the ground. The fusion fell face-first into the mud near a small stream, their face and clothes tarnished by it as they shakily picked themselves up, Steven and Mabel’s respective laughter fading away into silence as they did so. “W-wait...” they pleaded softly, their hand shaking as they reached out into the darkened, empty woods ahead of them. “Please…”

The fusion let out a small, morose sob as they pulled themselves into a sitting position, tentatively glancing over to their reflection in the nearby stream. Despite the mud and tears, they still looked every bit like the perfect cross between Steven and Mabel that they were on the outside. But on the inside… they weren’t so sure if that was even true anymore. “I-it’s just us…” they muttered despondently before bitterly glancing away from their reflection. “It’s just me.”

Unsure of what else to do, Maven pushed themselves away from the stream and sat against a large, nearby tree, pulling their legs close to their chest in a tight embrace. Their sweater was too short for them to go to ‘sweatertown’ but they still did the next best thing as a pink, sparkling bubble formed around them, blocking them from the rain and really everything else but their own misery. With a heavy heart, Maven at last realized that everyone had been right about them; they had let this get far too out of hand and had gone way off the deep end with their fusion, to the point that they weren’t even sure if it was possible for them to end it now, even if they wanted to.

And even still, they weren’t so sure that they even did want to end.

“Hey,” the fusion spoke up to themselves, their voice anxious and small. “A-are you still there? …Yeah, I’m still here. Good… So… so should we…? I-I guess so… But… I… I really don’t want to be alone right now… Neither do I…” Maven sighed, hugging their legs closer to themselves as they buried their face into their knees. “What are we gonna do?”

“I think you both know the answer to that.”

Maven gasped, startled as they glanced up to see Garnet standing right outside of their bubble, soaked from the rain but hardly phased by it as she looked down at the fusion with an unreadable expression. “G-Garnet!” they exclaimed, instantly dropping the bubble to let the Gem leader get closer. “H-how did you… why are you… what’s-”

“Shh,” Garnet quieted them, kneeling down to their level. “Relax. Steady yourselves, and breathe.”

Maven did so, taking in a deep breath that they ultimately let out in the form of a ragged sob. Unable to contain their overwhelming emotions any longer, the fusion let them all out, throwing themselves forward into the Gem leader’s already awaiting arms as they wept loudly. For quite a while, Garnet said nothing, simply providing them with a much-needed shoulder to cry on as she placed a soothing, protective hand upon their back. In fact, the Gem leader only spoke after Maven’s broken sobs started quieting down, and when she did begin, her tone was as gentle and comforting as it was steady and intent.

“Maven,” Garnet said, catching the fusion’s attention as they slowly looked up at her, tears still streaming from all four of their eyes.

“Hm?” they asked, their tone distant and almost dazed.

“I heard about what happened,” the Gem leader adjusted her shades.

“O-oh…” Maven glanced away, ashamed. “You did?”

Garnet nodded calmly. “You really shouldn’t feel that bad for it though. With a fusion as strong and as healthy as yours… it makes sense that you’d want to maintain it. But there does come a point where you have to ask yourselves why.”

“W-why?” the fusion frowned, wiping a few of their tears away. “W-well… because it just… it feels so good. It’s like… I don’t know, like we’re both at a party where the only guests are us, but that’s ok because we’re both having such a fun time! It… its wonderful… Or at least it was…”

“And it’s not wrong for you to feel that way about it, believe me,” Garnet assured. “But it’s also wise to consider how others outside of yourselves are feeling as well.”

“Others…” Maven muttered, glancing down guiltily. “Dipper and Connie looked like they really upset when I told them I wanted to say fused… But I don’t get why! I like being me, being this! So… why don’t they like it?”

“It’s not that they don’t like you, Maven,” Garnet clarified, as calm as ever. “It’s that they can still see something that you’ve started to forget.”

“A-and what’s that?”

“That for as much as you are a fusion, you’re still two different, separate people with different separate lives,” the Gem leader said. “If you were to remain fused, then those lives would remain forever intersected, always following the same parallel path through every moment and experience. For… some Gems, this is actual a more ideal existence than staying apart. But most of those Gems aren’t like humans are. They don’t have individual family or friends or connections that would motivate them to live separately. But you two do. And the effect that you choosing to stay fused on all of those connections you both have… well, it would spread far wider than even what you could imagine.”

“I… I hadn’t really thought about it like that before…” Maven mused gently as they thought of all of the people in both of their lives that their selfish choice would impact. Stan, Soos, Candy, Grenda, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and especially Dipper and Connie. What would all of them think of never seeing either of them as individuals again and instead only having them as the sum of their parts? “I never wanted to hurt anybody…” the fusion admitted truthfully. “It’s just… I love this feeling I have from being fused, from being together so much! I… I don’t want it to end…”

“And it doesn’t have to,” Garnet assured, though Maven interjected before she could continue.

“But it will!” the fusion protested adamantly. “Everyone’s all worried about what will happen if Steven and Mabel fade away, but what about me?! If they unfuse, then I… I’ll… I’ll disappear… forever…”

“No, you won’t,” the Gem leader said, placing a hand upon the distraught fusion’s shoulder. “Maven, you are the embodiment of Steven and Mabel’s friendship. You are a symbol of the close bond and trust between them. And as long as that bond exists, then you’ll always exist in some form, whether they’re fused or not.”

“Are you sure?” Maven asked, their tone both doubtful and hopeful.

“Positive,” Garnet nodded, finally smiling gently as her hand slipped off of the fusion’s shoulder. “But like I said before: this is your choice. Not mine, or anyone else’s. And in the end, I trust that you’ll make the right one. For everyone.”

Maven said nothing for quite a while as they simply sat, pondering over what the Gem leader had just told them. They couldn’t deny that her words held a good amount of truth to them, but even still, they had their reservations. What if, for instance, Garnet was somehow wrong? What if Maven ended the moment that Steven and Mabel returned? What if they weren’t able to fuse again? What if this was destined to be the only time and way they could ever truly feel their bond and share their elation as intimately as they were now?

And yet… what if they remained together forever? What if they returned to everyone fused and had to take in the disappointed stares and hear the discouraged whispers of everyone they held dear? What if, one day, they really did lose touch with both of their halves, forgetting who they really were and what it was like to live apart? What if their lives were eternally set on that parallel path, neither of them ever deviating and always staying on the same course, the same life, the same everything?

Of course, “what ifs” weren’t going to give Maven the answer they were really searching for. In fact, that answer existed inside of them; it always had. They had just been too blinded by themselves to see it until now. And as they set their resolve towards that final answer and the difficult choice that came with it, both halves of their whole hoped that it was, indeed, the right one.

As soon as the rain finally ended, Dipper and Connie emerged from the shack, both of them resolved to set out and find Maven with the intent of apologizing. For both of them, tracking the lost fusion down as far more important than anything else at the moment, including convincing them to unfuse. As far as they were concerned, that didn’t even matter as long as Maven was alright. And if the state that they fled in was any indication, then chances were that they likely were not.

“So, what are we even supposed to say to them once we find them?” Dipper asked Connie as they headed for the woods. “‘Hey, guys, sorry for complaining about you two being fused earlier. Now do you mind finally unfusing already?’ I’m sure they’d just love to hear that.”

“We’ll think of something,” Connie said, her remorse hidden under a thick layer of hardened determination. “Right now, we just need to focus on finding them. If they’re anything like Stevonnie was, then them being that upset and alone could end up being… pretty bad for them. Which is why we have to hurry and make sure they’re ok!”

“That won’t be necessary,” Garnet said as she emerged from the forest right before the pair could go into them.

“Garnet?” Dipper asked, confused as him and Connie stopped in their tracks. “What are you doing here?”

“Just bringing these two home,” the Gem leader smirked, glancing briefly behind her. At this prompting, Steven and Mabel hesitantly stepped out from behind Garnet, both of them still muddy and disheveled, but surprisingly enough, finally unfused.

“Uh, hey, guys,” Steven greeted with a halfhearted smile, one that Mabel didn’t share. “Long time no see, huh?”

“Steven!” Connie grinned with delight as she rushed forward, pulling the young Gem into a tight embrace.

“Mabel!” Dipper exclaimed, just as relieved as he hurried to hug his sister in the same way.

The pair wasn’t exactly surprised by the welcoming embraces, but they were hard pressed to return them, especially after everything that had happened. And really, now that it was all said and done, there was no way either of them could get off the hook without addressing it in retrospect. “Ugh, guys, look,” Mabel spoke up with a dissatisfied frown as she pulled away from Dipper a bit. “We’re really sorry for… well, you know… going so nuts with this whole fusion thing.”

“Yeah…” Steven agreed, glancing away as he scratched the back of his neck. “It’s just… we were having such a good time together and I guess we got so distracted by that that we didn’t even realize that we were hurting you.”

“Hurting us?” Connie asked, shaking her head. “Steven, you two weren’t hurting us. We were just worried about you! We didn’t want to lose either of you, and we’re so glad that we didn’t, right, Dipper?”

“That’s right, and if anyone should be sorry, it’s us,” Dipper nodded firmly. “The last thing we wanted was to make either of you guys so upset. We should have been more careful in-”

“You should have been more careful?” Mabel asked, finally letting out a small laugh at the irony of it all. “Bro-bro, we should have been more careful! I mean, we totally leaped off the deep end into fusion insanity!”

“Yeah, we were pretty out there…” Steven smiled somewhat sadly. “But to make up for it, maybe we could finally get to throwing that party we were supposed to have yesterday?”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Garnet said with a broad smile as Dipper and Connie both nodded their complete approval. The Gem leader began leading the way up to the temple, the kids all eagerly following after her, though it wasn’t long before Mabel started hanging back a bit.  

“Hey, Steven?” she called, prompting the young Gem to slow his pace too.

“Yeah, Mabel?” Steven turned to face her with a small, albeit strained smile.

“I… I just… Well, I…” Mabel stammered, not entirely sure of what to say as she awkwardly rubbed her arm. “I… I’m sorry for… for, uh…”

“For holding on too tightly?” Steven asked, his smile turning genuine and understanding. “I’m sorry too. But its ok! I guess we’ll just have to be a little more careful next time we form Maven.”

“Wait, what?” Mabel asked, quite surprised. “You… you’d wanna be Maven again after all that crazy drama?”

“Well, of course I would!” the young Gem beamed brightly. “Being Maven with you was so much fun! It would be so awesome to do it again sometime!”

For a moment, all Mabel could really do was stare at Steven incredulously upon hearing this, her cheeks filling in with a slight blush that thankfully the young Gem didn’t notice as she glanced away from him bashfully. “Y-yeah…” she smiled softly, alarmed by how her quickly her own heart was suddenly beating. “Awesome…”

“Now, come on!” Steven encouraged as he started continuing up to the temple. “We gotta get this party started for real this time!”

Mabel quickly perked up at this, letting out a small laugh as her and Steven hurried to catch up with the others. It was a relief for both of them that, despite how they had almost ended losing themselves to their fusion, they both still remained safe, sound, and completely in tact. And at the same time, they both knew that Maven had as well. Garnet had been right in saying that Maven would always persist so long as their friendship did. Even if they weren’t physically present, Maven could still be seen in the smiles they shared, the jokes they enjoyed, and the fun they had together. Their fusion would always be a part of them, always serving as a reminder of their close-knit bond and the clear trust that exist between them.

And, of course, Maven would always be there, somewhere inside of them both, eagerly awaiting their inevitable, excitable return just as much as Steven and Mabel were.