Beach city was preparing for another midsummer day, Mr. Smiley was opening up the arcade, Sadie and Lars were opening up the donut shop. And there was a new visitor in town.
He stood at the town's entrance having just woken up on the beach; he was wearing a wet t-shirt and lab coat with an equally damp pair of sweatpants.
"Beach City population, 15…"
He looked into the town, a feeling of familiarity in the back of his head, and then a feeling of dread.
"I'm tired, I think. Yeah... Definitely, I better find a place to rest."
On the other side of town, Steven was trying to explain a TV show to Pearl.
"No it's like there's kingdoms and ones made of breakfast and others made of candy and…" He trailed at the sound of someone leaving the temple.
Garnet stepped into the main room, her face and posture as stoic as usual. "we have company."
"Finally some action!" replied Amethyst almost immediately, fist pumping and jumping down off the counter she had been previously laying on.
"Who did you see?" Asked Pearl, sounding worried. The thought of fighting another home world solider so soon had crossed her mind.
"Don't worry he's a friend." Garnet reassured.
"Wait, you don't mean... Topaz?" Pearl guessed hesitantly. "Who's Topaz?" asked Steven curiously, as he approached garnet.
"He's a gem that fought alongside your mother. He wasn't a fighter, but was very knowledgeable when it came to the topic of gems." Pearl explained.
"Smart enough that he found a way to avoid the damage from the Diamonds" garnet added.
Silence prevailed for a few solemn moments.
"But what happened? why didn't he stay with the gems?" Steven asked.
Garnet paused, looking away for a few moments before looking Steven in the eyes.
"He cracked. No matter what we did it just didn't heal. Not even Rose's healing powers worked. Miraculously, he reformed, but.. He just wasn't the same. When he reformed he just sort of walked away… saying he needed to figure things out"
"I'm going to meet him"
"Can I come too?" Steven asked, ready to meet this new gem.
"Sure Steven. Just be careful ok? It's best if you don't mention Rose at all." Pearl advised, lightly pushing Steven on the back.
"Why not?" Steven asked her.
"It's a long story Steven it's best if we Tell you later."
Meanwhile, Topaz had stopped in front of The Big Donut. After inspecting the place, he slammed the door open and stomped up to the counter.
"Sir, are you ok?" The girl behind the counter commented, noticing his still damp cloths and very odd posture.
"Topaz is the name and… uh… food? Right, do you sell food?"
"Yeah.. we do sell food it's a donut shop."
"Good yes one of…. The… uh… that!" Topaz said, pointing to a random donut.
Which happened to be a cream filled pastry. The girl grabbed it and put it in a bag. Topaz handed her a pile of coins with a value of $5.89
"Is that enough? I think it's enough… sorry I was in Canada and they.. have a different currency and-"
"Sir it's fine. I'll sort this out" she said in a assuring tone.
"Thank you…" He said as he started eating.
Outside, Garnet and Steven were about to go in. But Garnet had a few things to say first.
"Now Steven. Let me talk at first ok?" Garnet instructed firmly.
"Topaz might run when he sees us, so stay back until I corner him, got it?"
Steven nodded firmly.
Topaz was tensely eating the donut when he heard the door open. He slowly turned around. He tensed more when he saw Garnet and another small human enter the shop.
"Topaz please don't run this time" Garnet pleaded from the doorway.
"I'm too tired to run." Topaz sighed. "It's been a long time,I think … yeah. The temple is near right?"
"Yes it is topaz come on" she said gesturing out the door.
"Bye Sadie!" The smaller human male waved at the female, Sadie, behind the counter.
"Keep the change" he told Sadie as he followed the pair outside.
As they walked, Steven noticed that topaz looked oddly at him, almost as if he was trying to figure something out.
"Steven just keep walking." Garnet told him.
They arrived after a few moments, but after what felt like an eternity to Topaz. Once inside, Topaz seemed to look very tired all of the sudden. Instead of running, he just sat down on the nearest chair.
"Pearl he's here." Steven called.
"Did you really get him here this close to the temple?" pearl asked amazed, Amethyst following at her heels.
Topaz didn't say anything, instead choosing to stare the wall. He turned to the picture of rose on the wall. Then to Steven, to Pearl and Amethyst and finally to Garnet, as if he was looking for the right words but couldn't think of them.
"I need to think for a minute just… Give me a second." Topaz requested before turning away.
"Pearl what's wrong with him?" Steven asked. "
Steven he's been through a lot. Come let me explain."
Pearl and Steven walked outside to the sun-setting on the beach the waves and wind creating a calm atmosphere.
The calm was broken by Pearl speaking up. "He really looked up to your mother, when the war ended he just didn't know what to do. So he, well he tried to find new things to do…" Pearl tightly smiled for a second then started talking again.
"He would come back a few days later saying he had tried another human hobby. Then he would go off and find another hobby, he did this a lot. Last time he spoke to us he had gotten into model trains, that's when you were born. You were very small so I don't think you remember it but. He just hugged you and left... He asked that we don't talk about him until he comes back…"
Steven just frowned and started to tear up, he looked down and tears fell into the sand and disappeared. "I want to help him." He said determinedly, balling his hands into fists. Peal smiled, genuinely this time. She put her hand on the lower part of his back. "Steven, I'm sure you will. come on let's go back inside it's getting cold."
They went back inside to see Topaz emptying out the broom closet, Garnet and Amethyst nowhere to be found."Topaz, what are you doing?" asked pearl. "Preparing a bedroom." He said simply without turning around. "You know we could make a room in the temple for you right?" Pearl asked, crossing her arms.
"Yeah that would be a good place to store all this stuff." Topaz retorted.
"you don't even need to sleep!" Pearl shrilled.
"Well you don't need a broom closet, you can store stuff in pocket dimensions."
"Steven doesn't have a pocket dimen-" Pearl started before remembering lion.
"Oh yeah.. Lion" "I don't know I don't really think he would like me storing all this stuff in his mane," Steven whispered to Pearl, though Topaz must've overheard.
"I don't know what you're talking about… But here!" he pulled out something that looked like a floor mat from his pocket. "I just so happen to have a pocket dimension right here."
Before pearl could stop him he covered the pile of stuff with the sheet and it all disappeared. "Relax it's safe in there."
Topaz stood up, dusting his hands off on his pants. "Anyways" he pulled out a small backpack from the sheet. Then pulled a small sleeping cot out and placed it in the closet, tough half of it was hanging out of the closet due to the small size of the closet.
"goodnight" he said before closing the door. The sound of light snoring could be heard from the other side.
Of course it was only 7:00 and too early for Steven to go to bed so he decided to go and watch 'Crying breakfast friends' reruns.