Well, this was it. The Gemborgs had taken the Crystal Gems. Except for Lapis Lazuli. Ten Gemborgs began to close in on her. She was surrounded. Then, she heard beeping and whirring. She looked around, seeing the TARDIS console room fade in around her. At first, she was relieved to be safe. Then she saw Topaz, and scowled at him. Topaz looked up from the console and saw Lapis's glare. "Nice to see you, too." He said sarcastically. "You know, a 'thanks for saving me' would be appreciated." "Fine." Lapis said. "Thank you for saving the life you ruined." "If you'd just let me explain-" A knock at the doors interrupted Topaz. "I'd love to continue this argument," He said. "But we seem to have a visitor." He walked over to the doors and opened them, revealing Jasper. Topaz was shocked. He knew this Jasper. He commanded this Jasper. "Sir." She greeted, saluting Topaz. He didn't return the gesture. "For God's sake, put your arm down." He said. "You're embarrassing yourself." Jasper was confused, but lowered her arm. Lapis stepped closer to the two. "Do you know each other?" She asked. "Unfortunately." Topaz said. "I was her commander. I...gave her the order to attack a human village." Lapis looked really pissed now. "I-it was empty, of course!" Topaz said. "I wasn't there, either, and this was before I had began to care for humans!" His expression went from nervous back to serious as he looked back at Jasper. "I thought you were busy burning in the Earth's core." Topaz said. "Disappointed?" Jasper asked. "Incredibly." Topaz answered. "Well," She said. "Maybe this will change your tune." Jasper snapped her fingers, and hundreds of Gemborgs joined the ten that surrounded the TARDIS. "So," She said. "That blue box, the bowtie, and the fez. Hardly seems like your style." Topaz straightened his bowtie and adjusted his fez. "Bowties are cool." He said defensively. "Same goes for fezzes!" "And the box?" Jasper asked. "Well, I think it's the perfect look for a time machine." Topaz said. "Much better than a hot tub, and slightly better than a DeLorean." Jasper had a very puzzled look on her face. Topaz rolled his eyes. "Never mind." He said. "So, you have an army?" "Yes." Jasper said triumphantly. "Impressed?" "Disgusted." Topaz replied. "These people were robbed of their deaths and turned into mindless killing machines." "That wasn't my fault." Jasper said. "But you would've done the very same thing!" Topaz shouted. "When you see shattered Gems, you see one of two things: weak failures or a renewable army with no feelings or thoughts! You're doing exactly what any other Homeworld Gem would do! You took dead teammates and turned them into your own personal slave army. You have no regard for even the lives of your fellow Gems!" "You were once the same!" Jasper said. "No, I thought I was!" Topaz said. "I was almost as stupid as the rest of those asinine Topazes and Rubies!" "Well, this army of the dead is under my control." Jasper said. "And I'm giving it to you." She smiled, but Topaz was shocked. Jasper then strapped a bracelet with lights and buttons around Topaz's wrist. The Gemborgs then saluted and said, "Commander Topaz." He looked at the army of Gemborgs, then back at the grinning Jasper. "You attack the city," Topaz began. "You capture my friends, all of this just to give me an army?" "Better you than me." Jasper said. "You are a commander after all, and armies are for people who think they're right. No one thinks they're more right than you. Everything you've done, even betraying your own kind, you did because it's what you thought was right. "Everyone thinks they're in the right at the time. That's why they do what they do." Topaz said. "And I'm not a commander, and I don't want an army." He proceeded to remove the control bracelet, but was stopped when Jasper's large hand grabbed his arm. "Give a good man firepower and he'll never run out of people to kill." She said. "I said I don't want an army!" Topaz repeated, yanking his arm back. "Yes, you do!" Jasper said. "That's just it! You've always wanted one! All of those people the Homeworlders made suffer, now you can save them. All of the bad guys winning the wars, go help the good guys win!" "No one can be allowed such power!" Topaz said. "You will because you don't have a choice!" She yelled. "Look up." Topaz looked up into the cloudy night sky. Wait, 'cloudy'?! He thought. It was completely clear not two minutes ago! "Acid rain." Jasper elaborated. "As soon as those clouds open up, every single man, woman, and child on this damned planet will burn." Jasper said. "There's only one way to stop the rains from killing your precious Earthlings: conquer Earth!" Topaz ripped the control bracelet off. "Why are you doing this?!" He asked. "Because you need to know that you're still the commander you were before." Jasper answered. "Listen." Topaz pleaded. "Please, just stop. Just think for a moment! Do what you will with me, but leave my family and Earth alone!" "What's wrong, commander Topaz?" Jasper asked, a maniacal look in her eye. "Don't you trust yourself?" Topaz thought hard. Can I trust myself? He thought. He looked at the army of Gemborgs, then at the cowering humans trying to hide from them, then at Lapis, who had an anxious look on her face. Am I even a good man? Topaz asked himself. Then it dawned on him. "Thank you." He said to Jasper. "I didn't know. I wasn't sure. You lose sight sometimes. Thank you!" He stumbled past Jasper. "I am not a good man!" He said, grinning at the astonished Jasper. "And I'm not a bad man. I'm not a hero, I'm certainly not a Doctor, and, no, I'm not a commander! Do you want to know what I am? I. Am. An idiot! With some swords! And some guns! Standing guard, protecting the innocent, fighting for what I believe is right." Jasper had an amused smirk on her face now. "I don't need an army." Topaz continued. "I've got the Crystal Gems. They aren't my soldiers, they aren't my friends. They are my family. And I will see to it that you burn in Hell for trying to harm them! Because love, it's not an emotion. It's a promise. And we could never hurt each other." He looked over at one Gemborg in particular. "Greenie, catch!" He yelled, throwing the control bracelet at Emerald. Topaz thought back to what he saw on the monitor that made him stop sulking. Out of the 199 other Gemborgs attacking the city, he saw one helping the humans find safety. Emerald caught the bracelet and put it on. Topaz turned to a dumbfounded Jasper. "You didn't notice, did you?" He said. "While you were relishing your victory, while you were shouting out your silly orders, the one soldier not obeying." "No." Jasper said in disbelief. "That's not true! That's impossible!" Emerald walked up to Jasper. "Rain will not fall." He said. "Why not?" Jasper asked. "The clouds will burn." Emerald replied. "Who will burn them?" Jasper asked. "I will burn them." He replied. "How?" She asked. "I will burn." He answered. Jasper lightly chuckled. "One burning Gemborg won't save the Earth." She said. "Correct." Emerald said, smirking. He turned to the army of Gemborgs. "Attention!" He yelled into the bracelet. The Gemborgs stood at attention. "This is not a good day." Emerald said. "This may be Earth's darkest hour. And look at us. We were once real living beings, but now we are emotionless slaves and killers. Now is the time to redeem ourselves. The army of the dead must protect the land of the living. This is not the order of a commander, nor the whim of a lunatic." "Excuse me?!" Jasper said, enraged. "This is a promise." Emerald continued. "The promise of a soldier." He turned to Topaz and said, "Tell the others that I love them." "I'll tell them what you did for us, pal." Topaz replied. Emerald smiled, then took off, the rest of the Gemborgs following close behind. Within ten seconds, the clouds burned away. Topaz turned to the enraged Jasper. She turned to him. "You cost me an army!" She said. Jasper summoned her helmet and charged at Topaz. He took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at Jasper. He pushed the button, and Jasper soon covered her ears, eventually tripping over and sliding to Topaz's feet. "What did you just do to me?" She asked. "I used my screwdriver to send a sonic pulse into your Gem." Topaz said. "Try to kill me in the TARDIS, and I'll raise the frequency. So, unless you're curious about how many times you can get on my nerves before the frequency is high enough to shatter your Gem, I suggest you just sit down, shut up, and don't move. Now get in."
Jasper walked into the box, Topaz following behind. Lapis was terrified. "Are you serious?!" She said. "You let her in?!" "At the moment, you want to kill me as much as she does." Topaz said, pulling the orange lever. He walked over to Jasper. "Where are they?" He asked. Jasper stayed silent, a smirk on her face. "You can respond when I ask you a question, smartass." Topaz said, quickly losing his patience. "They're at the Kindergarten." Jasper responded. "Are they alright?" Topaz asked. "No serious injuries." Jasper responded. "Good." Topaz said. He landed the TARDIS and escorted Jasper out of the box. They were on Mask Island, just after Alexandrite's fight with Malachite. "So, what are w doing he-aahh!" Topaz pushed Jasper into a crack in the Earth before she could finish the question. He looked over at the unconscious Jasper about to follow her future self into the pit. Topaz grabbed her and brought her back to the TARDIS. He then brought past Jasper to a forest a few miles from Beach City and left her in an abandoned shack. When he got back, he saw a confused Lapis. "I saw her fall into a crack in the ground just after the Gems beat Malachite." He explained. "But when I saw her standing there, I realized that something was wrong. I eventually figured out that the Jasper I saw fall into the crack was the Jasper with the Gemborg army." "So, she's gone?" Lapis asked. "For now." Topaz replied. "She'll probably be back, though. That's the thing about the Homeworld Gems. They're incredibly resilient." He walked to the console and took off. "Just so we're clear," Lapis said. "I still hate you." "That's because you won't just let me explain why I took your Gem." Topaz said. "I already know why you did it." Lapis responded. "You saw my Gem and decided to take it to the Diamonds so they'd seal me in a mirror for thousands of years." Topaz looked at Lapis, feeling hurt. "Do you really think I care for you so little," He said. "That I'd give your Gem to the Diamonds, hoping they'd trap you in a mirror? I didn't know who you were at the time. I had no reason to hate you." "Then what happened?" Lapis asked. "I found your Gem lying there in a field, and, out of all the Gems lying in that field, yours was the only one I felt sorry for." Topaz said. "I knew that Gems were vulnerable while regenerating, so I decided to bring you back with me, to keep you safe. Soon, Yellow Diamond found out I had your Gem. She took it and would have shattered you for being defeated in battle. I had to beg on my hands and knees for her to go with a gentler punishment. She eventually settled for sealing you in a mirror. From then on, there was nothing I could do to save you. So, yes, it was my fault. Hate me for that all you want, but just know I didn't intend for you to be trapped for thousands of years." He looked back down at the console and continued to pilot them home. "What I don't remember, though, about my involvement with your mirror," Topaz said. "Was how I gave it to Rose Quartz. She said I'd left a note on her doorstep with the mirror, but I can't remember it. I definitely would remember seeing that mirror and that Gem again." After a minute, a look of realization appeared on Topaz's face. "Oh, my God, I really am an idiot!" He said. He then started running around the console, hitting buttons and flipping switches frantically. "I can't believe I didn't realize this before!" The TARDIS landed, and he ran out into a field, coming back a few seconds later, carrying Lapis's mirror. "Is that-" "Your mirror? Yes." Topaz said, interrupting Lapis. "Why do you-" "Have it? I'll explain in a second." He interrupted again. The TARDIS landed again. Topaz grabbed a piece of paper and quickly wrote something. He then took the paper and the mirror and ran out of the TARDIS towards the door to the temple. He knocked on the door, set the mirror and note down, and ran back to the TARDIS, quickly taking off. "Can I-" "Ask your questions now?" Topaz interrupted once again. "Stop that!" Lapis shouted. "Sorry." He apologized. "Okay," Lapis said, calming down. "What the hell was all that about?" "I know why I didn't remember leaving your mirror and the note on Rose's doorstep." Topaz said. "Because, at the time, I hadn't! I thought that I'd just forgotten because I've spent so long trying to forget about that mirror, about the Gem who I put in more danger, rather than protect." Topaz paused for a moment. "Anyways, I didn't forget because I didn't to it to begin with!" He continued. "But, now that I have a time machine, I could grab your mirror after it was dropped, write the note, then leave it on Rose's doorstep. Now the job is done. I hope this makes up for being the reason you were imprisoned in the mirror for so long. I don't blame you if you still hate my guts." In response to this, Lapis walked over to Topaz and hugged him. "So, you don't hate me?" Topaz asked. "Or are you still pissed off and you're trying to crush me to death?" Lapis lightly giggled. After going thirty seconds without being crushed, Topaz decided to hug back. "Did you really try to forget me?" Lapis asked. "I was ashamed." Topaz replied. "I thought that I really had failed to protect a Gem that was still regenerating. I thought I'd only made things worse by trying to make them better." Lapis broke the hug. "It's fine." She said. "Look at where it got me. I have people who care about me. Who helped me. I'm not just a lonely prisoner anymore. And it's all because you screwed up and got me trapped in a mirror for thousands of years." "You're welcome?" Topaz said, unsure of whether she was genuinely thanking him, or insulting him with that last sentence. He landed the TARDIS in the Kindergarten. Topaz ran out of the box, hoping to see Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Steven, Peridot, and Bloodstone waiting for them. But there was no one around. Topaz then saw a note.
We have your friends and the Doctor. If you want to save them, you will have to find us first. You have three days.
"What do we do?" Lapis asked. "We can't possibly find whoever took them in just three days!" "Lapis, we have a time machine." Topaz reminded her. "We have all the time in the universe to find them." They ran back into the TARDIS. "So, where do we start looking?" Lapis asked. "I don't know." Topaz said. "Well, what do you think?" He asked the TARDIS. The orange lever then flipped itself. Topaz and Lapis smiled. "Well, mystery kidnapper," Topaz said. "The hunt is on."