Through a big pink interdimensional portal, Steven, on Lion's back, teleported into the Bubble Chamber. They slid semi-gracefully to a stop. Garnet was not there.
Steven gave Lion a big hug, hopped down and said thank you. Lion looked at him as if that surely wasn't enough to compensate. Or maybe it's just how Lion always looks, Steven wasn't sure. He promised Lion a whole fish from Fish-Stew Pizza later. Steven thought that Lion thought that that was better.
Lion sauntered beside Steven as he made for Topaz's sarcophagus. He climbed, with some exertion, on top of it. Then he took a deep breath, and mashed the button—and as soon as the diamond face slid back, Topaz was already glaring at Steven. Her ember gaze made him scrunch his neck. He sweated. "Any louder and you'd have broken the sound barrier," she said.
Steven scratched his head. He tittered, "Well, I-"
"You make enough noise to bring down a building. If you're going to commit insubordination, the least you could do is be quiet about it. Either your commanding officer is really so stupid, or this is some moronic game you're playing with me. Whichever, I don't see the value in your intervention. You are a useless cog needing to be expunged."
Steven righted himself. "That wasn't very nice," he said.
Topaz's cheeks pinched her eyes. "Why don't you go jump off a cliff?"
Lion loomed over the sarcophagus and peered into the face-hole. Topaz eyeballed Lion suspiciously as he sniffed about her and grumbled at her. Steven introduced him, then said, "How have you been?"
"Still stuck." Topaz said more than what she said to Steven.
Steven wasn't very sure about what to say next. "Do you wanna… talk about anything?"
"Not unless you want to talk about what I'll do to you and the rest of your bunch once I get out of here."
Lion snorted and wrinkled his snout. Steven petted him, then got an idea. He reached into Lion's mane, saying, "Oh, I don't know, let me just think about that." He pulled out a thinking cap, complete with a little light bulb, and put it over his big curly hair, and rubbed his chin like a little Thinker. Topaz obviously didn't get it. Then Steven clicked on the light bulb, and tried again, saying, "Boy, all this thinking sure his making my head spin," and he retrieved a pair of glasses which had vibrant swirls where its optics should be and he spun them, feigning dizziness. Topaz's brow sank.
Steven thought once more, then reached into Lion's mane a third time for his ukulele. "Everyone likes music," he said, jovially. Topaz's lips nearly parted in fear.
Steven strummed and sung.
"You sailed to Earth over the stars,
If I didn't know any better I'd say you're from Mars,
There's so much fight in you, Topaz,
I know you've got a pretty mean pizazz!
But why can't you see that I'm just trying to
Reach out to you—"
"Stop!" she yelled. The ukulele quirked. "Stop. Just stop, you insufferable trash. I'd rather be shattered than deal with you."
Steven put his props away. "All I've ever tried to do is help you, why do you have to be so mean?" he said.
"Why do you have to be in everyone's business?"
Zero hour. "Look," said Steven, "I get it. You're not proud of what you might have done or what happened in the past, so you try to cover it up with all this meanness, being tough. But, you're dwelling on it too much. You can't let those things become you, or make you become someone you never wanted to be, o-or never meant to be. They don't define who you are, but you learn from them, to make a better future. You can be whoever you want to be."
"Who are you to say? You don't know anything about me," hurled Topaz.
"No, I don't. But I can see that you're afraid."
The blustering winds of Boreas dared to challenge Topaz. "AFRAID!?" she screamed, and she hit the bars that kept her from Steven with her forehead; she hit hard and the bars burned her—they seared their shape into her. Steven's heart shivered. He urged her to stop. "How dare you say I'm afraid! What could I possibly be afraid of?!"
Steven planted himself over her and said, "To lose the one thing you have left!"
"And what's that, huh?! My existence?! I'm not afraid to die!"
"Hope."
Boreas blew her off a mountaintop. "…Hope?..." She headbutted the bars again, and again. Her forehead was starting to deconstruct. "Yeah, I hope for a lot of things! My biggest hope is getting my filthy hands on you and showing you what I'm really made of!"
"Stop! You're hurting yourself!"
"Shut up! Who are you to tell me who I am?! I don't hope for anything! I am who I am because I want to be this way! I bet you do this just to make yourself feel superior! Is that how you give your worthless life purpose?! Feeding off of others?! Just like your 'mother!' Isn't that it, you disgusting little freak?!"
Lion roared at her, making her grab her ears. Steven's little heart was racing. He pushed Lion's shoulder, backing him off. Steven looked back down at Topaz, whose face, even though she was furious, was a battered mess. Steven was hurt too, though. "You shouldn't talk to people like that," he said.
Topaz glared at him. "AGH! Just get me out! Get me out of here! I'll throttle you!" Steven, feeling there was nothing more to do, and anxious, jumped down from the sarcophagus. He closed the face-hole and hurriedly ushered Lion with him. Topaz screamed and screamed, and writhed. It flustered Steven in a pitiful and repulsive way. He climbed onto Lion's back, and Lion roared, creating another interdimensional portal. Lion galloped for it. "Get me out! I want out! LET! ME! OUT—"
Topaz's voice distorted and vanished. Through the portal, Steven felt Lion's muscles as they skirted to a stop at the foot of the hill below the lighthouse.
…
Steven was sitting out under the deck with Pearl just watching the waves and the stars. Pearl wasn't talking. They were just reclining together and hearing the waves.
Steven was consciously stuck on Topaz being stuck from a few hours ago, from the moments since he and she met, to maybe even before that. He was concerned on what he learned from his dad in connection to her. Did she let Homeworld become her? This could explain the other Gems from Homeworld. Or was it something else? Surely no one's cruel and heartless by nature. Right? And, on second thought, Steven told himself that surely Topaz has a heart because she was fighting so much for it.
The sound of the screen door opening and shutting above him and Pearl unstuck him. From the weight and the gait of the footfalls Steven could tell it was Garnet, and suddenly the cool night air felt stifling. The boards creaked under her as she tromped down the stairs. Anticipatory-reflux rose in Steven, but he didn't dare move, trying to act like nothing. Garnet approached them, and Pearl greeted her with a glance.
Garnet stood there behind her shades. After a moment, she livened, "You've been sneaking around behind my back, haven't you?"
Pearl sat up and looked at Garnet—maybe thinking first she was talking to her—then to Steven. "He's been doing what?" she said.
"Garnet!" piped Steven, sitting up.
Garnet said only to him, "Talking to Topaz."
Pearl, in a passion, threw her arms up and stood up. "He's been doing WHAT?!"
Steven didn't stand. "She told you?!" he said.
"No," said Garnet. "She didn't have to."
Pearl palmed her own cheeks. "How on earth could you… AMETHYST!" she squawked, and danced upstairs, with dainty fists of fury.
"Garnet, I—"
"You're grounded," she said.
"But, Garnet!" pleaded Steven, standing now.
"No television."
"Please!"
"No video games."
"Listen!"
"Upstairs. Now."
Garnet turned to leave, expecting Steven to follow. "Wait!" he said.
She stopped with a foot on a step, and muscled, "Steven."
"What are you going to do with her?!"
"You need to stay away from her."
"But, what are you doing with her?"
Garnet looked at him again. "Let's go, Steven."
"Sh-she's only getting more and more frustrated!"
"So she will," Garnet snapped, "Everyone has their breaking point. She'll give in soon enough."
Steven was taken aback. He could hear Pearl and Amethyst fighting upstairs. "But, y-you can't keep her there forever."
"Forever is something I've got," she said. "Now, come on. Don't make me have to carry you." She started up the stairs again.
Steven, frantic with energy and uncertainty, needed to say anything. "Wh-what would you do?!" he exclaimed. "What if you were in her place?!"
Garnet stopped halfway up the stairs. Her body-language was unreadable. "…It's your bedtime, Steven."
…
Later, while in bed, Steven was exhausted from an hour ago and the hour before that, and the day with his dad, and with concern. Being grounded wasn't going to bode easily with him, for he felt he must act on his feelings. What that action was, he was too tired to do now or comprehend, as he got a few strange and dreamy ideas that wouldn't make any sense in the morning. It didn't take long for him to fall deeply asleep.
…
