It was weeks later. Steven got his phone back, but he still didn't have television. He had only recently been allowed to go on missions again, and this was his second mission out in a long time—in Steven-time anyway. They warped to a rainforested peninsula that ran and echoed for many miles. Hiding under the tropical treetops and undergrowth were strange and very dilapidated pieces of machinery—discombobulated things that embraced the odd shapes and styles of old Gem technology—some pieces which, broken, resembled the mechanical parts of wind instruments—that Steven had come to be familiar with. The warp pad itself was embedded in the midst of something ancient and metal and inconspicuous with all the green growing over it. Whatever its purpose, it was broken and jagged, uneven, and it reminded Steven of a dome lid to a big silver platter. But, boy, was it humid here!
Steven and the Crystal Gems split into two groups—Garnet and Pearl, Amethyst and Steven—and went in opposing directions. They were here to find whatever anomaly that had caused a breach in atmospheric pressure over this area about half an hour ago. The GPS on Peridot's escape pod had detected it—which came as a surprise since no one knew it could detect such, nor had it detected any warp pad activity—other than their own—for some time. "So what do you think caused it?" Steven asked Amethyst.
"Eh," was all she said, shrugging it off.
"Aw, c'mon, you don't think it was something like a really big bird monster flapping its wings, like Archimicarus! Or a beanstalk! In a place like this, I bet it could be!" he said with wonder.
"Nah. From what I heard it was something small, so it was probably just a space rock, but Garnet wanted to check it out."
Steven hummed a little in disappointment. It was difficult to see much sky. "Well, how are we gonna know where it is in all this forest? What if whatever it is, is still up there? Maybe if we climb one of these trees we can get a better view," he said, and alley-ooped for the nearest kapok tree, which was at least thirty Stevens in girth. Despite his earnest efforts, he childishly slid down to the roots.
Amethyst chuckled, "Better let me handle this." She shapeshifted into a ring-tailed lemur, and started up the tree. Steven wiped the sweat from his brow and watched Amethyst until he couldn't see her anymore. He stood there for a moment when his ears picked up something through the ambience. It sounded different, like people talking. He thought for a second it was somehow Pearl and Garnet. He tried to find it, and started in the direction he thought it coming from.
Steven pushed through the undergrowth, and nearly tripped and fell over a piece of old Gem machinery. He could see the rainforest opening up, see the edge of it—and the voices were getting audible. Steven slinked as quietly as he could.
"Have you ever thought what our existence would be like without anything?" one voice said. The sound of it—Steven's stomach sunk, and somehow he managed to walk even quieter.
"What are you talking about?" said another voice, which Steven recognized to be Peridot. "Why have you been just standing there?"
"What are you doing here?" said Topaz.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? You haven't left this spot for several Earth days, just staring at nothing, like a dunce." Steven could glimpse them now, through two trees. Just beyond them was a scary-looking cliff, which Topaz was overlooking, toward the horizon. Peridot was facing her, calling her names. After she finished, she just exhaled, flustered. Topaz kept gazing outward. In the wind, she said, strangely, "I can't remember the last time I slept."
"What? We don't need to sleep."
"I know that."
"That you know. Do you know why you haven't moved? What are you doing here?"
"Nothing."
"That's right, nothing! You haven't even attempted to seek and make contact with anyone. I had to breach the atmosphere because you were doing nothing."
"Shouldn't you be Home by now?" Topaz said with some venom.
"I haven't left the quadrant, idiot!" Peridot said with more. Topaz didn't reply, but instead breathed and quivered. Steven was scared, maybe for Peridot, but Peridot didn't back down. "Why don't you quit obsessing over nothing, and let's go."
Topaz stopped breathing and shaking. As straight as possible, she said, "Have you ever stopped to look at planets like this one?"
Peridot shook her head and jilted her fingers. "What?" she said.
"Before Gem occupation. There's something about them, this one in particular, that feels…" Steven had to pee because he was being so quiet. "…Weightless." He saw Topaz give the faintest turn of her head, not toward the ocean, but back toward Peridot. Her braided hair gave it away.
Peridot said, "Where did this come from? I don't understand you."
"I can breathe."
Peridot became very perplexed. "We don't need to breathe."
"I know," she growled. "…But I can."
Peridot's fingers dangled loosely. She said, "Have you cracked? You sound insane." Topaz's posture doubled over, like someone punched her in the stomach. Peridot moved for her. "Let me see your Gem."
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Peridot seized herself, and she and Steven both braced for impact. Topaz's braid wrapped itself around her neck. She formed words. "Go," she said. "…Just. Go…"
Peridot slowly crossed her arms. "Fine," she said through her nose. She started away. "I'll be on the ship, when you're done."
Peridot turned and walked away, toward the forest, but it was Topaz who kept Steven's attention. He was a rubbernecker.
Topaz turned, slowly, as if she were rusty, to watch Peridot go. Her expression was stretched in a scary way, and she was twitching. She stood very tall, rigid, with her hair still around her. She had a massive tear that started rolling down her cheek. Topaz brought two fingers to her cheek and caught it. She didn't look at it. It hung on her finger. The wind blew over the precipice. Topaz curled her tear into her fist, as taut as her face. She was so still. The only thing that moved was the grass around her in the wind…. And then she careened backward and over the edge of the cliff.
A sensation rippled through Steven's body and prickled his skin. He screamed, "Topaz!" and ran for her. He surprised Peridot, but then she looked back and looked around. She yelped and ran faster than Steven, and jumped off the cliff, too.
Steven ran for life. "Topaz! Peridot!" he screamed. He ran to the edge of the cliff and fell to his hands and knees and peered over. It was far. All the way down at the bottom were dangerous rocks and the ocean. He could see them falling, diving. They fell and fell and seemed so distant. Steven gripped the dirt through the grass, holding his breath.
All Steven could see was Peridot, so close to the waves, reaching, then righting herself in midair. She threw up her fingers and they rotated, becoming propellers. But then, she disappeared in a great expansion of smoke. Steven cried, "Oh no! No, no, no!" The waves crashed, and when the smoke dissipated, he saw Peridot writhing in them; he couldn't hear her. He tried calling for her, but she didn't respond. She was reaching through the crevices of the rocks and getting dunked under the waves.
"Yo, Steven!" Amethyst jolted him.
"Amethyst!" he cried.
"What's goin' on? Why'd ya ditch me? And what are those?"
Steven looked next to himself, and saw dead grass in the shape of Topaz's boots. "It's Peridot!" he said, looking down again. Amethyst hurried by him and looked, too. "Topaz got poofed!"
"Oh man."
Peridot was flying back up now—up and up. When she got close enough, Steven called for her again. She shot a look up—devastated—and moved away and over him and Amethyst. Peridot had Topaz's Gem tightly in her other hand. Steven and Amethyst jumped up and ran after her. "Stop! Go away! Leave me alone!" she yelled. They followed her all along the cliff's edge.
"Peridot, please!" Steven cried.
"Haven't you caused enough trouble?!"
"Is Topaz alright?! Please, we can help!" Through some rainforest they chased her to a thrush, where her ship was docked—it was smaller than the one shaped like a hand, and was simply a dome, like that of a bird cage, and rested on legs that resembled her robonoids'. Peridot swooped down to it as Steven and Amethyst broke through the trees. She ran for it, almost making it, but Garnet and Pearl suddenly emerged from her ship, and Peridot screeched and ran the other way.
Peridot started her fingers again and flew. "You no good Crystal Clods!" she screamed. All the Gems chased her now. "How, how, how could you do this to me?!"
"Peridot!" pleaded Steven again and again. After pursuing her through more trees, she managed to escape over the ocean.
Steven tried to catch more than just his breath. He went through the moments and the motions of what just happened, in disbelief. Steven could swear that just before Topaz fell, she looked right at him.
- End of Part 2 -
- To Be Continued in Part 3: "Rising Star" -
R.A.W.
2/6/16
This part was completed on 2/6/16. Since then, now that I've completed part 3, I've only changed a few small things to make better sense with the overall story. Everything still happens the same way, however, and I didn't change the way it was written from over 2 years ago (word choice, pacing, etc). Looking back on it, I had originally anticipated finishing part 3 a month or so after part 2 was done. Well... life would not have it that way. Two and a half years later, part 3 is done. (More than anything I wanted to prove to myself that I could finish a longer written work, and also that I would not stop halfway through Topaz's story and let her die.)
I'll start posting part 3 very soon. It's a long one.
If you're interested in more to do with Topaz, I'd suggest the links I disjunctively posted at the top of the first "chapter." It's kind of bare for now, but I'll post, more or less, every drawing or thing to do with her that I've made in either link in the near future.
Also in the near future I'll make a YouTube video on her, briefly going through everything I've drawn and written about her and what and who she is to me-more or less like a "behind the scenes" video (there's more than just the comic and the fanfiction, however). There's a link to the YouTube channel in either the Tumblr or Facebook link in the first "chapter." Channel name: RAWnimation. There's a video of me struggling and drawing her in Photoshop already.
I don't know what else to say. Just, thank you to all who gave this the time.
R.A.W.
9/28/18
