A couple of days later Garnet came and got Steven. She'd gotten all the information out of Topaz she wanted and was now finally going to let her out.
Steven followed Garnet into the Temple clutching his belly. He wondered what two and a half weeks in a coffin could do to someone.
Garnet pressed the sarcophagus' sternum. She peered inside. "Topaz," she said, "I thank you for the information. As promised, I'm going to let you out. Peridot is fine. Steven is here with me." Her tone then shifted to that of a police officer. "When I move the facade off you, you will cooperate in earnest. You will come out slowly, with your hands in the air and away from your Gem. Any resistance or opposition and I will destabilize you and you will remain in a bubble. Do you understand?"
Steven didn't hear Topaz say anything, but whatever happened, Garnet took it as a yes.
Garnet took the red diamond and cracked open the sarcophagus. Then she summoned her gauntlets. "Steven. Step back." He did so.
Garnet guarded herself with one hand and pushed with her other. She heaved. Steven grabbed his Gem. The facade slammed on the ground. There was never any dust in the Temple, but Steven felt that Garnet only backed away from the sarcophagus when the dust settled.
Steven had time to rub his nose and sniffle. Eventually, hands rose from the sarcophagus like a mummy's. They grabbed the sides of the coffin. Then Topaz sat up.
She looked like that big guy that held up the Earth on his back. She sat there a moment. Her nose curled when she looked at Garnet, and especially when she looked at Steven.
Topaz brought her legs under her and stood up. She kept her arms fully extended outward, away from her body. She tacitly stepped over the side of the sarcophagus and brought both her boots at rest on the floor. Then, nobody moved.
Fists. Tight muscles. Thin ice. Topaz looked like she was lined up against a wall, waiting to get shot; that was one thing Steven remembered when he had searched "prisoner of war." He took a moment to imagine it. He got to the point when the guns fired and didn't want to go any further.
Topaz then took her time with her next words, as if to ensure whatever creature that crawled out of her throat slithered over to her listeners and sunk its fangs deep into their skin. "Give her to me."
Garnet was made of iron; the creature couldn't bite into her. Steven, however, felt pretty bitten. Yet, Garnet opened one of her fists and down from the ceiling came Peridot's Gem.
With Peridot hovering just above her palm, Garnet approached Topaz. Topaz didn't care about Garnet. She reached for Peridot before Garnet got to her. She met her halfway. She took Peridot gingerly.
Topaz ignored both Garnet and Steven. She walked past them both. She didn't hear Steven when he said her name.
She stopped. She got down on her knees. She slouched over Peridot's bubble. Her muscles didn't matter. Nor her brazenness.
Garnet met with Steven. He looked up at her, his mouth open. Gauntlet-less, Garnet put a hand on the back of his head. Steven followed her gaze back to Topaz.
Topaz held the bubble for a long time before deciding to squeeze it.
Peridot's Gem was silent in her hands. After a moment, it glowed and floated away in front of her. Light exuded from it and took physical form. As it did, it hit Steven that the pieces that fell off of Peridot those weeks ago weren't her actual arms and legs. The light mass created stubby limbs like that of a little person, and Peridot came back into existence, small and green, a miniature version of what she once was, minus her trash can limb pieces. She was about Steven's height now, and he thought that was freaking adorable.
Alive again, when consciousness returned to Peridot, she frantically grabbed at her chest. This made her look down and realize, to her horror, that her limb attachments were gone. "Wh-where...?!"
"Peridot," said Topaz.
Peridot watched Topaz kneeling in front of her, like she didn't recognize her for a moment. "Wh-where are my-EEP!" She noticed Garnet and Steven behind Topaz. She noticed the place she was in. She noticed her limb attachments gone. And she trembled and stammered and fidgeted and whimpered. Garnet kept Steven from going to her.
"Peridot," Topaz said again.
Peridot's eyes glazed over. She just fell over.
Topaz crawled over to her. "Peridot," she said again. She scooped her up. She was shaking in her arms.
"Wh-what's h-happening?"
Topaz hugged her. "Everything's going to be okay," she said. "Peri. Peridot."
Steven's shoulders relaxed and he smiled some.
"Commandant," said Topaz, still on the floor. Steven looked up at Garnet. She was stoic. "Let us out."
...