Steven, Garnet, and Peridot arrived in a dark and cold place. The brief light from the warp pad revealed steep cliff sides and a sandy bottom. Hooked to the cliffs were Gem injectors, and there were holes shaped like people. Steven recognized this place as a Kindergarten, but one he had never been to before.

He felt the chill in the air and looked up. It was night time here, in this place with the dry sand and the cold and the wind whirring overhead. Garnet had told Steven to wear his jacket and shoes, and he was glad she did.

"Do we have to do this now?" said Peridot, making her Gem glow. "We can barely see anything."

Garnet, stepping down from the warp, opening her palms to cascade the gorge in red, blue and purple light, replied, "The sooner the better. We can't let the humans endanger themselves."

On the sand now, Steven noticed the holes in the cliffs weren't shaped like those from Amethyst's Kindergarten; they were smaller, thinner, and often twisted, as if these Gems had been born to be contortionists. But, he knew that wasn't right.

"Why must humans be so feeble?" snarled Peridot. "Wait... why haven't you disposed of the injectors' power cells beforehand?"

"I had forgotten."

Peridot scoffed. "And you call yourself a leader. You oaf."

"There wasn't a need to remember. Humans had not the capability to penetrate the outer shell of the power cells. Now they do."

"So," Steven began, "how do the power cells hurt people?"

"Much of our energy back then was produced through nuclear fusion, something humans have yet to grasp. Within such power cells, the radioactive waste produced by fusion is self-contained, until someone were to dispose of it properly. However, even with such a short half-life, that radiation is still contained within the cells left behind. Regardless of whether that radiation is still there, it's best that the humans not have the power cells."

"Fusion," said Peridot. "What a barbaric form of energy output."

"And Peridot's here because she knows how these things work!" said Steven.

"Yes," said Garnet. "She knows how we can extract them. It'll be easier that smashing them all open."

Tramping through the sand, the injectors throughout the gorge shone in either blue or red, and green, and sometimes yellow or light blue, depending on which direction Peridot happened to be looking. "Why not start with any of these," she questioned. "They're right here."

"Further," said Garnet. "The humans have one in their possession, studying it. We'll start with that one. The humans won't notice. They've yet to open its shell. We'll come back later with more help and extract the rest."

From the treeless sound of the wind above, and the sand piled and climbing up the walls of the gorge, Steven supposed he and two of his blessings were in or near a desert. The cliffs looked as if they hadn't seen a drop of water in years, and it smelled that way, too, like sticking old, dry rocks up the nose. The lack of moisture in the air confirmed it for him. Steven imagined he, Garnet, and Peridot were in the Sahairy (it was the only desert of which he actually knew the name).

Steven quit thinking of two- and three- and one-hundred-humped camels when, around the bend, he noticed a little light in the distance, in the black darkness. It reminded him of a lit cigar. Mr. Smiley had had one once; it was at the end of summer, after all the tourists and vacationers left. The light was warm, and burning, and red.

The light was moving. Whoever held the cigar, it looked like they puffed from it, then dipped it when they'd finished, then lifted it to their lips again for more. When it dipped, it disappeared behind a broken injector that lay on the ground. An eerie glow cast through it when the light dipped, silhouetting its innards that twisted like organs.

In full iridescent view, the smoker noticed Garnet, Peridot, and Steven. They stood up, tall. The warm light illuminated their neck, and cheek, and hair.

As if the cigar was snuffed out on Steven's heart, he was burning. His hands clawed over his Gem under his jacket pockets, and he breathed very quiet. The cigar, dragged to ashes, all that was left was the fire that had lit it.

Hunger.

Consumption.

Topaz.

.

Peridot saw her, too. Dead in her tracks, her shoulders were tight and she squeezed her fingers again and again.

"Peridot?" beckoned Steven, but his voice was dry, and he felt like what he said came out as a whimper. Peridot didn't respond. Steven tried reaching for her.

But, Peridot took a step forward. Then another. And another. Every time out of Steven's reach. She was squeezing the life out of her fingers. Steven grimaced at that.

Steven reached out to engulf Peridot, but she tore into a run.

And then Steven ran after her, calling her name. Chasing after Peridot, he kept looking at just Topaz, getting closer, and closer. But then, Topaz's light wavered in the dark. A hollow clang rang out, and Topaz disappeared behind the injector.

Steven summoned his shield, and he lagged behind Peridot. The light from her Gem flew over the curvature of the injector and disappeared behind it as well.

With his shield in front of him, Steven dove through the legs of the injector and to the other side.

There, he found Peridot standing over Topaz. Topaz was on her back, splayed, one leg over a hunk of metal. Lit with Peridot's green, she was forcing her gaze to the black sky.

The wind cooed overhead. Peridot tightened her fists. "Get up," she said.

Steven's eyes widened.

"...I fell," replied Topaz.

"Get up."

"I've fallen."

"Get up!"

"I fell down!" Topaz booted the metal hunk. It crashed into the injector and shattered some of it.

Topaz huffed.

"Then get back up," said Peridot. She kicked Topaz's boot.

"I won't."

It was at this point that Garnet had caught up with Steven. Steven looked up at her with his mouth hung open. She put a hand on his shoulder. She led him around to the other side of the Gem injector. She sat. Steven blinked. Then he sat, too.

Steven could make out the shape of Peridot through the injector. He couldn't much see Topaz because she was on the ground (she had shut off her light, too). Peridot's Gem glow cast the shadows of the injector's insides over to Steven's side. For a machine, the injector's inner parts looked less like something from an engineering textbook and more like it belonged in an anatomical documentary.

"Fine," said Peridot, "don't get up." She crossed her arms. She looked at the junk on the ground. "What are you even doing out here?"

"That's none of your business," said Topaz insistently.

"None of my business." Peridot looked around again. "This doesn't look like any of your business. I mean, you're just a soldier, right?"

"And you're a wretch who couldn't thrive unless it was off the power I gave you."

"What are you talking about? My level of importance was higher than yours. The margin wasn't much, but at least I worked to get where I was."

"I'm talking about the kind of power that makes you feel important," said Topaz.

"What are you talking about?" said Peridot. "Power has nothing to do with feeling important, it has everything to do with being important."

"No. There's more than being. There's power in feeling. And that feeling can be given."

Peridot stiffened. "There's power in importance. There's power in strength. There's no power in feeling. Emotions make you intemperate. You should know, of all Gems."

"I should know," said Topaz. "You took everything from me."

Peridot threw out her hands. "You did that to yourself!" Topaz shook her head. "Yes you did! You didn't apply yourself in your regiment. You were practical. You were good at that, but you never applied yourself. You weren't a benefit to your company, and because of that you remained at the bottom." Peridot gestured to Topaz. "Powerless."

"I was powerless because of you. You took my power from me."

"What did I take from you?!"

"Everything," Topaz shouted. "Your hunger for self-worth. It was endless. And you started projecting it onto me, like I needed to live up to your expectations."

"No," said Peridot, "I was trying to help you better yourself. That's all it ever was."

"By condescending me?" Topaz propped herself on her elbows. "No. What we once were, it was just you and me and that was all that mattered. But, it was never enough for you. You had to seek out more and more, more than what I could give you."

"Just because I had other aspirations makes me the villain?" said Peridot. "Do you hear yourself?"

"That's not the point! The point is that you wanted more than what I could give you."

"I've told you again and again, that you can't expect all my joy to come from you. That's why I wanted you to push yourself, too, so that you could feel better. Be better. Were you really ok with where you were?"

"I hated what I was doing. And the ones I was doing it for," said Topaz. "Meanwhile you were licking Yellow Diamond's boots, even volunteered to come to this old ball of death. Anything to make yourself feel more important." Topaz shouted over the injector, "And now that that's fallen through, you're willing to become their play thing just to keep yourself functioning."

"I'm not their toy," said Peridot. "And despite what you think of me, I can hold my own just fine, thank you."

"You can't."

"I can. I stood up to Yellow Diamond!"

"You'd go crawling back to her, given the chance."

"I called her a clod, right to her face!"

Topaz paused. "I see you still bear her insignia. In case this falls through, too, right?"

"I-I just-"

"Y-you just-can't wait to get back to trying to please your master."

"I am a fugitive!"

"And guess what," said Topaz. "No one even knows you exist. No one is coming for us because no one knows we exist. There are plenty more where we came from. That's how its always been, and that's fine by me. They can replace me."

"That attitude," said Peridot. "It's this attitude that's kept you from being all you could be."

Topaz replied, "But, I guess I was willing to trade one master for another, all for the sake of power."

"Oh, me? But, I thought I took everything from you," said Peridot. "How do you get power from one who takes?"

"That was when I still believed that there was strength in being together," Topaz said. "But, now I know I don't need you to get power. And I won't give you any more of mine."

"Ok, Topaz," began Peridot, "since this is all about you, let's talk about you, hm? Since I was your master and all, how about this? Did I tell you to come to this planet in the first place and interfere with my mission? Have I ever forced you to put yourself in danger for my sake, and my sake alone? Did I make you jump off that cliff?" Peridot shook her head. "If you've given me anything, its the power to drive me insane."

Topaz grumbled. "Goes both ways." She turned away from Peridot and seemed like she was looking through the injector. Steven's shoulders squared.

Peridot turned away, too. She looked around more. She said, "What are you doing out here?"

Topaz's braid dangled in the light of Peridot's Gem. "What happened to you?" she said, like a secret.

"Me?" Peridot began, startled. "I've become a better Gem. Without my limb enhancers, I've discovered my own prowess and ingenuity with my present physicality, and what value I still-"

"Before... we came to this planet."

Peridot pointed her toes toward Topaz. "You happened to me. Nothing about me changed, but, with you, I had to think for someone else."

"I never wanted you to think for me," said Topaz.

"Goes both ways."

"Peri, Peri, so contrary."

"I had to be. You were so intemperate." There were no crickets or ocean waves to speak of, here in the desert. No leaves rustling, no birds cooing. There was just the sound of the wind. It was strange to Steven. "Were you really ok with where you were placed?"

"No." said Topaz. "But, I didn't try to be more because I didn't want it."

"But, you would have been able to command others. Would you have really rather risked your life than the lives of others?"

"Why can't you understand?"

"But, if you had applied yourself, there was a chance you'd never have to deal with-"

"I know," said Topaz. "I know. But, that was unlikely." She just lay there, slouched on her elbows in the cold night.

Peridot shook her head. "Just say her name. What, are you afraid of it?"

"I've never been afraid of anything," shouted Topaz. "Or anyone!"

"Then say it."

"I will not give her the pleasure."

Peridot said, "What pleasure? She's not even here."

"...I want her forgotten."

Peridot retracted from Topaz, like she got a whiff of boiled cabbage. "Do you expect her to lay down and die?"

Topaz's chest pulled her out of her slouch. "It'd be a start after what she's done to the both of us."

Peridot shrugged. "What are Peridots for?"

"That attitude," said Topaz. "It's this attitude that makes you unforgivable."

"Really? I'm unforgivable? Was she any different from how you treated me?"

Topaz sat up, eye-level to Peridot. "Don't you do that."

"On more than one occasion-"

"Don't you compare me to her..."

Garnet sitting up straight startled Steven.

"I just did," said Peridot. "I mean, just admit it. You're just like Jasper."

Topaz's emotion slammed against the walls of the canyon, like she burst high-pressurized water in every direction. It shot up the walls, came back and closed in over the Kindergarten like a tsunami. To Steven, it all seemed to crash down on him.

Topaz threw herself on top of Peridot. She held her by her wrists. Garnet vaulted over the broken injector. Steven ran around it.

Peridot was yelling for Topaz to get off her. Topaz screamed, "I hate you! I hate you so much!"

Garnet jumped on Topaz and jerked her off of Peridot in a full nelson. On their feet, Garnet shoved her away by the back of her head.

Peridot got up and started saying, "Who do you think you are?!" But, Garnet shut her up by saying so.

The tides in the canyon came crashing again when Steven saw Topaz marching back toward Garnet with malice on her face. He started to run to Garnet, but before he could make it, Topaz punched her in the face, knocking off her shades.

Garnet yelled, "Are you serious?" She grabbed Topaz, beat her some, and restrained her on the ground. Topaz fought at every step. Steven was worried that if he hadn't been there, Garnet would have beaten Topaz more. But, no weapons were drawn.

There was just a lot of screaming from everyone.

On the ground, under Garnet's weight, Topaz huffed and puffed like the Big Bad Wolf. Garnet eventually let her go, but not before Peridot got finished saying some particularly smart things.

Steven, Garnet, and Peridot left for the warp pad. The last rolling slivers of sea foam from the tsunami followed them home.

Steven dropped his jacket and kicked off his shoes and pants. Even though the sun was shining over Beach City, he fell onto his bed. He brushed away some of Lion's hair before trying to get comfortable.

They never found out what Topaz was doing.

...