Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl warped to the Beta Kindergarten. It was evening time in Beach City, so dawn was breaking here in the desert valley.
"She's not going to like us being here," remarked Pearl, stepping down from the warp pad.
"Chances are," replied Garnet, "she already knows we're here." She was talking about the beam of light from the warp, Steven assumed. It's hard to miss, even in a valley that was miles across.
"What exactly did she do again?" asked Amethyst.
"She's doing something with the Gem technology here," said Garnet. "We're going to find out what."
Near his Gem, Steven felt like bugs were crawling around in his stomach. It crippled his pace, and he couldn't quite place from where it came.
Bugs usually came from trouble. Maybe Steven was feeling this way because whenever he and the Crystal Gems encountered a certain six-foot-tall auburn antagonist, it was usually under confrontational circumstances. Volatile as she may be, Topaz has been forced further and further from any kind of trust between her and the Crystal Gems.
Usually, whenever they met Topaz, it was to keep her from doing something, and Steven felt more like a police officer toward her than a friend; things too often turned violent, and Steven didn't want that. He knew, though, the Crystal Gems couldn't trust Topaz, either-she was selfish, and, Steven felt, wouldn't mind sacrificing his or any of the Crystal Gems' well being if it meant her gain.
She was dangerous. Steven hadn't a clue what might happen to Earth or its people if Topaz was left unchecked. He didn't expect her to try and blow up the planet anytime soon, but, better to not leave the Earth's safety to chance. Whatever Topaz was up to, if it would endanger any life on Earth, then she had to be stopped.
Steven sighed.
Under orders from Garnet, Steven and the Gems made their way through the canyon, staying alert, following the same path from a few weeks ago.
In the morning light, the Kindergarten looked completely different. There were rivers of warm oranges, reds and grays streaming through the layers of rock that made up the canyon. Yellow sand shifted around Steven's feet.
Now, Steven could see just how many ancient Gem injectors there were. Their number was considerably less than that of Amethyst's Kindergarten, and Steven imagined many injectors here had abandoned this Kindergarten for hers. What remained inched up to the tops of the cliffs. Some of those Steven only saw the tips of their heads. Others had fallen and were half-buried in the sand. What they had eaten away-the holes bored into the cliffs-brittle with age, remained consumed.
Thinking about the past, Steven likened the injectors to an army of ants swarming a dropped cookie. Helpless and overrun, the Earth could only lay down and let the hungry things tear her apart.
Steven was overrun.
This consumption was for the sake of propagation; for Gems to make more of themselves. Was it wrong? To destroy to reproduce?
Steven thought of humans. Humans consume. They can destroy. But, they've yet to render a planet lifeless.
Steven looked at each of the Gems in front of him-his family. The Crystal Gems used to be a part of this rhetoric: consume to create. His mother had seen the danger in that rhetoric, and chose to oppose it, she and her Crystal Gems. It was a good thing. Life still exists here on Earth; and Steven's dad, and Connie, and Lars, and Sadie, everyone.
Yet-and this wasn't the first time Steven had thought of this-if that old Gem rhetoric was wrong, then Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were wrong to exist. It was a thought red-hot to Steven's heart and was made to be thrown away. He loved his family more than anything.
If it wasn't for Homeworld, Steven's family wouldn't exist. Furthermore, even he wouldn't exist.
Looking again at the eaten cliffs of the Kindergarten, the holes that had given birth to Gems, Steven thought that maybe some consumption and destruction was okay? But, then, that begets the question of just how much destruction is worth the existence of another person-another person who can laugh and love? And the answer to that question begets another: what shall die, and what shall live? Who decides? In deciding, what was worth more? How much death was worth someone who is loved, like Garnet or Pearl or Amethyst?
Steven supposed this must be what led to the rhetoric of consume to create.
There was something odd about these holes in the cliffs from which ancient Gems were born. Fewer in number, the holes weren't stacked atop one another, like rows of cookie-cut gingerbread men, like at Amethyst's Kindergarten. They were sideways, upside-down, even mangled. The bodies that came from this Kindergarten must've been like zombies-crooked, deformed, in shambles. From what Steven has learned of Gem philosophy, what purpose did a malformed body serve for its Diamond? Why make so many of them?
Steven sighed again.
The Crystal Gems eventually found the valley where Steven, Garnet, and Peridot had last encountered Topaz. The broken injector was still there, too, but there were also several others that had been similarly downed and torn open.
The Crystal Gems examined the nearest one. The injector's translucent body had been shattered and many components had been ripped from inside it. In the light, its mechanical parts seemed to not be made of metal, but something closer to fabric. Put together, the injector's parts resembled the digestive system. They reminded Steven of the plant-like roots that branched around Garnet's Room in the Temple.
The large crystalline head of the injector was also cracked open. Inside it was hollow. Lining the walls of it was a thick layer of a dark substance that resembled burnt cheese, like someone had left their lasagna in the oven much too long, until it turned black. On the ground below it was a splash of discolored earth.
Steven looked up at Garnet. "Let's keep moving," she said.
Maneuvering through the valley, the Gems went ahead and summoned their weapons. Steven wiped the sweat from his face before summoning his pink shield.
Along the way, Steven had lost count on how many injectors had been cracked open at 27 or so. After that, he just kept in mind that the number was too many.
In his heart, Steven saw a new-born soldier rise up with every downed injector they passed; gnashing teeth and snarling nostrils, dozens of Topazes blazed up from the earth en masse. He watched the Kindergarten become overrun-like ants swarming a cookie-like a rain flooding a town-like an empire invading a country. The edge of Steven's shield drifted up to just below his chin.
The sun had goodly risen over the Beta Kindergarten with the Crystal Gems still searching. That Steven could now see the sun peeking over the ridge of the cliffs meant that Beach City was well asleep, which also meant he should have been, too. But, every injector he passed, not a single one still perched on the cliffs, kept him wide awake.
"Man, she ever get bored?" reproached Amethyst.
Pearl mused, "What on earth does she hope to accomplish?"
"Ya think she jus got mad an' busted up all these old injectors? I wouldn't put it past her."
"Maybe," Steven suggested, "she's helping us out? We needed to get this old Gem stuff out of here at some point, anyway, right?"
"It's our fault," said Garnet. "For letting them sit here so many years. Millennia ago, we rendered Kindergartens out of commission by overwhelming the Gems that operated them. After the rebellion, we returned to ensure the machines were inoperable."
"It's how they found me," Amethyst said.
"Yes. Though there was anxiety about the Kindergarten injectors being taken for resources, doing so would be impractical. Now that someone is actually doing it, I can only imagine what they plan to do."
"I've been doing nothing but wondering!" said Steven. "I mean, the stuff that Topaz has been taking, isn't that the stuff that makes Gems?"
"There's no need to worry. Even if Topaz managed to collect all the Gem serum crystal left here, I doubt there'd be much she could do with it."
"The serum crystal is also very old, Steven," interposed Pearl. "It's likely useless at this point. Frankly, I'm surprised there's any left."
"You mean," said Steven, "it's past its expiration date?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes."
Amethyst said, "This serum stuff. What would happen if she puts it in the ground?"
"There's more to it than that," replied Garnet. "Not only were measurements, refinement processes, additives-reactants, catalyzing agents-all handled within the injectors, other factors such as depth, pressure, and heat were all imperative for creating new Gems."
Just as Garnet finished talking, Steven and the Gems entered another spacious valley in the canyon; the ravines opened up to a basin about a football field long in width.
The breezy and hot morning funneled into the basin, over the Crystal Gems, and into the ravines behind them. Several Kindergarten injectors were still clasped to the cliffs here, surrounded by ancient places from which awkward Gems were born.
Under the crystal head of the third furthest injector from the Crystal Gems, too, was Topaz. She was sitting slumped against it.
"Altogether," continued Garnet, "it was unlikely Topaz could have done much on her own in such a short time."
The Crystal Gems simply walked over to Topaz. Topaz didn't see them because she was facing the other way.
She was sitting in the sand, her legs open, in front of the broken head of the injector. Her forehead rested against it, in part of the opening she had made in it. The crystal head was also bent downward, and Topaz just sat and watched the liquid, called serum crystal, that was in it leak into a metal bucket, one drop at a time. It was like she was trying to milk a disobedient cow.
The Crystal Gems, weapons drawn, came within a school bus' length of Topaz before they stopped.
Garnet called out, "Topaz!"
Topaz jolted and banged the back of her head into the injector with a loud clang! She twisted her body around to face the Crystal Gems.
Her face was pulled tight like leather; Steven clenched his fist that had his shield.
Only when Topaz realized who she was looking at did she rub the back of her head. Amethyst chuckled at her.
Topaz turned herself back to her bucket. She laid her hands on the injector. "You know," she said, "I was once on a planet-dead planet-that was searing hot. It stung my body. Yet, it was tolerable. But, every so often, and without much warning, it would get devastated by an explosion of electromagnetic radiation. We were forced underground. And all the while, as I looked around at my sisters, I couldn't help but feel... disgusted. That's you. You are like that."
Garnet stepped forward. "You've been tampering with ancient Gem technology of your own accord. Given your nature, we've determined your motives could prove detrimental to Earth's inhabitants-"
"Humans tend to stay away from the desert, admiral!"
"We cannot allow you to continue." Garnet squared herself. "Whatever your intentions, they could harm the life here on Earth, not just the humans."
Topaz spat. "For someone with their own sense of justice, it seems pretty malicious to let me carry on for a month before deciding to stop me. Lazy, too, oh, guardians of Earth. But, what am I but a deserter? What right have I to judge?"
Garnet started walking toward Topaz. "We will take what serum you have collected, and you will cease further action."
Topaz twisted back around, laughing. She shot up from the sand when she saw Garnet walking toward her. "You act like we've never met. What a joke! You and I both know that's not going to happen."
"It doesn't have to be this way."
"Of course it does," said Topaz. "It always has, and it always will be this way."
Garnet, and the Crystal Gems behind her, stopped within ten feet of Topaz. "Hand over the serum."
"Never."
Pearl interjected, "You're outnumbered! You can't handle the three of us!"
Garnet held out her hand in front of Pearl, and said to Topaz, "We are not here to fight."
"Fooled me," said Topaz. "If that's the case, then I'll be on my way." She got her bucket, slapped the lid on it, clamped it shut, and started walking away.
Pearl whispered, "Garnet?!"
Garnet looked at her, then to Topaz walking away. "Stop!"
"No," said Topaz.
"We didn't give you permission to leave," exclaimed Pearl.
Topaz stopped. She said, over her shoulder, "Permission." Her bucket dangled from her fist. "You, a Pearl, commanding me?"
"You are on our planet! You abide as commanded by us!"
Topaz turned around. "You were created in a slough. You were created in mucus! And you believe you have the right to command, much less, think?" She looked at Garnet. "Did you never put a leash on this one?"
Pearl said, "I am my own Pearl, you peon!" She and Amethyst threw words at Topaz.
Garnet silenced everyone again by holding up her arms.
Topaz tittered. "Some leader you are," she said to Garnet.
"We are not a military," said Garnet. "We are a family."
Topaz cocked an eyebrow. "An deformed Amethyst who can't control her own emotions. A Pearl who thinks herself her own master. You, self-righteous because you are a fusion. And the Quartz," Topaz looked at Steven. He grimaced. "Pitiful.
"There is no strength in this imbalance. Your family is worthless."
Garnet approached Topaz until they were face to face. She held out her hand. "Hand it over. Or we will take it from you."
Lo and behold, Topaz took a step back, the bucket in her hand, and lowered herself into a fighting stance. "Take it from me," she said. Steven groaned.
Garnet dove at Topaz.
Topaz slashed the back of Garnet's gauntlet.
Topaz thrusted and slashed, but Garnet parried her.
Garnet grabbed Topaz's sword.
Topaz let go and retreated.
Garnet slung the sword away before Topaz could detonate it.
The sword exploded, throwing sand and rocks everywhere.
Steven shielded himself. When he looked back up, Amethyst and Pearl, too, had disappeared through the dust the explosion had caused.
Steven ran through the dust. On the other side, he saw Topaz and his family far away, traversing the cliffs, leaping from ledge to ledge.
Topaz evaded.
She leapt.
They leapt, coming from different directions at her, like grasshoppers.
A whip, a spear, a sword. All crashing, cutting.
Smashing into the cliffs.
Crumbling.
Amethyst and Pearl pursued Topaz. Back and forth, jumping, from cliff to cliff.
Topaz met Pearl in the air with great force.
They tumbled in the air.
Amethyst jumped into them. She separated Pearl from Topaz.
Amethyst, with Pearl in her arms, spun and slung her back at Topaz.
With the momentum of her tumbling body, Topaz parried Pearl's spear. She slammed the metal bucket into her, sending her down into the sand.
Topaz landed on the cliffside.
Amethyst jumped after her.
Topaz jumped up, leaving her sword.
Amethyst hit the rock where Topaz was.
Topaz's sword exploded.
As Topaz was airborne again, Garnet came soaring into her.
They crashed into the cliffs.
Rubble rained down into the canyon.
Steven felt the impact through the ground.
From the cloud of dust, Amethyst emerged with the metal container. She put it down on the ground and jumped back in.
Steven heard screaming.
When he finally made it to the fight, it was over. The dust cleared. Topaz was in the dirt, roped with two of Amethyst's whips down the length of her body. The Crystal Gems surrounded her.
Topaz was riled, but did not wriggle. Everyone had dust on them and it made the streaks of sweat on their foreheads prominent.
Topaz's eyes were shut. At first, Steven thought it was because of the sun, but then he thought he saw shame in her face.
"Topaz," said Garnet. "What do you plan to do with the serum crystal?"
Topaz didn't open her eyes.
Garnet addressed her again. "What are you planning to do?"
With still no response, Amethyst straddled Topaz and sat square on her chest. This made Topaz open her eyes.
"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" said Amethyst
"Get off of me!" Topaz arched her back as much as she could, being wrapped up like a mummy. Amethyst laughed at Topaz and pretended she was riding a bull.
Steven's mouth dropped. "Amethyst!" She stopped, looked at him, then to Garnet.
"Off," she commanded.
Amethyst stood, but spit in Topaz's face before she got off her.
Topaz's expression rotted like an apple.
"Why did you do that," exclaimed Steven. "That was nasty!"
All Amethyst said was, "I dunno, I felt like it."
"That's not an excuse!"
"I'll kill you," said Topaz. "I'll shatter you into so many pieces-"
"Hard to do that when you're tied up," Amethyst said.
"Enough! Everyone!" Garnet's command didn't shut up Topaz. She was still talking about how she'd kill Steven's family.
Garnet came over and straddled her, too, but didn't sit on her. She grabbed her face and forced Topaz to look at her. It shut her up.
Garnet said, derisively, "What are you planning to do?"
Topaz's cheeks were pinched. She garbled, "Let goh of mai fasshh..."
Garnet let Topaz go. She addressed her one more time. "Tell us."
"I don't know. What does that stuff even do? Can you tell me? I haven't a clue."
Garnet stared at Topaz. "Why?"
Topaz rolled her head to the side and looked at Steven-looked him right in the eye. "Humans are so inferior. And I deserve something great. This planet's a good start." She turned back to Garnet. "And for that, I need an army."
Steven grabbed his gut.
Garnet stared at Topaz. "Then where's the rest of it?"
Topaz said, "Got it all hidden away."
Steven looked around the canyon. That it took hours to walk its length did not bode well with him.
Garnet got off of Topaz and knelt down to her. Topaz retracted at the suddenness of it. She eyed Garnet. "We are the guardians of this planet," Garnet said. "If anything, or anyone, threatens this planet, we will be there to fight." She wiped Amethyst's spit from Topaz's cheek. "I know you're lying. And I know that the last thing you want is to go back to Homeworld. So, that means, at least for now, Earth is your home.
"We have allowed you to go as you please, and you are free to do what you want, so long as it doesn't threaten this planet or its inhabitants. Which is why we are here now. We cannot know you intentions, but we're not ones for taking chances."
"Then why did you bring her here?" spat Topaz. Steven thought at first she was talking about Amethyst, but then he remembered what happened last month. "I can't help but see what a game I am to you all."
Garnet took off her shades. "You're right," she said. "I did just tell a lie. That day I did take a chance. I let my self-righteousness get the better of me. It was wrong of me to interfere in your relationship. And I am truly sorry for that."
Garnet put her shades back on. She looked at Amethyst. "You're not a game to us." Amethyst looked away. "You are a Gem. Just like any of us-"
"Alright, alright, shut up," said Topaz. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "There isn't anymore. That's all I managed to get. I'm sure you expected as much, seeing as you took your time to come after me." She rolled her head to look at the bucket. "I know it's not enough. Even for one, not even close. I doubt I'd get enough even if I drained this whole Kindergarten. Even then, I wouldn't know what to do with it."
"Then, why keep at it?"
Topaz looked back at Garnet. "It was something to do."
After that, it was decided that Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl should head back home with the bucket of Gem serum crystal. Garnet would stay behind with Topaz until then. Topaz would also remain tied up.
Before he left for home, Steven sidled up to Topaz, and said, "We are here for you, always."
Topaz said nothing. She didn't even look at him.
Garnet nodded to Steven for him to go. She eased him.
As he walked away, Topaz said, "You gonna move me into the shade?" She offended Steven at first because she was so dry, but then he smiled because Topaz saying what she said meant that she was just like him in a way: conscious of her world-her home. It was a farfetched connection, but there was comfort in it for him.
Home again, Steven was hungry and tired.
...
That evening in Beach City, when Steven woke up, he found his home empty and quiet, save for a snoozing pink lion. He made something to eat and, afterward, sat on the porch, watching and listening to the ocean while the sun faded away. He replayed the last 24 hours in his head.
Steven had been guilty of holding contempt toward Topaz. He was shocked when Amethyst spat on her and rode her like a cowboy, but, really, Steven liked that Amethyst did that. Thinking about it now, why, in that moment, he shouted at Amethyst, Steven had to admit, he was afraid. He was afraid of more fighting, more aggression, more hurting one another; the last thing he wanted was for Topaz to seek a war with the Crystal Gems. If that turned out to be the case, Topaz would have to be bubbled again, and here would be no telling when she'd be let out.
But, she didn't get bubbled. Amethyst and Pearl had talked about that on the way home.
"If she's just gonna keep being a problem for us, why not bubble her? Get it over with?" fumed Amethyst.
Pearl had said, "While I sympathize, Garnet said nothing about it, so she must think there's a good reason. And we have to trust her judgment."
"A good reason. You just wait, she's gonna be a problem for us again, soon enough..."
It was in the look Topaz had when she was on the ground that stuck with Steven the most. He felt pity. And remorse for the contempt he held in his heart for her. Though Topaz had beaten, berated, and threatened his family-Steven wasn't blind to that-he was disappointed in himself for wishing harm on her.
Topaz wasn't a thing-a one-dimensional ball of aggression-she was a person, who hopes, wants, and loves. Steven remembered her and Peridot from over a year ago. Steven was disappointed in himself for forgetting that.
Garnet sees something in Topaz, too, something worth giving a chance. It's why Topaz isn't bubbled. Even if she has done bad things.
Steven wished no more bad things from Topaz or for her.
The screen door creaking open tore Steven from his reverie.
"You're back."
"And you're awake," said Garnet.
"That warp-lag hit me hard. Guess I'm a night owl now."
"Hm."
The waves rolled onto the beach.
"How is she?" said Steven.
"She's fine," said Garnet. "She'll be fine. She needs more time to herself."
"How long?"
"A long time. She was right. A lot has been taken from her. She needs time to adjust. To figure things out."
"Figure what out?" Steven hoped that wasn't asking too much.
Garnet breathed. "I don't quite know. What she'll do with herself. How she'll cope with everything that's happened. How she can begin to accept the things she can't change... Maybe. Hopefully."
Steven looked out at the ocean, watched it glint and roll. "What she said earlier," he began, "about that whole thing just being something to do. I don't really get that. Like, why go through all that trouble if it was for nothing?"
"Sometimes," Garnet said, "a person will look to something, anything, as a distraction."
"A distraction? From what?"
"Their thoughts. Their feelings. Their emotions toward certain people, or toward themselves. Things like that that make them unhappy or feel hurt. They preoccupy themselves to distract themselves."
Now, suddenly, it made sense to Steven. He recalled times when he'd felt sad or bothered because someone said or did something that didn't sit well with him. To take the focus away from those bad feelings, he'd done things, like, play video games, bake a cake, mess with Lion, or go see a friend.
But, Topaz didn't have any video games, or cakes, or Lions. She didn't have any friends (none that Steven knew of, anyway). No one to go to for fun, or help, or companionship. Steven could only imagine how bored and lonely Topaz might be. But, he could not imagine the kind of bad feelings that could instigate a month's worth of distraction (much less, the kind of pain that would make one want to die).
Steven hummed to himself.
"Careful not to shoulder everyone's problems as your own," said Garnet. "Making their problems yours doesn't help anyone. You shouldn't forget your own well-being." Garnet did not get closer to Steven, but turned to make her way back inside. "Topaz will be fine."
The screen door slapped shut behind her.
Steven eventually went inside to his quiet and dark house. He pushed Lion off his bed, laid down, and tried to right his circadian rhythm. After trying for nearly an hour, he decided to switch on his gaming system-as a distraction.
...