Peridot told everyone that the new Topaz's birth site and the old Topaz were on the nearest butte, on the side of it facing away from the canyon, which was an hour and a half's walk from the Kindergarten. Luckily, Steven had his backpack, in which he had an umbrella that he and Connie used for shade. They took turns holding it along the way.
Along the way, Steven asked Amethyst what was on her mind because he had been thinking about who this new Topaz would be and names for her to differentiate her from the Topaz everyone knew and... resented.
"I was tryna remember what was left in the fridge for when I got back, but I know that's not what ya mean, so I guess I'll say that I think all this stuff is just crazy. Honestly, I wish it was all over already."
"You think something bad's gonna happen?"
She shook her head. "I dunno, man. I just think that one Topaz is enough, ya know?"
"Well, maybe this new Gem will be nice."
Amethyst looked at Steven then to Peridot a ways in front of them. "For everyone's sake, I hope so."
Steven looked ahead at Peridot. She was hassling with the sand; it sucked in her feet, but she kicked it up as she went to show it who's boss. He went, leaving the shade of the umbrella, and caught up with her.
"Hey," he said.
She looked at him. "Yes?"
Steven looked away. "Um. Mind if I ask you something?"
"Ok."
"How do you... feel about all of this?"
"All of what, exactly?"
"The new Gem."
Peridot held out her hands. "Topaz wanted her. She told me how important it was for her to know what a Gem could be with absolute free will, that this planet is perfect for that."
"What does she mean by that? Doesn't she have free will now, like all of us?"
She breathed. "She meant that, by extension, to be free from burden. She's never been able to let things go, and she wants to know what it is to not have anything to let go. So, I gave her to her."
"You gave her to her?"
"Of course, Topaz hadn't the slightest clue as to how to do any of this. She needed me, and I helped her."
Steven avoided stepping on a cactus. "How do you feel about it, though?"
"Not thrilled."
"Why?"
"Because I feel the new Gem will cut in between me and Topaz, as we've been trying to work on ourselves as is."
Ridges formed in the middle of Steven's forehead. "I'm sure everything will turn out ok. You know, if you think about it, it's like you and Topaz will be parents, helping to take care of the new Gem. Mama Peridot!"
She scoffed, stepping around a shrub. "With any luck, the Topaz will come out having full cognition. I'd hate to have to hold a lame brain's hand every step of the way."
Peridot told everyone to wait when they made it to the butte, that she'd go first. She left them around a bend of steep rock. Garnet moved up to hug it and everyone followed suit.
The butte was tough on Steven's blood packed limbs. He'd been in the heat long enough to feel like the back of his skull would crack like an egg against the roughness of the rock. The sky was empty save for a dying will-o'-wisp. He didn't feel the wind, but he saw it grace some things that had to be weeds. The canyon seemed so far away. So did home.
The loose rocks and gravel-the way back down to the sand-were like climbing a 20-car pile up and they burned Steven's hands. He looked down at his shoes and thought about his ankles breaking should he have to make a run for it. He breathed the dry air more.
He looked at Connie. She was in the shade of the butte with him. The umbrella was on the ground between them. It had only done so much (it was hard to know how hot the world was until they had gotten into the shade of the butte). Connie took his hand. It was at that moment when the two swore a prayer for one another.
Then Connie's lips abruptly pulled down toward her throat and her eyes flew up toward her hair. Her chin ducked into her chest and her hand crushed Steven's fingers white. Steven hit the back of his head against the butte.
"YOU BROUGHT THEM HERE?!"
"Now," urged Garnet, "let's go now."
Falling in behind Pearl, Steven didn't even make it around the bend before a loud clang assaulted the air. One of Topaz's swords ricocheted high over their heads and exploded. Some of the butte up there shattered and hit Steven in the face. The heat bathed him in aggression. The explosion from the sword had his ears ringing.
He pushed Pearl to get around and see.
Topaz was huffing in one spot like a cornered animal. She had out a sword and used it to jab the air in the Crystal Gems' direction. Peridot was in front of her. They were yelling at each other but Steven couldn't hear what they were saying.
On this side of the butte, the ground narrowed into a plateau of sediment rock, like a step in a giant's staircase-the steep rock of the butte rose up on one side and, equivocally, steep rock fell down from the other, save for a rock pillar that sprouted from that precipice up to the butte like the staircase's handrail. The air out from the plateau felt vast like the ocean from a beach.
With nowhere to hide, Topaz must've been guarding the new Gem's birth site somewhere just behind her.
Steven tried to clear his ears from the ringing, but at best he could hear only warbles. He looked up at Garnet for anything.
She bared her teeth and her gauntleted hand grabbed his whole chest and the next thing he knew he was on the ground behind her. Another one of Topaz's swords was sent soaring over the precipice. It blew up before Steven could shield himself or anyone and it washed him over with another heatwave.
Between Garnet's legs, he saw Topaz with another sword, pointing it and screaming at the Crystal Gems, her body so stiff she was shaking. Peridot was hitting her in the legs and shouting, too.
Connie reached down to help Steven up. On his feet, she looked at him and pointed at her wrinkled forehead. Steven rubbed his head and saw his hand. He was bleeding. He rubbed up more blood and, not knowing what else to do with it, wiped it on his pants.
He glanced back up at Connie and she ate her lips. And it made him want to cry because Topaz and Peridot were fighting and Garnet and Pearl and Amethyst were all saying things and neither he nor Connie knew what was going on. Steven didn't know if they should prepare to fight or just wait. He didn't know if fighting was harder than waiting and watching.
He resolved that, especially for Connie, he should just be ready. He summoned his shield.
Topaz shoved Peridot off of herself and yelled at her. Peridot fell.
Steven instinctively reached out for her, but it was Amethyst who stepped forward to fight.
Topaz stepped over Peridot, too, but Peridot grabbed her ankle and stopped her.
Garnet stopped Amethyst.
Topaz and Peridot argued more. The Crystal Gems argued. Pearl whined at Amethyst. Amethyst squealed. Garnet mumbled. Whatever she said, Pearl looked offended. Her spearless hand flailed in defending herself. Garnet said something with heaviness down to Pearl then to Amethyst. Amethyst didn't take it lightly, and Pearl couldn't contain herself either. Peridot's and Topaz's bodies were shaking.
Steven turned to Connie again. He reckoned he saw his mirror image as she shook her head at him.
He was going to tell the Crystal Gems to stop, but in the edge of his eye he saw Topaz pounce on top of Peridot. Hit, Steven ran for her and screamed her name. Topaz was beating her in the face.
Steven threw his shield and hit Topaz in the back of her head. She reeled around, her muscles ripping, digging into the sandstone, and sprung for him. The hand she grabbed his shirt with hit his chest with the weight of a semi truck. It knocked the wind out of him. She yelled something at him like an explosion, assaulting his face with the heat of her breath and her spit. Steven didn't realize his feet weren't touching the ground until the Crystal Gems tackled Topaz and pulled him from her grip. He hit the ground like a doll.
Connie got to him to help him. Steven coughed and, as the edges of his vision touched darkness and sparks flew from that darkness, there wasn't anything except trying to breathe.
When he sat up, Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst were on top of Topaz, had her pinned to the ground like a fugitive, trying to make her one with the earth. They were all screaming.
Peridot was still lying on the ground past them.
As he caught his breath, Connie helped usher Steven over to Peridot. Her visor had broken, her hair disheveled. Bug-gut green had swollen into her cheeks. She was conscious, Steven was sure of that as he took her in his arms.
Peridot blinked, as if she didn't recognize Steven or Connie. Then she listed to the side and saw Topaz and everyone on top of her. At once, all of her mettle drained out of her face and all of her vigor dribbled out of her body, as if the ground wherever she was originally born absorbed back all the life she had taken from it in order to exist. She began to cry.
Steven spoke Peridot's name because he didn't know what else to say, and he tried to make it sound as lovingly as he could. He and Connie tried to console her but Peridot wouldn't have it. She got up and went over to Topaz and the Crystal Gems. Words spilled from hot faces, but Steven couldn't understand any of them.
Then, Topaz said something. It made Peridot crumble to her hands and knees. It made Garnet recoil. She reared and drove a fist into Topaz's face. Her head was driven into the earth.
The ground shook. Steven and Connie fell over. Alarmed, Peridot stumbled into Garnet's side, wanting her-Steven could tell-to stop. Pearl and Amethyst said things, and Garnet kept staring down at Topaz, baring her lion teeth.
The ground was still shaking. For a moment, Steven checked if he was still addled from Topaz hitting him in the chest, but it was the ground. He looked around. He put his hand on the hot earth. He took it off. He put it back. He turned to Connie. Her parted lips and her tilted head hit him as she stared at him and he hesitated. But, Steven patted the ground for her to feel.
Feeling, Connie glanced over at the Crystal Gems, then to Steven. The quaking in the ground grew and became a tremor. The crease in Connie's brow asked him what was causing it. He shook his head. He looked around again, going up the butte this time and then out over the precipice to the desert.
Then the tremor rose to a crescendo. It surged up through Steven, into his chest, and welled up into a shriek. He yelled for Garnet. She whirled to look at him. So did everyone else.
They all noticed the quaking, and Peridot recoiled into a sitting position, pulling her knees toward her chest.
Topaz thrashed again, seizing the chance to free one of her wrists and slug Garnet in the ribs. Pearl threw herself down and took back her arm.
Topaz squirmed under the weight of the Crystal Gems. She was so wild and disgusting that Steven never imagined he'd see an equivalent to "prisoner of war." Whatever she was saying, she had Peridot burying her face in her knees.
Garnet slapped her gauntlets around Topaz's face to shut her up. She squeezed her lips through, however, and spat in Garnet's face. She managed to say one other thing and that threw Garnet over.
Steven saw the vision leave Topaz's eyes as Garnet crushed her head in her fists. She exploded into a cloud of heat and smoke.
Steven and Connie held each other as the remains of Topaz suffocated them. They used their shirts to cover their mouths and noses to breathe. It made their eyes water.
When the smoke dissipated, the Crystal Gems dragged themselves up from the dirt. Garnet took off her shades to wipe off Topaz's spit. She looked at Steven-not proudly-then put her shades back on.
Peridot was fetal and Steven was about to go to her, but when she saw Garnet bubble Topaz's Gem, she sprung to her feet and grabbed her, shaking her head. The Crystal Gems bickered over it, including Peridot. Eventually, Garnet shook her head at Peridot, but let her have Topaz's bubbled Gem anyway. Pearl and Amethyst weren't happy about it. Peridot just cried over it.
Garnet summoned back her gauntlets and got ready, Pearl and Amethyst at her sides. She motioned with her head past Steven and Connie. They realized the earthquake had stopped and they both spun around.
It could only mean one thing: the new Gem was here. Steven swung his head around expecting to see someone like Topaz burst out of the steep wall of the butte, take one look at the Crystal Gems, and carry forth their purpose and attack. He summoned a new shield. He was ready. He had to be whether he liked it or not.
However, Connie pointed to the ground, and Steven followed her finger to discover... more fingers?
They stuck out from the earth like claws and they wiggled like a trapdoor spider sticking out its legs from its hole about to ambush its prey. Steven blinked only because his eyes were beginning to cross from staring so long. Finally, the spider fingers gripped the rocky ground and started to pull.
A hand broke through, then a second. They grabbed for things that weren't there, stretching wide and closing tightly into fists like talons. The fingers shivered as one taloned hand raked in more earth. The other hand slithered out its arm like a snake.
The earth crumbled around the head. The head fell forward barbarically, to help pull the body from the grave as a zombie does. There was so much hair Steven couldn't see the face. He held his shield closer.
Dragging herself from the underworld, the Topaz freed her waist. She patted the ground and scratched her elbows against the rock. She arched her hair-draped shoulders like a panther ready to pounce. They lowered one at a time, the arms reaching out for more things to grab.
Then... she stopped. Steven blinked again to make sure time was still going. The Topaz seemed like she was taking a breather. Face to the ground, she rocked herself side to side on her forehead. She fumbled her arms around aimlessly, raking in a lot of dirt up to her body.
She just kept rolling her head around on the ground like a metronome that couldn't keep its rhythm. The Topaz looked more interested in making out with the ground than in anything else. Furthermore, Steven was pretty sure she hadn't noticed anything else other than the rocks, the dirt, her hair, and maybe the blazing sun and a lot of light. Maybe the sun was too bright. Steven knew that going from dark to bright is hard to bear.
He glanced at Connie and she looked dumb. She had his mother's sword out, but the tip of it had drooped and touched the ground.
Garnet walked past them. Her gauntlets were gone. Pearl and Amethyst followed. Reluctantly, Steven got rid of his shield and Connie sheathed her sword. They crept over to the new Gem as well.
The Topaz might've heard everyone walking over to her, but she showed no signs of it. She was still very much acquainted with the earth and still shovelling what sand and pebbles she could toward herself. She had so much hair. It covered her back and shoulders.
Steven looked to Amethyst. She was captivated. So was Pearl. Then she turned to Garnet. Garnet just shrugged.
Pearl was the one who stooped down. Her hands were delicately cautious at her sides. She stretched out her neck like a stork to survey the hairy Topaz who only knew the ground. Uncertain, with her pinkie out, Pearl reached down and poked the Topaz's forearm. The Topaz retracted her arm from Pearl like a snail to its shell. To describe how she lifted her head would be like describing how a bowling ball, halfway down the lane, suddenly touched by the Hand of Fate, veers off to the left and lands in the gutter. The Topaz sort of raised her head, but it ended up lilted over her shoulder.
Her face was still hidden in her hair. There was so much of it-untamed, tangled hair. Steven dropped his hands. That this newborn Topaz was so defenseless against, even, her own hair, and much less couldn't hold up her own head; her threat-level had fallen into the negatives. Steven thought of what Peridot had said-lame-brain-and felt sadness.
Pearl hooked bundles of the Topaz's hair in her fingers and brushed them to the sides.
Her face... looked just like Topaz's, but also didn't. They could be twins, however, this Topaz's face was missing disdain and anger, among other things that weigh down a face. This Topaz's face was unburdened; her only enemy was gravity.
The brightness of the day was too much for her. The Topaz recoiled from being touched and from the sun. She struggled with opening her eyes; it was like Pearl suddenly slung open the window shutters. The Topaz moved her head side to side like she was trying to find some angle that wasn't so bright. Why she didn't just duck back down Steven had no clue.
After a while, though, she adjusted to the new world and opened her eyes. They were big and blinking and curious. Steven shut his mouth because she was staring so long. He said hi to her (though he did not hear it). She was startled by him and dropped her mouth even more to make a noise. She made Steven flinch by doing that. The Topaz might not have said anything (her lips or tongue didn't move), but her sudden lilt made him pull back.
The Topaz noticed Connie. Connie got bashful as she was stared at; she tried to smile.
The Topaz turned back to Steven, then noticed Amethyst! Then she found Pearl! Then GARNET! Her eyes grew wider and her mouth fell more open with every new person she discovered. She looked like she was pretending to be possessed with her mouth hung open and trying to turn her head in a 360. The rest of her was still lying on the ground and her legs were still in the hole from whence she came.
The Crystal Gems didn't really respond to the Topaz when she gazed moronically at them. Eventually, Garnet got down on one knee and said something to her. The Topaz just stared.
She briefly looked at Steven again until Garnet said something else and took her attention back. She kind of lolled whenever she turned her head, like her neck was straining to hold it up.
Garnet said some other things, but the best response she got from the Topaz was her dumbly sticking out her tongue.
Garnet then stood up, got behind the Topaz, and grabbed her by her armpits. She pulled her up and out of the hole like a marionette.
She wasn't wearing any clothes! Steven slapped his hands over his eyes, exclaiming. Curiously, however, there wasn't anything on the Topaz for him to see; there was her Gem, though, which was centered on her torso, just below her chest. It was the same trillion cut as Topaz's; one of the corners pointed to her stomach.
Steven kept his gaze averted from the Topaz's direction. He peeked at Connie who was doing the same as him, but with her hands over her mouth. Pearl was with them, too, helping shield their no-longer-so-virgin eyes. Amethyst came over to rummage Steven's backpack for a beach towel.
Then, Pearl ushered Steven and Connie along. They and the Crystal Gems with the newborn Topaz (covered up in a towel), in Garnet's arms, were heading back home. They collected Peridot, who carried with her Topaz's bubbled Gem, and went.
It was a long walk back. Steven's feet hurt. His head hurt. His back ached. But, he got some hearing back.
He kept thinking about how Peridot was beaten.
The Gems talked for some time with one another on the way back to the Kindergarten. When they got back, Garnet took the 2-hour-old Topaz and the bubbled Topaz down into the canyon. Everyone else went to the warp pad and went home to Beach City.
...
Garnet didn't come back for another hour. During that time, Amethyst laid on the couch, Pearl went out onto the porch, and Peridot went down to the beach. Steven and Connie were hungry and tried to rest their feet and have a snack, but they had a hard time finishing their cereal bars.
When Garnet came back, Steven waited for her to come to him and Connie. He shook his head. "What... happened?" He intended for the question to be about everything, not just about what happened since he and the rest left Garnet out in the desert.
She breathed. "When Peridot is ready, we'll return for her things."
...