It took a few weeks. "As ready as I can be," said Peridot. She, Steven, and the Crystal Gems warped to the Beta Kindergarten to get her things. They hesitated at the entrance to Topaz's cave. They waited on Peridot. Eventually, she nodded.
Garnet walked up the steps. She summoned a gauntlet and pounded on the wall a couple times. After a minute, Topaz came trudging out.
Nobody said anything. Steven frowned like Topaz stank.
Topaz turned and headed back inside. Garnet motioned for everyone.
Inside, everything was as Steven remembered, only now, there was a new resident. She was standing awkwardly at the foot of Topaz's bed, which faced the cave's entrance. She had clothes on this time-shoes, leggings, and a V-neck, the sleeves of which were asymmetrical, one ending below her shoulder, the other midway down her forearm. Her long hair was loosely braided now in one long fat rope and draped over her right shoulder. She stared.
Topaz stood with her chest out and arms crossed next to her twin as the Crystal Gems filed in. While Steven waited in line for his turn to take something of Peridot's, as the Gems started gathering her things, he and the young Topaz had nothing else to do but look at each other. His lips became thin.
"Hi," he said.
The Topaz flopped down into a squat to be eye-level with Steven. He retracted his head from her like a turtle. "Hi," she said.
Steven gasped. "You can talk!"
"Yes," she whispered. "I can talk. I can walk. I cannn jump. I cannnnnn... sleep. But, I don't really like to sleep."
"Don't talk to them," said Topaz.
"Ok, sister." The young Topaz bit down over her lips.
"Don't look at them."
Her little sister said ok and covered her eyes with her hands.
"I see you're still ruining lives," said Peridot.
Big sister retorted, "You brought it on yourself."
"I wish I'd never jumped after you."
"Stop!" Garnet's voice was as hard as steel. She made Little Sister jolt.
Topaz snarled. "Get your things and get out."
Peridot growled.
Outside, with the first wave of stuff, Peridot sniffled and wiped her eyes. She bared her teeth. Her cheeks were dark green. She caught Steven looking at her. She just shook her head and rolled her eyes until she wasn't looking in his direction anymore.
It took several trips to get all of Peridot's things. The desk was the hardest thing to squeeze out of the cave, for it had to be angled constantly to get its awkward L-shape out.
Every time the Crystal Gems came back, Little Sister shut up and covered her eyes. Once, she covered her face with Steven's beach towel. It had a fish on it. It made her look like a mermaid but backwards.
On the last trip out of the cave, Peridot looked at the young Topaz, then to her ex-Topaz. "I hope you're happy with what you got," she said.
"I never want to see you again," she said.
And that was it.
All of Peridot's stuff was taken back to the barn. When it came to it, Lapis went to help transport Peridot's signal tower. It was just thin enough to fit inside the warp pad.
Though damaged, Peridot was more than welcomed back. The Crystal Gems and Lapis helped her settle in as best they could. It was evening when Steven, Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst left for home. Steven reminded Peridot that he loved her.
On his way home, Steven looked up to see the first star in the evening sky. And like that, at the end of every episode, Steven's universe enclosed upon itself, like turning over the end cover of a book, with the wink of a star.
...
Steven would later speculate that, out of all that hate, anger, pain, and sadness, someone pure and amazing was born. If things had never turned out the way they did, she might not have ever existed. She was here to stay. And Steven tried to be glad of it.
...
The End
R.A.W. 11/24/2018