(Alternate) Steven Universe x Corrupt gem reader Insert

part 56: busted! (for real)

In her exotic fountain room, pearl is well in the middle of her self-training with her spear, when garnet suddenly leaps onto the platform carrying steven and spinel under one arm and amethyst under the other.

"Garnet!" pearl gasped, dispelling her weapon at the sight of the gem leader's sudden appearance. Wordlessly, garnet abruptly tosses the three gems in front of her. "What's the deal?" Amethyst asked, not appreciating the sudden toss as pearl ran over to worriedly steven.

"What's all of this about, garnet?" Spinel asked, pressing her fingers together nervously.

Garnet stared hard at the 4 gems before her through her visors. "We know all about the gem shards!"

The 2 older gems froze, their metaphoric veins freezing from the ice in garnet's voice. "Uh..." they exchanged wide eyed glances between each other, unable to think of anything to say. before they could think of anything, however, Steven suddenly rises to his feet, raising his arms in defeat. "I-It was us! we were the ones who popped the bubble... both of us." Spinel nods shamefully, rubbing her arm sheepishly. "Yep... all by ourselves."

"Steven..." pearl slowly rises to her feet, still rigid like amethyst, but tried to keep herself steady. "I can't believe you two..!"

Garnet sighs, crossing her arms behind her back. "If no one has anything else to say, and everyone else is innocent..." her unseen eyes flickered back and forth between all four gems. "...steven, spinel, I'm going to have to punish you both."

Steven and spinel gasp, exchanging mildly comical glances between each other. "No! Not punishment!" Steven sighs dramatically in defeat while spinel just sulks with a soft grunt.

Garnet wasn't moved. "Come with me, you two-"

before she could finish, a massive black hand suddenly emerges from the water behind her and shoves the gem leader beneath the water for a brief moment before re-emerging with her in its grasp.

"GARNET!" Amethyst exclaims, watching with wide eyed horror as the hand retreats back underwater.

"oh no! we must have missed a shard!" steven exclaims watching as the two older gems quickly summoned their weapons and leapt after the massive hand, which emerged and re-emerged from the many fountains of pearl's room, which made it difficult for the duo to combat.

the hand was amazingly nimble, able to use its transportation methods to catch amethyst off guard long enough to let it land a punch on her, flinging her onto another waterfall. with amethyst subdued, the hand then engages into combat with pearl. recovering quickly, amethyst tries to rush back to retaliate against the appendage, but a second hand suddenly emerges, stopping the purple gem in her tracks.

spinel gasps while steven looks on in horror. "Amethyst!"

amethyst becomes disarmed, and tries to dodge the second hand's attacks, quickly resummoning her whip and wrapping it around its middle finger. however, this gives the monstrous appendage an advantage, as it reels her into its fist like a yo-yo and lifts her high up over steven and spinel's platform, while the first hand, after a lengthy feud, finds an opening and grasps pearl into its grip as well, eliciting a cry of fear and surprise from the pale gem.

"pearl!" spinel reached for her fearfully while steven instinctively runs towards her direction in horror.

both gems struggle in the hands grip, groaning in pain as their grips tightened.

"amethyst, shapeshift!" pearl called, her voice strained. "get small or..
something!"

"I can't!" amethyst replied, her voice risen in sheer panic. "I'm freaking out! YOU do it!"

"I can't concentra-" she was interrupted by a squawk of surprise and pain from a sudden jerk in the hand's movement, only for it to clamp down again. "this is all my fault! I never should have had that bubble!"

"it wouldn't have popped if it wasn't for me!" amethyst rebuffs shamefully and fearfully.

"we should have told garnet or (name)!" steven exclaimed, tears of fear and remorse shimmering in his eyes. "we should have told them right away! I knew secret team was wrong!" he clasps his hands over his eyes as he started to cry from the stress of the situation. "I just... wanted to see you guys acting like friends!"

"I just wanted to splash in a bunch'a puddles!" spinel exclaims, pulling at her pigtails with teary eyes of her own.

Suddenly, a familiar figure calmly emerges from the water, catching steven and spinel by surprise. "garnet?"

at once, the two hands suddenly released the two older gems from their grasp and shrank and retracted back into their owner- which was garnet herself!

"what?" pearl and amethyst were floored by the sudden turn of events.

"So, you two can't get along unless you think me or (name) are going to kill you." garnet stared hard at her two teammates who exchanged dumbfounded glances at each other, before knelting down to steven's height. "Steven, I know you wanted to help them. You wanted to protect them, even from me or (name). They made you feel like you had to take their side. But there are no sides, because we're all on the same team- the CRYSTAL GEMS!"

With this annunciation, she rips the remaining coupon in half, ending the secret team, once and for all.

There was a period of silence as the situation mellowed out. steven then broke the silence. "you know what...? between the 6 of us... we could've had a free pizza."

garnet smirked down at the small boy. "Don't worry. once she's done, she's got us covered."

Pearl lifted a brow. "She?"

garnet looked back up at pearl, with a small shrug. "Well, someone's got to teach you both to get along. Especially around steven." She crossed her arms matter-of-factly. "And i believe this is the gem to do the job."

Amethyst blinked. "Who?"

To answer this question, a bellowing roar sounded from one of the nearby fountains, scaring everybody except garnet, who wore a thin smirk on her lips. "Hope she'll be easy on you two."

On instinct, everyone scuttles over to the direction of said roar.

The sight made everyone's eyes widen, Steven and spinel in surprise and pearl and amethyst in horror.

"PEEEARL! AMEEETHYST!"

pearl and amethyst exchanged weary glances between each other.

"Aw crud..."