(Alternate) Steven Universe x Corrupt gem reader Insert

part 133: Pearl's chamber

You rumbled softly as you made your way to the next room behind Steven, flinching as the metal bars closed off the door behind you. Well... here's level two...

The room was large and ornate with a completely blue and teal theme looking quite empty. Unlike the last room, it looked more elegant and prim. It also seemed much smaller, with the walls and floor were made up of shiny tiles.

...definitely an improvement from last room. It was still pretty big and ominous, but at least it didn't give off dungeon vibes, and instead added a bit of a ballroom feel to it.

Across the room, there was a door high up on the wall, with triangles, or arrows pointing straight at it. Presumably the next exit.

"How do I get up there?" Steven asked out loud, though it was more towards himself than you. Nevertheless, your mouth instinctively opened to reply, but you were stopped by a sudden short musical score that briefly played, with a few tiles lighting up to each note.

"Oh! A music puzzle!" Steven chirped after a moment of thought. "This must be Pearl's room. Only she would make me think."

A musical puzzle? You felt a soft sigh leave your mouth. You even smiled a bit. Sounds simple enough.

You go to move forward, but was halted by Steven holding his hand out to you. "Wait, let me go first."

You grumbled softly in protest but cooperatively sat back on your haunches. He steps away from you to ponder the tiles, trying to recall the sequence that played. "Okay, let's see."

After a moment, he carefully hops from one tile to the next, copying the pattern with relative ease before stopping at the fourth tile. "...did that do it?"

After a pause, a chime was heard and a large set of stairs suddenly formed in front of him, leading right up to the door.

The boy let out a joyous laugh, first looking at the new stairs before looking back at you excitedly. "Did you see that, (Name)? Easy!"

You finally let yourself smile, letting out a small chuckle to yourself as you nodded, clapping your forepaws a few times. "Very good, dear." You called back to him as you watched him happily make his way up the stairs.

Okay... so far so--

SWISH

...good?!

Your eyes snapped wide open as you drew in a panicked gasp as you saw you saw what looked like a massive, ornate pendulum blade suddenly swing down from the ceiling, sweeping back and forth at the child's back.

What in the--!?

"NOT EASY!"

He yelps as he scampered up the stares, a couple more blades swung down at him, coming dangerously close to him, making your fur bristle.

Are you kidding me-!? You thought incredulously, as a fearful grimace spread across your muzzle.

Right when I thought pearl would be rational in this test, she turns around and does something like this?? You thought indignantly as you watched the child scurrying up the stairs in a panic, running across the three swinging blades. You promised yourself to have stern words with her when this was over.

You growled to yourself as you instinctively leapt to your paws and hooves on instinct, already planning on dismantling the swinging blades and leaping forth to grab Steven and get him out of this environme-

Promise you won't try to ĥeļp me.

You almost immediately slammed the brakes on your act as soon as the words resurfaced in your memory. Your metaphoric muscles tensed up as you forced yourself to stop, eyes wide in dread.

Oh stars, what am I doing?? You mentally slapped yourself yourself, for acting so impulsively. I'm overreacting... He's so close here, he can make it!

With a snort of resolve, you slowly sat yourself back down, and watched as Steven scuttled up the stairs. As you did, however, it suddenly felt as though time had slowed to a crawl. Nothing but Steven's panicked breaths filled your metaphoric ears as you watched him clamber up the stairs as the blades sweeped side to side, possibly inches from his back.

Just the thought of it made the heat in your body flare up even more, to the point it felt as though you were in the bubble room. You were so tensed up to keep yourself from moving, that if one were to touch you, they'd think you were an actual statue from how taut you felt.

It was starting to hurt.

A short growl droned from your mouth as you lowered your head, glancing down at your forepaws as you idly curled your fingers into your palms, your clawed finger tips leaving claw marks in the floor.

What's wrong with me?? Why is this starting to hurt??

You internally scolded yourself as your limbs started to burn just from keeping yourself in place.

It shouldn't be this hard... Just don't help him! Just sit here and observe!

He can handle it!

You gritted your teeth against the feeling, clenching your eyes shut as you tried to ignore the near painful tension in your limbs.

Don't help.

It's fine.

The more you repeated those words to yourself, the more the intensity grew. Your thoughts were beginning to grow fuzzy as you focused on keeping still in your spot.

It's fine, everything is fine.

Let him do it himself...

Don't help him.

Don't ĥẹľp ĥịm.

POP!

Your attention was brought back by a loud pop and you snapped your head up to find him at the top of the stairs, with the door open with star balloons and confetti bursting out at him, prompting him to look over his shoulder at you, smiling in cheerfully.

You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding.

"Woo-Hoooo!" Steven cheered triumphantly, turning to face you and waved to you. "Did you see me, (Name)?! You saw that right?!"

"...yes." You choked out through gritted teeth, as you forced yourself to smile.

"Come on!" Steven gestured for you to come up. "We're almost done!"

You grunted, slowly rising to your paws and hooves, and with a single bound, leaped across the four tiles onto the stairs and climbed up the remaining stairs to stand beside Steven. Now that you were close, you saw he had a bit of sweat on his forehead.

"You saw, right, (name)?" He asked again, seemingly joyful at his feat. "That was close, right?"

"Y-Yes." You replied after a brief pause, patting his head. Ťọõ çĺọšę. "Really close."

He giggled to himself. "I'm doing good, aren't I?"

"Steven... is on a roll." You nodded again, feeling a phantom-ache in your limbs from exertion. "Good job."

"You're doing good to." He gave you a hug. "Thanks for letting me do this."

The moment he pressed into your fluffy chest, you felt yourself relax as you felt his small body against yours. You purred, wrapping an arm around him to return the hug. "Of course, sweetpea." He's here. Safe and sound.

Unforntunately, it ended as he pulled away from you and gestured for you to follow him. "Come on! I think this is the last level."

You sat there for a moment to collect yourself.

We're almost done. Just need to get through this last level.

You drew in a deep breath as you followed after him, feeling a slight burn in your paws and hooves each time they made contact with the floor.

It's okay.

He's okay...

Ị'm óķåƴ...

~~~~

Sorry for the wait! Being a corrupt gem with (strong) maternal instincts is difficult, eh?