Garnet's P.O.V

Pearl, Amethyst, Lapis, and I are finally getting back home after a day out in the city. It would've been better if Steven had joined us, though. He always makes things better and not just with his optimistic attitude either, it can just be by him being around. That's one of the many reasons why I love him. Lapis and Pearl are deep in conversation as they lead the way up the steps. I take up the rear and Amethyst walks in between me and the chatting duo. Hmm, take up the rear, huh? I didn't realize how dirty that sounded until now, and I'm actually not afraid of saying such things anymore. After a bit more chatting, Lapis gets the door open for us. I walk in behind everyone else and almost immediately, I can tell something's up. Jasper, very firmly, stands guard in front of the Warp Pad, looking like she won't move for anyone. She's also set up a perimeter around the area, which I'm the first to notice, but I'm now frozen in place wondering what could've happened here while we were gone. Amethyst catches on after me and then, seeing as Lapis and Pearl were still not paying attention, she elbows the two of them.

"Ow, what was that for?" Lapis whines, rubbing her bicep.

Amethyst points and Lapis looks over, her eyes widening at what she finds. Activating her water wings, the ocean gem swoops in front of Jasper and stares her down, Pearl, Amethyst, and I slowly coming up behind her.

"What's going on here, Jasper?" Lapis demands.

"And where is Steven?" Pearl asks.

"Yeah, where is he? I want a round two with him!" Amethyst demands, showing off her no-filter attitude.

Jasper rolls her eyes and stands her ground.

"No one is getting past here. Steven asked me to specifically make sure nobody follows him while he's talking with Bismuth" Jasper says, her arms crossed seriously.

"Why's Steven talking to Bismuth?" Lapis asks, raising an eyebrow.

"That's nobody's business but Steven's. Now please, step back from the Warp Pad" The strong orange gem growls at Lapis.

I'm beginning to grow frustrated at Jasper's attitude, but I'm most importantly worried about my Steven. I don't want him hurt and even though it only sounds like a talk, you can't be too careful sometimes. While Amethyst, Pearl, and Lapis continue to argue with Jasper, I quietly sneak around them and step onto the Warp Pad, quietly heading there. Landing on the other Pad very quickly, I step off the circle and run toward the Forge, going by the rock spires until I'm standing at the inlaid opening of it. I can hear voices, so I press my back against the wall outside the entryway and listen closely at what's being said.

"And that's been it. That's what I've been facing recently" Steven's voice says, the sound echoing from inside.

"Dang, that sounds kinda rough. And trust me, I happen to know what's rough" Bismuth's voice replies.

"It's just, how can I tell the Gems that I love them without them being torn apart by jealousy and desire?" Steven asks, invoking some tears from all three of my eyes.

"It's actually a lot more simple that you're thinking it is, Steven. Just tell them what you just said. They won't know if you don't tell them and if you don't tell them, then the likelihood of your scenario will eventually become its own self-fulfilling prophecy" Bismuth answers, some clanging sounding in the air and proving she's multi-tasking.

"Alright, that sounds good. Thanks, Bismuth!" Steven replies with gratitude.

"You betcha, Steven" Bismuth chuckles.

Both sound like the conversation is coming to a close, so I take that as a chance for me to cut in.

"Steven! There you are! The others and I couldn't find you! We assumed you had been kidnapped" I lie slightly.

Steven frowns at this, causing me in turn to frown as well.

"If I would've been kidnapped, why would you think I would've ended up here?" He asks, catching me in the lie.

My only response is to blush madly with embarrassment and to stare at the Forge floor.

"Hmm, it seems that you two have something to work out here. I'll give you two some space and wait outside" Bismuth remarks, smirking at me while striding right past.

I scoff at her, but she's quickly disappeared from my view, leaving me and Steven alone in the Forge.

"So, what are you really doing here, Garnet?" Steven asks, crossing his arms nonchalantly.

I grow a bit nervous, afraid that he might be angry with me following him. But, despite what I feel, I go for it anyway.

"Well, Jasper was preventing me and the Gems from coming here. I was worried that something was terribly wrong with you" I reply in earnest.

Steven's face softens at this, him probably coming to the conclusion that I indeed speak true.

"I appreciate your caring attitude, Garnet. But I'm fine. I needed to talk to someone else about a problem with the team who wasn't on the team" My Cutie Pie explains, "And I don't feel ready to tell you or anyone else how I feel about it yet."

He begins to walk away towards a different section of the Forge, but out of frustration, I grabbed his arm. I wasn't about to let him go so easily, not without finding what's wrong so I can fix it.

"Please, Steven. Tell me what's wrong. I won't judge you. That's not who I am" I speak as earnestly as possible.

Steven's eyes flit back and forth, debating in his mind whether or not he should spill the beans. He sighs tiredly after a couple of those and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Fine. I love all of you. But because I do, jealousy arises and fighting breaks out over who would be better for me. I've seen it already within the team a little bit and it'll only get worse. I don't wish for anyone to fight over me" Steven thoroughly explains.

My eyes widen a little as I realize he's right. I had just brushed those confrontations aside because my infatuation was still taking center stage of my feelings, but with how violent Lapis, Amethyst, Pearl, and Peridot can be when they get mad, we really do need to address this issue.

"You're right. That is a problem" I say, holding Steven's hand, "So let's go handle it."

The two of us then run out of the Forge and right onto the Warp Pad. Steven activates it for us and sends us back into the Temple. When we touch back down in our home, though, I find myself face to face with an unprecedented scenario.

The team has vanished, along with a huge portion of the wall.

Steven's P.O.V

The Temple is a mess. Windows are shattered, couches are overturned, a large hole is where the front door should be, and small piles of debris litter the floor. Frowning in utter confusion, I hesitantly step off the Warp Pad, followed closely by Garnet. She looks just as confused about the situation as me, meaning that she clearly didn't predict with her Future Vision. I'm sure to watch where I step because some of the broken window shards made their way onto the floor in front of me. As to where the debris came from, I look up and see another rather large hole in the roof. Garnet takes her hand in mine again, showing very kind and apparent concern for my well being. I'm not saying that I don't mind it, which is totally true, but her actions are plenty justifiable by the scene around us. Seeing the Temple in the state it is now makes me think that some kind of fight broke out or some natural disaster swept through.

Then, suddenly, a pile on my right shifts and begins to move. I'm a bit puzzled a little terrified at first, but after seeing the orange arm trying to claw its way out, I understand. Moving quickly, I speed on over and rip away at the debris, Garnet coming over and helping after she to realizes who's trapped. With the two of us, Jasper is freed in no time. I offer her a hand up, which she kindly accepts and stands panting next to me.

"I'm glad you're here, Steven. If you hadn't come, I probably would've been stuck under all that rubble for days on end" Jasper grunts, flicking dust of her arms.

I nod graciously, then move on to the burning question.

"What happened here when Garnet and I were gone, Jasper? Why's the Temple all but destroyed?" I ask with a hint of anxiety.

Judging from her facial expression, it clearly wasn't good. I mean, yeah, why would something be good when you have a present mess on your hands, but I'm just trying to be rational, you know?

"The team happened" Jasper scowls, confirming my fears, "When the fusion here decided to slip past me and get to you, things started to go way out of hand..."

~~ 2 Hours Earlier... ~~

Jasper's P.O.V

That damned fusion took advantage of me! When I was busy arguing with the Pearl and Lazuli, she creeped around and warped away from behind. I knew that one of the team would try something like that, based on their most recent behavior, but not the fusion. I was trained to see Gem and Human alike coming from any direction and prevent any further approach. But clearly that training failed. That specific method was taught to me when I was first created in the Kindergarten, back when Pink Diamond was still around.

"Let us through, Jasper!" Lazuli is saying, her arms crossed and her water wings fluttering angrily.

"No can do, Lapis. Steven specifically made me promise to keep anyone from speaking to him at this moment" I retort, standing firm and in-place in front of the Warp Pad.

The other gems are getting impatient and when they're pressed to wait or don't get what they want, I've known them to act very much like the Diamonds. And, judging by the weapons being summoned from the Pearl and Amethyst, I'd say a fight is well on the way.

"You heard her, Jasper. Let us through!" Amethyst growls while clenching her whip.

"Sorry, runt, can't do that" I smirk at her.

"WHY MUST YOU MAKE THIS SO DIFFICULT?!" Pearl screams out of frustration.

At this point, I'm starting to get pretty peeved with this former servant and wouldn't mind putting her in her place. The other two gems also look ready to put up a fight, but before any punches can be thrown, Peridot shuts them all up.

"Would you clods shut up?! I'm trying to sleep here!" The green gem shouts at the angry three.

I don't think they knew that Peridot was here, much less completely nude, but all that becomes apparent when Pearl, Lapis, and Amethyst turn to look at her. Peridot's covered herself with the blankets from Steven's bed, but those alone can't protect her from Amethyst's whip, which wraps around the little Gem and yanks her to the living room floor.

"Why are you naked, Peridot?!" Lapis demands, the answer coming to her almost immediately, "You didn't?!"

"Oh, I did. Who knew skin to skin contact with Steven would be so enticing and relieving?" Peridot smiles gleefully.

The gem trio's expressions after hearing that immediately turn from confused to outraged.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!?!" Pearl screams in fury, pointing her trident at Peridot's face.

"You heard me right, Pearl" Peridot smiles slyly, phasing her uniform on and putting her visor back on as she spoke.

It was at this moment that Pearl was pushed over the edge, the servant blasting Peridot into the couch with a spear blast. Due to the large energy expense from the spear, Peridot is sent flying so hard that the couch is broken into three pieces. Pearl then stomps up to the dazed Peridot and gets all in her face.

"Steven is mine, you snarky brat!" Pearl growls at Peridot, "You stay away from him and I won't have to stick you on the end of this spear. Are we clear?!"

In response, Peridot just socks Pearl in that pointy nose of hers. The servant cries out in pain and grabs onto her twisted nose. While Gems don't bleed like humans can, they can still feel pain and judging by Pearl's misshapen nose, she's in quite a bit of it.

"Allow me to counter with an even better proposal. You serve Steven and me like you were made to do and just leave us when we make love. That sound like something you can handle?" Peridot smirks mischievously while standing and crossing her arms confident.

With gritted teeth, Pearl then charges at Peridot and tackles her into the couch debris. They exchange quick and hard punches, hitting each other in the face and chests most often. Somehow though, during all of this, Peridot is able to kick Pearl into the bar counter. While the pale gem gets up and starts to recover, Peridot then runs full speed at her and tackles her, sending the both of them over the counter. While the sparring is occurring, Lapis, Amethyst, and I just watch, each of us finding the sight both interesting and strange.

"You know, their fighting is very pointless" Lapis remarks while she watches Pearl punch Peridot so hard that her visor grows spiderweb fractures.

"What do you mean?" Amethyst then asks, drawing my attention.

"Well, why would Steven be attracted to a small tech gem, who tried to kill him numerous times before, and a defective servant Gem that was so strict and untrustworthy throughout his childhood?" Lapis explains, Peridot recovering from Pearls hit to reach behind and yank on her pointed hair.

Pearl squawks in pain and hits Peridot more in hopes of getting her to stop. Amethyst watches the action closely, but still nods to Lapis' words.

"You make some good points, Lapis, but you left out an important fact" Amethyst replies, her gaze shifting to the right, where the ocean gem stands, "You've tried to kill Steven before too, so I guess that would exclude you from the love circle also".

Lapis then whips her head around and faces down Amethyst, her fists clenched tightly.

"That's all in the past, though, and I doubt that a short and oversized quartz like yourself would be any more appealing to Steven than me. Did you know that he stuck his tongue inside me? Oh boy, did he do me so bad~" Lapis grins, angering Amethyst.

"Yes, but I'll have you know that Steven took me from behind. He also calls me his 'queen', which he has never once said to you. To me, it's pretty obvious who Steven's claimed to be his favorite already" Amethyst returns, her grip on her whip growing tighter.

Lapis grits her teeth in rage and summons some orbs of water from her wings.

"You just back up, you pest!" Lapis cries, flinging the water orbs directly at Amethyst.

They come close, but at the last second, Amethyst evokes that spinning technique of hers and deflects the orbs with ease. Seeing this, Lapis grows angrier and summons more orbs, but is interrupted with a whip around her ankles.

"Try flying away from this one, you stupid mirror gem" Amethyst scoffs, yanking Lapis forward and, with one strong punch, sends the winged gem soaring through the Temple roof.

Lazuli goes far, but with another firm yank of her whip, Amethyst slams her back down. The force of the tug brings Lapis down so fast that she leaves a big indentation in the wooden floor.

"You think that will stop me? You're a runt like Jasper said you were" Lapis says, making my eyes widen in the process.

The purple gem then summons one of those water fists of hers and takes a swing at Amethyst. The blow is so fast that Amethyst doesn't react in time and gets blasted right through the front door, making a large jagged hole. Lapis then growls in anger and flies after Amethyst, obviously determined to cause more hurt. At this point, I could see that things have gotten way out of hand and needed to be put to rest, otherwise the Temple might not be standing much longer. Since Amethyst and Lapis were now outside, I run over to Pearl and Peridot, who were still clawing and punching each other behind the bar counter.

"That's enough, you two!" I say firmly, trying to pry them apart, "You're making a giant mess with these childish temper tantrums of yours".

Pearl only sneers at me in response and summons her trident.

"Stay out of this, Jasper!" The white gem threatens, swinging forward and bashing both me and Peridot into the living room wall.

The impact dazes me, but Peridot quickly shakes it off and frees herself from my grasp, going over to swipe at Pearl some more. I rub my head in dizziness and I faintly begin to hear the crackling sound of a roof collapsing. By the time I begin coming to my senses, though, it's already too late and a chunk of the Temple ceiling comes crashing down on me. The last thing I remember before blacking out is the impact and the pain of my head hitting the floor.

~~ End of Flashback ~~

Steven's P.O.V

"...and that was it" Jasper concludes, caressing her aching head.

My eyes are wide with surprise, Garnet being no exception either. My stomach drops as I come to terms with my fears have been made a reality. Pearl, Lapis, Peridot, and Amethyst grew angry with each other because they felt like each of them deserved me more than anyone else and those hateful feelings led them all violently attacking one another. But now that I'm here, I should track them all down and fix this so that nobody ends up poofed or, even worse, shattered.

"We gotta find them!" I state anxiously, "Garnet, what does your Future Vision see?"

The stoic and badass fusion frowns and, the best I can tell, squints in concentration.

"There a few types of outcomes I see. One is that Pearl, Lapis, Peridot, and Amethyst have destroyed the city in their rage and another is that they all ended up shattering each other" Garnet responds gravely.

"Are there any others? Mainly more optimistic?" I press, not liking what I'm hearing.

"Well, there is one that they've been bubbled by the Diamonds, but the likelihood of that is very slim" The fusion says with uncertainty.

I sigh and decide to roll with that one.

"I'm gonna go with that last one" I state with confidence, "Their ships are outside so if the four of them are bubbled, they'll most likely be in there".

Jasper and Garnet look nervous and skeptical, but I don't let it sink in, instead heading for the hole in the wall. I quickly rush outside, the footsteps of Jasper and Garnet sounding from behind me and dashing down the stairs which had been fortunately spared from the destruction. After I get to the bottom and step onto sand, I look ahead and see both Blue and Yellow standing in front of their ships, almost as if they were expecting me. Four bubbles, two with Yellow and two with Blue, surround the Diamonds, confirming Garnet's less likely outcome to have been true. Wasting no time, I run up to them, both Yellow and Blue noticing my approach.

"There you are, Steven! We were getting worried!" Blue cries, happy tears streaming down her face.

"Don't worry, Blue. I'm fine" I reassure the Diamond, "But from the looks of things, I'd say that the Temple can't say the same".

"Yes" Yellow muses with a hint of frustration, "These four gems of yours caused quite a ruckus out here not too long ago. Myself and Blue had to put a quick end to it before it was inflicted on other humans or ourselves". 

I look up at the brightly colored Diamond and nod in thanks.

"Thank you both. I do agree that Pearl, Lapis, Peridot, and Amethyst were getting very carried away with their actions. However, I must ask if you could please unbubble them so I can resolve this issue permanently" I say politely.

Blue and Yellow look skeptical about the idea at first, but then shrug and pop the bubbles for me. The Gems plop to the sand and almost immediately begin to glow, the vague forms of the four Crystal Gems taking shape until a few seconds later when they've all reformed completely. However, as quick as they are to reform, they are also as quick to attack each other again. Pearl glares angrily at Peridot, calling out her trident, and Amethyst summons her whip again and brandishes it threateningly at Lapis.

"STOP!!" I shout at them, causing all four Gems to halt at once.

The four of them snap their heads towards me, their eyes wide with surprise at my presence. Pearl and Amethyst look at me in embarrassment, their weapons fading away while I glare at each of them in turn.

"S-Steven" Lapis stutters, "What happened? Where did you go that you didn't want to be followed?"

"It was Jasper told you, I went to talk with Bismuth. And what I talked with her about was my very fear of this exact situation coming to light" I reply, sighing and shaking my head in defeat.

The Gems look worried and confused at the same time, not quite understanding what I'm getting at.

"What do mean by 'this situation'?" Peridot asks, being the most outspoken and curious of the bunch.

"What I mean, dear and lovable Peridot, is my fear of you guys fighting. You see, over the past few days, I noticed definite signs of you four getting mad at each other regarding the amount of time spent with me. I had hoped that everything could be worked out peacefully, but as tensions grew, I felt the need to converse with someone on how to end it. And the thing is, I never wanted this to happen. I hate seeing you guys fight over me. It tears apart the bonds that so strongly hold this family together and I don't want to be the cause of all that" I explain, shaking my head sadly.

Seeing and hearing this, Peri, Lapis, Ame, and Pearl grow teary-eyed themselves and rush forward to envelope me in a hug.

"Oh, Steven, I'm so sorry. I never wanted to make you cry. It breaks my heart" Lapis sniffs.

"I'm sorry too, Steven. It was foolish of me and I won't do it again" Peridot cries.

"Steven, I shouldn't have let my emotions get so out of control like that. I'll do better, I promise" Pearl sobs, clutching me tightly.

'Yeah, P's right. This was a huge mistake on our part. We shouldn't have gotten so riled up about it" Amethyst says, tears dripping down her face. 

I smile and hug them all snugly, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I love you all so much. With all of my heart and gem. And you know, I think I've come up with a way for this to not happen ever again" I say, causing the gathered gems to stare at me with sudden interest.

"Go on" They say in unison.

"I've been thinking about this for a little while, there's this thing called a harem. Basically, it's this arrangement where one man can allow multiple women to love him equally and at the same time. The women, in turn, are also treated equally and the dude spreads his love out between all of them. I feel like this will work because that way, all of you, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Lapis, and Peridot, can have the same amount of love from me and will never feel neglected" I explain.

The four around me look entirely interested, nodding their heads eagerly.

"I'm in!" Lapis grins.

"Me too!" Pearl agrees.

"Me three!" Ame chimes.

"And I as well" Garnet says, coming around and sitting down in front of me.

"And don't forget about me too!" Peridot finishes, smiling widely.

I smile and we all regroup for another massive hug. Then, before we break, all five gems lean in and kiss me in some way our other. I laugh playfully along side them as they pull away, us all feeling giddy and utterly happy from what now lays ahead. While this is happen, though, I hear the Diamonds mutter their input.

"Those gems are certainly interesting" Blue remarks.

"Undoubtedly" Yellow agrees.