Throughout that summer, I had an amazing time with Steven and the gems. Steven even helped me contact my parents and I assured them I was alright. They weren't a hundred percent comfortable with it. Pearl had a talk with them and told them I was in good hands.

I would watch Steven when the gems went on missions he couldn't go on. We stayed and his best friend Connie would come over. It was summer vacation for her as well. They trusted me enough, and I couldn't do much wrong either way. Sometimes they had to leave for their missions and I would have to stay back at the temple.

"Can't she come with?" Steven asked nicely, "Pleeeeeease?" Pearl looked worried, shifting looks back and forth between Steven and I.

"I don't think so, Steven. Even if it's supposed to be a quick and easy mission. She has no way of protecting herself. Garnet...?" I looked up at her and she met me with the same stare she usually gave me. However, she did always give me a reassuring smile afterwards, which warmed my heart. There was no doubt I had developed feelings for her. I didn't dare to act on them and I didn't think I could either. "I'll look out for her."

"Really?!" Steven and I asked surprised in unison. How would she do that? I blushed at the thought of being in her arms. The pale gem stared at the tallest, a bit confused by her unexpected decision, "G-garnet, are you sure this is a good idea?" She was worried about me, and probably didn't want to be responsible for me either. Garnet didn't say anything and simply nodded. Steven grabbed my hand and dragged me onto the warp pad with the rest of them, jumping up and down excitedly. Amethyst looked happy about it too, and Pearl... she looked concerned about Garnet's decision to bring me with. As the warp activated, and the white light engulfed us, I could feel a hand between my waist and chest. I turned to see Garnet's arm pulling me close, and her smile shining down at me. Her smile spread all throughout me, filling me with happiness. My hand took a grip around hers, holding her even tighter.

A whiteness surrounded us, which disappeared almost as soon as it swallowed us. My landing wasn't very steady, which was probably why Garnet had held me so close. In front of us, a large stone formation lied, carved with a hole in the lower middle. It reminded me a lot the Crystal Gem's temple, without the house, of course. Around us, plants and trees hid the temple from anything I would call civilization. Lush grass, plants and trees, stretching as far as I could see. We slowly walked towards the opening, which narrowed down to a sealed-off doorway. Steven was usually so energetic and playful, now he seemed more focused on the mission. Careful, but still himself. Garnet had let go of me, maybe afraid that the others would notice. Still, I stayed close to her.

Pearl walked forward, inspecting the doorway. "It seems simple enough to-" The sound of stone cracking and hitting the ground stopped her, "-break." Garnet's gauntlets disappeared again, and she made her way inside. A cloud of smoke hid the inside for a while, until it cleared. Steven and I coughed a couple of times as it hit us faintly. The pale gem followed her teammate inside and Amethyst right behind. "Come on, Lyn!" the precious child said excited. I followed them inside, gasping quietly at the interior. It was like nothing I had ever seen. The gems never allowed me inside the temple. Therefor I was quite surprised. In the main room, which we entered, large sculptures covered the walls. Beside, above and below them, murals covered the rest of the room. There was too much for me to understand any of it, and I gave up as soon as I tried. It was interesting to look at, though. I looked over at Steven and he seemed to feel the same way. Garnet, however, and Pearl too, didn't seem too happy about it. I could tell by Pearl's expression.

"The signal must've come from further in." Pearl broke the silence with that and a light emitted from her gem, much like a flashlight. It was quite dark, and the light revealed three different paths. The three doorways curved and the edges inscribed with symbols that seemed like clutter to me. Steven searched in his back pockets and pulled out two small flashlights for him and me, "Here you go! Garnet told me it would be dark." How could she have known that? It boggled my mind for a bit. He leaned in and whispered to me, "Oh, she has future vision." Garnet was staring into each of the hallways, and I stared at her as he told me. "Future vision...?" I whispered back. Steven nodded and walked up to the tallest gem, "Pearl, Amethyst. You take the left one." They stared at her for a moment before turning to each other, smiling slightly, "You're the boss! Let's go, P!" Amethyst giggled quietly, tagging alongside Pearl into the dark empty hall.

I studied the murals again, unaware of what else was happening around me. Even if I had told myself not to even try, there was just something intriguing about them. Something so... alien about them, that made me try again. There were paintings too. Not just forging letters and symbols. It felt like I had been looking at them for merely a few seconds and suddenly I was alone in the main hall. Pearl and Amethyst took the left corridor, I caught that much. No idea which way Garnet and Steven went, though. I didn't want to worry them and it would've been careless to choose a corridor and walk in. My decision was to wait where they had left me. Besides, there was still much to look at. The whole room was an experience. I could've been in the best museum in the world and it still wouldn't beat that room. Most of the paintings had humanoid shapes, with larger and smaller ones, representing a story I could not grasp fully.

Dust gathered on the lower parts of the walls that curved in on the middle. Brushing it off, it revealed even more. My head spun around the room a few times. It felt like my life turned upside down. For the better in this case. Compared to this and even just standing in this old temple, was much more exciting than my life back home.

Home...

I had been with the gems for a while. I felt attached to them. They cared for me. They enjoyed my company, as well, it seemed. While feeling the same way about them, it was hard for me to realize I had to go back. My mother was probably worried sick. What if she thought I was dead? It wasn't something I wanted to think about, making me shake the thought off. I couldn't go home anyways. Garnet told me so.

And Garnet...

We often shared these moments. Where she would show me extra kindness. Make me feel safe and secure. One night, when I had a bad nightmare, she sat beside me on the couch and comforted me. Caressing and lulling me to sleep. I didn't forget that easily. She treated me with such loving care and it was often too. Never had she spoken a word about it. I kept thinking, maybe she felt something special for me. I felt something for her too, I was sure of that. Did I dare act on it? Of course not. Being socially awkward wasn't fun from before. As well as having to confess to Garnet, with how intimidating she was? Her intimidation also had a factor on why I was into her. That and Garnet was beautiful. Blushing and smiling at the thought, I figured I would try to tell her at some point. Just not the same day.

My body rested against the wall, and with a small click, I shot up into the air, worried I had broken something. The next few seconds, everything was quiet. Stone grinding against each other broke that silence, and the openings to the room shut before I knew it. I panicked and I mean, really panicked. Screwing up was one of my biggest fears, and now I had probably messed up big time. All around the room, I scouted, not seeing a thing. Suddenly, a few drops of water came falling form the ceiling, eventually pouring in larger portions. There was nowhere else for the water to go and it would fill up the room. More and more came falling down from the hole, and all I was able to do was stand there and watch it soon raise over my ankles. It was slow, yes, but it would soon drown me if I didn't find a way out.

"G-garnet!" My voice wasn't the loudest, I had to try again, "Garnet!" Would it help if I tried calling any of the others? "Steven?! Help!" What if they weren't able to hear me? I... didn't want to die. The water was now on level with my knees, pouring in faster now, "Garnet, help!" I felt so helpless, trying to just look around the room even, I couldn't see any escape. Panicking made my body unable to move. Before I was completely limp, I tried moving about, pushing on the wall, even hitting it. Nothing helped. It came down faster and faster and by now, it was up to my chest. I tried climbing up on the various statues to keep my head above water for as long as possible. Adrenaline shot through me and it gave me just a bit of strength enough to keep me my head up for a while. Being a good swimmer didn't help much when you were about to drown either way.

One more time before I felt all strength in my body disappear, "Garnet!" I wanted to cry and only a couple of tears came running down my cheeks before all of me was beneath the surface. I could feel the life draining out of me, as there was no more oxygen in me.

My eyes slowly slid open, and all I could see was darkness. The darkness slowly disppeared however and brought out a familiar face, the pressure on my lips disappearing. "Garnet?" I thought, before coughing up large amounts of water and gasping for breath. "Lyn..." she said worried. The tall, purple-ish gem held me in her arms as I continued to cough. She didn't seem to mind, continuing to look worried at me. Small coughs came from me while we stared at each other.

"Lyn..." she paused, and slid her glasses off slowly and brought me closer to her, "I should've been able to see it..."

"Garnet" I started off, coughing a couple of times again. She knew what I would say, "Don't blame yourself, please..." Tears started streaming down my face, "Thank you for saving me." Another cough came out of me. "Thank you so much..."

I lied limp in her arms, still breathing heavily and staring back into her gorgeously colored eyes. Exactly as when I had a nightmare, Garnet comforted me. Stroking my hair and caressing my face. A couple of tears fell from her eyes, quickly wiping them away when she heard Steven yelling in the background.

"Garnet, is she okay?!" Steven was worried too, but relieved to see me awake. Pearl and Amethyst came running right behind asking the same question. "What happened?!" Amethyst exclaimed, "...and why are you all wet?"

My savior placed her glasses firmly in front of her eyes again, lifting me up in her arms and carrying me off towards the warp pad, "She needs rest." The two other gems looked at each other with the same expression, "Come on, gems." Steven hurried off after Garnet to make sure I was all right as well, while the other two took a bit more time, chatting about what happened.

In her arms, I rested easily, exhausted after my rescue.