"Come on, (Name)!"

Steven calls over his shoulder as he walks into the final chamber. "We're almost done!

You practically hobbled into the room, once again flinching as the bars closed behind you, which caused the dull pain in your head to pulse slightly.

We're in the home stretch... it's fine...

As you both entered the room, you heard a sizzling noise and glanced down to find Steven's flip-flop steam a little upon making contact with the floor. Your lips pressed together as a knot of anxiety formed in your chest. ...it's fine... we're almost done...

"Alright, let's see what we've got."

Glancing up, you find this chamber looked like you had walked into a volcanic temple of some kind; with a rather narrow bridge crossing over a pit of lava. As if to punctuate the theme, a massive wall of fire shoots up from one of the slits on said bridge.

...you've got to be kidding me.

"Looks like Garnet... turned up the heat." Steven spoke up in a serious manner, before chuckling softly to himself afterwards. He then glanced at you, as if looking for a response. "Right?"

"Eheh... yes." You forced yourself to chuckle, putting on a smile that felt heavy on your face. "Good one, dear..."

He smiled briefly, looking pleased with himself before looking back at the bridge, staring at it determinedly as he advanced forth. A burst of fire bursts forth once again, and you find yourself digging your fingers into the lava room's floor to keep yourself in place.

You groaned as he pressed on, narrowly avoiding the fire that spouted through the bridge's floor slits, clenching your teeth as the burning sensation returned in your body.

Don't help him.

Don't ĥẹĺp hịm.

It's fine.

Èvęŕŷțĥịńĝ is fine.

Thankfully, he cleared the bridge in a short amount of time, smiling confidently to himself as he turned to look at you.

"Look, (Name)! I did it!" He called over to you excitedly, while waving to you. Seeing this you slowly let out a relieved breath, letting yourself relax as a tired smile floated to your face, as you clapped your forepaws, standing up from your spot, ready to follow after him. "Very good, little one."

He smiled at your praise and turned to walk forward, but as he did, a shadow cast over him, and you looked up to find a spiked platform falling towards him.

Your eyes widened, and you planted your paws firmly into the ground, with a low groan at the burn returning.

Ðon't ĥẹĺp hịm. It's fine.

Ĥẹ's fíņè.

Everything seemed to go in slow motion as the spikes hurtled down at him, not giving him enough time to move, and to your horror, he cowers under the incoming spikes, about to be crushed.

In that moment, your thoughts became hazy as the heat in your body suddenly spread all across your body, turning from painful burning to ďişoriénțiñg numbness.

Your rational thoughts diminished, and in that moment, a feral urge surged forth, rewriting your train of thought entirely.

Don't-- ĥẹĺp hịm.

Do-- ĥẹĺp hịm.

Ĥẹľp ĥịm.

Ĥẹľp ĥịm.

Şávĕ ĥım.

Everything suddenly became a blur as you surged forward, recklessly across charging across the fire-y bridge, the flames hardly registering to you as focused on getting to the ĥąpless child, before ĥąŕm can come to him.

You lowered you head and at once shoved into Steven, who yelps as he's suddenly knocked away from under the spiked device causing him to stumble to keep his balance.

Thankfully, he managed to keep himself standing, but he was quick to turn around and looked at you incredulously as you stood rigidly beneath the spiked block, panting heavily with your fur bristled.

"(N-Name)! What-- huh??" His eyes suddenly looked up from you, his brow furrowing in confusion.

In your unsound train of thought, you snarled defensively. What is he looking at now?? Another threat?? You snarled as you threw your gaze up at what he was looking at, ready to attack--

"Whuh??"

To your shock, the spiked platform was supposed to crush you was slowly retreating back up to the ceiling, back into its original position.

The... threat retreated... that's good... right...?

"(Name)! I thought I told you not to help me with this!" Steven scolded, pointing at you accusingly as he walked towards you. The angry look on his face snapped you out of your trance, and you to stepped back from under the device with a sheepish expression, with your tail between your legs. "I think you broke the course now!"

"Sorry, Steven... (Name) doesn't know what came over her." You replied sheepishly as you stood a fair distance away from him. "But name couldn't just sit there and let her child--!"

SLAM!

You yelped in surprise as you were interrupted by the spiked beam suddenly slamming into the ground with a few times with a heavy metal clang, almost immediately after you stepped out from under it. It seemed to be working completely fine now.

"Okay... never mind. But still, you need to trust me more with this kind of stuff." Steven chided, his voice a lot more gentle, as if he was scolding a child. "You see, it's very important for me to learn how to handle danger by myse--"

Not paying attention, Steven takes a step towards you, but rather than be crushed, the spikes beam stops just above his head, leaving him completely unharmed as it retracted back up.

"What...?" Steven stepped back a bit, astonished at the revelation, before looking back at you, gasping in alarm at the glowing slits of the bridge. "(Name), look out--!"

"Wha-?" You were startled by the wall of fire coming up, but rather than scorch you, it avoids making contact your skin and fur, not leaving so much as a mark on you. It didn't even feel hot. You looked around at the fire, eyes wide in disbelief. "Huh!?"

"How are you-?"

"(Name) isn't doing anything, she swears!" You hurriedly respond, stepping back from the flames.

Walking towards the bridge, he stands over the slit himself and sure enough, the flames go around him entirely, even as he stuck out his arms trying to touch the fire himself.

"Oh no." Steven's brow knit, stepping back in a deadful disbelief. "It can't be true..."

He glanced at the final door before him, the one that lead to the exit of the obstacle course then back at the door that lead to the previous chamber, which was now opened.

You both then exchanged glances between each other, pondering.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at Pearl's room, you both stood on the staircase where the pendulum blades swung, but you found that the blades swung harmlessly through you both; as if they were holograms.

"Whaaaaat!?" You both cried out in unison.

You slapped both your paws onto two of the same tiles Pearl's room, and not only does it play the same sequence but it also activated the stairs.

"It didn't even matter!?" Steven asked out loud in an enraged voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You and Steven then stormed into Amethyst's room, briefly forgetting the pit in the room, but as you walked off the platform, you found that even the pit was a hoax, as there was an invisible floor to keep you from falling.

"This too!?" Steven asked in frustration.

"How did she even achieve this!?" You asked angrily.

As you both walked up to the ramp, you come face to face with the rolling boulder again. However, once it came close enough, it stops just in front of you both.

"...oh my stars." Was all you can utter.

I don't believe this...

It was here, you both came to a dreadful realization...

"EVERYTHING IS RIIIIIGGED!!"

They LIED to him!!
~~~~~~~~~~~

Y'all didn't think I'd give up on this, did you? Of course not!^^