Steven Universe: In Too Deep

Going To Form

Steven opens his eyes clutching my stomach. He then gasps and blinks. He looks up to see small blinking lights in a dark atmosphere. "Must... Have to... Want to... Need to... Have too..."

Steven floats as a gem shard floats by him. "Want to... Need to... Want to..." Steven stares in it's direction. The shards shining heart pulsates as it whispers. "...want to...need to..." Steven raises his eyebrow.

"You want to...? Want to what?!" Steven looks around the void of gem shards as a strong light emits around him and the shards shrill voices cry out. "FORM!" Steven screams and covers his ears. "Please, stop!"

Steven closes his eyes and tenses up as he rotates slowly in the space. The light subsides and the voices clam. Steven stops tensing up as he opens his eyes. "It's the Cluster..." Steven then jumps at the realization of what's actually happening.

"I'm talking to the Cluster?! But...how did I get inside your brain?" Steven looks around. "...Brains?" The Cluster's voices grow more audible. "Have to... Want to... Need to..." Steven gasps. "Must..." "Wait!"

Steven tries to run in the space as he quickly rotates around. "Please, don't take form!" The light returns as the Cluster chants aggressively. "Form...form, form, form, form, want form, want form!...Form!"

Steven covers his ears as the light and chanting subsides once more. Steven then stops and tries to persuade the Cluster. "Maybe, instead of forming, you could do something else...?" Steven's voice quivers in fear.

The light and the chanting returns again, scaring Steven. "FORM!" Steven covers his ears again. "Boy, you've sure got the one-trackiest mind I ever met!" "NEED...FORM!" Steven groans. "Agh!" The light starts to subside.

"TO BE...WHOLE..." The light is gone. "Whole?"  Steven notices the gem shard that floated past him earlier. "Have to..." "Oh, you're shards! You just wanna find the rest of your gems."

Steven looks up. "But...forming won't help you find the rest of yourselves! You'll just destroy the Earth!" "NO, NO, NO..." "But if you wanna find other gems, there are so many of you right here! Look!"

Steven lightly pushes a gem shard near another. "Shard, meet shard!" The shards glow as they speak. "Have to..." "Need to..." "See? You already have so much to talk about!" The Cluster's voices raise in commotion as they speak to each other.

Steven looks around in wonder as bubbles of light surround Steven. He smiles towards the improvement. "HI! OH, HI! HI! HI! HI! OH, HI!" The Cluster engulfs itself in light.

"This is great! You don't even need to form. You can just stay here!" Links form between bubbles of light. "WANT TO STAY. WANT..." The light subsides, then returns. The Cluster cries out in anguish.

"CAN'T STOP...!" Steven stops smiling and looks around. "GOING TO FORM... CAN'T STOP... GOING TO FORM... HELP, HELP, HELP!" "It's okay! If I just bubble you, you won't have to come out." Steven puts his hand up.

A nearby shard is encased in a pink bubble. "It'll keep you safe! Here, look, like this!" He bubbles another shard. "I can bubble you!" Another bubble. "I can bubble you!" Another bubble. I can bubble you!" Another bubble.

Steven pants as he sweats. "Well, that's five, out of...oh jeez." Steven watches helplessly as the light grows brighter. "I'm sorry!" Steven shields his eyes. "I can't do it alone!"

The bubbles of light pulsate around Steven, pushing him to and fro. "Whoa! Whoa!" Steven starts to float away from the Cluster. He grunts, reaching out to the light.