Steven Universe fic

Pt2 Chapter Four: Nightmare Room

Steven smiled at the nervous gem as she fidgeted with her fingers on his bed, she seemed consumed by her thoughts.

"Connie and I will be back, we're just going downstairs. Can you stay here?" He said empathetically, the gem nodded, not looking up at the boy.

"Am I in trouble?" She mumbled, worry causing her words to tremble as they left her lips. Steven blinked, confused at her question.

"No, no you're not in trouble. I'll be back, I promise." He backed toward his bedroom door, quietly opening it and retreating.

"That's it, I can't do it." He exclaimed, making his way down to the living room where Connie sat twiddling her thumbs, thinking about the earlier event. She looked up at Steven who seemed ultimately defeated, he sat on the couch sinking into its comfort and leaning on her shoulder.

"I can't make her remember." He sighed, "it will just hurt her, I don't want to do that."

Connie rested her hand on his chest, nuzzling into Steven's head as she comforted the overly stressed boy.

"I understand." She said, closing her eyes and letting him sink into her.

"I'll just..remove anything that could remind her of the diamonds, or mom…" he trailed off, thinking about how little of Pink Diamond existed on earth. It shouldn't be hard. He sat up, hit his fist into his palm, steeling himself in his decision.

"Then there's no way she could remember, and she can be happy, for once." He nodded affirmatively toward Connie who slowly sat up to meet his gaze.

"Are you sure it's going to work? Won't she constantly want to be around you?" She questioned, her eyes trailing off toward the stairs, expecting to see the pink gem standing there, listening.

"She has gotten better about being alone, as long as I'm nearby." He said, in truth, she was only good about it when they were in his home, which was already rather small. It's not as if he had tried to leave her at home when he went on their picnic. He couldn't bring himself to.

Steven listened for any noises indicating Spinel's stress, "I should check on her, though." He sighed, standing up from the couch.

Steven opened the door to his room, Spinel stood directly in front of him, her eyes watering with worry.

"You came back!" She quickly turned face, tackling the boy in a bear hug.
Perhaps, she wasn't okay being alone.

The sun began its descent on the horizon, indicating a slow dusk, and eventually nightfall. Connie held her basket in the pit of her elbow as she turned toward Steven.

"I better get going, my mom will start calling me if I don't get back before dark" she laughed, wrapping her boyfriend in a quick hug before making her way down the porch. Steven couldn't help but laugh as she hurried down the stairs and hopped onto lion.
He turned to his gem friend, who sat on the couch looking downward.

"Spinel, I'm gonna go to bed, you want into your room?" He softly said, gesturing toward the door that led to his mother's room. Spinel followed his gaze and silently stood up.

"Okay." She mumbled, turning toward the door. Steven smiled, and opened the door to the cloudy pink room, his friend glancing back at him before stepping inside.

The door closed abruptly behind Spinel, causing her to jump, she peered at the endless expanse of pink, puffy clouds before stepping further into the space.

Worry began to edge along her thoughts as she sunk into the despair of being alone.

"I'm still here." Steven laughed, causing the gem to swivel around to meet the projection she hadn't realized had come to form.

"But you-" she stammered, gesturing back at where the door had just been.

"I've been here the whole time." He smiled, scratching his head.
The room's rendition of Steven was nearly perfect, causing the gem to second guess herself as she pondered how he could be in two places at once.

"I wanna show you something." The duplicate laughed, gesturing further behind him. The clouds parted revealing a pristine garden with floating pillars. Spinel stepped toward the garden, the image of it knocking around inside her head, she recognized the place, but couldn't put her finger on why.
The room seemed to hum melodiously as it created the garden, Spinel picked a hibiscus flower that grew from beside her, the realness of its scent and texture confusing her thoughts further.

"What is this place?"

"I won't leave you here." The room interrupted, the garden suddenly began to die, becoming decrepit and overgrown, as if decades had passed in only a few short seconds.
The shift startled the gem as she tried to wrap her head around what was happening, the small flower in her hand decayed, crumbling as the wind shifted in the room.

"I-I don't like it here." She rambled, nervously dropping the crumpled flower, "take me somewhere else!"

The room quieted, the wind ceasing as it turned into a large undecorated pink room. A giant white foot landed on the floor in front of her, and a small clink followed. She nervously opened her eyes, staring at the enormous toes that planted themselves before her.

"You have been very, very bad." The voice didn't belong to Steven, it bellowed from high above her, causing a shudder to ripple through Spinel's whole body and gem. Her eyes drifted toward the bad thing that had clattered to the floor just behind the foot. Her thoughts began to race as she took a shambled step backward.

"No, this isn't real.." she whispered, her eyes flickering up at the giant that stood above her, clouds enveloped the leg that jutted out from them, protecting the sight above. Spinel began to panic, grabbing her hair as she fought the fear the invaded her mind, unwelcomed.

"T-take me to the bubble room!" She studdered, clenching her eyes shut. The room answered the request, the floor opening up from beneath her feet, causing the gem to plunge into the abyss below.

She opened her eyes, her small tears floating up above her as she fell, when she noticed a large fluorescent tube that seemed to endlessly stretch beside her. She reached out, wrapping her arms around the tube, forcing gravity to make a halt on her fall, she dangled for a moment, bounding up and down about ten feet from the floor of the bubble room, she rotated slowly, gathering in the sight, she'd been here before. She knew it.

The gem released her grip, and landing on the floor of the room, taking in all the little pink bubbles filled with various snacks, majority being purple rolls of some sort.
Spinel instinctively stepped toward a door that opened at her presence, and then she appeared inside the living room of Steven's house. Night had fallen, and the house was silent.