Steven Universe Fic (Season 2)

pt 1 Chapter Four: Artificial

The room fell eerily silent, aside from the hysteric laughter from Peridot.

Zirconia's eyes shot open at the sudden revelation that they had said the words out loud. In front of everyone. Everyone knew how terrible they felt all the sudden, all at once.

It was like the room went dark, and the fusion stopped breathing, lightheadedly mumbling nothing words as they tried to gather themselves.

It wasn't a lie.
They answered the question, and the honesty was a curse because now all that lingering darkness came crashing into them with blinding force.
Not good enough. Not good enough for Pink, not good enough to be loved by her, by anyone, a bad, bad thing like a terribly broken toy to be left behind and tossed aside.

That's what they were and it was now shared with everyone they knew and cared about.

A false, pretentious, overused thing that everyone now knew.

Spinel was frantic, trying to escape the fusion, trying to run away and hide.
Steven was just as shocked, as if he had only just now realised the connection between the two of them.

Zirconia mumbled quietly, their eyes darting around at the ones that stared back at them, their smiles gone, now only looks of concern and worry on their faces, terrible faces that only made the shadows grow.

The fusion bolted to their feet, raising their hands in small surrender while their elastic arms tightened their grip on their waist.

"I-I need to..to-" the fusion halted, a peircing pain in their stomach, starting at Steven's gem and electrically working it's way throughout the rest of the fusion's form until it contracted every last muscle in a singular excruciating spasm. Pink Zirconia let out a breathy gasp before their vision turned a bright pink and they dropped to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Sardonyx immediately unfused, Pearl and Garnet jumping to the floor and frantically shaking the fusion.

"Steven!" Greg cried, quickly following behind.

Spinel sat in the darkness within the mind scape, jostling the equivalent of her friend's mind as she frantically tried to wake him.

"Steven! Wake up! Please, I can't unfuse, wake up!" She cried, as the subconscious world turned a dull pink hue. Two peircing eyes opening up in the sky, their shining brightness peering down on her like a spotlight.

"I've found you." The voice rumbled, causing her to freeze.
She recognized it.

But she wasn't allowed to contemplate it. Just as suddenly as the fusion lost conciousness, their eyes flicked open, the dissonance of shock between their composed halves forcing the two of them apart and Spinel sat on the floor, confused and cold with terror at the voice she heard.
Steven was held by the crystal gems and his father as they hurriedly lifted him onto the couch to rest.

Spinel stared forward, watching them comfort and keep her friend secure. The feeling of eyes on her back refused to leave her though.
It only grew more powerful. What was that?
She knew it.
It saw her.
It knew she was there.

It was something she knew was very very important, and very very dangerous.

And it was close to Steven. Something was wrong.

Spinel sat on the last couple steps of the porch, watching the sun as it set over the waves, trying to ignore Steven's plapping flip flops as he came to sit next to her.

"I'm sorry." He said softly, sitting down next to the pink gem as she silently sulked. Her mind was consumed by several different things. She was upset, very much so, at being outed by their composite personality, and she was guilt ridden, as she always was. That she had been so frantic and foolish to send him into another episode.

But behind all of that was the lingering terror that it wasn't anything to do with human things. That that..thing was the cause.

It unnerved her.

"Spinel, you gotta talk to me." Steven pressed, pulling her from her thoughts. She stared at him, bewilderment on her face, soon replaced with frustration.

"Why?" She shot, causing him to second guess his approach. Steven let out a small sigh. He didn't want to say this, he didn't want to make her tell him. But now he had to know exactly what they had meant when they answered the question.

"We need to talk about what we said." He began, losing his confidence as her face grew more frustrated.

"I know you feel bad, I feel bad too. I just don't understand how that..." he trailed off, suddenly not wanting to finish his sentence. Spinel didn't waste any time to do so for him.

"What, that the only thing keeping us together is how terrible we feel about eachother?" She remarked, secretly scolding herself with the words.
It was true, at least for her. She knew he felt guilty, that he felt terrible for her getting shattered, that it was the only reason he kept her company anymore.
She didn't like it. And she didn't like that he wasn't self aware enough to admit it himself.

"But I don't feel terrible about you, I care about you." Spinel couldn't help but laugh at his words.

"Hah, you see? There it is! Look, I know you only care about me because I got hurt." Spinel lost the bite in her words, suddenly feeling far smaller than before. "A lot."

She looked away from him, gently pressing her hand to her gem in contemplation.

"I know you only spend time with me because I was shattered...you don't have to pretend you don't feel bad about it."
Steven nodded slightly, she was right, in some sense. He had spent so much time with her, constantly worrying about her because he couldn't escape that guilt. It plagued him constantly, every time he saw her, or her gem, it creeped up in the back of his head masquerading as compassion.

"I didn't want to fuse because I don't like feeling that way." Spinel murmured softly. She finally turned her head to face him, lowering her head as she spoke.

"What we have..what we are, is not real." She admitted, causing Steven to look up and into her fuchsia eyes. "None of it is real. It's just.."

"Artificial." Steven finished her sentence as she closed her eyes, nodding as she held back the tears welling in her eyes.

"You're right." He agreed, though it hurt to say. "We can't just pretend that we are okay."

Steven hesitantly touched Spinel's gemstone, she slightly flinched, causing him to move away, looking down at his shoes.

"I do feel bad..really, really bad. About everything." His words cased her to open her eyes, watching him pick at the wooden stairs as he tried to come up with his words. "But I also care. I care a lot."