Steven Universe Future: Isolation

Chapter Six: Share This Jam With Me

Connie gasped out and bolted upright. She drew in a long shuddering breath before she took in her surroundings. She was sitting on cold concrete in a dark room. Thorny vines crept along the walls; some with withered roses drooping, some dried and brown. She didn't know why, but they looked ominous. She stood, careful not to touch the plant beside her.

She slowly looked around and noticed the vines were tangled in numerous places as if they held down or encased something beneath them. She only had to turn her head to see what they held: Sadie's terrified face stared back at her. The girl tried to speak, but vines covered her mouth and pulled her back into the shadows.

Far behind Sadie, stood an immobile White Diamond. Her form was unmistakable, even with vines encasing her and pink blotches covering her gemstone as the corruption threatened to overtake her. Her gem glowed through the thick bramble that concealed it.

"What's happening?" Connie wondered out loud as she turned to look around. A strong pink glow drew her eyes upward.

Well above her, on top of an ensnared and gnarled statue, in the midst of the core of vines, was Steven. She strained her eyes and was able to see the statue he stood on was an exact replica of her friend, though thoroughly ensnared in gnarled vines, and the Steven on top of it wasn't fully there. It was like he was a ghost; transparent and illuminated.

"Where am I?" She breathed out. She looked down at her own body and gasped out. Transparent. "Am...am I...?" Her hand went to her chest and she found a steady heartbeat. "Not dead," she told herself.

She looked back at Steven and thought hard. This room. It looked exactly like what Steven described to her when the Diamonds first attacked Earth. While in it, Steven was able to connect with her with his unconscious mind.

Then she understood. Steven couldn't beat the gem warriors in the real world. So he took them into a place where he had all the power: his own head.

But she was still here. Free to move and think. She wasn't entangled like the other humans.

At least, not yet.

Connie clenched her fists and set her face. She had to get to Steven. She had to beat him in his own head. She was the only one who still could.

She took careful steps and danced around the gnarled vines. Some of them jerked, as if they sensed her, and moved toward her like snakes, but Connie was too quick. In movements that would have made Pearl proud, she vaulted herself to the base of Steven's statue.

She stared and the obstacle and jumped up. But she didn't fall back down like she thought she would. Instead, she soared up past where she intended to grab. She somersaulted backward and steadied herself carefully as she ascended.

With a strained noise, Connie willed herself to stop when she reached the source of the pink glow. Steven stood there; he looked like himself, all except his eyes. They were half-open and had dark circles under them, but it was more than that. His irises were pink and shaped like a diamond. Even his body, though untouched by visible marks of corruption, was different. His entire form was slumped like he was an empty shell of who he once was.

"Steven?" Connie called. The vines around him stirred restlessly, but the boy did not react. He didn't even blink.

Connie watched a vine creep along the ground and wind itself around Steven's leg as it joined all of the others that kept the teen ensnared. He didn't even flinch when it tightened and thorns embedded themselves into his skin. He just gave the same dead stare.

"Steven," Connie tried again, but this time, she reached out her hand to the boy. The vines didn't react as she inched closer to him. "It's me, Connie," she told him. Her voice broke as Steven still didn't react. "I'm here."