Day 2: Panic in the Clouds

My eyes creaked open and I saw dark, cloudy wasteland. My slitted eyes flew open and I looked around frantically. Where was I? How did I get there? Was I dreaming? Why was it so dark?

And then my memories came rushing back.

I sighed and flopped backwards onto my bed. Maybe, somewhere inside of me, I thought it was had been a dream yesterday, that I would wake up in my own bed, my own life. But this sea of clouds was real. We really were trapped here.

I glanced over at Steven. He was still fast asleep. I suppose that was why it was still dark in the room. He didn't ask for it to light up yet.

I grabbed my notebook I had left lying in the pink clouds below and opened it. I felt like playing some Pokemon or something. I drew a 3DS to play on. If this thing could make a shrink ray, I figured it wouldn't be a that hard to make a DS.

Just as I finished drawing the outline, I felt a small shaking from beneath me. Confused, I looked down. The rumbling kept going, stronger and stronger. Before long, it was a full-on earthquake rumbling through the room. I was shaken off my bed, onto the floor. I had trouble keeping my footing!

"AH!" Steven said. I looked over at him. He was on the floor, rubbing his head. I guess he was woken by the earthquake. He looked back and forth frantically. "What's going on!?"

"I don't know!" I said.

From the pink clouds underneath us, some giant structure bursted upwards, carrying us with it. I grabbed Stevens hand to pull him up, and the two of us ran as fast as we could across whatever was rising from the ground. A shadow drifted over us as we ran, but I didn't look back to see what it was. I heard our beds being trampled by the crushing power of the rising structure, but the sound was quickly drowned out by the rumbling of the earthquake.

The two of us ran and ran, in fear of our lives. But up ahead, I saw the structure dropping off into nothingness. The two of us skidded to a stop as the structure continuing to raise. "We have to jump!" Steven said.

There was nothing but darkness and pink clouds off the edge, the ground was completely obscured. Without any light source, I couldn't tell if the drop was 5 feet down or 50. "What if it kills us!?" I said.

"Well, we just might die if we stay here!"

Before I could worry any more, the structure shook violently. Steven was thrown into the void of clouds. All hesitation I once had shutting down, I dived after him, and our hands met in midair. I felt the wind rushing by my face, and then, nothing. We were floating in midair. Steven had activated his floating. The two of us slowly floated to the ground, around 5 feet below us. The moment we touched, the rumbling began once again. I covered my head to protect myself from any rubble that might fall off, and Steven quickly followed suit. It got louder and louder, the rumbling stronger and stronger, and then, it all stopped.

The structure stopped rising, and the room fell silent, aside from our heavy breathing. We slowly turned and stepped back to see the monolith that had risen behind us.

"You know," Steven said, "If you wanted to wake me up, you could've just splashed cold water on my face." I chuckled nervously.

The two of us continued to stare at the strange object that had broken our beds into pieces, that nearly killed us. It was too dark to see much, just the looming shape over us.

"Room? Could you, um… brighten up please?" Steven said.

The room brightened up, and I got a better look at it. The shape was… odd. It was a giant block made from some sort of shiny material, like metal or plastic. Not only that, but on the other end of it, just before it ended, there a nearly identical block, not sitting on the ground, but sticking upwards into the sky. Kind of like… a giant, awkward chair with no legs? An open clamshell? I glanced down at my notebook, which I had carried all the way through the chase. Or maybe it resembled a giant, open 3DS…

Out of curiosity, I pulled the pen out my pocket, where I had placed it during the chase, and started to draw in details of the 3DS. The circle pad, the D-pad, the buttons, labelled A, B, X, Y. As I drew, I heard the sound of plastic rubbing against plastic. I didn't look up, not yet. I made the screens, tiny bumps for the L and R buttons. All the little details, too, the charger port, the camera. Only when I was completely finished drawing did I look up. I saw the finishing touches being made to the giant 3DS right before my eyes. It was… impressive, for lack of a better word.

"H-how did you do that?" Steven said.

"I don't know," I said, maybe more shocked then him. "It couldn't even make a full-sized bed yesterday. And I didn't ask it to be giant."

We stared continued staring at the no-longer-handheld console.

Steven turned his head to look at me. "Hey, Connie? You still got that shrink ray?"

I said nothing, just nodded. I grabbed it from my pocket… Huh, where did I put it? It wasn't in my left, or my right… Then, I remembered. We put all the stuff he might've needed in a bag of holding, which I had left at my bedside. You know, the bedside that had been eaten by the rising DS. I stared at the huge wall, with our bag of holding sitting atop it.

"…Maybe you should summon one yourself."

Steven sighed. "Room? Shrink ray, please." One appeared in his hand. He fired a shot off at the DS. And… nothing happened.

The two of us sighed simultaneously. Couldn't we catch a break for once?

"Maybe mine will work?" I said.

"Why would yours possibly work when mine failed?"

"Why would yours fail in the first place?"

"I don't know. The same reason we're trapped here, I guess."

"As in, no reason at all?"

"Pretty much."

I looked at the giant DS. There was a good 15 foot climb before getting to the top of the bottom screen.

I was going to make a ladder or something, but I hesitated. What if my notebook decided to make a ladder right below us, thrusting us into the air and killing us?

As I was thinking over how best to go about this, Steven cleared his throat. "So, um… I guess I'm going to be the one to mention the elephant in the room. Why, exactly, did your notebook make the giant DS?"

I looked at him with a stare that said 'I don't have a clue, and I already told you that.'

"I don't suppose you have a better way of figuring things out besides trial and error?"

"Not really…" I sighed. "I don't suppose it would be too much to ask for an instruction manual to come with the room?"

Steven's face lit up "Hey, room? Can I have an instruction manual for how you work?"

The two of us looked to the sky eagerly. Nothing. I sighed once again. "Old fashioned way it is," I said.

I looked Steven in the eye, and he nodded. With that, I started slowly lowering the pen onto the page. Steven braced himself against the floor. To start with, I drew a hill with a tree sitting atop near the top of the page. That way, if it came out underneath us, it wouldn't be too much of an issue. The hill did appear, but off in the distance. A hill rose on the horizon, with a single tree sitting atop it. The two of us just got even more confused. What were the rules of this thing? What dictated distance, size?

"Can you… still make the littler things like you did yesterday?" Steven said.

I turned the page and drew a pencil. On the horizon, a giant pencil leaned against the hill. It was a little comic, to be honest.

Still, I scrunched my face. Why? Why was all this changing? I scrunched my face. I knew this wasn't my fault. Had someone replaced my notebook in the middle of the night or something? It didn't make sense, but it was the only thing I could think of.

I thought back to yesterday. I was able to write "shrink ray" to make my gun into a shrink ray. What if I added adjectives to the picture? I wrote "Small pencil" and put a picture of one. But, um, that didn't work. I got a small pencil, all right… a really small pencil. It was the size of a toothpick! I scowled and tried again. I wrote "Normal pencil" next to my third drawing of a pencil, and I got a normal old pencil. Finally.

"That's… something," Steven said.

"Wonder why it's suddenly acting like this," I said.

We stared at my notebook.

Steven cleared his throat. "Now that we know how my notebook works, want to get to getting rid of that thing?"

"I thought we were trying to shrink it."

"Well, that, too." I drew a ladder and wrote "Normal" right next to it. We climbed said ladder up the giant DS, onto the touch screen. The thing was off, fortunately. Who knew what would happen if it was on. With the logic this room seemed to have, we might've been sucked into it or something! Anyways, we reached the front without a hitch, and I found the bag of holding. Things were finally going well. It almost felt like it was going too well…

I grabbed the shrink ray from out of it and pointed it at the DS we were standing on.

"WAIT!" Steven said. But I had already pulled the trigger. Steven winced as the beam went into the giant DS… And nothing happened.

"…What?" I said.

Steven let out his breath. "You are so lucky… if the shrink ray had worked, maybe it would've been a good idea to fire it when we weren't on the target?"

"…Oh."

At that point, The DS shook violently. Again. We were thrown off balance, and the platform beneath us started shrinking.

I was tired, but I started to run anyways. Before I could get far, Steven grabbed the back of my shirt.

"What are you doing!? We need to run!"

"Room, I want rocket-boots on the two of our feet!" Steven said. They appeared. The two of us hovered upwards as the DS shrunk beneath us, quickly into a normal sized one.

"…Woah. Quick thinking, Steven."

We lowered to the ground slowly. Rocket boots, huh? I could have some fun with these. We lowered to the ground.

I grabbed the DS and tried powering it on. Lo and behold, it worked.

"By the way, any idea why your ray worked and mine didn't?" Steven said.

I shrugged. "Maybe we can only affect the stuff that we created? That's my best theory, anyways."

Steven shook his head. "This is melting my brain."

"Tell me about it."

I drew a wall to lean against, making sure to label it as being normal sized. I leaned against it and slid to sit down. I looked to the sky. "I just wanted to play pokemon!" I yelled.

Steven laughed at that. I was angry at first, but before long I joined him.

"You know, I'm glad I'm stuck here with you, Steven," I said. "No, wait. Not that I'm glad I'm here or anything, I'm just glad, if I'm trapped here, it's with you. No, wait! I don't want you to be trapped here. What I meant was-"

"I get what you're trying to say, Connie."

After all that, we cleaned up the mess. Steven poofed away the broken bed, I erased the hills and giant pencil off in the distance. We learned that, apperently, if you erased the image, the real world object disappeared. We had to summon an eraser that could erase pen to do so, of course, (Probably the most impressive thing the room made yet) but now I have it for the future. And after that was cleared up, well… there wasn't much to do.

We could goof off, of course, but that felt shallow. We should've spent all our time trying to escape, right? We didn't want to be here. But what more could we do? We were in a prison with no doors. We weren't given much to work with.

After 15 minutes of trying to escape with little success (Steven tried asking the room what was wrong with it, to which, of course, we got no response), we were left back at the drawing board.

I thought of how our bed was shattered. "I guess we could work on a house to live in while we're here."

Steven, previously happy, suddenly froze in place, then looked at the ground. "Could… could we wait on that?"

I was perplexed by his sudden change of mood after what I thought it was a reasonable thing to suggest. "Uh, sure. What do you suggest we do instead, then?"

"You know, we never talked about how your notebook became supercharged. Did you do anything special to it?"

"…Didn't I already say I didn't have a clue?"

"Did you write 'become more powerful' in it?"

"I'm pretty sure I would've remembered that. I might've muttered it, but I don't have the power to alter the room with my voice. I mean, it would be more likely if you said "Would you become more powerful, notebook" last night, wouldn't it? You can say something accidentally more easily than you can "

Steven tilted his head. "I don't remember saying it… Ever since I, um… accidentally replaced you with a clone, I've tried to be careful about what I say to the room."

I remembered that. I shuddered slightly at the memory.

His logic seemed sound. "If it was neither of us, then I don't know what possibly could have done this. Nothing here seems to make sense, anyways."

Steven sighed. "I guess you're right.' He was looking more down then I had ever seen hem… "I just wish we knew how this stupid area worked."

"Yeah…"

The conversation collapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

I tried to break it. "Um, I suggested maybe making a house earlier?"

"Yeah, okay," Steven said. He seemed oddly defeated, for some reason.

I thought, I had to have been imagining it. Defeated? That word didn't apply to Steven. "Um, do you want to start, or should I…?

He looked away. "You can do it." I looked at him, concerned.

"So, um… do you want it to be, like, a mansion, or just a normal house?

"You can choose, Connie."

I couldn't take it anymore. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

"No, it's obviously not nothing. Seriously, what's wrong with building a house?"

"Nothing's wrong with it."

"Then why are you so sad because of it?"

"I'm not sad."

"Yes, you are. Don't lie to me. I want to help! I can't do that unless you tell me what's wrong!"

"Nothing's wrong, okay!?"

"Then why are you so afraid of building a house!?"

"I'm not afraid!"

"Then why are you acting like this!?"

"Acting like what?"

"Why are you acting you're not the Steven Universe I know as a friend!?"

"Because-"! And he stopped.

I looked at his broken face. "Steven, I want to help you. You know that. So why-"?

He interrupted me. "Because building a house means that we're admitting we're trapped here!"

There was a moment of silence as I processed what he said. "What?" I said.

Steven hung his head. "I guess I thought… that this wasn't going to be a big thing. It never felt real to me, you know? I thought we'd be getting out of here today, maybe tomorrow. I've been abducted by homeworld gems twice, three times if you count being captured while capturing dad, and I've always escaped within a few hours. But then, even though it was scary, at least we had an idea of what was going on. We can't even figure out your notebook, here, why could I expect we'd figure out how to escape? If we build a house here, it means giving into that fact. It means telling ourselves that we're here to stay. You don't build a house on a deserted island if you think you're leaving in a week, you build a small shelter. If we build a house, it's like admitting we're here to stay." He looked at the floor and didn't say a word.

I didn't know what to say. I… I didn't expect that outburst. And what could I say? I didn't know how to calm Steven down. The last time I'd seen him this emotional was after he escaped being abducted. Still, I swallowed my pride. I would try my hardest to tell him it was== going to be fine. After all, it would be better to try and fail then not try at all.

I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. Yesterday, I accepted we were trapped here, for now at least. I guess I never realized you didn't accept it. Heck, I didn't consider it! You were going along with everything, getting supplies ready, and- Look, my point is, we aren't giving up. We're never giving up, okay? I'm sorry it seemed for a second that we were when I suggested we build a house. We're going to keep fighting. Heck, if I ever seem like I'm giving in again, please, slap me in the face."

"Connie? Just… just let me be for now."

I shook my head. "Not until I finish what I'm trying to say. Okay, you're right, we might be here for a while. We might be here for months, or even years. And yeah, I'm sad about that. My parents might bug me sometime, but I want to see them again just sa much as you want to see the gems. But I promise, on my life, we won't be trapped forever. Don't forget that."

At that point, Steven turned to me. He had several tears running down his cheeks. His breaths were choppy. "Oh yeah?" he said, desperation bleeding into this voice. "What proof is there then, huh? Tell me that. How do you know we're not trapped forever? Tell me. TELL ME!"

Every part of me wanted to stop talking. Steven should be left alone, my body said. But I needed to help him. I took another deep breath. "I don't have any proof. Of course, I don't have any proof. But I know you. I know us. And we've gotten out of worse than this. You remembered when we took the entire ocean back from Lapis? You remember when we beat Jasper, just the two of us? You remember all the times things seemed hopeless, but we pulled through? We can get out of something like this. I wasn't suggesting building a house because I was giving in. Not even a little bit. I just think we should be comfortable while we plan our escape. I'm not simply giving up, oh no. I'm waiting. Because I've seen enough prison movies to know how this works. If this room is sentient, if it is trapping us here, sooner or later, it's going to make a mistake. And that's when we strike. Maybe we're trapped for now, but there's no such thing as a perfect prison, even here. I can't speak for you, but personally, I'll get out of here if it's the last thing I do. I'm not giving up, okay? And I am speaking for you when I say you shouldn't give up either."

I waited For Steven's response. It took him 15 seconds before he spoke up. "Thatk you, Connie," Steven said. "You're right, we're not giving up. Still I need some time to think. You've already thought seriously about how we might never see the gems again. I thought about it, but I still thought we'd escape soon. I just… I want some time to think."

Suddenly, the clouds started swirling. The two of us looked around, confused. Then, I realized what Steven had said. He said he wanted some time alone. The magic words. "Steven!" I yelled, but he was drifting away, swallowed by the torrent.

"Connie!" he yelled. And he disappeared into the coulds. They swirled and swirled, and I had trouble staying on my feet. My dress fluttered violently. I crouched down to lower my surface area. I was in a tornado of pink clouds, threatening to blow me away. "STEVEN!"I yelled. I got no response except for more heavy winds. I lowered myself further. I felt my grip on the floor slipping. I felt the clouds beginning to lift me up, no matter how hard I tried. And then the winds died down. I collapsed onto the ground. And Steven was nowhere to be seen.

A/N: For the record, there is a very specific ruleset I've designed for the room (A ruleset, of course, that I'm not giving away in this author's note). Anything that happens in the story happens for a very specific purpose, in accordance to the 'rules of the room.' Well… not everything, I suppose… I mean, them eating a hamburger probably won't mean anything.

OR WILL IT!?

Nah, it won't.

Meh, I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. I guess it'll do, but I don't know, I had trouble keeping up the emotions from the last one without it feeling forced. I hope I did a good job with that.

Considering the overwhelming positive reception of the story, I think I might keep pushing the story forward. Currently, I enjoy writing this. I think I might be able to get this out twice a week if I don't get burnout.

If you like it, remember to fave and follow so you'll be notified when the next chapter comes out! Always nice to find someone who appreciates the effort I put into these stories.

And if you're feeling especially generous, please, leave a review. I love to hear people's theories about what's going on. Shows reader investment, man! I mean, there isn't much to go on just yet, but trust me, there'll be more intrigue popping up soon. And hey, it's not like there's nothing to go on, there's still theory bait here if you look for it. Like, why did Connie's notebook get a sudden power boost? And why did they get trapped in the first place? I already have the answers in mind, time to see if anyone figures them out.

For the record, I like to respond to every review posted, and there was a guest review posted onto the story. So, I shall respond here!

To guest: You proposed an interesting theory, actually. The room being something like a fallout shelter. I suppose you'll have to read on to find out if you're right!

Next time: Day 2.5, and maybe day three if I get that far (I doubt it). Connie will have to work with a very fickle notebook to find a way to find Steven again. And then, reconciliation! See you then.