Chapter Text
The day before the flight
“Griannnnn, you’d better get your ass out of bed or we’re gonna miss our flight!” She hollered at her bed-headed younger brother.
Smiling down on him she saw that he had squished his head in between two pillows to avoid hearing Pearl’s loud voice. It was extremely childish, but she couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.
She missed being a kid again. Getting to know her little brother was everything and more that she could hope for. Despite a few bumps to get to this point she couldn’t be happier to spend time with him.
“Five more minutesss,” he mumbled, flipping onto his side.
A beautiful idea came to her head, grabbing the edge of the comforter she pulled as hard as she could to tear the warmth away from her lazy brother. Immediately grabbing hold, Grian tried to hold as long as he could before giving up and surrendering to his sister.
”Hah! You have to get up now,” she declared triumphantly. “Let’s grab our stuff and get breakfast at the airport okay? My treat.”
Reluctantly he finally got up and began to get ready to leave the house. If she hadn't known he was in his late twenties, she would’ve thought him to be a teenager with his horrendous sleep schedule.
On their way to the airport, Pearl could feel herself getting excited. She had always loved plane rides growing up because she could pretend she was flying high up in the sky. Dreaming of having wings she used to play pretend to keep herself busy during her Mom’s business flights.
She was so used to being alone, but she managed. Mom cared in her own way.
After getting through security with ease, the pair sat at the gate and ate their breakfast in peace. As their boarding group was called, they checked everything in. Grian went through with no troubles, but she was stopped because something in her bag was setting the alarm off.
Security looked through her bag and purse and found nothing suspicious so they let her on board, not before side-eyeing her. Looking behind her she saw a man who was walking closely behind her holding a briefcase tightly.
Maybe that was what set off the alarm?
She figured it wasn’t worth the trouble so she kept going to her seat. Once she sat, she observed the man find his seat cautiously. Something felt off about him. She figured she could ask him about it later.
Turning to her brother she saw him lightly sketching a design for a building he was talking about. Grian had this wonderful creativity that she wished she had. Her mother always wanted her focused on succeeding in school so she was never given the chance to explore more creative outlets.
She wanted to ask about it, but since Grian was usually shy about his art she decided to just let him work. The plane was getting ready for takeoff, and she put her headphones in to put on her favorite music.
Unfortunately the music wouldn’t last very long. About 30 minutes into the flight the power ran out on her headphones.
“Damn it, I guess I forgot to charge it ahead of time,” she grumbled, “Grian, could I borrow your charger?”
“Sorry Pearl, I’m using mine at the moment,” he replied.
Sighing, she resigned herself to a silent flight.
”Hey, sorry for eavesdropping, but I heard you need a charger?”
In the aisle sat a woman with beautiful auburn hair and a small blue vest. She had outstretched her hand and in it laid the charger she needed. For a second Pearl forgot what she had asked about in the first place.
“Ah, yup! That’s for me!” She stumbled out her words as she grabbed it, her hand lightly brushing hers. Looking at the woman, Pearl noticed a tinge of blush on her face after grabbing it.
“Thanks! I mean, I really appreciate it. I love music, I mean-” Pearl said, laughing awkwardly.
”Totally! I love a good soundtrack for a flight,” she replied, “What’s in your mix?”
”Oh you know, a bit of Clairo and lately I’ve been getting into Phoebe Bridgers. What about you?” Pearl was not the best conversationalist, but she really wanted to get to know them.
”You’ve got good taste,” the girl winked at her and went on to list other artists that Pearl had vaguely heard of. After conversing back and forth for a while she learned that the girl that she had become so enamored by was named Gem.
I can’t believe a girl as beautiful as her is flirting with me!
Grian, watching from the sidelines, snickered at Pearl’s flustered reaction. She’d never been one to pursue relationships, and this was new territory for her.
Turning to her brother she elbowed him sharply, shooting him a glare.
“Sorry about my brother here, he’s just always like this,” Pearl said, staring daggers at her ridiculous sibling.
“Don’t worry about it,” Gem smiled, “Me and my friend Impulse are like this all the time. We are not siblings, but we’re basically family.”
At the call of his name, a brown haired man turned around from a row behind them to wave.
“I’m never a menace, right Impulse?”
“Neverrrr,” he said with an exaggerated shake of his head.
Pearl glanced at the two with a smile. They seemed so similar to her and Grian. She turned her head towards her brother to find him shaking his leg in nervous anticipation.
”Hey, Grian. Is everything okay? I saw you panic there.”
He tried to dismiss it as no big deal, but she could tell he was hiding something from her. She’d seen him have these reactions to stress, and a part of her wondered if it was more than just nerves. Grian downed his drink, which she suspected wasn’t water, and soon fell asleep.
She lightly poked him to see if he was asleep and he barely moved so she assumed so. Following suit, she grabbed her jacket and laid it over herself and did her best to fall asleep.
She woke up a few hours later to hear an announcement that the plane would be changing courses due to extreme turbulence. People in the rows ahead were talking amongst each other and there seemed to be this air of worry.
Putting the announcement aside she went to use the bathroom. When she stood up to go there was a huge tremor in the plane. The seatbelt light went on and she figured she’d wait on using the bathroom.
Planting herself firmly in her seat she made sure that Grian was secured as well. By her luck it would only last a few minutes and then the rest of the flight would be fine.
Another jolt. She saw flight attendants coming down the aisle to let people know that this would be temporary and it should be over soon.
The next time the plane hit turbulence, luggage went flying. Some of the upper storage bins opened and that was when the screaming began. Alarms were blaring and she tried to wake up Grian, but failed.
Before she had the chance to try and wake him up there was a loud explosion.
“One of the engines burst!” Someone screamed.
”We’re all gonna die on this stupid plane!”
The rapid descent began. Oxygen masks came down from the ceiling and she hurriedly put on herself and then Grian.
This wasn’t supposed to happen, why now? Please let this be some horrible dream.
The plane splits and she hears Gem scream. They land in the water.
Gasping for air she frantically looked around for her sibling. Thankfully he was safely on the beach of a nearby island. She could barely hear anything through the shouts and sounds of chaos all around her. Part of the plane was sinking and she saw Gem was stuck in her seat under the water.
Swimming swiftly, she managed to break the seatbelt off and drag the orange haired girl back to the surface. When she laid her down she felt for a heartbeat and she panicked. It was really slow. She had to do something or this woman would die.
She began chest compressions with intermittent bursts of air. It didn’t seem to do anything.
No, I’m not going to lose anyone else. I can save her I swear!
She pressed harder until the woman spat seawater directly into her eyes. Wiping her eyes, her breath caught in her throat. Gem was alive and that was all that mattered.
“Am I, dead?” coughing out words, as her eyes fluttered open. The orange haired woman gently grabbed her face as if she thought Pearl was an angel.
”You’re alive, somehow,” Pearl said slowly, “If you’re able to, we need to look for other survivors.”
Still pretty out of it, Gem nodded her head in agreement. With Pearl’s support Gem managed to stand up and start looking for others.
All around her she heard cries for help. She needed to get moving put her feet were firmly planted in the sand. Why can’t I move?
She tried willing herself to move, but she couldn’t. Her whole body felt like it was made of stone. I have to save them. If I can’t, what good am I?
”You alright there?”
Breaking her out of her trance she turned around to see a dark haired man with a blue sweater. His eyes were peering carefully at her with curiosity.
“Y-Yeah, it's just- a lot,” All of a sudden, Pearl’s legs felt lighter again. She could move. Observing the man more closely, she noticed that he was seemingly uninjured.
”I’m sorry, I don’t think I introduced myself,” he said with a strange chuckle, “I’m BigB.”
”I’m Pearl,” she said cautiously, “How can you be so calm? I’m barely holding it together and I-“
”I’m a therapist, or at least I was,” he replied.
Pearl wanted to interrogate him further, but she figured she’d have to wait for another time. Someone was calling for help and they didn’t sound far away. Scanning the beach she saw a blonde-haired woman who was stuck underneath one of the plane wings.
Gesturing to BigB and Gem, they gathered their strength to try and lift the plane. Luckily for them, a few others joined and they managed to drag the woman out from under the plane.
Examining her body, the wounds looked bad. Even after applying pressure to it, the blood refused to stop. If Pearl didn’t do something now, the woman would die from the amount of blood she had lost.
Muttering to herself she soon realized that she would need to cut off the injury. It had clearly gotten infected and if she let it spread, that would result in a rather slow and painful death.
“Listen to me, your leg is… not looking too good at the moment,” Pearl said with a shaky voice, “I need you to bite on this, while I- help you. It’s going to hurt a lot, but I’m here okay?”
The woman was barely conscious at this point, but she nodded. Rummaging through her pockets she pulled out her multitool. It wasn’t much, but it was the best option she had.
It was painstakingly slow, but all she could do was try. Her screams echoed in her ears and all she could do was continue with as much rigor as possible so she could quickly stop the blood flow.
After what felt like ages she finally was able to stop the bleeding and patch her up. She was unconscious, but alive.
The moment she stood up, she collapsed onto the sand. She hadn’t realized how exhausted she was. Turning to the other survivors she instructed them to set up a tent with whatever fabric or clothing they could find. With her remaining strength, she all but dragged the injured woman up to where a few people had been bringing suitcases.
She quickly learned the names of the other survivors and met Skizz and Tango. The two were headed to London for an adventure with their friend Impulse. Impulse was on the other half of the plane, and yet they were sure that he had survived. Not wanting to be a downer, Pearl figured she’d let them hope.
After getting a bit of a break, it was quickly realized that she was the only doctor. Her rest would not last long as people began coming to her with various injuries from the crash. She didn’t have any medicine or antibiotics on her so the best she could do was patch them up with whatever was in her first aid kit.
It soon became night and some folks had decided to start a fire. Gathering around people were eyeing each other with distrust. Although her body wanted sleep, Pearl was too anxious to take her eyes away from the jungle near the beach.
The trees were so densely packed and she had a bad feeling about what lied deep in the woods. Trying to take her mind of it she began to hum a tune. Sadly, that tune would be interrupted with a rustle from the trees.
It started out quiet, but it soon grew louder and louder. Pearl swore she could hear growling. More people had woken up and were clutching each other in fear. Then, it stopped. It was almost eerily still. No one spoke for a minute.
Breaking the silence she spoke to the group, ”Okay everyone, it looks like whatever made that noise has gone away. Let’s all get some sleep tonight before the rescue comes tomorrow.” She tried to sound confident, but she was just as scared as they were. This was a dangerous place, and they needed to get out of here.
She felt hypocritical for telling people to sleep, since she wasn’t planning to, but it was for the betterment of the group. Checking in on her brother she observed that he was planning to do the same as her.
A part of her wanted to scold him, but she was too tired. Rubbing her eyes she focused back at the fire in front of her. Much to her surprise she found that several people had chosen to ignore her advice and stay up.
The peculiar man from earlier was sitting near her, with his head leaning against a log. Even after the sounds of the jungle, he still seemed unfazed. He began humming the song that she had sung earlier.
“How do you know that song?” She asked.
”I think I’ve heard it on the radio before,” he replied, “Why do you ask?”
”My mother used to sing that to me to calm me down,” she hesitantly admitted.
“Were you close?”
“Not really, she was kind of the worst,” she replied. Not wanting to go into further detail she tried to redirect the conversation.
”Earlier, you said that you were a therapist. May I ask what happened?” She was almost nervous to know, but she felt like this man was trustworthy. It felt like they had met before.
”It’s not very exciting,” he laughed lightly, “People weren’t too fond of my methods, lets just say.”
She didn’t want to overstep, but her curiosity got the best of her. “What were your methods?”
”I believe that everything in this world happens for a reason,” he said firmly, “We all have some role to play in the grand scheme of things. Some of us are meant to be fighters, while others are meant to be poets. I am not worried about the crash, nor the rescue. I can feel that we are on this island for a reason.”
“I guess I can see why now,” she replied, even more intrigued by the man than before.
They continued to talk through the night, and it became daylight once again. She disagreed with some of what he said, but there was some truth to many of the things he described.
She ate a small breakfast consisting of a granola bar and checked up on the woman from earlier. From the other survivors she learned that her name was False and she was a Marshall. She couldn’t get much else from people and False was still knocked out.
“EVERYONE! Please gather around the fuselage, me and Skizz need some help,” the voice shouted, ”I hope everyone slept okay last night because we have a tough day ahead of us. In case you didn’t already know, I’m Tango, and this is Skizz. I used to fly planes back when I was in the navy and I know that this plane has got to have a black box that will help send rescue to us. If we can find it and power it up, hopefully rescue can come sooner and we can all get back home before the night falls,” he said.
After the loud announcement, Skizz asked for volunteers to find the black box. Grian volunteered and she felt her pulse rise. She didn’t want him going out there. They had just found each other and she couldn’t bear to lose her only brother.
She wanted so badly to tell him not to, but he was his own person and she had to let him do this or else he would resent her. She zoned out of the conversation and was quickly brought back into it when she heard her name.
“Tango, can you and Pearl make sure all the injured are taken care of?” Skizz said.
”I’m on it,” Tango replied.
Pearl looked to BigB and they walked over to the tent. To her delight, some people had gathered some medicine from the suitcases and made a neat pile next to the tent. It was quite the variety of medication, but it was better than nothing at all.
“I know you aren’t a medical professional, but do you mind helping me find people who need their bandages changed? I don’t think I can do this all by myself.” she asked.
”I noticed a few people from earlier and I’ll bring them over,” he nodded and walked off to the others.
Bringing her gaze back to False she noticed that she wasn’t looking much better. Her face was extremely pale and her bandages were starting to get soaked through with blood.
She did her best to change them but it wasn’t looking good. Rummaging through the pile of medications she fortunately found a few painkillers, but they wouldn’t last for long. She needed something much stronger to get this woman back on her feet.
“W-Wait-“ False gasped and spoke softly.
”How is the pain, is there anything I can do for you?” Pearl felt herself getting into panic mode.
“I- know I’m not l-long for this world,” she murmured, “please just listen to me.”
“I’m sorry, I’m listening,” Pearl wanted to cry.
”Don’t trust h-him,” she stumbled the words out, but the meaning was clear.
“Don’t trust-“ her voice cracked and she began violently coughing.
”Hey, it’s okay. Take your time and rest up,” Pearl replied, “You are not going to die, I promise.”
Pearl wanted this promise to be true with every part of her being, but with the supply the outcome was looking less and less likely. Looking into False’s eyes she could sense the lie from miles away.
“S-Scar-“ her voice sounded even weaker. She pulled out a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and showed it to her. The image depicted a mugshot of a man with dark brown hair and a bold scar cutting across his face.
Her heart dropped. They were stranded on an island with a criminal. The face looked mildly familiar, but she didn’t remember seeing him last night.
”What did he do?” Pearl asked, fear written all over her face.
With her gaze returned to the injured woman she noticed that she had stopped breathing. I can’t lose another one. What good are you-
Tears began streaming down her face as she tried to bring her back. Nothing was happening. Her chest wasn’t moving. There was nothing she could do. She kept pressing and pressing. It can’t end like this.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking behind her she saw Gem standing behind her.
“It okay, there was nothing you could’ve done differently,” Gem said with a soothing voice.
At the sound of a calm voice she buried her face into Gem’s shoulder. Neither of them said anything. Pearl let herself be held by Gem and just sob.
Staring at the body before her all she could do was watch. He was so young and she couldn’t save him. They took him away shortly after the failed surgery and she was left to bear the news to his parents.
He was only 19 years old. Barely an adult. And yet it was her fault that he was dead. This kid was dead and she was all alone in the room. A single tear fell down and before she could get her emotions under control she began to sob.
A nurse entered the room to find her, and simply left her to be. Pearl knew she had to get herself together. Wiping her tears and gathering herself she went to the family room.
Inside were two concerned women looking at her. A kid no older than 12 was looking to his parents with fear. Looking them in the eyes she told them.
She offered her condolences and left the room so that the family could have some privacy. As she turned around she felt her eyes well up.
“I’m going home for the night,” she told her staff.
Grabbing her keys, she walked slowly back to her car. When she arrived at her apartment she was all alone. Her roommate must’ve gone out for the night so she was by herself.
Pearl eventually stopped crying and she looked at Gem and embraced her once again.
“Thank you,” she whispered, “I’m sorry you had to see me like this.”
“What do you mean ‘like this’?” It’s okay for you to mourn the loss of a life,” Gem softly smiled at Pearl, “I know how much it hurts right now, but I want you to know that it’s not your fault. I don’t care about what anyone else says, you are a genuinely kind and caring person and you did the best that you could, okay?”
Gem gently wiped the tears from Pearl’s face. Pearl leaned into the touch and let her head rest on Gem’s shoulder.
“If someone ever says otherwise, I’ll beat them up!” She exclaimed.
Pearl smiled at the gesture.
After washing her face she turned back to False and began to clean up. Shortly after she heard the familiar footsteps of her brother.
”Pearl, I have something to tell you!” He must’ve ran because his voice seemed really out of it.
”What is it?” She asked, her voice tightening from the stress of another incident.
“It’s- nothing. Just be careful who you trust. I have this uneasy feeling like there are people here we have to be wary of.”
She laughed at this comment and went back to work. Maybe this was also about Scar? Not wanting to worry her brother further she dismissed the thought. The group didn’t need any more stress than they already had. This information would stay with her.
Telling her to be careful, Grian wandered off to talk to someone else. In the distance she heard shouting. She sighed.
What is it this time?