Work Text:
"It's not supposed to be cold."
Pearl fights to keep her eyes open in a dangerous corner of a cave way aways from the other Hermits. Oh this was such a bad idea, she had only enough strength to send a string of words via her communicator on the public setting.
"Help. Bleeding. Cave."
The communicator slips out of her hand before she could type in her current coordinates, and all she can do is hope that her friends would be able to track her down before she dies here. Pearl turns colder at the sentiment while tears prickle at the sides of her eyes as she thinks about what lies ahead for her.
"I don't want to die without telling her."
Pearl whispers in a plea to what ever Deity out there is listening. She tries to fight, tries to keep her eyes open. But as the pool of red beneath her slumping body grows- Her ability to keep her eyes open seeps out of her body too.
"You can't go caving on your own! This universe isn't like your home universe where the caves are small and easy to traverse! The caves in this universe have caves within the cave!"
Pearl only laughs wholeheartedly at Gem's proclamation. Its sweet she worries, but Pearl is an adventurous soul and nothing satisfies the hunger for adventure like exploring vast caves do. So she tells Gem with a smile on her face and a light in her eyes. "I'll bring you a little gift from my trip, so don't spend all your time worrying alright? Spend some of it being excited at what I'm gonna get you!"
The weight on Gem's shoulder doesn't lift, but the smile on Pearl's face is contagious, and the excitement in her eyes make her surrender. "It better be an Axolotl or else I'm never forgiving you."
"I'll be back before you know it."
A strangled chuckle leaves her lips. The familiar sound of moving bones reach her ears from somewhere in the cave.
Oh how she wishes she could apologize herself. Right now there's nothing she wouldn't give to turn back time and tell Gem how she feels instead of trying to do something grand and cute for her. A stack of glowberries, a few moss blocks, some spore blossoms, and two Axolotls in their own little buckets. She couldn't have known it would lead to this- But she is here nonetheless, and hoping for a second chance at their past conversation brings nothing but dispair.
The cold seeps in, it starts to feel like she's floating, and Pearl's eyes finally fall shut. Grian finds her just a few minutes too late