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Grian was not having a good day.
Today was the day that he was going to tell Pearl. He’d been trying for ages to work up the courage to tell her, and finally a few days ago had decided that he needed to do it and picked a day.
Now that it was that day, though, Grian was terrified. He was pacing around his cave, arms wrapped around himself tightly. What if she hated him? She had the right too, at least he thought she did. He wasn’t going to back out of telling her, not now, but void it was hard.
“Screw it,” Grian muttered to himself, inhaling deeply before taking off, flying towards Pearl’s base.
The longer he waited, the harder this was going to get. He took in the beautiful view that Pearl’s base provided as he approached. She’d always been so good with organics, and the whole landscape was amazing.
Landing, he walked up to her door and raised a hand up to knock, before pausing. Void, he should’ve told her sooner, she was going to hate him. It took him a long time to finally convince himself to knock at the door, and he hoped nobody had seen him standing there awkwardly.
A few seconds after he knocked, the door swung open.
“Grian! What’s up?” Pearl asked, leaning on the doorframe.
“I- uh. Wow, your base looks really cool!” he blurted out. It was like everything he’d been prepared to say had vanished from his mind.
“Thank you,” Pearl replied, a look of concern forming on her face. “Grian, is everything okay?”
Grian shifted his weight between his feet and grasped his hands together, looking at the ground.
“I need to talk to you, tell you something,” he said quietly. “Can I come in?”
“Yeah, of course.” She stepped out of the doorway and gestured for him to enter.
Stepping into her living room, he sat on one of the many cushions scattered across the floor, crossing his legs under him and wringing his hands together in his lap. Pearl sat across from him, a few feet away.
“What’s going on, Grian?”
He gulped, squeezing his hands together tighter as they began to tremble. It felt like something was lodged in his throat. He felt like he was 5 seconds from having a panic attack, or bursting into tears, or both.
“I- fuck, it’s-” he’d said it before, to himself, so many times, but it was like the words were just out of his reach.
“If it’s upsetting you this much, I can live without knowing it,” Pearl told him gently. Giving him an out. Void, he loved her so much, but…
“No, no, I need to tell you this, you deserve to know,” Grian whispered. “I should’ve told you sooner, but I’m so worried you’re gonna hate me for this and I just- I couldn’t- and you deserve to hate me for this probably, but I couldn’t-”
“Grian!” Pearl said loudly, cutting him off. “Grian. What do you want to tell me?”
“It’s about the Watchers.”
She stiffened, a brief look of fear crossing her face before disappearing again. “Okay.”
“They- when they took me. Void, I don’t- fuck, I hate them so much.” He paused for a moment to take a few deep breaths before mumbling, “They made me one.”
“They what?” Pearl asked.
“I’m one of them, they made me one of them, I didn't- I’m sorry, I’m sorry- I didn’t want to, I promise.”
“Those fuckers!” she growled.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he said.
Immediately, Pearl’s face softened. “No, no. I’m not mad at you, I’m not. I promise,” she said.
“But I-”
“Don’t care. Grian, whatever they did to you, whatever they made you do, that’s on them, not you. I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at them.”
Grian squeezed his eyes shut, ducking his head down.
“Can I touch you?” she asked.
He nodded slowly.
Immediately, there was a gentle hand on his shoulder and his breath hitched. Her other hand settled on his cheek, gently lifting his head up.
“Grian, are you listening to me?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he managed, forcing himself to open his eyes to look at her.
“You are my brother. I love you, Grian. I don’t hate you for this, I could never hate you for this.”
Grian closed his eyes again, leaning into her hand as he felt a tear run down his face. Suddenly her hand was gone and a split second later her arms and wings were wrapped around him.
He let her pull him against her, tucking his head under her chin and pulling his wings tightly to his back. He sniffled, trying not to cry.
“How long have you been trying to tell me this?” she asked.
“Since you joined,” he replied, the words barely audible.
“Oh Gri… you’ve been worried about this for over a year?”
He nodded and, unable to hold back any longer, let out a sob.
Her arms tightened around him, and he finally wrapped his arms around her, grabbing tightly to the back of her hoodie.
“They made me like them, Pearl. I don’t want to be like them- ” he managed through his tears.
“I know you don’t, I know,” Pearl replied softly.
Underneath, though, she was pissed. Not at Grian, obviously. But not only did they ruin their lives when she was with him and their friends on EVO, not only did they tell her and the others Grian was dead, not only did they take him , but they changed him, too?
She was pretty sure players weren’t supposed to be able to kill Watchers, but she was definitely angry enough to try. The Hermits were geniuses, someone had to be able to help her win a fight against the Watchers.
Right now, though, what mattered was that her little brother was crying in her arms. That was what was important, she could fantasize about killing them all later. This was her priority.
“Grian, I’m gonna pick you up,” she warned before pulling her wings away and standing up, scooping him into her arms.
“Pearl-”
“Shhhh, I’m taking you upstairs. It’s okay.”
He nodded, turning his face into her shoulder. He still hadn’t stopped crying.
She climbed the stairs until she reached the floor with her room. Opening the door, she stepped in and momentarily set Grian on the bed. He looked distressed at this for a moment, but all she did was quickly pull off his boots before dragging him into her nest.
Pearl wrapped her wings back around him when he curled into her again, and held him tightly.
She didn’t say anything, and neither did he, not for a while, and they were both content to simply be there, Grian basking in the relief that his big sister didn’t hate him and Pearl happily fantasizing about tearing the Watchers apart, one by one, for hurting her and her friends and her brother.