Chapter Text
You’re surrounded by water. You’re trapped.
You can hear the sound of it rushing through a pipe, spilling into the space of the walls trapping you. It’s filling in your prison, rapidly rising. You slam your hands against the glass acting as your barrier, calling out for help.
But no one hears you.
You look around the space you’re confined to, seeing nothing but glass walls and empty space outside of them. It’s dark, there is no light to be found. You yell as loud as you can, as loud as your lungs will allow. The water is rising rapidly, and you’re panicking each second you watch it rise. You scream for help again.
“It’s no use, little bird!” a voice sings, and you find yourself face to face with a cruel smile and glowing green eyes. He stands on the other side of the glass, a spotlight illuminating him. His smile curls his lips, his eyes shine with delight. He looks so pleased with himself.
It makes you sick.
“No one can hear you in there. Your cries for help are, quite literally, falling on deaf eyes!” the ringmaster laughs. Faceless wooden dolls held on string drop behind him, and they dance as their strings are pulled. Blank wood stares at you, and they watch you struggle.
“No, no, no, no, no, no!” you yell in desperation, beating your fists into the glass. The water is rising higher. It’s climbing up your thighs, reaching your stomach and then your chest. Your screams become more desperate.
You try to look for any sort of exit, any way of escape. But there is no drain. There isn’t even a ceiling. Just you in an abyss of water. You’re sinking under. You’re falling, falling, falling.
And you don’t stop. You reach your hand out for something, anything, or even anyone for help. It’s a fruitless attempt as you’re holding your hand out to an empty ceiling. But you’re desperate for help.
You don’t want to die.
“Mumbo!” you shout, some kind of hopeless plea. You can’t get out of this. You don’t want to die. “Mumbo please!” You don’t want to die.
But the vampire is nowhere to be found.
The realization hits you in the chest, and suddenly you’re not in a tank anymore. You’re in the ocean, and you’re falling under. It’s endless, bottomless. You have nothing to save you here. A choked scream leaves you right as your head goes under water.
You choke on water. You flail. You’re falling.
The ringmaster laughs as he watches you sink deeper and deeper, until you’re fully submerged. You claw at your throat as water fills your lungs, choking you. You can’t hold on for long, you can’t breathe.
Panic seizes you in a vice grip, and your desperate tears mix with the water surrounding you as you fall. You don’t want to die, please! Your eyes well up with tears as water fills you, nostrils, mouth, lungs. You can’t escape it. Black spots dot your vision and your tears mix with the saltwater.
His laughter rings in your ears as you—
“Grian! Wake up!”
Grian wakes with a harsh gasp. His eyes pop open, and he jumps upright, forcing himself into a sitting position. His body is shaking, trembling. He takes a few exaggerated breaths for air, loud and deep. He can’t— he needs— he needs the air. His breathing is irregular and messy, and his ears feel like they’re ringing.
“Gri…?”
Amidst his panicked breathing, he tries to get his vision to focus through his tears.
Through blurred and bleary eyes, Grian finds Pearl standing in front of him, her gaze soft as she looks at him. She’s dressed in her pajamas, her hair nothing but knots. She stands by him, quiet as she gives him time to respond.
He takes a moment to place everything, heart beating rapidly in his chest. Placing his surroundings might stop the burning feeling in his chest, it might ease his labored breathing. His eyes survey the space around him. He finds himself in his bedroom, the curtains are drawn shut, but there’s still some light that pokes through toward the bottom. The bedroom door is open, Maui is nestled in his blankets.
Grian is in bed, not in the circus, his panicked and foggy mind supplies as he slowly becomes more awake. He’s dressed in his night clothes; a t-shirt and shorts, not one of the outfits Scar dressed him up in.
He blinks a few times, confused as to why Pearl’s in his room.
Her face melts in concern as she looks at him, blue eyes soft but full of worry. “I came in because I heard you screaming,” she says, and Grian sleepily realizes that he spoke aloud. “That sounded like a pretty bad nightmare, Gri.”
Grian takes a breath, trying to relax his shaking body. He’s safe, he’s fine. It was just a nightmare.
Dropping his head into his hand, Grian tries to ignore the lingering sensations from the nightmare, the way he was being pulled deeper and deeper underwater, the way he couldn’t breathe. He tries to ignore the phantom feelings of water lapping at his skin, surrounding him and filling his lungs.
Grian shudders.
He feels the bed dip as Pearl sits down in front of him, her eyebrows creased in worry. “Hey… are you doing okay?” she asks, concerned. She doesn’t reach out to touch him, not until she knows he won’t shrink away in panic.
“It was just a nightmare,” Grian replies, not wanting Pearl to worry about this. She can’t worry about this. Not when Grian can’t tell her the truth. Not when he’s trying to protect her from the very things that caused this nightmare. Friend now or not. He picks his head up to look at her, offering a smile. It’s wobbly at best. “I’ll be right as rain once I shake it off.”
Pearl’s lips tug low on a frown as she looks at him, offering him a skeptical stare. “That didn’t answer my question, Grian,” she says, looking at him sternly. Despite the stern look she gives him, he can see the worry.
It makes his stomach twist into knots.
“I’m…” He’s doing fine, isn’t he? He’s living life as normal, he has his memories of Mumbo. Scar doesn’t want to kill him, in fact he’s working with them now. He should be fine. He is fine, right? Nightmares aside, everything else is good. Normal. Fine. Grian meets Pearl’s eyes, and tries to ignore how heavy his words feel on his tongue, “I’m alright, Pearl. Promise.”
Yet Pearl still doesn’t look like she believes him. “You’ve been acting so weird lately, and weirder than normal! You’re all jumpy and you haven’t been sleeping. Don’t think I’ve missed those eyebags mister!” Pearl points an accusatory finger at him before Grian can argue with her. “You’re hiding something.”
“Pearl…” he trails off, biting his lip.
He watches as her shoulders sag in defeat, a somber look crossing her face, “I’m just… worried about you. I don’t know what’s going on with you and then I hear you screaming in your sleep, and I get scared. You sound so terrified, Gri. I just wish you’d tell me what’s going on.”
Not for the first time, Grian wishes he could tell her what’s been happening. He wishes he could peel back the curtain on all of this and let her in. But then he remembers that there’s someone who wanted him dead, and his role with the Council, and the loose murderer in town, that he seals his lips back up. He can’t let Pearl get involved in any of that. He refuses to put her in harm's way.
Slowly, Grian reaches out to grab her hand, gently squeezing it. “Just a couple of really bad nightmares, it’s alright.” He hates lying to her like this. “I’ve probably been watching too many scary movies again.” He really hopes she never finds out. “You don’t have to worry so much. It’s a weird look on you,” he jokes with her as he cracks a teasing grin. I’m sorry Pearl.
“Oh come off it,” Pearl lightly laughs as she shoves Grian.
Not expecting her to shove him, Grian topples over with a short yell, causing Pearl to snort with laughter.
She knows her brother is hiding something, that there’s something going on. She knows that there’s something he doesn’t want to tell her. Or maybe he can’t. He can deflect all he wants, but Pearl knows better. She’s worried, and a bit scared. She just wants to help him, but she can’t help if Grian doesn’t open up and let her in.
Well, maybe it’s better to say that Pearl can’t help him directly. But she can find other ways, smaller ways to help Grian. To remind him that she’s here for him.
Pushing herself up from Grian’s bed, Pearl looks over at her brother, who’s still laying on his side. She sets a hand on her hip, raising a brow as she looks him over, “You gonna lay there all morning?”
“I think I will, actually,” Grian hums. “Bed’s quite comfy. Lots of cushion.”
“I think you mean the mattress, goofball.” Pearl shakes her head before turning to the doorway. “But suit yourself! I’m taking the last blueberry muffin!” As soon as the words leave her mouth, she doesn’t stick around to see Grian push himself up from bed. She makes a mad dash for the kitchen.
“Pearl!”
She does hear him fall on the floor though. Poor guy probably got his foot tangled in his blanket. Again.
It’s after Grian leaves for work that Pearl heads out into town, intent on doing some shopping. She has a simple plan, nothing too grand or complex. If she knew what problem Grian was struggling with, then maybe she could’ve come up with something a little more detailed and intricate. But she doesn’t have those extra bits of information, so she has to make do with what she’s got.
Everything that Pearl knows is this: Grian is having nightmares, some pretty rough ones by the sound of it. He’s been staying up late (though it’s hard to tell if that’s because of what he’s dealing with. Pearl has always known her brother to stay up late into the night, getting lost in his work), and has days where he disappears for hours at a time.
The only thing Pearl doesn’t know is why. And she wants to, because she’s worried.
When Grian first began acting weirdly, she had told him she wouldn’t push him to tell her anything. That he didn’t have to. But honestly she had mostly said that in hopes that he’d tell her shortly after, even if it was a few days later. It’s how Grian operates. He runs into a problem, he sits on it for a period of time, processes it, and eventually goes to Pearl to talk about it.
But then there was Grian’s sudden interest in vampires and the incident with Taurtis (something that pains her to think about. She’s wondered if she holds any blame for what happened to him. It was her idea for Taurtis to come visit, after all. She doesn’t see how Grian could possibly blame himself for what happened. Not when Pearl was the one who invited Taurtis). Ever since then, Grian has only grown more recluse. He’s hardly opened up to her at all.
And now with these nightmares…
Pearl has plenty of reason to be concerned for her brother. Which is where her plan comes into play.
Her feet lead her right to the front of Swaggon Dealings, accompanied by a determined gleam in her eyes. She’s done a bit of research on what she needs to find, and no place better to look than this shop. The idea is pretty simple, honestly. She’s looking for something to help Grian sleep, maybe improve the quality of his sleep. Pearl had read somewhere once that there’s crystals that can help with sleep. And if she can find one that relieves stress, that’d be good too.
Nodding to herself, Pearl pushes open the door and steps inside.
The shop looks rather empty, besides one or two other customers inside. One of them stands by a shelf of tarot cards, scanning the different packs on display. The other one is right by a shelf lined with rows of bottles, all different shapes and sizes.
Pearl takes a look around the place, noticing that it looks slightly different from last time. There’s a new maroon rug right by the door, and lanterns now hang from the ceiling with little candles in them. She glances over at all of the shelves in place, and her eyes sparkle as they land on the crystals.
She heads right over to them and begins looking. She’s met with multiple colors and diverse shapes and sizes. Every crystal available is set on a cushion, keeping it safe from the wooden shelf under it. Pearl scrunches her nose as she looks at each crystal. She doesn’t recognize much of them outside of the obsidian and redstone.
She purses her lips, crossing her arms over her chest as she thinks.
“Everything okay miss?”
Pearl squeaks in surprise at the sound of a voice beside her, turning her head to the side. She’s met with green eyes and soft looking brown hair. The man smiles kindly at her, “Sorry! Didn’t mean to startle you.”
There’s something that sits uncomfortably under her skin at his presence, and Pearl isn’t sure if it’s because of him or his startle that has her heart rate ticking up. “I-It’s alright mate,” she says, taking a deep breath. She’s overreacting, c’mon Pearl. She offers him a smile, “You definitely gave me a startle.”
“My sincerest apologies!” he chuckles. “I just saw you staring so intently at these here crystals I couldn’t help but grow a little curious. Do you need any help? I happen to be a bit of a crystal expert.” He winks.
“Oh!” Pearl exclaims, perking up. “Well you’ve come at the perfect time, uh—”
“Scar,” he introduces, a smile gracing his lips once more as he offers her a little bow. “My grandfather owns this place so I like to help him out. Now!” He claps his hands together, rubbing at his palms as he turns his focus to the shelves of crystals. “What can I help you with…” he trails off, sideying her.
“Pearl,” she supplies. “And I’m looking for a crystal that can help my brother. He’s been having trouble with nightmares.”
“Oh dear, how horrible.” Scar frowns. “We should have something to help with that, don’t you worry!” He leans down to look through each crystal on the shelves, moving to drag his fingers over the tops.
Pearl finds herself leaning down alongside him, getting her hair on the shelves. She grimaces at how dusty they are, something that Scar sees, for he laughs. “Sorry about that. Haven’t dusted in a while.” He then hums softly, green eyes surveying the selection of crystals before them. “Let’s see here… something to help with nightmares… hmmm.” His brows furrow in thought before his green eyes light up. “Here we are!” Scar reaches for one of the crystals, colored purple and shining. “Amethyst!”
Scar sets the crystal in her hand. It isn’t any bigger than Pearl’s palm, polished and smooth against her skin. “Amethyst?” she parrots, looking up at Scar.
“It helps soothe and will resonate with dreams. I’m sure this’ll help your brother feel calm right before bed,” Scar explains. “What was his name? If you don’t mind me asking.”
There’s nothing wrong with Scar’s question in retrospect. But there’s something about it that Pearl can’t quite put her finger on. There’s something in the back of her mind that whispers for her to lie. Maybe it’s the offputting feeling that Scar stirs within her. Maybe it’s the way his smile doesn’t quite sit right on his face.
But surely Pearl is just making assumptions. She’s reading too much into things, Scar hasn’t given her any real reason to be wary of him. She’s just… on edge because of everything that’s been happening lately. Assuming the worst won’t do her any good. Besides, Scar seems like a genuinely nice guy.
“Grian,” she answers, glancing at Scar before looking down at the crystal with a pleased hum. “I hope this helps him,” she mumbles, mostly to herself.
Pearl misses the way Scar’s green eyes light up with interest as he hums, “Well this crystal will be just the thing Grian needs for those pesky nightmares!”
“Hopefully.” She runs her finger along the smooth edge of the crystal. “Thanks a bunch for this, it was—” Her voice cuts off as she feels something on her head, and she looks up at Scar.
“Sorry, sorry!” he exclaims, pulling his hand away. He opens his hand for her to see, “There was just this bit of dust in your hair and it was really bugging me.” There’s a piece of dust sitting innocently on his palm, making Pearl cringe.
“Oh that would’ve been a pain to find later.” She frowns. “Though I would recommend doing that with a warning next time,” she warns him, drawing a weak laugh from Scar.
“I’ve been told I have a habit of acting without thinking sometimes. It gets me into quite the bit of trouble,” Scar laughs in return. “Anyways, if that’s everything you need, shall we ring you up?” He motions toward the register, and Pearl nods.
“That’d be great!”
Admittedly, when Pearl hands Grian the crystal, he doesn’t put much faith in the crystals usefulness. He knows it’s from Scar’s shop, and though he knows Scar possesses magic, he also seems like the type to scam people out of their money. But he does appreciate Pearl’s attempt to help, even if it makes his heart burn with guilt. So for what it’s worth, he does give the amethyst a solid try.
He places the amethyst crystal on his bedside table, shuts his eyes, and doesn’t open them again until morning light is shining in through his window. To his surprise, he doesn’t wake up once throughout the night from nightmares, something that’s been a somewhat rare occurrence as of late. The nightmares of the circus are a bit more frequent than he’d like, but they aren’t every night. One night isn’t going to make him think it was the crystal, but he deems it worth continuing to try.
There’s a bang from the kitchen that has him getting up out of bed and heading to investigate it. What he finds is a sleepy Pearl rubbing the back of her head, a wince on her features. In her free hand is the coffee pot.
Grian moves to lean against the wall, crossing his arms as he looks at her, “Rough morning?”
“Huh?” Pearl turns to look at him with confused eyes as she lets her arm drop. He nods to the coffee pot in her hands, sending a silent message. “Oh! Yeah, hit my head trying to get the pot,” she explains with a little grumble. Grian snorts.
Walking into the kitchen, he joins Pearl as they begin making breakfast. Pearl gets her coffee going, while Grian reaches for the kettle and sets it on the stove. The two of them sit in silence as the chirping birds outside sing a peaceful tune for them to listen along to. Unfortunately for Grian, he doesn’t pay much attention to the birds’ song, as the sound is interrupted occasionally by a yawn from Pearl.
He watches her yawn right into her coffee as he pops a few waffles into the toaster. “Are you alright? You seem really tired,” he inquires, watching Pearl carefully.
“I’ll be fine after I get this cup of coffee down my gullet,” she answers, bringing the mug up to her lips and taking a sip. “I kept waking up throughout the night for some reason, it was really weird.” Her face scrunches up as she thinks about it. “But anyways, enough about me!” Pearl then moves over to the fridge to pull out a container of butter and a butter knife from the drawer. She glances over to Grian, “How’d that crystal work out for you?”
He wears a thoughtful frown at Pearl’s tiredness, humming quietly to himself. The waffles pop up from the toaster, and Grian moves to set them on a plate, “I don’t know if it was thanks to the crystal or not, but I didn’t have any nightmares. Slept rather soundly.”
“And you doubted me,” Pearl teases him, sticking her tongue out playfully.
Grian huffs, “It could’ve just been a good night.” He’s not willing to give Scar that much credit just yet.
“I’ll be proven correct, just you wait, G!” Pearl retorts before she sticks her plate out toward him. “Now give me a waffle.”
He lets out a little laugh in return, and sets a waffle on her plate.
You’ve always loved space. The expansive sky dotted with stars that create shapes in the darkness. Planets and their moons, the sun. You’ve had a fascination with it for as long as you can remember.
When you open your eyes, there is no ground under your feet. You stand in complete darkness, but there are little spots of light speckled throughout; stars, you realize. Little by little, more becomes clear to you. You begin to see little planets enter your vision.
You stand in space.
A small gasp of awe leaves you as you spin around to take it all in. You look at the stars closest to you and reach for one. It floats toward you, allowing you to cup your hands around it and bring it close to your face. The star is warm in your palms, the feeling comforting.
It floats away from you, returning to its place in the sky. A smile finds its way on to your face, and you look down at your feet, watching the way you stand right over the darkness of space. There’s nothing below your feet. Hesitating slightly, you slowly lift your foot.
You take a shaky step. There is something solid beneath you. A smile stretches across your face and your next step is much more confident.
The planets are your company as you walk. You see Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, along with their moons. You’re not sure how long you walk, far too engrossed in the stars and planets. There’s no way to keep track of time here, not that you mind. It could be hours you spend walking, maybe even days or weeks.
Your mind wanders as you walk, stars floating around you. Their light is comforting.
But it doesn’t last long.
“What?” you ask, watching the lights from the stars begin to flicker out. You look around quickly, seeing all of the stars and planets begin to darken. In rapid succession, all of the light goes out. The stars die. The planets become gray.
The ground beneath your feet disappears. You sink.
You fall.
A scream tears itself from your throat as you instinctively reach out to grab onto something. But there is nothing for you to hold onto, your hand finds empty air.
There’s nothing to catch you. Your heart is in your throat, tears forming in your eyes. Your hair whips your face.
You don’t stop falling.
You see the planets falling with you. It scares you. There’s a rumbling in the sky, and you look above. The moon is falling right over you.
Panic seizes you as your eyes widen. There’s nothing you can do to get out from under it.
Your back hits something. The moon is—
Pearl wakes up with a cry on her lips.
Sitting up in bed, her hair sticks to her skin from slight sweat, her breathing harsh as her heart pounds against her chest.
She’s not greeted by vast darkness or twinkling stars. It’s simply her room. It’s night still, and Pearl looks over at her clock for the time. 3:00am. She grimaces.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, the nerves from her nightmare slowly relax. With each breath she takes, she finds herself calming more and more. “Just a bad dream,” she murmurs to herself, brushing her hair out of her face. The image of the moon dropping above her is frozen in her mind. Pearl takes another breath.
A yawn follows that, and Pearl stretches her arms above her head. She lays back down, curling up under her blanket.
It was just one bad dream. Albeit a weird one, but it was just one bad dream. Her sleep has been weird lately, most likely a byproduct of her concern for Grian.
As Pearl drifts back to sleep, she doesn’t think much of it.
Her sleep only continues to worsen and grow much weirder.
Nightmares begin to grow more and more frequent as the days pass on, causing Pearl to lose out on even more sleep. It starts gradually, from simple nightmares every now and then like the one of her falling in space, to ones that quickly increase in intensity.
Before Pearl knows it, a week has gone by and her nightmares have been getting worse and worse.
As of late, she’s lucky if she gets a decent three hours of sleep overall. Her sleep is constantly interrupted by nightmares. It’s left her with this anxious feeling in her stomach every night before going to bed. The only positive to that is she’s been able to keep herself awake with the aid of coffee.
She hasn’t said anything to Grian, or anyone for that matter. They have to pass eventually, and Pearl is willing to wait it out, no matter how tired she feels. Plus, she doesn’t want to add to Grian’s worry. He’s already got a lot on his plate, she’d hate to add to that. Besides, a little nightmare is something she can easily handle on her own. It’s not like it’s going to kill her.
Which leads her to her current predicament.
She’s stuck at work, yawning her head off as she wipes down the top of the bar counter. There’s a few patrons sitting on the stools with their glasses in hand, alcohol swirling inside. She doesn’t bother wiping down the area near them, seeing as it’ll probably get dirty as soon as she cleans it. So Pearl sticks to her little space at the counter and where there aren’t people sitting.
Yet as she moves she finds herself yawning and her eyelids feel heavy. The action makes her frown, and she puts the towel down to gently pat her face, “Wake up, Pearl!” she chants to herself. The music inside the bar certainly helps to keep her awake, but she could seriously do without the heavy amounts of exhaustion settling over her body all the time.
Letting her arms drop, she groans weakly and sighs before grabbing her towel again and continuing to clean. She steps to a new spot on the counter, only to bump right into someone as she does so. Pearl yelps in surprise before quickly stepping back to see who she walked into.
“Everything okay?” Impulse questions, brown eyes looking at her with worry. “I’ve been standing here for a few minutes now, but you looked pretty out of it.”
“Oh, Impulse,” Pearl sighs softly, her hand coming to rest on the bar counter. “Didn’t see you there.”
“I noticed,” Impulse chuckles goodnaturedly as he steps over to her. “You’re not overworking yourself, are you? I’ve watched you yawn at least five times within the last ten minutes.”
Pearl has always liked the fact that Impulse is a rather caring and understanding boss. She’s had some bosses that were total jerks before, so Impulse’s kind demeanor is a welcome change. She’s teased him before about how much he acts like a dad, but she appreciates it. Which is what has her shoulders dropping, “I haven’t been sleeping all that well lately, but I’m alright!” Pearl offers him a smile.
Impulse doesn’t quite return her smile, seeming to frown in concern instead. “If you want to head home and get some sleep you’re more than welcome to, Pearl. We can hold down the fort for a night.”
Honestly, the idea of heading home and catching up on sleep doesn’t sound all that terrible. Maybe she can throw the television on and use it for background noise to help with the bad dreams. She’ll just have to be careful about putting the redstone remote down on the table before passing out this time. Grian’s abilities with redstone are… lacking. And she’d hate to bother Impulse with fixing it again.
“You don’t mind?” she asks, and Impulse nods with a small smile.
“‘Course not! Go on and clock out early. I’ll still give you full pay.” He winks, making Pearl laugh.
“You do that and those rumors of you playing favorites are gonna start coming back,” she teases, setting her towel and stepping out from the bar.
“I have no idea what you mean.” Impulse shrugs innocently, and Pearl gives him a playfully disbelieving look.
“Thanks Impulse!”
She grabs her things before leaving, her only destination being her and Grian’s apartment.
The cold air helps to keep her awake as she walks back, but the moment Pearl arrives and shuts the door behind her, she finds herself sagging in exhaustion. She drops her bag on the table before kicking her shoes off and dropping onto the couch. She doesn’t even get to turn the television on before she knocks out, her exhaustion winning.
Her sleep isn’t very restful for long. She doesn’t dream, not as of recently. The first thing to greet her in her slumber is a nightmare. A night terror. It’s an intense one, one that has her nearly rolling off the couch and falling to the floor as she wakes from it. Her eyes are filled with tears, sudden adrenaline pumping through her veins alongside her blood.
Pearl pushes herself up, sitting with her head falling into her hands. She squeezes her eyes shut, taking a few shuddering breaths. They’re deep, meant to be calming. It takes a while for her racing heart to slow, as the images from her night terror play in her mind.
She opens her eyes and stares at the dark screen in front of her before taking another breath. Maybe a glass of water will help.
In the darkness of the apartment, she makes her way to the kitchen. Opening the cabinet she grabs a cup and turns the faucet of the sink on, filling the cup with water. Pearl fills it to about halfway before stopping the water and pulling it away. She moves to lean against the counter, taking a few slow sips.
These nightmares are really starting to get to her. And they’re bad, getting worse and worse each night . There’s no clear cause to her sudden nightmares, there hasn’t been. If there was, maybe she could’ve figured it out and had this all handled by now.
Pearl knows full well that she can’t keep going like this, not when she’s waking up every night with a scream trapped in her throat. She needs to find a way to deal with this, she needs it to stop. But how does she escape her night terrors? It’s not like she can just–
Her eyes land on one of the coffee mugs sitting in the sink, waiting to be cleaned, and a sudden idea comes to mind. It’s not a good one, not by a long shot. But she’s desperate, and her head is clouded by exhaustion. She’s not thinking clearly, but at the moment, Pearl doesn’t care about that. She just wants something to help.
So maybe… maybe she could just not sleep. If she doesn’t sleep then she can avoid the night terrors, and she’ll be just fine, right? Coffee can help with that, it can help her stay awake. She won’t have to worry about the dreams anymore, and the exhaustion will be more manageable.
Mind made up, she reaches for a mug and the coffee beans.
Her plan works, much to her delight. Sure, she has to drink more coffee to keep herself awake, but it’s a price Pearl is willing to pay to escape her nightmares. To finally have some peace. She can keep this up, it’s just like when she was in college, just more prolonged. And no papers to worry about.
She’ll be fine.
The last thing Grian expects to see when he enters his sister’s room is mugs covering just about every surface of furniture she owns. He swings the door open with Pearl’s name on his tongue, but his eyes land on all of the mugs before he can even get a sound out.
Standing in the doorway, Grian completely freezes in place. Every light is on within her bedroom; the ceiling, the lamp on her desk, even the one by her nightstand. Her curtains are also wide open, letting the sunlight spill in through the exposed windows. There’s not an inch of darkness in her room.
Pearl herself is sitting on her bed, legs crossed and a book in her lap. Perhaps the oddest part of all this, minus the lights and mugs everywhere, is the fact that one of her hands is sitting inside a bowl of water and ice.
“Uhhh, Pearl?” he calls to her, finding himself feeling very confused.
She doesn’t acknowledge him. In fact, Grian wonders if she’s actually even reading her book or just staring at the pages.
He frowns, “Pearl.”
Pearl snaps to attention, blue eyes shifting up to meet brown, and Grian can see how absolutely exhausted she is. There’s deep eyebags painting the skin under her eyes, and she looks a bit pale. “Oh, hey Griba,” she greets casually, as if there’s nothing wrong or odd about her behavior. “Whas’sup?”
Taking that as his sign to actually step inside, he leaves the threshold of the doorway, taking another look around. “Well I was going to ask if you knew about all of the missing mugs but I think I’ve found my answer,” he replies, leaning toward her desk to pick a mug. He takes a peek inside it and immediately grimaces, finding days old coffee sitting at the bottom. “How long have these all been sitting here?” he questions, looking over at Pearl.
“Uhhhhh, lemme think for a tick,” Pearl hums, knitting her brows together in thought. “I think since Sunday?” She doesn’t sound very confident in her answer.
“Pearl! It’s Friday!” Grian exclaims in concern, setting the mug back down. He counts at least thirteen on her desk, and then seven more over on her nightstand. How she managed to get that all to fit, he has no idea. If he wasn’t so worried, he’d have probably complimented her stacking skills.
Pearl sighs, “I know, I know.” She closes her book with her free hand, setting it to the side. “Aw, dangit, I forgot to save my page number…” she whines, dropping her head in disappointment.
“And the uh… ice bowl for your hand?” he questions next, nodding at the bowl. “Is that even safe for you to do? You could hurt yourself.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Pearl answers, waving the very hand that was soaking in the bowl at him. “I’m being safe about it!”
Grian frowns in return, finding that his concern is no longer just sitting over him like a blanket. The longer he stands in Pearl’s room, the more his concern and worry begins to burrow into his heart, making a permanent home there.
Pearl has been known to do some rather weird things, it’s just how she’s always been. When they were kids she was always a fan of capturing bugs and sticking them in jars to make little homes for them. Or she’d spend time on the playground trying to dig up evidence of aliens. She has her habits, like sitting upside on the couch sometimes, or eating spaghetti with a spork. Weird habits have never been something that Grian really questioned with her.
But this? This goes farther than just weird. This ventures right into abnormal territory, and Grian doesn’t like it.
He hates that he didn’t notice any of this sooner.
“Pearl are you… feeling okay?” he inquires, looking at her. Even her hair is messier than usual. He moves to sit carefully on her bed so that the water doesn’t spill.
“I’m fine, G. I’ve just uh…” Pearl trails off, as if trying to formulate her words in her head. “Working hard on this new short film Sausage is writing!”
Grian looks at her with a raised brow, suspicious. “And you need twenty things of coffee plus a bowl of ice water to do all that?” He holds eye contact with her, and he can see just how exhausted she is. How long has this been going on for? How long has Grian missed the signs that there was something wrong with Pearl?
“Alright ya got me,” Pearl admits as she breaks eye contact with him. “The excuse sounded a lot better in my head.”
“You’ve definitely come up with better,” Grian interjects, and Pearl tiredly shoves him. “C’mon, you can tell me anything. What’s going on with you huh?”
He watches the way Pearl’s shoulders sag, a frown dancing across her lips. “Truth is I…” she starts, before a heavy sigh leaves her. “I’ve been having really bad nightmares, and they’re bad, G,” Pearl softly admits to him, and Grian finds his chest panging in sympathy. “I don’t know what’s causing them, but they just seem to be getting worse, so I just… started avoiding sleep.”
“To avoid the nightmares,” Grian murmurs, and the irony of the situation certainly isn’t lost on him. Not when their roles were reversed just a few weeks ago. Is it stress that’s affecting his sister? Worry? Anxiety? Has some other problem made itself known for Pearl? Friends? Work?
“Mhm.” Pearl nods in return. She sighs quietly before grabbing the bowl and shifting the mugs on her nightstand to set the bowl down on its surface. “It’s probably not the healthiest solution but eh… when have either of us been known for handling things in a healthy manner?” she jokes, making Grian snort.
“You know, we should probably work on that,” he says.
“Probably.” Pearl leans forward to rest her forehead against Grian’s shoulder, a yawn leaving her. “Y’know, now that I think about it…” She yawns again. “I’m really sleepy.”
Grian can’t help but chuckle, “That’s what happens when you avoid sleep, you nugget.” He uses one of her words against her, and he can feel the way she smiles against him.
“You’re the nugget, nugget,” Pearl replies, making Grian laugh. She yawns once again, and Grian hums.
“Maybe you should try sleeping again,” he starts. “I can stay with you, if you want.”
“And what, fend off the boogeyman for me?” Pearl questions, a soft teasing lilt to her voice. But Grian can hear the anxiety laced under her tone, as if it were some kind of backdrop.
“I think Maui and Pearl will beat me to that,” he jokes. “But I can be here in case something happens.” His voice then softens, “You won’t be alone.”
Pearl lifts her head up from his shoulder, and Grian can see the way her eyes water and shake with emotion. Her nightmares must be horrible if his offer is bringing her close to tears. It makes his chest squeeze and constrict, uncomfortably tight. If he hadn’t been so distracted with Mumbo and Scar and the murders, would he have seen all of this sooner? Would he have been able to do something sooner? “I’m holding you to that, Gri,” Pearl tells him, and Grian grins.
He gets up to turn off all of the lights in Pearl’s room so that she won’t be bothered in her sleep.“Hold me to it all you’d like,” he hums as he drops back down on the bed, and Pearl’s head falls back against his shoulder. He hears her breath start to even out in her attempt to drift off. “Uh… if you’re gonna use me as a pillow can I at least get into a more comfortable position?”
“Nope. Now stop talking pillow,” Pearl mumbles, and Grian dramatically sighs.
He moves her book out of the way, trying to keep himself still so that Pearl isn’t all that disturbed by his movements. When the bed is clearer, he flops over to the side, letting his legs hang off the edge. He makes sure to drag Pearl with him, ignoring the little shout of surprise that escapes her as they fall sideways.
“The pillow demands comfort Pearl! You can’t be cruel to your pillow!” Grian exclaims, and Pearl merely grumbles about him moving around before laying her head against his arm again and shutting her eyes. Grian smiles softly before glancing around at her room. He’ll clean up the mugs and bowl later.
Laying down like this, he finds himself getting sleepy. “Maybe a little nap wouldn’t hurt…” he murmurs, letting his eyes fall shut.
Pearl doesn’t have a single nightmare.
When Grian opens his eyes again, Pearl’s room is dark. There’s also a bunch of hair in his mouth, which makes him grimace. Ever so slowly, Grian pulls himself away from Pearl to reach into his pocket and grab his phone. He turns it on, jumping at the brightness of the screen before hurriedly turning it down. When he’s no longer being blinded, he finds that it’s seven at night. Humming, he pockets his phone once again and hums.
“Should probably make dinner.” Grian looks over at Pearl and then the mugs, and decides to give her a few extra minutes of sleep. ‘She could probably use it.’
He turns his attention to Pearl’s nightstand first, taking the bowl. He holds it with both hands, being careful not to spill the water anywhere. By now the ice cubes have all melted, and the water is room temperature. Grian makes his way to the kitchen to dump the water out and set the bowl in the sink before going back in for the mugs. He grabs each mug two at a time and dumps whatever remaining coffee there is into the drain.
Looking at the size of the sink, Grian doesn’t think all those mugs will fit, so he cleans out the first seven of them with careful attention to the coffee left behind and lots of dish soap. After those seven are clean, he repeats the process with the mugs on Pearl’s desk, as well as the ones sitting on the bookshelf.
It’s only after all of the mugs have been taken care of that Grian goes to wake up Pearl. She hasn’t stirred once through all of the noise. “I almost feel bad about waking her up.” He frowns softly as he gently sits down beside her on the bed.
Slowly, he reaches out to her, shaking her shoulder. “Pearl,” he calls, “wakey wakey. We need to eat.”
Pearl doesn’t budge.
She must really be exhausted then. Grian continues to frown, shaking her again, just a bit harder. “Pearl, c’mon, it’s time for supper.” Yet she remains asleep. Grian sits back and tries to think of how else to wake her.
“Well, you asked for it!” He stands from bed and walks over to the light switch, flicking it on. Light fills the room, something that’s normally disturbed Pearl at least a little in the past. But she has no reaction to it. “Pearl!” he practically shouts before moving to shake the bed. The most that happens is Pearl’s body rolls slightly with the mattress. “Don’t make me jump on you. I’ll grab the pillow to whack you like last time.”
Just to show that he can, he reaches for the pillow on her bed and gently whacks her with it. Nothing happens. She doesn’t stir, doesn’t wake up. She remains fast asleep.
“...Pearl?” Grian slowly questions, feeling his heart skip a beat in anxiety. Something begins to settle in him, a deep, deep sense of dread. There’s a feeling that appears, something heavy and intense as it sits in the pit of his stomach. Something is wrong.
Walking back over to his sister, he sits down beside her again, and with a closer look, Grian can see that she’s pale. Paler than before, sickly in color. Panic and fear jolts down his spine, and he swallows thickly. “P-Pearl,” he stammers, reaching out to her. He shakes her shoulder, a shaky and fragile smile forcing itself onto his face, “This isn’t funny anymore, t-this is definitely one of your weaker pranks.” His voice trembles with anxiety, each syllable shaking from the weight of his fear. He can hear her breathing, and it’s shallow.
“No… no, no, no, no.” Grian grabs her wrist, trying to find her pulse. It’s there, but also weak. But when he looks closer, he sees something purple flash in her veins. Something that has supernatural written all over it.
He feels sick.
Without a second thought, Grian pushes himself off of Pearl’s bed and runs to his room, throwing the door open. His heart is hammering in his eardrums, a fast and triumphant tune as his eyes wildly scan his room.
There, on his desk!
Grian rushes over to it, seeing the red crystal sitting innocently on top of the wood. He grabs hold of it, squeezing it in his hands. “Mumbo!” he practically shouts into it, his voice cracking in his panic. “Mumbo!” he shouts a second time, urgent and panicked and afraid.
“Grian?! What’s wrong?” Mumbo answers him immediately, and Grian can feel his hands shaking.
“I-It’s Pearl,” he starts, trying to keep the tremors out of his voice, but it’s a pointless exercise. His voice shakes, no matter how tightly he grips the crystal in his hands. “She won’t– she’s not– I don’t know what’s wrong with her. S-She was fine earlier! Tired, but she was fine! And now she– she’s not–”
“Grian, I need you to breathe for me. What’s wrong with Pearl? You can explain everything else later,” Mumbo is calm as he speaks to Grian, keeping his voice soft but still letting his concern slip through.
Grian takes a shaky inhale, trying to keep his head clear. But he can’t help the way his dread drops right over his head, washing over him in one big tidal wave and swallowing him whole. “She’s not waking up.”