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Pearl climbed up her stairs, throwing her work clothes into the hamper. She sat in front of the mirror, criss-crossed on the floor, brushing her hair and watching herself flicker. Most days she did not like to look at her reflection. She felt like I liar when she paid too much attention to her appearance. Wolf in sheep’s clothing. Quickly glancing out the window at her brother’s sleepy, fishing village, Pearl crawled into bed.
Hit with immediate sleep, she began to float through the void. A sinking feeling filled her chest as she felt her wings grow and her features fade. The void was the most vibrant she had seen in years, maybe ever. The haunting words of her elders made her feel as though she and Grian were right about the Watchers becoming more powerful. She heard the screams before she saw all the people. She lost her form and landed on a small Endstone island in a three point landing.
“Pearl?” fWhip grabbed her hand. “Pearl, where are we? What’s happening?”
Scott sat up from his position laying on the ground. “You’ve got to be kidding me!?”
“Hey, this one isn’t on Grian. This is all their doing… ” Pearl promised, looking around at the surrounding islands, seeing her brother arguing with Joel.
Bek groaned, rubbing her head. “It’s a championship. They want to see who is the strongest and most strategic.”
“You’ve done this before?” Pearl’s voice sat heavy in her throat, feeling the exhaustion seeping in from the Hermit-Realm.
Bek shrugged. “Most people here have. You have. You’ve won. You’re wearing the crown to prove it.”
Pearl reached for her head and felt the cold medal. She never wanted to wear a crown like this again. Not after all the terrible things that happened between the Hermit and Empire Realms. Not after her elders made her a mockery, stripping her of her memories. This just proved they were still doing that.
“They put Scar and Jimmy together from the looks of it.” Scott managed a giggle. “I’ve spent years trying to stop that team up from happening.”
“Well you aren’t in control here.” Bek gave him a hand up.
fWhip stared across the islands. “I made a safe haven from all this. It didn’t last very long though.”
“I’m sorry, man.” Pearl saddled up next to him. “How have you been doing? It’s been a long time.”
“Lonely. I miss my sister. I’ve missed you. Sausage is doing well.”
Pearl gulped. “I’m glad to hear that. Gem is– I think she is starting to figure things out. I think she may miss you without even knowing who you are when we are in the Hermit Realm.”
“She’s here. I can see her. Maybe I can talk to her.”
Bek patted his shoulder. “We can only hear each other. They are pulling people from across the multiverse. Can’t let us talk too much or we’d figure something out, I can assume.”
“Makes sense. Especially if they are taking some people’s memories to stop us from communicating about it too much.”
Pearl hated that Scott was making sense. She hated that she was here, in the void, surrounded by people she knew and people she didn’t. She hated that she could feel herself unconsciously feeding off the energy.
“Oh,” fWhip frowned.
Bek tried to lighten the mood. “You can give her a hug though. People get pretty affectionate when they see people from their different lives.”
“You are pretty calm about this.”
“They stopped taking my memory after my tenth loss.” She shrugged. “Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I forgot to do that sometimes. I know Scott. We were Rats together at one point or another. I’ve briefly been in the same world as fWhip. I don’t know if we’ve ever been in the same world before… I’m Bek.”
“Nice to meet you, I am Pearl.”
* * *
The force of the hug should’ve knocked fWhip off the platform and into the void, but somehow, he stayed completely still. Gem, now in her brother’s arms, began to openly sob. Unfortunately, he could not hear any of it. He felt her tears soaking into his Ender Suit though as he held back his own.
Gem let go, stepping back to take him in. He looked much older than the last time she saw him. She counted an extra freckle or two. He wiped her tears away, taking her hand in his, tracing the words You okay into her palm, she shook her head. He squeezed her hand.
In the distance, the behavior was being replicated in many ways with many expressions. Phil, Tubbo, and Tina sat in somber silence, mourning their children. Tommy and Piso stood back respectfully, knowing their friends had lost a lot that they would never fully understand. Shelby and Katherine stood on the sidelines, resting heads on each other’s shoulder. Impulse sat alone, staring intensely at Pearl, seemingly taking mental note. Joel and Lizzie were silently arguing, possibly reading each others lips, possibly not even knowing what the other was saying.
* * *
Pearl stood in the middle of the stage, adrenaline finally wearing off and exhaustion once again kicking in. They had won. This go around, they had proven themselves the strongest and most strategic. She didn’t want to think of herself as that. It was an unfair advantage. They made the Championship and she was one of them . But then again, they were like that with the Death Games. She wouldn’t dwell on it, if she remembered it in the morning.
* * *
Gem shot awake, wide eyed and screaming. Cheering? She couldn’t tell anymore. It was growing hazier and hazier as she wrote it down. The man from her dreams, the other brother, was there. He was with Pearl and another man that looked familiar. Gem knew she had at one point that his blood on her hands. He had been her teammate. He had cared for her. She wrote it down. Every little detail she could recall, down the the fact that Pearl shimmered in the void in a way Gem had only seen people shimmer when they travel through portals. Down to the fact that her best friend’s face was splattered with purple and blue freckles that had never been there before.
* * *
Impulse sat at his desk, drawing the void that way it appeared in his dream. He was not an artist by any means, but he needed to mark it down before he forgot it. He felt like he forgot it as he drew it. He felt like Pearl was over his shoulder like she was in his last nightmare. He felt like Gem was getting to close to something that he couldn’t see. He felt like the world was going to burn up underneath him. He felt the eyes. All the eyes on him as he pulled out his cheap paints and colored in the most vibrant purple of a void he had never seen before. All the eyes on him as he stared at the painting wondering what on earth he had dreamed about that warranted so much attention to detail. All eyes on him as he hung it up in the storage room and went about his work.