Chapter Text
The view of the bay was quite beautiful at night. It was beautiful during the day too, but something about the deep bellowing waves reflecting gentle flickers of the city lights as they swayed, it... soothed him. And that's why he stopped by the docks anytime he had the chance.
An easy, although brief, escape.
Pearl sat down and nudged her way next to him, and handed him a bag of popcorn. Grian assessed the bag, like it was some sort of puzzle, and looked to her. "Where'd you get this?"
Pearl looked around holding her arm out, queuing his attention to the rather obvious carnival around them. "Where'd ya think, silly?"
Grian chuckled. "Fair enough, but didn't I tell you to not spend any money while we were here, Pearl? We barely have en-"
"'We barely have enough to live in an apartment and afford food' -Yes, you've told me Grian, you don't have to remind me. But can you just.. take it, okay? Appreciate that we're not living on the streets."
Grian paused, but allowed himself to give another chuckle and tossed a few of the popcorn kernels in his mouth. "Thank you Pearl."
And they sat there, just for a moment, basking in the cool ocean breeze. Grian never really thought of his life to be particularly 'eventful', but a after every day he still always looked forward to these moments the most. ..But as he also came to know, these moments never lasted forever.
Pearl turned to him. "Were you going to want to join me on the ferris wheel?"
Grian flickered his eyes over to her eager expression, whilst replaying the words she said in his mind. "...Pearl-"
Before he could even speak, Pearl nudged his shoulder. "Come on Gri! The prices for the rides are really cheap this year, you know it won't hurt us."
Grian pursed his lips, and gave a brief sigh through his nose, then faced her. "I'm not gonna be able to stop you, am I?"
Pearl gave a mischievous grin, as if to say 'no, you can't'.
Grian gave another sigh, with his mouth this time. "Go ahead Pearl, but I'm staying right here."
Pearl gave something of a pout, but didn't push any further. She stood up and took a glance at the ferris wheel, crowned with neon lights, illuminating the thick and starless black sky. "If you say so, but you know this carnival only comes about once a year, so don't complain to me when you miss out." She took a few steps away from him, seemingly still waiting for him to maybe change his mind. "..I'll wave at you from up there~"
Grian chuckled, then faced back to the ocean, listening as Pearl's steps grew quieter and quieter, until they disappeared entirely. Something in him was telling him to stop her, to run after her, but he quickly killed that feeling before it overstayed its welcome. He only recently realized how overprotective he was around his friends, especially when it came to Pearl, so he began trying to slowly fix that part of his mind. And often, he found the easiest way to do so was just to... look away.
He found that to be helpful with a lot of things, but he wasn't sure how much longer he'd manage to get away with it.
Pearl handed the vendor her ticket and took a step into the the car, taking a seat parallel to another girl, whose head was crowned in long ginger hair and a single yellow flower blooming from it. She smiled and gave a small wave. Pearl returned the wave with an even smaller movement, only moving a couple fingers.
Soon the wheel began to move, slowly lifting them into the air. It didn't take long until they were quite high up, already much higher than Pearl thought ferris wheels even reached. But what would Pearl know? She's only ever seen one from the ground, it's quite the different view from what she was getting now.
"Are you nervous?" The girl asked.
Pearl looked to her and squeaked out a small "hm?"
"Sorry, you just looked scared, -not that there's anything wrong with that, of course." The girl continued, finishing off her words with a gentle laugh.
"Oh uh, yeah kinda... It's just.. my first time being on a ferris wheel, y'know?" Pearl replied, giving a similar although noticeably more awkward laugh.
The girl nodded. "Oh yes, I was scared my first time on one too, don't worry. And I still am sometimes!" She giggled again. "Anyways... Did you hear the news?"
Pearl scanned her mind. "No...? I don't believe so, no. Enlighten me if you wish."
"Yeah.. sorry for bothering you, but my brother never shuts up about it, so... -oh uh, it's just that there's been several sightings of villains around here. Well not here here, but in this general vicinity."
"Villains? ..Huh," Pearl never cared much about the whole 'superhero and super villain' things, but that didn't mean she didn't know what harm trailed behind them, both of them. "...Which ones?"
The girl seemed eager to answer. "All of the main four, apparently! Demeter and Boreas as their usual duo, of course. But interestingly, the one sighted the most frequently was-"
There was a swoosh, and both Pearl and the ginger haired girl jumped in shock. As if nothing had happened, there was a figure sitting directly next to Pearl. And it didn't take long for both of them to recognize that the signature black-as-night attire, long blonde hair, and aviator goggles belonged to none other than-
"Eurus?!" The girl whisper-cried.
"Act like I'm not here." The villain muttered, in a metallic and clearly altered drawl, presumably due to some kind of of voice modifier.
The silence that followed was deafening, only being broken by the rhythmic tapping of the villain's metal claws against the cart's railing.
Pearl was stuttering, and her heart was racing—as it had the right to, sitting right next to her was an incredibly dangerous person, one that could probably end her in an instant if they willed. They were both stunned. Should she scream? Would Eurus kill her if she did so? Was there a some who could save-
"Hello birdie birdie~ Where did you go?~" a voice echoed out.
"Sausage?" The ginger girl whispered.
Eurus unsheathed her sword and pointed it at the girl. "Be quiet, girl."
Pearl quickly zipped her lips and glanced at the fear in the other girl's eyes. Then she felt a heavy thump just behind her, almost brushing her neck, and then she slowly craned her neck around, looking up behind her. It was a hero, a winged one.
"There you are, little birdie!" He chimed in an accomplished voice that was way too dandy for this rather dire situation.
Eurus scoffed in disgust, then in one motion, she launched herself up into the air, one of her dark wings smacking into Pearl's face.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going!" The hero cried out.
"Hey Sau- I mean Azrael, I'm here!" The ginger girl cried out to the hero.
The hero—Azrael according to the girl, focused his attention on her, his eyes going wide. "Gem?! What in the world are you doing here?"
Before the girl—Gem, could reply, Eurus swooped down and rammed into Azrael, drawing out an 'Oomph' sound as he fell back off the car, but quickly catching the wind and flying back up. Eurus now stood where the hero did, and took a look down at Gem. She seemed to be studying her, rather intently. "...You know each other, huh?"
Pearl felt Gem's gut drop with hers.
A smile rose onto the villain's face from under her mask. "That's right.. You're just who I'm looking for, aren't you?~"
"You stay away from her!" Azrael cried, and slashed his sword against Eurus' back, harmlessly sliding off her cloak.
Eurus turned to face him. "Alright, how about this? You leave me be, let me fly into the night without a hero on my trail," she pointed her sword towards Gem once more. "-and she doesn't get hurt."
At first Azrael seemed shocked, but he quickly maintained his cool and brought his fingers to his chin. "Hmm, let me think about it... How about neither!-" he tackled into Eurus, knocking her against the floor of the car.
Eurus grunted and kicked him back. "For an angel, you certainly lack grace-" she kicked herself off of the car, and, after looping back around it, pulled Azrael along with her.
Eurus then threw Azrael into one of the spokes of the wheel, and Pearl saw what was definitely his sword flutter down, until it disappeared below. Pearl also noticed that thankfully, some helicopters had arrived around them, the only real signal to her that this situation was being acknowledged at all. And just to add to her sudden alertness, the ferris wheel had stopped—and she didn't know if it was by intention or not, but their car was the one at the very top.
Pearl gulped, and turned to Gem—the poor girl looking like she was going to pass out from fright. "Hey, Gem—that's your name right?"
Gem frantically nodded, her frightened expression unchanged.
"Okay, I'm gonna need you stay behind me, okay?" Pearl muttered, her mouth dry, probably from her panicked breathing.
Even through the fright, Gem seemed confused by her suggestion. "What? I don't- I don't need-"
Eurus landed beside them, and Pearl immediately stood in front of Gem. Pearl also noticed that the winged hero was nowhere to even be found. He wouldn't just... fly off, would he?..
Eurus stared at their frightened faces. "Stop being so dramatic, if I really wanted to kill you I would've done so already."
Pearl didn't drop her scowl. "What do you want then?!"
Eurus paused, the silence suffocating, and then she struck. A single lash from her sword, grazing Pearls arm, causing her to yelp and collapse.
Pearl looked at her cut, it stung badly... And it was actually pretty deep—definitely prone to an infection if she didn't get down from this damn wheel soon. Pearl looked up at Eurus. 'Why?' her eyes signaled, even though she knew she didn't need a proper reason.
Eurus met Gem's eyes, then nodded to Pearl. "Help her."
Gem was still frozen, only tilting her head in response. But she got the message when Eurus pointed her sword at Pearl, shuddering when she saw blood dripping down it—definitely more than just Pearl's blood. She swiftly bent down beside Pearl, and and gripped the girl's injured arm, earning a wince and a hiss in response. Something was telling her that what she was doing was wrong, but she couldn't think of anything else she even could do in the moment.
Suddenly, Pearl felt a strange.. soothing feeling run through her arm—and she couldn't tell if she was seeing things or not—but her arm was healed, as if it was never cut at all, bar a thin scar. Pearl looked into Gem's eyes, half in confusion, half in awe.
All Gem did was smile back.
"I didn't actually need to do that," Eurus spoke, redirecting their attention to her, and snuffing out their smiles. "But at least I know I've got the right person."
"What does that- what does that mean?" Gem whimpered.
Eurus choked out a malevolent chuckle. "don't take it personally kid, but you are worth far more to me dead than alive."
Gem mouthed a 'what?!', and Pearl quickly stood up and resumed her position in front of her.
Eurus gave another displeased scoff. "Please, don't make me kill the both of you." Eurus lifted her sword and pointed it at them. "Because I will."
The silence between them was painful as it was still, but suddenly-
"Did you miss me?!-" Azrael flew up behind the villain and struck a dagger into her back. Eurus gasped and lashed her sword out, missing- but in doing so she stumbled forward and slammed into Pearl,
knocking her back over Gem,
and tipping her over the edge.
Grian didn't know what to do.
Police had surrounded the wheel and evacuated who they could from it, but Pearl was still up there, he knew she was. He could save her, he could spread his wings and carry her down, ...but there was far too much people for that, he spent so long hiding his wings from everyone, he couldn't just discard that in an instant. But it was Pearl, so what if people knew about his powers, Pearl is in danger.
Grian paced back and forward, he knew the best thing to do was to wait, but he couldn't kill the overwhelming feeling of dread. She was fine, she was fine...
She definitely wasn't fine. She was falling. Fast.
It didn't take any moment to think, he conjured his lavender wings- but he was too late.
The hero was too late as well.
But Pearl didn't hit the ground alone.
As he ran over as fast as he could, he recognized the dark black feathers that encompassed her. They made his heart skip a beat, but he didn't stop running.
The winged figure stood up, her blonde hair contrasting her black cloak, one of her dark wings freshly tattered from impact, and her eyes were just as shocked as his. But Grian focused on Pearl. She was unconscious, but she was still breathing. He'll take it, as long as she's alive.
It only now sunk in that he was surrounded by a crowd, his wings curled around him and Pearl. But at this point he could hardly say that he cared.
The villain appeared to be in shock as well, but she fled up into the air as soon as police began to surround them.
He held his head into her shoulder, still regaining his senses. Then, his heart sank. He slowly brought one of his hands from behind her head, and to his horror, there was blood.
"No no no, hey, Pearl. Pearl!" He practically shook her.
The next few seconds felt like hours, his thoughts pulsating in his ears. Pearl's bleeding. Pearl could die, right here, right in front of him.
But then, he sensed a pair of footsteps getting particularly close, and he heard a voice speak—one that he didn't recognize.
"Hey, hey, I can help her." A gentle hand wrapped around his.
He looked up, his eyes meeting with an unfamiliar girl, ginger hair hanging down above him from her head. "...What?"
The girl bent down and took hold of Pearl, Grian just barely letting her. She held the back of Pearl's head, where she was bleeding most, and looked into his eyes. "She saved me up there, it's only fair I return the favor."
Grian was still very confused as to what she meant, but he didn't speak, he let her continue. After a moment of waiting, nothing appeared to be happening, and he was about to ask her to leave, so he could take her to a hospital (like they could afford that). But before he could, she spoke. "Alright, she should be fine now, but she might still be in pain for a few days."
He was about to scold her, having still not noticed any change. But as he felt where she was injured, it... well, wasn't. He looked up to the girl, and she gave him a simple smile.
It didn't take long before Pearl's eyes fluttered open.
"Pearl?" Grian whispered. "Pearl are you there?"
Pearl gave a soft groan. "...My head hurts."
He gleefully laughed, and hugged her tightly. He looked up to thank the girl, but she was already gone, without a trace.
...They should probably go home.