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The floor beneath her quakes so harshly that the Deer hybrid is thrown off balance, and she clicks the flint and steel together just a little too late. On the other side of the server, the Moth of Boatem slips off the Swaggon Rocket’s ladder, thrown off by the moon crashing to the ground.
PearlescentMoon has died
GeminiTay has died
Gem wakes up to the feeling of dreaming, her body feels like it is hers and not hers at the same time. In front of her lies the charred remains of a kingdom with banners of- ”Is that a… Face?” The body she possesses asks, but she is here alone and there is nothing and no one to reply. She shakes her head and continues to walk the empty ruins aimlessly, soon finding herself in what she assumes was once its heart, lifting her gaze upwards she gazes upon the burnt remains of something that was once alive and blossoming- The dead branches reaching upwards as if they had once upon intended to touch beyond the clouds. Her shoulders grow heavy with sadness and melancholy, tears start pricking at the corner of her eyes for reasons unknown.
”Were you beautiful once? Radiant?” She asks in a breaking whisper.
There is a chasm within her, and as Gem feels its pull grow unignorable by the passing second; She lifts her hand up to the charred bark of what must’ve once been a magnificent plant. Her fingertips brush against it and the bark flakes off to reveal darkened wood beneath as a breeze passes by, the image of magnificence is shattered by the palpable fragility of the burnt plant. A sob leaves her lips, and from there she spirals from contained sobs into a waterfall of heavy tears.
Gem can feel the exhaustion in her weightless gait, and it brings her to her knees when she realizes that she is truly alone while there is a debilitating loneliness carved into her bones- A loneliness which desires; Begs to be curbed. There is a chasm in her heart with a specific shape which she does not know how to fill when she does not know what piece is missing. The hand she has outstretched drops to her side, and when her lungs burn, it takes effort to bring the said hand up to cover her mouth in a futile effort to silence her cries.
She is left to hug herself in anguish as she suffers from the knowledge that she is in ruins, and that she does not know how she came to be so alone. Green eyes close in defeat as her sobs taper off into nothing as she starts to run dry of tears.
“Oh, my dearest Starlight..”
The speed with which she whirls around has Gem trip over her own legs. She stares in front of her with a mix of surprise and confusion. The woman before her is dressed in green with a crown of sunflowers atop her head tilted in question, there is a smile on her face and a look in her eyes that makes it seem as if she is longing for… Something.. Someone? The woman feels familiar enough to alleviate the loneliness that brought her to her knees and into tears, but Gem does not know her name and she opens her mouth to ask, the question dies in her throat when the woman in question brings a hand up to hold her face.
Gem automatically leans into her touch, eyes falling closed once more. Her eyebrows furrow and the quiet sobs return when she realizes that the stranger’s touch makes her feel like something within her was healed, that the chasm feels like it is being bridged and that things will turn out to be okay sooner than she expected it to be. The tears flow renewed, but they don’t cascade freely as they once did mere moments ago as a thumb brushes the drops from her cheeks.
“Why do you cry so?” The crowned lady asks gently. Gem opens her eyes, meeting the Lady’s soft gaze. The lady who holds Gem in her hands like she was someone familiar, someone cherished. She ponders the question left hanging in the air between them and she does not know why she cannot say that she does not know.
“Who are you?” Gem opts to ask instead, she furrows her brows as she adds another question to it immediately “What are you?” she asks as she eyes the bright crown of sunflowers on the woman’s head. ”Normal flowers don’t shine.” She thinks to herself. Blue eyes fill with mirth as the stranger tilts her head in question once again. It is a habit that Gem thinks is cute, and she is glad that she is able to keep the realization to herself as her tears are wiped away by gentle fingertips once more.
“Has it really been so long that you’ve need of reminders?” The bright smile on her face never falters and she brings her other hand to hold Gem’s. She brings it up to her lips, placing a kiss which feels like a greeting on Gem’s knuckles.
“I have held, and still hold many names: The Champion of the Moon, then I was the Moon itself.” She pulls their hands away from her lips yet gives no indication of letting go. “Scarlet, Goddess, Saint, Pearl- And many more yet to be known as mine.“ Then the woman places Gem’s hand flat against where her heart rests.
“But the one I hold most dear, is: Yours”
Wonder shines through Gem’s gaze as the point of contact starts to shimmer. Realization washes over her as memories come flooding back. Chasing the woman across a bridge, jumping after her into a prison and fighting their way out of it, a duel in a tower, joining together to bring about a new age, waking up anew, and their most recent world being torn apart by the moon itself.
”I’ll find my way back to you.” Gem promised from right in front of her and a million miles away, more of a thought than a voice.
Pearl squeezed her hands one last time, and she knew that if she could, she would be crying. “Me too. One day, we’ll find each other, towers and quests be damned.”
With a tearful laugh, Gem nodded desperately back at her, before the two of them finally let each other go.
The world faded into night, and Pearl could see the stars.
“Moonbeam.” The nickname leaves her lips in a breathless whisper, and Pearl- Her Pearl brightens up even more before pulling the redhead into a searing kiss.
The kiss is short-lived. It doesn’t last as long as they would have wanted since neither Pearl nor Gem can keep their grins in check and so they are forced to pull their lips away too soon for their liking, but never do they let go of each other. It took too long to get here and they’d both rather be set upon by monsters they know they can handle than entertain the idea of losing each other again for as long as they had. They rest their foreheads against one another, and it is Pearl who breaks the silence first.
“There you are, Starlight. Welcome back.”
Pearl watches her and swears that she can hear the song of the stars in her joy. Gem throws her head back freely as she laughs, holding onto the collar of Pearl’s dress as tightly as she held her hand in that tower a thousand turns and lifetimes ago. Pearl looks up to find that the sun is setting behind her, the moon rising behind Gem. She brings her gaze back to Gem’s and pulls her back for another kiss- Calmer this time, savoring the fact that this time they are whole and together once again; Savoring the fact that she is no longer among the stars but beneath them finally, and once again.
Fingers gently thread themselves into her hair and when Gem pulls away slowly like they own time itself, she is met with aged eyes that now remember watching over a thousand different lifetimes. She takes a breath to remind herself that she no longer has the responsibility of guiding souls bravely or curiously treading the darkness of night-
The sun and the moon circle each other once again in a cycle renewed, but this time it is no longer them among the stars and the clouds- Simply themselves yet more, with all the time in the universe and its everlasting ages. They stand up together with fingers intertwined, and together they press their hands against the bark of what was once Gilded Helianthia’s tallest and proudest stalk. Purple veins prop up on the burnt bark and soon enough there is a portal large enough to fit both of them side by side, and as it was a thousand lifetimes ago; Pearl takes the first step forward to a new adventure while Gem hesitates. The grip on her hand tightens just enough to keep her from entering the portal, and she looks back to find green eyes swimming with apprehension.
“I don’t want to forget again.”
Pearl’s inquisitive gaze softens as she steps closer to Gem instead of the portal, once again she cradles the Wizard’s face in a hand, and she presses her lips to the shorter woman’s temple. Pearl doesn’t pull away, doesn’t wish to so she speaks her next words into Gem’s skin- Hoping that they stick and function as armor against the fears that will sink their claws into the red-head’s being if they aren’t tamed at once.
“I was a Champion, a Celestial, a God, then me again. You were a Champion, a Celestial, a Worldjumper, then you again. We’ve lived different lives and remembered none, but now we remember all.” Pearl draws a breath before placing a second kiss to the same spot. She pulls away to look into Gem’s eyes.
“I made you a promise before, that I would find you again. Now we are here and the old promise has been fulfilled, so I’ll make you a new one; Forgetting is beyond us now. Wherever we go- Whether we are apart or together- We will never again forget.”
Gem takes a deep breath of her own to steady her nerves. Pearl made a promise once before and saw it fulfilled. Now Pearl is making a promise once more and knows in her heart that it will be fulfilled.
So she summons her bravery to go hand in hand with trust, and steps into the portal she knows will bring them back to the Hermits with Pearl at her side.
They have friends, and a new adventure waiting for them after all.