Chapter Text
Gem was enjoying a nice day on her beach, she had been feeling slightly sick so she went out for fresh air.
The evening sun caresses her face gently as it sets, she sips her chamomile tea, a gift from Cleo, who had been getting into tea making in this season. It soothes her throat, and nerves, as she waits.
That’s one of the things she hates most about pre-games, waiting. The slight tingle of anticipation as you go about your day knowing any moment now, you’d be teleported to the next game.
Of course, she and all lifers knew around when they would be pulled from whatever server they were on- except when you’re not expected to be there. Like her first series.
It’s quite shocking to be fishing by the docks, expecting to be bored out of her mind because all her favorite hermits- and girlfriend! Are going to be gone for weeks, for some traumatic game thing or whatever; to opening your eyes to a different place surrounded by said friends.
Needless to say she had a panic attack in a private cave from the suddenness of it all.
But now she knows! Now she’s been warned that it’ll happen around early night, apparently it takes a few hours to fully transport to the game. And Grian prefers it happen in the morning.
To pass the time, she ponders what Grian had said in the lifers group chat earlier today; something about, “be prepared, you may feel unexpected changes with yourself”, whatever that means. Grian always loved his cryptic warnings, which she respects, she just wishes he wouldn’t do it when it involved death games.
The sun was just setting when she felt a familiar buzz in her spine. She sighs, and than…
It…
All…
Got…
BLACK…
————————
Gem wakes up and something is immediately wrong. Her throat feels stickier than before, and she could feel a slight fever, which, okay, she can deal with, it’s not completely abnormal, she’s been sick before, not the end of the world, she’s a mature adult, but for some reason, it just feels like the world is personally against her and the universe hates her. She also feels smaller than normal, her sweater is too big, her overalls oversized even though she had had them fitted. So needless to say, she was off to a bad start.
She opens her eyes and is met with a weird symbol on the ground she vaguely remembers from secret life, and a circle of familiar but different people.
Grian looks younger, face more of a young adult. Tango had little to no facial hair as well as Skizz, Ren, and Impulse. Big B has glasses with no beard at all. Joel is green; Jimmy is in a Halloween costume, and they both look like they’re in their teens. Cleo looks to be in their 20’s, Martyn looks like that one teenage boy who graffitied lockers, and Scott…Gem shivers, his hair is brown, his clothes are gray, it’s just so.. not Scott, where’s her favorite gay boy? And Bdubs looks the same but….smaller. Eyes, normal sized, grin? Non existent. Scar was less scarred and seemed like a scrappy kind of kid. Her eyes land on what must be Pearl, she recognizes the familiar glint in her eyes….but…everything else is…different.
’Oh my god she’s emo… oh, and a teenager.’
Her hair is black, the kind that is obviously dyed, and swooped over one eye. She’s a little less tall, but only by an inch or two, she all lanky arms and legs, not having grown into them quite yet, she also not wearing shoes for some reason.
Pearl is glancing around nervously as well as a few others, but Gem doesn’t notice, she had just realized, as well as most everyone else, that they’re younger. She looks down at herself and sees why her clothes are big.
She’s 14. Most of the others are old enough to have already finished growing, or they were switched to their old clothes when we arrived, like Pearl, Jimmy, and Joel. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t do now her clothes are too big.
Grian starts the game, stumbling through the introduction for whatever reason, he usually plans them out. She shrugs it off since it’s not her business and is frankly too sick to care.
She runs off, feeling bothersome for her voice, the usual early game chaos floating around her.
She gets basic tools when Grian runs up to her.
“I’ve got a plan.”
Gem looks up, intrigued.
”I want to assemble the strongest team, this is the first time I’ve gone into the series with a plan”
”Okay, you’re try~ing, okay, what’s the team?” Gem asks
”You don’t sound very strong right now..”
”Yeah”, she chuckles, “I might actually be the weakest link on the server right now”
”Good, I’m glad my plan is going super well” Grian commented sarcastically “I’m thinking, you, me, and Pearl”
Gem mentally winces, but agrees with Grian. When they look for her, her mind wanders, sure, they were girlfriends, but in the life series? Gem didn’t understand Pearl, she got quiet at first, and than she would ricochet between feelings, muddling them together.
And they had a whole divorce arc, they talked it through after wild life of course, once Pearl realized she had genuinely hurt Gem when she double teamed her.
But Gem had decided it’s best to keep her space during the games, as old game memories were anew in her mind once again.
Gem zones back in as Grian says he thinks he hears Pearl. Gem glances at her comm, it reads 4:32 P.M. She chokes back a groan as she fans herself, they’re in a desert after all, and she’s sick. Her mild cold seems to have progressed to a low fever throughout the day.
———————
After finding Pearl and accidentally killing Martyn, they had gone around being “bad” through the first night into the next day. Gem knew what they did wasn’t really bad or mean (except for stealing Jimmy’s stuff), but she was frankly too hot to care, and too sweaty.
She also was done with all the pity for her voice, she saw everyone’s faces, they saw a young girl sick out of her mind while desperately trying to keep up. She hated looking weak. She was fine.
So she decided to use it to her advantage, she tested it on Scott, and it worked. Maybe it’s not so bad. …Maybe.
After giving up on diamonds, she went up to organize the base, Bdubs found her 20 minutes later and struck up a conversation. His voice was soft and soothing, purposefully lowered, and she knows she should be upset by this, but frankly, after around three days of intensifying fever, she couldn’t find herself to care.
It was all ruined when he destroyed her saddle though. She chased him off, before sitting by the water, clutching the torn saddle, which, honestly, she didn’t care much about, it was useless. But tears still trickled down her face as she cried slightly, hot and messy, making her feel worse. Stupid teenage hormones.
———————
After giving up on the mines (again), Gem decides to use her voice as manipulation.
The rejects was a total bust, they just bullied her, which made her feel even worse, so she walked along to Martyn and Cleo’s. Cleo, seeming to sense her upset talked quietly and kindly, which she was frighteningly good at having a “kid voice”, seeing as she used to teach at the Hub.
It was slightly disconcerting for Gem to remind Cleo of one of the kids they used to teach. But also nice.
She could tell Cleo was concerned, I mean, Gem probably looked like a hot mess right now, what with even Martyn being slightly nicer than usual.
She decided to ignore it, happy that she got an ingot out of it.
——————
She arrives at an incredibly cozy looking cabin, Etho and Bdubs running around it adding finishing details.
When Etho asks about why she’s mad, she explains heatedly what happened, tears spilling down her cheeks as she talks. Etho laughs it off awkwardly, unsure how to comfort a teenager.
She stalks off angrily, grabbing sugar cane and wiping her eyes.
She nearly jumps when she hears Scott and Scar approaching.
She nimbly nods to the conversation, her fever taking a turn for the worse, and than suddenly it’s nighttime, and she’s about to fight Etho.
Gem knows she’s losing, can feel it in her bones, so, when she finally dies, she embraces the cold relief of death.
Walking back is a hassle she doesn’t remember, barely acknowledging the fighting pact Etho makes with her.
Her cheeks burn with embarrassment and fever when she notices her teammates concern in chat, she deigns not to answer, instead working on a light house base, numbly aware that she need to be productive.
———————
On the final day of the first session, Grian makes his way up, commenting politely on the base, whilst stealing concerned glances at her.
Halfway through the day Pearl arrives and she and Grian have a conversation while looking at Gem. Gem doesn’t notice, she feels horrible.
She makes a rose garden with Pearl, kind of, she’s mainly just leaning on Pearl and listening to Grian complain about the roses.
She vaguely recalls trapping Scar on a fence, before the sun sets and they’re watching lava pour down the pyramid.
She can feel concerned gazes, but she’s too far gone to care. She feels strong but lanky arms pick her up, and she falls asleep, comforted by the familiar smell of Pearl.