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The bridge was rather nice, Cleo noted with a smile. No wonder Pearl had tried to steal it.
She sat, legs swinging into the abyss. Cleo wasn’t particularly worried about falling. It would be annoying, sure, getting wet in the river and running from drowned, but Martyn would heal them both up if needed. Perks of the soul bond.
“You’ll freeze to death.” Scott scolded lightly, plopping down next to her. Cleo felt a blanket be placed around their shoulders and looked over at him.
“I’m undead, remember? I can’t really be affected by the natural elements.” She pulled the blanked tighter all the same. It was nice being warm.
They just sat like that for a while, in silence. Cleo gazed into the faint force field, the barrier that kept them together. Kept them close, made the victims easier to find when the hunt started.
Cleo always looked at the games with a hint of scepticism. There always seemed to be something fishy about them. Too...normal. They were all pulled in, they fought to the death, one won, they moved on. Onto the next game. That couldn’t be it, surely. But maybe Cleo was just a pessimist by nature.
Then there was Pearl. Manic, crazy, Pearl. Cleo had never seen anyone so deserving of the right to be insane. It wasn’t like they were doing much to help matters.
“She’s probably angry at us, isn’t she?” Scott seemed to read Cleo’s thoughts. He did that far too often for her liking. It was rude.
Cleo exhaled. “Of course she’s angry at us, Scott. We burnt Tilly.”
“You burnt Tilly.”
“You’re her ex-soulmate. Take accountability. For her and that dog.” Cleo was joking, but she also wasn’t. Not really.
Scott sighed heavily. “I don’t really like this. You do realise, we’ll have to team up with Pearl and Martyn at some point.”
“Yeah.” Cleo drummed their fingers against the bridge. “It’ll be fine. They’re competent enough.”
“That’s not what I worry about.” She shrugged in response. “I mean it. Pearl isn’t okay.”
Cleo nodded. “She really isn’t. But...I’ve found it dulls, after you leave the games. It becomes less intense when you’re not actually there, fighting. So maybe she’ll be okay on Hermitcraft.”
Scott seemed to still. Cleo looked over at him and raised an eyebrow at his expression. He looked stunned, as if something had just clicked and he didn’t know how to handle it.
“Cleo...” He trailed off, looking almost horrified.
“Yeah? What’s wrong?”
He curled in on himself, wrapping his arms tight. “I...” He gave her a look, as if assessing her. “If I tell you something, will you keep quiet about it? Not tell anyone, not mention it at all. Nothing.”
Cleo nodded slowly. “Sure.”
“Uh...there’ll be a chance that Pearl won’t remember what happens. Like, at all.”
Silence.
“What.”
The explanation was quick, Scott glancing around to see if anyone could overhear. When he finished, he cleared his throat quietly.
“So, yeah.”
She was still trying to process it. “You’re telling me that if I win, I’m suddenly going to have to process the traumatic memories of several games?”
“Um, that sums it up, yeah. It’s only going to get worse as more games happen.” He fiddled with his hair, tugging on the longer strands.
Cleo just shook their head. “Why is Grian like this?”
“He didn’t mean for it to be like this, Cleo.”
“Yeah, I got that. But this will be bad. For Pearl. Either way.” Scott nodded.
“I wish Gem was here with us. Pearl needs someone to stop her from going insane.”
They chuckled dryly. “The day that Gem joins the games is the day that this world starts to unravel from the inside.” Scott smiled slightly at that.
“It would be better if she won.”
“She probably could. Look at her. It’s like the red haze has taken over early. Once you both go red, she’ll fully succumb.”
He let out a long sigh. “Is it too late?” Cleo looked over, and Scott was just staring at the water, his eyes filled with regret.
“Probably.” She wasn’t one to lie to people. Especially not to Scott. “But...” He looked up at her again. “I’ll try and help her win. We can help each other survive, then you can...throw Pearl the win or something. If you think it will help.” He nodded, grateful.
Silence fell over them again, like a blanket wrapped tight. Cleo glanced over their shoulder, at Martyn’s floating heart. Idiot.
Cleo wasn’t angry at him, not really. He was just a bit pathetic, and annoying. Scott was a better soulmate and was being a better friend.
She still wished things hadn’t worked out the way they had. It would have been fun to team with Martyn and Pearl as well. Instead, they had...whatever this was.
“Do you ever think about Last Life?” Scott rested his head on Cleo’s shoulder, playing with strands of their orange hair.
“Sometimes. Why?”
“Do you remember why you joined our team?”
Cleo thought about it. “Bigb did something to make me angry. So I joined you.”
“He betrayed you.” That was a shock. But slotting in the context, the memories made sense. Cleo was able to get past revelations quite quickly, she was learning.
“Huh. I liked being with you guys, though. Gaslight, Gatekeep and Girlboss.”
“Pearl wanted that again this time around. Do you remember?”
She did. She remembered Pearl’s hopefully desperation, wanting to make things right. For things to be good.
“Pearl was the best of us. Without her... we’re just a bit toxic.” Cleo felt him nod against her shoulder.
“She still is the best of us.”
“Yeah. She is.”
Cleo had quite a good control over the red urges, normally. This wasn’t really helped by the soul bond, though. Martyn had no qualms about holding back, and it was leaking onto Cleo, making their hands tighten into fists.
They were waiting, for now. Stood around while Scott desperately ate food, trying to heal as Pearl took damage.
“Should we go and help her? It’s two against one.” Cleo offered tentatively. She was really worried about Pearl, for more reasons than one.
Scott shook his head. “We don’t know where she is.”
“Still, we-”
CRASH!
They all flinched at the thunder. It was amplified this time around, with the simultaneous deaths.
Martyn blinked, his eyes wide. “Did she...”
They all just stared at each over, until Martyn let out a strange laugh. A mixture of shock, relief and joy. And mania. They were all getting a bit manic.
Cleo and Scott both collapsed into laughs. Of course she’d done it. It was Pearl.
“It’s just us now.” Scott took in a big gulp of air. Cleo caught Martyn’s change of mood immediately.
“Martyn, no-”
He swung for Scott, weapon raised high. The scuffle was fast, and Scott was gone before Cleo could process anything. Before she could say goodbye.
Martyn let out a heavy grunt. “Pearl. We need to kill Pearl.”
Cleo didn’t disagree. Although, finding was more of an accurate description. She didn’t think they were even capable of killing Pearl, and she didn’t want too.
Her comm buzzed, and she glanced at it.
It was Scott.
Pearl needs to win.
She glanced at Martyn. He was scanning the area, like a bloodhound.
If only he knew, he couldn’t win with bloodlust. Not when there was someone else who had something much worse. Rage.
K. I’ll do it.
Thx Cleo. Ily
Cleo blinked back tears, gritted their teeth, and kept going.
Pearl wasn’t that hard to find, surprisingly. Her wolf pack were wandering freely, sniffing the trees and pawing at the dirt. Cleo spotted a flash of red amongst the foliage, and turned to Martyn.
“Hang back. I’ll try and get her to let her guard down.” Martyn was too far gone in the haze to pick up on the lying. Cleo was still a manipulator, after all.
Pearl was huddled into a ball, her long brown hair covering her face. Cleo took slow steps closer, trying to not startle her.
“Hey Cleo.” Pearl looked over her shoulder at them, her eyes crimson. She was smiling.
“Hi, Pearl.” Cleo tried to keep her voice upbeat, tried to hide the concern bubbling up. She looked destroyed, face covered in drying blood and tears. “Are you okay?”
Pearl’s grin grew, and she stood up, pulling up to her full height. Cleo had forgotten how tall she was. “I’m great. I’m...wonderful. I’m great.” She began to giggle, throwing out her arms wide. “Look!”
“You sure? You sound...unhinged.” Pearl glanced over her shoulder, and Cleo followed her gaze.
A dead wolf, blood drying against fur. With a yellow collar. Cleo didn’t need to read it to know who it was. Her heart broke even further.
“Oh...I’m doing just fine.” Pearl turned back to Cleo, smiling even wider than before.
“Where is she!” Martyn barrelled in, swinging his sword at the dogs.
Cleo knew she couldn’t trust him to follow instructions. He wasn’t even trying to kill Pearl, just Tilly. So consumed by the haze he couldn’t even see the corpse.
And then Pearl was coming for Cleo, backing her to a ledge. She was talking with Martyn, taunting, slicing her axe through the air as Cleo ran.
She didn’t fight back. She couldn’t.
Cleo just stared into Pearl’s red eyes, saw the flash of clarity and grief and sorrow before they fell off the ledge, into darkness.
Scott would ensure Pearl would remember. Cleo trusted him, especially when it came to sacrificing himself. He was rather good at it.
She knew that she would forget, and part of her was sorry for it. But that was how things went.
Cleo would apologise to Pearl, no matter how long it took.
The respawn was rough. Cleo sat up with a grunt, her head throbbing and joints aching. Perks of being undead.
Their memory was fuzzy. There were memories of bridges, of Scott and a donkey. And a conversation.
Right.
Cleo reached for her comm, wincing at the slight movement. She would probably reach out to Joe later, ask him to bring a heat pad or something. Or just some company.
She hovered over the list of contacts, hesitating. It didn’t take too long to decide, in the end.
Hey Gem! Do you think you could check up on Pearl, if you’re not busy?
The reply came seconds later.
On it! Get rest pls and thank you
Cleo collapsed back onto their cushions, sighing heavily.
Some things had to be left up to fate.
And sometimes fate had to be left up to Gem.