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Cleo did not want to ally with Pearl.
Being two of the four yellows left in this cruel game, Cleo and Scott thought it to be wise to try and team up with their soulmates. The numbers were still stacked against them, ten reds against four yellows, but every little thing counted in a situation like this. Pearl, unfortunately, was a deeply valuable asset to them. Without her on their side, it was hard to see an outcome where they survived.
Pearl did not want to ally with Cleo.
Her ears twitched as she listens to this spiel from Cleo, who was standing cross-armed at the base of her watchtower. Pearl leans against the wall, ten paces in front of them.
"Is that all I am to you? An attack dog?" Pearl questions, brandishing her pickaxe to the side as she takes one step forwards. The light bounces perfectly onto the diamond, and for a brief moment, Cleo can see their worried face in the reflection. "You really think I'm stupid enough to follow orders from the same people who betrayed me?"
Cleo's mouth twists into a frown.
"It's beneficial for all of us, to have a strong fighter on the team," they try to explain. The words fail to get through to Pearl – it was all the vitriol she's been subjected to all season, now with a flowery bow slapped on top. No amount of rewording would soften the blow of "you're dangerous".
"I couldn't care less about what was beneficial to you," Pearl snarls. She takes two more steps forwards. Slowly, an animal stalking its prey. "I couldn't care less about what happened to the three of you! I've been fine on my own, I'll continue to be fine!"
"If Scott dies, you'll die. You know that, ri–?"
"Of course I know that!" Pearl gets a little closer, her words spitting onto Cleo's face. "God, you really think I'm stupid, huh? Just a dumb little Pearlie in her dumb little tower!"
Cleo stands her ground. Maybe it wasn't smart to – they knew Pearl did not care if she got herself killed whilst attacking somebody. They really should have brought somebody with them.
"I didn't say that," they state plainly, hoping Pearl didn't pick up on how their mask of nonchalance was slowly cracking.
"You meant it," Pearl takes the last step towards Cleo, drawing the pickaxe to their throat. Cleo instinctively throws their hands up, a desperate attempt at mercy. "This is your last warning. I do not want to be friends."
Of all the things Cleo was expecting to happen from this talk, saving Pearl from certain death was not one of them.
Deep down, she knew she was saving Scott. Any mercy she extended to Pearl was simply because of her soulmate – Cleo was allies with one and enemies with the other. That dynamic was a little hard to balance at times.
And still, here Cleo was, running from a group of red names with Pearl's wrist tight in their grip. They refused to allow her to face the danger head-on, because that would only injure Scott. Dragging her along like this was their only option in keeping their chosen soulmate safe.
Cleo didn't know what to do but run and hope they don't lose grasp of Pearl. Less reds were after them, but from a quick glance behind their shoulder, there were at least three still chasing them – they were still outnumbered.
Every footstep only made Cleo's hunger go down and Pearl's want to pull away go up. Any second, Pearl would snap out of whatever was making her follow Cleo's orders and charge right into some bloodthirsty red names. Cleo pulls Pearl into Scar and Grian's abandoned base.
"What are you doing–"
Cleo cuts Pearl off with a shush, closing a door behind them. Their back falls against the door, and they slowly slide down.
"Can you calm down for once?" Cleo groans, rustling around their inventory for something to eat. "Don't you understand that if you keep this up, you'll get both of us killed?"
"I wouldn't mind that," Pearl murmurs, but falls to the floor anyway.
Cleo rolls their eyes, mouth half-stuffed with a slice of bread.
"Why do you hate me so much anyway? Was your first impression of me that bad?"
Pearl looks away from Cleo. Cleo doesn't do anything but look at Pearl.
"It was," Pearl lands on. She finally meets Cleo's eyes. "It was really bad."
Silence falls, the uncomfortable kind that dug itself under your skin. Cleo shifted where they sat, unable to sit in that shame.
"Do you know how humiliating it is-" Pearl continues "-for everybody around you to know you as the one person without a soulmate?"
"Martyn didn't have one either," Cleo chimes in.
"But you two made amends! I'm still the crazy lady nobody wants!"
Cleo looks to their hands, "that sounds pretty shitty, yeah."
Pearl chuckles sadly, hand clutching her chest, "do you think I want to be like this? So crazy I scare off everyone around me?" She looks down to her trembling hand. "It's so much easier to hate everyone around me than to risk that heartbreak again."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sure you are!" Pearl's head shoots up, staring daggers into Cleo's eyes. "You caused me to be like this!"
"I know," they say plainly, guilt creeping into their voice. "And I'm sorry."
Pearl scoffs. "I wouldn't have forgiven you when you got me into this mess, what makes you think I'd forgive you now?"
"I'm not looking for forgiveness. I'm just…" Cleo sighs. "Sorry."