Not My Pyre (A Pearl-Centric Double Life FanFic)

Chapter Five: Something Wicked

Pearl had decided to take Joel's advice. Not on staying quiet about injustice, but about reaching out and asking for alliances.

"Do you think they'll accept me?" Pearl asked Tilly as the two of them looked out at the Box.

Tilly barked.

Pearl sighed. "I guess there's only one way to find out..."

~*~

"The Red Winter / Red King thing was really cool to see, you know." Pearl said.

It turned out that Joel was right, and she just needed to ask to get an alliance. Ren and BigB had decided to give their Box a face, so she was helping with that.

"Oh, thank you! I put a lot of effort into it!" Ren smiled at her from the top of the ladder as he put some blocks down. They were currently working on the mouth and it was terrifying. Pearl was holding the ladder in place.

"Why did you do it, though? You lost a life unnecessarily."

"I knew dying wouldn't be permanent, I just might end up out of the Game early, and the drama and flair made the people love me. I got rewarded for the extra revenue the story gave the Game."

"Do you think I could do something like that?" Pearl asked.

"Depends on if the people like it. Course, the whole dramatic monarchy is kind of my thing at the moment, because of the Red King and the Shadow Queen, so you can't use that. And... The reward isn't actually extra pay, so if that's what you're after, this isn't the way to go."

Pearl tilted her head. "What is the reward, then?"

"Safety for my family. They... may or may not have been having some legal troubles at the time, and the Games protected them from the false accusations."

"Oh... That makes sense." Depending on who was accusing them, it could be completely impossible to protect them from a life - or even death - sentence.

"It was quite fun, though. Being a crazy king with several - Crap!" Ren jerked and almost fell off the ladder.

"What?" Pearl asked, clutching the ladder a little tighter.

"I looked at an-"

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

A figure with limbs inhumanly long and a dislocated jaw appeared in a puff of purple smoke.

"Ren!" BigB dropped the materials he had been grabbing for the Box and drew his sword, running to his soulbound's aid.

The enderman slashed at Ren with its dark claws, and Pearl drew her axe, diamond blade glittering in the sunlight. She didn't have a boat, so this was the next best option.

She lept and brought down her axe on the enderman's head, only for it to vanish and reappear three blocks away - right next to BigB, who managed to score a hit, drawing its ire away from Ren.

It teleported back next to her and she reacted quickly. As she brought her axe down on its head, she felt her heel catch on something. The ladder.

Ren cried out as it was knocked out from under him and the enderman lashed out at BigB again.

"BigB was slain by an enderman. Ren fell off a ladder." The announcer's voice echoed around the arena.

Pearl dealt one final blow to the enderman and turned to the entrance of the Box, where its owners were emerging.

"You!" Ren cried. Hm. Maybe he wasn't very happy about her knocking over the ladder. "There's something wicked about you!"

"I- Sorry about the ladder, I was trying to kill the enderman!"

"No! Doom and misfortune follow you, and we don't need that here! Leave!"

"I-"

"Leave!"

Pearl left.

~*~

Pearl sought solitude, and had found it. Just her, and Tilly, sitting in a grove of trees not too far from her base - or the Red Velvet Keep. She was trying not to cry - first Scott and Cleo abandon her, then Martyn, now this? It wasn't fair.

The solitude she found did not last long. Someone came darting through the bush, seemingly trying to move quietly.

"Grian? Why are you here? Are you going to turn your back on me, too?"

"I- What? No!" Grian looked confused. "Pearl, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing! Why are you here?" Pearl panicked - she didn't want him to recognise her moment of weakness - and tried to change the subject.

"Hiding from Scar. He wants to move the pandas into the Spikey Fort, even though I've said no at least four times. Now what's wrong, Pearl? It's obvious that something's upset you."

"It's nothing. I'm fine." Pearl growled.

"Pearl." Grian crossed his arms.

"It's nothing!" Pearl... kinda wanted to tell him.

"You are crying in the middle of the woods. It's not nothing. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine, but do something about whatever's upsetting you. Kill it, or write them in your list for when you're Red. Maybe solve the problem. Just do something."

"But I don't know why it's happening..." Pearl whispered.

"Then tell me... Maybe I can figure it out." Grian sat down next to her.

"I... It's a long story..." Pearl wrapped her arms around herself.

"I need an excuse to hide from Scar for longer." Grian shrugged.

"Okay. So, uh, you know what happened with Scott and Cleo and Martyn?"

Grian nodded.

"Well, I was talking with Joel earlier about my... Lack of alliances. He told me that maybe I should ask if anyone is willing to ally with me. So I did. I went to Ren and BigB, but then an enderman attacked. I accidently knocked over the ladder Ren was standing on, and they died. They kinda think I'm a bad luck charm now, and I can't ally with them. That's five of the thirteen people who won't ally with me. Maybe I am a bad luck charm. Like, Scott barely had a reason to ditch me, and we had been friends in Last Life, but he still did it! But is it bad luck, or is there something wrong with me? What did I do?"

"Maybe you did nothing, and don't have bad luck," Grian suggested. "Maybe... Maybe Scott's in a similar situation to me. I don't want to be bound to Scar because I don't want to hurt him or have him die on me. Maybe Scott doesn't want to have to kill you to win, since you were friends in Last Life."

"I... Maybe. Maybe." Pearl took some small comfort in his words. "Thank you, Grian." Pearl got up, brushed herself off, and walked away.