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

Chapter Fourteen: The Monsters We Need Protection From

This is posted early since the last chapter was so short, yay!

Grian found Scar in the panda sanctuary. He was leaning on one of the pandas, his face buried in its fur.

"Scar."

His head snapped up. "Oh. Hi."

There were tears on his face, and Grian wanted to kill whoever had caused that, but it was almost certainly him.

The best he could do was fix it.

Business first, the stuff he could do well, and then what he wasn't sure about.

A quick glance around revealed that this was the place in the panda sanctuary that had no cameras. "Pearl invited me to her revolution." He pulled out the armband and held it out to Scar. "She said to give this to you. Anyone wearing one is a part of it."

"Thanks." Scar took the armband and looked away.

There were a few seconds of silence while Grian tried to figure out what to say.

"Are you just gonna stand there or is there something you want?" Scar glared at Grian.

Grian took a breath. "I'm sorry, Scar."

"For what?"

"What I said. About not caring, and this being a game."

"No, don't be sorry about that." Scar sighed. "I asked a question, and you gave an honest answer."

"No, Scar! That was a brutal way of telling you, even if it was true - which it wasn't," Grian didn't let Scar get in a word before continuing. "Scar, did you let me kill you in Third Life? Be honest."

"I... I mean, you probably would've killed me either way, but..." Scar looked at Grian. "I didn't really fight back much other than to keep up appearances... I offered to just let you kill me, did you really think I was going to try to kill you? You deserved the win, and... I loved you, Grian. I told you that. Did you really think I was going to kill the man I loved?"

"Did you think I wanted to kill the man I loved?"

"What?"

"I loved - love you, Scar. I would rather you hated me than sacrificed the protection of being a champion. And if I'm honest, I also don't want to kill you again. I already killed you once... So I lied. I tried to make you hate me. I stole from you and ditched you in Last Life, I went behind your back with BigB, I told you it had all been a game. It hurt to hurt you, but it seemed necessary at the time, it seemed like the best choice. I don't think it was.

"I'm sorry, Scar."

"Oh. Grian, you... you should have just told me..."

"Would that have changed anything? Would you have fought me, killed me? Would you have been willing to let me die instead of you?"

"No, I'd never kill you, but we could have done something else, being killed isn't the only way to die-"

"Would the Lords be satisfied with that?"

"They wouldn't, would they?" Scar's shoulders slumped, then he perked up a bit. "But we don't have to worry about that anymore, not with Pearl's revolution."

"Yeah. We're either going to beat the Lords, or die for trying."

"Has Pearl said anything about how we're gonna beat the Lords? Are we just gonna... kill them? We don't have much of a plan..." Scar said.

"I have some... colleagues, who could help." They would help. Grian had proof of what the Lords were doing, and it was their job to deal with evils of their kind. "But first, I need to get out of here. They live outside the Border Woods."

"You know people who live outside the Border Woods?" Scar looked taken aback.

"I was born outside the Border Woods. It's different out there. Better. Not perfect, but better."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If this revolution goes well, maybe we can be like that."

"Maybe."

~*~

"What revolution?"

Pearl spun around, almost tripping over her own feet in the process, and saw Cleo step out from behind a wall.

"Nothing! No revolution, what are you talking about?" Pearl squawked.

Cleo just crossed her arms and glared.

Pearl turned to Scott. "Do we trust her?"

"No one in this Game is rich enough to be happy about this," he said.

Pearl nodded and turned back to Cleo. "I'm starting a revolution. We're going to take down the Lords and the Game. Joel, Etho, Grian, Scar, and, most recently, Scott, have all joined."

"Take down the L- Are you mad?"

"No, I'm tired. I'm tired. Tired of the pain, of the exploitation, of everything! I've spent time with Grian - did you know he used to live outside the Border Woods? He's told me that life's better out there. Better, where the monsters supposedly live. I've begun to wonder if the monsters we need protection from aren't whatever's out there, but the Lords."

"How? How do you plan to do this?"

"I need to know who's all on my side, what I have to work with, before I can make much of a plan. Are you on that list?"

"If you can't come up with a plan, can't get enough people on your side... Will I be able to go back to how I was before? Will we all be implicated and killed?"

"No. All talk of the revolution has been done out of view of the cameras, so the Lords shouldn't know about it. And, if they somehow find out and kill us all, that would totally mess up their Games. Two-thirds of the possible contestants would be dead, and they'd have to either deal with a smaller Game or somehow get a bunch more people to sign up."

"How confident are you that we can do something?"

"Pretty darn confident. All of us - even Jimmy - are better fighters than the average person, and beloved by the people. We could gather an army and storm the Lords' stronghold, then kill them. And, if not, we run. We can survive crossing the Border Woods. We can go through and get to the other side, and live there. We get free from the Lords, or we die trying." Pearl reached out a hand. "So. Are you with us?"

"We can make a difference here, can't we? We can do something and be remembered. Whether as those who freed the people from oppression, or as a cautionary tale of what happens when you fight the Lords remains to be seen." Cleo smiled and clasped Pearl's arm. "I'm in."

Pearl reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out an armband. "This is the symbol of the revolution. If you get people to join in, copy it and give one to them. If you see someone with it, then another member has spoken to them. Don't talk about the revolution unless you're certain there are no cameras. Alright?"

"Alright." Scott and Cleo nodded.

"Gatekeep the resources," Scott began.

"Gaslight your enemies," Cleo continued.

"And Girlboss by winning." Pearl smiled.

It was good to be back.