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Pearl sits, Grian’s head on her shoulder. Her wings are wrapped around him. There’s a world of stars around them, swirling, never staying in one place. They dance and sing in a wonderful tone, voices lulling her into an almost sleep, but never truly asleep. No, she’ll never take her focus away from the star in her lap. Her Sun. Her Grian. Safe. Finally safe.
They’re safe now. The stars protect them. This peace is nothing like Pearl’s ever known in her life. It’s loving, caring, kind, and calm. She can’t explain it. She doesn’t want to. She just wants to stay here, in this inexplicable bliss. All the fear and the worry is gone now. It’s just love. Pearl only feels love now.
Grian looks up at her, purple in his eyes. It’s all purple. Purple is a beautiful color, isn’t it? So beautiful. Gorgeous. His eyes were never purple before, but that doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing matters now. Just the peace. Just Grian.
“I’ve been here before.” He says. “When I died.” That was a stressful moment. A stressful time. It’s like a little tiny crack in the wonderful stained glass painting that is her life. That’s okay though, it’s still a wonderful thing. It’s still a wonderful creation that let her find Grian again and again and once more here.
She shushes him. There’s time for talking later, for now, just peace. He laughs. It sounds melodical. “It’s nice here, isn’t it?”
Pearl nods her head in agreement. There’s only really one thing she wonders. “Who do you think they are?”
The eyes watching them blink lazily, unfazed by her comment. She doesn’t mind them, not at all. She loves them, just as they love her. Pearl doesn’t know how she knows that. Does it matter if the love is there? It wouldn’t make her feel any different. She just wants to know who they are.
“I don’t think it’s time to know that just yet.” Grian answers. That’s okay. Her curiosity is annoying, it’s bugging at her brain. Another crack in the glass. It’s still wonderful, it doesn’t matter.
Pearl closes her eyes, feeling absolute peace. “Don’t go to sleep. This is important.”
“Can’t it wait Grian?” Pearl asks, opening her eyes again. She’d only just closed them, but it felt like she was asleep for a long, long time. “I don’t want this moment to end. We’ve finally found out what peaceful feels like. It feels wonderful.”
Grian sits up, shaking his head. “All good things must come to an end, don’t you know that saying?”
“No. Yes.” She answers. “I know it, but they don’t. It doesn’t have to end.”
“The peace will come back eventually.” He teases, poking her in the arm. “You don’t gotta mope about it.” Pearl retaliates with a poke of her own, and he exaggerates falling back on the floor. For a moment, Pearl can remember a loud bang, and Grian lying flat on the floor. The burning. The pain. The embers. The crackling of glass as the crack grows larger. Pearl can see it now. It’s beautiful and imperfect. Her perfect mural.
She shakes away the image. No, he was laying in the grass. Wind was blowing all around, it was blowing in her ears. The grass was moving, surrounding them. Red rose petals were floating about like sparks. It was nice. It wasn’t bad.
Grian gets back up. “You know, they’re celebrating you back there. You were a hero.”
“So were you.” Pearl says quickly. “More so than me.”
“Thank you.” Grian smiles. “But you know that isn’t true.”
Protests die on Pearl’s tongue. Yes. She does. She knows it was a lie.
She can’t really look without seeing the imperfect, thin, white lines spreading across like lightning. The mural of her life. Her stained glass painting. Her everything.
“I got a chance a while back, and now it’s yours.” To be celebrated? No. He was hated. By everyone. Even Pearl, back when they weren’t Grian and Pearl again. When they were Xelqua and Moon.
Pearl watches as Grian stands up, eyes shimmering. He looks so happy. Why would Pearl ever think of back there where his eyes only ever shimmered with hurt? “Grian.”
She says, tears suddenly welling up in her eyes. Why? Why would she cry? They’re perfectly happy. Perfectly calm. Perfectly perfect.
There’s another crack.
“You know why I chose the name Moon?” Pearl asks. He doesn’t know. How could he know? Pearl’s never told anyone this, not even Xisuma.
He shakes his head. “Because you were my Sun. Without me, you’re everything.” She stands up. “Without you, I’m nothing.”
Grian laughs. She isn’t joking, but his laugh is beautiful anyway. “Oh Pearl. You have it all the wrong way around.”
“Don’t you know how powerful the Moon is?” Grian asks. It doesn’t do much. Not like the Sun. “The Moon controls the tides and the night sky. The Moon has a picture, a story in it every night. The Moon brings light into the darkest times where the Sun just can’t reach.”
The tears are falling out of Pearl’s eyes now. She can see through the cracks, see something behind. Something she didn’t wanna see. “Grian. Please.” She isn’t really sure what she’s begging for. Just a thought. Just a feeling.
Just another moment.
Just one.
“We always talked about being heroes together.” Grian says. He looks so calm. He looks so content. He can see the whole picture. He’s always seen the whole picture, where Pearl just sees a small part. She sees the cracks. She sees the flaws. She sees what’s behind. “We did it for a moment there. We made it.”
“We did.” Her voice breaks. It’s breaking. The glass is breaking.
He tilts his head to smile, like he does when he’s confused. “I see it now, Pearl. I see it all. Back then I couldn’t, but I see it all now. It’s so clear.” Pearl can’t. She can’t see what’s going on.
Pearl walks over and embraces Grian in a hug. “I love you.”
“I love you too Pearl.” He returns the hug, but then shifts away. He doesn’t quite pull away, but he isn’t hugging her back. “Now go be a hero for me.”
Pearl screams, but her voice is drowned out by the shattering of glass, her perfect painting broken apart as Grian pushes, and she falls back into the dark, dark purple void.