Archive of Our Own ^beta

Pearl had gone into this world optimistically. Soulmates seemed like a good idea, as long as you found your soulmate and your soulmate doesn't die before that. She'd been travelling around the world quite happily scaring some and making others laugh.

As time went on and she hadn't found her soulbound she followed Martyn, who for some reason also hadn't found his soulbound, into the nether. Which may not have been the brightest idea now that she was standing in front of her soulbound. In a small clearing with netherrack boxes set up in a way to resemble a game show from a whole different world. Which is how she'd found out Scott of all people was bound to her. Though who you're bound with doesn't seem to matter when you're being called a cheater and you're already fighting your friends. Friends who she shouldn't call friends because previous worlds don't matter here.

"While you didn't go around the server looking for people Cleo and I decided we are actually soul bound to ourselves!" Scott shouts out next to cleo. " We put ourselves out there! We were vulnerable and meeting people while you were off parading in the nether doing your own things, we kept saving you! And if that wasn't bad enough you kept burning!" Scott wasn't done yet but as Martyn retorted "we were fine we had pork chops!" Pearl felt the pain of a goat headbutting her, falling past Scott. He flinched, but he made sure not to show he got hurt. "See? The goat agrees!" Not a single opportunity was lost to Scott to show his anger.

The sound of Martyn and Cleo breaking out into a fight didn't help the other two care nor calm down. Because Scott and Pearl both know they should care for the other. Turns out not finding eachother in a game of death and life on time makes you not care. No girlboss gatekeep gaslight this time. Once someone makes their own decisions they aren't too keen with the universe deciding. No. You should do this. You should care. You should stay with the person decided for you. And they do! They do care! Just not only for the person decided for them.

Scott cares for Cleo he had made that clear and Pearl does care for Martyn. Which makes their division inevitable. "I was gonna say you kept taking damage as well." Pearl couldn't stand there taking all the harmful words her soulmate spewed out at her. "Not nearly as much as you Pearl!" Scott retorted and it was true, fighting blazes was a dangerous, but in this world? Preparedness comes before damage taken.

And that's where the arguement ended, well that's what Pearl thought and hoped. Martyn and Cleo stopped fighting, no longer hurting themselves as well as the other. Scott joined Cleo up on the hill at the side of the clearing. "We're going to leave here. I don't want to humour you but pearl clocked on very quickly when she got hit by a goat." Scott and Cleo were looking down at her, as if she was nothing but an inconvenience like nothing had ever happened before. "Are we not? Are we not going to gaslight gatekeep girlboss?" Pearl was desperate, she'd known the others were angered at her and Martyn but this? This was more than she ever expected to happen. "No pearl, you abandoned us."

"no I didn't abandon you! Martyn asked if I wanted to go to the nether and I said alright let's do it lets go?"

"it was somewhat reluctant on her part." Martyn tried to help. But the situation became clearer with each word spoken while pearl's hope lessened.

"You knew your soulmate was out there!" And she did know she told them she was looking but nothing absolutely nothing would change their minds.

"Goodbye cheaters, we'll see you later. We hate you!" Was one of the last things she'd hear from the two up on the hill. It was her fault for going into the nether. As they left the sound of goat horns could be heard. Pearl and Scott sounded their horns too. Nothing was gained through the use of goat horns except for a feeling of unity and making some people go insane. The sound of goat horns responding was comforting, knowing someone was out there listening even if they're sharing someone else's life.

Pearl and Martyn were left alone in the clearing. Martyn clearing up the netherrack they collected while getting potions supplies. There was no use for it being there except being ugly and as a reminder of having broken bonds. Especially as everyone else seems so content and happy with eachother. Even the ones that died seemingly happy. As happy as you could be in a game of death, life, consequences, betrayal and now love. Pearl had seen Bdubs and Impulse they seemed happy when she and Martyn were bartering with them.

"I feel a little bit demoralised at the moment." Pearl said to Martyn. "Well yeah. But tell you what they're gonna come crawling back to us in a moment of need begging us for food. And who do they want to eat? Us. And we're gonna say sorry we've had everything from the buffet. And now they're hurting one another to hurt us!" Pearl listened heartbroken to Martyn, the one person who she'd been with the entire time.

"Isn't the pain already enough?!"

And to pearl it is. "I've already, I'm- i'm already heartbroken, no gaslight gatekeep girlboss reunion... And then..." She wanted to ask Martyn for something, what he'd wanted and he felt but whatever had happened he too had made up his mind.

"you know? You've got this whole weird vibe going on. I'm an innocent party! I'm leaving. Goodbye!"

Martyn left Pearl. Which hurt more, Scott and her not working together as the universe intended or Martyn leaving after she chose him over her own soulbound pushing the blame on her, she didn't know yet. She was standing where she got left behind twice. Baffled and confused by the happenings of that day. Alone, not by choice like Martyn but because the world said so. Alone unlike all the others she'd met. Alone, but still having to care for the person she had split with on uneasy terms.

Everything that had happened had shown that she had no control in this world. Previous worlds and bonds don't matter however much you want them to. That's what the world had shown.

In this game there is no control.