~Scott~

"—welcoming King Andrew, King Jesse and Princess Pearl." 

I fidgeted in my spot, twisting my rings around in my sweat-glazed palms as Maddie loudly called out the names of our visitors. The doors to the throne room slowly creaked open, pulled by two members of the àraid, leaning back to put their weight onto the handles to drag them out from their closed state (they didn't have the cool, fancy, door-opening magic the royal family had, unfortunately). A dozen more of the crown guard lined the carpet leading up to the dais we were stood in front of, the dais the five thrones were seated upon.

Xornoth nudged my shoulder gently, upper arm brushing my own. I forced myself not to flinch. I could still feel the cold of the lower dungeon-like halls, the bubbling feeling of unease that something was out of place. Like a puzzle piece askew, forced into its slot the wrong way. 

Because my mother was here now, stood next to Rohan and in a gown of blue and gold, like she had never come to visit me earlier this afternoon. It only added to the confusion. But I couldn't speak to her right now, not in front of everyone. Besides...she wouldn't even look at me.

The last thing I wanted to do right now was present myself in front of the royals. 

Oh right. And Pearl's family. 

The first to enter were two men. The taller had light brunet hair that could have been mistaken for gold in the evening sun that was streaming through the large floor to ceiling arched windows on either side of the hall. His blue eyes twinkled with a sort of mischievous confidence that I recognized well. Like if challenged he could most certainly hogtie your ankles and wrists together and hang you from the ceiling like a Lost Empirian Wedding Piñata. Set on his head was a wreath of sunflowers, each petal crafted from the thinnest sheet of metal and jewels. King Andrew. One of Pearl's dads. 

I remembered him vaguely; I had only seen him once or twice. Before he was killed in the Fret Wildfire of 10,012, a year before my own parents met their fate. 

Pandora gave him a rather...odd look. Like she had been expecting something else, lips pursed.

Next to the King was his husband, Jesse. His brown beard was flecked with streaks of grey, small crinkles around his brown eyes giving the impression that he smiled a lot. He wore a simple golden circlet over his forehead, the image of a sunflower like those Andrew wore burned into the center. 

And following them was their daughter. 

Pearl stepped into the room, chin held high, just as I remembered her (although it had only been a couple of weeks since I had last seen her). Her hair was pulled up at the crown of her head, the ponytail loose to let cascades of brunette hair and blonde highlights fall down her back in waves. The edge of her green, flowering dress was pinned up above one of her knees, her leather-brown boots covered in silver buckles and straps. Over her shoulders was a woolen shawl, due to the fact it was early November, embroidered with little images along the edges, just above the tassels. 

Her gaze instantly met mine. 

Her eyes flicked upwards above my head, brow twisting in the vaguest sense of confusion, before to my left and right, at Xornoth and Phoenix.

That's when she really looked startled.

I resisted the urge to follow her line of sight towards my siblings, watching as her eyes widened in quickly hidden shock. Her eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline. 

I raised one of my own, tightening my fingers on one another, my hands folded in front of me. But she was too far away for me to question her. 

As soon as I glanced away, towards my father beginning to approach Andrew, I caught her glare out of the corner of my eye. 

Rohan towered over the King of Gilded Helianthia, but the man's expression didn't waver much. "Thank you for inviting us to the mountains." He smiled, holding out a tanned and calloused hand for my father to shake. "We're very excited to see about this alliance. I believe it would be amazing for both our kingdoms." 

Rohan's hands remained clasped tightly behind his back, making no effort to meet King Andrew's. "It's a pleasure to have you." He replied in that stiff version of his voice, used whenever he spoke Grimmish. A forced compliment. But King Andrew showed no sign of noticing this, introducing Jesse quickly, before starting on discussing trade routes. 

"Come, come." Maddie said under her breath, beginning to usher me, Xornoth and Phoenix out the door. Per usual, we were just meant to appear for a few moments, do a couple fancy bows, and then leave the grown-ups to do all the "adulting" (I mean come on, I'm nearly twenty-three). 

I thought we were going to be a part of this meaning, but considering how yesterday's went, I'm not surprised we weren't. 

Maddie forced us out the door. My ears twitched, a jolt of fleeting panic shooting up my spine as Maddie whispered in my ear something along the lines of going to the lounge while our parents discussed the alliance, in case we were to be called again. 

"You're being very jumpy Scott, something the matter?" Xornoth leaned in to also whisper to me as we hurried down the hallway towards the rarely used living room, just quiet enough so that Phoenix couldn't hear him.

"Fine," I replied under my breath, speeding up. 

We walked the rest of the short distance in silence. I pulled at the edge of my robes, ruffling the perfect folds. I was sweating beneath all my layers, feeling the cloth stick to my skin. My breaths kept catching on something building in my throat. Nerves. 

As soon as Phoenix pushed open the dark-stained wooden door to the living room, I collapsed down onto one of the velvet sofas, sinking back into the cushions with a deep sigh. 

I had closed my eyes, but they shot back open as soon as I heard Phoenix reiterate my exclamation dramatically, just in time to see her flop onto the couch opposite. I gave her a look, before glaring at my brother at his snicker. "Well don't encourage her—" I started, scrunching my nose.

"Encourage what?" Phoenix's voice was muffled for a moment as she lifted her head, wearing a crooked grin. A few pieces of her bangs had frizzed up from pressing her face against the velvet, glasses awry. 

Gods, that smile was so similar yet so different from hers... but she was missing that odd little chip in her tooth that Erin loved to sport. 

I rolled my eyes, shifting to lay my head on the armrest. 

Xornoth just sat on the coffee table, ignoring the perfectly good armchair a few feet away, closer to the roaring fireplace. "So, what do we do while we wait? They probably won't need us." They asked, kicking their feet back and forth before sitting crisscross. 

"Dunno." I shrugged, closing my eyes again. " 'm going to take a nap though."

Phoenix snorted. "Don't let mother, father or Madeli catch youuu~" She sing-songed, a pillow landing on my stomach a second later. 

"HEY—" I rocketed upwards to launch the pillow back, but to our misfortune, the door swung open mid-throw.

Pearl stood in the doorway, sticking her head inside just in time to watch Phoenix get hit square in the face by the pillow.

"SCOTT—" She screeched, only to freeze, face flushing bright red with embarrassment as soon as she too noticed Pearl, the pillow and her glasses falling down into her lap.

Pearl's eyebrows raised as she glanced over us. Imagine having just stepped out of the throne room only to find the three royal children frazzled and in the middle of a one-way pillow fight. "What on Empiria...?" 

"Uhhh—" Xornoth started, glancing at both me and our sister desperately from the coffee table with a very clear 'what do we do?!' expression. 

"What are you doing here?" I asked instead, sitting up and trying to save this interaction because clearly my siblings were useless at communication. 

"They didn't need me." Pearl shrugged, pulling her gaze from Phoenix as she leaned against the doorframe, crossing her arms over her chest. "Got bored."

Xornoth pressed his lips into a line, nodding the slightest. "Nice?"

"Mmmmhm." She exclaimed, eyes lingering on my brother for a few moments, narrowing. That was before she walked over, dropping down onto the couch beside me and kicking her legs up onto the coffee table behind where Xornoth was sitting. 

I blinked. "Hi."

"Hi." Pearl replied, slouching back into the cushions, looking me up and down. "What?" she asked, sun kissed and freckled nose wrinkling. 

"Nothing!" I insisted, the room filled with an incredibly awkward air. Xornoth slowly stood up, sitting down on the couch across from us, next to Phoenix, who was cleaning her glasses with the edge of her sleeve.

"..."

"Well," Pearl began, glancing between me and my siblings. "Are we going to do anything or just sit here?"

"What is there to do...?" Xornoth asked slowly, tucking a loose curl of magenta behind one of his ears. 

"I don't know. Card games? Extravagant duels? Do you not have a weaponry room for that?" 

"We do—" Phoenix perked up. "Isn't used often, though." 

Pearl blinked. "It's not?"

"No? There's no need for it." Xornoth replied, still tense from Pearl's sudden entrance. 

"I'd expect you and Erin to be in there all the time though?" Pearl said, tilting her head the slightest.

I froze. What did she just say.

"Who?" Xornoth questioned, glancing over towards Phoenix as Pearl turned to look at her, something flickering behind the Helianthian's eyes. Something like realization.

Phoenix's own eyes narrowed. "Okay, both you and Scott have called me that. Who the hell is she?" She demanded, pointing an accusing finger towards me. 

I was too stunned to speak, lips parted in surprise.

Pearl knew.

She knew.

How?

"Well—" Pearl spluttered, looking over towards me. I met her eyes. The look behind them was clear, a look of bewilderment and hesitation trickling behind the blue of her irises. 

Phoenix suddenly gasped, and my head snapped back towards her at the noise. "Scott, do you have a secret girlfriend or something that you didn't tell me about?!" She demanded, looking both offended and betrayed.

I did NOT expect that to come out of her mouth.

My gods did I not expect that.

I couldn't even work out any of my inner dialogue. It was all a jumbled mess. How in Verian's name was I supposed to answer that question? 

But to my ultimate misfortune, Pearl broke in and answered for me. "Wait— but aren't you gay?" She questioned, giving me a look.

I was absolutely mortified. 

"Excuse me?" Xornoth exclaimed, looking dumbfounded as he stared at the both of us. 

By Pearl's expression she instantly knew she had fucked up. 

"I—" I stammered, my heart screaming from inside my chest as I met my siblings' eyes. Oh my gods I was in deep shit. 

"What!?" Phoenix half-shrieked. "You're—"

"You know what Pearl, let me show you that weaponry." I said, speaking so quickly there were no spaces between my words. I shot to my feet, grabbing Pearl by the arm and yanking her up and off the couch.

"Scott you can't just—" Xornoth started. But me and Pearl were already out of the room, the door slamming shut to cut him off. 

Neither I nor Pearl said a word as I dragged her down the hallway, in the opposite direction of the throne room towards the back of the palace. "What are you doing?" I hissed as soon as we were far enough away, grabbing Pearl's shoulder and shoving her around to face me. 

"What are you doing?!" She countered, jabbing a finger into my collarbone. "What the hell is happening??" She snapped under her breath. "I come here expecting to get answers and find this?"

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, curiosity clawing at my throat. I had to force myself to keep my voice down. 

"I knew as soon as I saw my dad that something was wrong," Pearl whispered. "And now you're all wrong too. I know you know what's happening."

I swallowed, recognizing the anger trying to disguise the fear in her eyes. 

She knew who Erin was. 

She knew Andrew was supposed to be dead.

She knew I was masquerading, an imperfect person stuck in a perfect world.

There was only one explanation. 

"You died too." 

"What?" Pearl's eyebrows raised into her bangs. 

"You died too," I repeated, loosening my grip on her shoulders. "You must have. No one else has noticed that things have changed. What do you remember? Before things on your end went...weird." 

Pearl blinked, a frown evident on her face for just a moment. "There was a fire..." she started after several seconds of thinking, brow furrowing. "I was with Sausage; we had just left the meeting. Something had gone wrong in Eastvale. I burned. And then I woke up." 

"The Rune Blade really did go overboard." I muttered. This was my Pearl. Not this world's. Did it drag her here too—?

"So I did die. It wasn't a dream." Pearl said, eyes narrowing the slightest. Not in an accusatory way, more of a narrow of realization. "What about you? You said, "died too". Did you also—?"

I nodded. "I did."

"Then why are we here?"

"Well, uh— I may have stabbed myself with a magic sword that sucked us into an alternate reality—" 

"You what." Pearl's voice hitched, eyes going wide. 

"It's a long story." I added. 

"Clearly." She replied, lips slightly parted. "You're an idiot."

I gave her a look. "You just realized?" I deadpanned. 

Pearl rolled her eyes. "So, what about your siblings...?"

"Dead too. Why they don't remember, I have no clue." I mumbled, finally letting go of Pearl's shoulders and taking a small step backwards.

"Erin died?" Pearl asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow again. 

I let loose a dry laugh. "Yeah, who woulda thought..." 

She swallowed, all the doubt fading from her expression. "How?"

"Xornoth thought it'd be fun to turn her into a toasted marshmallow." 

Pearl's eyebrow raised even higher. "Are you trying to make this funny?" 

"...No." I mumbled, glancing towards the floor to avoid her eyes. There was a subtle pang in my chest. Guilt. 

"You have some odd coping mechanisms, Scott." She frowned.

"I'm very aware." I replied bitterly. 

There was a moment of silence, before Pearl spoke again. "So? What's the genius plan to get her back?"

I blinked, taken aback. "What?"

"What do you mean what? You literally went to jail and fought a god and a war for that kid. You can't be giving up on her now this easily. 'Cause clearly this "Phoenix" is not her, and it is very unsettling seeing Erin's counterpart being polite." 

Pearl's words were like a punch to the gut. 

"I—"

"You what? Do I really have to be the voice of reason here, Scott?" Pearl demanded, hands now on her hips as she glared at me. 

"Where would we even start, Pearl?" I asked, letting a sigh slip. 

"Have you even tried looking yet? Have you tried talking to her and trying to, I don't know, wedge a couple memories loose? Maybe the library has a spell or someth—"

I stopped her. "The what?"

"The library? You know, the one you found the spell to defeat Xornoth with? The elven one?" Pearl suggested, shrugging her shoulders.

A skull-crushing weight seemed to explode in the back of my mind. 

Vague, brief memories from the night before flickered like the beginnings of a fire. Get to the library. 

"I have to go—" I said, feeling a small line of sweat along my hairline. "Now."

"See, I'm always right." Pearl replied smugly, unaware that she had just jumpstarted my forgotten memories of my sister's instructions. 

I ignored her. 

I ripped off the heavy layers of my royal robes from around my shoulders and arms, leaving me in the thin white undershirt that bunched up around my wrists, slitting and laced at the collar.

I shoved the mass of navy blue and gold into Pearl's arms, wings ruffling and stretching behind me, leaving a few feathers behind.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Pearl asked, scrunching her nose as she adjusted the formal wear in her arms. 

"I don't know, burn it." I said, glancing over my shoulder as I heard Xornoth's voice calling for us down the hall. "Distract them in the weaponry, don't let them know where I've gone—"

"Distract them how?" Pearl peered over the mass of cloth in her arms, albeit very expensive cloth, with a repulsed and wrinkled frown. 

"Whatever you want, challenge one of them to a duel or something." 

That brought a grin to the Helianthian's face. "You got it, pointy ears." 

I didn't have the time to be irritated with the nickname. "I'll be back soon."

"Good luck—" I was out the door before Pearl could finish.

Gods, I hope I wasn't too late. Erin's going to kill me.

***

P e a r l 

I totally don't have anything planned *blinks innocently*

Totally

Most definitely totally

Anyways sEE YA-  (comments, feedback and votes are appreciated!)