Work Text:
Pearl stared at her hands once again, they were not pale as chalk anymore… She was back at the obelisk, alone and without any stuff to her name and only some thing in her bag as well as with the memories of the life she had lived before. Still, maybe this time it would be different, not that she thought the ending her and Cleo had was not enough, but there was still a lot of room to improve around the ending of Oakhurst. And now she even knew them more than before, there was no way that she would think of leaving so many of her friends behind even as little as she knew a couple of them.
And well, meeting everyone again was just like the first time, and although Pearl made a point to try acting as she had the first time. It was hard to do so when being met face to face with the likes of Scott or Owen. But definitely what makes it more than hard to keep the pretence of ignorance of what their future holds is seeing Legundo as well as Avid who she knew both died by the errors they all made here.
The thing is, curiously, when she and Cleo met, it is nothing like the first time or like meeting the others for a second time has been like; it's almost as if they both remember what their life was like, what dying side by side was like, and Pearl kind of loves that. And which is why Pearl is not surprised to be invited inside Cleo's base this time around, to be invited to live together, even when back then it had been a mere coincidence it now feels as a connection that's weaved between them across time. Even so, it is in the cover of night that they tell each other all that they remember to plan ahead on the way to make this time worth the try that the universe seems to have given them.
Days go by, people get turned because not even Pearl and Cleo can know everything that will happen which is why in the end Cleo still gets turned even when they both had wanted to prevent such a fate; Pearl is of course still supportive of them and even offers to get bitten right away, but Cleo reminds her of how in case everything goes exactly as the first time that she must be the last human to stand to turn everyone that desires back into a human. Pearl doesn't like the fact but there is nothing much she can do about it, not for now at least.
For a moment they rest, as the tensions keep rising and as they are aware, the scales will start to move in complete chaos anytime soon and that the ones who will suffer the most would be the humans. Cleo is the one who suggests getting lost in the woods which is why they find a moment of peace to share between them. Is strange how even as people who lived together until eternity this still feels as fascinating as the first time had; the coyness and the hesitation to show their love is very different, not as new as it had once been so long ago in a time that doesn't anymore, but it's also not a love that's been cultivated by years. It's something different, something new, and it may be just a nice enough thing to have.
Pearl asks the question that's been bothering her the most: “Why is it that only we remember everything?” While Cleo doesn't seem to have a clear enough answer for so, they do seem to have a thought that may be their answer too. “Maybe because our souls are tied together in such a way that this is not a new chance at mending our errors, but a chance to love again as different people” If that thought is true or not only time would tell for it would too eventually get lost in memory and only be partially remembered by the both of them as a hypothesis of their reason to be alive again.
Eventually, when the flames grow too strong and once Oakhurst start to destroy itself from the interior, they both realize that even as much as they wish for this time to go different, is not on their power to do such a thing and as hard as they may try to keep everyone alive, Fate seems to have an expiration date to every single one of them, which doesn't help to make any clearer as to what their real reason to be here is about. Pearl still keeps hope, even as much as she won't say it out loud, that maybe this time Martyn doesn't die and that they are not once again forced to kill Legundo so everyone else that wishes to be turned back can leave.
It's not enough, even as with the most hope everything is still the same, people died and people live, and Cleo and Pearl are the last inhabitants of the town that was known as Oakhurst. It is sad but even they are in a way only humans who, as much as they wish, can not control everything that happens.
It feels as if in a blink of an eye she and Cleo are once again enjoying their immortal life, living in the castle by day and living in the forest by night. The novelty of being alive again starts to dull with time and Pearl even starts to forget there was even once a life before the one she currently is in, and the only thing left to remember of such a fact is that rather than Martyn dying while being turn, he died as he and Renhardt tried to fight against the vampires one last time.
Is curious how such a small thing is her only reminder, at the end of the day who is to say that's even the truth? It has been ages since the fact and she swears when the thought torments her at night that is not even understandable for that to be what anchors her to their past life, but it is with may be just the silliest of things to happen this time.
Not that it matters, of course, for more and more decades pass and as the 2000s come around such thoughts of said life are nothing more than legends that live in the local towns mouths. Cleo still points out at the odd time how she doesn't remember a certain fact as it is now and while hesitant Pearl would claim it must just be their old memories bleeding together.
In the end, as she once again dies at Cleo’s side, all that Pearl can imagine is the field of sunflowers planted by their home, hoping to once again be able to see such beauty with her own eyes and to even be able to share such a moment with the love of her life. Even as her life passes through her eyes she thinks that maybe this time they did a lot better than last time, and that maybe just those small moments were why they were sent back.
The world turns white and she hears in the back of her main a voice telling her to make a change to save everyone else, tells her she must find a way before she once again feels as if any way of thought leaves her and she only is now one of the spirits that becomes part of what glory the afterlife gives.
TRY AGAIN?
When Cleo wakes up they instantly know something is wrong, after all, they were not supposed to wake up, yet here they are. She looks all around and finds herself sitting on the side of a road that she knows damn well enough by now. For a moment they think of trying to go away, to defy whatever being that is playing with her and Pearl, but in the end she decides to maybe try for the third time to find a happy ending to what will become just one more massacre in the town of Oakhurst.
Even if only hoping that would finally let them both rest in peace as they so much want to.
Finding Pearl is her next step, ignoring everyone else is maybe a bit too harsh, but Cleo is not known for being nice. Seeing Pearl certainly makes her think for just a second that living a third life at her side wouldn't be that bad, but their logical side insists to point out that as abnormal as vampires are, that waking up back in time is not normal, even for them (even if there sure has been be movies to try to prove them wrong).
Some of the only highlights of starting for a third time, is that Cleo can fix errors that have kept them awake for millenials, just thinking about errors on a build or on a comment they made and how she could have answered or acted. What a stupid thought that is, but that they pull on to it in hope to keep some of their sanity and not think too much of what they have left behind.
Pearl, who is actually a lot more annoyed about their situation than Cleo would have expected, does decide on the spot that they must do something drastic because of how the pattern seems to be going. She doesn't think this would be any different than last time. Cleo understands her points, but it does make them in a strange way try to, for at least a bit, see the good side of this chance that life has given them again.
Even then it is hard to have to live through everything again and to not only see Martyn or Apo suffer at the fact, but to also see their dear Pearl who grows angrier and angrier are having to see their friends suffer too.
Which is the only reason why Cleo is not surprised to see Pearl attack Owen as he comes to mock them once again, as even as nice as she is, when riled up, her internal wolf really comes out. They are not sad to see Owen die but the fact certainly turns the tides very differently and eventually her and Pearl seem forced back into a corner once again trying to be the ones to figure out a way to save everyone else.
Their decisions are harsh but they must try even if not enough, just saving one person more will make this torture that they have been put through be enough.
Pearl is the one that suggests killing Scott now, and hoping for either him or Shelby to turn Cleo so she could be free too and so for the awful third time, they could live into old time and die again at their side. But of course, things don't go as planned. Either because their memories of those events have mashed up together from both cycles they have lived through or for some other reason they end up being captured by the vampires who even as they seem to have disliked Owen enough by now, wanted revenge on his death.
And maybe Cleo is a bit of a coward for saying what she does, but there is not much they can do now and she knows that. “Let them kill us.” She says to Pearl when they are alone, as she holds her close. “In the worst of cases we are punished in the after life for not being able to save everyone and in the worst of cases we wake up again as if anything had happened”
“Is that what all our lives would be like?” Pearl asks, sounding just a bit too sad and heartbroken at the fact.
“Perhaps it is, so?” Cleo turns the dagger she still has hidden in their hair as a hair pin. “Care to follow me into a last act of love?”
They died by each other's side and it is not enough, it seems as nothing would ever be enough for even if they died and died time and time again they will wake up and be met with the start of their path into this world of creatures of night and suffering. Oakhurst is the only stable thing in their life and eventually will only be the fact they both would know as true enough. Though, for this singular moment, they enjoy dying, finding peace and love in the smallest moment; and only every other time they wake up again, do they hope for a better end to what started in Oakhurst on the day that everyone arrived.
And they always say maybe this time would be the one. Just maybe.