Love Like You (A Pearl x Reader) (Sequel to 'SEN')

Act 8: Her Anticipation

     You could hear voices calling your name as your body slowly began to regain its health. Your heavy eyelids prevented you from opening your eyes, though you forced yourself to snap them open, the blurry and bright surroundings making you blink excessively and provoke you a stinging headache.

     The sound of something solid making an impact with the ground made your eyes snap open entirely, permitting you to witness the main cause of your supernatural experience. The moss flower's petals were no longer existent; the only thing that remained was its rosy and inactive gemstone.

     Not too aware of the things that surrounded you due to your bafflement, you muttered a quick apology after bumping with what you could identify as someone's hand while in the process of reaching out for the gemstone. The hand, however, wrapped itself carefully around your arm and prevented you from touching the item. You could hear a distant voice say something regarding on how dangerous this was, yet you couldn't make out the mood of the person's tone neither to whom it belonged to.

     You were in what appeared to be a dream-like state; you could see the gemstone that lay lifeless on the verdurous floor and nature sway violently with the winds, but those who had accompanied you towards the hills weren't visible to your eyesight. You could see the hand that grasped your arm, yet you couldn't see the owner's face. All you could see was a blinding light beyond the hand that loosened its grasp over your arm. The abstruse experience was beginning to make you fearful over the possible loss over your life or, perhaps, by the fact that you could now be having a nightmare difficult to snap out of.

     "(Y/N)!" You could hear a voice call your name, the shouts becoming louder and voice becoming more identifiable the more time passed by. "(Y/N). . . Wake up!" It took you approximately five more calls to completely capture your barely conscious self and to have full recognition of the voice; Steven was the one calling you, his usually enthusiastic voice filled with worry.

     Suddenly, your throat began to ache and you found yourself lacking oxygen –the feeling similar to drowning– and you felt the strong urge to let out a gasp. Milliseconds after you chose to do so, you could feel your heart leap violently inside your chest and your mind began to think clearly. Your surroundings became more tolerable to look at now that the brightness was leveling down and the strong winds were no longer hurting your eyesight. Joy coursed through you as you were finally able to catch sight of someone's face –Steven's, to be exact– stand in front of yours.

     The pre-teen boy was looking at you with wide eyes and raised eyebrows, surprised to see you regain consciousness. "(Y/N)! You're. . . You're awake!" He pulled you into a hug, his hold surprisingly strong enough to make your lungs lose a bit of their functionality.

     You returned the hug with more dubiousness, your mind still being in the process of analyzing everything you'd just experienced. Afterwards, you let go of Steven and faced down at your body, wanting to see if it hadn't received any mayor injuries during your moments of unconsciousness.

     You flinched wildly when inspecting your hands, witnessing a large, almost palm-wide burn scar on each of them and an unnatural, pink glow gradually fade away from your skin. The image was almost surreal and though you had learnt sufficiently of the magical beings known as Gems, it surprised you to actually experience something similar by yourself.

     "What. . ." You breathed out, your head pounding at the many thoughts your mind was unable to comprehend.

     You pushed yourself up from the ground with a carefully motion, stretching your legs in order to find some well-needed equilibrium. Steven was the one to help you up –him being the closest one to your side– while the others exchanged looks in concern and surprise.