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

Alternate Ending #1: Broken Bonds and Human Glowsticks

Quick Author's Note:

Since there were subtle changes made over the last chapter, I decided to make two separate endings for this story instead of making one epilogue, thus differentiating from the previous book.

The following ending was inspired by the soundtrack shown above, as well as the episode where it was played.

Anyhow — That'll be all for now, and thank you for reading until here!

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Glancing right to left in order to make sure no suspicious gazes were near your field of vision, you let out a breath of relief before turning the dusty doorknob around and leaving the prison that was your living room.

A large, blindingly bright light burst through your open door, dousing the walls of your room with the much needed sun rays of the outside world.

Finally, after almost another week of hiding from your persecutors, you were able to go out again.

You stepped foot into the outside world, closing the door and pressing your back against it, the first thing to greet you being the hand of the woman you'd grown most fond of.

Her pale and slender hand remained in wait for you to take it, the bright pink glow of your (tone) skin contrasting completely with hers.

"We're here." She said through a bittersweet smile and a longing gaze, the hold over your hand tightening the moment you made contact with her fingertips.

Before you could collect yourself and your dispersed thoughts, your eyes began to prick with incoming tears, though you blinked rapidly to prevent any from rolling down your cheeks.

"Thank you. . ." You mumbled, voice almost inaudible to everyone near and present at the doorstep of the place you once called home. "Thank you for caring — for arriving here, even though you weren't obligated to."

Two long, almost eternal years had passed since the day you discovered the cause of your corruption back at Beach City. In those seven hundred and thirty days, your skin only managed to glow brighter, and — at one point — the texture of your skin began to change as well. In contrast to the normal, squishy feeling of your flesh, the texture was now similar to a rock, and that made certain everyday tasks become an arduous chore.

Such a simple thing as crouching down to pick up a dropped item was immensely difficult to do, and — sometimes — you managed to give yourself a black eye whenever you drifted off to sleep and unconsciously slapped a mosquito away from your face during your slumber.

You managed to acquire both rock hard skin and brute force, though neither of these two "superpowers" were nearly as glamorous, fun, and easy to handle as they made them seem in comic books.

Aside from those factors, there was also the unusual appearance of your fuchsia-tinted eyes and the large, mutant gemstone you had growing on your hand — the one that'd been most badly burnt and damaged with the explosion caused by the flower Gem.

At your home town, all these changes classified you as a freak. The glow of both your skin and eyes was prominent enough to make you look like a walking, human glow stick in the middle of the night, hence why you had to hurry back home before nightfall every single day, excluding the fact that you had to wear gloves to prevent anyone close by from seeing the mutation growing bigger and bigger over the palm of your hand.

During one of your walks back home, you were caught glowing in the dark, despite the large coat, thick scarf, and tall boots you wore to cover each part of your body as best as it were possible. Having left work late due to overtime was one of the most dangerous things you could do.