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

Alternate Ending #3: Shatter Me (Requested by @ILoveDrapple!)

Warning:

The following read contains mentions of suicide and other slightly dark themes.

Reader's discretion is advised.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

The void that was the moonless night sky drowned your senses in despair.

It had been two years since you found out about your corruption and one year since it had an outbreak. Ever since, you only managed to become more and more bestial — to the very point where you looked at yourself in the mirror and wondered who the person standing in front of you was.

Sharp and hazardous thorns had grown and pierced through your flesh, pain erupting inside you each time another one popped out.

The once soft and pink glow of your flesh had turned into a dark fuchsia and replaced the (tone) shade of your skin with a sickly hot pink.

What was at one point soft and pinchable flesh turned into a rock-hard texture — no matter how gentle you were, everything around you shattered to pieces, which made for you to isolate yourself in fear of hurting those around you.

You were desperate to see a light shine through the darkened days that were your past few months of separation from civilization, yet the timorousness of becoming more and more bestial made you unable to move — it made you unable to break free and reach out for the life saver floating in the midst of the tempestuous seas.

Your head spun as you remembered all the wonderful things you'd experienced during your life at a Beach City.

The paintings you'd made inspired by Pearl and many others, the photographs you'd taken of mesmerizing places with the aspirations to create the best travel portfolio for your boss, and the wonderful acquaintanceships you'd managed to form every now and again were just a few of the plentiful amount of good experiences you gathered at that place.

Despite those pleasant memories, your thoughts decided to drift off towards the negative.

You remembered the second time Steven called you over for a second healing procedure.

This time, Peridot was the one to perform it, and she had a much more different method compared to his.

The green Gem had gone through a series of experiments over the gemstone resting on your hand. She worked long hours to make sure everything was in its righteous place, and she never ceased to stay perseverant through it all.

Though, in spite of her best efforts, the amount of pain the healing procedures caused over your gemstone were prominent enough to make the sensation spread throughout your entire being. It made for your body to reject all future experiments by repelling each and every other attempt at healing, and that was what resulted in your body creating the rock-hard shell over your flesh to protect you from any more pain.

Looking back at those experiences made you wonder over just how things could've turned out if you'd just been a little stronger.

Not wanting to dive deeper into your regrets, you instead chose to exit the hideout you'd been living at for these past months, making sure no witnesses were around to see you head out for your swim through the waters of the far side of the ocean belonging to Beach City.

Once outside, you breathed in the salty air of the ocean and felt the cool breeze through your coarse hair, finding a momentary period of relief in having left your hiding spot.