Pearl scoffed, looking him up and down. "Ah, but you're not my father, are you? Ben is. You're just....Scott." They smirked, attempting to push past us all. Etho, Joel, and Cleo blocked their path, towering over them despite Pearl being taller.

"Take a seat, Pearl." I said, far too aggressively for my normal tone.

"My child, you've been... strange." Owen said, sitting in front of them.

"Strange is an understatement." Joel sat next to Owen. One by one, we all sat in a circle around Pearl, legs crossed, hands held, until only Scott stood leather-bound book perched in his hand.

"Pearl, we banish you. Not your physical form, but you. Your attitude. The difference. The constant talking to yourself. The sheer insanity that drives you now." His face, kind and loving normally, was now stern, full of golden sincerity.

Pearl sat in silence, before laughing. A laugh that's haunted my nightmares and daydreams. "You? You think you can change me? You think you can escape me?! I'm not leaving!"

"That's what I feared. Candles." Scott said. We all lit the candles beside us and closed our eyes.

"Rydym yn alltudio chi, fiend aflan. Rydych chi wedi heintio'r un rydyn ni'n ei garu, ac wedi eu brifo. Mae dau ohonoch chi, dewch yn un. Mae yna ysbryd a chorff, dewch yn un!" He chanted. “BENDITHIO’R SAINT Y CORFF A DOD Â’R ENAID YN ÔL!"

Pearl face was panic striken as we started to win.

"Though they may be mad, crazy, anxious, and broken, they're our Pearl. So get behind me, foul fiend. And allow our life to be blessed again by their presence."  There was a blinding white light, and there they sat.

"Pearl?" I asked, breaking the circle and helping them stand up.

"Is it over?" They asked, voice low and scared. "Is it done?"

"It's done, Poppy. It's done." I hugged them close. "You're safe now."

But I was wrong. Nobody was safe. For when one evil leaves, another arises. This greater than every before. An evil we've never experienced, but we know the small, predecessors.

The Watchers we know are but a puppet of the bigger picture.

×××

Okkk. Sooo. The big reveallll.

My secret Santa was...

EggOnToast123

WAHOOOOOOO