A/N: I've been working on this for awhile. This is gonna be a super legit story. Have fun.

(This story (MAY!!) contain "dark magic", and censored swearing. Read at your own discretion.)

Pearl tossed and turned in her sleep. Her face was scrunched and her body was all but relaxed. She grunted as her arms swung out at the air, her fist hitting the wall and waking her up.

"What is all the racket? Shut the f* up!!" Pearl's father's voice sounded from down the stairs. "If you don't f*ing shut your sorry a* up right now, I'm going to break your f*ing beak!!!"

It was true. Her father made threats like that frequently, and he almost always followed through.

Every day it was like this. Her father would hit her, bruise her, and when he was drunk or high, it was worse. Her only escape was Inkopolis and Off the Hook.

You may be wondering, 'Why doesn't Pearl just leave?' 'Why doesn't she report him?'

She's wondered that too. She's afraid of what might happen. What Chaos she might bring upon her friends...

XxXxX

"Pearl." A voice sounded in the void. "Pearl." It came again. Pearl ignored it and tried to get as much rest as she could from her father's beatings that day. "Pearl."

"SHUT THE HELL UP!!" She screamed at the imaginary voice.

"I'm much more than imaginary," the voice told Pearl. "I'm you."

XxXxX

Pearl woke in a cold sweat. She was breathing heavily like she had had a bad dream and was uncontrollably shaking. She didn't go downstairs.

What was that!? She thought as she began to slip out from under her thin sheets. She had secretly rented an apartment in Inkopolis to escape her dad.

If I could even call him that.

She often went there when he was high, or drunk, or the like and he wouldn't give two shits about whether she was gone or not.

Cod, it's freezing...

Pearl shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She wore pajamas with a cute kawaii squid pattern on them, the background aqua and the squids every color. Pants and shirt were both long-sleeved, so she had no reason to be cold. She shivered again and tumbled out of bed. She prepared 5 waffles with an obscene amount of syrup for her breakfast, with some manatee sausage.

Pearl wolfed her meal down and rushed out of the apartment complex she lived in. The old stairs creaked under her feet as she trotted down and the receptionist gave her a quick farewell as she hopped out of the door and superjumped as soon as she hit the ground.

"Woooohooooo!!!" A joyful yell escaped her mouth and reverberated through the sky as she flew. Superjumping was a way for her to let off steam from the day(s!) before and just blow off all the emotion accumulated. She landed with a thud in the middle of the Square. A few inklings and octolings looked over to the noise.

XxXxX

(In off the hook studio)

"Pearl! You're a bit late..." Pearl's manager ran in. He wore a cap with a headset.

"Yeah, I know. I'm coming." Pearl waved off the comment and rushed into the changing room.

I'm never late, she thought. What's wrong with you?

"Nothing's wring with me!" Pearl blurted out. She groaned. "I'm just tired. I'll finish up the broadcast then go to rest."

XxXxX

"...don't get cooked, stay off the hook!" Pearl and Marina finished the broadcast with their catchphrase. Pearl absent-mindedly walker out fo the studio and super jumped home. Everything around her was covered in a brownish-gray film, effectively muffling all of her senses.

She got into bed, and slept.