Part One - Under the Mountain
Chapter One - Strangers in the Mountain
Special Thanks to: Polarissb
Evening stirred awake.
When he opened his eyes, it was just as dark as if he'd never opened them. He sparked light on the smooth black stone on his forehead, illuminating the area. With caution, he observed the surrounding area. It was rocky, cave-like. He turned back to the rocks that were used to kill him, and almost did. Then the moments before he'd passed out met his mind.
Where's my mate?!
Evening searched under the rocks for his mate, praying she'd made it, as she would have his children. He called her name, talked to her about their new life, his hopes and dreams for them and their children, as he searched.
"I'll protect them with all my heart and soul. They'll be strong." He smashed a rock under his paws in anger, cursing himself for being so foolish as to drag her into this. But what could he have done? Let them brainwash her into believing he was evil? Let his children grow up with no father? Grow up with the ghost of his evil spirit haunting them throughout his life?
No, they won't. She won't. He won't.
A feline whimper echoed through the cave. Evening called her name again and she weakly responded.
"I'm coming! You'll be all right!" The absol darted to her location, pushing aside the rocks in his way. He found the weavile curled up under the rocks around where he woke up.
"My leg's hurting," she whimpered. "I-I can't feel it from the knee down…" Her face seemed pale. "What were you thinking?! Dragging me into this?!"
"Could I have left you there?!" he huffed, shuffling through the rocks to find the one on his mate's leg. "You heard what the Council said! I was guilty, so I had to die. Would you want our children to never meet their father and hear about how evil he was? Would you want to admit how your children look uncannily like me in their features and suffer under this…this stigma?" He found the rock causing his mate's pain and promptly shattered it. "Would you have wanted that?"
She gave no answer.
"Here, try to crawl on my back. I'll carry you until we find some shelter far away from the moor." He crouched down and helped his mate onto his back.
"Where are we?" the quadrupedal weavile asked, laying her head on his shoulders.
He tasted the air for hostile scents, then continued onward when he found none. "In the mountain west of the moor, at least a route to it. There seems to be a lot of cold pokémon here, including some earth ones. The cryogonal and boldore shouldn't be too much of a problem, but heatmor may become hassles should we encounter them…"
The weavile gently dug her claws into his skin. "Are we going to be okay?"
Evening paused, letting her words soak in.
He then spoke. "Pray we will."
Hours of walking passed and the two pokémon grew weaker. Evening remembered he hadn't eaten since the night before the rockslide. He didn't know whether Echoes had eaten or not, but he assumed she hadn't eaten in a while either.
"Evening, I'm getting hungry…" Echoes mumbled. "And I'm parched…"
"I know, Echoes, I hear water close by. We'll take a break there."
Within a moment, they came upon the stream, quietly rippling and gurgling as it flowed through the mountain. A small crevice to the outside world allowed tiny rays of light to filter into the grotto. A hardy berry bush grew by the stream, its roots dug into the rocks. A tiny vine wrapped up around the bush, nearly choking it. Evening set Echoes down next to the bush, taking great care not to harm her leg. Beside the stream, they watered and cleaned themselves and ate the berries.
"Let me have a look at that leg." Evening asked after cleaning himself. "Are you comfortable?"
Echoes nodded and observed her leg. "Have you ever set in or splinted a broken limb?"
The absol sighed. "Unfortunately, no, but I'll try… I'd seen Siara set in a few broken limbs and I watched frequently from a vantage point, but I've never actually set one in myself before or helped splinting. Let's see if I can use one of the dead branches here as a splint and the vines to tie it… It doesn't look or smell like poison ivy, so I'll do what I can."
She remained silent, but nodded. With every bit of delicacy, Evening stretched her hind leg out. She cried, but grit her teeth to muffle it.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay, it just hurts." Echoes flared her head feathers out. "Hurry up, please…"
Evening straightened out her leg the best he could and tied the splint on, taking great care not to hurt his mate.
"You done?" she asked.
"Yes, I believe so…" the absol said, eyeing the leg. "Sorry I don't know any more about this… It's another thing I should've asked Siara about."
Echoes flicked her gaze to the berry bush. "Don't those berries improve healing?"
He studied the berries and assessed his condition. "I think so, but I don't feel any different."
"I think it takes some time for them to set in." She brightened. "Hey, Siara taught me how to make a healing poultice when all I've got is just berries. I can show you how to make some for my leg. Get a berry and a big leaf first."
Evening plucked a berry and a leaf from the bush and sat beside his mate. "What do you want me to do?"
"Chew it up, but don't swallow it."
Without a word, he took a small bite of the fruit. The firmness made it slightly harder to bite and chew, but he did and nodded when he'd chewed a bit.
"Is it thick and pulpy-not too liquidy?"
Nod.
"Okay, now spit it on the leaf."
He did. "Now what?"
"Make some more until I let you know it's enough."
Evening continued the process and chewed through four bitefuls until Echoes declared it enough.
"Now slather it on my leg."
The absol poured some of the poultice on her leg and groomed it into her skin and fur. "Is that it?"
"I think so. I guess the only thing we can do is wait."
"I'll go search for a place to stay in. You rest up and try not to move, okay?"
"I have my long-range moves just in case. I'll be fine."
Evening nodded, then followed down a tunnel.
Three days later, Evening brought back a dead pidove to his mate to eat. She would soon have her eggs, and that gave a slight worry to both.
"Evening," Echoes said. "This mountain doesn't feel safe. How about we go down south with the tall brushes you're talking about?"
Evening lifted his head. "There are humans crawling all over there with that tower. What if one of them happened to catch me, or you, or one of our children?" He tapped his claws on the rocky ground beneath him. "This mountain is a fortress. Humans rarely get in here, and not this deep."
"And if humans do get in here, they have a full team of six and are exceptionally skilled." Echoes gave him a hard glare, her frosty blue eyes ice-cold. "Evening, you won't be able to last forever if anyone were to hunt after you."
"And this is why we're staying here." he snapped. "The strong pokémon will divert their attention. Even though we're probably the only absol and weavile here―" he looked down at her belly "―in this moment, there are dozens of beartic and boldore and onix. We can always run away."
Echoes slowly nodded. "And what if we aren't fast enough?"
"It's better than hiding in plain sight! If we hide in the brushes, one of us could easily be captured!" His voice sounded desperate. "As of now, this is our best hiding place."
"I don't think under a rock is the best place to raise sneasels. I was born and raised in the snowy fields where I could run and frolic to my heart's content. This place feels like I'm isolated from the world."
He stared at her with blazing red eyes. "And we need to be isolated if our children are to be safe."
She thumped her tails on the ground. "Fine, you're the father, you have final say." She set her head in her paws. "Before the execution, I got a talk with Siara and she said the clutch should arrive in two weeks. She estimated my clutch would have four to seven eggs."
Evening sat beside her. "What are we going to name them?"
"In the snowy fields, our parents gave us names based off what our personalities were like after we hatched. Mine was Echoes Sung at Moon's Rising. Mother said she named me after the echoes of our pack sending messages and how I'd respond to them at night. She said I would've been a wonderful rallier." She eyed his face. "What were you called in your pack?"
"Us absols were named by our skullkeeper." He paused. "Did your pack have a skullkeeper?"
"I've never heard of a skullkeeper."
"Well, an absol in the pack would be one to take the skulls from our deceased and put them in a special place where he or she learns the name of the absol the skull belonged to. One month after a clutch hatches, the cubs are brought to the skullkeeper, who names them after our ancestors. Mine was Black Evening." He shrugged. "I guess we can name them later on, but what kind of names?"
"Evening, we'll name them when we name them. We don't even know how many there are or what their genders are or what their personalities are like. When we name them, their names will be perfect."
Evening softly smiled. "All right." The absol looked at the battered and bloody leg. "Are you sure I set that in properly? Are you comfortable?"
"Yes, Evening, I'm fine," Echoes assured. "I'll be fine."