Your Hope and Mine
Prologue/Pilot — "The Terror He Brings"The tears running down her face dripped down onto her trembling lips, of which threatened to betray her as they held back frightened sobs. She brought a shaky hand to her mouth and clasped down, refusing to let any sign of her presence out, refusing to let him know where she was. Whatever she did, she absolutely would not, would not die here. The images of her lightly armoured comrades being mown through with fire, bone, and waves of shadow played through her mind, spots of fire still dancing before her eyes. There were a hundred and fifty of them in the way-station night night. So many of them, yet they fell into his trap. They were nothing short of foolish to think that they had him in their grasp.
She tried to warn them. She had seen the nightmares he was capable of. She had seen, oh, yes, and it would never leave her sight, oh, no. Now, There was yet another nightmare to add to the library of terrors that kept her wide-eyed and weary. They were bad people, she reasoned. They were bad people who would scarcely be missed. But she wasn't a bad person. I'm not a bad person, she prayed, I promise. A sudden spike of fear ripped through her. He was there. She tried to freeze every muscle, every fiber within her, but a hiccup slipped in through her nose. Eyes widening, she stopped shaking. She stopped breathing. Her eyes went blurry with tears.
"I don't understand, my love… Did you think I didn't know where you were?.." She heard a hand slide gently down the outside of the door of the storage closet she was in. The doorknob. She went to reach for it so she could keep it pulled shut, but before she could even touch it, "No, my love… Hide no more, lest you desire to hurt even moreso..."
She didn't consciously start turning the doorknob, but she couldn't look away from her hand as the door clicked and slowly arced open at her push. Was she just facing the inevitable? A sudden boost in courage? She couldn't tell. She couldn't think. She couldn't feel.
"That's it… Here you are, my love… Look at you… You've wet your cheeks… I do so love those rosen cheeks…" His hands cupped her face gently. "But they're sodden with fear and bitter tears. Are you scared, my love?"
His voice was sweet, coming from his mask. A voice modulator made it so no one could identify him through aural recognition, but the fact that he would make i so sickeningly sweet made her want to retch. The static in his words told his lie, though.
"Y- Y-..." The tightness in her throat prevented anything from coming out.
"Oh, you poor thing… Come from the closet now, my love. Yes, yes, that's it, come to me, now."
She found herself doing what as he said, expression absent from her face. Why am I so numb? She shrunk into his embrace, trembling once more. Crying, she started to sputter out pleas, tears and snot running onto his chest. "...Just j-joined — Ne-n-never m-m-m-meant-t t-to hu-urt a-an-"
"Shhhhhh-shh-shh-shhhhhhh…" One arm around her, he brushed her hair own in the back. "Rest, my love — lie in the void of your sin and repent, may she choose to forgive you. I pray she chooses to forgive you, my love. Go. Go and seek your redemption." He pulled away and brought both hands to the back of his mask. A hiss, a click, a moan, and it came off. Almost in a frightened sense of wonder, she inched her gaze higher and higher, snapping her eyes to the face of Nightmare Itself. Tanner Falo. The Face that No Man Knows. Except-
"You… Yo-... You aren't even-"
"Go, my love."
The voice. The voice… By some twisted, sick joke of Arceus, the voice was even more soothing than before.
At least, it should have been, but it was done. She'd seen the face. Heard the voice. If it were possible to go through every stage of grief at once, that's what she would have done then and there.
What could a face so beautiful know that makes them hurt the world so?
"Go, my love."
And she went. What could someone with a voice so heavenly know that gives them such malign?
She went. Dizzily, through the office, and to the door of the warehouse, she went. She was tired, suddenly, so tired. She couldn't sleep, though. Biting her tongue, she went. With her blood-caked hands, she threw open the large iron doors, and she went. She was losing consciousness, so she hit herself to keep awake. Dread. It was strong. So strong. What was it? Who was just standing there in the darkness? When did I stop moving? Why were their eyes so blue? Why were they glowing? Who am I? "Oh..." That was all she could say. She didn't remember falling to her knees. She couldn't sleep. She couldn't sleep.
"Dark Void."
She couldn't sleep. No. No matter how tired she was. But the ground looked so comfortable as it quickly approached. Into the comforting embers of sleep; into the endlessness of the void; into the inescapable nothing, she went.
"Mo… Mom...my…"
"May she be cleansed in the void… Eat her dreams, my love."
"Yes." Long black chords jerked her body, swirling into the mouth of the stirring shadow.
Watching through the cold, silver mask, a weary smile came across a worn, suffering face. "Thank you. You may return, Britenes."
"Thank you," her voice echoed through their minds, "Master." She returned to her pokéball — every inch of it charcoal black, save the button blood red —and it was shrunken and put back into its holster.
"May you be cleansed… She she find you unworthy, then… Rest in peace, child." He Signified the area in four places and made his way.
The walk back to Fallarbor was sleepless and uneventful. On the evening of the third day, Tanner Falo checked into an inn with an unfamiliar face, an unfamiliar voice, and a complete absence from existence.
"One room. A large room, please. Pokémon friendly."
"Okie-dokie! Payment of larger rooms must be made digitally. Okay, and we have three rooms, all on the fifth floor. You, are, in… Five-Oh-Two, which will be… 8,980!Alright, here's your room key, a~nd… My phone number." She winked, giving a smug grin. "Let me know if you get lonely tonight, cutie."
"Eheh.. Thanks, but… I'm never lonely." And with a warm smile, Tanner Falo went on to continue their nonexistence.