The hoary moonlight was leaving bright speckles across the ground, slicing through the leaves above like a knife. The air was cold, but it was not unbearable. Ash felt more confused about where he was, rather than focusing on the weather. The lack of light made seeing his surroundings difficult, and he had to guess by outlines as he moved forward.

His discomfort was beetling. He could not hear his own footsteps, and the silence of the mysterious woods made his hair stand on end. His memory was fizzling and popping like a faulty firework, and the longer he walked the louder it resounded in his head. Ash felt like this place was familiar to him, but in the haze of his uneasiness he struggled to place it.

There was an opening up ahead, nestled between some large tree trunks. Relieved, Ash quickened his pace to duck through them, hoping maybe to find a road or a city so he could ask for directions. There's oughta be someone here, right? Ash prayed, Please, I need to get out of here so I can find my way back home…

When he dived through the trees, he was only met with disappointment. He was at the end of a cliff that dipped deep into the inky unknown, and the steepness made it impossible to climb down. Ash squinted, unable to see any hand or footholds on its edge when he looked down. He sighed, frustrated now, and allowed his gaze to sweep upward and ahead to what he could've proceeded to.

He froze. His heart began to clamor as the firecracker in his head exploded into lights that flickered behind his eyes. What he saw up ahead both shocked and confused him.

Hinamizawa?

Ash didn't understand. Wasn't he at home, with his family and friends safely tucked away? Why was he gawking directly at a town he hadn't seen in years? What had driven him to stumble through the woods to find this place?

He wanted to get closer. Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, and perhaps he was too far away to be sure whether it was Hinamizawa or not. He leaned forward, and before he could readjust his eyes his feet slipped underneath him. He opened his mouth to cry out, but not a single sound escaped his lips. He began to violently tumble down the crevice, and he closed his eyes to brace himself for pain, rocks, impact.

They never came.

When Ash opened his eyes again, he was floating. All he could see above him was the sky. It was being ripped in two, torn like a piece of paper, by a deep purple light whose luminosity was unbelievable. Ash winced at this and tried to turn his head away from the insufferable brightness. To his dismay, it seemed to only grow in power.

It was growing closer, and the closer it got Ash saw the fire reaching its hands out from its core. He gasped and attempted to pull himself away before it hit him, this dazzlingly dangerous force hurling towards him at full speed, but he was immobilized. It was as if invisible ropes were bound to his limbs and stretching his arms in opposite directions.

Ash started to scream again, but once again not a sound was uttered. His voice had perhaps fled at the sight of Hinamizawa, or this meteorite, or he had left it at home. He wished he had brought it to at least make his heart's erratic beating feel less out of place. Screaming would release this built-up panic.

It was taking over most of his vision now. His entire body was washed in an agonizing heat, perhaps from this light, and Ash struggled more vigorously now. He was terrified of this strange light, this strange place, this strange sensation of premonition and dread. The surges of terror through his body were strong enough to make him feel nauseous. He wanted to throw up, but he learned that his mouth no longer opened. His heart beat ever faster.

When he thought the light was going to swallow him whole with its incalescence, he blinked and found himself jolting awake in bed. A scream reverberated in his closed mouth, and in habit his hands rushed up to block the sound. The return of movement was a relief to him, and he repressed the urge to cry from joy.

He was back in bedroom; he knew he should've been still at home. The room was dark but the immediate familiarity of it brought comfort to Ash. The sports posters and stuffed animals were still intact, and before Ash could verify anything else he jumped at the sound of the bedroom door opening.

His mother was standing at the entrance, her face contorted with worry, "Ash, sweetie, I heard you scream, is everything okay?"

She was keeping her voice at barely a whisper, as to not wake up anyone else in the house. Ash appreciated it, not wanting to worry Cilan or Iris who were asleep in the living room. He wanted to tell her he was fine to not cause her any more trouble, but speaking was difficult. His lips quivered at the effort.

His mother came to his bedside and rubbed his back sympathetically, "Was it a scary dream?" she murmured.

Ash nodded slowly, removing his hands from his mouth, "Y… Yeah. Yeah, that's all it was, I guess. It just felt really real."

"Would it help to talk about it?" she asked.

"W-Well…" Ash started, but found the words hard to find, "I don't really… know how to describe it. I know I was looking at Hinamizawa, and I fell? Everything else is kind of blurry…"

"Hinamizawa?" his mother echoed, "I haven't thought of that town in a while. You used to go there when you would see your father, you just haven't been there since he, ah… since he passed."

"Y-Yeah." Ash nodded, feeling guilty suddenly for mentioning it, "I haven't thought of it either, I'm not sure why I saw it…"

"Maybe it's a sign?" she suggested, "Maybe the town is beckoning you to come back. Or you miss it unconsciously, you just don't know it."

"Maybe…" Ash pursed his lips, "Maybe I can visit it tomorrow? With Cilan and Iris? The bus passes through Okinomiya. We could just get there and walk."

His mother didn't answer this, "I don't know. Do you think you'd feel comfortable with that? I wouldn't want it to bring back bad memories for you…"

Ash shook his head, "It's okay, I want to go. I've forgotten so much about it and the club, I feel bad for not remembering much."

She smiled, "I mean… it's your choice. Maybe it would be healthy for you to go."

Ash's heart swelled for a reason he could not pinpoint. He felt the remembrances of that town dully oscillate at his fingertips, a sensation he could've reached out and touched if his mother was not watching him.

His memories were hazy, smudged by the thumb of passing time. He couldn't remember many voices or faces at Hinamizawa, and he would feel embarrassed to show up unannounced and not be able to recall anyone's names.

The desire was burning in his chest, however, as hot as that awful brightness from that nightmare. He decided then and there that to find some understanding in that experience, he should visit Hinamizawa once again. It would console his anxiety, at the very least.

"Okay, I think I want to go." Ash muttered finally, a smile forming, "It'll be fun, anyways. Iris and Cilan can learn who everyone is alongside me."

His mother nodded in acceptance of this, "Alright, as long as you're safe, sweetie. I'm going to go back to my bedroom now, okay? Let me know if you can't sleep, you can always sleep in there."

Ash rolled his eyes, "I'm not four anymore. I'll be okay, Mom, I promise."

He saw a flicker of something dark on her expression, but he brushed it off as the shadows in the bedroom. She smiled and said goodnight before leaving, closing the door upon her exit.

Once Ash was alone, he slid against wall and heaved out a sigh. His hands had been clenched into fists to make sure he wasn't shaking in front of his mother. He directed his gaze at the ceiling and sighed again. His chest felt tight.

What was that bright light? Ash wondered, bits and pieces of the dream coming back, Where was it going? Why was it coming to me?

He reached his hand out in front of him. The light had been so mythical; it was an alien force that Ash had never felt before. He wasn't sure what it even was. Was it a bomb? He speculated, Or a comet of some sort? He shifted his legs in thought. It was big…

He laid down on his back and pulled the blankets closer to him, eyes starting to close. He decided he would contemplate more deeply in the morning. It was late, and he was very, very tired.

As he drifted back into the welcoming arms of sleep, a face arose from the gloom of his consciousness, but he couldn't make out the words they were saying to him. Perhaps someone of his past, someone from Hinamizawa, he supposed, but in his tired state he couldn't summon the energy to remember.

"What the hell is a meteorite doing coming to Hinamizawa? What is the meaning of this?"

"Shh!" Hanyuu hissed, looking around frantically, "R-Rika, keep your voice down, pl-please, we can't wake Satoko up—"

"Shut up!" Rika snarled, "I'm trying to think! This can't be right, it absolutely cannot be."

Rika was pacing back and forth in the shadows of the kitchen, a cup of wine hanging loosely from her fingertips. Hanyuu winced each time the crimson liquid spilled from the aggression of Rika's movements; she didn't like how it stained Rika's fingers, or the glass cup, or the kitchen floor. They were going to need to wipe it up later so Satoko wouldn't see it.

Paying no mind to it now, however, Rika walked over the drips sinking into the wood without a second thought. Inwardly, her body was spiking like a seismograph, and she felt like she was made of electricity.

A new kind of despair was overtaking her. Rika had long ceased fearing the days of her death, the mysteries of Hinamizawa that ceased to be mysteries to her, and the rumors of murder that used to send shivers down her spine. They were locked into this predictable cycle that Rika too was tied permanently too. By now, Rika could tell by the miniscule details what was going to unfold, and who would commit the murder of this year's Cotton Drifting Festival. It had grown tiresome.

This, however, was entirely new. The fear that was wrapping its icy cold claws around her throat was a fear of the unknown. She had never had such a vivid dream before, nor had she had a dream alongside Hanyuu. The two girls were frozen in the air, falling yet not falling, watching as a radiant meteorite tore the sky to pieces and crashed below, into their town of Hinamizawa. At the sight, Rika had felt a sense of smallness that far outweighed the one she had felt upon dying time and time again.

"Was there ever a chance of a meteorite coming to Hinamizawa?" Rika demanded, "We've never seen that."

"There's always a ch-chance for a meteorite, yet the chance is very small…" Hanyuu whimpered, "It's a one in nine thousand chance; 0.0011 percent chance of it ever happening at all, let alone Hinamizawa, and that would mean the percentage—"

"I don't care about the damn numbers," Rika hissed, her rage and fear mixing violently in her stomach, "What the hell are we supposed to do? What the hell am I supposed to do? And why was… why was…"

She started to trail off, her voice dying. One of the most bewildering parts of the brutish nightmare was seeing someone beside her, a face that looked almost familiar. She had tried to call out to him, but he seemed frozen in place, his gaze targeted at the meteorite with an expression dripping with terror.

"That was… that was Ash…" Rika muttered, and Hanyuu sighed, relieved that she was lowering her voice, "Why was he there? We haven't seen him in…not in…"

"It's been three years since you last saw him." Hanyuu fussed quietly, "After his father died, he never returned."

"When you say it like that, you make it sound like he died of a cold or something," Rika retorted, "You know what happened to him. And so do I."

"I think we'll be seeing him again very soon, Rika." Hanyuu whispered, looking wistfully at the wall, "That was a dream of prophetic intent. A force greater than I has sent us a warning of the impossible and to combat it, it will take more than us. He's coming back to Hinamizawa."

"What?" Rika felt confounded, "He can't come back, remember? He's forgotten everything."

"Maybe so," Hanyuu rolled her shoulders back and her posture looked more mature, "But I sense a change in the winds tonight. He will be coming back tomorrow. He was in that dream, too; he saw the meteorite. He senses the danger."

Rika said nothing, frustration biting into her at Hanyuu's vague certainty. She knew the goddess was right, but that didn't mean that her lack of understanding didn't upset her.

"How can there be a power greater than Lord Oyashiro?" Rika asked, "Beyond us…"

"There are many of those," Hanyuu replied, "We've just never encountered a force quite like this one."

Her tone had some finality to it, and when Rika tried to speak Hanyuu left the room. It was understandable; even if she wasn't showing it in aggression, the weight of their discovery was weighing down on her, too. There wasn't much else to speak about between them. The case was clear as day; a meteorite was coming and Ash was being brought along with it.

Rika leaned against the kitchen counter and ran her hands through her hair. Ash didn't remember her, or anything about Hinamizawa. After the trauma he had suffered, the memories seemed to have evaporated into the night sky. Returning would cause them to resurface, and Rika feared for the worse.

"Christ…" Rika growled, "I don't see any good coming out of this."

Pressing her palms against the smooth counter top, she closed her eyes and listened to the crickets humming outside. The peaceful twilight noise didn't match the turmoil sloshing inside of her. The meteorite's light and heat danced in her vision and she opened her eyes again.

She wished she could hope for the best, but her gut told her that only bad things would come from this.

Quick explanation: this PokeAni AU is a 1980s AU where there are no Pokemon. It's easier to write this without having to keep track of each and every individual Pokemon that their Trainers own. In this, Ash was going to school abroad where he met Iris and Cilan, and they decided to visit his home for summer alongside him. Hence to why they're staying with him. There's more to this AU, but it'll be revealed throughout the story (and anything that doesn't will most likely be revealed in other one-shots)

Speaking of one-shots, I encourage you readers to read "Presage" if you are interested in this story. It ties into it with more backstory and information!