The first few weeks were almost thrilling compared to the months that followed. Aamira had settled into an uneasy routine that mainly revolved around avoiding Zoroark. She started to notice that he wanted her to come to dinner earlier and earlier each night and leave progressively later. She realized that he was just trying to gain her trust or maybe he was just stalling while Darach finished whatever it was that he was working on. It became so monotonous that Aamira would have lost track of time if it hadn't been for the moon. On the night of the new moon, Zoroark didn't want to let her out of his sight even though he knew she couldn't call on Darkrai for help. Those nights were torture. On the full moon he more or less just left her alone, which meant no food but she didn't really care.
Sometimes he would let her skip dinner although he usually strongly insisted that she show up. Once he let her do it because she had gotten a bad case of food poisoning. The food after that always tasted a little different. Aamira couldn't figure out if it was because being sick had affected her taste buds or because that cook wasn't around anymore.
Where Zoroark wasn't concerned, everything else had fallen into a pattern as well. Aamira would normally sleep through the day, wait for her invitation to dinner, and go back up to her room as soon as it was over. After watching the sunset from the window, she would crawl into bed, pull the curtains around it closed just in case, and sneak out on the side opposite the window to go into the hidden room underneath the bed.
She had figured out her mother's sorting system quickly enough, so she found all of the seer's stones in order. There was even a collection of unused ones that Aamira had started to use to record her own thoughts. It was harder to do than she thought it would be, but how many years had her mother been doing it before being able to record half an hour's worth of information with just a second-long nudge from her mind?
Soon Aamira was able to do it too and some of the stones her mother left even helped her. She left a few hints on how using the stones seemed to help her focus her aura more precisely, which was something that humans naturally had trouble with. Aamira did find that she was able to concentrate easier after mastering using them, which only took a few weeks. She started to regain her ability to sense auras too, to some extent. She started off by just being able to tell the difference between her mother's aura, her own, and a stone with nothing in it yet. At this point, if standing in the center of her room, her range didn't even extend to the walls. At the very least, no one would be able to sneak up on her.
In spite of the few meals that she had been given during dinner, they were large meals and Aamira noticed when she was starting to put on a little weight. She started spending most of her time alone exercising. Zoroark already had too many advantages, so she didn't want to give him another one. Between exercising during the day when she wasn't sleeping, reading the stones and using them to train with her aura at night, and her evening battles with Zoroark throughout their twisted conversations, Aamira was actually getting stronger than she had ever been before as a human. It didn't help keep away the boredom though. She almost wished that Darach would hurry up as much as Zoroark obviously did.
One night she got too bored for her own good. She had to do something rebellious at least. That night she did something that she never did anymore: she left her room on her own free will. It wasn't to go visit Zoroark, which was something that he was probably expecting by this point. It was actually to leave a trail of unconscious guards around the doors they were guarding. It was right after the shift had changed, so it took a couple of hours for anyone to notice. In that time, Aamira was able to go wherever she wanted as long as she stayed inside the castle.
Zoroark was less than happy when he figured out what had happened. He had found the guards himself while going to pay a surprise visit and tracked Aamira down by her scent. It wasn't a hard trail to follow since he knew her scent so well, but the number of places she had gotten to since anyone directly under his command had seen her was astonishing. Someone must have noticed her in that time. Eventually he did find her passed out just inside of the main entrance hall with a note in her hand.
Zoroark unfold it and read untidy scrawl that only seemed to be getting worse with her age. "Hey, you old fox. You kept me waiting and I got bored again. This letter is just a precaution in case you keep me waiting so long that I actually fall asleep before you show up. If so, please don't wake me up. I've had enough disappointments in one night and I don't want to lose any sleep over someone who can't even keep track of one of their own hostages for two hours."
Zoroark carried Aamira up to her room, regretting that he had specifically said that her friends would die the second she stepped outside of the castle. She had obviously remembered, which was why she stopped right by the main entrance instead of going any further. He couldn't do anything that severe or he would probably never get any information out of her. Instead he left her a note in return to inform her that there was a food shortage down in the dungeons and that as a result she wouldn't be having dinner for the next three days.
Aamira got the message easily enough. Zoroark meant that he was going to starve her friends a little more than he already had and that she wasn't going to get any food for the next three days. She had never seen something like food as being so precious before. She also discovered that her door had been locked and that the key she had used before wouldn't work for it. There must have been a second lock on the outside that Zoroark had left in case something like this happened. She also noticed that the guard rotations had changed. Now they didn't change all at once every two hours. Each one stood guard for only an hour before being replaced and the times they were relieved from duty was different depending on which area they were guarding. It wouldn't change the outcome if she decided to knock them all out again, but she wouldn't go unnoticed for two hours like she had before. For a while, at least until she got bored again, she decided that she would behave herself.
Those three days were some of the worst. Aamira tried to keep up with her exercise, but she just couldn't do it without the food to give her energy. She laid in bed with her stomach growling at her like some poor mutt begging its master for even the smallest scrap of meat.
She had nothing and no energy to do anything with, so she spent the time laying in bed thinking of other acts of rebellion. Even if she was too weak from hunger to do any of them, it was still enough to keep her occupied for a while. She thought of tying all of the bed sheets together and throwing them out the window before hiding in the closet to make it look like she had tried to jump. She thought about barricading the door and window to keep anyone from getting in, even though Zoroark or Houndoom would have been able to break in easily. Maybe she could make paper airplanes and write messages on them and throw them out the window or at the very least throw something heavy at the flying guards outside. That would help with her upper body strength if it didn't accomplish anything else.
Finally her foodless sentence to her room was up. When the fourth night came, she was starving and desperately wanted food. She waited and waited, but no messenger ever came. She tried the door, but it was still locked. Feeling defeated, Aamira crawled back into bed. This wasn't like him. If he said three days, on the fourth she should get food. Something must have happened.
Hunger and uneasiness made sleep difficult that night. She kept waking up at the slightest noises. Every time the guards would change, she would hear their feet shuffling. Every time the clock tower rang, she would nearly jump out of bed. Eventually she became so tired that not even the clock tower would wake her up, but something else did.
She knew Zoroark's energy well enough by now. It always made her feel like there was some giant creature standing in front of her, glaring down at her hungrily. This time was no different. Aamira's eyes shot open, but she didn't dare move. She didn't want Zoroark to know that she could sense him. He was already inside her room and was walking towards her. Now that she was awake, she could hear his hasty footsteps as his claws smacked against the hard floor.
Aamira stayed petrified in the same spot even when Zoroark was standing directly behind her. He grabbed her shoulder, but not hard enough to hurt. It was more like how a parent would gently shake their child awake for school in the morning.
"Nap time's over. Let's go see your friends."
Aamira turned to look at him and sat up. Since she had been expecting dinner that night, she had actually bothered to get dressed. After realizing that she wouldn't be eating, she didn't even bother to change. At least it meant she wouldn't be kept in suspense any longer than necessary.
While walking down a hall that Aamira wasn't familiar with, she glanced at Zoroark's hands as if expecting to see some sort of food. She was disappointed again. They stopped in front of a door and the second Zoroark unlocked and opened it, Aamira completely forgot that she was tired or hungry.
"Quill! Lucario!" Without hesitating, Aamira ran towards them.
Quill and Lucario each hesitated for half a second, as if trying to decide whether this was their real friend, but quickly ran towards her and met her half way. The three of them clung onto each other for the longest time. Aamira noticed just from touching them that they were both drastically underfed compared to when she last saw them. Quill's cuts that he had gotten from Zoroark had healed over completely, and it didn't look like any other injuries they might have had were bad enough to potentially scar over. They were thin and weak but otherwise looked unharmed.
"Are you done yet?" Zoroark asked.
Aamira looked back at Zoroark, but moved closer to her friends. She wouldn't be separated from them again. They seemed equally unwilling to let Aamira go.
"Resorting to such juvenile antics, are we?" A familiar black mass walked out from a secret passage hidden behind a tapestry. With a swipe of his paw, Houndoom separated Lucario and Quill from Aamira. He wound his tail around them like a snake. It didn't come close to touching them, but they were smart enough to know that stepping anywhere past his tail would mean trouble.
"Hello Houndoom. I haven't seen you in a while." Aamira said in the most polite voice that she could muster. She thought of doing a curtsey but thought that it might be a little too over the top if she did.
Houndoom smirked and drummed his tail against the ground. "It has been a while. Might I add that you have some adorable rodent-siblings."
Zoroark cleared his throat to get Aamira's attention and pointed with one claw towards a chair in the center of the room. It was the only piece of furniture not counting the tapestries covering three walls. The only other object was something in front of the chair covered with a dark colored tarp. Aamira already knew what it was and she wasn't looking forward to the tarp being taken off.
Aamira walked over and sat down. She felt strangely exposed with both Zoroark and Houndoom there. Somehow Quill and Lucario being there made it worse. After what had happened during the game she and Zoroark had played for them, it was embarrassing just to make eye contact.
Zoroark walked up behind Aamira and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Now why don't you tell me in advance how stubborn you'll be this time? I've created a schedule that I will be keeping and the number of scars on your friends will be greatly reduced if you decide to cooperate."
"Don't tell him anything, Aamira!" Quill shouted.
Houndoom cut him off with a sharp bark and lunged towards him, but didn't actually touch either of them.
"So what will it be? Will I have to resort to stricter tactics, or will you behave yourself?" Zoroark dug his claws into Aamira's shoulders. She tried not to react, but it was so sudden and he would normally never hurt her. She just wasn't expecting it.
"Hey, you said you wouldn't hurt her!" Lucario tried to run to Aamira's side, but Houndoom quickly subdued him.
Aamira cringed as Zoroark's claws dug in a little deeper. "As long as the two of you behave, I probably won't. That first time was for your friend there speaking up earlier." This was getting to be too much. Aamira grabbed his arms in an attempt to throw them off of her, but he was too strong and she was half starved. "Now look what you've done. She's in even more pain because you spoke up. Understand how it works now?" Zoroark let go of Aamira and let her rub her shoulders between each of her pathetic sobs. "The same goes for your two friends. If they speak up… No, they won't speak up. If you don't do as I say, what you just felt will be their perception of normal after what they feel."
Aamira glanced over to Quill and Lucario. They both looked so determined even after everything they had all been through. She didn't want to listen to Zoroark, they didn't want her to listen to Zoroark, but she couldn't let Zoroark hurt them.
Aamira avoided eye contact while Zoroark walked around to face her. "I-I'll do my best…"
"Good. Your best is all I want as long as I get results." Zoroark walked back behind Aamira. She couldn't see him without turning, but she realized what had happened when she heard the lock on the door click. They were going to be stuck in here for a long time. He walked back to the object that the tarp was hiding and ran his claws over the fabric. "I want you to find me the key. I know you don't know where it is and I know you're capable of finding it. When you tell me where it is, you can all leave this room unharmed, or mostly unharmed in your case, you will all be fed, and I might even let you go if I can't find any more use for you." With a flick of one of his claws, he pulled the tarp off of the mirror.
Aamira instinctively flinched back and snapped her eyes shut. She felt one of Zoroark's claws brush against one of her injured shoulders. "If that's your best I suggest you try harder."
Aamira pried her eyes open, but she couldn't stop shaking. Many people believed that the entire world could be seen through the eyes of an Aura Reader. This mirror was supposedly created with that purpose. When an Aura Reader stared into their own eyes, it could create visions of everything in existence, both things in this or any other world, or in this or any other time. With all of those things being seen at once, of course it would be painful. Infinite black voids and powerful lights being shone into a person's eyes at the same time weren't exactly good for someone's eyes. As it turns out, it doesn't have to be an Aura Reader that does it to see into the mirror; humans all apparently have access to such knowledge and therefore any human could do it. Only an Aura Reader, however, could do something like this without going completely blind at a glance.
Now that Aamira's eyes were open again, she couldn't shut them. It felt as if some powerful force was keeping them open as she stared into her reflection. This was common, but still disturbing. How she wasn't afraid of her own reflection by now, she had no idea.
'I don't even know what he wants with this key. If I could just find some information first.'
She had tried before with no success. This time was no different. Maybe it was better that way. If she knew exactly what she was trying to find, she might lose her nerve and there was no telling what Quill and Lucario would be put through because of it. She kept looking through the void of infinite sights and colors hoping that something would jump out at her. Unfortunately something did. It felt as though she were back in the Desolate Chasm standing on the edge of the cliff. She was looking down into the pair of yellow eyes that had stared up at her before. Though still shrouded in mist, these were different from the last time. They weren't the eyes of some hibernating creature; these were the eyes of a creature that was now fully awake.
Aamira managed to snap her eyes shut again. She put the palms of her hands over her eyes in an attempt to soothe them. They had been watering so much. There was no telling how long she had been staring at her reflection with her eyes open. Her back was hurting. She guessed nearly an hour. She wanted to shout that it was awake, but that would bring up too many questions. It was hard enough not to talk about every little thing she saw in that mirror.
"Nothing yet?" Zoroark asked. "That's fine, we have all night. Please continue."
"You've got to be kidding. Just give me a minute…" Aamira was exhausted and her eyes were hurting. She forgot how difficult this had been before. 'I'm hungry too…'
"Perhaps now would be a good time to explain the schedule I've come up with for these little sessions of ours. In the first part, hopefully, you'll be willing enough to do as you're told to prevent any physical harm being done to your friends. I could use illusions, but you'll be able to see the physical effects easier. If that fails, I have much stronger methods. I've discovered a way to alter a person's memory entirely. When I'm done with them, they won't even recognize you as an enemy. You'll have to watch as they obey my every word and pay no attention to you. Maybe they will pay attention. I might have them say and do the worst things imaginable all for your enjoyment. Maybe you'll start to think that they aren't your friends anymore. You'll be right. However, I have doubts that you'll be able to break your bonds with them completely. That's why if you still refuse, I'll give their memories back before their deaths so that they'll recognize you at the very last second and you will in turn recognize them."
"Is that all?" Aamira asked. "I thought you would have come up with something more exciting than that. Using up both of your hostages like that right away? That's not like you."
"You don't think using your own friends as puppets would be fun? We must have different senses of humor after all. Maybe you just doubt that I can. I'll be honest with you though; I'm losing my patience. For someone who has lived as long as I have, this isn't a feeling I'm used to, nor do I enjoy it. I don't care what happens to you. After they're gone it's true I'll have no hostages. Instead you'll take on the pain that would have otherwise been divided up between the three of you. If my guess is correct, not even the most painful and crippling of injuries will make you submit even by that point. You will though."
"Dare I ask how?"
"Because I'll only agree to kill you so you can join your friends after you tell me what I need to know."
He was serious. This was the first time Zoroark had ever seriously threatened her life. It wasn't meant to be as a punishment either but as a reward for finally doing as she was told. It was the only way she would be reunited with Quill and Lucario in the very end.
"I'll be honest with you again; I don't like lying, as you know. I don't want to resort to that final option. Compared to most other humans I've met in my lifetime, you actually interest me somewhat. It would be such a waste."
Aamira took a deep breath and looked back into the mirror. He had tried bribing her before, but she never went for anything he said. She was afraid that if he carried out his other threats, this reward would be one she wouldn't want to refuse.
The second time looking through all of the information was a little easier. It had probably been more difficult the first time since she had been out of practice and knew what was coming. Still, how anyone would ever be able to distinguish one piece of information from another at such a speed she didn't know.
There was something in front of her. It looked almost like the way out of a tunnel. There was something there that was calling her forward. Whatever it was that Zoroark was looking for, it was just past the mouth of the tunnel. If she could just find out what it was, they could all go free. At the very least none of them would be hurt and they'd probably be fed.
"Stop!" a voice shouted in her head. Aamira closed her eyes as quickly as she could. It was the normal voice that she heard whenever using her Aura Reading abilities. It was her own voice, but it sounded stronger than it normally did. Part of her did know what was past the mouth of the cave, but she wouldn't be able to know for sure until she saw it. That part of her that knew what it was already didn't want her to see it. She was scared and it was strange both knowing and not knowing what it was at the same time.
Zoroark was sitting close by and was waiting to question her the second her eyes opened. "What did you see?"
Aamira was exhausted by this point and was trying to support herself by clutching onto her knees with her hands. That hardly did anything though since her arms, like the rest of her, were shaking so badly. "A tunnel, I think."
Zoroark stood up and pulled Aamira to her feet as if trying to both intimidate and steady her at the same time. "You think? What else did you see?"
"Nothing. I was in a tunnel or something and there was a bright light. I didn't see anything else."
Quill and Lucario had been watching horrified the whole time. Lucario was able to see Aamira's energy fluctuating dangerously every once in a while when she looked into the mirror. Neither of them could understand how she hadn't lost her mind doing this or why Zoroark was making her continue without any breaks. They both wanted it to stop. They needed to say something, but they couldn't. In this situation, they were both completely useless.
"You need to look again."
"No!" Aamira pushed Zoroark away and would have fallen over the chair in her panic if he hadn't caught her. "Not again! I won't do it again!"
After a brief struggle, Zoroark managed to push Aamira back into the chair. "Things would be so much easier for both of us if you cooperated. I know what it is. You don't believe I have the ability to alter a person's memory so you think my threats are empty. I had every intention of doing a demonstration tonight because I knew it would come to this."
Darach came walking out from behind the same tapestry that Houndoom had emerged from. He was carrying some kind of red and white sphere, the red half of which was transparent. There was something inside of it, but it was too dark in the room and the creature was too small to see clearly.
"I'm sorry about the wait. Perfecting this sort of technology isn't easy. Can you believe I used Apricorns to start off? The prototype was basically just a hollowed out Apricorn shell with a knob used for a trigger. It broke easily and it was an inconvenience to open, but this one's perfect." Darach pressed the switch at the front and the top of the sphere swung open. Aamira, Lucario, and Quill jumped as a light shot out from it and materialized in the form of a brown pokemon that floated in the air.
"So it will listen to orders now?" Zoroark asked.
"Yes, all of the tests were successful. Of course, I couldn't have done this without Aamira's help. She described a way that a pokemon could be sealed inside of a pocket dimension. I thought that if it worked with a gem as impure as Quartz, it would probably work with Leuminite too. So now any pokemon I put in here will not only be strengthened by the Leuminite but they'll be easy to control."
Aamira stared into the eyes of the pokemon floating in front of her. It looked sad, like it didn't want to follow Darach's orders, but somehow the machine he had trapped it inside of made it impossible for it to disobey.
"What's your name?" Aamira asked the pokemon.
"…Beheeyem…" the pokemon answered with a nervous glance towards Darach. Beheeyem could have been any age. Aamira couldn't tell. She could tell that there was some strange, otherworldly power in this pokemon though.
Darach rubbed the surface of the sphere and turned it to look at his reflection. "Oh if only I could make Unfezant as obedient as this pokemon. She refuses to stay inside of one of these. It doesn't matter though. Beheeyem, rewrite the Lucario's memory first as we discussed."
Beheeyem cast an apologetic look to Aamira before turning to Lucario and raising his arm in the air. Lucario flinched as Beheeyem lifted him with some psychic force and floated over to him, placing his palm on Lucario's head. Lucario struggled futilely as the lights on Beheeyem's hands started to flash in some unrecognizable pattern. Lucario shouted, more in frusteration than from any pain, as he realized that he wouldn't be able to resist it. In only a few seconds, Beheeyem dropped Lucario back onto the ground.
Zoroark ran over to Lucario and helped him up gently. "Are you alright?"
Lucario groaned and rubbed his forehead. "What just happened?"
"You collapsed." Zoroark said. "I've told you before, you need to take time off of your patrols. I don't care how good you are at using your aura; no one can go for nights straight without any rest. Go lay down somewhere; we can finish without you."
Lucario looked uncertain for a second, but he stood up straight and in a few seconds it looked like nothing had happened. "I don't want to stop in the middle, but if you say I should…"
"Maybe you should stay behind tomorrow after all." Houndoom suggested.
Aamira had no idea what any of them were talking about, but she guessed this had something to do with the memories they all agreed on giving Lucario. They probably had a whole script planned for Quill too. What could Aamira do? Start screaming like a lunatic in an attempt to explain that everything Lucario knew was a lie?
"No, I'll be fine by tomorrow morning. I just need a few hours to rest." Lucario turned away without even looking towards Aamira and walked out through the entrance hidden behind the tapestry.
Aamira stared at the tapestry where Lucario had disappeared. It had actually worked. Lucario wasn't the one she had known anymore. She tried to get Beheeyem's attention, but he was ignoring her completely. Quill looked terrified too. Lucario was a canine and a species that both Zoroark and Houndoom were interested in so he had enough value to keep around at least. What would they do to Quill? What would they turn him into through a simple manipulation of his memory?
"Do you believe me now?" Zoroark asked Aamira, who was still stunned by what had just happened. "I suggest you do as you're told unless you want to lose your other friend too. We're going to finish this tonight. Now look into the mirror and find me that key."
"No!" Aamira hid her eyes behind her hands. "I can't do it, I've really tried! I can't do it anymore. Please, just don't make me look into that mirror again."
Zoroark sighed and shook his head. He glanced at Darach who then gave the order to Beheeyem to modify Quill's memory. Beheeyem flung Quill into the air and held him in place with his psychic powers. Beheeyem approached with his hand outstretched. The lights were already flashing as if he just wanted to get it over with.
"Stop!" Aamira jumped out of the chair and wrapped her arms around Zoroark the same way she had done with Quill and Lucario only a few hours ago. "Please, don't take them away from me… I'll do whatever you want, just leave them alone."
Beheeyem stopped uncertainly and looked to Darach for instructions. He hadn't changed any of Quill's memories yet, but Quill was still being suspended helplessly in the air. Zoroark smiled in a way that actually looked genuine. He wrapped his own arms around Aamira in a way that probably could have been interpreted as some sort of loving embrace if it had been anyone else. "I know you will. You'll do whatever I tell you like a good girl, won't you? I'll give you one more chance, but that's it."
Aamira stepped away from Zoroark and turned back towards the mirror. She was terrified of opening her eyes, but there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for Quill and Lucario. She opened her eyes, no longer caring how what she saw would affect her.
She was staring back at the tunnel again. Finding it had been easier this time. The reason Zoroark had half starved her before this and hadn't allowed her to take any breaks was probably because it was easier to find something like this subconsciously without the energy to focus on everything else. Again her thoughts were screaming at her to look away. Maybe she would go blind even if she was an Aura Reader. She didn't care though. Ignoring her own voice suddenly became a lot easier and she was able to extend her vision past the exit of the tunnel with no problems. There was a flash of red somewhere in the distance. For only a fraction of a second from her point of view, Aamira was able to glimpse everything that Zoroark was attempting to do along with the end result. In that brief glimpse, she knew exactly where the key was.
"So that's it! That's where it is!" Destiny was standing in front of her. Aamira was in the place she had always gone in her mind. She wasn't sure, but it looked like looking into the mirror had made her lose consciousness.
"Did you see it too?" Aamira asked, still panic stricken from what she had seen.
"Sure I did. What's your point?" Something was wrong. She seemed too restrained compared to normal. She was up to something.
"What's my point? I've got to wake up and warn everyone. Surely not even you would want that kind of outcome."
"Of course I do. It's what I was created for, remember? Now we don't need you anymore. I'll go back in your place and tell him everything since you won't." Destiny ran towards Aamira in an attempt to catch her off guard. It didn't work. Aamira's strength from before the four days with no food returned to her in her mind. For once they were able to fight equally.
There was a point when it looked like Destiny would get the advantage. The two of them had wandered dangerously close to the edge of the cliff, but it looked like even she was scared of the thing circling down below them. Aamira tried to use this to her advantage by staying as close to the cliff as possible without being thrown off herself.
Destiny tried to use Aura Sphere in her desperation, but Aamira didn't move. She remembered her saying that it wasn't capable of hurting anyone when used by a human. She was obviously weakening if she was resorting to weak intimidation tactics like that. Destiny rushed towards her, but Aamira managed to side step her and trip her at the same time. She grabbed onto the edge of the cliff and the thing circling below flinched back.
"Well would you look at that. Not even a giant ugly monster wants to be near someone like you." Aamira wasn't sure why she wanted to say something like this. It might have just been built up frusteration from being treated the same way by Zoroark for the last few months.
"Yea, it's sad." Destiny pulled herself up and rubbed the arm she had used to grab the edge of the cliff at the last second. "It's sad that even you hate yourself so much."
Aamira stared at her double with some strange heightened interest compared to how she felt before. She didn't hate Destiny, but she didn't care for her either.
"What are you doing?" Destiny asked when she realized Aamira was staring longer than normal. "Whatever you're doing, stop it! Stop staring at me like that!"
"I don't hate you…"
Aamira tried to approach Destiny, but Destiny quickly turned and vanished. "I don't need your pity…"
Aamira sighed and tried to calm down. Maybe they had at one point been one person, but she still couldn't understand Destiny. She had other things to worry about though. Aamira's head was pounding and she was having trouble concentrating, but she had to wake up. Something terrible was about to happen.
Zoroark continued to shake Aamira in an attempt to get her to regain consciousness as he had been for hours now. No matter what he did, she just continued to stare straight off into the distance. The mirror was covered now, but that didn't make any difference.
"Just leave her alone, you're not helping anything!" Quill shouted at him.
"Quiet!" Zoroark growled back before turning his attention back to Aamira. "You'd better wake up. I won't have you losing your mind before you get the chance to tell me what you saw."
"Zoroark…?" It felt strange to say his name somehow. Quill took a step closer and Houndoom didn't attempt to stop him. He wasn't stupid enough to get too close. "I think you should just let her rest for a while, even after she wakes up. If she still doesn't have that information you need, don't make her do that again."
Zoroark straightened up and turned towards Quill. It was a reasonable thing to be worried about, but Quill was afraid he might have stepped over some sort of boundary with something he said. Zoroark started to walk towards him, but he stopped when he felt something touch his hand. He looked down to see that Aamira had grabbed his hand, not tightly enough to hold him back but enough to get his attention. She was weak and exhausted, so she wouldn't have the strength to stop him if Zoroark were really intent on hurting Quill.
"What did you see?" Zoroark asked her again. She was still staring off blankly as she had been, so he didn't even notice when she regained consciousness.
It was a few minutes before Aamira finally responded. Zoroark had started to think that she was still unconscious after all. "Stop what you're doing… You have to stop…"
"What did you see?" Zoroark repeated. His patience was thinning, but she didn't look like she was entirely there at the moment either. "Did you see the key?" no response. "Does anyone get hurt?" Aamira nodded slowly in a way that wouldn't have even been noticed by anyone not paying close attention. "Is it me?" Aamira didn't respond for a moment. She finally shook her head. So Zoroark wouldn't be hurt in his attempt. "That's fine then. What did you see?"
Aamira tightened her grip around Zoroark's hand. Where she managed to get that strength from was a mystery. "It's dying. It's already dying, you have to stop. Just leave it alone! Let it die! Just let it die in peace!"
Zoroark pulled his hand away and grabbed into Aamira's arms. She had started to scream when attempting to explain what she saw. She was becoming hysterical from whatever it was she saw. For the first time he could remember, Zoroark felt… scared? No, he was excited. Whatever it was, he wanted to know.
"Where is the key?" he asked again
Aamira continued to stare off into space for a while, before looking up at Zoroark. She seemed to be noticing him for the first time since regaining consciousness. "Key… Right… I forgot."
Zoroark straightened up and extended his arm as if about to attack her, but he was cut off by Quill's terrified scream. He had almost lost control again. The injury probably would have been worse than last time. She couldn't have really forgotten, could she? But did that mean that she forgot to look after what she had seen, or did she actually manage to find it but forget where it was hidden? He was able to calm himself down with this possibility. They had made some progress.
"What will we do now?" Darach asked. "The Quilava's right. She can't look through that mirror again."
"She'll be okay to do it once more after some food and rest." Zoroark said. "We're just going to end up going around in circles if we start over each time though. Maybe there would be a way to combine the water from the Eye of the Moon with the mirror. The water wasn't enough on its own, but with her abilities…"
"Hang on." Darach said. "How many years did it take you to master using that water? You don't really expect her to get it on her first try. There's no way she'll be sane enough to speak afterwards, even if she does find it."
"I'll use the water myself in combination with her looking through the mirror. She'll be the one looking through the mirror, so I won't go blind from it. That way I'll be able to see what she sees and we won't have to worry about her being in no condition to talk about it later."
"You can't do that!" Quill shouted. "You're just going to do something like that knowing it will make Aamira go insane? No, you can't!"
A single glance from Zoroark made Quill go quiet. If Aamira was in any condition to even register that she was being hurt, Zoroark would have taken these outbursts out on her. Quill could understand from just the glance, without him needing to explain further, that Zoroark just didn't care. As long as he got the information he wanted, nothing else mattered. He didn't even care if his own partner would lose her mind.
'I can't believe it's actually someone like him…' Quill thought. No, Quill was Aamira's real partner. Quill was the one who cared about her at least. He didn't need some weird dragon powers to connect them.
Zoroark turned back towards Aamira and picked her up. Quill thought he heard him say something like "Such a waste" as he did.
Quill would have given anything to stay with Aamira. He fought to stay by her side when Zoroark lifted her up and carried her towards the door. Houndoom and Beheeyem had to work together in order to subdue him, even with the collar blocking out most of his power. He knew they didn't care about hurting him now. They only had to keep him unharmed for the most part until Aamira was rested enough. He didn't care. All he could do was watch as the person he cared the most about was carried off, half conscious, back to the prison she had been stuck in for months already.
He continued to struggle in vain, stopping only when Aamira spoke again. Aamira clutched Zoroark's fur in her fists in order to get his attention. He stopped instantly to hear what she had to say. "Do you pity me…?"
Zoroark hesitated for a few seconds before carrying Aamira out of the room. Quill had no idea what Aamira had meant by what she said. Maybe it didn't mean anything at all, considering the state she was in. He had given up his attempts at resistance and allowed Houndoom to lead him off without protest. He was sure of it; they weren't just empty words. How after all of this could Aamira in any way feel some sort of attachment to Zoroark?