A/N: THIS IS ACTUALLY VERY IMPORTANT AND NOT MY USUAL RAMBLINGS. I made a slight continuity error when writing the chapter, Gone, which I fixed upon uploading Nothing but the only note I ever made of it was on my profile page. I can, therefore, not be sure that all of my readers have read it and it is very important that I address it before you read this chapter. MAY HAS MET MEW BEFORE. SHE MET HER. IT HAPPENED. THEY SPOKE. GOOD TIMES WERE HAD (sort of). That's really all I have to say on the matter.
On with the story, sorry if I caused any confusion.
Happy Reading.
The sky had gone dark like a horrible, spinning storm. The wind had torn the leaves from their trees and the waters from the sea. Her claws had dug into the ground as she bounded toward the source, to keep her moving, to keep her from blowing away. She first came across Yue. Tok was trying to hoist her upward but then the wind had picked up and his feet had flown out from under him.
"Stay!" she had shouted at them. She knew they had heard but she doubted they could do much else. She remembered briefly wondering what on Earth Yue had done to earn such a beating—and who on Earth had possessed the gall to actually win. She shook the thought from her mind. Yue was not severely injured so there were far more important matters at hand. Her brother had joined her then. He blended well with the landscape, as it grew darker with each passing second.
"Moon, they're here." His voice was calm, this was not the time to be calm.
"What? Who?" She was transfixed on the path before her. Find them. She had to find them. They were going to lose them, didn't he realize they were going to LOSE THEM?
"Whisper and Vesper. They've done it."
She halted so quickly that her momentum sent her face-first into the ground. She thanked Arceus none of the others had been there to see it. She preferred the mysterious and wise reputation she had somehow managed to uphold around them. Her brother snorted.
No wonder he'd been so calm.
She held him close to her and sobbed. He was cold…and she didn't want to know. All was silent, save for the soft rumble of the waterfall. The world was white and she couldn't see but she dared not look—dared not know. This had happened before; she knew that soon the world would return and that Mew would be waiting. Would she save him as she did last time? Would she smile and assure them and be gone once more? Or…or was it…too…
No. She dared not look.
She felt a warm presence. Blinking back tears, she could just make out the silhouettes of trees and rocks. A young girl stood glowing before her. Her eyes were sad, but she smiled. All of her previous questions were lost in the stampede of her new ones.
"Hello, May." She didn't recognize her voice but wasn't surprised that the girl knew her name. At this point, May assumed glowing, sad beings simply knew everything about her. The girl giggled. It was an odd sound from a girl with such sad eyes.
"We don't all know you, silly, but certainly those who talk to you would." Great, this girl could read minds too. May looked at Drew. She could just make out his face. The girl laid a hand on his chest, over his heart where all of this began.
"He'll be okay." She assured, smiling her sad smile.
"You can't know that." May whispered. The girl stared at her.
"I can and I do. You should know it too…why aren't you looking?" May's vision blurred with new tears.
"I'm tired of looking." She sighed. "How would you know, anyway? Who are you?" Before the girl could answer, another figure appeared from behind her.
"Her name is Violet. Sorry for the delay, it took me quite a while to track her down." May smiled. She couldn't help herself. There was no mistaking it; this time it really was Mew.
"Been expecting me, have you?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.
"On a…handful of occasions." The words were barely out of her mouth when she realized exactly what Mew had said. Violet…Violet… VIOLET? May stared at the girl. Her sad eyes… How much had she seen? How much had she heard? TRAITORS! He had screamed the word. His voice had sliced through the dark, through her bones. TRAITORS! TRAITORS, ALL OF YOU! Violet's smile disappeared. She knew. She had heard. Suddenly the world returned. The green of the trees was a vibrant color, harsh compared with the constant white. May blinked away sunlight—real, true sunlight. The shadows were gone. The landscape was a torn, disheveled mess. Broken, uprooted trees accompanied the colossal scars Gengar had left in the ground. The forest was quiet. It was eerie, yet comforting. Was it over? Was that possible?
"May!" She turned to see that Yue was running toward her. Her auburn hair was a mess. May wondered briefly if it was from her encounter with Drew or if the wind had reached her too. Drew…she glanced down at him. Did her eyes deceive her, or had some color returned to his face? Just before Yue reached them, she froze. May could only guess what she was thinking. She looked up into her friend's eyes and saw confusion, then caution. How could this be? How could this be? No, too good to be true. HOW? The words swam through her mind as if they were her own. They were Yue's, she had to remember they were Yue's. Violet stared back at her. There were tears. Golden tears falling from golden eyes.
"Yue." She breathed. For a split second, neither moved. Then, as quickly as it had begun the moment ended and Yue had collapsed into Violet's arms, weeping. The girl embraced her and for an instant, she was radiant with joy. A strangled gasp came from May's right and she knew that Tok had joined them. Violet's gaze met his and she beamed. Yue turned to look at him; tears coated her face and matted her hair. Violet reached for him. He went to her.
"I…I…" he tried to speak, his voice was muffled as he buried his face in her shoulder. I couldn't…I wasn't…I…I…
"It wasn't you, Tok," Violet murmured, "I know that. I always knew that. Please…stop blaming yourself." And then he cried. It was as if his very being had crumbled. His legs gave out from under him and his weight pulled them all to the ground. They sat in a pile of tears, of the brightest joy, of the deepest sorrow.
She felt…heavy. Arceus, she was heavy. The world was spinning; she didn't want to open her eyes. Someone groaned to her left. It was a familiar sound but she didn't feel like thinking of who it could be. Where was she? She felt…she was on…grass. The ground. Grass grew from the ground. She growled, when had thoughts become this difficult to form?
"…Fog?" Her eyes shot open. Vibrant greens and blues affronted her vision. Trees. Grass. Sky. Clouds. Sunlight. The sun was far too bright. It all appeared so very stable despite how much it was spinning. That only made the dizziness worse. She groaned.
"...Me too." The name came to her then. Smog. SMOG! She shoved herself upward. Another mistake. The world came crashing down on her and sweet Mew she was heavy. She fell forward, landing on the ground with a soft thud. Another growl. What was happening? This ground was cruel. Any other ground would have let her pass right through. How dare—
She stared at her fingers as they rested in the grass next to her. Connected to a hand. Connected to an arm. She had an arm. Her eyes wandered to the source of her brother's voice. A Haunter lay next to her. He looked terrible. She could sympathize.
Fog had forgotten what it was like to be solid.
May eased the door shut behind her. The soft click seemed to resound throughout the room. Sunlight poured through the window, soft and calm. For the first time in a while, the room was calm as well. She could hear the others from down the hall. She couldn't describe why she'd left, but some urge had driven her here. Moonlight had insisted he was fine, but…that just wasn't it. She heard Vesper describing something and Yue laughed. She felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth and she looked at Drew. He was back in his bed and she knew he would hate that when he found out. A giggle escaped her—it was odd to feel like laughing. She couldn't help the worry in the pit of her stomach but Mew and Violet had seemed so unconcerned, so sure that he would be fine, that she had to believe it. Besides, there was something…something…she just couldn't place it. He groaned and his right hand twitched. Her heart shot into her throat and she was at his side in a second.
"Drew…?" she whispered. He groaned again. His eyes blinked open and searched the room until they landed on her. He stared at her for a moment, the sunlight reflecting in his emerald eyes, and then he growled.
"If I'm dead and you're here I'm gonna kick Arceus in the face." May erupted into laughter and tears. She lunged forward, holding him as tightly as she could. She felt his arm around her and his hand on her back. She buried her face in his chest and felt his heartbeat against her forehead. Then his hand was in her hair and she looked up at him and he kissed her.
He was warm.
I don't deserve this. He sat alone. Sitting, he could take. Standing he was not used to. It was better to sit. Yes, much better to sit. At least the spinning had stopped, just thinking about it made him nauseous. He ripped at the grass—it was something he had always been capable of. Ripping, tearing, scraping. That, at least, felt natural. His arms almost felt natural. Almost.
He found himself wondering where the others were. Had it been this bad for them? Had they stumbled when they'd tried to stand? How many of them had legs now, anyway? Were they frustrated or were they laughing at themselves, making the most of it all? It had been so long since he'd laughed with someone, he wasn't quite sure what it would feel like. He tried to remember, to think back, when was it? He closed his eyes.
He saw his mother. Smog had shot toward them so fast, he'd flown straight into the flower chains she and his sister had been making. Fog whined about how long they had taken to make while their mother held back chuckles and untangled broken flowers from…well really from all of him. They were everywhere. He remembered his young self giggle at their sister as he teased her for forgetting she could let them pass straight through her. Smog sniffled as their mother plucked the ringlets from his head and back.
"Just close your eyes and pretend you're a cloud," she had said, "They'll pass right through. Try it, dear, you can do it." Fog had removed herself from the chains and was chasing him around the cave. He squealed. He had actually squealed. He laughed as he let her tackle him to the ground.
A startled yelp drew him from his thoughts. He turned and saw a small Gastly. Its eyes were wide as saucers. A young boy, he thought, not much older than I was… A Haunter floated out from the trees.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" she asked the boy. She froze when she saw him, her eyes locked on his. He wasn't sure what to say, he was sure he knew her but had no way of telling who she was. Not now. Not when they looked, for once, as they should.
"…Smoke?" The question was hopeful, at least. Though he could only guess why.
"Yes." He could see that she was relieved. She must have been worried it was him. He definitely knew her voice, but he'd given up placing the name.
"Smog was so worried you'd… Well, we can take you back to the others if you'd like." She smiled at him. Why was she smiling at him? He stared at her, suddenly remembering that not all of his comrades had possessed very strong opinions on the topic of his family. He wondered how she felt about him. His eyes wandered to the young Gastly and he remembered the pain in his own mother's eyes the night she'd watched her children scream and cry as their bodies were turned to vapor and their father lost himself to a monster.
"By all means, lead the way," he said, trying his best to smile back.