Well. Hello again. It's been about two years, huh?
I'm sure you've wondered where I've been - well, maybe you don't care. I was off getting a pharmacy degree. Still working on that, btw. I thought, "Hey, doctoral student don't write pokemon fanfiction! Go study!"
But Lia wasn't done. And hopefully, you aren't done with Lia. I can only try to bring this story to its end.
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"Lung cancer. Of all the things to die from, it's going to be lung cancer."
Lia listened to Darren's lament, smiling behind the thin paper mask that she used to filter the ash filled air. Although he had a mask too, the air was still thick with sulfur and fine powder.
The young trainer looked up, marveling at Route 113. Ash fell like grayish snowflakes through the sky, obscuring anything more than twenty feet ahead of them. The plants of the area were gray themselves, thin and scraggly from suffocation.
Aurora, for her part, had her eyes tightly shut and was acting as a navigator. 'There are a few trees a hundred feet ahead – move eight steps to the right. Ah, watch your feet – there are a lot of big rocks. We may be a little off the path…'
"God, this is annoying. I told myself last time that I'd never come back to this place…" Darren muttered, his voice muffled by the mask.
"You were here before?" replied Lia instantly, picking up any chance at conversation.
"Yeah, about a year and a half ago. Met this crazy guy who was obsessed with fossils. Seemed to think that there were hundreds of them, just below the surface." He sighed, making a face at the memory. "He wanted me to help him with some explorer's kit that would let people travel underground. Seemed mildly interesting, but he was too weird, and I had better things to do."
"I…I see…" Lia stuttered, not really understanding what he was talking about.
He shot her a bemused look. "Do you?"
"No…" she admitted sheepishly.
He rolled his eyes and looked away, leaving them in silence once more. Lia sighed – it seemed that between dangerous episodes, there were dull stretches of just walking. It almost made her wish that something would happen, just to give her something to do.
Aurora started. 'Oh, hey! There's a person up ahead, right in the middle of the path.' She opened her scarlet eyes to check her psychic sight. 'Yep.'
The Kirlia was right – walking slowly along the path was a boy under a parasol, wearing mostly black and green. He heard their footsteps and turned around, a confused look in his green eyes.
"Oh! Hey there." He grinned widely now. "I almost never run into people out here. You guys must be on your way to Fallarbor."
"Yeah, that's right – do you know how much further it is?" Lia inquired, unable to keep the anxiety out of her voice.
The boy – probably only a little older than Darren – grinned wider. "It's gonna feel like a lot longer if you keep on going without an ash parasol." He twirled the said object in his hand, spraying them with a new layer of ash.
Darren, coughing despite the mask, asked, "Well then, have any ideas on how we're to obtain such a thing?" He sounded rather annoyed.
Lia sighed, "Er, sorry about Darren. Lung cancer worries him. The name's Lia, by the way."
The boy shook her outstretched hand. "I'm Haku, and I just happen to sell these things. Follow me."
Haku led the two travelers off the path to a small wooden stand sheltered by the trees. An Umbreon was guarding the store, raising his head when they came by. The boy patted the dark pokemon, causing it to relax again. He then dusted off a few paper parasols in vain before circling around to stand behind the counter.
"Welcome to the only place in Hoenn that sell ash parasols, conveniently located in the only place that'll ever need them." he chuckled. "A pair of parasols will be 300 P."
"Tch! Expensive…" Darren muttered.
"Gotta make a living somehow." Haku chuckled.
"You've gotta pay for mine, Darren." Lia said, playfully shoving his shoulder. "Remember? I paid for your contest suit."
"That ugly thing? You should've paid me to wear it." he replied, rolling his eyes.
Still, he begrudgingly withdrew his wallet, flipping through the bills with a frown. They were pretty much all singles, considering that he and Lia ate a lot of food out of vending machines…
Darren had just withdrawn the correct amount when all of the sudden the Umbreon lunged over the counter, grabbed the whole wallet with his teeth, and bounded off into the forest. The three of them stared in disbelief.
"What the hell?! Goddamn Umbreon…" Darren hissed, chasing after the fleeing pokemon.
"Darren? Wait! Geez, Aurora, go after him, he won't be able to see through all that ash…" Lia sighed.
The psychic nodded and took off as well, soon disappearing into the ash-laded air. Lia shook her head at their antics – things were always crazy, huh?
"Sorry about that Haku. Sometimes –"
Lia suddenly froze, feeling something warm and furry brush past her leg. She looked down in shock to see Umbreon staring up at her, mewing curiously. When she jumped away from it, he made his way slowly back to Haku.
The boy smiled and petted the pokemon. "Isn't Double Team such a strange attack? Some pokemon can even make substantial clones for a short while."
Lia took a few shaky steps back, staring at them with wide eyes. "I…I think I'll go find my friends. We don't really need a parasol, not really."
"I'm afraid it's a bit late for that, Lia Makura. You see, I really can't fail my mission." Haku said with a pleasant smile, standing up.
Lia took a step back as he took a step forward.
No.
No, no, no, not again.
She turned to run, but she quickly realized that there was a purple barrier enclosing her in a circle. When she whirled around, she could see Umbreon sitting perfectly still, his eyes glowing that same violet color.
"What do you want with me?" Lia whispered, her voice breaking. "Are you from Team Sky?"
Haku laughed. "Why are you so nervous? I just want to talk to you – or rather, my superior does. After that you're quite free to go."
Lia nervously paced along the edge of the ring, never turning her back to him. It was suspicious. Why exclude Darren and Aurora and trap her here if he just wanted to talk? Why would Team Sky want to talk after trying to kidnap her?
She suddenly put her hands to her belt – the rest of her pokemon were still there. Her pounding heart calmed a little, and her stance relaxed. If they really were going to take her, they would have taken her pokemon. Plus, Haku was just standing there, and his only pokemon was weak to Kou…
"F-fine. I'll talk to this 'superior' guy and ask him what the heck his deal is with me." Lia said, trying to steady her voice.
The boy smiled. "That's the spirit! Now, if you'd come over here…oh, don't give me that look! It's a mini video phone, see? You're not going to be able to hear it all the way over there."
Haku sighed when Lia refused to come any closer than four feet. "So stubborn. Guess I'll turn up the volume…c'mon, sit down."
Lia watched the small screen flicker to life, hearing a faint dial tone in the background. Finally a man walked into the picture, pressing a button to stop the ringing. He faced the screen and smiled.
The man had a handsome face, probably no older than thirty. His dark black hair was carefully styled, looking as sharp as his emerald green suit. His silver eyes seemed to fix directly onto Lia's face.
"So." he said with an almost exasperated laugh. "You are Lia. I've waited a very long time to talk to you."
"Well it might have been easier if you would've skipped the kidnapping thing." she snapped back.
The man merely chuckled, "Goodness, you certainly are different from Ari. Hal and Amy were right. And she thought you two would have so much in common…"
He seemed to wave off the thought and turned to Haku. "You have the scale, I trust?"
"Of course, Relem." Haku replied, pulling a necklace from under his shirt. The glittering green looked familiar to Lia, but the man on the screen spoke again, recapturing her attention.
"Now Lia, we are going to conduct a very simple test. You will touch the pendant there – one finger will suffice. If nothing happens, then we will leave you alone with our sincerest apologies."
Lia's eyes narrowed. "And if something does happen?"
Relem smiled.
"Haku."
The man tossed the pendant so suddenly at Lia that her only instinct was to catch it. It landed neatly in her gloves, no harm done. That is, until she impulsively clenched her hands, touching it with her skin.
There was a crackle of green electricity, and the world froze.
The color leeched out of her vision, as well as sound. It hurt. Something…hurt.
Looking down, Lia found that there was color. It was red. And it was all over her. And it was blood.
And then suddenly she wasn't so deaf – suddenly there was screaming and smoke and angry hands grabbing her from all sides and-!
Hands grabbed her from behind, covering her eyes and snapping her head back. The action felt familiar, but the hands were somehow too small.
"Calm down Lia. No more screaming."
Lia hadn't been aware that she had been screaming until the voice spoke. Her screams calmed to helpless, broken sobs and hiccups.
"Make…it…s-stop…no…more…" she pleaded.
"I know, I know. Shh."
The blood and the screams were washed away clean, and Lia slumped down in relief. She was vaguely aware that she had been upset, but hadn't the faintest idea why.
The small hands released her and Lia found herself in a world of black. When the trainer whirled around to see her savior, she was met with herself.
Except she four years old, and wearing the strangest set of robes.
The child Lia smiled. "Hello there."
Lia stared openly at the girl, who merely continued to smile. "Who…?"
"Call me Emerald. That would be easiest." the girl replied.
She childishly twirled around and walked as if on some narrow beam. "But ah, that was a close one! A minute more and you would have lost your mind. More than you already have, that is – honestly, your psyche is looking like shattered glass here…"
"Where are we?" Lia asked firmly, interrupting. She seemed much more lucid now and wondered where Haku, Darren, and her pokemon were. Her belt was empty.
Emerald paused and turned around, an amused look on her young face. "Don't you know what the inside of your own mind looks like? It's a rather dark place, isn't it? Perhaps you should invest in some therapy…"
Her expression turned cruel. "But you did, didn't you? Five years ago, that Drowzee…poor thing."
Lia's eyes grew wide. "H-how did you know about that? No one…" Her expression hardened. "Who are you?"
"I'm you."
"No. You definitely are not."
Emerald laughed, reaching up to grab Lia by the shoulders. Her grip was painful, too strong for a child as she forced their foreheads together.
"Let me refine that – I'm the you that you left behind ten years ago. It had to go somewhere Lia – do you really think you could just discard me like that? That a silly Dream Eater would get rid of me?!"
The child's eyes had gone a deep, rich green. "You didn't want me. That's why I still look like this, the last time we were in sync…but no worries! I found something that will keep me with you for a long time."
Emerald released her and glided back. With a flick she stretched her arm out, holding a small green orb in her hands. It was absolutely beautiful, like a sphere of glittering emeralds.
"That's mine." Lia said. She didn't know why she thought that, she just…knew.
Emerald frowned. "No, this is definitely mine. You don't want it – you rejected it and me."
At this the sphere came to life, glowing and casting thousands of soft green beams into the darkness. A low hum started, playing a familiar melody…
The child sneered. "And it still wants you. I can't believe it. I guard it for ten years, keeping it alive, and then you show up and-"
The elder Lia wasn't really paying attention though. The melody played softly, taking over her thoughts. She reached a hand out and the orb pulled towards her, almost wrenching out of Emerald's hands.
"Oh, want it now, do you?!" Emerald called in a high voice. "I wouldn't. You'll go absolutely mad. Forget about the league, you won't even be able to train all those precious little brats you call your pokemon."
The orb jerked again, stronger this time. The child frowned at this, but let go of the precious object. It floated through the void, each inch spilling light and color. The blackness shifted to a blue sky, a dark ocean, a tall tower…
"LIA!"
Lia twitched, snapped out of her daze. The orb grinded to a halt a few inches from her outstretched fingers.
"I…what? What am I…?"
"Lia, snap out of it! You need to – Mint, don't let him-!"
She clutched her head, pulling at her hair in an attempt to stop her splitting headache. Emerald recalled the orb with a flick of her wrist and smile as the world returned to black.
"Not ready to join us just yet, huh? Pity." she spat with venom. "He would have loved to have you back."
Lia crumpled to the ground, writhing and clawing at her temples. "He…who? Who would have?" she gasped.
Emerald sighed. "It would kill him to hear you say that. Not remembering the reason for your – our, really – existence."
"I…"
"God dammit Lia, wake UP!"
Emerald began to fade from Lia's view, still smiling. "So long, Emerald Destined. Next time we meet, you'll probably remember everything."
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Lia, though her eyes were open, could suddenly see.
She seemed to be shivering and looking blankly up at Darren, who was holding her. There was a sharp and all too familiar metallic taste in her mouth.
"Darren?"
He looked down at her sharply, then wiped the corner of her mouth, his fingers coming back bloodied. "Shit." he hissed to himself. He then held up his hand. "How many fingers?"
"Four and a thumb."
"Okay. Okay, so you're…okay." he sighed, setting her on the ground carefully.
Lia looked up at him, confused but sensing that she shouldn't move yet. Her hands were burning something terrible.
Mint came into her field of vision, as well as Aurora who buried herself in Lia's chest. The psychic was shaking, muttering countless apologies.
'I'm sorry! I should have known better! I know that I should never leave you by yourself, and I-!'
"Not your fault." Lia replied. "I sent you away. I of all people should know not to talk to strangers." She turned her head and spat out a blood clot, then struggled into a sitting position.
"He got away." Darren said, not looking at her. "Mint chased him and managed to get a hold of his Umbreon, but Haku escaped. The Umbreon managed to get free of Mint's grasp a little later."
"Oh."
After another silence, Darren turned to her suddenly and said, "You know Lia, if you have freakin' epilepsy or something, now would be a good time to tell me. I leave for two seconds and you start seizuring and bleeding from the mouth and it's kind of fucking scary. That is the exact same way Ari was, and she's dying."
Lia was startled by Darren's outburst, though she could understand why he was worried – he clearly cared a lot about Ari, and if someone else was going the same way…well, that'd be hard for him to watch. But how much to tell him? What could she say without scaring him away? She knew that she had these blackouts, these seizures…but this was the first time she could remember what had happened in that darkness.
She took a deep breath. If she was going to go crazy, she might as well warn him.
"It's not epilepsy. Darren, it's…I think I'm going insane."
He stared blankly. "Lia, this isn't funny. Sure, you're a little weird, but-"
"No, listen." she said firmly, shutting him up. "I…I'm getting these visions, okay? Like blood. Lots of it. And sometimes, when I'm half asleep, I'll hear people screaming, or feeling like someone's grabbing my arm."
Her hysteria escalated as Darren remained quiet. "And you know, maybe I could deal with that, but it's happened before. When I was eight, I…there was a Drowzee. Cause I had really bad dreams and was keeping myself awake and collapsing all the time, okay? And it w-wanted to use Dream Eater."
Lia buried her face in her hands and cried, "The problems went away, but the Drowzee died, Darren. Whatever in my head was so poisonous that that poor pokemon died. But then I was okay…until I came to Hoenn. It's been getting worse ever since."
They were both quiet for a while, with Aurora gently patting Lia's knee. She finally said, "I-if you want to leave Darren, I won't blame you. We can meet up with Anna and you can go with her if you want a travelling partner. I-"
She was interrupted by Darren lightly knocking his fist against her head. Her startled, wide-eyed expression was so comical even he smirked.
"Okay, so you're a little messed up in the head. Who isn't? I have psychological baggage that couldn't get past airport security. We're both pretty fucked up then, right? I mean, look." He leaned back and counted on his hands. "Kou has abandonment and anger issues, as well as being downright stupid most of the time. Aurora's obsessed with you or something, and Nepti is paralyzingly shy. Raku has a dangerously huge ego that got him gutted, mind you, Faelia's basically a living doll, and Shadow…well, he's mentally normal, but half blind."
"On my side, Mint's just like me so that's clearly an issue. Hikage is anti-social, Leaf is permanently on crack, and R.T. is normal but pretty goddamn annoying. You see? We all have issues. So we might as well keep the circus together, right?"
He stood up and, for once, offered to help Lia up. She grinned and took his hand – when Darren wanted to, he could actually be pretty nice!
"Oh, and just as a head's up – you've just used all my niceness for at least the next three weeks. No exceptions." Darren drawled. "Now let's get going."
So much for him being nice.
Still, he was willing to travel with her despite her impending insanity. She had scared off more than a few friends in elementary thanks to her crazy. Still…she would have to try harder to hide these episodes from Darren. No need to make him deal with even more.
It was then that she remembered Relem and what he must have seen.
Maybe having Darren along was a bad idea after all.
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Coincidentally, the first line of this chapter was written two years ago. The rest in the last week. Crazy, huh? If you want to yell at me for being so terribly lax, please leave a review. Feel free to leave a review if you're happy too. :)
Also - hi Muja! :D
