I stared down at the water, past my reflection. I wanted to see more. More than the white fur. More than my scars. More than the jagged red pattern across my eye. The sun burnt the water red; I couldn't see past the surface. Even as water types jumped out just to fall back in, I was alone. It wouldn't last long.

I felt her coil around me. As she nuzzled my cheek, a seviper's head joined mine in the rippling reflection. I saw her looking at me, waiting for me to look back. Surely she knew better by now. Then again, maybe she didn't know at all.

"Does it ever get better?" I asked.

She rubbed against my cheek again, but finally settled for eye contact with my reflection. "You know what I'm going to say." I couldn't pull my gaze from her glass coated stare. Those hollow promises held more than I'd seen in months.

"That doesn't mean I don't want to hear you say it," I choked. My tears rippled the water below.

She didn't smile. She didn't frown. She licked my tears away and pressed her forehead against mine. I felt it, but only saw her reflection. "That hole will always be there." I tried not to take my eyes off her. "It might hurt some days. It might not." I couldn't see through the tears, but I didn't look away. I couldn't. Not yet. "But as long as you feel it, you're getting better." My breath went ragged. "But once you start to feel numb—"

I buried my eyes into my arm, and she left. The harbor shook as I sobbed. I came out to see her, but every time she left hurt worse than the last. She was all I'd ever had, all I'd ever wanted, and all that was left of me.

I stood up and walked on, letting the ground form in front of me. Dungeons constantly change when unobserved; it's what made them so dangerous. But getting lost in one wasn't a death sentence. Not really. Not only could a group of explorers could usually find anyone lost in one within about a day, but dungeons made food abundant. My week's worth of back up rations went rotten before I ran out.

Dungeons like to play fast and loose with reality. They exist in space, but tend to ignore it. A dungeon might be a mile long and make you walk twenty before you see another side. Badges take advantage of this instability and warp you out the way you came.

I don't remember how long it's been since I threw my badge away. Days bleed into nights; only a minute separates dawn from dusk, sometimes. I sleep when it's dark, wake when it's light. I lost reason to count a long time ago.

When my hunger growled, an apple tree towered over me. The lowest branch just out of reach, I'd have to climb it. Another apple. Apples. Every single day. Perfect, tiny, they all tasted the same. Crispy, tangy, tart, and torturous. I'd kill for any other food—hell, any other edible substance, or at the very least non-lethal.

I wished I hadn't thrown out my rotten rations and dug my claws into the tree's trunk. I never wanted to eat another apple, but I was hungry. The dungeon must have known I was desperate, too, since it decided to give me a tree so big I had to climb. Just when I'd gotten to the lowest apple, I heard it.

"Dad?" The ground smashed into my back before I could double take. "Is that you? Where are you?" I shot to my paws, desperate to see something—anything else, but of course I wasn't so lucky. Why was she here? That little squirtle, dumb egg we found in a dungeon, too young to figure out a zangoose wasn't her dad. Every step she took forward, I took another back. I couldn't let her touch me. "Where did you go?"

"He ran." Warmth fled my body. A charizard stood between us. "Wanna tell her, or should I?"

My teeth ground against each other.

He snorted. "Of course. You couldn't admit it then—"

"Shut up."

"Why would now be different?" He turned towards her, but kept his eyes on me. "Your 'dad' is a lonely coward." He knelt down to her level to pet her, his scales sizzling the moisture off her head. Her confusion turned to fear. "He never loved you. Never could." The ground held tight to my feet.

"Y-yeah he did!" she shouted back. "Me and mom! He loved us a lot."

He didn't argue with her. Instead, he joined her in looking at me in wait for some rebuttal. I had none to offer. "Oh, he loves a lot. Loves to eat. Loves to run. Loves to hide. But he never loved anyone." I couldn't do what I wanted to do to him in front of her. "But he hates more than anything else. Himself, trust, forgiveness, and everything he doesn't deserve." I started caring less and less what she would see me do. "Because he knows he'll always lose it. Like your mom—"

I leapt forward and dug my claws into his throat. They both faded away, and a deerling took his place. It looked like the dungeon knew I was getting sick of apples, so I took what it gave me. I'd never eaten raw meat before, but I don't think I knew that anymore. It tasted better than apples.