A.N: Hi guys! Big thanks to those who reviewed! It made me so happy! *gross sobbing* anyway, I'm really taking this story very slowly, I just don't know how to go about it completely yet,xD I could have posted this earlier this week if only I wasn't respawning, yes, life has been unkind to me just like to all of you but we all gotta carry on.

Aureillia: Yas Cherry! Kenny did sort of kinda absorb him as well as his memories, I shall post more info about that kind of thing in the future chapters! :D Thank you! Your review spam surprised the hella out of me haha *grins like idiot* aside from ikarishipping, there'll be poke (YAS!), contest and oldrival, all having unique stories of their own but it's too soon yet for them to appear haha

Skitty13: Skitty! Ah! Review bombs! I loved it! And yas! Kenny erased Barry's existence, devils are capable of it which I guess what makes them scary. Not much info yet though aha and I've prepared a lot of plots for this like crazy, I just hope they all go well,xD THANK YOU! And you'll soon find out that mysterious redhead :3

PH: A little intense but it will get more intense once Paul's other distant 'brothers' and 'sisters' start appearing. Thank you!

Shadow Rosealine: Yeah Kenny himself is confused,xD he killed/erased Barry accidentally and Dawn would never even know. But sorry though, no ikarishipping fluff yet, but I'll get there, the not-so-cliche way aha thank you! I think I might write one in the next chapter :3

QUEENSPELLER67: Thanks for the review! And yes, Kenny is a devil, while Paul is a hybrid. There will be a lot of revelations in the upcoming chapters. Including how Kenny took Barry's existence. :3

LovelyLily13: Well the next chapter is here!aha Sorry I had to kill Barry, but he'll be an important piece for the plot later on. Big thanks Bryanna!

I shall never own pokemon and it's characters.

Chapter 4

Paul slowly sat up from the sofa. It was already late in the afternoon.

He groaned and felt his head. Not only that he'd been feeling more miserable than he used to, he'd been sleeping way more often. Only getting out of the sofa to eat or drink or pee. Which was horrible and pathetic in a lot of ways.

He'd have to do something about his life.

When he ran away from the orphanage last week, he only thought about one thing – to know what he really is. He thought that the first thing to do if he wanted to live a life he wanted, he'd have to know who or what he really is.

The truth about himself, no matter how ugly or terrible it is.

And there was a problem with his objective, he didn't know where and how to start searching about the truth.

"Darn it.." He cursed. "Where and how do I even start?"

He felt lost. And with each passing day, he felt even more lost.

On the bright side, the day after he started staying at this place, all those broken dreams and nightmares didn't occur to him anymore.

It was weird, he didn't know if he should be thankful for it or not. But he didn't mind. Not for now.

When he was about to fetch himself a glass of water, he heard a soft knocking on the door. He stopped going toward the small kitchen and went for the door instead. He found the familiar brunet standing with suppressed emotions across his eyes.

Paul stared at him for relatively a while.

What were those emotions? Fear? Disgust? Loathing? Apathy? Paul had no idea. But such eyes were something he was already used to. Never foreign. Too familiar. Eyes that would even haunt him in his own thoughts.

Before Paul could say anything, Kenny cleared his throat.

Without even trying hard to think about it, Paul knew what he was going to talk about. Paul already knew what he was here for. The feeling of déjà vu was overwhelming.

"I need to talk to you." Kenny said.

"Save it." Paul cut him off.

...

"How are you gonna go about the assignment?" Dawn asked Zoey as they started walking along the center quadrangle of their school.

"The prophecy thingy?" Zoey asked. "I dunno, I think I'm just gonna write some random stuff. It's not like it matters."

Dawn processed a thought.

"What do you mean 'not like it matters'?" She asked her redhead bestfriend.

"You know. The assignment was just to write about our opinion on the prophecy thingy so I think it's fine to write whatever, we can't be judged." Zoey answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "It's not like it's true or not. Stupid devil prophecy."

"You are not interested about it?" Dawn asked. "I think it's kinda interesting." Dawn cupped her chin.

"Well, good for you then." Zoey stuck her tongue out. "May you enjoy answering the assignment madam."

"Oh.. Yeah." Zoey stopped chuckling. "Dawn you should just go ahead." Zoey looked troubled for a second but then regained a smile right immediately. "I forgot something I needed to do in the clubroom." She sighed. "See yah tomorrow." She turned on her heels and started walking back.

Dawn waved her hand goodbye and went towards the school gates.

"Love lots!" Zoey yelled at her right before she disappeared by the gymnasium.

Dawn chuckled as she continued walking ahead by herself.

The cool and gentle breeze of the late afternoon brought her serenity. Ever since she was a child, Dawn have always loved late afternoons. The special little time between morning and evening. Not too hot and not too cold. Not too bright and not too dark. It was the only time of the day where she could find peace and comfort in such a busy and troubled city.

For her it was oasis.

Even though the bell just rang, there were only few students leaving school grounds. She guessed that they might still be in the library or still in their classrooms since it was still early.

"So going home isn't as exciting as it used to huh?" She asked herself in amusement.

As she walked along the grassy quadrangle, kicking a pebble in the process, some students were busy chatting with their own circle of friends. Some were by the benches laughing every now and then. Some were just sitting by the grass and answering homework, arguing then snickering.

Though she felt alienated, she smiled. She tucked some stray blue locks behind her ear.

She saw a pair of boys looking at a magazine under a row of pine trees. When a girl came to them they immediately hid it. They bickered for a while and their talking turned to a cop chase with the girl chasing the boys in irritation. It was such a playful sight.

"It sure does look good to have lots of friends." She muttered to herself.

She found someone familiar by the school gates. He was wearing an unbuttoned striped polo over his black shirt, a navy blue cargo pants with black sneakers. The wind gently swayed his auburn hair. His hair looked flaming red with the crimson afternoon rays of the sun behind him.

Kenny looked striking.

His hands were in his pocket. He was standing anxiously, busy avoiding gazes from students coming in and out of the gates. If only he wasn't that anxious, he could have noticed some girls whispering about him, shooting glances at him every now and then.

Dawn smiled inwardly. She realized she was never alone in the first place.

"What a charmer." She gave the pebble a final kick before running up to him.

"Kenny! Hey!" She yelled shamelessly, giggling at the horrid expressions of the girls seeing him.

By the sound of his name being called, Kenny swung his head left and right. His anxiety died immediately after seeing Dawn. Her blue school skirt swayed along with her long ocean deep blue hair. They were straight and clipped at the sides, and even by just looking at it he could feel their softness and silkiness. She was waving her hand at him like a toddler, calling out his name. Needless to say, his heart skipped a beat. She was a sight he would never get used to seeing.

His mouth parched. He couldn't find words, more so his tongue. He went speechless pronto.

"Hey!" She paused beside him. "Sorry for making you wait."

"I, I just got here." He choked on his own breath.

"Those girls totally dig you." Dawn elbowed him playfully, pointing to a couple of girls that got embarrassed and walked away.

"What? Why would they?!" He retorted incredulously. "And what are you saying!"

"Well if you weren't so busy being socially anxious then you could have noticed." She smugly said.

"You know how I do with people." He muttered embarrassingly. "But I want to fetch you from school."

She smiled at him even with the slight tint of red across her cheek.

"Thank you!" She then walked ahead of him.

It took a minute before Kenny could regain his composure.

'Dawn thanked me?' He thought. 'And Dawn blushed!'

He placed his hand over his chest in a lousy attempt of calming down his heartbeat.

"Hey wait up!" He soon followed her.

"Race you to the pharmacy!" Dawn started running ahead.

It took them a few minutes before they got into the Hearthome Generic Pharmacy. The two teens ended up gasping for breath, they were both sweating but nonetheless they were both smiling from ear to ear. Kenny said that he would wait for her until her shift was over and they would go home together. Dawn smiled at him as she went inside and started her work.

While Kenny waited outside, he thought about what he and Paul talked earlier. It took him a lot of courage. Truth be told, he was terrified of him. Terrified was even an understatement. Not because he was something of immediate danger, like Paul wanted to slaughter him right off the bat.

Paul was someone he found unnaturally uncanny.

And what terrified Kenny the most about him was his scent. It wasn't foul or something rotten. In fact he smelled good, but too good that it was unearthly anymore. It was fragrance beyond the realm of the living. It was aroma that instilled indescribable terror.

He didn't know when he started noticing his smell, but everytime he caught a whiff of it his blood would immediately run cold.

After that talk, when Paul closed the door Kenny fell on his knees. He trembled badly. It took him a lot of minutes to stand back up. He never met someone like Paul, his presence was so terrifyingly imposing that it drained him of whatever energy he had just by standing near him.

Kenny could tell, Paul was something far more beyond than those rumored creatures. But what could be more terrifying than a devil? Paul's image with his red glowing iris popped up in his mind, as well as those bodies that looked like life was sucked out from them.

'Only one of his eye is red. Does that mean he's a hybrid? How could that be? He's not human, he's also not a devil. So what is he exactly?'

His mind kept on circulating around the thought.

Asking him to leave was no doubt the best, not just for himself but for Dawn.

And when he isn't thinking about what Paul is, his lost memories would entertain him.

'NOW! KENNY! RUN GODDAMIT!'

'Live, for me, no matter what. And I'll see you again. Definitely.'

He didn't understand anything about those visions, whether they were his memories or just plain visions about someone else.

And what baffled him even more were the emotions that would stir inside his chest when those visions would start rolling out like a film in his head. The burning village he tried to escape from, the people chasing after him and the girl who sacrificed herself for his escape. He never met the girl before but whenever he'd remember her darkened disheveled face, his heart would break.

She was clearly someone important to him. But all he could do for now is ponder about her existence.

Whether Kenny really knew her or not, Paul unlocked these visions inside of him for whatever reasons.

An hour later Dawn got out of the pharmacy for her quick dinner break. Kenny met up with her and they went for dinner by a nearby restaurant. They talked about random things and how Dawn was doing with her studies. Dawn replied with a lot of complains about projects and exams which Kenny found nothing really new. Their spoons and forks clinked with each other as they laughed.

"Hey Dawn." Dawn and Kenny were already heading back to the pharmacy so Dawn could finish her working shift. They were walking along the busy sidewalk of Hearthome and it unintentionally brought that horrible memory one night. It sparked a conversation he had wanted to talk to her about. He gulped noiselessly as Dawn looked at him, motioning him to continue talking.

"What do you really think about Paul?" He asked, averting his eyes from her knowing how he wanted him out from their lives whether it was something out of being selfish or protective.

Dawn got silent and didn't say anything.

"I know your intentions are good and you really want to help him, but.." Kenny trailed off. "Aren't you afraid of him?"

Their light and playful atmosphere slowly sunk.

"I don't really know." She heaved an awkward chuckle. "I don't know but the moment I saw him, I wanted to help him. I know it's strange, but, I, I can't explain it any better." She sighed.

"Ohh..okay."

Sensing the hurt in Kenny's reply, Dawn kept up the conversation. "Is this the reason why you've been acting distant lately? Are you scared of him?"

They've been walking for a couple of minutes already and Kenny found it weird how the pharmacy seemed farther than he remembered.

"Yes, I was, kinda, afraid of him." He was more afraid than he had admitted, but he couldn't tell it to her, not when he knew Paul was someone more dangerous than anything.

"I understand you Kenny, you're not someone who's quite, you know, social."

"No!" Kenny turned to her, his voice coming off more alarmed than expected. "It's not that. It's not that at all. It's different. You've seen those bodies right?"

"We're not even sure if he was the one responsible for that." Dawn replied thoughtfully.

"Who else could it be?" He asked. "They were dead. And how they died can not be explained. Creepy. It freaked the hell out of me!"

"What if he was the only one who survived and those three were his friends? Like, like they were attacked by something." Dawn was no longer looking at Kenny. She kept her look straight ahead.

They had been talking about this the night they found him and brought him to her apartment room. She thought that they have cleared this out but she didn't know that Kenny was still going on about this.

"His eye was red, his right eye. I'm sure you saw it." He said. "And I know you know what that means."

"I did. And, and. I know! But you said it yourself, devils don't exist today. They may have never existed." Dawn could see the huge 'Hearthome Generic Pharmacy' heading glowing in red lights a few meters ahead. "I know you're concern about me Kenny." She curved her lips upward slightly. "But I'll let him decide when he wants to move out."

Kenny wanted to argue with her, but his voice fell short. He felt frustrated, but more towards himself.

"Okay." Kenny replied, biting his lips, as Dawn went inside the glass doors of the pharmacy. Now Kenny felt bad that he had to make him leave without letting Dawn know. But deep inside, he knew he made the better choice.

He was keeping her safe. But safe from what actually?

A danger even he couldn't comprehend? A danger only he himself could feel? Everything had been crazy. And it got crazier the more he thought about it. He was now even contemplating if the decision he made was really to keep Dawn safe, or was just out of jealousy and selfishness.

And just like that, the day ended. He and Dawn exited the pharmacy exactly 10PM.

Unlike earlier, they walked home in silence, it wasn't awkward. They walked beside each other in silence comfortably, letting all the city lights, car horns and clattering of shoes against the cemented pavement do the chatter for them both. Even though it was late at night, the city was still busy as ever.

While walking, Dawn dwelled on her thoughts more deeply than she would have wanted. Ever since Kenny opened up the topic after dinner, Paul had never left her mind. She remember how she answered Kenny a while back 'I don't know but the moment I saw him, I wanted to help him.'

She didn't tell him the whole truth.

The moment she touched Paul that time when they had saved him in the alley, a spark rushed broken visions into her head like a cruel waterfall. Visions filled her head rapidly that she staggered and almost blacked out.

She couldn't make sense of everything she saw, they were too fast and too fragmented to make sense with. She could only distinguished a few of everything that came to her. She saw a castle that stood on top of a hill overlooking a village in front and a vast ocean behind, at the dark basement of the castle were seven rooms each with a child. No bed, no pillow, not even a mat. Not only that they were enclosed in a damp and cold stone-walled room with nothing but a metal bent platter for food, they were chained and blindfolded like pathological criminals. No lighting, their only source of light was a single small window barred with rusting metal rods. Some were crying, some were asleep, and all of them were tattooed with both fresh and old stitch marks and scars.

She didn't understand it, but she felt it – a suffering that was immeasurable.

The vision she saw that night hit her like a storm. She felt her chest collapse in immense sadness that tears fell from her eyes without her knowing it. And in that moment that happened quicker than a snap of a finger, she recognized that Paul was one of those seven suffering children.

He have six other brothers and sisters.

Remembering how his clothes were torn and tattered that day, Dawn thought that he might have escaped from that awful place. But could such a place even exist to begin with? It looked really old and something that existed from a very long time. She couldn't even recognize the place.

It was those broken visions that compelled her into taking care of him. Outrageous. She didn't tell Kenny any of it, she hardly believed it herself so she wasn't taking any chances of explaining it to him. She'd sound crazier than what really happened.

"Hey, we're here." Kenny's voice brought her back to reality.

"Oh, sorry." She replied meekly. She breathed out a lengthy exhale and composed herself in a second and went to the stairs. "See you in the morning Kenny. Good night." She went ahead of him, not even bothering for a reply.

When she unlocked her room, she found it odd that the lights were off. She felt for the light switch.

"Paul? Have you eaten anything yet?" She asked out loud. As the lights illuminated her little yet cozy room, everything was quiet and cold. No sign that anyone had been here since the past couple of hours at least.

"Paul? Are you-" Then she realized it. Paul was no longer around. And she was sure of it. She creased her nose.

His scent, his aroma. The weird scent she found strangely attractive about him. She couldn't smell it anymore. Her school bag dropped on the floor with a thud.

She sniffed a second time for another check. Nothing.

The cold breeze of the night swayed her curtain up. The wind howled past her ears and the dropping temperature made her shiver lightly.

I know you're concern about me. But I'll let him decide when he wants to move out.

"So he left already huh. How many days was it? Four? Five? So sudden." She chuckled weakly. She slowly locked the door behind her. She dragged herself to bed.

"Not even an advance notice or whatever. What an ungrateful jerk."

She crashed on her bed without even changing her clothes. Sadness of unknown origin had struck her horribly. And she didn't like it, not a single bit.

Mother! Do you really think my eye is beautiful?

I am sorry! I killed a lot of people again! I swear I didn't mean it mother!

Will I become a better super hero than my brothers and sisters?

Why am I assigned to this kid? Subject7 is the most dangerous of the seven! He could kill us in an instant!

Don't you think it's better this way Sister Cheryl? His presence would just destroy the celebration anyway.

I told you we should have never adopted that child! Look at his right eye! It's red! It's a manifestation of a devil! A monster!

Everyone is scared of me, I get that. Just leave me alone.

B-but, I-I'm a-a m-mons-monster! Mons-monsters do-don't become ha-happy.

For my seventh birthday this year. I still wish for happiness.

Dawn gripped her pillow tightly. She muttered a lot of curses under her breath. She didn't know what pained her so much when he had only met him for a few days, they barely even had a decent conversation. And those painful visions wasn't even hers.

You just casually undressed me woman? Have you got no sense of decency?

Thank you... really.

Can I stay here for a while? No, you don't need to do anything for me.

"I did do nothing for you, I did what you wanted. So at least you could have told me in advance or left me a note. You really are an ungrateful jerk!"

She sat up and balled her fists hard. She grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it across her room. The pillow hit the shelf beside her door and it brought the whole structure down like a lego construction. She huffed angrily and looked at the clock.

10:46PM

"Don't think you can get away that easy you freaking freeloader. I wasn't even asking for anything in return, and you pay me with your sick and messed up memories? Without even any kind of explanation?! Is that how you repay my kindness?!"

She shot up from bed and glared to no one in particular.

"Unforgivable!"

She stormed out of her room thundering, slammed her door shut, hopped down the stairs and made her way furiously out of the apartment. She didn't know where to look for him or where he'd gone but she was too angry to care.

She put all her bet on her one and only lead – his aroma.

Chapter 4 End: Memories

A.N: Chapter is done! Woo, late, as usual,xD if you guys are wondering about the whole aroma-thing about Paul, since he's a special kind of creature I decided to add a special kind of character to him, which is that aroma his body naturally emits. It kind of differentiate him from being a devil. And devils are the only one supposed to detect that smell. So why could Dawn smell him? And why would Kenny be afraid of his scent when Dawn found it attractive? PLOTS!

Reviews are highly appreciated! Thanks again! And have a great day :)

~Kicks!