Blanche may not have been the last to bed, but he was most certainly the last to fall asleep.
His bedroom was larger than his makeshift one inside of FLARE headquarters. The walls were tan, patterned with brown stripes, and the carpet was a shaggy silvery gray. He guessed that the bedsheets were in the closet and was quickly proven correct. The comforter was black on one side with a stitched quilt on the other. His annoyance with the fitted sheet continuously popping off the opposite corner as he put it on distracted him for a few minutes.
He usually showered in the morning, but always rewrapped his bandages before going to bed. Significantly less red on them then the day before, which gave him… well, peace wouldn't be the right word. An armistice in his mind, perhaps. He slept in black shorts and a stretched-out old t-shirt, because his "underclothes" stifled him enough.
It was a quirk with his sleep habits that led him to being the first to rise. When he went to bed later in the evening, more often than not he would wake up earlier. It was as if his body counted it as a nap rather than a good night's sleep; Which it rarely was, it made him groggy.
He stumbled into the kitchen sometime before six-thirty, before the sun had time to even think about rising. Being unable to think of anything else except food, caffeine, apologizing for being unable to pick up on social cues, and food, he went straight to the refrigerator.
Fun, probably obvious fact; When you have to feed four teenagers, you keep your fridge pretty well stocked. Counting out Tierno's labeled protein shakes and the leftovers from the night before, there were plenty of ingredients to work with. Eggs (Weren't Pokémon eggs supposed to be larger than that?), milk, berries and vegetables. He could certainly work with that.
"Where can a guy get a pink frilly apron around here?" He muttered, "I have to color coordinate."
The pantry held the oil, the cabinet held the skillet, and a covered dish held the butter. With that, he started trying to make something passable.
Cooking for seven. Considering he usually didn't eat breakfast, just the ingredients looked like a lot of food to him.
Cooking oil in one pan, butter in the other. Tons of chopped onions, Belleper berries, and slices of meat sauteed with a delicious sizzle, wafting with rich smells and acidic undertones. Beaten eggs and milk leveled out in the pan and grew fluffy and solid.
After a minute or two, he scooped the first omelet onto a plate, dropped some shredded cheese on it, and added a generous helping of browned vegetables.
A slurring voice greeted him as he turned. Shauna said, "Morning, Ms. Grace," eyelids still drooping and hair sticking out in nearly every direction. She was dressed in bright pink pajamas patterned with black bow ties, establishing something of a theme.
Ah, he thought, this could get awkward.
Blanche wondered if there was anything he could say to smooth out the mountains of molehills that were their miscommunications, but he realized that the food would start burning by the time he thought of something.
He folded the egg over with a spatula and held it out to her. "Omelet?"
She looked up at him, blinked, and took the plate without saying a word.
"Not a morning person?" He guessed aloud as he started the next batch and lowered the filling's pan to a simmer.
"Not a you person." Blanche, despite not having eyes in the back of his head, practically saw her duck her head in embarrassment. "I mean, um. Forget I said that."
Blanche sighed, easily accepting it. "Yeah, I get it. I'd be pretty pissed at me too for acting like that."
A few minutes later, Trevor arrived, fully dressed and hair fully gelled into its helmet-like shape.
"You cook?" He asked, a little taken aback as Blanche handed him a plate.
Blanche, for his credit, didn't call the boy an idiot, but gave him a look that implied it.
"I said I can cook. Therefore, I can cook. I don't really have anything important to lie about, least of all that."
"I understand that, but I figured you would wait for help or something… Is prepping food with your bandages really safe?"
Blanche held up his hands, dwarfed in huge red oven mitts, and turned to answer. "I change them after I shower," he said, "Mostly so I don't smell like dog, eh, Rockruff breath every day."
"The heck is a Rockruff?" Shauna asked, before swigging down a huge cup of water.
"A Rock-type dog Pokémon native to the Alola region located in the western hemisphere as well as the Pacific Ocean," Serena answered, coming through the front door.
They all stopped what they were doing to stare at the girl as she released the trio of starter Pokémon into the house once again.
"It's like… not even seven," Blanche said. "Were you pulling a Professor Sycamore, or just shooting the breeze?"
"I have no need to strike the air, as it provides no leverage to my abilities in combat." She spoke evenly, as if she wasn't trying to be funny by taking things too literally.
"FLARE?" Shauna said more than asked.
"I believe that checking in before the morning rush would be beneficial in preventing future misunderstandings."
"Ah, should I do that too?" He asked absentmindedly.
"Is it her job to tell you, Mummy?" Shauna said, pointing at him with her fork.
"I'm just asking," he breathed in surrender, before his voice returned to normal. "Oh, by the way, Ponytails, I laced your omelet with laxatives."
Trevor said something about old habits and Die Hard while he nodded with his eyes closed, but Blanche couldn't quite pick up on it.
"You wouldn't!"
"Oh," he barked while twirling his hypothetical mustache, "But I would! Mwahaha-" And then, with a new arrival, he said, "Oh, good morning, Ariel."
The blonde wore a long sky-blue nightdress with white trim, stepping down the stairs with Audino on her heels. "Good morning," she said, blinking at the brighter lights in the living room.
A joke about her hair sticking to her face like a halo died on his lips, mainly because he hadn't actually seen it before. It'd been implied through the now-absent habit, but he could see that her hair was short cut and straight.
"Hey, um… you're not forgetting anything are you?" He scratched his head, trying to get her to remember and signaling his own awkwardness.
Ariel shook her head, bangs hanging low enough that she must have noticed. "The habit is to be worn by… accepted members of the church. Ms. Grace provided me storage for my old clothes for when I prove myself to my Lord once again. She said she would take me to find more casual clothes to fit in with you."
"Ah, I see." At least someone around here can hold onto their past, he thought. "I made some food if you want some."
"You should try it," Shauna agreed, "It's edible, but surprisingly, it's good!"
"Well, I suppose…"
After the four had sat down, Blanche was left wondering where Tierno was.
Naturally, someone else with more plot-relevance must have been doing the same thing, as the large boy came through the door just as he finished the second-to-last omelet. Tierno was wearing some sort of workout garb, a black tank top and shorts. The boy was bright red and was breathing heavily.
"Morning, everyone! Back from my run!"
Blanche stepped back as the massive boy dodged around him, opened the fridge and pulled out a quart of protein shake. Being a person trying his best to ignore his expectations of normalcy, he was surprised when Tierno drank half the thing in one go before leaning back.
"Ah… There's nothing like the winter breeze to keep you cozy during a warm-up, right?" Tierno slapped a hand on his chest, his muscles rippling in response.
Blanche was the slightest bit intimidated, naturally, so he gestured with a full plate to Tierno then placed it at an empty spot at the table.
"Breakfast? Dude, you're the coolest!" Tierno wrapped him in a massive bear hug, lifting him at least a foot off the ground, but the boy seemed to know his strength well enough to merely force all the oxygen from his body and not crack his ribs.
"No…" He struggled to wheeze, "Problem…"
Blanche settled into his routine by the following weekend. He would: Make breakfast, shower, rewrap his bandages (Quite a long process when you had to completely dry yourself first), go to school, do his best to understand the suddenly-much-more-practical physics class along with chemistry and the usual suspects that gave him trouble, get yelled at by Shauna for daring to breathe the same air as Serena, walk home while still getting yelled at, do his homework, make dinner, and rewrap his bandages for the night.
He sat at the bar of a rowdy cantina, sipping a Diet Cokleon (A stupid name for a soda, but again, he was literally just called white in French), and sent the Professor a text to see what time she wanted him to stop by FLARE on Saturday for the standard briefing and updates.
Gin, the blunt greaser that sat next to him, naturally wanted to celebrate the end of the first week of school, and so invited all of the guys to his favorite restaurant. And because everyone is a main character and/or had nothing better to do on a Friday night, that was how the hole-in-the-wall had to accommodate around thirty teenage boys. Of course, Tierno had asked if Trevor could come, and the idea spread like an infection to his class as well.
Trevor, being Trevor, had sat down at a small corner of the bar and had just finished his fifth glass of water. Blanche supposed the bartender was too cute for the boy to say no to. The fact that he was also on his fifth glass of soda as he sat next to the boy was irrelevant in his eyes.
Parties were not his thing. To watch, maybe, but to be one of the people jumping on top of a table to proclaim his love for "the boys" didn't appeal to him in practice.
"Where are these guys' parents?" He muttered, watching Gin try to keep his balance as Tierno lifted the table and spun it like a pizza. He looked into his glass and turned to one of the bartenders, an older man with hair just as white as his but a stonier look. It was probably unrelated, as crazy hair colors seemed to be something of a theme. "Hey, Doc," he asked by using the title the man introduced himself with. "Are these hard al- Alc- Alacha- Dammit."
Once again, for the third or so time that night, he found himself totally unable to say the name of the happy juice, the after-five-o'clock, the tall boys, if you will.
"We don't serve stronger drinks to teenagers," the cool man said, somehow managing to sound enigmatic. The other bartenders visibly swooned, which Blanche would have found funny if he could hear himself think.
"Destruction of property?" He asked as Tierno dropped the table and sent it rolling across the floor with a dull clang.
"We used to see a lot of Espers at night. Now it's difficult to tell who has powers and who doesn't."
A splash of water came from the floor, stopping the table before swirling off down a drainage grate. The boys cheered, lifting up the table once again, neither being worse for wear.
"It's common? Sounds dangerous."
Some idiot had started playing a jazzy disco song, and the karate kid from class let out his Sawk and Throh, to many shouts of encouragement.
"Everybody was kung-fu fighting..."
"Oh my God," Blanche groaned.
The blue Pokémon in a nearly identical robe to its trainer jumped onto a table, as its wider red counterpart took a receiving stance a few meters away.
"Those cats were fast as lightning…"
In a blur, Sawk jumped from the table, leading with a heel kick.
Throh caught its foot in one hand, whipping the taller Pokémon around and threw it into the opposite wall. It didn't leave even a scratch.
"In fact it was a little bit frightening…"
"Reinforced walls?" He asked the bartender, voice barely carrying over the cheering.
"A time ago, two Espers got in a fight for the fifth time that week and broke out into the street. The owner decided to make a long-term investment."
"But they fought with expert timing…"
Sawk recovered from the throw and somersaulted to its feet, assuming its own defensive stance as Throh picked up the table it previously stood on and raised it over its head.
"Most Espers are weak, from what I have seen. Of course, they wouldn't come here if they weren't looking for something."
"They were funky China Mons, from funky Chinatown…"
If the bartender had glasses, Blanche had the feeling he would have adjusted them. "Their Pokémon are often stronger than them, but it doesn't stop them from trying to show off."
The table, again, didn't dent, and the wall, again, didn't get scratched as one impacted the other with an enormous bang.
"They were chopping them up, they were chopping them down…"
"Do you have the numbers on that?" He half-shouted as Gin jumped over two tables to yank Throh's robe over its head, blocking its eyesight. The leather-clad boy dodged as Sawk Hi-Jump Kicked through the air, landing a direct hit on Throh's forehead.
"From what I've seen, one in ten people."
"One in ten?"
"It's an ancient Chinese art, and everybody knew their part…"
Somewhere in the mob of teenage boy hormones, someone released a Mienshao from their Pokéball. The bipedal weasel grabbed Sawk with its whip-like sleeves and tripped them to the ground.
"The data is likely skewed in either direction. Three of the five top Gym Challengers this year have mentioned an affinity with aura."
Oh, right, the Gym Challenge is still happening, even if I have to wait a year, he thought.
"From a fainting to a slip and kicking from the hip…"
"That's… A lot."
"There are three kinds of falsehoods in this world," the bartender said, polishing a glass. "Lies, damned lies, and statistics. It's unlikely that a true measure of how many people are Espers will be found in the future. Religious reasons, societal expectations, or otherwise, some choose to not speak of what they can do. Discarded potential is what it is. People are afraid of their potential, whether it be achieving it or not, and have been long before the Heavens Shattered."
Blanche put his cup down, staring at the bartender with a mute pause.
"Psychology is my day-job," the frosty man said, before walking off to serve someone at the other end of the bar.
"...Therapists are real?" He said to no one in particular.
The song finished soon enough, and the karate kid's Sawk and Throh sat down for a drink with their Trainer and Mienshao's.
Then some other idiot decided it was his turn on the jukebox.
"We're no strangers to love…"
"God damn it."
On Monday afternoon, Blanche sat at his desk. Rather than calculating the air-speed velocity of a European unladen Swellow compared to an African Mandibuzz, he found himself absent-mindedly watching the other people in his class.
Gin was scribbling on his paper, writing about how Frontier Brain Barry said that the only speeds that mattered were "too slow" and "too fast", and that because Mandibuzz looked cooler, it meant it was faster.
Tierno was across the room, but he could see the boy scratch his head with his pencil. Moments after, he could swear he saw a lightbulb flash above his head before he started writing again.
Serena, as always, was a mystery. From what he could tell, she was probably the smartest person in the class. Even if Gin always turned in his quizzes first to obvious results, she wasn't far behind. He'd never seen a dash of the red pen that the Physics teacher seemed oh-so-fond-of on her papers.
He could understand that she was the main character, and that granted her either unreasonable levels of stupidity or intelligence, assuming the latter, but nothing of what he knew of her made her out to be a savant.
Not in this world at least, but of what he knew of its fictionalized version. In the games, from what he could remember, she wasn't Shauna levels of energetic, but she wasn't so… cold. She'd been warm in her speech, patient, willing to explain things.
In the anime, she'd been very different, much more peppy and affectionate. And fanservicey, but anime is strange like that.
And given that this world was neither, perhaps he should have expected her to be so different. But everyone else was nearly the same? Sure, there were two Professors, but the older one seemed more or less the same, only with a little more philandery. An apocalypse occurring two years before his arrival granted it some leeway, things were bound to be shaken up, but people didn't just change on a dime, did they?
And more worrying was that nightmare he'd had. The details were branded into his mind, but only because he'd agreed with that dark portion of himself. He was going to Kalos, so it wasn't completely irrelevant. That talk about Xerneas and Yveltal… he'd learned about them from Ariel beforehand, hadn't he?
Life and death were an odd motif, considering that no one had died, as far as he could tell. It was the Pokémon world, yes, no one died violently with blood and gore, the likely exception going to be himself, but that didn't count. Where did all of those people go? Where did…
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the bell ringing. Seconds later, Shauna slammed the door open and ran over to Serena, talking excitedly while pumping her fists in the air.
That was one of the constants. A peppy girl to counter the more reserved. Another reason he didn't fit in with all of them. He wasn't a main character, he didn't have any of the necessary traits. Personality traits, mind you, white hair and red eyes generally signifies villanly. Real lucky for him.
He didn't fit into an archetype. Shauna was a genki girl, whatever that meant, Serena was a Rei Ayanami expy for whatever reason, Trevor was the shy smart guy, Tierno was the goofy big guy, Calem…
No, that's right. There were supposed to be five of them. A pair of male and female rivals. He hadn't forgotten, but there was so little to make him remember.
He slid the worksheet into his bag, knowing he'd had to finish it for homework but getting up for lunch anyway. He needed time to think about what his next move was.
The intent was nothing malicious, but it took time for Blanche to get an opportunity. Shauna seeing him do anything even slightly suspicious would make her get the wrong idea. Was he being manipulative by thinking in that direction? He didn't think so, he wasn't really working with an end goal in mind.
On Friday afternoon, having taken a whole week to think of what he was going to say, he left the room as soon as the bell rang, leaving just as Shauna entered. Tierno left not long after, and as he learned, the four usually ate lunch in pairs rather than all together.
Tierno was just about to start talking to Trevor when he interrupted halfway from the door.
"Hey, T-men, can I talk to both of you? I'll buy you something from the vending machine."
Trevor didn't seem to like the idea of talking very much, and seemed to wilter from the attention Blanche had directed towards him with his entrance.
Tierno gave him a big grin, flashing a thumbs-up and following him.
"What do you guys want?" Blanche asked a few minutes later, slotting a few hundred-Pokédollar coins into a drink machine.
"Sparkling water, if you don't mind."
"Can I have an Electroade?"
Two cans and a wide bottle clanked into the dispenser area. Blanche tossed the can of angry water to Trevor and the sports drink to Tierno, before cracking open a Dr. Pepper. Strangely, that drink's name wasn't changed. Maybe because it was already named after a plant and worked with the theme.
Blanche burned his throat with a long drink before gesturing wildly with the can. "Okay, so, you guys know how I have amnesia?"
"Of course, I wouldn't forget that, it would be rude!" Trevor seemed a little offended, strangely.
"Yeah," Tierno added, draining half of his bottle in one swig.
"I need you guys to fill in some holes in my memory. The GTS is great and all, but the little I can get is vague and the rest is blocked by United Regions search filters. Don't get offended when I ask you this, alright?"
"I'll try," Trevor said hesitantly.
Tierno nodded, crossing his arms and tapping the side of his bottle.
"Do either of you know anyone who died when the Heavens Shattered?"
Rather than the temperature dropping, which he fully expected, the two other boys blinked and shared a look before looking back at him.
"Not personally, I mean, I'm sure it happened, but…" Trevor didn't seem to know how to answer.
"No, it's about the same."
"That's… Do you know if anyone died at all?" That was blocked information too. The consensus was that it was terrible, lots of property damage, but no deaths listed. Many, many injuries, but nothing on that front.
"Well… I haven't heard of anyone that did, no."
"No."
"How the hell…"
It doesn't make any sense, he thought. There was a demigod of death! An actual force called Yveltal. And no one had died? Even so, if people had been injured, that implied that at least one person was injured badly enough to succumb.
"Okay," he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Does the name Calem mean anything to either of you?"
Again, that look of confusion.
"I don't think so."
"No, not at all," Tierno answered, shaking his head.
Dread was beginning to creep up his spine, his eyes widening and his speech becoming more frantic.
"What? You know, stupid red hat, black hair, gray eyes, blue jacket, black pants, combat boots? Calem? Pokémon Trainer? Vaniville Town?"
Tierno snapped his fingers, looking over to Trevor. "Oh, yeah. Trevs, remember when Serena wouldn't leave her room for months back then?"
"Yes, I think so."
"What was the name she'd say?"
"Um… Cam or something, I can't remember."
"Yeah, me neither." Tierno turned back to Blanche, shaking his head. "Sorry, man, I don't think we can help you."
"What the… what do you mean, you can't remember?"
"Hey, calm down, B-meister." Tierno clapped a hand across his chest, laughing. "It's nothing serious."
"He was your friend, wasn't he? It was the five of you!"
"Huh? I think you've got something wrong, are you feeling alright? It's always been us four, even before we had to move here," Tierno scratched his cheek, unsure of what to say.
Blanche faltered, the realization sinking in. They didn't remember Calem. "What the hell… Wait, you mentioned Serena. Was she always like that?"
"Like… what?"
"What do you mean, like what? Cold and distant? She doesn't smile, Tierno! That's not how it's supposed to be! I've seen it, I know she doesn't!"
"Hey, maybe that's part of your memories coming back! Maybe you knew her before the Heavens Shattered."
Shattered Heavens Incident… No one can remember anything. Remember. Memories. AIAM fields.
"...Perhaps AIAM fields can be tied to memories as well."
Clemont's words echoed in his mind like the ricochet of a bullet.
Espers became more prevalent after the Heavens Shattered. Blanche had no aura, no memories.
Serena had a massive amount of aura. She had three primary types, after all.
Maybe it was just a spur-of-the-moment hypothesis, maybe it wasn't.
"I… I need to sit down." Blanche clatted onto a nearby bench, discarding his cans and rubbing his temples. "Shit. Oh, shit. Why do you all live with Ms. Grace? Don't any of you have parents?"
Trevor and Tierno shared a look again.
"No, not that I can remember," he said calmly. Not as if he was repressing a memory, but as if he'd never known at all.
"Do you need to go to the nurse's office, B-meister? Maybe head home early and get some rest?"
"No, no, none of that," Blanche waved off Tierno's concerns, still clutching his face. "You guys just… head back to class. Forget I said anything. I think my mind's just screwy today."
"...If you say so." Tierno fished an unopened water bottle out of one of his pockets. He left it on the bench next to him before he and Trevor went back to class.
Blanche pushed his face further into his hands, lightning running through his veins like a tesla coil, directionless and sharp.
"God damn it all."
FLARE was like any other civil service, open nine-to-five even on weekends. There was still a graveyard shift, and allegedly a bunking area for grunts though he'd never visited. Though clearly some of its employees had nothing better to do on a Friday night, as he saw Michael and Aveline playing some sort of really complicated card game when he arrived at the lab after school.
"...I place a card face down and end my… Oh, um, good afternoon!"
The young Professor placed her hand face down and stood as Michael sighed, pushing his swivel chair away from the central table. From the number of cards in the discard pile, he inferred that the spiky-haired boy was losing handily.
"Afternoon," he replied, whipping off his silver jacket. Even in late January, he felt like he was burning up. Almost unconsciously, he started pacing around the center. "Don't get up, but to be honest, I'm kind of freaking out right now."
Aveline stood up anyway, before slowly sitting back down and turning red.
"How many people died when the Heavens Shattered?"
"What? Well, um… It's likely that some did-"
"Even if you can't remember? Is that what you're about to say?" Blanche's arm tensed as he cupped his chin and tapped rapidly. "No one remembers, but that doesn't make any sense. The world friggin' ended! It just barely got undone, didn't it? So many people got injured, but miraculously, not one died? How the hell does that happen?"
"Aura…?" The Professor offered, trying to keep her eyes on him as he circled around them.
"Aura's not enough! Aura would stop people from getting injured, which it probably did, but enough got injured that absolutely no one dying is impossible! Something is wrong, I know it. These people don't remember their parents, their family members, or their friends. Michael, I know you have a mom, but do you remember your dad?"
"I do, in fact. He was a real jerk, but it's not relevant to whatever your point is."
It took the wind out of his sails, but he felt so numb that he continued on regardless. "Right, Aveline. Why did Augustine need to adopt you?" Titles went discarded as his thought processes sped up to a mile a minute.
"Because, um…" Aveline pressed the tips of her fingers together. "I was on my own."
Blanche slammed his hands on the table, barely registering the tingling in his hands anymore. "That's just it! That's it, isn't it? Why are so many people on their own now? Why do I know more kids that work here than adults? It's a goddamn paramilitary operation! What happened? What went wrong?"
"I… I don't think that's what happened to me," Aveline said, stuttering through her words.
"How the hell would you know?" Blanche yelled, his breath shortening to split-second puffs. "No one knows what happened! I can't look it up on the GTS, no one seems to have a clue, and I don't know anything to help me deal with this! This world doesn't make any damn sense to me!"
"Hey, cut that out. The doc didn't do anything wrong. You need to take a chill pill."
"So helpful, Michael, thank you for telling me that and let me just calm down- No! It's not her fault, I know that, but I can't wrap my head around it. People just don't wake up and forget things like this, not on this massive of a scale. It just doesn't happen!"
"And how would you know that?" Michael stood up, rolling the chair away and walking towards Blanche. "Because for someone that's only "been in this world" for a month, you seem to have a very good idea of how things work."
"You think I know? I wish I did! This Esper shit, this Shattered Heavens stuff, FLARE not being an evil team, it's all brand-new to me."
"Blanche, listen to me. You're acting illogically. You're having a panic attack."
"You're damn right I'm attacking my panic. I want to know exactly what's up around here, because no one can tell me! There has to be someone somewhere that remembers, but I look up death numbers and it just shows me the number four as if it's some kind of stupid goddamn sybolism before I get to the information block."
"It's an Anomaly…" Aveline said meekly, cutting through him before he could continue.
"What?"
"It's… it's a higher level, I can't tell you."
"What the hell do you mean?" He shouted as best he could, the air barely coming out of his lungs. He vaguely registered Michael grabbing onto him to keep him from pitching forward. "There are people who don't even know if they had parents, how is that any way to treat them? You're FLARE, aren't you? You're for the people!"
"I can't tell you! I'm sorry, Blanche, but I can't! I don't know! It's an Anomaly so far beyond what FLARE can deal with that there's no point in telling people."
"So what are you saying? What is there that the organization that "will make all right in the world" can't beat?"
"The spirit."
A pen rolled off the side of the table, causing a small plink as it dropped on the floor.
"I don't understand."
"The spirit. Aether. Willpower. Call it anything, but that is what FLARE can't defeat. The Aura Guardian used the willpower of all people and Pokémon to Mend the Heavens. He broke through the darkness of that day and forged a new world from the one that had been broken."
"What kind of idealistic bullshit is that?"
"That's the truth! Whatever world you forgot, that's not the one you're in anymore! This is the world of spirit everyone wished for when it was reconfigured. A world of strength, if you will. Some live with it, some work to improve their lives, some battle to make it better. It's the enduring drive that keeps life… alive. I've been researching it for the last two years, it's why I'm a Professor."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"One of the primary drives of sapient life is to avoid pain. It's not cowardice, don't misunderstand! It's just a simple fact. But still, it's only a hypothesis..."
"Feel like sharing with the class?"
"When the Heavens Mended, many chose to forget who they lost, even if they did not know they had a choice. The collective unconscious, so to speak, granted their wishes as the willpower of people and Pokémon remade the world. A haze of aura covers this world now. I… I don't think it's the residue of GIRATINA's aura. The AIAM fields of all life, people and Pokémon, overlay and diffuse among themselves, reinforcing and compounding what drives them. However, there are quirks in this massive field. Anomalies, if you will."
Blanche breathed heavily, Michael's grip having loosened as it became clear he wasn't going to break down then and there.
"...Do you remember? Do you remember the people that were lost?"
"I don't. I never knew them." The Professor clenched the folds of her lab coat in her lap. "But there are those that do."
A few minutes passed, the stalemate clear. Blanche looked through both of them at a loss for words.
"My God," he gasped, crumpling to his knees. His vision blurred, the high crashing down upon him. "I'm… I'm sorry. I don't know what I was doing. I'm just so confused, but… No, that's not an excuse. I shouldn't have lashed out, I'm sorry. It's neither of your faults."
"If I was in your situation, I'd probably be worse off," Michael shrugged, helping him to his feet.
"You're more than I am. Both of you. You deserve more than someone like me throwing a tantrum." His gaze was directed at the floor, though his eyes were hidden by his scattered locks.
Michael wrapped Blanche's arm around his neck, getting the boy into a slumped posture. "Let's get you home. I think you need a rest."
"I need to be better… God, I'm so sorry, Aveline. You didn't deserve that, no one does."
"It's fine…"
"It's not. You shouldn't tolerate people who act like me. It's not healthy."
"I… I think you're stressed, maybe. People act differently when they're stressed."
"I need to be better than that. Sorry for interrupting your game." He pushed himself off of Michael, stumbling towards the airlock. "I'm going to head home. I hope you can forgive me, but I understand if you don't."
"If you've forgotten, forgiveness is often decided by a one-v-one in this world," Michael commented.
He laughed bitterly. "Of course, how could I? That's not a fight I'm likely to win either way. I'm leaving. You guys have a nice weekend."
In the winter evening, the waxing moon began rising above Lumiose-3 as if approaching the top of Prism Tower.
Blanche tossed Rhyhorn a cool rock he found on the sidewalk before easing into the house. He'd told Tierno that he had to stop by FLARE and not to wait up, reminding him everything was fine in the same breath.
"Ariel…" He was at a loss for words, his bag slipping from his fingers.
"Yes?" The blonde turned to him from the stove where a kettle was steaming with a quiet hiss. Audino's head appeared from behind the table, poking its head around the side and giving him the same look as usual. Fennekin appeared on top of it, followed by Froakie, and then Chespin, who seemed to be watching out for the other three.
"Why… Why are you wearing a maid dress." He couldn't even put his thoughts together well enough to make the question clear.
He wasn't a character in some book or show, was he? His nose wouldn't start bleeding or anything, would it? Though, it was the Pokémon world… but he didn't have the same sort of body that everyone else did.
Ariel was wearing a long sky-blue dress with an incredibly frilly white apron. Along with the bonnet, of course, because that was just fantastic for the blood pressure.
"Oh, well… Trevor said you didn't look so good at school, so I thought I'd make you some herbal tea!" She tented her fingers in front of her chest, smiling brightly. "It should be done brewing soon, but I also tried making sourdough earlier if you'd like some."
This girl is going to be the death of me, he realized. What a way to go.
"Yeah, I think I will…" He mumbled, quickly picking up his bag. "So, did you, uh, pick that outfit out on your own?"
"Hm? Well, Ms. Grace had reminded me it was traditional domestic wear in Kalos while we bought clothes."
"I see." Naturally. The archetype was French after all. Ariel seemed to slot into a lot of those, weirdly.
"And Trevor is truly one of Helix's boons, he suggested it might make you feel better as well. Though I don't understand why…"
"Yeah, that's pretty weird! Ahahaha… don't think too hard about it. I'll… thank him," as in, murder him, "Later."
"As long as it makes you feel better, I'm fine with it."
Yep, this girl is going to kill me, he reaffirmed mentally.
As Ariel put on oven mitts and pulled a tray out of the oven, he asked, "Where is everyone, anyway?"
"Ms. Grace had to step out for the evening, I believe she's having a "night out" with her friends."
Truly, the most responsible adult in the Pokémon world.
Ariel placed the warmed tray on the empty side of the stovetop, peeling back the aluminum foil that covered the loaf. Almost immediately, the air became that much fuller and richer, sweeter and saltier.
"And everyone else is…"
"Serena, Shauna, and Tierno are still not home yet, but Trevor is playing the video games upstairs."
"Right." He didn't bother pointing out the weird phrasing.
The hiss on the tea kettle suddenly intensified, and surprised for only a second, Ariel lifted it off the stove and onto a ceramic plate at the center of the table.
"Ariel…" He began, murmuring while staring into the cup she handed him. "How do I get people to forgive me?"
"Hm?"
"I mean… I get angry sometimes, y'know? It's unfair to the people around me, they deserve better. You're a good person, so I thought I'd ask you." He took a bite out of a slice of bread. It was airy but still filling, he could already taste it.
"That's… well, it's not as simple as an action, especially if it's only taken for forgiveness. It's a process."
"I see."
"For those who forgive others and seek forgiveness for their own transgressions will find forgiveness in Helix."
Another reason he'd asked her for advice about goodwill.
"Ariel, I'm probably not going to whatever pearly gates exist in this world in the first place. No one else has done anything bad to me, so I can't forgive them. That just makes it worse when I snap at them, because they don't deserve it."
"Of course, no one deserves unkindness, but you do not intend it, do you?"
"What? I mean… In the moment, maybe. It gets kind of hazy if I don't try to keep cool. I want to stop getting mad, it's not like it'll make me stronger or give me power."
"Everyone gets mad, Blanche. It's natural. It's one of the emotions that the Lord gave us."
"You don't get mad," he pointed out.
"I do, but the Lord also asks that we do not strike out against others when overcome by unrighteous emotion. It's something that must be controlled and used carefully."
"Obviously. Hurting people is bad, I know. I'll try to keep a handle on it in the future, but it's a little late now."
"Well, to put it simply, if you make the effort to become better, then forgiveness will follow."
He sipped the bitter, yet balanced tea, lost in thought. "...I don't get it."
"You can't demand forgiveness while not changing. If the one you have wronged sees that you have changed and made an effort to become better, then the actual words of forgiveness become unnecessary. If it is clear you won't do it again, then you will be forgiven for your actions."
"I don't think it's that clear cut."
"There is no other alternative, is there? All roads ultimately lead to improvement of the self, even if it takes time. You are aware of what you have done wrong, and as such, you are already improving."
"I don't think I am."
Ariel shook her head, smiling thinly. "You don't give yourself enough credit. For example, you don't swear as much as you used to."
"Not where you can see it," he said, looking away and scoffing.
"That very well may be… but you have changed. You carry yourself differently. You're more comfortable in your skin, less guarded."
"It's hard to be on guard all the time in a ridiculous place like this."
"But still, that is a change. I believe you're in a better place than most of the people that came to the church asking for forgiveness. You're trying to fix the problem before it becomes dominant in your life."
"Agan, Ariel, you're giving me too much credit."
"No, I'm not. I believe in you!"
"I see…"
He wiped his mouth with a napkin, looking away towards Audino. They, along with the three starter Pokémon, had retreated behind the kitchen bar that separated the living room and the kitchenette. All four heads poked over the top, and Audino, as always, was giving him the look. Somewhere outside, a metal gate creaked.
"Thank you. You're a great baker."
"I'm glad to hear you think so! Ms. Grace said much of the same."
The front door opened, revealing Shauna leading Serena inside, tossing a Rubix cube in her hand. "Hey, we're home- Ariel! Why are you wearing that?"
Shauna then saw Blanche sitting at the table, giving the boy no time to prepare as two unrelated dots connected in her head.
"You…"
"Why is your nose bleeding?" Blanche asked, rising from his seat with the nervous instincts of a prey animal.
"It's not!"
"Uh… yeah, it is."
Indeed, in accordance with the laws of fiction-land, a trickle of blood was tracing down her upper lip.
"No, it's not! And why are you looking at my face anyway, creep?"
"Your eyes are up there?" He offered, stepping back towards the stairs and holding his hands up.
His back made contact with the bar as she turned a brighter red and threw the cube at him somewhere between Mach One and Two.
He ducked, just in time for it to bean Fennekin on the forehead, causing the Fire-type to begin yipping and spew an ember back at her.
"Ah, my shirt!"
"It was Trevor's idea!" He shouted back as he ran towards the stairs.
"Get back here!"
He made an educated guess even if he wouldn't dare look back, if only to be snarky. "Put a shirt on!"
"What-" She stopped, before shrieking. "Don't look at me, you-"
Blanche was already up the stairs, in his room, and shaking the static out of his hair by the time she stopped shouting.
If only because he had narrowly avoided his death, he laughed to himself, remembering exactly what kind of world he was in. Though a chunk of lead had settled in his stomach, it felt like it was already starting to be scraped away.
At the north pole of a world once swallowed in darkness, glaciers and mountains of ice covered what little land there was. Deep beneath the ice, beneath the miles and miles of frost and earth, a cave system preserved ancient structures and the Pokémon of a time long past. Cloaked in pitch black, a chasm of fossils and statues waited.
Like a spiderweb, the lightless air cracked and bent inwards and outwards, bringing light to the massive frozen beasts.
In the dim light, two teal pillars appeared, creeping out of the hole in reality. The metal surfaces reflected the light of the wormhole as a bottle-like mass floated forth, supported by nothing.
The wormhole closed behind it, leaving the abyss of frost once again in darkness.
With a violent whir, the two pillars began glowing white-hot, filling the cavern with a light almost like that of the sun.
The ice above, compacted over hundreds of thousands of years, began dripping away under the heat of the pillars as they revolved around the object at the center. A warbling thunder broke stalactites from the ceiling, sending them crashing to the lowest layers of the Earth's crust as the beast began tunneling upwards.
