Ears, Book II: The Marriage of Mew

by Mimiga

Finally, after years of hard work and tribulation, the Expedition Society has managed to map out every little nook and cranny in the known world. With their primary goal complete, an uncertain but bright future rests on the horizon. Sometimes dreams do come true. Be wary, for the same can be said about the nightmares.

6. Blue Skies Raining

The Expedition Gadget went silent as Floatzel disappeared outside of the orb's view. Panne sat and stared at the empty image for a few minutes. Blinking away at the moisture in her eyes, she scanned the walls of the room she was in, glaring at every little bump in the paint that she could find. `Why was the west side of the house painted more smoothly than the other sides?` she forced herself to wonder. Maybe the painter grew tired of the job and started to get careless towards the end? Maybe there were different painters for different walls? How was Pops even supposed to paint with those big flippers of his? Once she heard shuffling sounds come from the gadgets receiver, these worthless thoughts disintegrated away.

The first thing Floatzel did as he returned to frame was shake his head. "Nope. Mawile and Jirachi both haven't heard of a case of amnesia like this, though Mawile did say she'd be able to start her research as soon as possible. For that other idea, the pokemon we're supposed to find is a Hydreigon, right?"

"That's what he told me, yeah," the Braixen's voice had only gotten worse from the last time she spoke. She choked back the next wave of tears and cleared her throat. "Something like that, anyway. He said that if anything happened to him involving the fact that he's human, I'm supposed to go and find that Hydreigon. I don't know where, though, and I don't think he did either."

"Right. It's a good thing he told you, at least. None of us have ever heard of this guy, but it probably won't be too hard to find a dragon like that." Floatzel huffed through his nose, fingers tracing circles on his temples. "Okay. Let me figure out who's where and see if I can't get all our resources together. I know some of us are out on missions right now, so there might be some extra strings to pull. Is Vallion safe right now?"

Panne shot a glance through the doorway into her room, squinting into what little light was let in through the closed curtains. The pile of blankets where her lover had buried himself gently rose and fell with his breathing, but that was all she could tell. He could still be having a panic attack under there and she would never know. "I suppose so."

"Stay put in the village and keep a close eye on him. Assuming he lost absolutely all of his memories aside from the most basic personal details, then he's probably going to be asking a lot of questions. Just keep safe and let him adjust to everything that's going on, alright?"

She just continued to stare at the blankets, her focus fading in and out at random. It took Floatzel's sternest voice to catch her attention again. "Panne. Hey, you look awful. Quit worrying so much and try to get some rest while you can. We'll take care of the Hydreigon. It's only a matter of time now, so just wait it out."

When the orb went dark, as did the entire room. "Wait it out..?" she breathlessly repeated to herself. Panne let the gadget fall from the table and clatter against the wooden floor, unable to bring herself to care. "How am I supposed to wait?"

She laid her head in her arms and let the unrelenting quiet take over once more. Too exhausted to think, but too emotional to sleep, Panne sat there in a perpetual limbo of wanting to cry but not having the energy to do so. It'd be better to just bash her head into the wall until it knocked her out. At least then she could spend a few less hours in a world where everything was wrong.

Several empty minutes passed. The heavy steps of her father sounded from outside the front door, where he quietly entered and let the baneful sunlight flood in. She didn't move a muscle, but wished that she could have just sat there alone for a while longer. She felt the Carracosta's gaze burn into her back as he shut the door behind him.

"At least you've eaten something. That's good," he said, probably having noticed the half-empty bowl of cold soup that was disdainfully shoved to the other side of the table. Pops moved to the side of the room and sat himself down with a thud. There were a few more moments of awkward silence before he would speak again. "What's going on with the Society? Do they know how to fix this?"

"No," Panne replied in such a tiny voice that even she had trouble hearing it. "They're going to look for the Hydreigon. They told me to stay here with him." Her chest hurt with every word, like someone had impaled her sternum with a spear and left it there to bounce and gouge around in her heart.

Carracosta tried his best to be sympathetic, he really did, but the best he could do was look down and rub the small of her back. "Then you have the most important job of them all, sweetheart. It's going to be hard, but you're not alone in this. We're all here." He paused, as if giving his words time to sink in past the misery. "Vallion was clever enough to get some sleep. You should do the same. Everything's calmed down for now, and this can all wait until tomorrow morning."

The Braixen grumbled into her arms. "I don't want to go to bed. I don't even want to sleep in the same room as him. It'll just remind me of what's wrong." Her breathing began to falter again, another sob stuck at the bottom of her throat.

"Then you can sleep in my room," Carracosta offered as he wrapped a strong arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him.

"I don't want to wake up in the morning and accidentally forget what happened. I don't want to sit up and think that everything is okay, and then suddenly remember again. I really, really, really don't want that to happen."

"It's not going to happen," her father assured her. "This is nowhere near as hopeless as it seems, Panne. Your entire guild is out and about trying to find the solution as we speak. Maybe we just need to find a way to jog his head into working again? If it's the same one on his shoulders as before, I don't see why you couldn't dig up some memories from before."

"He...He doesn't love me anymore. He doesn't even know who I am."

Pops' foot tapped nervously against the floor. "Then remind him. You have time. That's the one thing you still have on your side. He's going through a lot now, too. Imagine if you were thrust into a world where nothing made sense and told that you've been living there the whole time. Use your love to help him along, remind him that he has a home. Now go to bed already. He's going to need someone to help him in the morning and you need to be there."

He was right. Panne was almost too tired to care, but he was definitely right. She nodded and sniffled loudly as Carracosta planted a reassuring kiss atop her head, then nudged her off towards his room. After nearly falling twice while getting out of the chair, she stumbled through the house on her stiff legs. As soon as her body came into contact with the huge bed, a numbness spread across her limbs and fizzled on the fringes of her mind. After everything that's happened, all she wanted to do was sleep and let a blank dream take her thoughts away from here. Just let her wake up from this nightmare already.

First Day of Waiting

Panne tried to be quiet-she really, really did-but it was hard to be stealthy as her foot caught on the corner of the table, sending her crashing into the cupboard and eliciting a thunderous cascade of pots and pans. Even after the noise had stopped, she breathlessly froze in place like a spotlight had been placed over her head. Mouthing swears, she shot a glance into the adjacent room, where Vallion had sat up in his sheets and looked back at her in vague confusion through heavy, half-lidded eyes.

"H-hey!" Panne whispered as she sheepishly stepped through the doorway. She realized she was forgetting something, zipped out of the room, and came back with a tray in her arms. After clearing the bed of blankets away, the Braixen placed the tray on the floor in front of him, trying hard not to make eye contact. It was just a few pieces of buttered toast and a glass of juice-a tiny meal that was supposed to be made quietly. And it was a pretty sad excuse for a meal, at that. "Here, I made you breakfast."

"Oh. Thanks," he said in a monotone, disinterested way. Another arrow of pain pierced her chest.

"...I didn't wake you up with that, did I?"

The Servine shook his head. "I was already awake when you got up. I think it's been a few hours now, but I don't know."

"To be fair, our sleep schedules haven't been the best these last few days." She tried to shoot him a smile, but it felt so fake that she immediately gave up the gesture. Her eyes kept training on the Harmony Scarf sitting on the nightstand. She began to fiddle with her own scarf, still wrapped securely around her neck. Of course he'd take it off. It meant nothing to him. "I was having trouble sleeping, too. I decided to just get up after a while. Cleaned myself up and made breakfast and stuff. Might as well, you know?"

Vallion grunted in acknowledgement, then turned his head away to scrutinize the panels of the floor. Panne knew all too well when he was in his contemplative moods, but being on the receiving end was almost too much to bear. She could only imagine how much he had to think about. There had to be a better way to help, right? Some systematic kind of approach that would help him understand what's happened a little better?

"Uh. Listen, Val-"

"Why do you call that Carracosta your father?" he suddenly blurted out. "I mean, he isn't really your biological father, is he? You two are entirely different species."

It took her a moment to actually come up with an answer. "Adoption," she eventually replied.

"Then what happened to your original parents? Are they still around?"

"Never had original parents," Panne said. "This body was created using a leaf from the Tree of Life. And before that, I was a different pokemon entirely, and I definitely wouldn't be able to guess her parents considering the fact that she's pretty much immortal."

He looked dumbfounded. "...What?"

"I- I'm not exactly a good example. Val, look." After having spent most of the morning feeling numb, the raw emotion that came gushing forth was like ripping the bandage off an open wound. Every word that came from her mouth was one she had to force herself to say. "I know you're confused and overwhelmed. I know that you...that you barely have any idea who I am anymore. But you can trust everyone in this village, alright? They all know you, and they're worried for you. And you can especially trust me." She crossed her heart, trying not to break down into tears again. "I will do everything in my power to help you. I swear on my life."

The Servine looked at her, but his eyes never once glimmered with a hint of emotion. Whether he believed her words or not, he stayed passively silent as he turned back to the tray and attempted to unsheathe his vines. His body swayed back and forth as he tried to find the right muscles involved with the motion, grunting with frustration the whole time. It took him three tries just to grab a slice of toast, and when he realized that he had no idea how to actually bring the food up to the side of his mouth, he huffed and set the bread down again.

"This really is the worst," Vallion muttered under his breath. "These things come out around where my shoulders are supposed to be, so they're probably meant to be my arms, right? I'm pretty sure they are, otherwise how would I hold anything? It's already bad enough that I can smell with my tongue."

Panne leaned back onto a pile of boxes and wiped at her cheeks. "Yeah. And you can kinda see heat too, right? I remember it took you a while to get used to that when you evolved out of being a Snivy. Probably wasn't as bad as it is for you know, but it tripped him up for a week or so. I had to figure out how to run on two legs instead of four when I evolved."

"This is so weird..." He stared down at himself in the same way that Mawile looked at old ruins. He had spent all of yesterday just trying to figure out how to walk, and still had all the bruises from the process. "I don't belong in a body like this. If I really can trust you, then to be honest, I'm not actually a pokemon at all. I'm...I'm actually a human."

The Braixen almost chuckled. A grim frown took its rightful place on her face only a moment later. "Oh, duh. Everyone knows that already, silly. You were still a human before this. You just don't have any of your memories of being a pokemon is all."

He sat up straight. "Huh? Wait, what do you mean? But I'm in a Servine's body, aren't I? What do you mean they a were human before this?"

"No, no. You still are the Servine from before. You're not someone new placed into someone else's body, you're the exact same person but without all the memories. You were already the soul of a human placed in a pokemon's body, if that makes any sense."

It was enough to cause Vallion to turn away once more, his brow constantly furrowed at the stream of information that continued to crash down on him. What else was she going to tell him but the truth? Could she have worded it in a better way? Better yet, what if she could have just prevented this whole situation in the first place? This whole stupid thing was that Spiritomb's fault, but what if she came just a little bit sooner, or fought just a little bit harder? Of course, none of these stupid thoughts even mattered. There was no point in wondering if she could change the past.

She must have looked pretty pathetic at that moment, because even Vallion, whose entire world was just flipped completely on its head, shot a worried glance in her direction. "I'm sorry about all of this. I'm not sure what was going on before...whatever it is that happened to me happened, but it really seems like everyone's been affected by it."

She swallowed her sadness back down and sniffled. "Ha. You know what? You would have said something exactly like that," her voice cracked, but she kept going. "Don't you dare take any blame, okay? I'm just still in shock is all. Most of us are. I mean, there aren't supposed to be crazy demon ghost things around here, anyway. We'll probably have to make a report on that sometime..."

From beyond the curtains came enough light that she no longer had to strain her pupils just to look around the room. The Braixen walked over and pushed the curtain aside with a finger. It was clearly going to be a beautiful day. The sky was spotless, devoid of anything but the warm gradient of the sun as it peeked over the mountains. Honestly, Pops would have yelled at her not to waste days like this crying under a blanket. Vallion was going to need more help than he knew how to ask for, and if she was going to be the one to do it, she needed to be more immovable than ever.

"You know," Panne started after several deep breaths of preparation. "While we're waiting for some stuff to happen in the guild we're in, why don't I show you around the village? We're probably going to be here for at least a few days, and I was wondering if seeing some old sights would help your memories resurface. Does that sound like something you're willing to do?"

Vallion tried to shrug, realized he didn't have shoulders to perform the gesture, and sighed in defeat. "Alright. That sounds fine. But before I do anything else, I want to know how I ended up here. What I mean is-how a human like me supposedly ended up in a world like this. And why was I turned into a pokemon? Are there other humans in this place?"

Ah, yes. This conversation. If she hadn't been so wrapped up in grief, she would have probably expected this to come and prepared for it. "Of course I'll tell you, but before I do anything else also, you should eat your breakfast. I know it's just dumb bread and some juice, but I'm not exactly the best chef around here. Besides, how long have you gone without eating now? God, two days or something like that? I don't know how you're not starving by now."

While Vallion tried to figure out how to use his vines, Panne just sat back and felt the weight of her duty start to mount on her shoulders. How was she supposed to make the Dark Matter story sound believable to someone that doesn't even believe the body he's in? What other things should she remember to tell him about? The Society was one, but what else? It was all so disorienting that she nearly jumped when a grumbling sound came out of nowhere, only to realize that she'd made him breakfast and forgot to fix something up for herself. Whatever, at least it was somewhere to start.

...

There was a certain indifference in the Servine's eyes as he took in the sights of the village. His expression was the same as if he were doing something as dry as surveying a forked passage in a mystery dungeon. None of the nostalgia seemed to reach him at all. He stayed warily silent as Panne pointed out houses and the pokemon who lived in them, clearly absorbing the information but never really reacting in any specific way. It had only been a few minutes of this and she already wanted to crawl back into bed and die.

When they came to the hill, Panne veered sharply off the path and hurried up the grassy slope, beckoning Vallion along as she ran. Upon reaching the top, a sweet-tasting wind brushed through her fur and provided a cool contrast to the overbearing heat of the sun. The waters below glistened with a refreshing vigor, and a summer breeze carving tiny waves across the surface and trailed into the distance into the leaves of the forest. The sun was so bright that she could even see the details of the trees all the way on the sides of the mountains. You actually had to try to be in a bad mood while up here.

As soon as Vallion managed to make it to the top of the hill, he finally expressed anything at all and let out a small gasp. A slight grin had crept onto her face. She suddenly felt the urge to take him into a hug, realized that it was an impulse to resist, and felt reality crash back into her.

"This is our special place," Panne sighed as she glanced back at the village. "When you became my friend all those years ago, this view was one of the first things I shared with you. You were the only one I ever wanted to be up here with. If there's any place that's likely to bring back your memories, it's here."

Although Vallion looked thrilled to have seen the view, he shook his head. "It's incredible-it really is! But I...I don't really feel any different." His expression darkened once more as he fell right back into neutrality, the magic fading from his eyes. "It's a completely new experience for me. I'm sorry."

"...Oh. Oh well. It was worth a shot, right?" Panne slid down the trunk of the tree, doing her best to avoid looking at the Servine. The deep pit in her stomach that had momentarily been covered over with hope had opened up once more, and she felt all the more stupid for having hoped at all. It was just a hill. Why would she expect something as simple as a place to suddenly undo the damage that the Spiritomb had caused? For all she knew, the memory loss could have been completely permanent. After all, he would always remember that he was a human, but never had he recalled anything from when he was with Mew a century ago. What would make this any different?

A rustling filled the air as Vallion attempted to figure out how to sit down comfortably on the slope. He never once turned his gaze away from the village, sharp lines of concentration trailing on the contours of his face. He wanted it, too. He wanted something to finally feel something familiar, to bring him back from this constant, confusing rush of information. But for as hard as he stared down into his old life, his expression never changed, and it probably wasn't going to. Somehow, in this sacred place where everlasting bonds had formed and steeled through the test of time, the two of them were sitting alone together.

Before the mood could get any worse, the sound of four hooves on a dirt path came from nearby. Sawsbuck slowly stepped to the base of the hill as if to make sure she wasn't accidentally interrupting a scene. When it became clear that nothing was being accomplished, she finally spoke up. "I thought you guys might be up here. Feeling any better today?"

"Hi," Panne uttered. "No."

Sawsbuck didn't exactly looked surprised at the response- more like she had heard exactly what she expected to and was disappointed that she was right. The grass type attempted to stow her frown and ushered Panne over with a subtle flick of her head. The Braixen stared on for a few seconds longer before she finally rose and slid down to her friend's level. Vallion shot them a passing glance.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Sawsbuck whispered just above the whistle of the wind. "I felt really guilty leaving you guys alone when we got back yesterday, but there was nothing any of us could really do but crash. I'm here now, though, so might as well make up for lost time. How's he been doing?"

Panne just crossed her arms. "He's confused and overwhelmed. I tried to tell him about Dark Matter, sort of as a way to help him understand why a human would be in this world in the first place, but he had a hard time buying it. I don't blame him. It's kind of a crazy story to tell, but I feel like it's made it harder for me to explain anything else. Like I'm less credible, you know? He barely has any reason to trust me in the first place."

"With how dedicated you are to helping him, he's bound to reach the point where he fully trusts you. I just know it! Even if he's a little shaky now, I know he'll come around for you." Sawsbuck's eyes panned up to the hill for a brief moment, then back down to her. "Have you called the Society yet? They might know something that could help."

"It's the very first thing I did. Val apparently knew someone that might be able to help him with this kind of thing, but it'll still be a few days before we hear back from the Society, and there's no guarantee they'll even find the pokemon. All I can really do is stay with him and help him acclimate to the world he doesn't recognize anymore, but..." The Braixen twiddled her fingers together. "I know it's still him, but I can't deal the way he looks at me! I just can't! I'm not some stranger, I've known him for almost all my life! I can understand that I literally am a stranger now-I get that-but it's not making it any easier."

"God, that sounds awful! I can only imagine how hard that must be," it was difficult for Sawsbuck to keep her voice down. "Are you sure you don't need any help? I could always take him to my house for a night to give you a break. Or you could ask Nuzleaf, I'm sure he'd agree as well. There's no reason to take all this on just by yourself."

The Braixen's nervous fingers traveled to the grass on the slope behind her, idly plucking out blade by blade as if they were her own hairs. "No, I'm fine! I'm fine. I have to be there for him. I need to be there for him. I want to be the one he can lean on the most. I can't let my own feelings get in the way of that."

"I understand how you feel, but I really think you shouldn't push yourself to the brink. The whole village is totally ready to help wherever they can, you know. He's our friend, too, and-"

She was interrupted by the clumsy footsteps of Vallion attempting to scale back down the hill. He eventually just gave up on using his feet and just slid the rest of the way down.

"I'm going to head back to the house now. I'm starting to get thirsty." He turned to Sawsbuck and bowed his head, then made his way down the path back towards the village. Panne simply watched as he disappeared beyond the trees. It felt like a shadow had just passed over her, blotting out the warmth of the sunlight entirely.

Sawsbuck must have felt the same thing, a shudder briefly running down her spine. The look she gave Panne afterwards was almost pleading. "You're absolutely sure you don't need any help at all?"

"I am!" the Braixen began to shout, grabbing grass by the roots and yanking them out of the hill. "I don't need anyone worried about me! This should be nothing! I've dealt with so much worse over the years. What kind of friend would I be if I let him down now of all times? What kind of lover would I be? I wouldn't even deserve to wear this scarf! This is something I need to do to prove myself to him."

"Panne, come on. Now you're just being irrational. This is a very real problem, and you're only mortal! It's not about who's helping and what it's doing to Vallion's trust, it's about knowing your limits and being as healthy as possible for his sake. I don't care if you saved the world, you're still a normal Braixen who's scared of ghosts and losing her beloved!" Sawsbuck's tone gave way to an exasperated huff. She lowered her head and glanced off to the side. "Sorry, I'm just getting heated over nothing. Please just don't forget that people care, alright? It's not just you. Nobody likes seeing him like that."

Sawsbuck was next to leave. Panne had held her breath the entire time she heard trotting, and when it finally faded into the wind, she wheezed out a sob and fell backwards onto the hill she'd been clawing into. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Sawsbuck was only trying to help! The crystalline blue sky smudged as tears welled up in her eyes.

She slammed her fists into the ground again and again, pretending that it was herself she was beating. The blows diffused into the dirt and meant nothing.

Second Day of Waiting

The dawn of a silent, windless day. Panne bit her tongue in concentration, her hands working independently of whatever pessimism was running through her head, all up until she had a bowl of oatmeal to place onto the table. She set Vallion's breakfast down in the square block of sunlight that peered through the window, the wooden surface warm from its touch. Another handful of berries was sprinkled into the bowl while she scowled at nothing. In the end, despite having made a more impressive meal than yesterday, she felt no less numb now than when she woke up.

Once all the clattering in the kitchen had finished and the commotion died down, Vallion sauntered out of the adjacent room and over to the edge of the table. The sunken state of his eyes made it look like he hadn't been sleeping well. That made the two of them.

Panne pushed the oatmeal over to the Servine with an empty smile. "Good morning. Here, it's probably better than just toast. I don't know how to make much else, to be honest."

He stared at the breakfast with a puzzled expression, his tail curled in an awkward position as he discovered how to readjust himself. "Do you even eat breakfast? I'm certain you could have made something for yourself in the process of making this. It feels strange to be the only one eating."

"I...yeah. It's a bad habit." She leaned her cheek on her forearm, blinking through her heavy eyelids. "I don't really get hungry when I'm stressed out. I think it's something I got whenever we were out on an adventure and were running low on food. I dunno, probably just made it a little more bearable."

Vallion hummed and extended a vine, then proceeded to play with the spoon's handle for a few seconds. She realized that he probably didn't have the dexterity to use a utensil like that yet, and silently cursed at herself. After a few attempts at a loose knot, the Servine just tilted his head and sighed. "Whatever. I'll figure it out eventually." He glanced up at her. "Do you want it instead?"

Her back immediately straightened. "I-Oh, no! I don't- I don't want any. It's fine."

After an attempted shrug, Vallion just went back to fiddling with his spoon. "Just don't...hurt yourself over me. Things may be weird now, but I don't feel like I'm in any danger or anything. You could relax a little bit more."

A choking cry rose up into Panne's throat, but she just played it off with laughter. "Please, don't worry yourself with any of that. I'm just a little stupid is all. Always have been. I'll be fine. Just try to focus on yourself for now."

"Hmm..." His skeptical look tore right through her, but he released her from his gaze soon enough and got back to his needlessly-difficult meal. It felt like her fur was about to start falling out. She really could have just fed him herself, and it's not that she didn't want to, though he probably wouldn't have liked that much. And he's gotta relearn how to use his vines at some point, right? God, why was she the one that felt helpless in this situation? How selfish is that?

After a long, deliberate process, Vallion finally did manage to get a spoonful of the oatmeal up to his mouth. He looked triumphant for a moment, but started to frown as he contemplated. The Servine placed the spoon back and stared disappointingly into the bowl.

"You don't like it?" Panne murmured.

"No, I-" he cut himself off. "I don't hate it. I'm just not really used to the flavor. I don't know."

"You don't like it," she confirmed without a hint of surprise. "Don't worry, you've never liked oatmeal much anyway. Probably not even close to a Servine's natural diet, to be honest. That's why there's the fruit. You've always had to mix some berries in so that the texture didn't get to you as bad. I just added them like I would have always done, I wasn't really thinking about it."

He ate another spoonful, this time with as much fruit as his past self would have recommended. After another thoughtful moment, he hummed with approval instead of glaring down in mild disgust. "Huh. It actually works. What other foods did I like before I lost my memory?"

"Oh! Um..." The Braixen bit at her lip, sifting through the hundreds of dishes they've tried over the years. "Well, I suppose one of your favorite things are sitrus berries. Those are pretty popular everywhere, though, so it's not too special. You...kinda liked food with almonds, I think? I remember you asking Swirlix to make all sorts of weird creations with them whenever Kecleon had any in stock. I know there's a lot of ice cream flavors you're into, but you can't really get that stuff outside of major cities. Unless you were good friends with an ice type and a Miltank, I guess."

The Servine swirled his spoon around, seemingly getting the hang of finer movements. "Okay. So what kind of food do you like, then?" When her ears perked forward in surprise, he let out a chuckle. "What? I'm supposed to learn about things I used to be familiar with in the hopes that it sparks some memories, right? Aren't you supposed to be on top of that list?"

It felt strange to feel flustered at someone she had once been closer to than anyone. "Oh. Okay, um. I've always really, really, really liked passho berry pie. One of my favorite things in the world. Passho berries are pretty ridiculously rare, though. They're hard to grow on their own, so you need a special kind of environment for the plant to bloom. There's a spot in the mountains to the west of here-a little grove beneath an overhang where there's just enough water and shade for a few bushes to grow. You've taken me there on my birthday twice, and each time I messed up my shoulders carrying home whole baskets of the stuff."

"So are we going to go there?" Vallion asked.

"Wha- Oh heck, no!" Panne coughed into her hand. "You knew the path way better than I ever did! It'd be way too inconvenient if we somehow managed to get lost while going up there, especially since we're supposed to be waiting for a call. And I, uh, am kinda totally done with these foothills for a while. After that demon cave thing, I don't even wanna leave this house."

He tilted his head. "Ah, you're right. And I guess even if I was some kind of explorer in the past, I don't remember how to survival in the wilderness at all now. I'd just be a burden the whole way. I was a pretty decent explorer, right?"

"Hah! Pretty decent? Val, we were the best!" The Braixen lifted her head just a bit higher, refreshed by a swell of pride. "We're members of an elite group of explorers, in fact! The reason we came back to our hometown this summer was because we'd just finished piecing together a map of the whole world. Like, the whole globe down to the exact valley. I honestly doubt there's anyone better than we are."

"...Were. Better than we were," the Servine corrected her before he turned his attention back to the bowl. And just like that, the wind had fallen out of her sails.

Panne laid her head back down onto the table. The sunlight that only used to touch the table had started to spread throughout the whole room, growing brighter by the minute. There was a pang of hunger deep in her gut, but it felt distant and hollow compared to the confusing twist of emotions that constantly waged war in her chest. She wasn't sure how to feel about anything. Even with Vallion here-and the whole village, for that matter-she's never felt more alone.

...

It was hot out again. Panne decided to lead Vallion further along the dirt path they traveled yesterday, down past their personal hill and into the cool shade of the canopy. In truth, she didn't even want to leave the house in the first place. Any attempt at repairing his memory through old sights obviously wasn't going to work, so why try? Why not just wait for that fateful call from Floatzel to finally arrive? It was in spite of these thoughts that the Braixen put one foot in front of the other, retracing old steps that the person she was leading had once shown her.

They crossed the boundary of the mystery dungeon at some point. The only real thing that suggested the change was the territorial screech of squabbling flying types somewhere in the distance. Ever since the Spiritomb had stopped spreading it's weird dream plague across the valley, more and more wildlings have been coming out of the woodwork to retake their homes. Maybe it was a little ironic, but things really did feel more peaceful now that you actually had to watch where you were going. The leaves were greener, the air was fresher, and the woods actually felt alive. If only she had the mental space to enjoy it.

It didn't take long for Panne to figure out where she was going. A clearing opened up further into the thicket, as told by the sunlight as it bounced up off the dew-covered grass. The sound of running water soon melted into the rustle of the bushes they pushed past. Emerging from the shade and into the overbearing heat, Panne stepped to the side. "Alright, we're here."

"Okay..?" Vallion squinted at the sunlight and tried to take in the clearing. "Where is here supposed to be?"

"Here, is where you woke up when you were dropped into this age. Our past-past selves had a plan, and this is where it all started." The Braixen led him over to a rippling pond, which had eroded over time into a small stream from that snaked its way into the nearby woods. Mossy growths thrived at the water's edge, along with a few brave white daisies that had climbed their way up the side. "I know it's still a little confusing, but just think of it like this: the life you were living exactly before this, and all the memories of the years in between, started right here. This is where you were 'born', I guess. God, maybe that sounds too weird now that I've said it out loud."

Vallion gazed down into the same pond he had supposedly seen when he was first shoved into his Snivy body. His distorted reflection glared back up at him, flickering listlessly with the motion of the water. He examined himself with a powerful intensity, raising a vine to gently touch the contours of his own face as if to confirm that the image was indeed him. Even though the reflection couldn't possibly tell the whole legacy behind the body he was in, his curious eyes worked as best they could to garner as much of an understanding as they could.

After a minute of introspection, it seemed as though the Servine had reached some sort of conclusion. He sighed, looking up from the water and around at the unremarkable glade that surrounded them. It was as if he was trying to reach out and find the version of himself that knew this place as something more. In the end, he would only shake his head. "Nope. Nothing."

Exactly what Panne expected. She shrugged, silently wishing she could curl up in a ball underneath the shade and just lay there forever. "Ah. It was at least worth a shot, I think."

"But it does help a little," he continued. "I'm not getting any of my memories back, but it's sort of helped me come to grips with the fact that I was someone before this. And even before then, too. It's...comforting, in a weird way, to know that I looked into that water with the same thoughts I have now, not even knowing who I was or why I looked like this." Vallion turned to her, and for a fraction of a moment, he flashed a smile that made him look like his old self. "I'm glad you brought me here. Thank you."

The feeling struck her across the head and sent the world into a dizzying spin. The Braixen averted her eyes. That was him. It was just a small glimmer of hope and little else, but she could have sworn that her Vallion had come back for a second. Even still, she struggled to refuse the feeling of joy that barged in on her brooding. It was unwelcome-too good to be true. She had to stay logical about this, if only for the sake of helping him through this. But maybe...

Maybe she didn't have to pretend that he was someone else.

The Night Between

The nightmare was torn in half, eviscerated into naught but a vague feeling of terror as Panne sat up with a jolt. She panted for a few moments, eyes wide with fear, waiting for the adrenaline for fade. As soon as the heartbeat left her ears, her father's rumbling snore took over the emptiness and vibrated the bed they both slept on. While the details of the dream were already too distant to recall, she knew it was bad. Was it just stress that had caused it? Was she so traumatized from the past week that it was affecting her now? She suppressed the urge to cough, realized that she had to cough at all, and felt a cold fist wrap around her heart.

No! It had to be a psychological thing, right? She was just working herself up. Anxiety has always been something that can fabricate all sorts of symptoms! That had to be it...

A shiver rushed down her spine and exited out the base of her tail. It was suddenly burning beneath these covers, but any part of her exposed to open air felt almost frozen. Was it worth it to just write it all off as stress? It-It couldn't hurt to check, right? She wouldn't be able to get back to sleep otherwise.

The Braixen pivoted out from underneath the sheets, touched the pads of her feet to the hard floor, and braced herself for the rush of cold. Once she adjusted, Panne stretched her legs and took off, her gentle tapping footsteps buried beneath the cacophony that was Pops' snore. She wrapped her arms around herself went from one darkness to another, always making sure nothing was lurking just outside her vision. Another convulsion went down her back as she glanced around the room. There wasn't a particle of dust out of place, but something was amiss. It had to be.

Panne peered through the doorway of her old room and squinted through the darkness. The window remained covered, so not even an ounce of moonlight could make it in. It somehow got even harder to suppress the dread that squeezed at her chest. She listened for Vallion's breathing, and while she could still hear him, the sound was disconcertingly muffled. At any point, Panne could have just wrote everything off as her imagination and went back to bed, but something compelled her to stay. She snapped her fingers to conjure a tiny flame, and immediately had to stifle her gasp.

It wasn't because the window was covered. There was a wall of black fog in the doorway.

Shock gave way to motion. Panne grew the spark on her finger into a full-blown flame, to which the the mist swelled in response. She plunged headfirst into the monster and extended her burning claw towards the center of the room. The heat tore through the mist faster than it could reform, carving chunks out of the monster's body with each wild swing. There was a rush of wind as it fled, blowing out her fire and leaving only darkness and dry air in its wake. The Braixen growled as loud as she could, then doubled over from the caustic burning in her nose.

Once she stopped gagging, Panne hurried over to Vallion's side, who was still writhing in a nightmare on the floor. He didn't respond to the first two attempts to wake him up, then at the third he shot awake with a sharp gasp and a look of terror, She held him upright as he started to cough uncontrollably. The shady corners of the room seemed more sinister now than they ever had before, and even while helping Val, she never took her eyes off them.

"Wha- What?" the Servine managed to say when he caught his breath, spittle running down his face. "What happened? Why are you...Why do I smell smoke?"

"Are you alright?!" Panne said with enough desperation that it made him look down to make sure there wasn't a knife sticking out of his chest.

"I-I don't know, am I? What's going on? Is there some kind of emergency?"

"Yeah. Yeah, there might be." The Braixen knelt down next to him. The immediate danger seemed to have passed, but...

Vallion continued to shake slightly, either from fear or from the symptoms of the Spiritomb's presence. Panne scowled at the darkness, but exhaled before the rage could boil over. This obviously wasn't something she could just beat down. She had to stay calm and rational. That's what Val would have said in a situation like this. "Hey. You were having a nightmare just a moment ago. Can you remember anything from it?"

The Servine looked more confused than ever, but he eventually took a deep breath and tried to gather up the shards of his dream. "I think...It's hard to remember, but I think I saw myself, floating somewhere where there was no light. There were a lot of voices, and they were all screaming and- What does this have to do with anything? Seriously, is the house burning down? Should we be leaving?"

"The thing that tried to take your soul is back."

Vallion immediately went rigid. He glanced around the room just like she had. "And it was here?"

"It was right on top of you. I blew it away." Panne closed the distance and took him into her arms. She instinctively squeezed him a bit too hard and she forced herself to pull away. "Don't worry. It's not going to get you. I'm never letting that thing anywhere near you ever again. If you start to feel sick like this out of nowhere, you tell me first thing, alright? That's how you know it's around."

It got quiet-quieter than this house had ever been. Her ears started to ring from the sheer vacuum of sound that permeated the halls. A sigh fell out of her mouth, if only just to fill that emptiness with something. She hadn't just imagined it, right? There really was a black fog in here? And if it could manifest in here, what was stopping it from just coming back and finishing the job? What...

"So what do we do now?" the Servine whispered, keeping his voice low as if to evade the ears of anything that might still be watching.

"Well I know what I'm going to do! I'm not leaving this room." Panne put her back to the corner and frowned, folding her arms. "If that bastard wants to get at you, then it's going to have to get through me first, and I'd like to see it try! I can just sleep during the day or something."

"...Hm."

Vallion cleared his throat, then curled up beneath the covers he'd wiggled out of in his nightmare. The two of them kept watch together for a while, but after a few minutes, he rested his eyes for only a moment and dozed off completely. His head slowly rolled to the side and a tiny snore fell from his nose. It was a challenge not to scoot a little closer and enjoy his company. It would have at least given her some comfort after such a disastrous discovery. That question still burned a hole in her head: What do they do now?

With no clear answer, her mind wandered back to the memories of restless nights when she was a child. The tail end of a nightmare or something in her imagination would perpetuate itself and scare her half to death. She'd try as hard as she could to stay up those nights, staring out into whatever wilderness surrounded them, clutching to Vallion who was usually fast asleep at the time. Typically his presence would eventually lull her to sleep once the danger seemed to pass. If only that were the case now.

Third Day of Waiting

"I told you I'd prove it to you, so that's what I'm gonna do!"

As much as Val tried to protest, once the Braixen had a good grip on his vine, there was no stopping her from dragging him through the village. "It's not that I didn't believe you! I just couldn't really understand how much it meant! Hey, slow down already! I thought you said you were tired!"

They hurried through the streets of the village in the same way they used to when they were late for school all those years ago. The wooden bridge creaked as they stomped over its old planks. The center of town went by in a flash, too, as did all the familiar faces within. A quaint little forested path waited on the northern edge of the village, flattened from the footsteps of students over years and years of classes. It was a weekend now, though, so it was only the two of them on this trail.

Vallion forgot to complain once they had wandered somewhere new. His eyes took in the fresh environment with a clear hunger for any sort of recognition. In a way, it was like that first time she'd dragged him along to school, right about when Nuzleaf had first taken him in. He looked so skeptical and annoyed back then, but Panne had no doubt that she was coming on way too hard. With all that energy and nobody to share it with, it's a wonder Val put up with her for long enough for them to actually become friends.

The school gate came and went without much fanfare, but to the Servine it was like he had just passed into another dimension. He tugged his vine to slow down again, but it was so that he could take in the sights of the school and all it's little boards and buildings. It had admittedly gotten quite a bit bigger and more organized since she'd last seen it.. After a brief search and more ogling than was probably necessary, Panne finally found what she had been looking for in the posts of a big wooden board of maps.

"Aha! See? This is ours right there! We're the ones that made it! Here, look!" Stopping in front of the Water Continent's regional map, she started to carefully dig a claw beneath the pin that held the sheet down. With a bit more effort, she pulled the corner up and revealed the two names scribbled onto the back. "Our names are even on there! This one came from about five years ago, and was one of the first of the detailed versions of the continental maps! We spent like all night making this copy to give to the school!"

The Servine looked at the signatures, then back at her with a frown. "You know I can't actually read that language, right? I have no idea what that says."

"What do you mean you can't...read..." Panne trailed off. It should have been obvious that he couldn't read. The Spiritomb already took that away from him, too. She instantly wanted to strike herself in the forehead for being so stupid as to not consider that. "Oh god you can't even read. I'm sorry, I just- I swear that's your handwriting, Val."

"I already told you I believe you. There's no need to freak out about it." He studied the map itself for a while longer, skimming over all the wording and just taking in the shape and size of it all. He tilted his head in contemplation. "Is that the place we're on now?"

She nodded, then poked at a dot in between the mountains. "Right here, to be exact. Serene Village, central Water Continent. You can see all the common roads that lead between the towns, for caravans and stuff. And this thick one leads to the biggest city on the continent." Her finger trailed down the east coast and landed on Lively City. "That's pretty much where we live. Along with the Expedition Society, there's a ton of trading that goes on, and a dock so big that it ate up the whole coastline and juts out into the sea."

Vallion turned his nose towards an adjacent map on the board, this time a crude, older version of the world's general topography. You could see the gears turning in his head as he processed everything before him. "So we're the one on the middle, then? They're shaped kinda the same."

"Yep, you got it. Though this map's kind of a prototype, cuz when I say we completed a map of the world I'm talking down to the freaking tree." Panne took in another deep breath and raised a finger to the diagram. "The Water Continent's known for its heavy rain and abundant rivers, hence the whole 'water' thing. Up north we actually get enough rainfall to compete with some of the rain forests over in Grass Continent, which is this one over here. Honestly, there's more plants than just grass over there, but I guess the name just stuck a little too well."

"And we made these maps? We actually traveled all over the world and just figured out where everything was?"

The Braixen shrugged. "Well, I mean, the rest of the Society did that, too, but we were certainly a part of it. There isn't a pokemon alive can can explore every kind of environment and region, and nobody's got enough time to be everywhere at once. But yeah. If you get right down to it, we were probably somewhere around a fifth responsible for it. That's a pretty big deal considering how many people our work affects. The whole world's been using our maps for years. We're kinda important to say the least."

His mouth hung as he traced the contours of the continents with a vine, trying to imagine the magnitude of the journeys he once had. She could go on for ages about the kinds of places they've seen-snippets of expeditions passing through her mind like a slideshow-but she remained silent. There was so much to say that she had no idea where to begin to start. Time's always moved so fast. Eight years never seemed like a lot in the moment, but now that she thought back on it, there's been so much that's happened between Dark Matter and now. Pages upon pages, chapters upon chapters, all dug up just from looking at single points on a line on some paper.

"There's not school today, Panne, and yet you still would have been late!" Simipour's voice rang out from afar. He laughed as he approached, arms tucked curtly behind his back. "I'm kidding, of course. I'm glad to see you two are up and about after what happened. You had me worried there for a while." When he glanced at Vallion, the corners of his smile dropped ever so slightly. "Ah, right. I heard about your amnesia problem, Vallion. I'm Simipour. I used to be your old principal back when you went to school here, though it's been ages since then. How have things been coming along? Familiar with the village yet?"

"Maybe a little. Not all that much," Vallion said, then paused. "I'm glad I don't have to explain that I lost my memories. I was actually really worried about people coming up and knowing me."

Simipour shook his head. "Oh, you won't have to worry about that here. Word spreads fast, so I'd say a majority of the town understands what's happened and what it means for you. I'm sure Panne would have looked out for you, as well. Make no mistake, you're in especially good hands here." He shot a wink the Braixen, who just blinked passively in return.

"We came so that I could show him some of our old maps. It was to to kind of prove that, you know, we actually did that." Panne looked off to the side, her fingers fidgeting with one another. "Except he can't actually read anymore, so yeah. Forgot about that."

"Not to worry," Simipour said. "I'm sure you're going to have your memories back in no time. If not naturally, then the Society has a wonderful way of working miracles when they need to. If you really wanted, I could perhaps teach you a few things to get you back on your feet in the mean time."

Vallion turned back to the board of maps, the sparkle in his eyes fading in the face of reality. "Maybe. I don't know."

"We might not be here much longer," Panne offered in his place. "At some point we'll be called away back to the Society. They've been looking for a specific person to help Val, so once they find them we'll be off as soon as possible. There's not much time to really drill in any spelling lessons, you know? And there's still so much he's got to process, too." Not to mention those lessons would be boring as sin, she thought to herself.

The water type just shrugged. "Well the offer's always open in the case you're interested and have the time. We've all got to do our part to help out friends in need, and you two are more like family to the village. Never hesitate to ask us for help with anything." Simipour gave them a satisfied look and then wandered off back to whatever extra-curricular business he had in the middle of the weekend.

Even after the conversation had ended, Val's face never quite lit up the same way. Once they were alone, and he definitely made more than sure there was no one else around, the Servine shook his head and shot Panne a sideways glance. "You know, I really don't feel like I earned all this respect I get from people. They're always so eager to help me, and I'm grateful for that, but I'm just...me. I don't feel like I did any of the things that my past self did. I'm fine with being told what's all happened, but it feels wrong to try and take credit for anything."

Panne rolled her tongue in her mouth, threatening to bite down on it if her guilt so much as willed it. "Does that mean you want me to-..."

"It's not you," the Servine quickly reassured her. "You're different somehow. I don't really know how to describe it. It's everyone else that used to know me that, coming up and being too nice and asking me if I need anything and stuff like that. I really don't know any of these people. I wish more of them would treat me like a stranger. I guess that sounds a bit strange now that I've said it, actually."

"No no. I get it. It makes a lot of sense," Panne said, internally gushing at how he thought that she was different. She'd probably be thinking about that for hours. "You'll at make an exception for Nuzleaf tonight, though, won't you? I mean, you probably weren't as close to him in the past as I am to my Pops, but you're basically the only family he has. We're even making another huge dinner for it, too. Trust me, you're gonna love it."

He thought about it for a moment. "It should be fine. I'll figure it out."

...

Sweet and savory scents alike wafted through the room, some so powerful that Panne could already taste the dish on the back of her tongue. Nuzleaf had to open a window just to help ventilate some of that stifling air, as every flavor had to be appreciated on its own without the interference of other palates. Despite the fact that there was nothing to celebrate-especially now with what had happened to Vallion-Pops was still an expert on finding reasons to dine like a king. He'd scrounged up the rest of the ingredients he hadn't used a week prior and whipped up yet another incredible meal. With the kinds of foreign spices he'd been using from his contacts with seafaring merchants, he might as well have been a king.

Now that Vallion no longer knew the vastness of the recipes at work, Nuzleaf took great pride and care in leading him through the creation of a few of the dishes. Sweat and steam accumulated on the Servine's brow as he concentrated all his efforts into the lessons, but once he got back into the motions of using his vines, a satisfied smile occasionally flashed across his face. Panne helped in the cooking where she could, but merely stayed back and observed for the most part. She didn't exactly have the heart right now to be putting her all into anything.

Still, she couldn't be too down about it. Not after Nuzleaf and Pops had gone through all this extra work just to try and cheer them up. She might as well show just a little bit of appreciation. That wasn't to mention how no mortal being could ever hope to resist the kinds of alluring scents that drifted through the air. Once the plates were set out and the drinks were poured, there wasn't much use in pouting. The Braixen lit up a few extra candles to brighten the table and sat down in the spot beside Vallion as always. The wrongs of the world could probably wait an hour.

While the feast wasn't quite as massive or as diverse as its predecessor, there was certainly some creative uses of the leftover ingredients. The centerpiece of the experimental dishes was a heaping pot of figy stew, dense with vegetables and absolutely overwhelming in terms of flavor. This stuff was so spicy that just a spoonful of it made Panne's fur feel like it was about to ignite. If it was that intense for a fire type like herself, she was almost certain Vallion would have steered way clear of it, barely containing her surprise upon glancing over and seeing him going to town on a bowl of his own. Spicy was supposed to be his least favorite flavor, yet it definitely didn't appear that way anymore. What could have caused such a drastic change like that? Not that there was much room to wonder with the feast at hand.

But time always flew by like a waterfall when good food was shared with people you love. Jokes were made, stories were told, second helpings were taken, and bellies were filled. In the flickering light of a dozen bright candles, Nuzleaf cleared his throat and reintroduced himself properly to Vallion, who was as much a son to him as he was to Pops by this point. When the time came to set down their silverware and listen, Nuzleaf had something to say to the Servine. He was here for the joy and the meal, of course, but more importantly, there were to be no secrets among family. He was here to retell the story of his most costly mistake, years ago during the calamity of Dark Matter.

The tale itself definitely didn't fit the heartwarming setting in the first place. His descriptions and motives were much too gloomy, and he told them as if they were still fresh memories. It was clear that he held this dark past very close to his heart-perhaps in the hopes that he would never forget the lessons he had learned. Vallion listened intently, for he was the sole person Nuzleaf meant to repent to. He thought that the Servine deserved to know the truth, straight from the mouth of the person whose decisions had once spelled his death, even if all of it was just dust on the wind now. It was his right to know. No lies, no misunderstandings. This was how it used to be.

Even after learning about the betrayal of Revelation Mountain, Vallion didn't seem too shaken. To him, there was no more reason to condemn Nuzleaf than there was to forgive him again. It was all in the past. Nuzleaf was a different person then-they all were. While Nuzleaf certainly looked relieved to have gotten that off his chest, the atmosphere never really recovered after that. It was a necessary evil to be sure, especially considering how her abridged version of the Dark Matter story left out a lot of the morbid bits. She was just glad that she didn't have to reveal that part herself. Pawing at the scarf around her neck that she refused to remove, the Braixen gathered her thoughts while the others gathered their dishes.

Luckily, this time around there was less to clean up since there was less food overall. Nuzleaf said his goodbyes and went on his way. A solid thunk marked his exit, the noise reverberating in their hearts as much as in their eardrums. The task of cleanign the dishes was shared among the three of them while the evening sunk in, and boy did Val have a lot to let sink in. When it came time to blow out the candles, Panne left one just to give the place a decent range of visibility-you know, so no demonic ghosts could come down and suck their souls out.

While the Braixen contemplated if the space beneath the table was large enough to hide a Spiritomb, Vallion walked by and spoke to her in hushed tones. "Hey. You staying in my room again tonight?"

"Of course I am. Like I said, that thing's not coming anywhere near you ever again. That means I'm never leaving your side, whether you like it or not." She crossed her heart to seal the promise, then to follow through, started towards the room. She didn't mention the part about how physically lonely she was, but just sleeping in the same room was going to have to suffice for now. "I hope that's okay with you, though. I'd really prefer that."

The process of getting comfortable amidst the haphazardly-strewn blankets and pillows was getting shorter and shorter. The Servine swiftly found the proper way to cozy down in the mess, curling up in the corner between the wall and a wooden trunk. He continued their whispered conversation before long. "So while this weird confessional mood is still going around, can I ask you about something that's been bugging me?"

Panne's eyes grew leery at the way he said it, but she shrugged and pivoted towards him nonetheless. "Sure, I guess. I wasn't planning on going to sleep right away, anyways. What's up?"

A meek vine sprung forth from behind his collar and lingered in the air a moment. "I keep meaning to ask this, but it's always in the back of my mind." The thin tendril snaked forth and touched a point on her chest, pulling the smallest of gasps from her throat. "I keep noticing this scar on your chest. It didn't look to bad at first, but after seeing it a few times, it seemed like it used to be way deeper. Is there a story behind it, or is that too personal of a thing to ask?"

"Oh! No, it's perfectly fine. I was planning on telling you about it eventually." Her hand traced over the patch of missing fur, feeling for the slight difference in texture between scar tissue and healthy skin. "It's funny you should ask, actually. We both almost died in the mission where I got this thing. It was just supposed to be a search for a missing child in a nearby mystery dungeon, but there were some...politics that got in the way. The end result was me getting my chest blown open."

Panne could see Vallion's eyes lock onto her, always hungry for more insight on the world he had forgotten. She just sighed and leaned her head against the wall. "It had only been a handful of months after I came back. Things were finally starting to pick back up for the Expedition Society now that the world wasn't ending. Just before we were sent off to map some dreary corner of Sand Continent, an emergency mission came in that morning, and since the Society mostly made its money by being a registered rescue team, that was our job to take. A kid had supposedly gotten lost in a forest dungeon that's pretty much smack between this village and Lively City-Poliwrath River. Seemed believable enough at the time, so we took the job.

"We were kind of...distracted at the time. There were lots of things on our minds at that point. Neither of us were really prepared when we crossed the mountains and ended up in the middle of a territorial uprising. The whole mystery dungeon had been flipped onto its head seemingly overnight, with factions and leaders and war strategy and everything. That's not something that happened in Water Continent in a long, long time. And we still had to find a lost child in the middle of it all. Well, we succeeded in doing that, but in the process I broke my leg and was imprisoned in some dusty cave, and you were left running around all day and night with severed vines and snapped ribs, trying to deal with the conflict and looking for me at the same time."

Vallion's face was impossible to read, yet her own only got more expressive as the story continued. "There was a huge battle all across the forest around the time when you found me. I'm talking dozens and dozens of casualties, not to mention the wildfires that started because of it. We limped out of that terrible cave just about when it ended, and we watched as one of the leaders was beaten and surrounded. You tried to save his life despite everything that he had done. You were reasoning with the winning army, but the pokemon you were negotiating for was a vengeful, awful person. He used the last of his strength to unleash a devastating attack on the entire hillside. We couldn't run because I had a broken leg. You tried to protect me, but I jumped in front."

"Then that scar..." the Servine muttered.

She nodded. "I don't remember it very well-you know, since I was mostly dead at the time-but apparently every inch of ground had been upturned for hundreds of feet across. The force of the attack cracked my chest right open like a walnut." Panne made a claw over the scar and spread her fingers outwards. "If it wasn't for you, I would have definitely not made it. You tried to stop the bleeding for a long, long time. And the single reviver seed you had was just enough to give me enough fight to not immediately die of shock. The rest of the Society came a while later."

Panne began to fidget her fingers, a nervous fluttering building up in her stomach. "I didn't want to see you get hurt. I jumped in front of the attack because I wasn't afraid to die for you. That's the only thing that ran through my mind in that moment. All I wanted was for you to be okay." Then she realized what part of the story she was on, and suddenly understood why it felt like she was about to give away a secret. "You know, we-uh... a few days later, when we'd been taken back to the Society to recover, that's when we had our first kiss." Those final words needed to be forcefully pushed off her tongue, giving them an unnatural cadence.

The Servine's expression didn't even twitch. When his gaze finally did shift away from her, it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "We really were something together, weren't we?"

"Always have been," she sighed out. "Before these bodies were even made for us over a thousand years ago. Before everything. After you brought me back from Mew, I swore that I would never leave you alone again. Back during that rainy night in our room, I made that promise again. A few days ago, you made a new promise, too, but I already told you about it."

At the mention of the scarves, Vallion turned to his own sitting across from him atop a cluttered table. He stared at it for a few moments before he raised a vine and examined it more closely. It was the first time she had seen him even touch it since they got home. "That's what this is, right?"

Unconsciously, she began to tug at her own scarf. "Yeah. You were telling me about this human ceremony you dreamed about where two people vowed to spend the rest of their lives together. Er- that's what you were trying to tell me about, I think. It was the last thing you managed to say before the Spiritomb stole you away."

He hummed and fell silent again, and in the emptiness Panne felt her heart start to race. She wanted to lunge over and take him into her arms. She wanted to say that she loved him, and that she always would no matter what. The words were just on the tip of her tongue, but it was still impossible to say, and it would fall on deaf ears regardless. What did he care now? He didn't feel the same way anymore. It was only natural that he didn't. The Braixen started to choke, and hurried to swallow down the sobs and rubbed at her eyes to keep the tears back. It didn't work nearly as well as she had hoped this time.

His voice stood out against the pulse in her ears. "Are you gonna be alright?"

"I miss you so bad," she finally said, sniffling. "You're sitting right there, and I still miss you. You sound exactly the same. You look exactly the same. You even act pretty much exactly like you used to. I should just be happy that you're safe and sound, but it's so hard. It's so hard that I wanna cry. I don't even want you to see me like this. I feel like I'm ruining everything by being weak."

"You're not ruining anything."

Her cheeks were well on their way to being drenched now, and the tears had clouded her vision until the light of the candle was a bleary star. The despair ached beneath her shoulder blades and clawed at the flesh of her heart. There was nothing to be sad about. There was no reason to act like this. Stop. Stop, please. Don't be like this in front of him. Anywhere but in front of him.

A vine wrapped around her wrist, pulling a gasp from her throat. She looked at the Servine through a sheen of tears.

"Hey. Listen for a second." He pulled her hand flat and clumsily placed the scarf into her palm. Her fingers closed around the smooth fabric, feeling the residual warmth he had instilled into it. "I don't know much about that promise I made, and I can't pretend to understand how much it meant to me. To us. That's why I need you to hold onto that promise for me, since I can't anymore. When things are okay again, and when the old me is finally back in my head, then you can give that scarf back. Alright?"

"A-alright..." she whispered back, the sound of his voice more than enough to stifle the nagging thoughts in her head.

"Just think on that for a little while, okay? We'll figure something out, and everything will go back to normal. I'm not going anywhere."

With that said, the Servine slithered over to the lonely candle, and in a single breath plunged the room into darkness. He shuffled back over and rummaged through the covers once more to get back into a comfortable position. Panne hadn't moved a muscle aside from bringing his scarf in closer to her. Without the aid of light, she began to meticulously fold the plant fibers with one hand, bringing both ends around her right wrist and awkwardly attempting to make a knot. It was a fairly crude tie, almost enough to feel like she was doing an injustice to the gravity of the gesture, but with one final tug Val's precious promise was adequately secured to her. It would have to do.

No matter what direction she faced or where she moved her arms and legs, there was simply no comfort to be found. Panne realized this and just laid on her back, staring up at the ceiling while her face was drying. Both the scarves were almost impossible to ignore anymore. They practically burned into her skin whenever she tried to let her mind wander. What had just happened? How much did she blurt out, and how was it going to change things in the future? What did it mean for things to feel normal again? She shifted about in place once more, finding no solace in the new position that was randomly decided. The fissure of inches between their bodies was unbearable.

"I love you," Panne said aloud, but there was no response. It didn't matter whether he had heard it or not.