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.

8. Streetlight Glow

"We're almost there. It's not much farther."

Panne's claws sounded against the stone-laced road as she swayed slightly from the fatigue of travel. The heavy clouds reflected the lights of the city from beyond the hills, causing what almost appeared like a tiny dawn in the midst of the descending dusk. For as horrible as she felt, the relief of having made it back at all was more than enough to push her over the finish line. Between the sleepless night, constant travel, and the energy consumption required of her body to fight off the Spiritomb's strange poison, she was going to crash like a derailed train tonight. It was so close now...

The glowing horizon swathed the countryside in what almost seemed like an artificial moonlight, giving view to the sowed fields that would otherwise be cloaked in darkness. Scattered among the worked plains were handfuls of farm houses and agricultural buildings, standing like monoliths in the distance. The smell of fresh mud from recent showers wafted on the breeze. They were so close to the city that they started to pass patrols of guards. Panne recognized someone she knew in a small unit, but was far too tired to greet them. Vallion was too busy fidgeting in anticipation to be noticed.

There was a point where the main road branched off into a small path that went up one of the hills. The Braixen, realizing the opportunity, quickly changed directions and beckoned Vallion up the muddy wooden steps. He seemed hesitant at first, but caved in and followed her up after a moment of tired deliberation.

"I remember when we first came to Lively Town," Panne began, breathing deep to fill her shallow lungs. "When we got to this point once we cleared the mountains, the entire place was just a colorful speck in the distance. Decently large for what it was, to be fair, but nothing too amazing. It certainly didn't deserve to be called a city then. The only settlement large enough to really own that title was in Mist Continent at the time. Now, though, we're a little farther beyond colorful speck."

The ground beneath their feet transitioned from muddy planks to a muddier slope, but the incline was nearing an end. She was first to witness the lonely wooden bench at the very top that faced the overlook, a silhouette against the streetlights below. Vallion crested the hill after her. As he looked down at the city for the first time again, he took in the slightest gasp, his eyes widening with a fresh awe.

Hundreds of tiny white lights twinkled across the distance like stars that had fallen from the sky. Even more of the lamps still were obscured behind the shadows of buildings and colonized hills, yet their presence was clearly visible in the spectacular halo which surrounded the city. It was so radiant that the razor edge of purple twilight that hung over the ocean was nearly smothered entirely. Between this spot and the center of civilization, dozens of individual houses were scattered about the outskirts, some of which were the skeletons of houses that had yet to be completed. There was a familiar scent on the wind besides wet grass, but she couldn't quite place what it was.

"Serene Village is somewhere I like to call home, but this is where we actually live." The Braixen leaned against the back of the bench for support, too winded to care how wet the wood still was from a recent rainfall. "It didn't even used to be a quarter this size. As more pokemon came to live here, their ideas and talents got added into the soup, and eventually things just started springing up left and right. Restaurants and culture and artists and all sorts of stuff. Now when you look at it, you can't...You can't even begin to...God, I'm tired."

"I never would have imagined it would-... That it would be this beautiful," the Servine muttered, his breath stolen more from the sight than the ascent. Whatever was gnawing at him on the way here seemed to melt away completely. Just seeing him so amazed by his own home made Panne want to cry. But then again, a lot of things made her want to cry these days.

"It's even better from down there," she said, smiling as she tugged on his arm. "Come on, I'll show you around on the way to the compound. Then we can finally take a real rest." He nodded, took one last look of the city, and turned with her back down the wooden steps.

The cobble path grew in quality the closer they got to the edge of the city. Several lit torches guided the way until they finally saw the gleam of the first streetlight. The stone beneath their feet became a grid of red brick, perfectly symmetrical and shimmering with wetness in the white light. They passed underneath the arch of a giant gate and into the threshold of the city proper. There was already a slew of pokemon along the arterial street, ranging from a small group of Yanma zipped by to a Mudsdale-driven caravan that seemed to have ran dangerously far behind schedule. Within the first minute of entering, there was already a labyrinth of alleys and masonry to get lost in.

"How do they do it?" the Servine spoke up, nearly choking on his words. "I mean, how can a place be this big? How are all of these lamps glowing, and how can all of them be on at once? The village only ever used those little lanterns, I- I don't even know how this is possible."

"Take it easy, Val. Don't start overheating already." Panne grabbed at her aching stomach as the wafting smells of distant street vendors inevitably made their way over her nose. "The lamps are electrical, with wires that run beneath the stones in little tunnels. A few years ago some Alakazam paired up with a bunch of other electric types and tried to figure out how to make little bulbs that you can run power through. They even asked Ampharos to help them-you know, to see if there was anything design choices to borrow from the way his tail works. As you can probably see, it worked out pretty damn well. Now there's a whole bunch of pokemon always trying to see what other kind of things they can run electricity through. You'll have to ask Dedenne about that kind of stuff, though."

In contrast to the sound of dripping gutters, the beat of a pair of wings came from around the bend. A shadowy blur rushed over them, seemed to stop a few meters out, then whipped around with a nasally voice. "Oh, oh! You guys! I almost didn't see you there!" A familiar Murkrow zipped over to them. "I thought you went on vacation away from the city! Is it over already? Geez, that was shorter than that time you two got drunk and ran off to Sand Continent without telling anyone."

"We were on assignment, I swear! Mismagius starts those rumors on purpose! You know that!" Panne flattened down her fur, huffing through her nose, and crossed her arms. "Forget this. There was an emergency. We really need to get moving, so sorry for being brief."

"What emergency? Ooh, did something happen up at the Society? Couldn't they have just handled it without you, though? I'll tell ya, if my boss cut my hard-earned days off for some sham emergency, he'd never hear the end of it!" Murkrow flapped vigorously just to keep afloat with their slow pace.

Just when Panne had sucked in a breath to repeat herself, Vallion was the one that spoke up. "We don't have much time, and it's a long story. Sorry."

While she got over the surprise of hearing the Servine speak up at all, Murkrow sank lower in the air. "Aw! That club of yours always gets in the way of our chats. Honestly, didn't you all just finish that map? We should really go out more. Anyways, I'll be off then!" With that, they were left to the puddles and lights once more. The marketplace was just up ahead.

In spite of the waning twilight, the heart of Lively City had always cared little for the passing minutes. Joining the white lamps in reflecting off the wet roadwork were dozens and dozens of colorful lights and signs, guiding the eyes in every which direction. The volume of the place was just as loud audibly as it was visually, with adjacent pokemon speaking to one another like they were twenty feet away. Above the streets and in windows were the signs of countless businesses, illuminated by lanterns and bulbs alike. Graphic designs to catch eyes, scents to pique the appetite, and charismatic individuals seeking to sell their products to the crowds. If there could be such a thing as an artificial mystery dungeon, these streets were the closest thing ever conceived. Always changing, never sleeping-a force of nature.

Vallion clearly had no idea where to look. Panne took him by the vine and lead him through the bodies. If there wasn't such an urgent matter at hand, she would have immediately caved in and got something to eat that wasn't handfuls of berries. Wasn't that pasta place still open for a couple more hours? God, she'd probably fall asleep in the chair just waiting to be served by this point. The warmth that flooded through the streets had begun to soak into her fur, and it was getting exceptionally hard to stay awake. The cool breezes that snaked through the masses were like blessings from heaven that kept her moving. That, and the tiny droplets that had begun to infrequently fall on her face from the rolling clouds. They were going to have to hurry if they wanted to keep dry.

The crowds thinned out, the signs fell away, and the street straightened all the way until it seemed like it had reached its end. There was nothing but a set of stone stairs between them and the Expedition Society. The building practically loomed over them, a towering monolith blinking with bright windows all the way to the observatory on top. A fair bit of scaffolding could be seen on the far side of the building. Though Vallion wasn't able to read the sign, the context of the grand sight should have been more than enough.

"Welcome back, Val," Panne tried to say, but had to clear her dry throat in the middle. So much for a dramatic introduction. "Don't mind the left wing. Ever since we hit the final stages of the global map, Ampharos has been getting some big ideas about this place. Especially since most of us can't really help Floatzel out on his deep ocean expeditions. We kinda got two things going on at once."

The Servine barely seemed to hear her, the entirety of his attention fixated on the compound. He held a breath in his chest for a couple long moments. "Well, I guess I'm never going to be more prepared for this than I am now. Let's get this over with."

He wasn't the only one. Panne felt her own insides start to churn as the two glass doors came into view over the top of the steps. What was this Hydreigon going to be like, and would they really be able to help Val? What if her hopes ended tonight? What if there was nothing they could do after all? Regardless of the string of empty questions in her head, they plunged past the swinging doors and into a wave of heat and familiarity. Her eyes had to adjust to the overhanging lights that brightened the displays of the lobby, even if the main lights were already off for the day. The museum.

"Huh? Hey! You guys are finally back!" Very shortly after they entered, a young voice rang out from behind the polished receptionist desk. Kadabra shot up over the counter. She must have been waiting there this whole time. "The Hydreigon got here just a couple hours ago! Vallion, are you alright?! I heard what happened from Floatzel! Is there any way I can help?"

"I don't know," the Servine promptly replied, too busy staring up at the vaulted ceiling to deal with another encounter of someone he no longer knew.

Panne started to drag Vallion along. It hadn't occurred to her until now that Kadabra's little crush would get under her nerves, but now that she was here... "Got it. We'll get to them as soon as possible," the Braixen said as she slipped beneath the ropes and into the exhibits. Maybe it was ridiculously petty and immature of her, but she didn't trust Kadabra to be around the Servine anymore. At least not right now. Yeah, definitely petty.

"Uh, oh. A-Alright!" Kadabra called out from behind them, but they were already well on their way through the room.

Vallion started to slow down in her grip, then stopped entirely to glance at a stone tablet that had been lovingly propped up inside a glass case. "Wasn't this supposed to be like a guild? What's with all these displays? This is like a museum..." He glared at the foreign languages both on the tablet itself and the description, frowning at the fact that he could understand neither.

"Well I mean, yeah. Of course we got a museum in the front. We're a rescue team and we're explorers. Might as well be archaeologists while we're at it. What else are we going to do with all the artifacts we find? And besides, we really do like the extra income it brings in." Her hand traced over the thick plastic that protected the display's text. "I'm pretty sure Bunnelby found this in some clay altar in the southern part of Grass Continent. He left the Society to go start a family a few years ago, so if you wanted to ask him about it you'd have to write him a letter."

He squinted even harder at the words. "What does it say?"

"It's part of a prophecy, actually. From what we can gather, it's about a massive avian pokemon that will ride atop a hurricane and flood the land, leaving only death in its wake. Our most educated guess is that there was some spiteful Lugia some thousand years ago that really had it out for someone. Grass Continent does get a nasty storm every few years, though nothing as bad as what this slab's implying. Who knows, eh?"

It took much longer to get through the museum than she anticipated. There was no shortage of curious things to stare at, especially since each artifact had a different meaning to him than it would to a tourist, who couldn't possibly have a personal connection with anything here. Nobody else could take this tour and feel like there was something incredibly important missing. Panne just didn't have the heart to pull him away.

They must have spent a good handful of minutes wandering the exhibits before a voice called out from across the hall. Floatzel waved at them with both arms before he got down on all fours and scurried over. "There you two are! I was starting to get worried that something might have happened along the way. I was this close to taking off down the road and trying to meet you in the middle."

Panne just shook her head, ears drooping. "It was definitely a longer trip than usual. Sorry. I- uh, we didn't really have a good night. I hope you're not expecting me to be up early tomorrow morning."

"Tch. You're here now, at least, and that's what counts. Finally all gathered up and ready." Floatzel met with Vallion's eyes. The two of them held that look for an awkward length of time, and after having seemingly gathered something from one another in the exchange, the water type finally nodded. "Right then. Vallion, good to see you again. Any luck with your memories so far?"

As always, he shook his head to the contrary. "No. Nothing's come back."

"Damn. Good thing we found that dragon then. Come on, Hydreigon isn't going to stand waiting much longer. All I can really say is he's definitely the kind of pokemon you'd want around for freaky magical accidents." Floatzel beckoned for them to follow before he started towards the doorway in the back.

The Braixen fiddled with the scarf around her wrist all the while. "We've been followed, by the way. The Spiritomb's still after us. Turns out it survived what I did to it in that cave. I don't know what it's going to do now that we're here, but I know for a fact that it's been tailing us."

"Wait, seriously?" Floatzel muttered as they crossed into the half-lit halls she recognized most. "It followed you all the way here? I get not being able to get rid of it entirely-normal ghosts are already slippery as hell-but all the way across the mountains? Geez. That might be a problem after all. What should we be looking out for, then? You never gave me a full report on it past all the sobbing and whatnot."

They passed into the main chamber. Three pairs of feet tapped against the granite floor as rain drummed on the black skylight above. Panne rubbed at her eyes. "Well there's no much to really report on. If you start having allergic reactions to nothing in particular, or start getting a fever out of nowhere, don't be alone. I know that sounds weird, but hear me out. This Spiritomb isn't like one I've ever seen before. It's barely even a Spiritomb, I think."

They moved up the staircase to the second floor, where the tension in the air had at least doubled. The shimmering blue globe that embodied all their work over the years spun freely in the center of their vision, and aside from its gentle hum, the entire compound was deathly silent. Kadabra's surprised reaction at their arrival started to make a little more sense. Absolutely everyone was waiting for them to arrive.

Floatzel's office was even more of a cluttered mess than usual. Mawile sat on the edge of the table with her head feverishly buried in some big tome. Just behind her, a huge dragon listlessly paced the length of the back of the room. The Hydreigon was definitely bigger than most, and probably had trouble even getting into the building in the first place. Their center face was so furrowed in thought that they hadn't even noticed more pokemon had entered the office.

"You've made it! Thank the heavens!" Ampharos didn't hesitate to express his relief. He immediately waddled up to the Servine and reached out for a hearty handshake. Vallion seemed perturbed for a moment before remembering he had to use his vines. "It's nice to finally meet you again, Vallion! I'm Ampharos, the original member and former chief of the Expedition Society! You could refer to me as the Dashing Wanderer if you like. That's how most pokemon refer to me these days."

Mawile snickered in the background. "No they don't."

"H-huh?" Vallion tilted his head. "But haven't we known each other for years? Why are you introducing yourself like that?"

"Well sure, I've known Vallion for nearly a decade now, but I haven't met you yet." The electric type stuck out his chest. "Welcome to the Society! Formalities aside, we've been working our hardest to get to the bottom of this strange condition you've come down with. I feel that there may be someone here who knows a little more about it than we do. Now then! Let's get some answers, hm?"

The Hydreigon floated towards the two of them with a peculiar expression on their face. They shifted their glare shift towards Panne for a brief but intense moment of scrutiny, then turned back to Vallion, sniffing the air before finally settling on something that vaguely resembled a smile. "Ah, Vallion! Vallion! It truly is you, isn't it? Of course it is! You were still a Snivy the last I saw of you! How's life been since then?"

The Servine scoffed and glanced away. "It's probably been better, I suppose. I'd tell you all about it if I could remember more than just the last week of my life."

"Oh. Yes, of course. It must all feel quite disorienting, I understand. You've certainly gotten yourself into quite the mess this time, haven't you? That really is an accomplishment of a problem." Hydreigon cleared their throat and lowered their heads to Vallion's level, nearly going completely horizontal to do so. "So what kind of damage caused this to you? Psychic hemorrhage? Ritual rites? Blunt trauma? I'm sure there's something we can work with here."

"I- I don't know if it was any of that!" Vallion took a step back, shaking his head. "The furthest I can remember was already after it was over with. I woke up in this weird body without knowing anything but my own name and the fact that I was human. Panne and her friends were there, too. We went back to the village as soon as the sun started to come up."

"Hmm. But what about the general area of the event? Was there any signs of the struggle? Amnesia itself is merely a symptom, not a cause. It isn't just that you can't remember anything. Your memories could be locked away inside your own head, or gone completely, or stolen, or swapped away! A consequence that seems self-explanatory could have been caused by a whole slew of different things." Still, Vallion frowned and shrugged with his vines. The dragon huffed. "That may complicate things."

"Oh, get off his case already! I was there, too!" Panne pushed herself into the conversation and in front of the Servine both. "I know what happened. It was a Spiritomb that did this to him. Not like any I've ever seen before, though. It tried to do some sort of ritual on him or something, I couldn't really tell what was going on."

"A Spiritomb? And a ritual? Huh. I've never heard of a Spiritomb running a cult before. Usually they're just too unstable to organize even their own thoughts, much less the thoughts of others."

The Braixen struggled not to shout. "What? Who said anything about a cult?"

"I don't know of any rituals or incantations able to affect memories that can be performs by individuals." they said. "Certain pokemon have that ability, but not a Spiritomb."

"One Spiritomb already counts as multiple pokemon! And besides, the keystone this one broke out of was almost the size of you, and it was covered with an entire dictionary's worth of runes! This thing was affecting the whole damn valley before it managed to get to him. It tried to take his soul for crying out loud! You ever hear about a normal Spiritomb knowing how to do that?"

Hydreigon's whole body tensed up at the very mention of the word soul. "What?! How do you know that's what it was after?"

"That's what Val told me before he was kidnapped. It was messing with his dreams-messing with everyone's dreams, honestly, but especially his. Val seemed to know exactly what it wanted from him. He was the one that told me to seek you out if anything happened to him. I saw the golden lights, dragon. I've seen them before, I know what they mean."

"Then it-!" the dragon cut themselves off. A quivering breath left their center maw. Whatever they had gathered from this, it was apparently worse than she had thought. "I need you to tell me everything. I need to know how this pokemon came to be, and I need to know how they did what they did."

"Then just let me get to that part!" Panne snapped back. She grit her teeth and continued. "It was making pokemon in the valley very sick before we got there. They'd have some crazy nightmare they wouldn't remember, and that was usually it. Everything started to get worse once Val and I showed up. Two kids went missing the day after we arrived in the village. The Spiritomb lured them there through their dreams and used them as bait to capture Val. It knocked us both out and carried him back to the cave where its keystone was."

Mawile found the space to stutter out her piece. "Hold on a minute. A Spiritomb outside of its keystone? The keystone is what binds the ghosts together in the first place. Without it, the souls just scatter out and dissipate into nothing. Are you sure it was a Spiritomb and not something else?"

The Hydreigon sniffed the air one last time, grumbled to themselves at an unintelligible volume, and turned to stare off into space. Ampharos had to cough into his hand to just remind the dragon that everyone was waiting for them. "Hmm. There have been cases of unbound Spiritomb in the past, but it's an incredibly difficult state to achieve. And on it's own it still doesn't explain how pokemon were falling ill. There must be more to this. Accomplices? Maybe there was a cult after all? What other clues are there?"

"There were dead bodies all over the little gully that the cave was in," Panne said. "There must have been at least a hundred of corpses, and from what I remember, almost all of them were poison type. Does that clear anything up for you? 'Cuz you seem to know what too much about things people aren't supposed to know about. I figure piles of dead bodies would be right up your alley."

"It was already killing before this?!" Hydreigon didn't bother to stifle their voice. "I thought you said this creature had only recently woken up! You didn't, did you? If it could identify and extract a human soul...Do you even know how dangerous a Spiritomb with a human soul would be? No, I shouldn't call it that. It's not a Spiritomb anymore. It's a monster. An abomination of guilty souls and innocent victims! It must be stopped!"

Panne felt a migraine coming on. "Hey, focus! You're not here to kill the ghost! You're here to help Val get his memories back. Obviously we're going to deal with that problem after everything's fixed. I told you what you wanted to hear, so now it's your turn to tell us how to repair the damage that it caused."

"Ah- Yes, yes. Of course, of course, of course..." Yet another few infuriating moments went by while the dragon tapped the nose of one of their auxiliary heads to their main chin. "...But it's immediately too strange. How so very strange. Why would a creature as powerful as that ever bother to scrub the host's memories before absorbing it? That can't be right. If it had any ounce of intelligence left in its insanity-which it surely did-then it would know that such a process might compromise the integrity of the soul. Maybe it has to do with what Xerneas did to move you into the future? A residual counter measure, perhaps? I'll have to figure that out."

"Wait wait wait. Hold on." Vallion raised his vines to Hydreigon's mouth. "You know what's really bothering me about all this? You've never actually introduced yourself. You clearly know a lot about who and what I am, and obviously the previous version of myself knew to call on you, but I don't know that. Nobody else here does, either. Why should we trust you?"

The Hydreigon looked at him like he was crazy, but hummed in recognition nevertheless. "I suppose that is quite suspicious, isn't it? I won't get into the grit of it, since if I dawdle too long I feel as though your partner there might try to roast me alive, but you could say I happened to be deeply involved with a certain powerful force you might be familiar with. Somebody had to convince Xerneas to give up those two Harmony Scarves Panne's wearing right now."

"You know, I-" Panne struggled to find words that weren't surrounded with obscenities. "Just shut up. Whatever it was you were going to say, don't. I just want Val to get better. That's all. Can you at least figure out how to do that? Please? I don't want to hear more about how dangerous the Spiritomb is or how you're crazy powerful or whatever. I just want him back to normal."

"...Okay," they said slowly. "I wish I could have known about all this sooner. I would have had more time to prepare. For now, at this current moment, there's nothing to be done, but by morning tomorrow I should have figured out something. I need to think." Hydreigon bowed his heads to the both of them, then drifted past them into the hall. "Take me to a spare guest room. Or any room for that matter. It doesn't really matter where as long as it's quiet."

Floatzel shook himself awake and hurried after the dragon, leaving the rest of them in an overwhelmed stupor. Some vein in the back of her head pulsed as the headache from last night reemerged in full force.

"So that's it?" Panne was the first to break the silence with a growl. "That's all we get? Some creep comes in, gets all surprised that we've been holding off that Spiritomb this whole time, then leaves to go 'think about it'? Well what about Val? What about me?! What did that even accomplish?!"

Mawile hopped out of her seat and started towards the Braixen. "Panne, it's okay. They're doing what they can. At least we're starting to get somewhere, right?"

"Who do they think they are? We need help now more than ever! I have been waiting-!" The cough she had been holding back the entire time had finally became irresistible. The hacking fit which ensued went on and on, getting worse by the passing second until she was doubled over, a deep pain flaring in her torso. Ampharos came to her side and tried to help, but there was nothing he could really do. When it finally felt like the itch was letting up, every ounce of exhaustion she'd built up on the journey here seemed to come down on her shoulders all at once, causing her to fall against the back wall for support.

"Panne! What's wrong?" Mawile's voice sounded far away even when she was right in front of her. "Did you need anything?! Water? Air? Medicine?"

Panne just raised a hand to stop her. Although she was utterly exhausted, her mind felt refreshingly clear. "It's fine. Everything's fine. It's gone now. I must have really pissed it off this time."

"Pissed what off? The Spiritomb?" Ampharos said, a stern hand on her shoulder just in case she fell to the side.

Vallion gave an affirmative hum. "This is what it does. It gets in your head and tries to twist you up, and when that doesn't work it gets in your throat instead. I could feel it, too, but there's nothing I can do to stop it."

"Ha." Panne wiped the spittle from her chin, attempting to blink the dizziness away. "I still hate that stupid dragon, though. Why would a Hydreigon know Xerneas in the first place?" She looked to Vallion and wished that he could understand the apology in her bent ears.

With any immediate danger past them, Ampharos sat back down in his old chair, leaning back as far as it would allow. "It'll be fine. I know it will. That Hydreigon fellow is rather long-winded, and perhaps a bit scattered, but I can tell he does have your best interests in heart." His frown deepened even further. "You know, this isn't at all how I pictured you two would be the next time I saw you. Clearly Vallion managed to offer his proposal to you before everything went wrong, if those two scarves you're wearing are any indication. I just wish the circumstances that followed were kinder."

She suddenly remembered the Harmony Scarves, her fingers curling around her neck. "He- he told you about these?"

"Sure he did. I was the one that sent the package to Nuzleaf so that you wouldn't have a chance to notice. Then Mawile figured it out when she walked in on me getting ready to mail it." The electric type swiveled the chair around to face away from them.

"He's lucky I'm good at keeping secrets. Could you imagine if Floatzel found out first?" Mawile chuckled, but she wasn't smiling. "...You should probably rest up for the night. Swirlix is down for the count, but I'm pretty sure there's some raw ingredients left over in the pantry. Or I could cook something up real quick if you want, though it wouldn't be the best."

"Leftovers should do. Thank you," Panne managed to say, her eyelids getting much too heavy. Vallion managed to pull her to a stand, but only once her legs started to obey her again. They were almost there now. With all this finally out of the way, her bed wasn't far. Just gotta keep going a little longer.

...

Panne pulled aside the curtain to their room like it was going to be some big reveal, but it turned out to be nothing more than a few dark corners and the sound of rain beating on a window pane. She lazily felt around for the light switch before everything exploded into light. Vallion's pupils narrowed in the flash, yet his eyes widened considerably to the cluttered scene of things he no longer knew. Diagrams and beautiful sketches of places he's never visited lined the walls, and second to those were the strange artifacts and seemingly random objects that no longer had any meaning. Clearly a lot of love went into achieving such a messy aesthetic. It just wasn't his love anymore.

"Oh," was the first thing the Servine uttered as he entered the room. He looked from the unmade cot on the western wall, to the pencil-drawn map of stars tacked to the ceiling for no reason other than they thought it would look cool, and then finally to the trunks and the wardrobe which filled the rest of the space. It would have been too much for anyone to take in all at once. He tried to face away from her, his eyes glistening with tears. "Is this really where I used to live? I can't believe it. There's so much here."

The Braixen brushed past him and made her way to a drawer on the far side of the room, one hand swaying lifelessly at her side while the other was clutching at the pounding behind her ears. As important as this moment was to Vallion, she couldn't even begin to help while in this state. Her fingers began to sift through the sea of tiny, clattering objects. Sure enough, beneath a coat of dust and some crinkled papers was a bundle of pale-colored twigs. Panne graciously stole one from the pile and began to gnaw on its bark. It tasted musty and dry, but if there was anything she hated more than sucking dust off a stick, it was headaches.

Vallion was too busy gawking at the rest of the room to notice. It wasn't until she climbed up onto the side of the cot and tilted her head back that he glanced at her with a confused look. "What's that?"

"A stick. What does it look like?" her speech was garbled, chewing away with a shameless fervor. "The tree it comes from produces a chemical that can act as a painkiller. I don't remember which one, though."

"Are you seriously just eating a stick?" he said as the reverence drained from his face. She merely shrugged and continued to wait for the effects to take hold. The longer he stared, the larger the smile on his face grew until his lips finally broke apart into a tiny chuckle.

"What?!" Panne struggled to resist the infectious nature of his laugh, the corners of her mouth curling up against her will. "You'd eat it too if your head hurt like this!"

The Servine sucked in a sharp breath through his nose and exhaled through his mouth. "Sorry. It's just that I hadn't really thought about how you were a Braixen until now. You were just Panne this whole time. I guess I'm still not exactly a human anymore, either. I'm one to talk." He looked down at his vestigial hands, nearly worthless in comparison to the reach and dexterity of his vines.

She snickered at him, the twig cracking in her canines. "You think just because I'm a Braixen that I like chewing on sticks? Is that it?" Taken aback, he tried to stutter out an apology, but she immediately interrupted him. "Well you're right! I do like eating sticks! Fennekin typically store a bunch of kindling in their stomachs to help with producing fire, but now it's just relaxing. It does make big messes, though. I'd have done it while we were traveling if I wasn't so stressed out."

His body language softened considerably, the paler scales on the lower half of his face turning rosy. Panne pretended to look away and mind her own business. In truth, she wanted him to pay attention to her more than anything. Especially here, in this bed where they'd laid in each other's arms thousands of times. The empty space beside her felt positively frigid now. She needed the texture of his scales pressed up against her side-a reassuring wall of firm muscle entwined with her body underneath a wool blanket. His breath would warm the fur of her neck as he nuzzled his nose beneath her head...

"Hey, Panne, what- Oh, sorry," Vallion's voice roused her from the dream she had nearly fallen into.

After spitting the half-chewed twig from her mouth, the Braixen slapped herself awake. "No, go on. I'm not out yet. I still got a few minutes in me. What's up?"

"It was a stupid question, anyway," he said, yet couldn't look away from whatever was obscured by the dresser. The Servine surrendered to his curiosity and extended his vines. It turned out to be the shaved branch that she kept in the corner, its off-green flesh embedded with the carvings of some crude runes. "I was just wondering what this was. I've heard you talk about wands before, but I didn't think something called that would be so big in person."

"Oho. That's not a wand, Val." She extended a shaky hand towards the staff, reaching out with what little psychic power she could muster. Vallion took it as an invitation to bring it to her, then gasped in surprise as it flew from his vines and shot directly towards her. The headache spiked from the effort. She barely managed to catch the branch, but it was hefty enough to slip down her hands and clank against the floor anyway. Okay, no more telekinesis. Got it.

Panne traced a claw over the small indents. "You see all the little etchings carved into it?" He nodded intently. "Those don't mean anything. This is just an ordinary branch of wood, there's nothing really noteworthy about it at all. Those runes are just my name spelled out in an ancient language from a thousand years ago." Vallion didn't seem to believe her for a few seconds, staring on as if she was playing a joke on him. The Braixen nodded and tapped the engraving a second time.

"Really? Then why do we have it? It's just a normal wooden staff."

"Nuh-uh. It's a really nice wooden staff, actually. I'd probably buy it just for the condition it's in. The wood's real sturdy, too." She let the other end of the branch fall to the floor with a thud. It rolled beneath the bed and came to a stop far enough that it'd be annoying to retrieve later. Whatever. "I could lift it in the air with telekinesis and sit on it, too. That's a pretty neat trick that I've been learning."

Vallion started to say something and got caught in the midst of a huge yawn, which transferred to her in turn and made her jaw pop. He shot a glance at the light switch. "Is there really only one bed in here?"

"We've only ever needed one," Panne's voice was barely above a whisper. She managed to wiggle over enough to give him some room, curling up into a lonely ball in the corner. The light went out with a click. Half-asleep on the spot, the Braixen fully anticipated the vibrations Vallion made when he climbed up onto the bed, nearly shivering in the absence of the intimacy she was so used to. There were no inquisitive noses or tickling vines or squeezing tails. Just the humid air and a grueling sense of disappointment. How could he be so close and still feel so far away?

At least the agony was short-lived. Once her eyes closed, it was a matter of seconds before she passed out.