It was quiet. In the half hour it had taken to set up camp, the wind died away, and the rains had diverted down the mountain into the valleys. There was even a few spots of orange in the clouds where the late evening could break through. Had her heart not already been pumping a thousand times a minute, she might have almost been able to enjoy the improved weather. But her fingers were locked beneath the scarf around her wrist, and the worried whispers of her friends carried over the distance from the meadow just beyond their campsite. Hydreigon was waiting.
The Delphox turned away from the sky and pressed back through the flaps of their tent. It was especially lonely when no one else was inside. Panne rummaged through her bag and pulled out a short blade sheathed in cloth. She pulled at the knot that bound it shut and revealed its iron edge—meticulously cleaned, but rarely ever used. Vallion would always just sharpen his vines if anything needed cutting, and they were never really apart even in the wilds. After tossing the blade's weight around for a few moments, she exhaled and exited into the light once more.
It didn't take more than a few steps from the tent for Panne's fur to stand on end. A shadow barely shifted in the corner of her vision, but it was more than enough for her to whip the knife around. Mismagius chuckled as the iron passed straight through him. "My, my, I hope you're not planning what I think you're planning with that little thing. I don't think this is what Hydreigon meant when he said he arranged the duel."
"You- Screw you! I thought you were them! I was gonna-!" She let the rest of the breath roll off her tongue and went back on her way. "Well, you know what they say, I guess. Can't kill a Hydreigon without cutting off each of its heads first." They went past the brush, deeper into the surrounding jungle and out of sight of the meadow. "But no, seriously. I'm cutting off this stupid skirt. It was cool when I first evolved, but now that I've worn it in I'm sick of it. It's wet and heavy and it caught in everything and there's no way I'm getting into a serious fight with it weighing me down."
"Oh, what a shame! It looked very impressive while you were dancing back at the village. Though I suppose it'll grow back after a while." Mismagius grinned. "A Delphox without their dress, hm? It's probably like a Serperior without their collar. Totally naked!"
She considered shooing the ghost away. For all the effort it would have taken to pry him away, though, she just started to saw away at the wet fur around her waist. "What are you so cheerful about, anyway? I thought the Spiritomb was putting you into a perpetual bad mood?"
"Not cheerful. Just well-fed," Mismagius replied in a low tone. He glanced around, surprisingly concerned with who might hear. "Not all the wildlings were able to flee the storm, you know. For every empty burrow we pass, there are more that had some less-than-fortunate encounters with the big Scourge Storm up there. Let's just say there's more than enough residual energy to go around."
"Holy hell, Mismagius! That's way too morbid! Just like, never talk about that ever and go back to scaring people for snacks."
The ghost chuckled to himself. "Hey, you asked. Perhaps we could be the villains in this story."
Panne scoffed. "Yeah, no. I don't think so. Maybe you, though." Another section of her dress fell to the ground.
""Now now, don't be so close-minded. I'm sure we can fit you in for an antagonist role just fine. It's not so difficult with how you're treating our guide, who from my experience has done nothing but try to help us the whole way here. Not to mention how much you don't seem to care what the rest of us think."
A pang of anger nearly caused her to slice her own finger. "Can you not, Mismagius? At least hold your crap off until after the fight."
"Oh yeah? What about you? You don't seem to be holding off for anything." The ghost stopped smiling, his cheerful visage melting into an accusing glare. "What are we even doing here? Hearing Altaria moan about yet another issue passes straight through our ears, but with this everyone's concerned. It's obvious that you and Hydreigon don't get along. Did it really have to come to this? Reasoning with that dragon doesn't get us anywhere, so that leaves us with you. Have you even considered Vallion's feelings into this?"
"Of course I have!" Panne tightened her grip on the knife until her knuckles hurt. "That's all I've ever thought about! That's what I'm thinking about right now! Do you know how much someone could gain from manipulating Val while he's like this? Are you aware of how dangerous somebody like Hydreigon could be? I'm not just going to let my guard down, especially not for some sleazy pawn of Xerneas!"
Mismagius spat a cloud of black energy to the ground. "Where do you think you are, Panne? It's like you don't even acknowledge the comrades you've been traveling with for almost a decade. Perhaps a few of us are a little too fresh in your life, but Ampharos and the like would go to the ends of the earth to protect the two of you. You know we were about to go to the ends of the earth to find this Hydreigon in the first place!" He looked up past the leaves towards a fading glimmer of sunlight. A sigh fell from his mouth. "You can't protect him by yourself."
"You say that, but I will." Another bundle of red fur fell, joining the pile at her feet. The wind felt cold against her bare legs. "It's not just the damn dragon, either. I'll take anyone down that tries to hurt him. Doesn't matter if it's a friend or not."
"Anyone? Is that so? So you'd be ready if you had to kill your father to save him, right?"
"God dammit, Mismagius!" Panne shouted, nearly stabbing herself in the thigh. "What's your problem right now? What the hell do you want from me?!"
The ghost let the silence hang for far longer than was ever comfortable, watching Panne struggle and growl in the howling emptiness. His face softened. "Your trust, perhaps. You aren't alone. No matter how badly you believe yourself to be. Fight if you want, but try not to be so stubborn about it." After another pause, he hummed. "By the way, that short skirt is definitely an interesting look. Makes you look younger again."
At last, the fur that had been plaguing her for days was clumped in a pile around her feet. What few inches of dress she had decided to leave immediately started to curl upwards like a Braixen's. Still gripping the blade like she was about to shank Mismagius, she paced around the thicket a few times to test her newfound freedom. There was no satisfaction in it, though. It was the same feeling as when she geared up for a rescue mission. Just another step to make sure she wouldn't mess things up.
Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes. "Do you seriously think I can't protect Val?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. I did get quite the reaction out of you, though." Mismagius chuckled to himself. "That's not really the point. I'm not gonna be able to convince you not to go through with this, huh?"
"I'm still so scared," Panne mumbled as she started back towards the tent. "Ever since he lost his memories, it's just been one worry after another. Scared that he would never get his memories back. Scared that I'd make the wrong impressions and get him to hate me. After I was done being scared that he'd do something self-righteous and stupid, now I'm scared of him being manipulated. That's not even to mention the Spiritomb or the Hydreigon. I don't even have the room to remember my friends anymore. I'm pretty sure everyone back at the village is still pretty mad at me."
"Then why are you still getting ready?"
The Delphox pressed though the flaps of the tent and tossed her knife to the ground. She filled her hands with two wands instead, and fit the Tempest Looplet around her neck with a click. It already started to tighten against her throat. "I'm not ready to take any chances, Mismagius. There's no getting around it. I don't trust Hydreigon, and I'm not ever going to unless I get this over with. I'm sorry I'm too stupid to understand."
Mismagius just shook his head. "You've got some problems, Panne."
"Maybe. But if Vallion is safer for it, even just slightly, I'm not going to fight it." Panne pointed her blasting wand at the base of a small sapling. Its very tip smouldered a bright red, and with the slightest urge of flame came a blast that threw her arm back and echoed into the hills. The bottom of young tree was torn apart instantly, and the soil it had rooted in didn't fare much better. Debris continued to fall around her as she walked over and swiped up the spry trunk of the sapling, then turned towards the ridge.
The meadow was more like a swamp at this point. Muddy pools dotted the expanse of tall grass, with the occasional sunspot rolling across the distance and back into the trees. Jirachi nearly flew head-first into the Delphox while she stared, stopping only inches from her face. "What was that explosion?! Are we under attack? Is it the Spiritomb? Are you okay?"
"Nope," was all Panne said as she started to slide down the hill, using the sapling as a walking stick to keep her balance along the way. The Hydreigon's dark figure loomed in the air past the rest of the Society. The dragon had never glared at her in quite the same way as they did now. All her instincts screamed to freeze up as soon as she met their eyes, but she ignored them and walked on. This was the beast she suspected had lied in wait behind that jolly expression. It sized her up just like any beast would. In turn, she would have to do the same.
"Panne, what the heck did you do to your fur?" Volcarona flew a wide circle around her, marveling at her transformation. "Did you decide to blow it off or something? Is that something you can even do?"
The Delphox didn't take her eyes off the dragon. It was like her heart was about to jump out of her chest. "Sorry, guys. I'm not backing down. This has to happen." Out the corner of her eye, she saw the nervous frowns of her friends. Even Altaria had stopped trying to convince her not to go through with the fight. That alone somehow made this whole situation feel even worse.
Once she got close enough, Hydreigon lowered their noses and started to speak. "We don't have much time to spare. The weather is calm now, but the storm will surely find its way through the mountains soon." The rhythm of their wings was like the impatient tapping of a row of fingers. "So tell me, incarnation of Mew. Tell me what you think my motives are. Why have I come all this way?"
"I know what you've told us. You're supposed to be here to help Vallion, pretty much just because he's human." Panne lifted the sapling into the air horizontally, held it with her telekinesis, and took a cross-legged seat upon it. "But I know what happens to pokemon like Val and I. We're tools to your kind. As soon as I was no longer to Xerneas, I was discarded, when only a fraction of their power could have been used to keep me whole. And I don't buy that you never knew who was responsible for what happened to your favorite human. I don't buy that you wouldn't hold a grudge."
All eyes turned back to the dragon. "Of course you don't, you stubborn child! You wouldn't believe the sky was blue unless it came crashing down on your head! Your lack of faith will get you hurt. Perhaps today." They snapped their jaws, the small motion causing Panne's entire body to tense up. She squeezed the two wands close to her chest.
Ampharos' voice called out from behind. "Panne, are you wearing the Tempest Looplet right now? You're not really trying to kill Hydreigon, are you?"
"Oh, by all means! Kill me if you must!" the dragon exclaimed with a cold chuckle. "That is the only measure of force that will travel faster than words! What are we waiting for? Somebody start counting down already so that we can begin!"
Mawile hesitantly began to count down. "...Three."
"I hate this so much," Altaria added and looked away.
"Two..."
Panne stowed the left wand into the fur beneath her arm, choosing instead to dig her claws into the sapling.
"One!"
Hydreigon's expression grew feral once more, the mouths on each side clamping shut. A thrumming noise filled the air.
Within the matter of seconds, the Delphox nearly lost grip of the branch as she jerked away, barely avoiding an artillery strike of blue meteors. Rocks and debris battered against her back as she shot forward above the uneven grounds. Had she been on foot, this might have have ended before it had even began. An intense pressure in her temples and a squeeze around her throat, Panne swerved towards the dragon before they could start to lead their shots, blasting wand raised high and ready. She ducked low and fired off two shots.
Hydreigon raised their wings and burst upwards into the sky, her scarlet bolts exploding with the force of the wind. They steadied their upwards spiral and countered with a pulse of blue flames. The attack missed naturally, but it devastated the earth in front of her. Clumps of mud rained down while she squinted through the dust and smoke. A few more swings of the blasting wand gave her no vantage against the Hydreigon, and a few more near-hits left the Delphox rattled and gasping for breath. There was no winning at this range, not while she had to dodge at the same time. Sucking down a gasp, Panne abandoned her sapling mid-flight and took off running, unsheathing the wand she'd stowed in her sleeve fur.
An unearthly screech sounded from above. Without the speed to outrun it, Panne swung the pounce wand towards a nearby tree and desperately counted the seconds that passed. Thankfully, the world warped around her with a pop and she appeared on the other side of the field. The black crescent that had been barreling towards her sliced into the ground like a knife through butter. The dragon didn't immediately know where she had went, correcting their own flight path in a way she could more easily predict. The opportunity had ended just as soon as it began and was replaced with a warning of blue light.
Eruptions of dirt erased the Delphox's footprints as she bounded across the plains. Every few seconds she was forced to use the pounce wand just to keep ahead of the artillery. At the same time, Hydreigon refused to make the same mistake twice. Panne tried everything to make them reposition. Dashing beneath them, pouncing to the other side of the field, and even launching her own attacks-all to no avail. Every single time, the window to strike was just barely too small for her to catch. How much stamina did this thing even have?
After what seemed like an eternity of feints, the dragon banked into a turn for just a few moments too long. Panne sucked a breath into her aching lungs and set the pounce wand aflame. When it was swung, a fireball marbled with gold and red spiraled through the air towards what was currently empty sky. She stowed the wands into her fur while the Tempest Looplet continued to strangle her in anticipation. A sudden vacuum swept her up and exploded into heat and light. Emerging from the inferno, her claws dug into the surprised Hydreigon's scales. They writhed and spun and jerked to shake her off, but Panne clung on as she poured every once of strength into her crimson fire, a silent shout stuck at the bottom of her throat.
Her grip finally loosened. Rather than getting tossed away like a ragdoll, the Delphox kicked off of Hydreigon's side. The dragon's roaring silhouette twisted up in a cloud of black smoke and flames as she fell. With no time to rest, Panne yanked the blasting wand from her fur and pointed it upwards between her feet, firing another volley of bolts while she had the chance. Upon impacting the burning mass, the dragon's cry was deafened by the sound of a thousand popping sparks, then the entire mountainside was deafened when the fire finally detonated.
Ears ringing, Panne pivoted her body towards the ground and swung the pounce wand at her rapidly-approaching doom. Her momentum came to an abrupt stop and she was deposited face-first into the mud. It then occurred to her that she didn't check if the wand even had another charge left before warping two-hundred feet into the air. A chuckle bubbled up between heavy gasps as the Delphox pushed to a stand. When she looked up, the cloud of smoke had begun to stretch into the wind, and Hydreigon was nowhere to be seen. A tiny sense of victory peeked its head out, but ducked back behind her heart when she heard the grating screech of a dark pulse over her tinnitus.
Although the attack missed her, the deep trench it left in the earth made its point very clear. This wasn't over. Hydreigon carved through the clouds overhead, smoke still trailing from their scorched body. They turned and headed directly into a dive. Panne shook off her exhaustion and started sprinting, but having stopped at all made her slower. There was no way her pounce wand had enough juice left to continue the same dance as earlier. She had to end this battle soon, or Vallion was going to be alone for the rest of his life.
The dragon pulled out of the dive with only meters to spare and barreled towards her at full speed. She was expecting a few meteors to come her way, and was totally unprepared to dodge the several hundred pounds of beast that came her way. Ducking out of the way at the last second, the mere rush of wind nearly caused her to stagger backwards. If she hadn't gotten out of the way in time, that definitely would've...
Panne flattened her ears. She could have easily re-positioned herself while Hydreigon swung around to make another swoop, but she took an even wider stance and gripped the blasting wand with both hands. The Tempest Looplet squeezed tighter in reaction to the panic in her blood. Fine, she mouthed to herself. If you wanna play like that, we'll play.
Another dive came her way. Panne started to shoot off as many fireballs as physically possible in the dragon's general direction. With the last of the air in her lungs, she followed the barrage with a plume three times as large as the others. The blinding flare of her attack was quickly pierced by a brilliant cyan light, which replaced the crimson beacons one by one. The Delphox gasped and lunged for the safety of a muddy pool. A split second later, a terrible rumbling filled the air as the meteor skipped on by. Then came the dragon zooming right afterwards.
Strands of colorful smoke poured from Hydreigon's mouths while they pulled for altitude once more. The moment was safe, but a timer was ticking fast. Her pounce wand had snapped and her blasting wand was almost spent. There was a lot of momentum she could turn against them, if she could somehow figure out a way to flip a whole dragon. Telekinesis never really worked on biological things too well, and it wasn't like there was a boulder to move into their path. Come on, think! Hurry!
Time's up. Hydreigon dropped down past the clouds like a missile, and in seconds would be upon her. With nowhere left to hide and no other options, Panne took what little was left of her pounce wand and quickly burned it, emitting a small cover of smoke. Hydreigon didn't budge an inch from their trajectory. Apprehension in her chest and fury in her eyes, she aimed the blasting wand behind her and towards the ground. She started to count by the seconds, realized that it was already too late to hesitate, and launched herself into the air with an explosion.
There was no timing involved. No careful planning or aim. As soon as the Delphox felt her feet leave the earth and the shockwave blast into her back, she swung downwards again. A massive blur passed beneath her at the same time as another skull-shattering explosion. Panne floated almost weightlessly for a frozen moment in time, then crashed back into the mud. What happened just outside of her vision sounded much worse. A series of loud booms, the trickling of stones that fell back down, and a tumbling roar. Hydreigon finally came to a stop some eighty feet out. They sprawled out in a runway of destroyed grass, gasping and trembling. They stayed down, but Panne managed to get back up.
She stared at the wounded dragon. Then she started towards it, each step coming quicker than the last until it was a full-out run. Her palms were flat against the wind and her shoulders were twisted back. Stunted red sparks ignited into a pair of full, billowing flames. A vortex of energy and heat swirled inside of her-the kiln for her craft. The Delphox visualized the jaws of a beast as the fire grew, twitching muscles and gnashing teeth and glowering eyes. The creature bounded towards its prey as drops of cinder spittle flew from its maw. The downed Hydreigon was just ahead now. She put her palms together and started to give the savage imagery shape.
"Idiot!"
Something sharp pecked at the back of Panne's head. The Delphox tripped, hard. Every once of concentration she had built into that fire dissipated with the air. Face-down in the grass, she didn't bother trying to get up again.
Altaria immediately began to fuss over the Delphox's injuries. "The both of you are idiots! What were you even thinking, launching yourself into the air like that? What did you think would've happened if your pounce wand was out? Do you even care about how difficult this was for us to watch? And you, Hydreigon! You could have easily dodged those fireballs, there was absolutely no reason to blow through them like that! Panne could have been seriously hurt from just one of those!"
The rest of the Society caught up a little bit after Altaria. Somehow Panne always found herself being crowded around while she heaved for breath. It got a little better once she removed the Tempest Looplet, but the rest of her body was pretty badly battered. Hydreigon eventually picked themselves up from that harsh tumble, a dazed expression stuck on their face and a slight sway to their posture. After a few moments, they began to laugh.
"No serious injuries, right? No concussions or anything? Are we sure?" Ampharos hurriedly waddled about the meadow between the two combatants.
"No, but when I'm through with them there will be!" said Altaria, her voice still flipping between worry and rage.
Hydreigon lumbered over to her, absolutely splattered with mud and torn-up plant matter. There was a rattling wheeze in their lungs. "What a rush...What a rush! Just as I would have expected from a legend like yourself! Nothing else really compares!"
Panne looked the dragon up and down, then snorted. "You're barely even burnt at all. I didn't do anything."
"My scales tend to be rather fireproof, though they don't do fare too well against the broken neck you almost gave me." Hydreigon smiled as if there had never been a battle in the first place. "I think we've communicated our intentions fairly well this evening. Don't you?"
Panne attempted to search for the sinister side in the dragon's warm expression, as she had done plenty of times before, but found that she no longer could. They truly appeared every bit as honest now as they were while launching mortar shots at her head. "I could have died, you know. I'm not a Voice of Life or whatever, I wouldn't be able to take a direct hit from pretty much anything you threw out. That probably wouldn't have went over well with the rest of us."
Hydreigon started to chuckle. "Well of course! With everything at stake, would you really have let yourself be extinguished by such an inconsequential battle? So long as you fought with all your strength, you were never in any real danger."
"So no, it would have definitely not helped your case," Mawile said with a shake of her head. "I hope you two got whatever it was in your systems all the way out, because this never going to happen again. I'm not sitting through that a second time."
"Obviously not!" Altaria shouted. "Panne's still so young! And without Vallion to act as her compass, she's more reckless than I've ever seen right now! But there's no excuse for you, Hydreigon. None at all!"
The Delphox sniffled. "I don't need a compass, Altaria. I'm not even that young."
"Ooh, you know what I mean! Young in that you haven't been around for nearly as many decades as I have! I Just...I'm just glad you're okay."
Volcarona snickered as she fluttered by. "I don't really know what you were all expecting. Panne and Vallion are the strongest heroes who have ever lived. This immortal guy didn't even stand a chance against her, you know. If it weren't for them, I'd still probably be stuck in a dumb cage near Poliwrath River."
Ampharos slowly exhaled. As much as he was trying to hide it, his hands were still shaking. "It's okay! It's all okay. Everything in moderation, I suppose. The Dashing Wanderer has been a part of plenty of duels to the death. Sometimes that's just something you...end up doing without really thinking. Yeah."
"I mean, I guess," said Volcarona. "Still! Don't even tell me that wasn't one of the best fights you've seen all year. That alone's enough to make this expedition totally worth it! Aah- besides the whole getting-Vallion's-memories back part of it. That's important, too."
Only now did the frantic energy in her limbs start to transition back into ache. Bearing her teeth, the Delphox turned towards Vallion. When their eyes met, the Servine didn't look away like he usually did. There was definitely something serious on his mind. It was written all over his face, from the furrow of his brow to the little curl of his lips that wasn't quite a smile. Whatever it was, though, it disappeared the next time he blinked.
"We should head back to camp," Hydreigon said next. "The sun is nearly set, and the clouds are starting to catch up with us. I'm sure the downpour is coming with it."
Almost like clockwork, Panne's ears twitched to the pattering sound of sparse raindrops. The brave patches of sunlight had all been snuffed out, leaving the landscape as sullen and grey as the Spiritomb willed it. She managed to stand with a little help from Altaria's supportive wings. Although it felt like a haze had been lifted from over her mind, fatigue left her as heavy as ever, and made the walk back up the ridge worse than ever.
...
In spite of the storm's much-despised return, and the death-match that had occurred not an hour before, Panne could honestly say that supper was in good spirits. The quiet mumbling of the previous nights had evolved into larger conversations filled with laughter and banter. The break in the rain also allowed them to turn in for the night mostly dry, though cleaning off the caked mud did make her an exception. Still, it seemed the temporary absence of their pursuer really did make a difference. Panne flattened down the sides of her shortened dress and leaned into the tautness of the tent wall.
Even with the bruises and bumps, she was still restless. Staring up at the ceiling wasn't going to get her to sleep. They'd reach a resolution today, sure, but it gave her no peace of mind. She glanced over to Vallion, who sat quietly in his little corner and watched people he had only recently met interact with one another. Always watching, ever observant. What things had he noticed about the Society? Panne pinched the end of her snout and struggled to a stand. Yeah, that's probably what was missing, huh?
"Hey," she began cautiously, settling down with a thump beside the Servine. "We're finally almost there. Your body's not too much farther. We might actually be able to get your memories back tomorrow if we're quick enough."
Vallion's eyes glazed over in thought as he slowly nibbled away at his dry meal. "We still have to beat the Spiritomb."
"Oh, right. I kinda figured that." She shoved a claw beneath scarf on her wrist. "It shouldn't be too tough with all of us. That's not to mention how much we'll be able to do once we start racking up some emeras. Damn thing should've known better than to mess with us. It'll be toast before you know it."
"Maybe. I guess." Vallion shuddered. "Sometimes I can hear it speaking in my own voice. Don't think it ever used to do that before."
Panne grumbled. "Don't even pay attention to it. It's just copying the memories it stole from you, that's all. As long as you don't let it under your skin, it might as well be farting in your ears."
By this point he had put down his food entirely. "I dunno. That thing probably knows more about me than I do."
"I mean, I suppose that's technically right," Panne said. "That's not all that impressive, to be honest. You were never good at being the dark and mysterious type. People sure thought you were, but they were just making stuff up on purpose. You're fairly transparent if you know where to look." Waves rolled up the sides of the tent as a gust slammed into the fabric, hail pounding away all the while.
"Really? I don't feel like I'm all that transparent."
"I mean, you aren't right now. You used to be. That's kinda why I freaked out back at the compound when you were getting all heroic. When you say you're going to do something, you just do it." Panne rolled over onto her back and clutched her tail, still continuing to avoid the Servine's eyes as if the conversation would suddenly end if they met hers. "That's kinda why the whole marriage thing really got to me, you know? Secrets just really weren't your thing. I never would have thought I'd ever see a Harmony Scarf again, and here I am wearing what's probably the only two on the planet, all because you wanted to go the extra mile for no reason. That's just how you went about things whenever you got excited."
Vallion inhaled through his teeth, held the air in his lungs as if he were bracing for something, then exhaled through his nose. "Hey Panne?"
"Hm?"
"I'm-" He started again, much quieter and just a few inches closer. "I'm really sorry."
"Huh? Sorry for what?" Panne finally turned her head towards the Servine and found that he had been looking away as well.
Vallion spoke to the opposite wall. "I...Well, you know. Everything. Being as big of a pain as I was. I knew I was making this much harder on you than it needed to be. There was so much going through my head, and now that I'm here I kind of think that none of it really mattered. I'm sorry I've been such a burden."
The Delphox stayed silent and allowed his words to sink in. Even now, she resisted the urge to throw caution to the wind and scoop him up into her arms. "I just wanted to know what was wrong. The conclusion I kept coming back to was that Hydreigon manipulated you. To be honest, I'm still not a hundred-percent sure they didn't, but it's better than it was before. I'm pretty sure they're not going to lynch you while my back's turned anymore."
"I am still kinda mad at you about that," he said. "You shouldn't have had to fight them at all. I suppose I'm partly to blame for it happening in the end, but still. It's whatever. It's all done now. Everything is going to work out from here on out, and I'm willing to make any of the necessary sacrifices."
"Uh, no you're not, dummy. You won't be making any sacrifices, remember? There's no such thing as a necessary sacrifice." Panne crossed her arms over her tail, squinting at the glare of the lamp. "I get that it's kind of hypocritical for me of all people to say, but I'm serious about that. I love you more than anything else in the world, and being safe wouldn't make me happy if it meant I could never see you again. I would rather be dead anyway."
"I know you would," Vallion murmured as he curled up into the corner, his face hidden behind the leaf on his tail.
Just beyond the shelter of the canvas walls, a distant rumbling rolled out of the mountains and spread across the plains like a flood. The warm air suddenly went cold. Muscles grew rigid. Everyone held their breaths as the booming thunder gradually tapered into silence. As soon as the danger seemed to pass, conversations immediately picked back up exactly where they had left off. Panne could only sit and wonder if that apathy actually frustrated the demon or not.
She closed her eyes, arms still folded reservedly around her chest. "I'm just really, really glad you're feeling better," she whispered. "You don't even need to tell me what was wrong in the first place. I won't care about whatever it was if you don't either."
"Hey Panne," he replied in the same hushed tone. "I like your voice."
"You- huh? Where the heck did that come from?"
Val moved his tail just enough to look at her with one eye. "I think you're very soothing when you're speaking softly. You should tell me another story like while we were in Serene Village."
A sigh filtered through her nose, and a tiny grin had worked its way onto her face. The howling winds filled the space while she searched for a decent tale. With everything that was swimming around in her head, it seemed almost impossible to think straight. "I dunno. What kind of story do you want to hear about? Give me some place to start, there's way too many stories to choose from."
"Um. I know it sounds really dumb, but- I'm kind of in the mood for something cheesy I guess. Tell me about a time when I did something really brave."
Of course he'd want something like that. Panne gave a yawn as she stretched her legs, the efforts of the day quickly catching up to her. "I guess that's something to work with. You could've still been a little more specific than that, but alright, fine. Now let me see... Maybe I could tell you about the time we went to Zero Isles on commission from another guild. There was a whole lot wrong with that place, let me tell you." She couldn't contain her smile any longer as she shuffled through the order of events from so many years ago.