DISCLAIMER!

The following is a non-profit fanfiction. The author does not own the rights to Nintendo, Gamefreak, and all relevant parent companies of the Pokemon franchise. I do however owe a lot of gratitude to my loyal fanbase who have been with me for the past 3 years. I love each and every one of you!

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READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES!

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August 5th

I drifted lonely amidst the total darkness, my very self felt as distant from me as the heavens from the earth. The nothingness caressed me, pushing every instinct I had to move further and further into the void. The bellow of power echoed far in the distance. At first, it was but a muffled hum, that whispered to my very soul, but as I began to regain lucidity it changed. The methodic drumming of psychic energy turned into panicked cries and rapid bursts of power, as her will clashed against mine.

I could sense her presence all around me, on all sides I felt streams of energy coursing through this dark endless void. I could feel my mind reaching out across the dark, searching for the body I possessed in here. The one she made for me. Twinkling shards of pink light flew toward me from all directions as my mind found its body. Through these eyes, I could see the damage she had done to me in her desperate attempt to hide herself. To hide what she really was. I caressed my new skin, reveling in the sensation beyond sense that I had felt touching this new body. The echo of a memory began to surface in the back of my mind. Soon, hundreds of images flashed and ran past me, like screens cast into the black.

While I was here, present and lucid, she couldn't hide herself behind illusions and forged memories.

"I...remember..." - My thoughts echoed through the inky black of my subconscious, like the crash of thunder on a stormy night.

I turned my gaze toward the origin of the ever-increasing bursts of power. Threads and rivers of power flowed from a single point in the distance. Like a twisted cobweb of raw psychic energy, they riddled the space around it. Smaller pieces broke off and reached far beyond sight and sense, deep into my awake self's mind. She knew I was lucid, she had heard my thoughts that rang through my mindscape. Elizabeth knew I was coming.

I flew through the nothingness, only halted by the wonderous displays of power she held, as dozens of new streams merged and separated the closer I got. She was scared. Elizabeth tried her best to regain what influence she had over me before my thoughts gained lucidity and allowed me to regain myself. I was suddenly yanked to the left by a pale purple thread. It had latched onto my wrist and coiled itself all the way up to my shoulder. Countless more began to weave themselves out of the black and wrapped themselves around me, trapping me in a cocoon of light.

A sense of fear began to sow itself into me as my eyes were covered by the psychic threads. The spindles began to tighten and hold me in place, pulling me further away from her. She was...so afraid. I had to get there, I had to get to her. I couldn't let her be this afraid of me. I struggled against the vice grip of the purple cocoon, I tried to bite at the threads to tear them away with my teeth. The more I struggled the tighter it held, it started to hurt not long after. It felt searing hot and so tight that I wanted to scream, but nothing could be heard.

And then she stopped. She let me go. The coil loosened and the threads faded into sparks of light. Faint sobs echoed in the distance, tears of remorse had fallen into the void never to be seen again. As far as I could see the webs of light trembled and quaked with every tear my Elizabeth had shed.

"Please...Eric...go back." - She pleaded. The voice I had loved so dearly...was full of pain.

I couldn't bear to hear her voice in such a tone, my body lunged forward and flew toward her at speeds I could barely imagine. New tendrils shot from the darkness, the streams, and the webs. Red, purple, pink, and violet, each bigger and stronger than the latter, but they couldn't so much as touch me. I felt them draw near, but before they could catch me, they were repelled. My body glowed and trembled with power, bursting out sparks of light from all over my body that pushed back the tendrils. Even the ones that were as thick as my torso was blasted away.

I could hear her panicked breathing growing louder and faster. The strobing pink light at the origin of the webs and streams that polluted my mind was growing brighter. It grew louder with every flash of light, it felt like my body was going to shatter at the aftershock, but it held. I...held. She begged me to go back. She pleaded, she fought, but I refused. I refused to forget her again. I knew that's what she wanted, but I knew it was not what she needed. In my memories, I could see...her, I saw the flashes of her true self whenever she dropped her guard, whenever she was surprised, and whenever she slept next to me, drooling onto my pillow and scratching her horn.

"Elizabeth..." - I called out to her. She was on her knees, tending to a ball of luminous power. Her body made of light trembled and shivered in my presence. It was as if she was made of glowing mist held together by her own sheer will. Her form in here resembled the one out there, small yet supple. She was facing away from me so I couldn't tell what kind of face she was making at the time, but by the aura of grief that had enveloped her, I was certain it wasn't a happy expression.

"You will not go...back, will you, Eric?" - Elizabeth whimpered. Her body trembled as she said those words as if her misty form would scatter any moment.

I stood silently, having trouble finding the right words to say.

"You...We would be happier..." - She added, weakly looking over her shoulder. Her eyes were a milky white, two faintly glowing orbs amidst the ever-whirling pink mist of her head.

"I will be happier when you stop messing with my head." - My voice boomed from all around us. I did not mean to sound as harsh as I did, but the booming echo of the void prevented subtlety.

Elizabeth fell silent. She looked back at the orb of light that floated in front of her. Her shoulders slumped and her form quivered and twisted as quiet sobs escaped her throat.

"I...if I...If only I wasn't..." - Elizabeth choked on her words. - "If I was born...normal. You...my family..."

I crouched down to comfort her.

"Normal is overrated." - I smiled softly. - "It's our uniqueness that...if everyone was normal...it would totally suck."

I fumbled with my words, trying to say something to comfort her. I knew that if I couldn't, she would eventually make me forget her all over again. We would go back to playing make-believe.

"Would that be so bad?" - Elizabeth turned around, having read my thoughts. She was holding the glowing orb with both hands. Its ever-changing color was a mesmerizing sight.

I sat down, though it felt as if I was still floating.

"Make-believe is fun...but it's not forever. We all need to grow up and stop pretending." - I explained. - "Though after a while you start pretending again. You pretend to find your friend's jokes interesting, you pretend your dad is not a huge nerd."

Though in these bodies made of light, we had no faces, I could tell that last remark made her smile, if only for a little bit.

"You've seen my memories?" - I asked with a chuckle.

She nodded sheepishly.

"I've experienced all those things by living in reality and not in my bubble of make-believe." - I reached towards her hand.

She tried to pull away, but I reached her before she could. The sensation of her body felt so alien yet familiar. A bolt of energy had shot from my hand to my spine, leaving my body tingling like crazy, She stared at me with concern in her eyes, yet I could tell that deep down she trusted me.

"I want to meet the real you...not that mask you put on every day." - I ran my hand along her arm and up to her cheek. Elizabeth hesitated, her eyes told me she was contemplating heavily upon my words. She looked down at the orb in her lap longingly...then after a minute or so she closed her eyes and nuzzled into my palm. A rush of sparks and tingles swept through my body like a tidal wave, as if every nerve in my body was being lovingly pampered.

Streams of blue sparks slipped past her closed eyes and floated toward the nothingness.

"I...I am scared." - She confessed, grabbing my hand with her tiny arms. - "But I will do it...I will do it for you...Eric."

The orb of light rolled off her lap and fell into the void beneath us. She held onto my hand tightly with one hand but moved the other to point downwards. A tremendous explosion rattled the void as her orb shattered, casting sparks and sounds throughout the emptiness. The cobwebs and streams began to melt and fade. Her constructs that had controlled me vanished. I could feel my mind within my mind clearing. As if it was released from a tight hold that I didn't even realize was there. Only one stream of light remained. It was no thicker than my leg but stretched endlessly into the black of my subconscious.

"I need...that one." - Elizabeth opened her eyes halfway and pointed towards the last remaining stream. - "I know I promised...but I...I just need to pretend sometimes..."

She squeezed my hand tight and searched my eyes for reassurance. I stared at the dimly glowing stream in silence. My thoughts whispered to me so quietly, not even Elizabeth could hear them. I finally looked back at Elizabeth.

"Okay, but I don't want any more of those cluttering up my head." - I gave in.

"I will try..." - Elizabeth said sincerely.

"You gotta start somewhere..." - I shrugged and leaned in to pick her up.

I looked around the nothingness as Elizabeth went limp in my arms. I could barely tell where my chest started and her body began. Had it not been for her half-open eyes, I'd have thought that my chest just had a weird lump in the shape of a small girl. My eyes stopped on the last stream, idly and silently flowing into the void. A hint of anxiety still lingered in my core, but it was time to go back.

"Alright, wake me up. I'm ready to meet you again for the first time." - I smiled at her patiently.

"Will you...hold me like this out...there?" - Elizabeth asked hesitantly.

"I will hold you so long you'll forget how to walk and float!" - I laughed loud enough to shake the void around us.

"I will hold you to that..." - Elizabeth snickered, poking me in the chest.

I could feel my metaphysical body begin to numb and shiver. My arms began to scatter and morph, they started to resemble Elizabeth's misty body. My legs soon followed, giving out half a second later, but I woke up before my head could hit the non-existent floor. When my eyes opened I thought I was still stuck inside my mind, but my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of the room. I could feel the blanket wrapped around my legs and the pillow crumpled under my head. I glanced around the room but failed to spot her. It was far too dark for me to make out Elizabeth's small frame amidst the clutter in the room.

I felt the familiar hum in the back of my mind as our telepathic link opened up again.

"I am here...under the blanket..." - I heard Elizabeth's voice chime from around the foot of the bed.

I felt a light tap against my left leg and could barely see the blanket moving near it. A small lump sat under the cover, swaying left to the right every few seconds. Even after our talk, she was still incredibly anxious. Her hand remained fixed on my leg, perhaps she found comfort in not being seen but still being close to me. My heart would've melted had I not been so concerned.

"Are you...scared of me, Elizabeth?" - I whispered half-heartedly.

"No! No...I..." - Elizabeth quickly yoinked her hand away and rose it to cover her mouth, or at least that is what I presumed when I saw the lump under the covers move and shift. As much as she was afraid to show me what she looked like, she was more afraid of making me doubt her.

"I just...I...am sorry." - Elizabeth fumbled anxiously. I could hear her breathing quicken as she became even more anxious.

"You know, you'll probably be able to breathe easier if you come outta there." - I bumped my leg into her playfully.

"I know...just give me...time?" - Elizabeth replied meekly.

I smiled at her patiently, but after my core gave up holding this half-crunch pose I was in, I laid back down and welcomed the comfort of the bed. I could feel Elizabeth shift uncomfortably, still trapped under the blanket that was now pulled up to my stomach. Her hand returned to my leg soon after, I believe she was trying her best to psyche herself up. It was endearing, yet in the back of my mind, I only grew more concerned. My mind wandered and gazed at the memories that she had hidden from me. They were dull and patchy, it forced my mind to try and fill in the missing blanks. In her haste to hide these memories, she must've torn them a little. Like trying to remove a sticker from a page.

"It is not t-that bad..." - Elizabeth admitted sheepishly. - "Your memories...are not w-whole."

"I am sorry I hurt them...I was scared." - She added, finally drawing closer to me. - "I do not like...what I am. I do not like being different. That is why...I made you forget. Why I p-pretended."

I could feel her attempting to crawl onto my stomach. She was so small...and so soft. How could anyone be afraid of someone so delightful?

"T-Thank you..." - Elizabeth overheard my inner compliment. - "You are also...soft." - She replied and pat my stomach.

I took her words with a grain of salt. Though I lacked a six-pack, I was by no means flabby. I was in perfect physical health for a boy my age. I remembered fondly of my days in school. Though I wasn't by any means the best at maths...or the other brainy subjects, I was one of our school's best athletes. Self-titled of course, as our school didn't have a track team or any major sports team...

"N-No...You look good! You...your face makes me happy!" - Elizabeth tried to console me and quickly rose to her feet. I could feel her weight push down on my stomach as she stood upright. Even her tiny feet were soft and squishy. Even though they ended in what appeared to be stubs. I grabbed the pale curtain that draped loosely over our window and pulled it to the side.

Our room was draped in the silvery glow of moonlight. I could clearly make out Elizabeth's figure as she stood under the covers. Her horn was poking sharply against the fabric. Her frame stood taller than I had remembered. It looked like she was a good seven inches taller than an average Ralts. Being this tall meant that the blanket no longer fully hid her appearance. I could see her creamy white dress poking out from under the covers through an inch-or-so-wide gap. Elizabeth jolted, having realized I could see her better in this lighting. I could feel the curtain tugging against my grasp as Elizabeth was trying to yank it back and block out the light.

I held on tight, not letting it out of my grasp even when she was tugging at it so hard I thought the fabric would tear.

"Elizabeth..." - I said her name with a firm yet tender tone. The tugging stopped.

"O-Okay. I am coming out...please close your eyes." - Elizabeth sheepishly requested.

I obliged, hoping after this, she would finally stop hiding herself...her real self from me. I heard the covers lift up and crumple around my waist. I felt her tiny feet lifting off my stomach as she floated closer to me. I could feel her presence near my face. I heard her breath cleave through the silence of our dim room. I could feel the tension emanating from her small frame. The fabric of her dress grazed against my chin, I could tell she was leaning closer. I felt her tiny hands cover my eyes. They were as soft and kind as I had recalled. The kind and gentle soul behind those hands could never be hidden, no matter how many masks she wore.

"Elizabeth...do you trust me?" - I whispered and reached out to caress her.

I could feel my fingers brushing against her tender back. Her dress had an opening in the back that allowed it to stretch over her head whenever she had to take it off. I ran my index finger up and down her back, sending shivers through my whole arm.

"With my whole life..." - She leaned in and whispered into my ear. - "I promise you my secret...I promise you my heart."

I could feel her hands drift away from my eyes and down my cheeks. I felt pressure against my hand as she floated away from my head and stopped just above my stomach. I lay patiently, waiting for her to tell me she was ready. Through the link between us I could still feel the cold grasp of anxiety that still clung to her, but under all that lingering dread was the warm and melodious voice of trust. It felt like a song that played in defiance of the silence. Like a long and loving strum of a Cello that played for the heart rather than the ear.

I heard Elizabeth inhale sharply.

"You can open them...Eric." - Elizabeth sighed, finally ready to end the make-believe.

Her bright pink irises glowed defiantly against the black of her eyes. Two thin lines of black ran down her cheek from the corner of her eyes and disappeared behind her neck. Elizabeth's shaggy, lime-green hair bobbed up and down as she tried to balance herself in the air. Those tender lips I grew to adore quivered as my gaze wandered up and down her body. An inky blackness coated her fingers and ran all the way up to her wrists in strange uneven patterns.

"You really are something else." - I smiled sweetly and pulled her into my embrace.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

3 years in the making. The mysteries behind Elizabeth will finally begin to unravel. A Ralts with eyes blacker than coal, but with irises that glow warmer than hearth fire. We are going to have so much fun, my dear viewer! Elizabeth's true form no longer remains trapped within the mind of the author but can wonder freely to the imagination of the masses! I am so excited to finally bring her truth to light. Elizabeth the Ralts and her mysteries will return next month! So stay tuned and be sure to leave a review!

Yeah also sorry for the (tiny) delay, I was busy. Shit happens.

Anywho! I'm off to write the next chapter! Until we meet again!

PROMO TIME!

Story prior to reboot: Eric and Elizabeth the Gardevoir: Forged Memories - www,fanfiction,net/s/14067718/1/Eric-and-Elizabeth-the-Gardevoir-Forged-Memories

Non-canon monthly shorts: Eric and Elizabeth's non-canon adventures - www,fanfiction,net/s/14116302/1/

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