A/N: …Hello out there, anyone who's still reading this. I want to thank you all for your continued support and attention. I'm sorry it took so long. Here's the latest chapter!
Chapter 36: Ascended Fangirl
Everyone took a moment to absorb the story and recover from the effects of Uxie's illusions, doing things like blinking or shaking their heads. Mason sighed and closed his eyes, a somewhat melancholy look on his face. But whatever dark thoughts he was harboring were interrupted when he felt someone gently squeeze his hand. He looked over to see that it was a worried-looking Laura, so he gave a small smile and squeezed her hand in return in an attempt to be reassuring. It didn't really work.
The contemplative silence that had settled in the room was interrupted when Wigglytuff gleefully exclaimed, "Wow! That was a great story! I can see why it's your favorite, Laura!"
"Oh? Is it really?" Cresselia asked, sounding amused and turning towards Laura with a brow raised, causing her to blush crimson and bury her face in her hands.
Luckily she was saved from having to explain her reaction when Corphish cleared his throat. "Yeah, it is a good story," he commented, "but… hey, hey! How does it help us with our Time Gear problem?"
"It is simple, really," Uxie replied, drawing everyone's attention. "Given the timeline of events in the legend, we know that the Time Gears must have been charged during the period when Relatia and the Rainbow Child were alone together. Seeing as they did not explain how it happened, that means they are the only ones who know how to fix things now."
"That is… very unfortunate," Chatot said, his wings fluttering slightly with worry. "Especially given that Laura and Mason failed in their attempt to contact Relatia… and the Rainbow Child must be long gone by now…"
The guild members frowned at this thought, until Drowzee suddenly chimed up with, "Wait… but didn't Relatia give her the power to reincarnate?"
"Oh my gosh! She did!" Sunflora exclaimed as she realized the same thing.
"So even if the original is gone… shouldn't her reincarnation still be out there somewhere?" Drowzee continued, a hopeful look on his face.
But that hope was dashed when Chatot reminded them, "That's true… but she went back to the other world with Relatia, remember? So, in all likelihood, she is still there now."
Azelf nodded. "Yeah, normally that would be the case," he agreed, "but for some reason her latest incarnation is actually in this world."
"REALLY?!" Loudred asked. "The where IS she?!"
"She and the Golden Child are quite close, actually," Uxie said, causing most everyone present to look at him in stunned surprise.
But after a moment, when it became obvious that he wasn't going to reveal their location on his own volition, Corphish prompted, "Hey, hey! So? Where are they?"
Uxie merely sighed, feeling slightly disappointed that he hadn't been able to figure it out on his own. "Think about it: What do you know about them?" he hinted.
There was a contemplative silence as everyone pondered the question. Eventually Diglett broke it by hesitantly guessing, "…They worshipped Relatia?"
Uxie nodded. "Very good. What else?"
"Well," Chimecho bobbed slightly in thought, "The Golden Child had golden eyes, and he used to be a human before Relatia turned him into a cele—" she suddenly froze in midair, eyes widening as she came to a stunning realization.
Paula, not privy to Chimecho's epiphany, continued to puzzle through Uxie's question. "Yeah… and the Rainbow Child had rainbow eyes and the Dimensional Scream ability! Just like—" She, too, froze as she came to her own realization. But she didn't stay frozen long, slowly turning towards where Laura and Mason were sitting. They looked back with expressions that were a mix of guilty, wary, and slightly embarrassed.
"W-wait a minute," she said slowly, her voice wavering as if she wanted to deny the words coming out of her mouth. "Mason… d-didn't you say that besides Relatia, Laura was… w-was the only other person who knew the secret of the Time Gears?"
The rest of the guild, who had up until that point still not figured out what Paula and Chimecho had, suddenly blinked and widened their eyes with realization. They whipped around to look at Mason, who cringed slightly and gave a curt nod.
"B-but if… if that's true…" Paula continued with her train of thought, "then… th-then that means that Laura is—!"
"The Rainbow Child?" Mason interrupted, seeing no point in hiding it any longer. "Yes, she is. Just as I am the Golden Child."
There was stunned silence before Loudred suddenly screeched, "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US EARLIER?!"
Laura winced at the anger (and volume) of his tone, but, knowing that his feelings were well deserved given the circumstances, didn't complain and merely offered justification. "I had amnesia, remember? I didn't even know myself until recently… and it wasn't even official until my thirteenth Birthday anyways."
"It wasn't official until then? What do you mean?" Drowzee asked.
Laura grimaced and turned her head away, shoulders drooping. "…Well each time the Golden and Rainbow Children reincarnate it's a fresh start, you know? We don't retain the memories of our past lives. We only get access to them on our thirteenth birthdays. Or at least…" Laura trailed off and her shoulders drooped even further. She gave a tired sigh before continuing, "…that's when we're supposed to…"
"…What do you mean by that?" Paula asked, feeling worried by Laura's depressed state.
After giving a quick, sad glance towards Laura, it was Mason who answered, "For some reason, while the Golden Child—as in me, and all my previous lives—gets a sudden rush of memories when they turn thirteen, the incarnations of the Rainbow Child—as in Laura and… well, you get the picture—never regain full access to the memories of their past lives. I mean… they obviously remember some things… that they are the Rainbow Child, for one, a few miscellaneous memories here and there… perhaps a déjà vu feeling or an impression if they come across someone they used to know… but other than that…?" Mason shrugged, shaking his head. "It's been theorized that Relatia didn't have enough power at the time to give the Rainbow Child a 'perfect' reincarnation gift, but no one really knows for sure. Least of all Relatia."
The members of the guild, Paula, and Drowzee looked towards Laura with expressions of sympathy and sadness, and Cresselia floated over to comfort her. Laura gave them all a weak and somewhat watery smile in return. The Spirit Trio, meanwhile, looked stunned, and Uxie in particular looked especially horrified.
"Then… you don't remember how to charge the Time Gears?" he asked. Laura dropped her arms from where she was embracing Cresselia and gave him a small, regretful shake of the head. "What about what Chatot said? Is it true that you failed in your attempt to contact Relatia?" he demanded.
"Correct," Mason confirmed warily, not liking Uxie's tone of voice.
Uxie frowned, seeming to ponder something for a moment, and shared a brief look with his siblings. He cleared his throat before addressing Laura again, "In that case… Laura, have you ever heard of a place called the Cave of Reflections?"
Laura furrowed her brows in confusion. The name did sound familiar, but she couldn't remember why… She opened her mouth to ask for clarification, but before she could even say a word…
"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY GOING TO TRY THAT STUNT AGAIN?!" Mason exploded, immediately flying up into a protective stance in front of Laura, with Cresselia acting as backup.
"What else do you expect us to do, Mason?" Uxie tried to reason, slowly lifting his hands in a placating gesture. "We need Laura's memory to fix the Time Gears! I'm sure that if we just explain the process this time, then—"
"Are you insane?!" Paula demanded, aghast. "How does describing the method of torture make the torture itself any less… well, torturous?!"
Mesprit flinched back, as though she had been struck, before glaring at Paula in offense and hotly saying, "We were not 'torturing' her! We never wanted to hurt her!"
"Then why was she screaming in agony when we found her?!" Mason demanded.
"Unfortunately, sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good!" Azelf spat back, sounding bitter.
Then Cresselia surprised everyone by becoming absolutely livid and shrieking, "HOW DARE YOU IMPLY THAT THE RAINBOW CHILD SHOULD EVER BE A SACRIFICE?!"
One could hear a pin drop in the ensuing shocked silence, which made it even more startling when Laura, who had absolutely no idea what was going on, quietly asked, "Um…What is it that they want me to do?"
Uxie, intending to answer the question, then made the utterly foolish mistake of looking directly at Laura, triggering Mason's protective rage, and everything descended into chaos.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!" Mason screamed, launching himself at the Being of Knowledge.
Uxie's siblings rushed to his defense, prompting everyone else to spring into action and rush to Mason's defense, all the while screaming things like:
"Leave him alone!"
"Oh my gosh!"
"Don't come any closer!"
"Squawk!"
It was an absolute free-for-all, with punches and attacks going everywhere and threatening to hit the human girl—who was standing off to the side with a lost and horrified expression on her face—that they were all fighting over. But just as she was about to enter the fray herself, despite the fact that she had no clue what was happening or whose side she should join, from out of nowhere…
"There you are! I finally found you!"
…there came a voice. It was one of the loveliest anyone present had ever heard, and it held an almost musical quality. Everyone froze in their tracks (which led to some very interesting positions, like Cresselia crouching over Azelf on the floor, pinning him into a submission hold, and Wigglytuff in the process of biting Mesprit's leg while she yanked on his ears) and immediately looked around, searching for the source. They weren't able to look long, however, as almost immediately they were blinded by a bright flash of light. But the spots soon cleared from their eyes… and they were left staring at the beautiful sight before them.
The woman who had suddenly appeared from out of nowhere looked to be a human female. She was slightly taller than Laura, and was absolutely gorgeous. Her hair was so platinum blonde that it was almost white, and she had on a flowing dress with a bag tied around her waist. She wore a necklace with a Time Gear pendant, which matched the Time Gear shaped jewel shining on her forehead. She also had stunningly beautiful, blue-green eyes. She was smiling happily, her teeth dazzling and perfect, and seemed unperturbed by the odd sight of the crowd, frozen mid-fight. In fact, she only glanced at it for a second to give a small grin towards Mason (who happened to be grabbing Uxie's ankle with one hand and trying to push away the Psychic-type's foot from where he was kicking him in the face with the other) before focusing solely on Laura.
"Laura!" she exclaimed in joy, vanishing into another flash of light—though one that was duller and less blinding—only to reappear moments later in front of the stunned Laura. She immediately enveloped her into a hug, causing the girl's eyes to widen further in shock when she lovingly murmured, "Oh, Laura… I missed you so much! I wanted so badly to come and rescue you, but somehow a barrier had been put up!" The woman pulled back slightly, wiping tears from her eyes before giving Laura a careful once-over. "Just look at you…! You've gotten so big and matured so much… and so have you!" she suddenly looked back towards Mason and exclaimed.
She gave a lazy wave of her hand and the air around Mason and Uxie seemed to shimmer. The world seemed to… to tilt for a moment, and when it returned to normal the woman—who was still firmly holding onto Laura—seemed to have switched places with the now startled Uxie and had grabbed Mason, pulling him into a hug.
"It has been far, far too long, young man!" she said affectionately, nuzzling Mason's head.
There was stunned silence—aside from the woman's sweet murmurings—for a few moments before Mason's and Laura's eyes widened in recognition. "M-M-M-Mistress!" they exclaimed, hastily squirming and trying to extricate themselves from the woman's grasp so that they could bow to her.
The others in the room dropped out of their fighting stances in shock. But the woman took no heed and only proceeded to grasp her—apparently—servants more tightly, as if sensing what they would try to do once they escaped from her hold. "Now, now," she chided gently. "What have I told you about bowing to me? Or using that title?"
The duo blushed, looking slightly chagrined, before glancing shyly up at her. "Yes, Relatia, we're sorry," they apologized, causing their audience to drop their jaws in shock.
The woman—no, the goddess—merely smiled and hugged them tighter. "I forgive you," she said kindly. "I'm sure you just forgot momentarily. After all, I haven't been able to remind you for a very long time. I've missed you both so much…"
"We missed you, too, Relatia," the Golden and Rainbow Child replied, bringing up their arms to reciprocate their goddess' loving embrace…