July 21st 3130.
0630
When dawn broke, I was awake rather suddenly.
As I laid there in Arias embrace, I took stock of the previous nights events. Freeman and I had gotten into it, quite predictably. Aria and I suddenly teleported off, and then we later returned to our te ze. As I shifted my posture to let my left arm get needed blood again, I could feel Arias breathing change. Her emotions began to drift from a peaceful sort to groggy and somewhat nonplussed at being disrupted.
It always amused me how light of a sleeper she was. Usually within moments of me waking up, she would too. As I looked at her face as she began to rouse, I wondered if it was because we ended up sharing our dreams, or if my emotional state caused her to be roused in reaction. I felt a sense of curiosity as I contemplated that question. However, as her eyes opened, I welcomed her back to the world of the living with a smile.
Good morning Ses frau.. I greeted.
You don't sleep enough... She muttered to me as she slowly awakened, I don't know how you do it sometimes... but every time you wake up with the dawn, I am always amazed...
I gave a slight shrug as her arms tucked in towards our chests, then seemed to curl up into my body. Apparently she was rather chilly. I couldn't really blame her though. While it was still rather warm, the mornings were always chilly affairs for the both of us. I brought my right hand down to the gap between our bodies, then sought out her hand. As I groped around for it. I felt it brush against the gentle warmth of her mic tem. The shard that all Gardevoir had.
"Gau..!" She vocalized suddenly as my hand brushed it.
I couldn't help but give her an apologetic look as I found her hand. That was the single most sensitive portion of her body. Yet oddly enough, it was never affected by rubbing against my body all night. It only seemed to be affected by my hand.
Today's a big day for you... I'm worried that something bad will happen.. I said, voicing my concerns.
She leveled her eyes at me, then gave a small smile.
You still don't get it? She asked.
With a confused expression, I shook my head slightly.
It's a big day for us both... You'll understand, though I'm sure you already know...
Indeed... I did know.
This wasn't just her. We were in this together. I would be there with her the entire time, never more than a few feet away. Our proximity the result of our almost requirement of the other. Near her, my emotions were escalated into a new realm I did not previously think existed. I had a stunning insight into potential that normal people couldn't ever hope to have. Its seductive grasp ever trying to claw at me and fill me with greed. Yet, despite all of that, it was only my desire to remain close to her that compelled me. My wish to understand her better, to share in this life with her.
For her... it was a sense of completion that I didn't even know either of us lacked until then. We, as one mind at times, functioned and felt in a way that neither of us truly knew we could. She drew from me and I gave to her, the emotions both of us needed to sustain ourselves. My feelings filled her with vitality. Further, little by little, we found ourselves essentially one and the same. Any pain that one felt, the other certainly felt. We stood at the edge of becoming one unified being in this regard.
It came with a price. The pain of death would certainly kill the both of us. Extreme sorrow would plummet the both of us into a deep depression from which neither of us could escape. We had the capability of feeding back our emotions into one another. To humans, this was like a panic attack. However, unlike with humans, deep, severe pain accompanied the results.
There was a thrill in walking this thin line. However, it was not the thrill which compelled us. Rather, it was moments like this. Laying here, in complete peace, holding one another, feeling our perceptions meld into one another. It was like the moment I first learned the rapture of the dance. Our thoughts and feelings flowing freely, giving birth to higher sensations of feeling, greater depths of mutual understanding.
But possibly the greatest thing that compelled us now was what rested, wrapped in some vegetation and under watchful eye at all times, near our feet.
Inside of this small egg, grew a life.
The impossible aggregate of our emotions and our desire to express that emotion led to this moment. Where no matter what, the importance of our lives now resided in the young life that was developing inside. Occasional forming thoughts and sensations of comfort could be felt. The very young embryo of a child, no doubt to be its own wonderous being like its mother, grew.
These thoughts compelled me as I slowly roused myself from the hammock. We were used to getting up at this hour, well ahead of the others. We did this partially so that we could have the time to ourselves, but also the time to get the others enough food and water for the day. We would likely not be back until nightfall or later.
We quietly went through the processes of getting ready. Hand in hand, we walked to the springs edge, then collected the water. The sphere she constructed using the water shone brilliantly in the morning light, casting a prismatic array of colors across my face and the ground. Effortlessly, she held it before her as she did every morning. Yet every time, I was always enraptured by it.
Off to my right, I could hear sudden clicking. I felt Arias concentration begin to waver, which resulted in me fortifying her thoughts. A slight surge of feeling washed over me though. It was as though it were my thoughts now holding the sphere aloft. It was my thoughts that kept it from falling.
However, this feeling proved taxing. As I felt my mind begin to weaken, the sensation of me holding it fell away as it seemed as though her focus had been restored. I gave a small cough as this feeling of exertion left me taxed, but indicated in thought that she should continue.
This was one of the few times where our verbal thoughts gave way to the interplay of pure thought connected to emotion. In her focusing on the sphere, that left little else for her to be able to do. Thus, it fell down to us being in silence the duration of the walk.
As we approached our Te Ze, I heard the clicking again. However, I did not feel Arias concentration wavering this time.
Encouraged, I hazarded a cursory glance around to find the source. In little time at all, my eyes alighted upon Dr. Krafft with a camera mounted on a tripod. The glinting of sunlight off the lens told me it was pointed in our direction. With a grin, I returned my thoughts to Aria as we deposited the water.
After we had gathered the fruits we all ate and distributed the paste into stone dishes for the young, Aria and I sat down then ate together. It was still too early for the others to be awake. So, the two of us shared a meal with only one another.
I've been meaning to ask. How is it that you never grow tired of fruits? I asked her.
It's the feelings associated with them. Surely you've noticed how when we eat, we are both content? The feeling is like when I am with you, sitting alone near our egg. That simple happiness is what I feel every time we eat together. It doesn't matter the food. Our emotions nourish us as much as the food we consume. You've felt fortified after times like that too. I suspect you just haven't realized it yet! She chirped this with a smile that was made all the sweeter by her closed eyes.
Well certainly... I have wondered why I'm so energetic even if I haven't had meat in a while. I threw in the last one for the reaction she made as I mentioned meat.
Her face scrunched up into a slight scowl as she felt annoyance at my comment. Then, she realized the mirth I was radiating as I said those words.
Her tiny hand reached out, then pushed at me gently. To which I laughed quietly, then gave her an apologetic look.
But seriously, I don't mind. I want to do right by you. Always. I said to her before taking another bite of the fruit. It was banana again. Alas, if only we lived near the tropics, I could eat my much loved coconuts... or even mango.
But still... the notion that I had been deriving nutrition from something other than food... I felt myself chewing slower as creeping realization seeped into me. While I was becoming culturally Gardevoir, the bond we shared seemed to do more than just share emotions and feeling. It could in fact sustain us as if our feelings were food. Was that even known before now? I began thinking over the different works on Gardevoir I had read. There were dietary habits, mating habits, attachment profiles based upon trainer gardevoir studies, there were attack habits. But nowhere was there a mention of them feeding off of emotion.
I gave her a look of realization, but was met with only a smile. She had known my thoughts from beginning to end. Every notion I had was already known by her. Perhaps she had led me to this realization. Or perhaps it was just time to discover it. I couldn't say.
About an hour later, we found ourselves outside of Dr. Krafft and the others camp site.
I could smell the light perfume of wood smoke as Dr. Krafft tended to a small fire. Sausage, eggs, and coffee seemed to be on the menu today. Revulsion filled me as I realized the food, but then I realized it was Aria. I felt her revulsion, but I also felt her curiosity at the drink they were making.
We made our way over to him as he began pouring himself a cup.
Beh sze, what is that he is drinking? Aria asked as we walked up.
It's called coffee. It is a drink which has caffeine in it. It helps people get going for the day if they are slow risers like Dr. Krafft is. I explained.
Slow riser? She asked.
Imagine being unable to get woken up properly. You cannot focus very well and you are still tired. That is what most human adults feel when they wake up in the morning. I explained.
So... it's like a potion for adults. She said. Her confusion was evident which resulted in me smiling.
Kind of, it's a bitter drink made from the beans of a special plant. To some people it tastes good. I always like mine with sugar. But then, I was never a real fan of coffee... or even alcohol.
"Ah! Rowan, you are all done? " Dr. Krafft asked jovially as he looked up to see us approaching.
"More or less, we got food and water for everyone, plus the young needed the food prepared specially for them" I said.
As I said this, Aria briefly detached from my hand, then made her way over to Dr. Kraffts cup, then leaned down to examine it. I saw her tiny nose flare as she sniffed at the drink, then seemed to look on in confusion.
"She wants some..." I translated.
"Well by all means!" Krafft said as he handed her the cup.
Ses frau drink it slowly or you'll- I tried to warn her but...
She chugged the coffee.
Ah! It burns my mouth! She suddenly exclaimed.
Instantly, I could feel her panic as she spat out what she had in her mouth, then I could feel my own tongue burning as her pain was shared with mine. I felt her terror rising, but I quickly grabbed her, then held her while calming myself down.
"Gah! Son of a- " I exclaimed.
After a moment, we composed ourselves as the pain subsided leaving our tongues feeling very raw.
Dr. Krafft looked on with a mixture of uncertainty and confusion as we both reacted in pain. Finally, he coughed once to get our attention.
"Is this, how are you calling it? The.. shared emotion that Freeman was perhaps speaking of?" He asked.
"More or less." I replied sheepishly. "Her pain is my pain and vice versa... Also, you didn't add jaegermeister to your coffee again did you?" I asked.
"Only a shot of triple sec, it helps to calm me in the mornings" he confessed.
Aria looked at me as we traded the alcohol jokes before I finally explained.
He used to spike everyone's coffee with a lot of alcohol in order to get them drunk. Then he would send them off to collect rocks, and wait for the real show to begin. In no time at all, people would be falling all over themselves. Ending up in gullies, passed out, throwing up, the whole nine yards. Since then, we like to joke about it. Are you ok now?
Yes of course I'm fine Beh sze. We may have had some pain, but why would you drink such a hot substance? Are humans secretly fire types? She squeeked in indignation.
No, not at all. It being hot just helps the molecules of coffee disperse into the water better, that's all. I gave a relieved smile to her.
Dr. Krafft poured a new cup, then handed it to me this time.
Like this. I instructed.
I gently blew on the coffee, then gently sipped a small amount. The tiny portion was warm, but being so small in amount, it quickly cooled in my mouth.
After demonstrating how to drink coffee, I handed the cup to her, then instructed her once more.
Tiny ripples rose up as her breath blew on the surface of the coffee. Then, her little mouth gently took a tiny sip of the substance.
Her face was neutral for a moment, then twisted slightly into a frown as she forced herself to swallow the substance.
It is very bitter! She exclaimed after swallowing.
Yeah, that's kind of the appeal. But it gets people going in the morning. I retorted with a grin.
She gently handed the cup back to Dr Krafft, then made a humming noise as a show of gratitude.
"Oh? Does she perhaps like it?" He asked.
"Actually... she finds it revolting and thinks you crazy for ingesting such a disgusting drink" I said.
"Then what was the humming and smile?" He asked.
"Well, gratitude is shown for all gifts. Even the ones not welcome. It is a way of acknowledging your care but if you were able to sense her emotion like other Gardevoir, you would sense the subtle urging to find a more suitable gift." I said.
You could have just said I was being polite... She said.
He wants to learn though! How can we just not explain the customs to him? I asked.
He will never find occasion to use them. Teaching humans is a waste... she said.
I could feel my retort begin to rise, but the feeling was cut off as she realized what she said then looked at me apologetically.
I'm sorry Beh sze! I have been seeing you as one of us for so long now that I instantly did not realize your feelings! She rushed to apologize.
"Ah... you two..."
Well, sure ok. But you know that most humans do want to learn right? I asked.
Most humans perhaps. But very few ever try to. You did though so to me you aren't really human anyways. You are my Beh sze. She said. Her face was a mixture of caution and also that slightly innocent smile I always loved seeing.
"Rowan..."
I am not sure how to feel about that. I mean I get what you mean but what does it culturally mean to not be seen as human? If I'm not human than what am I? I asked with a slight edge of indignation.
Beh sze you occupy the gray in between the two. You are physically human, but you are part of me and I you. Accepting that means forming a bond that only Gardevoir form so natura-
"If you two are going to keep this up I will dump cold water on you."
What do you want?!
"What do you want?!"
The both of us suddenly snapped at Maurice without realizing it.
"Well, if you two keep up with your little discussion, I am feeling rather left out. Besides, it is rarely good to ignore when others show up" Dr. Freeman of all people suddenly spoke.
It was then that I realized that Dr. Freeman and Professor Sycamore had joined Dr. Krafft. They had taken a seat and begun their own meals. Apparently this happened in the span of time that Aria and I had lapsed into our more intense discussion of just what she saw me as.
Flustered, The two of us gave apologetic looks.
"We're sorry... just a rather important discussion we were having.." I said for the two of us.
Professor Sycamore smiled then nodded in understanding "I understand" He then said, "When you are with the one you love the most, time does seem to fly by in an instant."
Dr. Freeman simply gave the two of us an appraising look, then shrugged as he sat down then poured himself a cup of coffee.
I remembered our argument from last night suddenly. Embarrassment filled me as I regarded his stoic silence for a moment, then I looked him dead on. I felt Arias comforting grip on my hand as I quietly said.
"You're right."
Freeman gave a slight sigh then looked up to meet my eyes. I could tell he was going to say something, but I held up my hand.
"I failed and let's face it, my research will probably never see the light of day. Further, according to the Kalos law, I engaged in relations with a pokemon and can face prosecution. I'm lucky that I'm not a trainer though. If I was, she would be in danger too. That never occurred to me as we were falling in love. Our relationship is wrong in societies eyes and my lack of objectivism has blinded me to that. I can only apologize for the insinuations about your character I made last night. I felt offended that you were equating this with bestiality or something of a similar sort. I wanted you all to realize that to me, she is just another person. She just happens to have the appearance of a pokemon and cannot speak in a vocal sense. However, those are just details to me. I love her, against all reason I want to stay with her. I realize that I should have stopped or walked away... But I didn't. And I am not afraid anymore."
Freeman regarded me for a while, then he shrugged his shoulders.
"Be careful. If you are cleared of wrong doing, it will be a tenuous life you live. Having to hide who you are just to avoid persecution. Always worried and always conflicted..."
There was... something there.
His words seemed... a little too knowing. It was through a glance shot to me from Sycamore that I connected the dots.
To him, my situation paralleled his own. However, what I didn't realize at the time was that he too had his own relationship issues. However, how could I? I could not read his mind. Only his emotion. It was empathy, pure and simple. He understood the weight I would have to bear, because he knew what it was like to have a relationship that was looked down upon.
With this knowledge in mind, a measure of peace was made. Sycamore, Freeman and I could understand one another somewhat better because of this.
Dr. Krafft gave a slight smile, then nodded for us to sit down.
Apparently, the quartzite rocks were simply too interesting to be left alone over at my "Sittin stool" spot. So he brought them over to the fire. They served as fine chairs as the five of us fell into light conversation.
Aria would vocalize to indicate she had questions which were then asked through me.
"What will todays tests involve?" I asked.
"Well, we will have the two of you wearing EKG devices. They will independently record your emotional states as Aria attempts to create a singularity. Then we will try different methods to see what the correlative factors are." Freeman said.
I don't quite understand that... what is an MEG? Aria asked.
An MEG is short for Magnetoencephalography. It is a device meant to record brain activity and the various activities our brains make based upon our mood. Little probs sit near our heads and record what our brains do while we feel various emotions.
She tilted her head as if to ask an obvious question but was quickly cut off by me.
Humans need tools to understand their brain. Unlike Gardevoir, people cannot intuitively understand the complex neural functions at any given moment of time.
She gave a vocalized laugh that sounded like the gentle chimes of bells.
As she giggled over the notion, I clarified. "Gardevoir can understand their neural activity intuitively, so she finds the use of such devices funny."
I saw a slight smirk appear on Sycamores face.
"Alright, so measure moods, try a few different things. Got it. What else?" I asked, hoping to keep the easy pace aside.
"Actually, that's it. This could be an all day affair. Besides, even the Gardevoir in the lab was always tired after she attempted. We usually had to give her a few days rest afterwards. Even with a full spa and massage routine, she remained drained for days afterwards." Freeman said.
"This is the second time you've mentioned a Gardevoir in your lab, what's the story there?" I asked.
"Oh, this Gardevoir belonged to a young researcher. She was terribly interested in our research and volunteers time to assist us. She lives off site normally but is given access to our labs. Funny thing is, we can't keep her away. I had to confront her and her trainer about it after her last attempt. Oh the tantrum she threw... After that, I promised her that if she took a few days off then her trainer and her would be put up in a spa for a few days to rest and relax. The agreement was amicable. " He said.
"Well, as long as it is voluntary." I simply said.
"Of course it is! We aren't like some of those Rocket affiliated labs that just steal pokemon and run tests on them! We are better than the abominations that made that super pokemon back in the Kanto region!" he said defensively.
It was clear from his tone of voice that he was very proud of his work and his adherence to ethics was due to his desire to be better than what was expected of him. I found my respect for him growing.
After the three had finished their meals and coffee, it was then 9am. It took them three times as long to eat and get ready as it took us. Aria and I usually were ready to go within half an hour to 45 minutes. Though longer if we were sharing mornings with the others. However, they took an easy hour and a half just to get going for the day.
In little time at all, we found ourselves at the furthest point of the camp. 100 meters away from the tents and 300 from our te ze. This was a minimum safe distance. Aria and I stood enclosed in the framed structure we had seen yesterday. However, this time it seemed all the more imposing despite being a series of passive sensors and nothing more.
Freeman, Sycamore, and Krafft all stood well away from us. At 25 meters, they were gathered around a portable desk that had a laptop and a series of black boxes. These were batteries which powered both the computer and the electronics that ringed us.
Beh sze, this thing sits on my head weirdly and my hair feels odd... Aria muttered as we stood in the middle of the frame.
We were both wearing head gear which had miniature probes. They were seated next to our scalps. Since Aria had a fair bit more hair than I did, her hair was puffed out in spaces where the harness did not touch her. The frame itself consisted of 4 bands which ran laterally with supporting structures in between. Where the two frames met, there was a single sensor. They were wired back to a small transceiver device which was 1 inch in length by 2 inches in width. It had very little weight save the batteries, but threatened to pull the entire harness backwards. Yet, no matter how we moved our heads, the device stubbornly remained in place.
I know. I've had to wear these a fair few times and they never feel right. I empathized with her whilst taking her hand.
"Alright! We have a good read on the sensors. Aria! Think of something happy first! We want to use it as a baseline!" Freeman called out.
"Rowan, try to just remain calm if at all possible. " Krafft said.
I could feel the slowly shifting mood in Aria as she focused on something. I could not tell precisely what yet as I was focused on not feeling the same thing she did at the time. After being so close for so long, this proved to be a formidable task in and of itself.
After a solid minute. Freeman suddenly called out.
"Alright great! Rowan! You do the same, Aria you think of something calming!" He called out.
With a smile, I closed my eyes then thought of the first time I heard her voice. No, the first time I felt my connection to her. It was a warm happy moment that filled me. It brought with it a sense of nostalgia that I relished too.
"Alright, that's good!" Freeman called out.
Anxiety began creeping in as the primary test concluded.
From this point out, it would move into something terrifying.
There are monsters in the cosmos that can swallow entire stars. From the early days of calculus and advanced mathematics, there seemed to be a monster hidden in gravities calculations. A tantalizing suggestion, as gravity reached a certain limit, that it would then extend to infinity. It wasn't until advanced telescopes looked at places where space seemed to bend that the notion of black-hole remained only theoretical.
Gravity is infinite. Time stops and space fails to make sense. It is an anomaly of gravity that is so strange that its mere existence suggests something that is beyond the boundary of science. In every sense, a black hole is the very hole in the universe that should not exist. At its core is a point of infinite density that defies logic. It is the complete destruction of space itself.
And we were going to try to create one here...
Intuitively, there was no way that mass could be compressed enough here on earth to create a singularity. Instead, we were going to focus all of Arias emotion into a moment of spontaneous creation. Her psychic energy was going to pour into a single spot at such a rate that it would spontaneously convert into matter that would act as a catalyst for the implosion.
Nothing is more terrifying than a black hole either...
We were insane. There was no other way to say it.
"Alright, let's begin. We will start by having Aria create a shadow ball, then I want you to guide her to keep adding energy into it. We will see where that initial try takes us." Freeman said.
I looked at Aria, then I stepped closer to her. Our bodies made contact with my chest resting on her back. My hand in her non dominant hand.
Let's take it easy... don't over exert yourself too much...
I'll be fine Beh sze! We can do it together! She said.
Her confidence was infectious. Had it not been for the fact that I was used to it at this point, I probably would have shared her exact feeling. Instead, I gave her hand a small squeeze.
I felt her begin to tap into the emotional connection of desire to protect that the shadow ball itself came from. I could feel her concentration and selflessness begin pouring out of her as she formed the small sphere of pure energy in her hands. Little by little, I could feel her push more and more energy into it.
After a half a minute though, I felt the energy pouring into it level off.
"That's as high as we can go Freeman!" I called out.
"Damn..." He muttered.
However... something began to change in that moment. I could feel her emotions the same as usual. However, I began to feel them instead of her. It was as if she were imparting the feeling onto me. However, I realized that I was then feeding it back towards her.
That's when it began happening. A sense of panic overcame her which quickly spread to me. I felt the panic myself, then realized it was feeding back to her. This exponentiated her panic which fed back towards me. This panic then began to contain terror. This fed into her. Which caused a strange effect. THe orb began to change in coloration. Originally it was purple, lighter in the fringes, but darker towards the center. As the panic and terror fed into her, it caused a surge in her powers. This resulted in the orb changing composition slowly.
Then, I felt it feed into me.
Terror intensified as I realized that the two of us were beginning to spin out of control. Aria began fighting to stop it as emotions fed back into her, but it was impossible to stop at this point. I began to feel the surge of emotions begin to overtake me. Anxiety began to ramp up as well. I began to feel a sense of hopeless desperation which flooded into Aria, causing the ball to change composition further as deeper wells of emotion gave rise to a surge of power that fed into the ball.
Over at the desk, while all of this was happening, the gravimetric devic es began picking up the gravitational surges.
"Oh wow, the distortion is up to 4 Gs of acceleration. All of the devices are picking it up!" Sycamore exclaimed.
"It's still increasing..." Freeman said with a note of dread in his voice.
"This isn't right. Those two look as though they are beginning to hurt..." Krafft said. He had not taken his eyes of of his protege. Instead, he noticed that the two of them seemed to be in great pain.
Beh sze... Aria seemed to weakly call out.
This is too much what's happening?! I exclaimed.
However, the words were then lost in agony as we both became aware of pain. The exponentiation of emotion continued, though it seemed to pick up speed slightly. The whole time, I began noticing that my vision was becoming obscured in world of blue as pain began to rack my body.
"Arh ! ugh!" I managed to choke out as the pain began to seriously affect me. I felt on the verge of consciousness. My thoughts were scattered. Nothing seemed to make sense. All I knew at the moment was that I was desperate to keep holding onto her hands.
"We're approaching critical limit!" Freeman suddenly said.
Freemans stoic front fell away as he realized that the gravitational acceleration readings were beginning to become asymptotic in nature, the sudden rise corresponded to a sense of things failing to make sense.
He tore his eyes away from the screen, then stared directly towards the two.
Barely 5 feet in front of Aria and I, there was just blackness. From Freemans perspective, our forms were heavily distorted by a gravitational lensing effect. OUr bodies, now writhing in pain as we suffered a full feedback effect, could hardly be discerned as it seemed a dimness had overcome our immediate vicinity. We did not know it at the time, but the gravitational effects were bending light itself, resulting in less light hitting an area 300 meters on a side overall. Further, the ground beneath us had begun giving away as the soil began getting sucked into this point of infinite density that Aria and I had created.
In the creation and propagation of the feedback effect, my emotions acted as the fuel for this. As a result, empathic surges of psychic energy had caused a runaway reaction which resulted in Aria channeling the full effect into this gravitational well that now resulted in a small black hole that seemed to float, fed by our combined efforts, in front of us.
Then, the two of us lost consciousness.
Darkness overtook us. In my fading consciousness, I thought that we too had been consumed by the eternal darkness that is a black hole...
My awareness stretched out. I could feel myself standing in darkness. However, I could tell something was near me. I reached out, then felt my hand come into contact with another hand. I desperately pulled the object towards me.
Aria fell into my arms as I pulled. She seemed shaken as she looked at me, then slowly began finding her footing.
Where are we? She asked.
I don't know... I said as I looked around myself.
The world was a vivid arrangement of colors. More colors than I ever had perception of. All around us there was a slight pulsing too. As if the air itself was charged. We seemed to be standing alone with only these colors as our company.
I looked back to her, but realized that she was the only object which seemed to make sense. Her chest shard glowed brilliantly with the soft mauve of love. Her eyes burned brilliantly with her life. Yet the entire time, her emotions were worried, anxious even.
I don't think we are awake... I said suddenly.
"Beh sze, are you suggesting that the two of us are linked in unconscious? "She asked.
Suddenly, I began to realize something.
Say that again? I asked.
"I said, are you suggesting that the two of us- "
I suddenly held up my hand to stop her.
"Yes, but more importantly, I hear you audibly." I said aloud.
She gasped then looked around herself in confusion.
She heard it to. Even though we were speaking, we always heard each other within our heads. I had previously tried to associate them to sounds, but in this state, whatever was going on, our thoughts were made audible, as if for the world to hear.
"Beh Sze, this is a new experience even for me. I've never suffered a full feedback effect before. I know to expect disorientation and all of that but..."
Her words echoed as we felt a disoriented sensation.
"I think... this is both of our minds..." I said.
"Both of our minds?" She asked.
"Sure, rather than just the two of us being more aware of one another, I get the feeling like we are as one unit. I...don't get it but... this is beyond anything I've ever known..."
She grasped onto my hand, pawing it with her fingers as we communicated emotionally.
Something was different though. The feelings associated with her doing this seemed to be magnified intensely. Rather than feeling just the emotions and the feeling, I was very much aware of the faintest of touches. It was as if my hand were many orders of magnitude more sensitive than it had ever been. Curiously, I took her by the waist, then brought my chest to hers.
Her chest shard, as it touched me, seemed to radiate forth wave after wave of thought. Each was more clear and vivid than any thought the two of us had previously shared. In this world of our darkened minds, it seemed as if I was having a full empathic meltdown. I was less aware of the boundaries between our bodies. I felt like she and I were in essence that one being. Her thoughts appeared in my head as clearly as if they were my thoughts.
"Aria, we might not have much longer, or we could be dead and have all the time in the world. But supposing we wake up I want to just say this: I love you. The bond I share with you is the most amazing sensation I have ever felt. "
She smiled then gently tapped my cheek with her hand. Everything seemed sensitive apparently. The physical connection sent waves of emotion from her body into mine. However, unlike a few minutes? A few years? An eternity? Ago, there was no feedback. Instead, there was just the two of us feeling the exact thing in perfect sync.
"You are mine and I am yours Beh Sze. This is the bond we Gardevoir share. It has been yours too... Even if this is new. I don't feel fear right now..."
Then, it was over. I felt a rush of sound as light spread out like an explosion of sorts. The world that Aria and I lived in rushed back into view as I felt something retract from my eyes. The brightness seemed overwhelming as the worlds color palate was dyed in shades of pastels. I felt my hand instinctively flex. Arias hand was still in mine.
I fought to focus as I sat up, then began to roll her body over so that I could feel her to verify that she was alright. My hand, shaking as it was, was barely able to place itself on her neck, her pulse was slow. But it was stable.
I realized that she was awake as well, but disoriented as I was.
Beh sze/Ses frau.
We said those in unison.
Are you alright/ Are you ok?
Yes/Of course.
Wait/Hold on.
We tilted our heads in sync with one another. Then we both righted them at the same time. Our free hands reached out, then felt each others chest. However, mine fell upon her heart, then snapped back quickly. Hers did as well with the same amounts of confusion.
When I touched her heart shard, I felt it vibrating strongly. Waves of heat radiated off of it. My hand felt burned raw, yet it did not carry any physical sign of being damaged. Instead, an awful sense of sensitivity spread. It encompassed the entirety of my lower arm, stopping at the elbow.
That has never happened before/ That is weird.
Beh sze, you should stop speaking when I am. /Ses frau we are talking over each other.
Huh? /What?
We both let out a worried chuckle as we heard footsteps coming over.
Turning our heads, we saw Freeman Krafft, and Sycamore come running up.
-Hello you three!
"Hello you three!"
The both of us said this aloud. It was a triple effect as we both thought it aloud, but I also vocalized it. Her voice carried a humming noise which seemed to mimick my own voice in cadence.
Freeman looked worriedly at us as Dr. Krafft pulled the sensors off of our heads.
"Well how did we do?" We both asked.
Krafft looked at the sensors, then around. He didn't seem to say anything however.
We both looked around as well. Then it dawned on us why he didn't say anything.
The entire frame structure was ruined. A number of sensors were missing as were a series of poles as well. Where it looked like they stopped, the metal was crudely twisted and sheered. As if a Machamp had pulled them apart himself.
"Oh wow, how did that happen?" The two of us asked.
"You don't remember?" Sycamore asked incredulously.
"Well kind of, we were focusing on the shadow ball when we began feeling terror, we ended up collapsing shortly afterwards but we think we saw our emotions cause us to hallucinate." We answered.
"Would you two stop that?" Freeman suddenly snapped at us.
"Stop what?" We asked.
"That! You two are talking at once. I can hear you in my head, both of you! And yet you two keep on speaking aloud! Pick one!" He was clearly frustrated and was feeling stressed at having to process about 4 voices at once.
"We're sorry! We don't know what's going on!"
Suddenly, Sycamore snapped his fingers loudly.
"You two be quiet and just listen for a bit!"
We cringed, then looked at each other, feeling guilty for overwhelming our friends with too much at once. Then we looked back up at Sycamore patiently.
"You two managed to do it somehow. However, we tried telling you two to stop but instead it just kept getting bigger and bigger. Then, it just vanishes after destroying the structure. You two have been passed out for the better part of the last 3 hours. I think it's obvious, but whatever you two did was a success. We lost MEG data as the black-hole was formed. However, before we did, both of your brainwaves seemed to synchronize. " He explained.
"Rather, leading up to it, your emotions seemed to compress closer and closer together, then when they began overlapping, the black-hole intensified strongly and your brains seemed to be in perfect synchronicity with each other." Freeman elaborated.
We looked at him, then tilted our heads.
"So in other words, that feedback we suffered caused our brains to work as one?"
KRafft looked at us two, then began chuckling as he held out his hand for us to grab. Both of us reached for his hand, then stopped. We looked at each other, then gave a light grin before our hands intertwined with one another. We were feeling giddy but tired. Even this sync was amusing to us. It was al so new and wonderful! We could feel our thoughts forming. THoughts that didn't seem to originate from either of us!
We instead rested the intertwined hands on the ground, then pushed ourselves up. Our bodies felt exceptionally light. Much lighter than we were used to. Freeman walked over, then began to look both of us over. However, he seemed to be focused on the Rowan aspect of us rather than the Aria aspect. With a look of indignation, we gave him a slight frown as Sycamore looked on in amusement.
"Both of you have the exact same reactions... ah forget it... Come on, you two will need to see this..." He said finally.
We followed the three of them back to the desk then found ourselves watching a screen that had 4 feeds playing at once. Two of them showed our brain waves. One showed the gravitational acceleration as measured in real-time in three dimensions. A fourth screen showed us a video feed of the experiment itself. We could see that our thoughts started out entirely as independent waves. However, as the shadow ball began to intensify, our brain waves seemed to begin sliding closer together, our peaks and troughs beginning to overlap more and more. Then, as the shadow ball became a black hole, our thoughts converged and began to appear exactly the same. In the video feed, we could no longer make ourselves out. Instead, we were an amorphous shape.
In the gravitational readings, the graph being displayed began to increase, then as our thoughts converged, shot upwards asymptotically. Then, it dropped all the way back to zero.
At the point where it dropped to zero, our brain feeds continued to function in synchronization with one another. The video however, showed the two of us clearly for a moment as the singularity fell apart. We were both standing with equally vacant expressions on our face. However, the Rowan aspect of us had the same blue glow to his eyes that Aria did on hers. It was as if we were both tapped into psychic powers. We laughed at the notion but could draw no answers at the time.
Instead, we looked to them whilst feeling the slow increase of weariness.
"Well, It looks like you were right after all Freeman!" We both said happily.
After a long moment, Krafft finally shook his head then said.
"I need a beer, and you two need to lay down and rest yes?"
The two of us laughed at his urge to consume alcohol, but did not know what to do. We instead contemplated giving into our tiredness. But instead looked to Sycamore for guidance.
"We don't know. We feel fine! We are enjoying this feeling really! Have you ever felt anything like it?! We should be tired but we have such elation that there's no way that we could rest."
"Rowan, Aria, go look in the water..." Was all he said in response.
Curious, the two of us walked away from them. Our eyes kept locking at we walked. Feeling each other at both ends of our vision.
"What's his problem? He should have expected this from us! We knew that if we got pushed something weird could happen. He could at least try seeing this from our perspective and try appreciating how much we love this." Our thoughts ranged from dejection at being told to get some water or something to elation at being fully aware of one another. We could feel all of what it was to be gardevoir in that moment. The comforting hum of the mic tem, the sensations of colors in the sky. The whole nine yards. We loved this feeling.
"It would be nice if we could keep feeling this way. The others don't seem to act this way, maybe it has to do with the feedback?" We found ourselves asking. With a shrug on both our parts, we knelt in front of the water then froze at what we saw.
Rowans arm was discolored and Arias eyes had become more blue. We did not notice it when we looked at each other. But aspects of ourselves too had seemed to leak. We shared the same height and build, but did not think of it. While our hair remained different, we could not help but realize that whatever we had done in that moment, had affected the both of us. Our merging of spirits seemed to carry with it the added effect of shared traits. Our eyes flicked to our hands, then to our chests then to each others eyes. Rowan did seem a little paler, and Aria did seem a little more peachish than usual. We were confused...
No, we weren't confused. We were flabbergasted. This defied our own explanations. We had no basis by which to judge this. We had no precedent, no book smarts from Rowan, no myths from Aria. We just had each other and the realization that whatever we stumbled across had changed both of us.
Later, we found ourselves back at Freeman, Sycamore, and Kraffts camp. Our blood was being drawn and cognitive tests were being done. The entire time though, our thoughts turned instead to our bodies. We were probing our selves gently, trying to find our own understanding for what happened. Our hearts, beating in time with each other, raced as much as our thoughts did.
Then, we felt our eyes seem to seize, as if we were becoming overburdened with exhaustion.
We stood up to leave, but seemed to only make it a few steps before the two of us fell to the ground, once again passing out. This time though, it was just from our bodies finally acknowledging how tired we really were.
A/N: Well, the ending arrived at a place much different than I thought it would. This one was kind of fun to write, but I had to take some time yesterday to think about how I wanted to write it. Further, the slight shift in development after this point has solidified the next 5 chapters. The 6th and 7th chapters after this one are looking to be the final chapters. After that, I will be beginning on the next story itself. I decided I wanted to have some noir themes to the story, but without so many of the blues.
To the Guest: By the time I finish this story, it will be at 150K words. The field note format in and of itself occupies all of 8000 words. That is the length of this one chapter. Given that this chapter brings the total word count up to 106K words, I do think that it isn't as bad as you think.
SDR: Good catch! Not only did that realization play into this chapter, but in the coming chapters, it will be very important.
That all being said, I expect a few chapters this week. I don't want to push this particular story too far past 20 chapters though. However, the notion of spreading storylines has been occurring to me. Where not only does the child get her own story, but the main characters get their own new adventure in time. Further, I confess that Amelia needs her own story too. I was thinking of having her team up with Dr. Freeman at some point to have her own adventure. I'm not putting too much thought into those stories yet. But the idea has occurred to me. In the meantime, everyone hold onto your butts because I hope to keep the momentum going into the next few chapters and try damn hard to finish strong!