Chapter 4 – She's Not Going to Stop for You
External Entity found. Commencing deletion in three minutes…
X wakes up alone in a long and dark hallway to the sound of soft whimpers and the shredding of papers.
It didn't take long for him to take in the scenery, and remind himself of his current situation—which, to his surprise, came a little too faster than what he had expected. It had made him somewhat proud, yet a tad bit nervous just the same.
There was something wrong, or he may just be overthinking. Internally, he prayed it was just the latter and nothing more.
After a few moments of recollecting his thoughts, he went and opted to look for Older Y, while trying to search his mind of whatever memory he was currently in.
The sound of shredding paper grew louder, and he felt a small inkling to move his legs to where the sound was coming from. In sequence, the hallways illuminated as he went, like someone was actually turning the light switches one by one as he moved, making the path he's left lit and familiar and the path before him dark and ominous.
Where on earth was Older Y?
"Y?" he's heard himself call out. No answer, save for the earlier noises, seeming to gradually grow louder as he takes each step. He can almost make out words, and for whatever reason, all the words were too foul for him to even think of.
Where on earth was he?
Another portion of the long winding hallway was lit, and to his surprise, a window appeared next to him, giving him a wonderful view of the Aquacorde Bridge.
Aquacorde…
Why on earth was he in Aquacorde?
X thought to himself for a moment, trying to remember any key places in Aquacorde that he might have already encountered given the portion of memories he has as of the moment (somehow, all of Y's reminder have finally successfully turned him into a 'bad' virus as well, being able to transport memories along him like Older Y can) and only thing came to mind: The inn Y has been staying when she first ran away from home, back when they were teenagers, after her major fallout with her mother.
There was a small bitter feeling in his stomach, suddenly being reminded of Y and her dreams of becoming a pilot, and how it was being trampled by her own mother by forcing her to be an equestrienne like her instead. He remembered how Y always ranted to him about it back then, in their school, swearing to herself—and to a lesser extent, him—that she, no matter what happens, will become a pilot, even if it means supporting things on her own.
Exactly one day after their high school graduation ceremony, X has heard that Y had run away from home.
But I've never been here before, he silently argues to himself, continuing his trip down the almost never ending hallway.
He wasn't the one who found Y in Aquacorde—he actually never knew that she lived there that whole time, supporting herself and her education by doing various part time jobs. At least, not until she came home a few years later, after she found out that X had tried to kill himself after his parents' horrible end overseas.
X had to stop himself from vomiting. He just had to remind himself that.
"Y?" he tried again. And once again, there was no answer.
Even after she has returned to Vaniville for him, Y never actually did return to her home there, seeing that she has practically forgotten that she had a mother altogether. The only reason why she bothers returning to Vaniville—according to what she herself has told him—was because of X. Because she loved X, and she never wanted him to be alone again.
At least, that's what she had said.
And, judging from how old X feels like, it may have happened at least three months ago.
So, what was he doing here?
The sounds of shredding paper and soft whimpering have grown significantly louder, and soon, X had finally met the end of the hallway. A door to his right was slightly ajar and a portion of light comes from it, along with the sounds that have been attracting him since he has awoken. Carefully, he tiptoed towards it and took a peek.
Only one person was in there, and whoever it was, it was thrashing all over the place, crying, ripping papers from the walls and from the desk, and then throwing them everywhere. He tried to look closer since it was dark and the figure was moving too fast, but he couldn't make much features except that it had long hair and…
"Y…?" he muttered, unknowingly pushing the door, furthermore letting himself in. The door squeaks softly, though it wasn't soft enough for the figure to not hear. She looked startled, looking at him with wide eyes.
X was frozen from where he stood.
"I, uhm…" he stammered, trying to think of a good excuse. But the girl wasn't looking for anything like that. Immediately, she went straight to where he stood, pushed him aside, and came rushing down the dark hallway he had just treaded.
His first instinct was to follow her—was Y crying?—but something inside him had told him not to.
This isn't the real world, he heard Older Y's voice speaking to him. You can't follow her. She may as well not recognize your presence.
He took a long, dejected sigh.
She's not going to stop for you.
X's next order of business was to find Older Y, but after seeing how Younger Y just disappeared into the dark hallway, he was afraid of going anywhere but forward, and so far, this room was the only available path, so he went in.
The room was cluttered with crumpled and shredded papers. Its walls were adorned with them too—snippets of once proud posters and drawings taped so lovingly to a wall now thrashed, torn and under his feet. He made it a point not to step on them as much as he could, but they were all over the place, it was almost impossible.
Every one of them read proud words and were coated with bright colors, all kissing the soles of X's shoes.
The boy felt his heart sink.
He came across a familiar looking piece, and picked it up.
It was Y's drawing of a plane, back from when they were still pre-school and they're teacher asked them to draw their favorite things. X drew a kangaroo back then, since he loved animals that much and once dreamt of becoming a ranger, travelling the region of Kalos and beyond, researching and learning everything he could about animals. He even thought of starting his own shows like those other, more famous rangers he would watch every Saturday morning.
But, of course, even he knew that that was a childish dream. He never actually thought of pursuing it. He never thought they were actually meant to be pursued.
Y, obviously, thought otherwise.
Everything was there, from her cute painting of the sky from their art workshops to her outstanding papers on aviation and aeronautics. All of them were shredded and tossed on the floor like they were nothing.
Trash, as Y would always call things she'd deem irrelevant.
He kept picking things up and unravelling them, trying to figure out to himself why on earth would that figure—which he had assumed to be Younger Y— do such a thing.
This was her dream—her beloved dream which she had sacrificed everything for—and now he was stepping over it like it was part of the ground.
What has happened here?
Another torn piece was sitting idly on her table, and it was a prominent one, for it was a piece of parchment paper, and it was torn so perfectly it was like she had ripped it carefully and hesitantly. He picked the two pieces up and put them together, reading the fancy-printed letters aloud.
"'This Certificate of scholarship to Kalos School of Aviation is hereby granted to Y no Gabena for her outstanding performance and promising talent and knowledge of Aeronautics and Development given this 5th of March, year of the Lord…'"
X could only continue reading silently after that.
Scholarship…?
But she's told him that she didn't—that she failed, and that maybe her dream is not really for her to make true.
And then she told him that she has no reason to leave him again.
She said so on that day when he…
I erased you…?
X's heart was burning.
But she said… You said… I…
It was breaking, all its pieces letting each other go, going everywhere at once, and he couldn't catch any of them.
Y was… Y was…
He drifted his gaze forward a bit in hope of calming himself down, and found a small card from where the certificate had once been placed. Tremblingly, he puts the certificate down and picks the card up instead.
Dear Miss Y, it said. Thank you for availing of our services. Please be reminded that your session will be on March7th at 4:30 pm. Also, please make sure that everything that is in your possession that is related to Mr. X be brought along with you. Again, thank you, and have a good day.
He looked at the lower right corner, and saw that it was signed by a company logo.
Pinré Incorporated, it read.
"Pinré"…
Simply put, they can erase a person from somebody's life. Completely.
The date had said March 7…He checked his watch—it read March 8th.
Yesterday… She's already erased me yesterday.
Now, it was X's mind's turn to break.
But Older Y told him it was he who erased her.
What on…?
The door behind him squeaked open, and X turned to a flustered Older Y, breathing heavily, looking at him with wide, scared eyes.
"X, thank Arceus, I found you!" she exclaimed, kicking her way through the pool of shredded paper to get near him.
"There's been some sort of error with the transferring of information from one memory sequence to another… I was landed on the destroyed parts of the memory…" She reaches him and grabs his wrist, the amount of urgency unmistakably plastered all over her small face.
"X, they know I exist, and are finally seeing to it that I don't survive this memory sequence! We have to get out of here as soon as possible if we want to get to the next one in one piece."
At that, Y pulls, but X was still frozen in his tracks, his broken eyes still focused on the ground.
"X, what's wrong?"
"Y…" he started, holding the card up in his trembling arms.
"X…?"
"What… is… this…?"
Y looks at the card for a short moment, a look of recognition in her pale grey eyes. But if ever she's affected by what she's seen, it seemed not enough to make her stray from the more important matter at hand.
"We have no time for this, X," she pressed, pulling him even rougher. "Let's get out of here now!"
"No!" he cried, pulling away, trembling. There was something heavy forming in the pit of his stomach, making his whole body light as air, but his chest unbearably hefty.
He couldn't believe Y had lied to him. Y… The only person he trusted with his life. The only one he knew who'd never hurt him.
Y… His Y… His one and only Y.
"X…" Y called softly, carefully reaching out to touch his sleeve, but X will have none of that. He'll have none of all of this.
He'll have none of her.
"Don't touch me," he hissed. And before Y could say anything else, X had already pushed her out of the way and started running through the door, into the dark oblivion.
"X!" was the only thing he heard as his legs led him to the dark abyss that quickly and welcomingly swallowed him whole.
-…-
X finally falls on his knees in exhaustion. Luckily, there was ground to catch him as he let himself catch his breath and his overflowing emotions.
He hated this. He hated this part of him.
Why couldn't he get mad like a normal human being? Why must everything inside him tremble? Why must his lungs cease functioning? Why must his own throat constrict, and choke him to his own death?
X's hand flew to his throat.
Maybe death wouldn't be so bad?
No, X, not this again…
The boy tried to pause for a moment and take another deep breath before looking up again.
A familiar splash of beige and green flashed before him, and even in that state, he could tell he was still in Aquacorde city, but most likely miles away from Y's house.
He made a point to turn around. Y was heading to where he was fast.
X was up on his feet running again.
He didn't want to see her. Not even look at her. It was all too much. Everything was suddenly different, and for the first time in years, X had felt alone again. X had felt like everyone was against him.
For the first time in years, X had questioned if he should still stay.
And he hated those feelings. He hated that he had them, and he hated those things that triggered them.
So he ran, and ran fast he did, unknowing of where his already tired feet would take him. And these tired feet were able to drag him to Aquacorde Bridge before they broke down again.
X knew that he had pushed himself too hard, and was on the brink of breaking.
He couldn't run anymore.
"X!" he heard Y's voice get clearer and the sound of her footsteps gets nearer. It was surprising, how the same voice that was his solace can become the voice that caused him dread.
Her voice was breaking him to pieces.
"X…" Y called again, softly this time. The sound of her footsteps have grown clearer and louder, but they were gentler, meaning she was now walking, and carefully at that.
Afraid she might scare the poor injured animal away.
"Don't come near me," he hissed again, pulling himself up with the help of the bridge's side. It took tons of effort for him to grab the concrete, and even more to use it as support.
He could feel his palm bleed internally.
"X…" Y pleaded again, taking a step forward. "There's no time for this."
"I said 'don't come near me'…"
"X…"
"Don't push me, Y…"
"X, please…"
"DON'T COME NEAR ME OR I'LL JUMP!" His voice reverberated across the vicinity, its echo bouncing off the magnificent beige walls of Aquacorde, filling this stone-built city with his sound of desperation.
Y stood where she was, frozen.
"X, don't…"
"So help me I will…" X warned, still clutching on the bridge's wall with his hand. The other one, unconsciously held on more tightly to the small card that weighed so heavily despite its size. His eyes pierced through Y's shaking body like a spear.
"X, if you kill yourself here, there's no telling if your body in the real world will consider it real or not…" Y reasoned.
"You might not wake up…"
"Maybe that's better…" X grunted bitterly.
"X, don't do this now… We're so close to stopping this from even happening. Don't break now."
"Close to what?" X cried. "Y, you want me gone, and now you come to me telling me to help you stop this?!"
A stabbing pain passed through his head, making him wince. He feared he might fall again, and Y would take that chance to come near him and haul him to wherever she wanted him to be.
And the boy has had enough. He's done being hauled just to and fro without his consent. For once, he just wants time to himself to think.
Or…
"X, what do you want to do?" Y cried. "Do you want me to beg? Do you want me to plead? Because I will do anything for you to trust me in this…"
"Then tell me what this was doing in your desk, Y!" he cried back, showing her the card. "Why… Why did you lie to me?!"
Y sighed. This wasn't supposed to be part of their conversation. She would've succeeded in getting through all of this without having to face this adversary. Even she was surprised to find that card there, and what luck that it had to be X who finds it first.
She opens her mouth to conjure up a proper explanation, but instead of that, something entirely different escaped her lips.
"Hello, X. This is doctor Lani, one of Professor Sycamore's assistants," she said, her eyes widening with fear and surprise.
X looked at her with the same expression.
"Y…?"
"We are both from Pinre Incorporation, the company who promised to help you with your distress. We are joyful to tell you that we are halfway through with the operation, except for one minor virus that got lost in the data manipulating process."
Y was crying, but she couldn't move, save for her own lips which she now couldn't control. X could only watch in confusion, dumbfounded.
"…But rest assured that we have it under control."
"Y, what's happening?!"
Initializing virus deletion.
To X's surprise, Y robotically faced her body to the bridge's wall, climbed it, and looked at the river that flows underneath it. Its recent peaceful flow was suddenly replaced by a strong current that can destroy even a city. The transition was almost too quick for even X to process.
When he felt his legs finally, he ran towards her and reached out for her leg.
"Y, no!"
But Y wasn't listening. She was only looking at the strong current, as if she was waiting.
And against X's constant screaming, she faced him, and said in her soft, loving voice:
"Now to continue with the process…"
And then she jumped.
X watched in horror as Y's body was easily engulfed by the roaring waves, and in pain as the river gradually calms down and reverts back to its peaceful state.
Y was nowhere to be found.
Before he could say anything, he began to feel dazed and dizzy, and felt like vomiting. But he as he grunted, nothing came out but his own tears.
His hand was still outstretched to that living image of Y falling to her death, and it was the last thing he remembers as his eyes grew heavy, and drew to a close.
Not even in his head did he hear Y asking him to stay with her.
Virus deletion completed. Memory-deleting process 87% completed.
-FIN-
…Yeah. Pretty heavy as heck, but it gets heavier, don't worry. (Or worry even more?)
Again, sorry for the uber late update again. The good news is that class has ended so I MIGHT have time to update a little quicker. Let's just see what happens
Thanks again for reading guys!