A/N

Hallelujah!
I updated on time for once! Technically I'm one day early ;)
The majority of this chapter is a dream and I think I've gotten sick of italics :P
Prepare yourselves, children!
ENJOY!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gold's POV

The first thing I registered was the brightness. I squinted, not used to the sun after being in the Distortion World for so long. I had even forgotten what it looked like.
I was weightless and floating. I looked down at my body. It was translucent and I could faintly see the ground below. I looked back up and gazed over the horizon.

I was in a valley nestled between giant green hills on all sides. Over one of the hills, I could see smoke, but I ignored it because I was too wrapped up in everything else.
In the middle of the valley was a towering grey brick castle surrounded by a circular brick wall and a moat. There was also a drawbridge on one part of the wall.
Just outside the castle there was what looked like a little market, and scattered all throughout the valley were little wooden houses with thatch roofing.

'A medieval kingdom' I thought.

I floated down from the hill I was on and passed through the streets of the market. The whole place was completely deserted.
I floated towards the castle and saw that the drawbridge was down. I knew that I didn't need to use the bridge in the state I was in, but I drifted across it anyway.
Just inside the brick wall was a big plaza. The whole place was filled up with people, and none of them seemed happy. They were all crowding up against the door to the castle, banging loudly on it as men in armour feebly tried to maintain order. They were all yelling at something, someone, inside the castle.

I calmly drifted over them and through the door to the castle in my ghost-like state.
The foyer had ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows and lush oriental carpets. A staircase at the back of the room led up to another equally massive hall and more corridors branched off to the left and right.
To the left side of the room sat a man with blond hair and on the seat in front of him was a beautiful young woman with long brown hair and chocolate coloured eyes. Two men in full-body armour stood by the door in silence, but not without throwing the blond man dirty looks every once in a while. The blond man had his head in his hands.

"You're a traitor, Castiel!" A person from outside yelled.

The blond man flinched and his head snapped up to face the door.
I now noticed that he had piercing blue eyes, and they were filled with terror and guilt.

"How could you abandon our queen? Your queen!"

The woman in front of him placed a firm hand on his shoulder. He looked at her in shock. "M'lady?"
The woman looked like she wanted to be gentle, but couldn't in front of her guards. "Where have you been, Sir Castiel? Where have you been while my kingdom has been at war?"
"My queen... I-I..." The man named Castiel started but choked up.
The woman with the obvious sign of power looked him over. "You look like you've been dragged through hell. What happened to you?"

The woman's voice held a tone of authority and she sounded like she was quick to say what she felt. It reminded me of someone I knew, but I couldn't remember who.

Castiel glanced down at himself and I suddenly noticed how bashed up he was. His clothes were torn and ragged. He was covered head to toe in scratches and there was dirt smeared over his face.

Through the dirt on his face, I could see a slight blush arise. "You have no idea, m'lady."
He peered over at the guard and then turned his attention back to the woman. "Aurnia, I can only tell you in private." He said in a hushed tone. "I fear that you are the only one who will believe me."
Aurnia looked sympathetic but then glanced over at the guards. Her face hardened. "You will address me as Your Highness. I am your queen, not your friend!"
Castiel flinched. "Y-your Highness..."
"Whatever you can say to me, you can say in front of my guards."

The people outside were getting louder now, and the queen noticed it to.

She stood up."On second thoughts. Whatever you can say to me, you can say to the people of my kingdom." She gestured to the screaming mob outside.
Castiel's eyes widened and he threw himself to the ground in a begging position. "No, my queen! I cannot face them! I know they will not believe me! They'll kill me!"
The tears in Castiel's pleading eyes were quite visible and Aurnia only seemed to hesitate for a second. "If that is the outcome, so be it. Guards, take him outside." She looked like she was about to cry herself.

I reached out an arm in protest as the two guards grabbed the kicking and screaming Castiel and forced him out the door, but quickly realized that they couldn't see me.
The guards outside had cleared the front door and had pushed the mob back to the bottom of the stairs.
Aurnia's two guards threw him to the ground and laughed as the mob shouted horrible things at him. Castiel was on his knees and staring at the ground.

I looked at Queen Aurnia, still standing in the same position. I saw a tear streak down her face but she hastily wiped it away with the sleeve of her gown. She eventually followed the guards outside and I unwillingly followed as well.

Through the laughing of the guards and shouts of the crowd, I could barely hear myself think. Why was I witnessing all this? For a dream it felt incredibly real. Almost more like a memory.
I looked down at Castiel in sympathy. What could the guy have possibly done to deserve this?

"This man has betrayed the trust of my kingdom." Queen Aurnia announced, her voice threatening to crack . "He abandoned us in our time of need, and this crime cannot go unpunished!" She glanced down at Castiel. "But first. Before we decide what to do with him, I would like to hear his side of the story. The tale of his abandonment!"

The crowd cheered for Aurnia but booed and cursed at Castiel. I could see him shaking his head silently.
One of the guards kicked him in the back and he fell face-first into the ground. He groaned in pain but managed to stand up.
The same guard jabbed him in the back. "We don't have all day."

Castiel gritted his teeth and stared out at the crowd in defiance, though the tear stains on his face failed him. He took a deep breath. "I... I was in the Distortion World."

It was right then that I knew it was all over for him.

"LIAR!" A man in the crowd yelled. A glass bottle came sailing overhead, and only narrowly missed Castiel. It shattered next to him and he reeled back.
"It is true!" He protested, regaining what was left of his composure. "I was going to be used as a sacrifice for the renegade Pokémon, Giratina!"

"This man is a liar!" The guards were in on it to now. "He was most definitely selling off information about our war strategies to the enemy!"

This time it was a book that had been thrown, and it hit Castiel squarely in the head. I stared in horror as all sorts of lethal objects were thrown his way. Another glass bottle was thrown, but this one was already broken. It smashed into Castiel's shoulder and he cried out in pain. Blood flowed from the wound and he feebly tried to protect himself.

"STOP IT!" I screamed. "STOP HURTING HIM!"

I ran in front of Castiel to protect him but every single object passed right through me. There was nothing I could do. Even so, I continued to scream at the people to stop.
I turned around to face Aurnia. She was standing there, a hand covering her mouth as she stared down at Castiel.

"DO SOMETHING, YOU IDIOT!" I now screamed at her. I tried to shake her shoulders, but my hands went straight through her. "ARE YOU JUST GOING TO WATCH HIM DIE?!"

I know it wasn't my doing, but she snapped out of her daze and ran up to her guards.

"You two, take him to the dungeon, and get that wound wrapped. The rest of you, take care of the crowd! We'll deal with this later."

I watched as the two guards dragged a now unconscious Castiel down the steps and down a path until I could no longer see them. On the ground was a smeared trail of Castiel's blood.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the blink of an eye, the whole scene changed.

It was now night time and I was on the back of a Rapidash, still in my ghost-like state. I could just tell that many days had passed since Castiel had been humiliated in front of the whole kingdom. The Rapidash thundered down a cobblestone path, and I watched as scenes of horror flew by.

The whole entire kingdom was in ruins. Almost every single building was on fire. I stared in shock as enemy soldiers dragged screaming families out of their houses and executed them right there on the street.

I forced myself to face forwards, willing myself not to be sick. It was only then that I realized someone was in front of me. The woman turned around to look behind her. I recognized her instantly as Queen Aurnia. There was a look of terror on her face as she saw what was behind us.
I knew she couldn't possibly see me, but it still felt like she was looking right at me.
She turned back around and flicked the reins of her Rapidash. Whatever it was behind us had her pretty freaked out.

I heard shouts as we thundered through the deserted market and past more burning buildings. I turned myself around and saw a giant group of enemy soldiers on horseback chasing us. They all had deadly looking swords raised as they yelled at Aurnia to stop.
I gulped and then faced the front again. I was praying to Arceus that it was all a dream.

We flew through the gates of the kingdom and continued on towards a dark looking forest.
Aurnia's only destination seemed to be as far away from the soldiers as possible. We were slowly losing them and I was slowly turning green.
We entered the forest and the canopy up above casted creepy dark shadows over us. I swallowed my fear and closed my eyes. I could no longer hear the soldiers behind us. Even so, Aurnia still continued to race through the forest.
I could hear her quietly whispering to herself.

"I'm so sorry, Castiel, I should have just believed you. We desperately need you, but it's too late. You're already gone."

A dark and familiar voice suddenly spoke in my mind. It felt like everything in the world had stopped moving except for Aurnia and I.
I was the luckier one. While I just fell forwards to the ground, Aurnia went flying straight into a tree. She fell to the ground, unconscious, and I watched as the Rapidash raced off into the night.

I shrieked in fear as a huge dark figure rose up from the solid ground and stopped right in front of Aurnia.
I yelled at her to run but she was unconscious and unmoving.

"This was easier than I expected it to be." Giratina spoke in my mind as it loomed over Aurnia.

I screamed and covered my ears, desperately trying to block out the voice that constantly haunted my dreams.

"But it was still unnecessary." Giratina almost sounded annoyed. "If I had only had enough strength to send a replica of myself when I captured that blue-eyed man, I would have been able to escape a long time ago."

I peeked open an eye and saw a flash of red, glinting in the moonlight before it disappeared.
I was confused, but my thoughts were quickly overrun by Giratina's voice again.

"This one is certainly not worthy of being my sacrifice, but it'll have to do."

A ball of pure darkness started to form in front of Giratina and it lobbed it at Aurnia.
I stood up and tried to yell, but my voice caught in my throat.
Just as the attack was about to make contact, I saw a flash of purple and red jump in front of Aurnia. The attack hit whatever it was, and the darkness mixed with a great ball of light. The force of the explosion knocked me off my feet.

After the ringing in my ears had stopped and the smoke had cleared, I sat up and looked around. Aurnia and Giratina were nowhere to be seen. I looked at the ground and only just caught a glimpse of a tiny purple Pokémon falling into a dark void below.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

My eyes flew open. I was back in the Distortion World again.
I gingerly touched the back of my throbbing head and felt a bump. I groaned in annoyance. Just what I needed.
I shuffled slightly and felt something warm pressed up against my side. I peered down and saw Espeon curled up against me, sleeping peacefully.
I had already put two and two together and realized that it was Espeon who was in my dream. She had tried to save Queen Aurnia and had ended up here as the result.
I poked her gently and her eyes fluttered open.

"You're awake." She said happily in my mind. "I'm very sorry for knocking you out."
"Oh, it's okay..."
She gave me a puzzled look. "Is there something wrong?"
"It's just... I, uh..." I trailed off.

I couldn't just come out and say 'oh it's nothing! I just saw you in a dream trying to save a queen and saw you fall into the Distortion World!'
I had no idea how she was going to react.

"I wasn't sure before, but I am now." Espeon said in my mind. I turned around to look at her. "You saw all of that, didn't you? Castiel, Queen Aurnia, Giratina..."
There was no point in lying; she would just read my mind. "How did you know?"
"Because those were my memories."
My mouth fell open.
"After you got knocked out, I went to sleep beside you. Unintentionally, I must have linked my mind up with yours. You saw what I was dreaming about."

My mind was all jumbled up. Those were Espeon's memories? It explained why I couldn't change anything or interact with anyone, but it didn't explain why I saw the whole thing about Castiel.

"But you weren't there when Castiel was humiliated in front of everyone or when Queen Aurnia was fleeing from the kingdom. Why did I see that?"

Espeon's eyes filled with tears. "I-it's... It's because I am Queen Aurnia."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N

Dun dun duuuuuuun!
Plot twist anybody? :D
I doubt any of you were expecting THAT!
If you were, you have one brilliant mind :O
I really hope you guys liked that chapter. I had been planning it for quite a while :)
Anyone else ship CastielxAurnia? Or is it just me? It's just me? Okay...

Lisa xx