At this point, we had been living in the same brain for about six years. I had evolved into a Flareon while Mike stayed the same the entire time. We had long since figured out that every dream "session" was half an hour long, so while it wasn't an infinite amount of time, we spent a while with each other. When we weren't in our dreams together, we could still talk whenever we wanted.

One day, I was out shopping with my family, and I think I was searching for some clothes that I could wear and look cooler than all my friends. Most places only sold a few things, so searching was a hard thing to do. At one point, I wanted to try on a winter jacket, so I went to a separate room in the shop to try it out.

"Hey, Mike, how do I look in this outfit?" I asked him, as I pushed the sleeves down to see how well they fit.

"I'm not gonna be a 'fresh set of eyes'; I hope you do realize that I see all the same things you see." I was disappointed by his sarcastic answer. "But yeah, it looks nice."

Unfortunately, the sleeves were just a bit too short so I had to put it back. Just as I stood on my hind legs to put it back on its high rack, a seizure struck at the wrong moment, causing me to fall backward. I lost all control of my legs, and couldn't stop my head from hitting the ground at full force.

I was struck with a sharp pain there that slowly reduced down to a constant dull headache. Thankfully, I was young and could survive such a thing easily. The fall brought an early end to our shopping trip as I couldn't stop groaning in pain until I was lying down in bed. I thought about the possible scenarios where that could happen again, and I must admit that they were scary. What if I was in a fight? What if I was by a cliff? What if I was holding something sharp? What if I was cooking?- Well, that one would be fine since I'm a Flareon, but still! That would totally ruin my dish! There were too many things to think about, and the headache didn't make that any easier, not until it finally subsided when I went to sleep.

I thought it would be another normal night until Mike spoke to me, and his voice was delicate like he was afraid to speak. The first thing that I noticed was that he chose for us to be in a living room together before I arrived.

"Tony," I heard him say. I crooked my head as I looked at him.

"Hey, Mike, is everything okay?" I asked, hearing a crack in his voice.

"Remember that painting I showed you a few years ago?" he asked.

"Of course, the one with your wife?"

"Well, there's something I need to tell you about that," Mike said,

"Okay, what is it?" I asked him, and he avoided looking at me.

"Before we met… I watched her die. I couldn't keep this to myself any longer," Mike said as he sat down on the red sofa in the room, turning it away from the fireplace and to me. "A monster broke in early in the morning, and it looked similar to you: orange, a mane, and on all fours. I was weak and powerless. I couldn't stop it from murdering her right in front of me. Once it was done with her, it-" he completely broke down, and covered his face as he wept. "...Right after, I woke up in your head that night, perfectly intact, like nothing even happened. I couldn't tell you then, but I have to tell you now, because- because when I look at you, I can't help but be reminded of- of that night," Mike stammered, and continued to cry. I stared at him blankly for a moment while I thought about what he just said.

"It wasn't your fault," I said. I sat down next to him, intently listening. It hurt me down to my core when I realized how much he was hiding from me.

He changed the subject.

"Your seizures and twitches have been getting worse, and I think I'm the cause of it. If I stay here much longer, I think you might be at risk of dying…" The words struggled out of his mouth and what he was trying to say clicked in my mind a moment later.

"I don't like what you're implying here Mike." As I realized, my concern turned to fear.

"I've made up my mind." He took a deep breath, "We have about 20 minutes left in this dream. You've grown from the little Eevee I once knew into a strong, powerful Flareon. You deserve to be free, and so do I." Mike anxiously looked around the room and awaited my reply.

"But you're the only one who understands me! Please don't go." I wanted to hug him, and beg him to stay, but I couldn't. Not after what he told me about that monster.

"I'm sorry, Tony, but this is the way it has to be, for both of us. You'll be okay without me." More tears fell down his face. "I promise."

At first, I was desperate for him to stay, but immediately after finishing that sentence, I felt bad for Mike. He missed his wife, he missed his children, he's been trapped inside my head for six long years, and now I knew my mere presence scared him. Yet here I was, trying to make him stay even longer. I started to cry too, as Mike wiped his face dry.

"Tony." His voice sounded shaky.

"What is it, Mike?" I tremored, and my breaths became shorter.

"That night, when I- when I watched my wife die-" He paused for a moment. "I won't let you see the pain I went through. I won't be doing anything while you're here."

I struggled to comprehend the fact that our time was now coming to a close. There wasn't anything I could do to change his mind or stop it. The rate of emotions surging through me was too great for me to stay on any thought process for too long, so I just needed to use this time the best I could.

"How about we go on a walk?" I offered, and he accepted. For our first stop, we came to my room, where it all truly began. Although it wasn't in the real world anymore, we opted to keep Mike's birthday table intact, marked eternally by a birthday hat sitting on top of it.

"Do you remember this?"

"Yes, of course! You celebrated my birthday a few times here, how could I forget?" he seemed… almost happy when saying it, like he was reflecting on the memories we made together.

Our second stop was to his kitchen, so he could show me the painting of his wife.

"Our marriage was so long ago, but seeing it now makes me realize how short life really is. For me, living this long has been an accomplishment in and of itself. All I hope is that on the other side, my wife and children will be waiting for me."

The kitchen around us shifted, the paintings distorted and the floor broke apart. Mike swept it all away and changed the landscape so we could both stand in that clearing in the forest. The leaves were green, the wind was warm, and the leaves were falling. He outstretched his arm to me just as the bright orange sun fell below the horizon, and when I grabbed it, he pulled me into a hug.

While I couldn't see his face, I could feel his smile as he patted me on the back. He pulled back, letting me see his face before telling me his last words.

"I'm gonna miss you buddy, but it's time to go. I love you, so much."

Those were his last words.

I jumped awake, in complete and total awe of what I just saw. Deep down, I knew it was true, but I didn't want to believe it until I saw proof. I ran to the bathroom as fast as I could and stared into the mirror. I blinked a few times so I could focus, and I saw that both of my eyes were now dark blue, as they were years ago.

There were no more trembles. There were no more seizures. And there was nobody I could talk to. I no longer had to fear any life-threatening spasms, but that paled in comparison to what I had lost. He was gone for good. Over the years, I would occasionally glance in a mirror to look at my eyes, but they never changed. Now I can only hope that when I die, I can see him again, and maybe finally meet his family.

The day after was a struggle, and I didn't know what to expect once I fell asleep. To my surprise, there was the dreamscape after.

I was in the clearing, but I noticed that there was something missing, and it wasn't just Mike. I couldn't hear the sounds of any birds in the background, instead, it was just the rustling of the wind in my ear. I came across where I had woken up initially and saw some disturbed dirt there. It was only a few centimeters longer than Mike was tall. When I saw it, I was washed over with a sense of contentedness. I sensed that this would be my final dream, so I had to make it count. There was only one thing that I could do at that point, and that was to give him a proper resting place.

Rather than just grabbing a gravestone out of nowhere, I found it more fitting to gather sticks and stones by myself.

I surrounded the dirt with the stones, and at one end, I constructed the sticks into a cross and staked it into the ground. It didn't feel complete still, so I left and picked a red, blossoming flower nearby. I dropped it, and it floated downwards until it eventually landed right in the center of all the stones. When it landed, I completely lost it and fell down sobbing over him. I was filled with so many emotions, grief, and nostalgia, and I let them all flow out until the dream ended.

After that, I returned to "normal" dreams and "normal" life, but with a much greater appreciation for humans than anyone else I ever knew."


As Tony finished his story, I heard the door downstairs open, signaling that everyone else was arriving back from their guild business. I would never tell him, but I was happy to hear his story. It gave me so much information and brought me a lot closer to understanding the situation that I was in. Finally having someone I could confide in was relieving. To be honest, I didn't care that much about Mike, as I was just fascinated by him. Yet still, I made an effort to be nice about it.

"He was there with you for six years and left a permanent impression on you. There's no way you would be the same person as you are now without him. So I guess, in a certain sense, Mike never truly left you." Tony smiled at the thought, but twitched at the noises of conversations downstairs, reminding him of who was now here made him bring a conclusion.

"Hey. Steve. Look at me." Tony dropped his voice down to a whisper. "I think it's pretty obvious, but I'm gonna ask this of you anyways. Don't tell anyone what I just told you. Nobody. Got it?" I stared at the Flareon for a moment before nodding slowly. "Great. It sounds like they're making lunch downstairs, so go ahead and join them. They're not mad at you, I promise. From now on, you can count on me."

After hearing such a life-changing story, I didn't feel so bad anymore. The Flareon here established himself as my friend, and I had to talk to everyone else sooner or later anyway.

Tony followed me downstairs, and everyone else looked at me for a moment before returning to what they were doing.

"I looked at him, he appears to be doing just fine." Tony was lying, he didn't examine me at all, but it was a good lie. Elizabeth looked at us both, confused. The Espeon asked the question I was hoping I wouldn't have to answer.

"Why did he do that? In the dungeon." Thankfully, nobody else seemed to care about getting the answer to that question, but I still had to say something.

"I-" before I could say anything, Tony spoke louder and made himself clear.

"I don't think he owes you any explanation." Elizabeth made a disappointing grunt before turning back to the sink.

"We're gonna be doing more guild stuff tomorrow," Aza said to me, and while the Vaporeon's tone wasn't reassuring, a non-caring tone is still better than an aggressive one. "It's gonna be..." At the end of his sentence, he said a word I didn't understand yet, so I had no idea what was going to happen tomorrow.

…Or that was the case until Tony leaned into my ear and told me in much simpler words that it was going to be orientation. I silently thanked the Flareon before going to help everybody else with their kitchen duties.