CHAPTER 22

Date: January 12th, 111 P.A. / 2115 C.E.

A few weeks would pass, the strange new relationship between Mewtwo and Arei, a thing of which neither spoke of aloud. But more often than not, Arei went to sleep in Mewtwo's arms…and when he awoke the next morning, she had disappeared. For many hours, Mewtwo mused upon the entire thing, not just why he woke up alone. Was Arei coming to his bed as a result of remembering her past…or was it something else? While her new outlook on life, the strange new element to her personality intrigued him, he found himself recalled with some nostalgia the Arei he had taught all of those months ago. His Arei was turning into a creature who aroused more questions in him then he could answer…and he did not know how to respond to that.

Yet…he enjoyed the physically they shared together. They spoke of many matters, and slowly, ever so slowly. Mewtwo found himself delving into topics he had scarcely ever mentioned before. Ai…Mew…Giovanni. She listened to him and to his talks that seemed to stem from an entirely different world…but it was only a different time. He had lived within, and he was yet young to this day. Sometimes, Arei wondered over what that might mean for herself…for she, if she was lucky, would have a lifespan of maybe…fifty, sixty more years, if she survived her occupation. It was a hopeless dream, but Mewtwo seemed willing to muse upon the idea willingly enough.

At any rate, Mewtwo searched for her at times, and upon this morning found her in the pottery room in the predawn hour. She huddled over a piece that looked to be forming into a vase. Alone, hers was the only wheel that hummed with life, the rest of the wheels vacated, the only other movement besides his Priestess the trickling waterfall to one wall. The water reflected a distorted image of her slender back, her tied back hair…she was covered up halfway to her elbows in grayish muck.

Yet, she moved purposefully, gracefully, her mind concentrated fully on the process. She would be so easy for others to attack right now. Her wanderings alone were beginning to make him nervous for her sake, and he intended to talk to her about it soon enough…perhaps he would assign a pokémon to guard her. It was not unheard of in other realms. Hearing his sigh, she glanced up, finding him standing in the doorway. She gave him a tiny smile and called him in. He continued to watch her as she put some finishing touches on the piece as she spun the wheel. When it was finished, she cut the bottom carefully with the wire and placed it on the drying table. She took the top from the wheel, beginning to clean the clay and muck from it, then her tools. Then, replacing the wheel, getting a fresh bowl of water, she cast him a curious look.

"Would you like to try it out, Mewtwo? I assure you, it's harder than it looks."

Mewtwo never had been one to back down from a challenge, so after observing and memorizing Arei's actions as she began another piece, he took a chunk of already kneaded clay and placed it at the center of the wheel with a calculated slam, letting his tail turn the wheel. With his paws, he had to create his own style, and it was a struggle to cone the clay, but eventually, he got it centered and into a steady rhythm. Arei watched him out of the corners of her eyes, smiling slightly. He began to angle into the center, raising the rims…too swiftly and tightly. The center of the walls was too thin and caved in. Irked, he sat back, knowing where he'd gone wrong, frankly miffed. Arei made it look so simple…clenching his jaw slightly, his eyes glowed azure as he used his powers. The clay molded itself easily into what he wanted…a bottle-necked vase with impressions of ivy and stars. Minutes passed and it became more and more elaborate. Finally, when he was content with it, he looked up…and saw that Arei was caught somewhere between amusement and disapproval, a grown on her face. She sighed, rising, cutting off his piece and setting it aside, shaking her head minutely as she walked.

"You're cheating, Mewtwo," she commented.

"It seems to me that in doing so, I created a piece that defies any you and your fellows have turned out."

"That's true," she said, walking towards him with a towel. "But you're missing the point, I'm afraid. It's not about the end product, but the process you use in getting there. Come on, let's try this again, and I'll show you."

Another slab of clay, and Arei sat behind him, her body pressing into his back, her arms and hands against his, guiding his movements gently. For a bit, he fought her, not used to forfeiting control to another person, but then gave in as Arei whispered for him to trust her. Together the coaxed the clay mound into a small bowl…her fingers intertwined with his, their closeness intimate as they worked towards the same goal of creating something. But then, a twitch on Arei's part, unexpected even by her, and the wall collapsed inwards, an irreparably bump made.

But this did not distress them…nor did the muck they were now up to their elbows in, little splattering of slip upon his fur and her skin and clothes. Mewtwo merely chuckled in amusement, grasping her hand, and turned his head, kissing her cheek gently. She was truly beginning to delight him…and he hoped that was mutual. She smiled, and they started over.

A few hours later, thoroughly messy, they returned to Mewtwo's quarters, using his showed to clean up. Mewtwo found some bliss in the act of cleansing with her, enjoying the feel of her slick, soapy body against his, the water running over them both. Predictably, these acts fell into far more sensuous stroking which indicated approaching defiance to coming clean…. Soon enough, they found themselves pressed to the cool ceramic floor, the water pounding on their forms as they kissed and ran together…Arei savored the warmth of his hold thoroughly, not minding these activities in the least. She was willing to be his companion, and if he wanted, his lover. It…appealed to her, and not merely because of the physical highs it might bring. Her heart and soul, seeing his joy, his pleasure, felt such peace…and at all other times, it seemed that the world was far too complex for her enjoyment. But here was just the two of them…and while what they shared was an immensely complicated thing, it was something she wanted to explore. To know. She wanted to be right here beside him. It wasn't love, she didn't think. Nor lust. She didn't know what it was…but…she savored it, and the feeling of completeness it gave her with.

She was not his doll. His whore. The woman who awaited him as months went by, and who others suspected so much from HER personally. No, she was just…here. With him. It was dreamlike, the existence, and she could not define it. But it was okay like that. She did not question it…she did not dare.

And breaking into the dream came the shout of Byron, asking where the Priestess was. Mewtwo, crouched, poised above her, seized up with a hiss…gazing down at her flushed face with a deep sort of aggravation stemmed from the interruption of what was becoming an increasingly pleasurable experience. Her hand moved up his thigh, finding his exposed length, stroking down it….

He jerked, giving her a nasty look for her teasing, and called out to Byron in a slightly irritated, strained tone, "She had gone down to the beaches to gather some fresh sea salts for her use. Now leave me be!"

The Attendant seemed to pause outside the door, seeming to sense something amiss. "My lord, is something wrong?"

Mewtwo cursed under his breath. "No. Now I have you an order. Leave me be!"

Byron left swiftly enough…but despite Arei's antics, the mood had been killed. Stiffly, Mewtwo stood, leaning against the corner of the stall wall…Arei got up from the sprawled-out position she had been in, going over to him, touching the arm that was not pressed to the wall. He glanced at her, then his eyes flickered back, his body facing away from hers. Something was wrong. Arei knew this, and as well as she knew Mewtwo, she did not need her acquired empathic skills to learn this.

Mewtwo sensed her concern, and after a moment, quietly said, "I am getting weary of this, Arei…."

He was not talking about her. She sensed this from his tone. "What do you mean?"

He met her eyes with his. "This type of life. It never changes, being a god, for these people never change. Their technology may evolve, but they possess the same attitudes and expectations. They declare that I am a free, all powerful entity. But I may not wander without scheduling it, and I am powerless to stop the routine after all these years without upsetting the world I have made. I cannot travel where I desire…I can not do as I wish…."

He turned, facing her, touching her face. "I cannot be with the people whose company I desire. And anything meaningful that I come to possess in this life must be kept secret…or else the likelihood that it is pried from me becomes so likely."

He smiled wryly, turning away. "It matters not who the group is…pokémon, rebel, or follower…they all have their ways of reducing me to a barely capable being. Where one does not hold me, another does. And every last one of them have delusions in their minds of who or what I am.

"It's a mockery; that is the truth. Even street urchins have more freedom in poverty than I in splendor. The irony does not escape me, my Arei…I am trapped within the world I made. It is a prison…and the only thing that alleviates the pain of it is in making this prison as preferable to me as possible. The power, the control are salves…nothing more potent."

This had been a lesson he had learned well over the past decades…and now, he was beginning to doubt the source of action he persisted up. And it was because of this woman standing near him. She was the sweet variable, the uncertainty in a realm where nothing every truly altered for him, no matter how time passed….

He was beginning to wonder if it had been worth it. For the more he allowed himself to think about it, the more the times he spent with this female felt more real, sweeter than anything else. If she had been working? Him, he doubted he would feel differently. She was a change. And in this moment of weakness, he cherished her.

Soon enough, he would return to arrogance and deem this confession as meaningless. But for now, it felt wonderful to say this to the woman who knew him better than any other creature on this Earth claimed to….

Arei stared at him for a time, taking in his words…then came to him, wrapping her arms around him. It meant something…the dreams always do.

"It's alright, Mewtwo," she whispered. "I will stand here if you need it of me. I wish to be…."

He watched the water run down the drain. "…Yes…I'm certain that is true."

But for how much longer?