The forest extended for miles and miles. She ran and ran, and ran some more, but there was nothing that she could do to escape the monster. She felt her breath grow heavy and labored as she pushed her wings harder and harder to push her to become faster, but it was all too sluggish, and she heard the rabid snarls of the beast as it approached.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed with all her heart. The beast didn't seem to understand her - or maybe it just didn't care. Desperate, she flew faster, a primal instinct pushing her forward.
The trunks of the trees around her grew more and more compact, and the path she had to take was getting tighter and tighter - and yet somehow, the beast never stopped coming closer. There was nothing that she could do to escape.
A beam of light shot out of the beast, before attaching to her - a string, as thin as silk. As thin as it was, it was utterly unbreakable, Selene's forward momentum coming to a sudden, unwilling halt.
She twisted around to see the smile of a soft mother, "Good morning," it - Diane - whispered, before opening its mouth to reveal thousands of pin-needle teeth.
She could only open her mouth for a scream before the beast snapped at her neck.
Selene woke with a sharp gasp, her mind feeling like it was on fire. She trembled as she tried to calm her thunderous heart.
A dream, a dream, nothing more than a dream...
The consolation wasn't much - if nothing else, though, the fact that Eve, sleeping next to her, hadn't woken up meant that she hadn't jumped into Selene's dream. That, or she had chosen not to. Better than it being real, but she didn't want to have a conversation about that.
As she continued breathing deeply, feeling her heart begin to slow back to its normal rhythm... Rhythm...
... she sighed, feeling nauseous and utterly exhausted.
It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair.
It wasn't fair.
She knew how she sounded like so much of a brat right now. She knew that she didn't have the worst situation amongst anyone. Technically, she should be happier. Her mother wasn't dead.
No, her mother was a monster.
Helios' words from a few nights ago rang in her head. At the time, he'd mixed it in with nonsense about himself haviing a crush on her or something, but now that she'd had time to dwell and wallow in his and Inverse's words... Diane was her mother.
Artemis. Artemis.
She wanted to laugh at her gullibility. What was the evidence that she'd had? A painting? Faked. The words of other Shadow Workers? Even easier to fake. And yet, other than that singular stupid painting, she hadn't looked for another damn shred of evidence about who Artemis was, or who she'd had children with, or why she left Selene in Regilia, not Nucifera.
And she still didn't know why. Helios had said something about Diane not feeling like she deserved Selene. Was that true? And even so, what did that even mean?
Selene just looked at the moon. She felt a strange thing rise in her heart. A waxing of joy of song. The Rhythm.
It hadn't disappeared, and she didn't dare call on it again. She could Stifle with ease now, as the pain it had used to cause her had subsided completely. But the Rhythm always laid dormant in her skin.
It was a part of her. It had always been. It always would be, because she was born a monster.
She... she...
... she sighed, looking more deeply at the moon. Was that it? Was that the only thing to do? To accept it?
"Is there anything I can do for you, Mistress Selene?"
Tamon's voice wrenched her eyes away from the moon, to the Ditto. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that."
"It is a choice," he said plainly.
"It's not, it's what Phosophor made you want."
"And yet, I am not a Shadow Worker now. I am not a Collared. I am not Possessed, nor one of your thralls. This is nothing more than a product of my beliefs-"
"Your beliefs are artificial," she spat back.
"They are designed," Tamon said without a pause. "My memories and emotions were designed for a purpose - and yet, they are mine. Say what you will of their origin, but as we speak, they speak of a desire to serve."
She was going to get nowhere with Tamon.
"... but if it will help." Tamon then said, with a sigh. "What's wrong, Selene?"
That was strangely more... natural, in a way.
"... Helios told me about my Mom. Diane."
"I can assure you, whatever-"
"You don't have to lie to me. I know the truth. And if it isn't, what were her sisters' names?" Selene asked, cutting Tamon off. "And why hadn't I heard them before?"
"..."
"I've already come to accept the truth, Tamon," Selene said. "Aunt Diane - she wasn't my aunt at all."
"... she wasn't," Tamon said, looking tired. "She found an ambitious, creative young Ditto that Phosophor decided would be a good fit to be a Shadow Worker. She seduced him, and the Rhythm made any inhibitions the Ditto had fall apart. The Ditto, in a matter of seconds, admired her more than anything. And though it was an unnatural form for him... he tried to make himself to be a male version of the species."
The way Tamon was talking...
"... he only figured it out later, why Diane returned his advances." Tamon said, the fatigue clear in his voice. "A woman who had never seen someone like her, in a vaguely attractive sense... she took it a step farther than merely making the Ditto her thrall. And once she laid her egg... well, the Ditto wasn't a factor into the equation anymore."
Selene wanted to be anywhere but here. But she couldn't help but say... "That Ditto... who was it?"
Tamon - a Ditto - looked at her. "What do you think?" he asked.
She wanted to throw up. "All this time...?" she whispered in horror.
"It was hardly like there was a choice in the matter," Tamon said with ease. "It was all her decision. By that point, the Ditto that had made the decision to return Diane's 'advances' had been replaced with yours truly."
It was hard to think of a Ditto as an adult, or young, or anything, considering how amorphous they were. Tamon had never given an inkling as to who he was or what his decisions were.
"But... but even after you had your free will back..."
"There were more important things. Chain means everything to me. Fatherhood was never in the cards." Tamon paused. "Perhaps she felt the same way, until you came to her."
"... was any of this meant to make me feel better?" Selene asked hollowly.
"Do you want to feel better?" Tamon asked back.
Selene blinked. "What do you mean?"
"You say that you want to feel better," Tamon said solemnly. "But you do nothing but mope and cry. Your mother was too immature to become a mother, and you found out at the worst time, and the truth has made you miserable. Now what?"
Now what? Now what?
And as she thought about that question, she realized something else. She didn't know what to do now.
"My answer is what it will always be. You are an Epsilon Fusion. You deserve better than to wallow in misery for the rest of your life. You were dealt a hand worse than you could have ever imagined before. But you can't change who your mother is by force - she will resist your Rhythm. You will need to speak with her in person to do so."
And that wasn't an option with Inverse still active.
"Even then, I don't know if I want her to be my mother," Selene said. It felt strange to say, but she continued. "Tamon, I think I barely liked her as my aunt. She was kind to me, but it felt like she was always busy doing something else. Brainwashing more people for Chain's sake, I bet. And she cared, but she wanted me to become a very particular Pokemon. An Epsilon Fusion that acted like her."
"And what was wrong with that?" Tamon asked.
Selene had almost forgotten who she was talking to. "Because I want my principles, Tamon!" she said, exasperated. "Because those principles are important to me! Because every time I betray those principles, I feel like I become everything I recognize as evil."
"And you believe mind control is evil?" Tamon asked.
That was a hard question to answer.
"I-"
"Many actions you take is a form of mind control, whether you know it or not," Tamon continued. "Every time you speak, you arrange your words into sentences designed to evoke thoughts in those that hear them. Every time you dance, Rhythm or not, you do so with the intention of engendering joy in the watchers. A war cry evokes fear, propaganda and teaching are designed to shape the knowledge by which one makes decisions. You speak of evil, but many, many actions we take are designed to shape the minds of others, whether we acknowledge them or not."
Selene couldn't speak, and she could barely think.
"You consider me insane for not caring that I am mind controlled - but am I?" Tamon asked, his gaze feeling like it was piercing Selene's soul. "Most times I make the decision to eat, I do so not with the intention of preserving my life, but with the intention of reducing hunger. My own body controls its mind. Exhaustion forces my body to slow down even though it is physically capable of going further beyond. You speak of the fear of mind control, but the one imprisoning your own mind is no one but yourself."
Selene couldn't say anything. She didn't have an answer.
"Mind control is not evil," Tamon stated plainly. "The Collar, the Core, the Rhythm - they simply remove the illusion that you are making your choices. So tell me the truth, Selene - why are you afraid of becoming more like Diane and Phosophor? Why do you deny your own nature?"
Selene opened her mouth. Words began to come out, unfiltered.
"Because I don't want to become a monster. I don't want to hurt people."
"But hurting people is nothing but your own decision-"
"Taking away their ability to choose is hurting them. Warping them is hurting them."
"Did you not listen to what I just said?" Tamon asked.
But Selene had regained her tempo. "You talk about mind control like it's everywhere and we all have the Rhythm, but we don't. I can tear friendships apart in five minutes to make someone my slave! I - I can drive someone to insanity!"
"So? You can do that without Rhythm-"
"Oh, don't be ridiculous." Selene snapped. "Tear friendships apart in five minutes? Maybe if one of them is secretly crazy! Drive someone to insanity? I'd need to lock them in a prison for five years and hope that it worked. The mind control you're thinking about is so limited that we can keep that illusion of free will. You said that Rhythm or Collar removes that illusion - maybe you should consider why."
It was Tamon's turn to be silent.
Selene lost a little steam. "I - it's too much. Maybe if it was more like garden-variety hypnosis, if it was more than just Diane and I, I could accept it," she said, voice growing softer by the second. "I don't want to have mind control so powerful that it can control me. I don't want everyone I talk to to be afraid that I'll take control of them when I have a bad day."
It wasn't the Rhythm that was the problem, she was starting to figure. In a way, she liked the Rhythm. Loved it. It made her feel great when she used it. It made her feel powerful.
"... the Rhythm doesn't make me a monster," she said. "But… I can only be a monster whenever I use it. I can't be like everyone else when I have the Rhythm. The stronger the Rhythm, the more friends become slaves, and everyone else enemies. It makes me feel good, but it takes away my chance to have friends."
Tamon didn't say anything. Selene couldn't help but wonder if maybe Diane or Phosophor, at one point, tried fitting in. If, at some point, they used their powers on accident, and terrified everyone around them. If they acknowledged their fate to be separate from everyone else.
"... you know more now," Tamon offered. Selene considered the statement for the obvious truth it was. It didn't give her a way forward, but it was something.
She flapped her wings, before slowly flying away. As she did so, the Rhythm swelled in her heart - and she sang.
It wasn't a joyous tune. It wasn't a song to beguile, to entertain, to enrapture, or to comfort herself.
The Rhythm was a part of her. Inverse's Control had birthed it, just as it had birthed her, and though the Control was no longer enhancing it, it was still there.
She sang and she sang for hours. She didn't dance - she danced when she was happy, for practice, or for entertainment. In the moonlight, she simply sang.
As the sun began to rise, she finally began to stop, her hoarse throat demanding for a break. She wiped her scaly cheeks. The Rhythm was still there.
"Selene?" She heard Eve's voice behind her. She stiffened.
"Selene?" She heard Eve's voice behind her. She stiffened, before slowly turning around to see Eve looking at her with concern.
"I…" Words wouldn't come to her throat. She could almost hear Inverse's laughter. Maybe he could somehow jump from Eve's head to hers? It would be better than the alternative, that she was genuinely hallucinating.
"Tamon said that you've been singing for hours," Eve said. "Are you… okay?"
Not 'Are you still you?'. Not 'Is the Rhythm still touching you?'
Just 'Are you okay?".
Selene jumped forward, almost missing the look of surprise on Eve's face as she crushed her friend in a hug. Sobs wracked her, and the honking sound she made as a result was anything but beautiful. Pitiable, pathetic, ridiculous - but not beautiful.
Somehow, it was able to drown out the Rhythm.
After a second, Eve hugged her back.
The audience was empty, and the only ones sitting there, legs dangling over the side of the stage, were her and Eve.
They looked for what Eve had said was the embodiment of the Rhythm inside her - a doppelganger of Selene herself. They couldn't find anything. Eve had said that maybe it took a different form in her mind, but Selene knew the truth.
"... it's always been a part of me," Selene said, with solemn finality. Eve just listened - just as she had when Selene had broken down in front of her earlier that night. The sun had surely come up by now, but they had decided that this was more important, enough for Eve to use her talent to try and help her fix it.
"I know that you said that it had its own presence in your dreams, in your soul, but it's always been a part of me. Even before we left, it was there. I'd never recognized it, but everyone was always transfixed by my dancing. Loved it." Except for Madam Strect, but she was particularly strict about performance choreography. Selene felt a pang of loss as she thought about her previous dance instructor. The chance of that ever continuing had more or less completely evaporated.
"But it was never as strong as it was once you got to Nucifera," Eve said softly, as if to reassure her.
"Maybe it was supposed to be that strong," Selene muttered. "The pills Parasel had me take - how did he design those?"
"The pills…" Eve's eyes hardened. "That's the way they tracked you, probably. They probably deposited microscopic things in your blood to let them find you."
"Yeah, but how did they stop me from awakening the Rhythm?" Selene asked. While Culus had been the reason she had been ostracized from Regilia, it was the loss of the pills that had spiralled her into the path she was forced to take now. Or rather, it was the loss of them that revealed the truth to her. Now, she would prefer never finding out.
Maybe being abandoned was a kindness from Diane. Knowing what she knew now, she gladly would take that previous life over having this one.
"We don't know," Eve said. "And we don't even know if they'll work anymore. They might work on Epsilon Fusions just to ease them, and the effect on your Control was an afterthought."
The thought soured Selene's mood even more. She looked up through the window of the theater, and saw the moon clearly looking back at her.
"Wasn't it here that it all started?" she mused. "When everything started going wrong?"
Eve shrugged.
"Wrong?" Selene froze - and then turned to see him. Sitting in the audience, with a strange metal tool in his hands that he was using to grind away at his nail, idly taking a second to pause and look at the results of his grinding before continuing, was Inverse. And as he did that odd task, he continued to speak. "It's more that everything was starting to align."
Next to her, Eve shot Swift stars at Inverse - but the stars faded away.
"Do you really think you have a shot at that?" Inverse shrugged. "Then again, you always were an idiot at heart. Reading a dozen books doesn't change the fact that you were, in the end, naive enough not to trust me at my word."
Eve hissed, but Selene put out a hand in front of Eve. "Why are you in my dream?" she asked. "Do you really want control of my body that badly?"
"Oh, eventually, you'll come to me. All Epsilon Fusions do. Sure, you're one of the very few new ones not to fall under my influence anymore, but I made you what you are today."
Inverse did a strange motion with his fingers - a snap, Selene realized - before dozens of shadowy figures appeared in the seats, filling the audience.
"So until then, do your duty and entertain me," Inverse said.
Selene opened her mouth to shout at Inverse, before realizing that she didn't feel Eve at her side anymore. Looking at where Eve had been, she instead saw nothing but empty space.
"Sorry, but this is a solo, you know." Inverse twisted his wrist, and paper and some sort of writing tool appeared in it. "I'll have to give a dock on your score for that."
Selene growled. "You're just doing whatever you can to piss me off."
"Guilty as charged - but who can blame me?" Inverse hummed. "You're just so pathetic that I just can't help myself. 'Oh, I don't want to have awesome powers' - get a life, why don't you, and stop whining all the time-"
Selene snarled, before leaping off the stage, lunging at Inverse. Inverse just snapped his fingers again, and the stage extended far enough for Selene to face-plant into it.
"Wow, who could have seen that coming?" Inverse drawled. "You're easier to bait than internet trolls."
Selene pushed herself off the stage, groaning. "W…what the… internet?"
"Oh man, the internet was great. Too bad this world never really got into it. One of the reasons I had to get rid of the other humans, they were all so dull."
The more Inverse spoke, the more off-balance Selene felt. Inverse excelled at flipping her expectations upside-down, and she couldn't collect herself fast enough.
"Now, I'll give you a choice, Selene. Do you want me to infect you once more, take away those nasty doubts, or do you want to continue sinking in misery until I do it anyway?" Inverse asked. "Because really, I'm doing you an honest favor by doing this. I mean, look at yourself! You dragged yourself here, to me, because you can't handle your loser mentality."
Selene breathed heavily. "I… "
"Five seconds. Four seconds."
"... I… "
The offer… it shouldn't have been tempting, but it was. Somehow, it was ridiculously tempting. Sable had been happy enough when she was Selene's thrall, and the only misery she'd had was the fact that Selene had gone out of her way to give Sable her freedom back.
"Three. Two…"
… would it really be that bad? Inverse was practically guaranteed to win anyway. What was she even fighting for?
"One… and…" Inverse said. "Zero. Oh, well, offer's up. Guess you're going to have to do this the hard way, then. Fantastic show, by the way, five out of five stars."
Everything faded away.
"Selene! SELENE!"
Selene's eyes cracked open. "Wh…"
"Are you okay?"
"I'm… fine."
She explained what happened. Eve, Tamon, and the Prince (who was beyond incensed at what had happened while he was asleep) listened raptly as she recounted their conversation. She didn't lie, either - with both Eve and Culus holding Inverse in their heads, there would be no point.
…
… but she didn't tell the full truth. She didn't share what her final thoughts had been when Inverse had ended the dream.
That she wouldn't have fought back.
And that terrified her.
Even as they walked through the brushworks once more, making their way for Cognes Research Facility, she could hear Inverse's demented laughter. Somehow, it felt crueler that he did this instead of forcing it on her.
The Rhythm had fallen dead silent.
As they walked through the streets of Dragnis, Helios didn't know what to feel. Technically, this was a new sight for him as well. Off in the distance, he could see home, and his heart ached as he walked to it.
He was hidden under a cloak right now, at Rowan's suggestion, but a part of him wanted to rip it off and run around the city. He'd never been here without an armed guard - and that didn't even include Slate. Despite the fact that he'd lived here his entire life, he'd never had the freedom to just have fun here.
But he didn't take off the cloak, even as he wanted to. He just sighed, before fixing his eyes on the castle. Simply looking at it gave him a strangely light feeling.
Even with everything that had happened, everything that he'd messed up and barely anything that he'd succeeded at… he'd still been able to come home. He didn't deserve it, but he was able to come back anyway.
"Careful," Prime said, catching Helios's attention. "We can't afford to mess this up, right?"
Helios and Brylle nodded. They were the 'advance guard', in a way. The three of them were going to be the ones that visibly entered the castle to warn the Dragnians about Inverse.
Helios was one of the obvious picks - not because of any special talents or anything, but because he was… well, the prince of Dragnis. They'd be willing to hear them out, even if Prime was a mutant, since they were bringing Helios back. At least, that was the logic they were banking on. Brylle's talent would let them know their chances of success at any time, to allow them to move to fix their mistakes before they made them.
Prime was there to catch Shadow Workers. It wasn't so much of his 'Control', if it was even possible for Prime to still find out what it was, but more of the fact that he was an Epsilon Fusion, meaning that Shadow Workers would automatically want to trust him. While it might have been possible for Inverse to already mess that up through some sort of wide-reaching command, it was still something worth trying. And they'd have to show Prime off eventually, so doing it in a non-threatening way was their best bet.
Rowan, meanwhile, was in hiding, ready to use illusions if things were going badly. Sable and Four had a telekinetic relay going, with Four traveling alongside Rowan to pass information to them and back without having a visible communicator on their person. Most of the others were hanging back, ready to be teleported in for support if things were going to go wrong.
One of the bigger arguments was if they were to bring Thilia with them, but Helios, and soon after Brylle and Sable, were heavily against it. And, with a bit of stubbornness, they were able to win even Rowan, with his somewhat cold pragmatism, to their side. Frankly, Thilia wasn't supposed to be their good luck charm, and she deserved far, far better than to be treated like that. They were supposed to be better than Chain, after all.
Prime then looked at the castle. "So, that's your home?" he asked. "Pretty big place, huh?"
Helios nodded, feeling a swelling of pride in his heart. "Yup!"
"Why's it on the side of a cliff?" Prime asked.
"Well, it makes it so that we can have Ground and Rock types defend most of the castle, so we can make patrol routes simpler," Helios explained happily. "We have roosts for Flying-type Pokemon to patrol the skies. I'm, uh, not sure how we protect against teleportation, though."
"We'll be fine on that front. They don't block telepathy, right?"
"Probably not?"
"Then Sable will be able to teleport everyone close if they block teleportation," Brylle said. "And that's assuming we even need to do that. We shouldn't be banking on the fear that they're out to get us, right?"
"Maybe you can do that, but I'm not too experienced in using the Aspects, okay?" Prime groused, a weak Stifling coming out to accompany his statement. "I'll be relying on you two in a pinch."
Helios winced. He wasn't too great at battling either. He'd put up a great showing against Inverse in Relm's body, but that was more to both Inverse and Relm being inexperienced battlers, even more than he was. Against professional guards… Helios wasn't dumb enough to think he could take them on.
A small buzzing appeared in Helios's head. 'Guards are taking notice of Helios and Prime,' Four's voice rang in his head. 'Are you guys going to reveal yourselves yet?'
Helios looked over at Brylle, whose eyes were also glowing - as were Prime's. A mass message, then. Brylle visibly shook her head, as her eyes glowed a little brighter.
'64% chance of success isn't that bad, is it?' Four's voice questioned. 'But if you think that you should remain in hiding a little longer, then go ahead - but be careful.'
The main reason they were remaining in hiding wasn't because of Chain's possible spies in Dragnis. If Inverse had usurped control of Chain, then he knew where they were going - and if there was a trap on that front, they'd have no choice but to spring it, since Dragnis needed to be warned. It was more because of the Eonians - they weren't too far from Eonia, and they couldn't discount spies that were loyal to Light Black warning him and interfering to keep Dragnis weak.
That was probably still going to happen, but this way, they would at least be able to get the message out. And since the percentage wasn't in the high 90s, according to Brylle, it was reasonable to assume that Light had his spies out and ready.
That was a little disturbing to Helios, to know with raw numbers that Light's intelligence network in Dragnis was apparently that widespread. But since Brylle's numbers rarely lied, he'd take her word for it.
"Halt!" Helios nearly jumped out of his scales as a uniform-wearing guard - a Feraligatr - bared his teeth at Helios. Helios had never been on the other end of the Dragnian guards' claws, so the sensation was entirely foreign to him. "Royal property begins at this wall! State your purpose and show identification, or leave!"
Helios looked at Brylle, lifting his hood to ask 'Now what?!'.
Before Brylle could say anything, though, Prime stepped forward. "We've got no identification, sir. However, we'd like to ask the king for an audience-"
Helios wanted to palm his face. Brylle didn't have the same sort of restraint, not particularly needing it and looking like she wanted to die.
"If this is a practical joke," the Feraligatr sneered. "You'd best improve your comedy act. Either way, the king has no time for the likes of you. Leave or face my Hydro Pump!"
"... you're kind of dramatic, aren't you?" Helios asked, before he could stop himself. "Are you new to the job?"
The Feraligatr gaped at him, and Helios quickly became conscious again of the fact that he had to stay hidden for now.
"I - you - such insolence!"
"Such insolence?" Prime latched on. "Were you raised in a theater?"
"I - that has nothing to do with what I'm…" The Feraligatr blushed. Blushed. "W-well…"
Then a voice boomed out of thin air. "Oh, this has gone on long enough." The ground quaked a little bit. "I leave you alone at the post for five minutes, and already, civilians are making a mockery out of you."
The ground cracked, and a wizened old Tyrantrum appeared. Helios's breath caught as he saw the Tyrantrum - he remembered this guy. Whenever Uncle Theus took him out to the town normally, to parade him around and so that he wasn't stuck in the castle for most of his life, they'd pass by him, and the Tyrantrum would always nod respectfully at him. That very same Tyrantrum was looking at Helios right now as if he were a stain on his massive claw.
"C-Captain," the Feraligatr stuttered.
"Shut up," the Tyrantrum said. "We have enough issues to deal with without you making us look like fools." The Tyrantrum then crossed its stubby arms. "So, civilians - why do you plan on trespassing?"
Was it time to abort the mission? With the obvious signs of telepathic communication, there would be no way to get help now or get teleported inside. Ugh, this mission was a bad idea…
… why were Brylle and Prime looking at him? Did they think he had an answer.
He gulped, before coughing. He was a Charmeleon right now, one of the precautions they'd taken to hide his identity, so the Tyrantrum would recognize his voice right away hopefully. Either way, he deepened his voice just a little bit more than usual. "We didn't plan on trespassing," he lied. "We simply wished for an audience with the king. We have information about where his nephew is-"
"You and every other scam artist have 'information' aplenty," the Tyrantrum said. "Stop wasting our time and leave."
That was as good an invitation as any - but before he could accept the Tyrantrum's proposition, Prime spoke up again. "And how would we tell you where Prince Helios is if you don't listen to people who would know?"
"I don't consider children to be a prime source of information," the Tyrantrum said dismissively. "None of you look to be adults - I'm not interested in playing with pranksters that hide their faces."
And before Prime could interject at all, the Tyrantrum stamped his foot on the ground, and the three of them found themselves on a wave of stone taking them away from the entrance to the castle.
As they landed near a city street, Prime growled. "The nerve of some people," he hissed. "There's no way I can take that lying down-"
"You'll have to, unless you want to get the Dragnian military on our ass," Brylle said waspishly. "Prime, what was that?"
"What was what?"
"Why did you say we wanted to meet with the king?" Brylle asked. "Even if they believed us, they wouldn't let random cloaked strangers to meet with the king without first finding out who they are. And Helios, that wasn't much better with telling them that we had information on where you were."
"Well, I'm sorry, Ms. 'I can point out your mistakes so easily'," Helios groused back. "I didn't see you doing anything?"
"Everything I did had a low probably of success," Brylle said.
"Then why did we even go down that route?" Prime asked.
"Ask Helios."
Helios groaned. Okay, so it was his mistake, in the end. "Fine, it was my mistake," he admitted. "But we need another strategy."
Brylle's eyes glowed white. "Four's laughing her asses off at us," she muttered. "But things are still going well, overall. They thought were were pranksters, and we haven't wasted much time anyway, so things are still going good after all."
That still raised the question of 'Now What?'. They didn't have a way to get to the inside of the castle yet.
"Are you sure we shouldn't get Thilia's help?" Prime asked.
"No," Helios insisted. "We can do this without Thilia making everything work in our favor. We just need to find another way in." But it wasn't going to be simple, not at all. Dragnis wasn't like the Illicity, where they could just burrow into the ground and find their way in. They couldn't fly in, and they'd just tried walking in (mostly because he'd been going through familiar paths and not thinking of the consequences, but it still was a path that they'd tried).
What other options did they have at this point? He wanted to try something stupid - that worked last time - but something told him he'd have a lot harder time convincing Brylle and Prime of that. Was there a more stupid plan could he think up of? More dumb than just walking up to the castle?
…
… eh, why not?
"Since we have some time and no ideas, you want to come look around Dragnis with me?"
"Not that I don't appreciate the tour," Prime said, as they walked around the city streets. "But is this really the best use of our time?"
"Nope!" Because Helios didn't have an honest chance in hell of convincing either Brylle or Prime otherwise. "But do you guys have a better idea?"
The silence said a lot.
"We could try getting Rowan to bring Helios in by himself," Brylle said slowly. "Do you guys think that would work?"
"It might," Prime argued. "Helios?"
Helios shrugged. "It might. But then, I'm not sure if Rowan can mask the seismic waves our steps let off. You know, like how-"
"No, no, I know," Brylle said, sighing. "I forgot about that. No, it makes sense. It also means that we won't be able to sneak our way in on foot, either. I don't think I'm good enough with geokinesis to mask it, and it might just tip them off anyway."
"Wasn't sneaking into places one of the big things that Key did?"
"Yes, but you can't sneak into anywhere overnight. Something like Dragnis Castle would need a long-term infiltration plan, which we just don't have the time for!"
Prime looked like he wanted to argue some more, before sighing. "Fine, that makes sense. So we're just stuck here. Helios, are you sure you can't just show yourself?"
"Light Black is still an issue," Brylle snapped back in response.
"Can he really respond that quickly?" Prime asked. "We can't just assume that we're going to come into contact with his spies, are we?"
"Look, I'm not sure it's Light Black, but the guy is the only Pokemon other than Inverse who would maybe want to sabotage us, okay? Every time I try to gauge how well just bringing Helios up there would go, I get really bad results. Something is going to try and make it go wrong if Helios goes in as he usually would be."
"..." Helios palmed his face. "They'll think I'm mind-controlled, won't they?" he muttered.
Prime and Brylle looked over at him. "Huh?" Prime asked.
"They know that Selene is a mind-controller, right? You guys thought I was mind-controlled, so maybe they'll think I was mind-controlled. That Xion guy who trapped Slate and I in Fylak - he might have excuses lined up already." And then an even worse thought came to him. "Damn it, what about Queen Arya?"
"The Queen of Regilia?" Prime asked, confused.
"Phosophor did something to her when I was staying in her camp after running away from Key's headquarters," Helios explained irritably. "She was brainwashed into obeying him. That means that Inverse has his claws in her too, right? Maybe Inverse could already make Uncle Theus think that I was brainwashed or something by having Queen Arya imply it."
"That's… possible," Prime said, looking disturbed.
"It's not possible, I can easily see it happening." Brylle muttered. "Chain got their claws into everything and everyone that had power, didn't they? Now, in one fell swoop, the world's fallen into the hands of a madman."
"So then what are we supposed to do?" Prime asked. "If this is all hopeless anyway, shouldn't we call the mission off?"
Helios had another idea, though. Maybe this one wasn't stupid, too. "Brylle, you said that the chances of success were as high as 64% earlier, right?"
"Of getting past the gate, not-"
"Okay, not that, but what about the chances of succeeding at the mission in general. How high were they?"
"... 34%. Not ideal, but it was good enough considering the situation."
"34% isn't too low, is it? That's a one-in-three shot of at least warning Uncle Theus, right?"
"... right?"
"If Uncle Theus was under mind-control, then it wouldn't be warning him at all."
Prime snorted. "I'm pretty sure that's not how her power works."
"Then maybe Brylle could change the way she views it? Ask what are the chances of succeeding in general at the mission of making Uncle Theus know about the upcoming war."
"... only about 20% now."
Prime sighed. "Great, that's-"
"Good, actually," Helios interrupted. "Because it's not 0 or 100%, it means that he doesn't already know, no matter how your power works, because then he'd know no matter what we did, so nothing we could do would change the number. Because it isn't one way or the other, that means that there's a chance we can do it, meaning that he doesn't already know it!"
"... that's… logical," Brylle said, narrowing her eyes. "Who are you and what have you done with Helios?!"
Helios's heart froze. "Huh?"
Brylle paused - and then snorted. "You should have seen the look on your face." A psychic presence entered Helios's mind, making Helios's mind filled with the sound of Four's laughter.
Prime snickered, and Helios flushed. "Ugh, not a funny joke, Brylle. Not after all the Shadow Workers and Ditto impostors and… ugh…"
"Sorry, but you acted weird, so-"
And then the solution hit him in a flash.
"... okay… so guys, I have another idea."
"This is stupid, Helios."
Helios started rolling up his sleeves as he looked at the fountain in Dragnis's central square. "I know."
"No, you don't get it, this is really, really, really stupid," Prime said. "Monumentally stupid. Inconceivably stupid."
"..." Brylle said nothing
"Brylle, say something."
"The percentage of mission success is at 72% if we don't stop him."
"How the - 72%. Brylle, your talent is broken."
"He did have an idea."
"It's a Helios idea. Not a smart idea, a Helios idea! Why don't we stuff our heads in the sewer while we're at it?!"
"Do you have anything better?"
"... shut up."
While the two bickered, Helios hiked up his cloak so that it wouldn't get wet, before awkwardly climbing up the fountain. Honestly, he agreed with both. He agreed with Prime, in that it was a stupid plan. Stupidly dangerous, and something that might not work if they weren't particularly lucky.
But he also agreed with Brylle's assessment - it would be way more effective than anything else. Assuming the case that Uncle Theus did think he was mind-controlled, this was the best way to let him know.
Four's presence entered his mind. 'Just thought I'd let you know, Rowan's on top of the red house to your front-right.' Helios looked in that direction, where Rowan flickered into existence for a split-second, a wide grin on his face. 'He wanted me to tell you to summon your inner Clown Helios.'
Clown Helios?
Four sent him an image of himself on a boat, looking like an utter fool. 'Something Eve cooked up on Eve's first usage of her talent. Rowan told me about it the second we found out about your plan.'
… great. Guess he had a lot to live up to.
Helios cracked his knuckles as annoyed Dragnian police-Pokemon came to order him off of the fountain.
Show time.
"Hey DRAGNIS!" he shouted, causing the entire plaza to pause in its various activities and turn to him. His cheeks heated up as everyone looked at him, but he continued. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"
Everyone just kept staring at him. Helios belatedly realized that he was still wearing his cloak, having forgotten to take it off. He promptly ripped it off. Then he realized that he was a Charmeleon, so he devolved into a Charmander again.
"You see that!" Helios shouted. "Do I look like a crazy person! We're going to be invaded soon and we're ALL GOING TO DIE!"
Someone off in the plaza screamed - and then all hell broke loose.
…
… yeah, this was a stupid idea.
Prime's face was completely and utterly ashened. Brylle had a gobsmacked expression on her face.
"That's what you went with?" Prime asked, utterly incredulous. "That's - that's insane!"
"... 82%," Brylle muttered.
The square was in a complete and utter riot, with the townsfolk going around asking the guards just what the hell was going on. The guards didn't have an answer for them, utterly flummoxed. Helios wondered why they weren't going, 'Wow, that kid's a nutcase, send him to the hospital!" It seemed more of a rational thing to do than everything that was already happening.
Unfortunately, Helios wasn't there to make them all rational.
"Regilia is sending an army to invade! The queen has been brainwashed!" Helios shouted. "And an ancient evil spirit is going to-"
Something hit Helios on the back of his head, and he fell unconscious - and as he did, a strange memory dislodged itself from dark recesses of his mind.
"W-where the hell am I?" He looked around as black mist swirled around him. "This… this is a dream, isn't it?"
A strange circular creature popped into existence with a sharp crack in front of him. "Dreams are odd, aren't they?"
"JESUS CHRIST!" he shouted, as the creature grinned at him. It wasn't much more than a sphere with a toothy grin. "I - what the…"
"Dreams - nightly hallucinations where you lose all control of yourself. You become a puppet to your subconscious will. You live out your worst fears to strengthen your heart for things that might be worse, but the fears never materialize in a way where they would in reality. The mind fills in the blanks with its own delusions." The sphere spoke with a mesmerizing cadence. "Your teeth all fall out in a classroom, leaving you unable to speak, and all your classmates jeer. You find yourself in a marriage with a person who you've never known before. Trillions of spiders crawl into your mouth. Vomiting vegetable spaghetti from your eyeball as if you had pinkeye. None of it seems odd at the moment, only terrible."
"I - what the hell are you talking about? Where am I?!"
"Here's a better question - are you dreaming right now?"
"I… no?" he asked.
"What would you have liked to dream about? What are you dreams - ambitions, desires, goals? What is it that you want, if you could make a single wish?"
"I…"
Though he spoke, he couldn't listen to what he said. He said the words, he could hear what he was saying, but the meaning didn't go into his head.
The sphere hummed. "I see… then, I'll grant you your wish."
"R-Really?"
"Of course, it won't be on your world, on Earth. That world has no place for superpowers. If that's a problem for you, you can always become lucid once more. End your dream, whatever it may be, and return to the life you wish to leave."
"So an isekai?" He grinned. "Fantastic! Is it going to be, like high fantasy, or something techie, or…"
"For now, since you've amused me, I'll give you a more… peaceful world, let's call it. The people there are a little kinder than those of your world - greed isn't so inherent to the people. You wished to be powerful and influential, and in the world, power and influence may come to anyone - anyone that can work for it."
"... oh."
"Is that a problem?" the sphere asked.
He scratched the back of his head. "I - well, in the isekais that I've watched, most of the isekai heroes have some sort of 'cheat' that lets them succeed easily, and… well, I mean, if I'm just a normal person, it's going to be really hard for me to have the power and influence I want, right?"
"I see…" The voice chuckled. "Then, of course, you'll want a fast track to power - perhaps, some sort of innate 'ability', right?"
"Y-Yeah!"
"One that gives you power and influence? To resist and defeat all those that attempt to capture you, to evolve to become a stronger version of yourself? The ability to leave those around you breathless? Root them to the ground, give them no choice but to submit to you? The ability to control them, even?"
"Yeah!" He knew mind control was kind of a dick thing, but there were guys like Lelouch from Code Geass that used it to be heroes, right? Well, probably, since he hadn't gotten past the first episode of Code Geass, but he was the MC, so he had to be a hero. Otherwise, why would people even watch a guy do nothing with his powers but be a dick? And heck, stuff like 'evolution' - that sounded amazing!
The sphere chuckled. "Spectacular!" the sphere applauded. "Simply, spectacular! And, is there anything else you would like for your dream?"
He paused. This was good - too good. There had to be a catch. Some sort of monkey's paw. He needed to get some insurance.
"Immortality and immunity to all forms of mind control," he said. Then he pursed his lips. He'd read Harry Potter, he knew that sometimes people wanted to die. "And make that immortality voluntary - but not easy." He'd had intrusive thoughts here and there, and he knew that if triggering death was as easy as simply thinking, 'What if I jumped into that canyon?', then he'd die in a month. "Oh, and eternal youth."
"My my, how demanding." The sphere hummed. "Immortality… why, even I am not omnipotent. Logically, there's no such thing as omnipotence, you see, and immortality is one form - omnipotently maintaining one's own life."
"... oh."
"But I am a granter of dreams, you see, and that condition - voluntary immortality - leaves it not omnipotent. And so, I offer you the following form of immortality - if you ever fear for death, for age, you may activate this power, and become immortal and ageless. Death will not take you, for entropy itself will work to construct you even if every atom in the universe were quintillions of lightyears apart."
"Holy crap…" He didn't really know what that meant, but that sounded badass.
"However, should you wish to pass on and become no more-"
"Is there an afterlife?"
"If there was one, then would death have meaning?"
Though that wasn't a yes or no, he wasn't going to take that chance. He didn't say anything and the sphere continued.
"Should you wish to pass on…"
Once more, he didn't catch the words - and yet, he spoke as if he knew them.
"... that sounds really dangerous," he said.
"It is death, no? It is the only way you will die. In a way, it will be nothing more than the reversal of the choice to become immortal in the first place. You will become whole once more."
"Yeah, but I don't want to be not whole. That's, like, becoming Voldemort."
"A mortal soul cannot become immortal without losing something in return - that is the nature of existence. And your immortality will not become dependent on the existence of what you've lost."
"But… what will I lose?"
"Why, even I do not know - you will make the choice of what to lose in exchange for immortality at the time you make the decision."
That assured him somewhat. Like, what, was he going to throw away his intelligence or something? Maybe his charming personality? Or even something stupid like 'inhibitions' or whatever.
"Honestly, this whole thing feels shady," he said.
"If so, then you can become lucid once more. It is your choice whether to dream or not."
He paused. Right… that was an option. He could always just… go back. Lose the chance of a lifetime for… mundanity. Again.
"I… okay. Then, one last thing, before you send me to that new world - what's your name?"
"Me? I am not named by your people. I am simply a developer of dreams. Though, from what your people would call me, perhaps 'Nyarlathotep' would not be too amiss."
"Sounds stupid."
Nyarlathotep just chuckled. "Good luck, * $*#$. May your dreams be pleasant."
When he came back to consciousness, he wanted to cry.
"Hello, Helios." Uncle Theus stared back at him, sitting at the foot of his bed. "So… you've finally decided to come back home."
Helios groaned, getting up. "What… what happened?"
"Do you remember the last thing you did?"
"... shouting at the plaza and warning them about the upcoming invasion?"
"You created a diplomatic incident," Uncle Theus stated flatly. "What do you think the prince declaring war does?!"
"D-Declaring war?" Helios asked, stuttering a little. "I didn't declare war, I just said-"
"That it's going to happen, and that everyone is going to die." Uncle Theus sighed. "Why did you do that?"
"Why did everyone believe me?" Helios asked, the question coming to his mind.
Uncle Theus looked out of the door. "... things have been… stressful, lately," Uncle Theus muttered. "The Lunairest Cathedral has been more active lately, preaching about the coming end of the world. A warning from Cresselia, supposedly. Most decried it as the nonsense as it is, but it's left everyone… on edge."
Helios didn't tell Uncle Theus about the dream he had about Cresselia. He'd told everyone who had known about Chain about the dream, but not mentioning a few of the more personal elements to it.
Helios slowly forced himself into a sitting position. "So are we actually going to war?"
"Regilia is mobilizing, as far as our scouts can tell. Our alliance has been shattered, and we've begun mobilizing as well."
"Since…"
"Since last night - the day before you arrived." So a few days after Inverse had been unleashed. Helios gulped. "If nothing else, we'll have to begin rationing for the armies."
A feeling of dread pooled in Helios's stomach. He now had an idea of why the original 'Sneak into Regilia's plan wouldn't have worked. Right after mobilizing, the appearance of Helios with strangers? They'd be detained for a while, long before they could talk to Uncle Theus. More than long enough for Light's spies to interfere.
"Where are my friends?"
"The fugitive and the mutant?"
"I - yes?"
Uncle Theus raised his voice. "Let them in," he said.
The door burst open and Brylle stomped in. "You were talking for five minutes," she spat. "You said that-"
Prime elbowed Brylle as he walked in alongside her. "He's the king," Prime muttered. "You should probably-"
"Maybe if he hadn't badgered us for five hours! You didn't even find out anything new past the halfway point, what kind of interrogation was that?"
Helios breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your new friends made… quite a presence of themself." Uncle Theus narrowed his eyes at Prime. "The mutant refuses to share his tricks, but we will find out eventually."
"So you know about Chain?"
"And about Key, and the 'Aspects', and Inverse." Uncle Theus sighed. "Much of it was what Arya had shared with us and Eonia beforehand, so much of it wasn't unbelievable. And elements of it I knew from my own personal sources."
"What about everyone else?" Helios asked. "Rowan, Four-"
"They're being attended to and speaking in psychically-isolated chambers," Uncle Theus interrupted. "But from what I can tell, the stories corroborate each other. They'll be released in short order, Helios."
It felt weird. "You're not… going to capture them or anything? Since they're fugitives?"
"If what you say is true, then we have far worse things to worry about, Helios," Uncle Theus said, looking out the window to the sky outside, the dark orange of the evening sunset. "We'll have to run a purge of our own people… though, from what it sounds like, even finding out who must be purged will be a tall task in itself. If everything aligns properly, the fugitive order will be rescinded for whatever crimes have been committed until we have time to conduct a proper trial. And of course, there is territorial jurisdiction considering much of it was in Illusuria…"
The more Uncle Theus talked, the more Helios saw that he was just tired. "Uncle, are you… okay?"
"... 'Brylle', 'Prime', if I may have a word alone with Helios?" Uncle Theus asked. "Helios, if you can walk, please do so. If not, I'll have to carry you."
Brylle stood in front of Helios protectively. "Where will you two be going?"
"A place for royals only," Uncle Theus said sharply, regal pride finally flaring to life. Off in the corners, Helios could see the royal guardsmen preparing moves. It wouldn't survive under Stifling, but Brylle's victory even with Stifling wasn't assured since Helios didn't know how many people the pupils he had while he had stayed in Arya's Illusurian camp had taught.
But as Brylle's Stifling flared out nonetheless, Helios forced himself to his feet. "It's alright," he said, shaking a little bit as he tried to gain his balance. "He's my uncle, and he took care of me this far. It'll be alright."
"... stay safe," Brylle said. Prime simply studied Uncle Theus as well, before nodding.
Soon, he and Uncle Theus were walking down the corridors of Dragnis Castle.
Home felt so… strange, now. It was still home, of course, but there was a tension everywhere that was palpable. As time passed, more and more people would become aware of the possibility. Dragnis was the most armed of the countries of the former alliance, Helios remembered, but with Inverse's Control, how fast could he assemble an army?
But more than that tension was a strange feeling in his stomach. It was all so…
… he couldn't even come up with the word to properly describe what he was feeling.
It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. It was as if he'd had some expectation of coming back home. Of triumph. Of failure. Of drama, emotion, something.
But there was nothing. It was just… home. It hadn't changed too much - sure, a portrait had been moved to alter the decor a little bit, the floors needed a little bit of cleaning, but other than the tension of war, it was just the same as it had always been.
At its core, that's what it had always been.
"Helios, don't cry," Uncle Theus said.
Helios wiped tears off of his scales. "I don't know why I'm crying in the first place," he said softly. He wasn't sure what he was feeling. Good, bad, neutral - it wasn't anything like that at all. It was just… there.
It was just home.
All of the guards gave him respectful nods as he walked past. They'd always done that, but after months of it not happening, it was weird to have it happen again. He hadn't done anything to deserve it - he never had - but it didn't sting like he imagined it would have if he'd just returned home after the Twin Moon Ball, if he hadn't left with Slate.
A pit sank into his stomach. "... Slate," Helios said, bowing his head.
"... " Uncle Theus gripped Helios's shoulder as they walked through the corridors of the castle. A part of Helios wanted to throw Uncle Theus off of him, so that no one was touching him. He didn't want whatever that was.
But he didn't do it. He let Uncle Theus guide him through the hallways, thoughts of Slate running through his mind.
"... what happened to him?" Uncle Theus asked.
Helios couldn't answer. The words wouldn't leave his throat. He hadn't seen it for himself. None of the other members in Prime's fusion had that memory. The only people who had seen it were Thilia and Kapun, and with Kapun taken away, Thalia was the only one with the answer left. And with everything she'd suffered so far, he couldn't ask her how Slate died.
But it couldn't have been pretty. Slate would never go down easily. It would have to be a long fight, right?
Right?
"... he died," Helios said. That was the only thing he knew, the only thing people had shared with him. "... and he was a Shadow Worker."
Uncle Theus' grasp on Helios' shoulder tightened. "I never would have believed that Chain would sink their claws so deeply into our Pokemon, to subvert Slate. I can only imagine the horror your father would…"
Helios tuned Uncle Theus out. If Tamon hadn't lied to Helios in the Repository, then Dad… Dad hadn't been 'tricked', not in the way that Uncle Theus was thinking of. It had been a deal. Dad had bought Slate.
Slate's order had been to protect Helios, to take care of him and obey him. It was why Slate had gone along with his crazed plan to capture Culus during the night that had changed everything. The order had overridden common sense - bringing Helios back wasn't necessarily protecting him, since he wasn't in danger looking for Culus, but it would have been disobeying him.
Slate had disobeyed him, once or twice, but never for anything really important. Helios didn't know the exact language of Slate's 'Definition', but it probably wasn't obedience, since Slate was still under Chain's control, and blanket obedience would have been odd. Maybe something like Slate always being on Helios's side, alongside being by his side.
There was no point in speculating anymore, though. Slate was gone.
They walked by a door - a nursery. Uncle Theus slowly opened the door. Helios's heart almost paused as he stepped inside.
Inside was Aunt Hesione, snoozing. And sitting by a crib was a little infant shiny Charmander.
"Calion," Uncle Theus said, and there was thick emotion in his voice. Helios just stared.
His… cousin.
Helios slowly walked up, before extending a claw. Calion looked at it with curiosity, before snorting a little Ember at Helios' claw and turning over, falling asleep a second later.
"... I…" Words wouldn't come to Helios's mouth.
"This isn't where we were going," Uncle Theus said. "But… I wanted you to see Calion, before we go."
"Go where?"
"To see the Tapestry."
The image practically burned itself into Helios's brain. Any skepticism he might have had about the 'magic' that Uncle Theus had explained about left him as he saw his own picture.
The picture was of him rescuing Culus in Fylak. Freeing him, Helios could clearly remember. He had memories of both positions, of being Culus inside the Undeath machine, and of freeing Culus from that machine.
"This is what decides who becomes king," Uncle Theus repeated. "Until a month ago, you were outline in gold, not silver. The one who would become rightful king."
"Under the force of this thing's magic?" Helios asked. Uncle Theus had said that whoever was chosen by the Tapestry would be the sole person allowed to be the ruler of Dragnis - and that any other leader would be fated to bring Dragnis to ruin.
"Correct."
"What if I'd been a… bad king?" Helios asked. "Would it change?"
Uncle Theus shook his head. "It wouldn't as far as I know, but I've never yet to know someone being outlined in gold being a 'bad king'."
"..." Helios turned away from the Tapestry to look at Uncle Theus. "Why did you want to show me this?"
There was a hard stare in Uncle Theus's eyes. "So that you know why I'm removing you from the position of crown prince. I had planned a messier method of ousting you from the line of succession, but from what I've heard from your friends, you don't deserve that anymore. Before we leave for battle, swear to me that no matter what, you will let Calion take the throne when he comes of age-"
"Fine."
"... fine?"
"I don't care anymore."
The words were ash on his tongue. Uncle Theus stared at him.
"You don't care anymore?!" Uncle Theus asked, as if Helios had strangled him.
Helios just looked at Uncle Theus oddly. "... I mean, Inverse is going to try and destroy the entire world. Why would I care about the throne anymore?"
More than anything, Helios knew that he didn't deserve it. That he would never deserve it.
Maybe he was being cruel to himself or something, but he didn't think that he'd ever be the kind of person that deserved to be king. Some noble, intelligent, kind - he wasn't really any of those things. He chased down 'Kite' to make himself feel better, chased down a murderer when he wasn't exactly a talented battler - and he still remembered the awful things he had said to Eve at Nucifera's gate, things she didn't have control over.
He wasn't brave, he ran away from Key's base when he learned about Pandora's betrayal, ran away when he could have done something. He dragged Riley into the mess when he should have known better, got her killed and stuffed into a Fusion.
He'd chosen to become a Shadow Worker, by Phosophor's hands.
Time after time after time, he made mistake after mistake. The only time he made 'good decisions' was when he was doing something that didn't even make any sense, but ended up working anyway. Just pure, blind luck.
How sad was that? Everything he had was the product of luck? Most of his efforts hadn't gotten him anywhere, just being in the right place at the right time and guessing the right thing.
If he remained the crown prince, if he became the king, how much would Dragnis suffer? How far would his 'luck' go? He definitely didn't have a power for it like Thilia did, or any sense.
'You don't have anything to prove.' Cresselia's words rang in his head again. He didn't understand what they meant at the time. He still didn't understand. But for now, he was going to guess that what they meant was that it was pointless to try and prove something that wasn't true.
"But after Inverse is defeated," Uncle Theus said.
"If Inverse is defeated," Helios corrected.
"After Inverse is defeated," Uncle Theus repeated. Helios wondered if Uncle Theus knew that Inverse was immortal, that he'd ended the world before. Helios considered telling him, but then figured that there was no point, since what would it actually change in the end? "You won't try to take Calion's right to the throne?"
"Let him have it. Hopefully, he's a better prince than I am."
"... what do you mean?" Uncle Theus asked.
"I know what you said during that night at Ascendance Palace. I'm not fit to be ruler." Helios gestured to the Tapestry. "This thing's agreeing with you, and after failing during my time away from home, again and again and again, I can see that as well."
… and for some reason, it didn't sting as much as it had. Dad had contracted Chain for a Shadow Worker to protect him. Uncle Theus didn't seem to know anything about Chain, so Dad had lied to Uncle Theus, to everyone.
Had Dad hoped that Helios would be a better king than he had been? What had Dad during his time as king that Helios would never find out about. Dealings with Chain - what else? Dad had chosen to do the wrong thing, even when he could have gotten a normal bodyguard for him. Why? Why?
…
… Helios sighed, tired, interrupting Uncle Theus as he was about to talk again. "And I don't want to be a prince anymore," he said. "I'm tired of disappointing everyone. I'm tired of other Pokemon thinking that I'm better than I really am. I don't know if Calion deserves it either, but I don't want to be the Dragnian king when I grow up."
He turned to the Tapestry. "I… renounce my claim to the throne."
The silver lining around his picture disappeared, and his image on the Tapestry faded a little bit. According to this Tapestry, he was no longer second-in-line to the throne - now that was around Uncle Theus's picture. He was out of the picture for being the king now. Maybe what magic it had knew he was being sincere about it all.
He turned back to Uncle Theus, who just stared at him gobsmacked. "Is that okay, Uncle Theus?" he asked. "If I say I don't want to become king?"
"Helios, you…" Uncle Theus looked to be in shock. "Why?"
"Isn't that what you wanted?" he asked. "Or did you want to do something messy like you said?"
"I… I'd planned to force you into submitting. To cajole you, to coax you into thinking that it was dangerous to remain the crown prince. After you kept evading my searcher units, I'd decided to leave you be, but…"
"But now you don't have to do anything."
"..." For someone who had been looking to threaten his nephew, Uncle Theus looked shaken. Helios couldn't care any less. This was all just some stupid mess now, and he was just tired, after everything.
He walked past Uncle Theus and stared at the night sky. There was a pit forming in his stomach, a lot like the awful feeling he'd had on the night he'd submitted to Phosophor. The feeling… it wasn't the feeling of losing everything. It was the sickly nausea of throwing a dream away, of losing hope.
…
Now what?
Helios had no idea what he was supposed to think anymore. All of the things he'd cared about - becoming a braver person, becoming more noble, stronger, a hero, someone worthy of becoming the king of Dragnis - none of that mattered anymore. It had never been anything but a fantasy.
But he was still alive. He still wanted to live, after everything. After wanting to disappear and become a Shadow Worker, after facing impossible situations time and time again… he wanted to live. Inverse was going to hurt everyone everywhere, and he would be impossible to stop - but Helios still wanted to live. He still wanted something he couldn't have.
The sickly feeling churned in his stomach.
Even after everything, he still wanted to be king when he grew up.
He didn't even know why anymore. He knew he was going to be a bad ruler. He knew that he didn't actually want any of the responsibility of the power, and he didn't have anything he wanted from the position of being king.
It felt like his heart still hadn't caught up with the truth. And even when it did, what came after that? What else did he want, other than to live? What else could he do, other than try to become king?
He mulled over the thoughts, over and over again, but he couldn't come up with an answer. It was an impossible problem with no solution, and he couldn't ask anyone for help, because no one could tell him what he wanted other than himself.
… was this what growing up was like? He still wasn't even a teenage Charmeleon, much less an adult. He had no idea why all the adults looked tired all the time before, but now, he felt like he could understand. Was growing up like holding a bag full of rocks, all the time? Even when you went to sleep, holding a bag of rocks that never got lighter?
He looked out at the dark horizon, just tired.
And then, as he began to make out shapes in the Dragnian countryside, his stomach began to turn - not out of some sort of self-loathing, but out of fear.
Off in the distance, Helios saw an army.
Inverse was coming.
The vegetable vomit from eyeballs was a dream that I actually had once.