(A/N: (I'll try not to do these often)

Hey, this is the promised sequel! If you read Alone Together, that is. Well, now, it's named Almost a Stranger, but in my defense, I'd've named it that the first go around if Red Vox released Afterthoughts sooner. But I digress.

This is a sequel, so if you're a new reader, it will help to read Almost a Stranger first. I've tried to make it mostly accessible to new readers, but I'm also really proud of that one so you should go read it anyway. It's only ten chapters, so you can probably knock it out quick. Or, if you can't knock it out quick, you'll probably have a new chapter of this when you get back because...

I will be updating this weekly for the first twelve chapters! Look, I know how upload schedules always go on this site (I'm one of the worst offenders), but I already have twelve chapters in my backlog, so I'll definitely manage. After that, I'll see what schedule I think I can comfortably keep, probably twice a month if my calculations hold true (which they might not because I keep writing long chapters like an idiot).

But anyway, off you go to read, be it this, Almost a Stranger, or whatever makes you happy :3

...See why I said I'll try not to do these often?)

Part One: Memento Mori

"I learned that hunger is a symptom
Of adopting bad behavior"
"Horseshoe Crab" from Everyone Else by Slothrust

"Thunder!" Max howled at the sky as he shot a charge into the sky above an encroaching swarm of beedrill and butterfree. Spots invaded his vision from the exertion of the blast, and even the patches on his cheeks had begun to sting. They'd fought for so long already, and that attack pushed his limits in the best of conditions. His balance faltered, and he stumbled but just barely caught himself.

Vines snaked around his hindpaws and yanked them out from under him. He cried out and sent a shock into the vines, but they barely twitched. Another vine wrapped around his mouth and gagged him before he could cry out for help.

A shrill scream pierced his eardrums while more vines constricted around him, locking his arms against his body and pulling him further into the air. As they dangled him above it, he saw a victreebel opening its maw wide beneath. His attempts at flailing, at calling another bolt of lightning, at screaming through the vines only made it worse when a vine began to crush his windpipe. All the energy wasted flailing caught up to him fast.

Surprise couldn't register on his face, too void of any remaining strength. His vision dulled further and further as the victreebel dangled him closer and closer into its waiting maw. By the time his sight failed him, he felt its grip release and drop him into his demise.

While he fell into a warm embrace, it wasn't quite as damp as he'd expect a mouth to be. Max gasped for breath, paws flying to his throat to rip off any remaining restraints, but they'd all disappeared. Color returned to his awareness, but it remained vague clouds of blur too formless to make out. However, he could make out a forest around him. Not a mouth.

A wriggling mass of orange beneath him began to wheeze. "Max! Are you okay?!" his partner's voice asked. Max couldn't answer, so he nodded between coughs. "Good." Suddenly, two paws shoved him off the orange mass and onto the forest floor. "I need to breathe, too, y'know."

Max tried to glare at the charmander, but even his agonizing coughs couldn't hurt enough for him to stay angry. His partner had saved his life, after all… again. "I thought I was done for," Max rasped.

"What did I tell you?" his partner cheered, far too happy for Max at the moment. Of course, the charmander didn't care what Max wanted, evidenced by his yanking the poor, barely conscious pikachu up onto his hindpaws. "We'll save this world. No matter what."

"I bit my tongue last night
Woke up with blood on my pillow
I woke up thirsty"

Max bolted up and spun around in a desperate search for his partner. A dream—nightmare—it all had to be a nightmare. He frantically scanned his surroundings, praying to see their old hut. Instead, he saw a simple dome with walls covered in notes. "No," he whimpered, cupping his face in his paws. "Please, please no."

Begging didn't save him from reality. The only dream had been the memory of a fight. An ache in the back of his throat cut off his search. He fell back into his pile of hay.

He looked yet again at the sloped ceiling above him. How many days in a row had he stared at it? The first four had their own rush of visitors he ignored (and didn't even recognize) to distinguish themselves, but the rest melded together.

"That dream seemed pleasant," chimed his one constant companion. Since Max couldn't really tell Dark Matter to buzz off like the rest, it remained by his side. It could still hide away in the voidlands—hell, it could fly off back to the Tree of Life and finish what it started—but for some reason seemed to stay with Max most of the time he spent awake.

"I almost died," Max spat.

"It ended nice, though."

"Did it?" Max shot up to glare at the speck. What started as a hiss quickly turned to a scream, "Or did it end with me waking up to the friend I abandoned still gone?" Dark Matter floated still in the air, processing, and giving Max a sting of regret. The twinge of guilt in his heart, however, couldn't break out into speech.

"I understand," Dark Matter said. "You are hurting. Grieve as you need. I will not hold your pain against you." Kind words, yet they only twisted the knife in his chest.

A series of timid knocks poofed Dark Matter out of the air and back into Max's head. "A-are you awake?" Cori said. Even though they'd come around every day, this was a good bit earlier than usual. Max wanted to just lay low, pretend to still be sleeping, but, "I thought I heard you scream. Did you have a nightmare?" Max cursed himself.

"I'm not in the mood," Max said. "Thanks for checking in. Bye." Couldn't they get the hint? Max assumed the totodile would've given up by now.

They mumbled pleasantries Max couldn't make out as he heard them back off. The relief didn't last long, though, when their mumbles cut themselves off. "O-oh right," they stuttered, knocking on the door. "M-Max?" Max rubbed his eyes. Despite his frustration, he couldn't help the edge of a chuckle tugging at his lips. "There's someone, well, I'm not alone, sorry, I forgot to say that someone wanted to come see you."

Rolling his eyes, Max finally shoved himself out of bed. Maybe their persistence was good; it made it hard for Max to lay around moping. "All right," Max said, placing a paw on the (unlocked) doorknob. "Who's ther—" Max pulled the door open, saw a familiar espeon on the other side, and slammed it shut. "Neb?! Out of everyone, everyone! You're the person I wanted to see the least!" he shouted. "Come back to kidnap me since your goons failed?!"

"L-look, Max," Cori tried to explain when Neb cleared her throat.

"Listen to me for a second," she said. "I'm sorry." Max's prepared rebuttals caught in his throat. He'd expected justifications, not an apology. "I had no idea what they were planning until it was too late." As much as he wanted to call this a lie, she sounded genuine. Hurt, even. "I didn't even think it was you," she mumbled, then let out a chuckle. "I thought it was a funny coincidence. But those two… well, you know the rest better than I do."

Max wanted to scream. Well, more he wanted to want to scream. What happened to his old anger? Just less than a week ago he knew how to hold a grudge way past its expiration. Now, he already felt too exhausted to yell. He didn't have the energy for anger.

"Whatever," Max mumbled. He cracked the door open and shuffled back to his bed on the right wall, and the two friends followed behind. Max spread his arms out to gesture to his room, saying, "Welcome to my hovel," and then flopped down to his hay.

While Cori barely walked past the doorway, Neb didn't hesitate to strut straight to the middle of the room. She looked around the room at his notes with pleasant curiosity. "That's a good way to keep yourself grounded," she said. Her gaze suddenly met his, and she smiled at him.

Max flopped over to stare at the wall instead of meet her gaze. "Yeah, thanks," he grumbled. Did they not get he was trying to mope? "Why are you here? Don't you have patients to tend to?"

"I do," Neb said. "I have a patient I'm rather concerned about, in fact."

Max rolled back to a sitting position and barked, "Well, why don't you go bother them!?"

Neb met his glare with a smirk. "That's why I'm here," she sang. Max buried his face in his paws in defeat. She was frustratingly good at this.

"S-sorry," Cori mumbled. Max glanced up to see they'd started backing up to the door. "I'll go, you two have fu—AH!" When they turned to flee, a purple barrier popped into existence and bounced them back. "Wh-where-what?"

The pure bewilderment bordering on fear plastered across their face made Max burst into a fit of giggles.

"Leave?" Neb chuckled. "Look how much you're helping." Max stifled his laughter for their sake until Cori flashed a nervous smile. While that sight distracted him, Neb moved in to wrap Max in a hug. He stiffened at first, but let himself relax. "It's good to see you again," Neb said.

"Y-yeah," Max mumbled. The drop of mirth spawning his chuckles evaporated while guilt stabbed through his chest, memories of their last meeting infecting his thoughts. What he'd said, done, the fire, and when she tries to reach out even despite that, he treats her like this. He wanted to apologize, but where could he possibly start? By the time he worked up the courage to even consider an approach, she pulled back to sit behind him.

She started combing her claws through the fur on his back, and Cori reticently approached. Max felt a twinge of embarrassment when her claws caught in a clump of unkempt fur, and nearly whimpered when she brushed into another. "Ugh," Neb groaned. "Guys never take good care of their fur."

Max suddenly felt his teeth clench hard enough to crunch. "Really?!" Max shouted, suddenly hopping up and away from her. When he spun around to face her, he saw surprise rivaled only in intensity by his own enraged confusion. The simple observation set him off, but he couldn't place why. It's not like being called a guy was a grievous insult, yet it cut through his heart all the same. "It's not like I can control it!" he sputtered, desperate to explain his reaction (or at least justify it).

"I didn't ask to be a guy!" he declared triumphantly. Yet, when understanding flashed across Neb's expression, he realized what he said and felt a pit in his stomach. "Pokémon!" he shouted. "I didn't ask to be a pokémon! Pikachu! It-me—I just woke up covered in fur! No one taught me how! I just—it, I had to wing it!" His eyes bounced between Cori and Neb, desperate to see he'd convinced them.

Instead, he got concealed smirks.

"All right, all right," Neb said. "Sorry for calling you a guy."

"Thank you," Max grumbled before he could think. "Or—no!" The two burst into laughter and left him to simmer. His mouth hung open with rebuttals until he slammed it shut and turned around. "I should've never let you in."

"Oh, come on Grumpichu," Neb giggled, reviving an old favorite of hers he despised. "All right, we're sorry."

"Y-yeah," Cori chuckled. "Sorry."

Max glared back at both of their faces, clearly still steeped in laughter. "Sure," Max grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I guess I should thank y'all. It was pretty bad on my own, and now it's utterly terrible."

Cori flinched away, the humor in their expression fading. While Neb grew more somber, she became no less confident. "Well, how can we help?" she asked. "We're here for whatever you need."

Max stared at her with wide, frustrated eyes. Even after saying that, she had no choice words of her own. Cori backed off, but they looked more concerned than hurt. Neb, Cori, even Dark Matter, nobody reacted to him being an ass right! "Are you not listening?!" he shouted. "Why aren't you pissed?"

Neb chuckled again, and it made him want to blast her with a shock. "Because you're hurting," she said.

"Hurting you!" he countered.

"Eh," Cori interjected with a shrug. "You're not really cutting deep." They rolled onto their hindpaws and took a few steps closer. "I know what you look like when you really want to hurt me." Regret cut through Max's anger. They took another step forward, and he felt himself crumple. "If I can endure that, I think I can take this."

Even while they spoke, Max felt his glare sapping the energy out of him. He tried to maintain it, but couldn't clench his teeth hard enough to resist his anger's fade. Instead, he looked away from both of them and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. They felt damp the moment his paws made contact. He wanted to hide it, but a thoughtless sniffle made it obvious. "Of course," he grumbled to himself. "Cry about being an ass to other people like always, dickhead."

"Stop it," Neb demanded. She took a confident step forward that made Max flinch away just a bit. "You lost someone important to you. You're emotional. Give yourself a break." She had a kind, but firm, smile. "It's okay." She took another, softer step toward him. "If you need to cry, cry. If you need to yell about how much you hate us, we'll listen."

When she glanced back at them, Cori gave an enthusiastic nod of agreement. She turned back at Max, and he felt both of their eyes cutting into him. The tears he needed to hold back grew stronger, so he bit his tongue. It didn't help for more than a second. Sorrow, frustration and pain swirled up from his chest and choked out of his throat no matter how hard he tried to hold them back.

They started to overwhelm him far past the point he could think straight. It all roiled together into an ache in the back of his throat. His hindpaws felt weak, and he fell back onto his seat. The dam finally broke, and the tears poured out. "P-Pi… pi chu," he whimpered, not even noticing his slip into feral.

He buried his face in his paws while the sobs wracked his body, so he didn't see either of them approach, only found out about it when he felt Cori's scales and Neb's fur squeezing him tight. It felt so wrong, even still, to let his emotions go with others around. Not like he had the energy to stop it this time. Cori rubbed his back while Neb nuzzled his neck, their combined comfort only making more sobs rip from his chest.

Tears didn't bring any relief, not yet, but instead more pain. The weight in his chest grew heavier, hotter, while his cheeks burned more with every new tear that soaked them. His whimpers turned to cries turned to soul-rending wails with no words, no meaning, no translation beyond pure, overwhelming emotion. Pain he'd tried to hold back ripped its way out and left him to pick up the pieces of what remained of himself. At least the embrace of his friends assured him he didn't need to stitch himself back together alone.

Time passed without his notice; it felt like years that passed in minutes only lasted seconds. He had no idea how long he had cried, or even that his cries had started to calm down until passively noticing the relative quiet in the room. Neb and Cori sat around him, silent, but waiting. He didn't look up to see them, but he felt their embrace.

His paws blurred into focus in his vision, head hanging lazily from his neck. With the warm wet soaking them, he felt like they'd touched more than tears. Even though they'd long since healed, he still kept them wrapped as a morbid reminder of his sins. Since he'd stayed mostly sedentary, he hadn't bothered to change them for almost a week.

Without saying a word, Neb took his paw in hers and started unwrapping it. They revealed bright yellow fur beneath them as they unwound, marking how dirty his fur had actually gotten without his notice. "I can show you, if you like," Neb said. "It's not hard to keep it nice once you know how." She pulled the last of the bandage off and started on his other. "You just need someone to show you how."

Max didn't need to look at her to see her soft, comforting smile. He'd seen it so many times before. He nodded while she kept unwrapping his paw.

Cori wrapped their arms a bit tighter around him for a stronger hug. "And if you need anything, tell me," they said. "I wanna help you, all right?"

Max nodded along, not quite listening, but passively aware of the promise. His own thoughts raced too much for him to meaningfully listen to either of them. All the time wasted, all the mistakes, all the pain. Crying had let it all out, but now he had to deal with it. With it all so fresh, two friends by his side made the absence feel all the clearer.

"He's gone," Max whimpered beneath his breath, hearing himself only after everyone else had. His voice acted on its own, and he didn't have the strength to stop it. "I never…." His eyes drifted to the crumpled envelope next to the pile of hay he called a bed.

"H-hey, it's all right!" Cori said, forcing a nervous smile. "He probably, uh, didn't… mind?" It's the thought that counts.

Neb pulled the last of the bandages off his other paw and moved between him and the letter. Max let his eyes drop to avoid eye contact. "It hurts," she said. "That's all right. But don't waste your time on regrets." He tried to glare at her, but only managed a hurt glance. "You can't change the past." Had she grown another paw or used telekinesis to prod the knife in his chest? "But you can honor it."

That piqued his interest. He tilted his head with one ear raised, waiting for her to go on. Instead, she gave him a meaningful stare with a quick glance at Cori. "Yeah," Max mumbled. "They know."

"Know? Know what?" Cori asked.

"Who I am," Max said.

"What did he want?" Neb asked. "You two worked together. Did he ever say why he wanted to form a team with you?"

Max grimaced, looking down at his paws. "Yes," he mumbled. The memory throbbed just beneath the surface, just close enough to see while deep enough to stay out of reach. Like a splinter that had broken in half.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Neb chuckled, making Max look back up in disgust. "I promised I'd stop trying to trick you into remembering." Max's glare softened. He almost felt an exasperated smile tease his cheeks. "Take it as slow as you need."

"To explore," Max said. "H-he said… I remember—know he said more, I-" His throat closed up while another drizzle of tears threatened to return.

Cori didn't hesitate to squeeze him tighter. "It's all right!" they said. "Don't force it—or," they glanced up at Neb for reassurance, and she gave a nod, "Yeah, don't force it. It'll come." Max took a moment to regain control, sniffling and bringing damp paws up to wipe damp eyes. "Are you all right?"

"No," Max answered flatly. "Not at all." It felt good to admit, in a cold way. Digging through his memories took a lot out of him, enough that he didn't want to try again for a long while. Ideally, he'd never have to do that again. "W-well, he always cared about building the team up." He fidgeted with his paws a bit, but then took a breath to calm his nerves. "Especially after we, well. Won." Dark Matter buzzed pleasantly in the back of his head but stayed mostly silent. "He wanted to be the biggest and best team out there." Even describing that much brought a bitter taste to his mouth.

"Really?" Neb asked. "Maybe you could go back to your old team." Max flinched away at the thought. With his face downcast, he looked up at Neb like a guilty hatchling caught with his paw in the cookie jar. "Oh, Arceus," Neb chuckled. "Even filthy, you can't help being cute, can you?" He heard Cori laugh and, surprisingly, even felt a slight chuckle from himself.

"Wh-what about a new team, then?" Cori suggested with a whisper. "I-I mean you already—," Max tried to shoot them a glare to shut them up, but they weren't looking, "—do missions on your—OW!" They hopped away clutching the paw Max just shocked.

"Sorry," Max said with perhaps the worst fake surprise ever performed. "I didn't think you'd tell that I did that." They stared blankly back at his glare for a moment when Neb started chuckling.

"Max," she laughed. "Please, you think I can't tell?" She nodded to the notes around the walls. "You wouldn't need to do that unless you were frequenting Dungeons."

Max flinched away, trying and failing to steel his resolve. Meeting her gaze with his own proved too difficult, but he at least managed to harden his expression. "Look," he mumbled. "I know it's dangerous, but I've been taking precautions." One paw gestured to the notes all along the walls. "And even when I'm—"

"Max," Neb giggled. "It's fine." His defenses relaxed just a touch. "As long as you haven't blacked out," he flinched, "...How often?"

With a deep breath in, he took a seat and tried to relax. "Once," he mumbled. "I haven't gone on a mission since, though. It was the one," his paws clenched into fists, "When Drake and Lily jumped me." He felt an ember of rage spark in his chest, but it had no fuel left to catch it.

"Oh," Neb mumbled. Max looked up to see guilt in her eyes. "Well, I can't really blame that on you."

Max narrowed his eyes and asked, "Are you just acting like you're fine with this because you feel bad about that?"

"No," Neb said. As if to prove it, she shook her head and tried to regain a cheerful expression. Max still couldn't help but notice an air of pretense beneath the act, though. "Honestly, I've been curious about Dungeon sickness on recovering ferals. Of course, it's not like I can make someone go back in a Dungeon for my sick experiments." Her lip curled up into an impish smirk. "If some crazy mouse wants to go Dungeon crawling on his own, though."

"A lab rat," Max chuckled. "Should I be offended?"

Neb rolled her eyes and ignored the question. "So long as you're careful," she said, "I'd like to see how you fare." She glanced him over, looked around the room, then rested her gaze back on him. "Maybe even tag along on a mission."

"W-well," Cori jumped to say, "Are you sure it's safe?" They bounced frantically from side to side, keeping their eyes trained dutifully to the ground. "I mean, he's blacked out—in?—out, right?" Max had to resist rolling his eyes. Of course they were more worried about this than even Neb. "It can't be a good idea for him to go in alone." Now, he had to resist a chuckle. "I-it just isn't safe!" They puffed out their chest and imitated conviction as best they could. "H-he can't just go in alo—"

"Christ," Max laughed. "Cori, it's fine. We can form a team."

"R-really?!" they cheered, but then tried to hide their excitement. "I-I mean, yeah. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." While they tried their best to act nonchalant, Max and Neb shared a glance. After a look at Cori, then back at each other, they burst into laughs. "H-hey!" Cori grumbled, crossing their arms. "Wh-what's so funny?"

"You," Max said. Before they could fail to make up another cover for themself, Max got up to yank them into a hug. "You're coming up with the name, though." While hugging, Max got another look at the contrast between his arms and his paws and felt bad for getting his dirt all over Cori. He flinched away just a bit before the hug really finished but tried not to stare at his disgusting fur to let on why.

"Glad you're doing better," Neb said.

"What?" Max said, then realized he had the start of a smile. "O-oh. Yeah." He looked between the other two and felt guilt pull his faint smile flat. Even the slightest bit of relief had his eyes drifting back to his crumpled up, unmailed letter.

"Maybe I should've let you have the moment," Neb chuckled.

Max tried to laugh along, but it felt hollow. So did this oppressive air of sadness. He couldn't tell if he only felt this sorrow because they were there, or if it was genuine. "Am I feeling… right?" he mumbled. If he actually thought about what he'd said, he would've felt embarrassed, so he decided not to.

Before he'd even decided that, though, Neb had already coiled around him. "I don't know," she asked. "Feelings are fickle. As long as you're feeling them, though, you're on the right track." Max squished himself up a bit more. "Are you?"

Perfect. The exact question he didn't want to answer. "I mean, yeah, obviously," he mumbled. "Of course I feel. I always have the right emotions."

Neb hummed at that. "Right emotions?" she admonished, but didn't go further. Instead, she hugged him tighter (while he tried not to feel guilty about it). "You're dealing with a lot. It's too much for one laugh to cure." While she spoke, Cori came to show their support as well. "You'll feel better, worse, less, more, all in a timeline that never quite makes sense." She rested her head on her own paws and looked off at… no, past the wall in front. "The pain never leaves, never fully. You don't learn to carry it, but you learn to manage. In the worst of times it will feel like you've never been able to handle it." With a deep breath, she shook herself out of her thoughts and looked back up with a smile. "And that's when friends come in."

It felt right. All that she said followed logically in his head, the more he thought it through the more it made sense, but he could never quite accept it. It felt too clean, sterile. Then again, his emotions always felt a bit sterile. "Yeah," he mumbled nonetheless.

Neb smiled with a bit of cheekiness. "It won't make sense for a while," she said, "but you'll learn to accept it." Now, he almost wanted to scream. Of course, she moved too quick to let him do that and yanked him up by the scruff of his neck first.

"H-hey!" he yelled, flailing his arms against her grip. "What the hell?" He tried to reach his paws up to smack at her muzzle, but couldn't quite reach. She laughed through her grip on his neck, which infuriated him further.

Then, she dropped him right before he sent a bolt of lightning through her. "You really weren't a hatchling, huh?" she laughed. He spun around to yell at her more and realized that she'd dragged him out of the house.

"H-hey, where are we going?" he asked.

"To teach you how to clean your fur like a girl," she explained, walking east to the bathouses. "You're filthy."

"I don't want…," he mumbled, but trailed off. It didn't sound so bad, after all. She was just offering to give him a bath, right? "Who doesn't like to be pampered?" he whispered to himself.

"When I get better, I'll treat you like I used to
I'll do the things you want me to"

The sky filled with lights all around Max as he floated into a bright void. It ferried him along without a single touch, only the sense of motion. He looked for some anchor point, but the shifting void-scape only gave him a constantly shifting vignette of colors.

It felt familiar, though. He only failed to recognize it because of his half-asleep consciousness. He didn't feel tired, just not all there. Was it just a memory? A dream replicating one? He brought a paw to his chest and felt his fur too clearly to be a dream. But why would he be there? They'd already beaten Dark Matter.

"Didn't we save the world already?" he asked no one, though the world answered by getting clearer. All around him, the vague suggestions of color solidified into vague, blurry orbs on a backdrop of light blue. Like stars in the sky, they sucked the light around their surroundings to make the sky behind them look darker.

The tree.

He felt a familiar voice in his head, but couldn't quite place it. Was it just the same voice as before? That didn't feel quite right, either. He knew it from somewhere else. Before he could place it, though, the world around him grew dim and red. From every angle he felt eyes of rage and damnation bore into his soul. The very air around him grew hot, burning his fur at the touch. He could only wait to catch fire.

YOU?!

The voice penetrated his soul and ripped its way out of his chest, and he fell into silent darkness once more.