The night air felt clammy, or maybe that was just his nerves.

Riley could barely process the world surrounding him. The recent events still holding strong. The mark on his sister's face. Mom's fury. It was so cold; Riley had never seen anything like it before. His mother had been stern before, a bit of a perfectionist yes, but never had Riley thought would she lash out at Mandy. How long had this been going on? Riley felt sick at the thought. He had no idea this was happening.

Guilt hung heavy from his neck at that realization. Did it start when dad died? Had his sister been forced to a life of abuse while grieving the death of her family? How could he have never known?! He should've been there! Make sure nothing like this could've started much less get to this point. He had made a vow to himself to keep Mandy safe when his sister was born…some brother he was. His only sister had been burning alive and never noticed.

He swallowed bile and choaked back a sob. He couldn't dwell in his own guilt right now. Mandy needed him more right now. Riley needed to make sure she hadn't actually run away. He'd never forgive himself if he let her go. The young user had been distant for far too long, and Mandy had paid far too much for his absence.

The wind picked up as Riley searched the large space of his familial property. He tried the places Mandy used to love, but after finding the tree house that was left to rot over the years, he switched gears. The realty of his situation glaring back at him as he scanned the place, he once called home and found little familiarity. The gardens were empty, except for the wilting roses. The eevee field fast asleep in the moonlight muffled by sudden cloud cover. He only made headway in his search, when he reached the sound side of the property. There he picked up on this sense of overwhelming grief.

The emotion wasn't his own, and for once he understood why. Dress shoes pressed against damp grass, as Riley ran towards the source of the sorrow. Dread dragged his heart to his feet, once he recognized just where he was running too. The family grave yard.

It was one of the older parts of the property. While the manor and grounds had been redone several times throughout the generations of his family, the grave yard had remained untouched. Other than new additions of course.

He opened the metallic gate to burial grounds, it's lock long broken, and stepped onto the cracked title pathway. Rows and rows of stone pillars and metal plates stretched out before him. No flowers or gifts rested on any of them. The names they bore completely unfamiliar to Riley despite being family. A heavy feeling of dread and grief was draped over the land. Mother used to make this place feel like an honor to be buried in, a place of rest for the brightest of minds. Yet, now the young user wasn't so sure. Was being laid to rest and forgotten really a fate to be striving for?

The sound of muffled sobs danced to his ear and Riley took off towards it. In the back corner of the yard, underneath the shadows of an old willow tree, his sister kneeled. Her form was hunched over, as if begging a god for forgiveness, her shoulders shuttering with her staggering tears. Riley reached a hand out forwards her only to stumble, once his eyes caught view of what stood in front of Mandy.

The black marble slab was clearly newer than the others in the yard. It was well kept, cleaned, with burnt candles and flowers of various stagings of withering surrounding it. Someone cared for this one. Riley knew who it was for, he didn't need to read the name etched in copper colored metal.

He bit his tongue, the iron flavor that flooded his mouth was grounding, and made his approach. Umbreon was perched on Mandy's right side, rubbing her cheek against her trainer's shoulder in a show of support. The dark type made no move to stop him, as he kneeled on his sister's left. And…

What did he do now?

The broken young woman in front of him, was not the Mandy he remembered. The Mandy he remembered was girl who loved to laugh, dance and sing. A little girl who would follow him and their parents like a hatchling. A girl who wept over the flowers dying when the winter frost came.

This Mandy, he hadn't heard her sing or seen her dance. She feared their mother, and now wept for their father who had been lost to them forever.

He didn't know how to fix this.

Taking a breath, and praying he doesn't make this worse, he opened his mouth and hesitantly spoke, "I'm sorry."

She gave no reaction, only continuing to quietly weep.

"I shouldn't have stayed away. I thought you were okay. Clearly, I was wrong."

Cautiously, Riley reached out a hand. His fingers gently pulling back a lock of her dark hair and tucking it behind her ear. The hearing aid now on plain display, another harsh reminder of how much she had suffered with out him there.

"It's not your fault," Riley said, looking at their father's grave, "No matter what mom says, dad's death isn't your fault. And I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when it happened."

Mandy huffed, sluggishly shifting to look at him. Her grey eyes swollen and red with tears, and the bruise on her cheek slowly growing darker as it healed.

"You're sorry for not lying to me?" She choked out, sorrow and anger stirring in her soul, "Don't waste your breath on it."

"Lying? Mandy not your fault."

"Yes, it is!" She shrieked, tears flooding her eyes once more, "I know it was my fault! If I hadn't-" she choaked collapsing to the ground once more.

Riley gripped her shoulders pulling her up to face him, she needed to hear this, "It wasn't! I may not know what happened! But nothing like this could ever be your fault! Mandy…please…I'll listen…let me in…"

Riley did expect her to answer him. Mandy always seemed to shy away now. He had no reason to believe she would trust him with what happened. He didn't deserve that trust. But…instead she thrusted herself into his arms, loudly sobbing. Riley, though startled, held her tight, never wanting to let go.

In the back of his mind, he felt something desperately clawing at his thoughts. Riley let them in with out hesitation. Somehow knowing that it was his sister's soul calling out to him. He would not reject her in this moment. The connection in his mind clasped together sharply. A tsunami of pain and grief hit him like a bolt of lightning. It took everything in him not to choke at the agony they now shared.

What happened?

She answered.

Images began to play in fast succession behind his eye lids. While phantom sensations seized his muscles and bones. A tragedy of truth now revealed to him.

…He's on the ground. Weakened, and unable to move, while magma slowly replaced his blood as his heart beat pounded against his suddenly small frame. There's this sense of unwavering terror, clinging to him. Sounds were muffled initially, but they slowly grew more and more faint. Was someone laughing? Dad was suddenly there, standing above him. He looked scared, but the world was swallowed by inky oblivion before Riley could dwell on it…

Wait…this never happened to him…

…The smell of antiseptic in the air was strong. Rough, almost scratchy, fabric tangled around him. A hospital room? Dad was in the corner, talking to a woman in purple scrubs and a white coat. Riley watched as their lips moved but no voices came out of them. He could feel his vocal cords suddenly stretched but Riley heard no sound. Panic filled him unexpectedly. Why couldn't he hear them?…

Oh…oh no…

…There was a pad on his lap. A flimsy cheep notebook, and a pen in his hand. "You ready?" was already written on the thin white paper. His oddly thin pale hand, scribbled out, "Yes," and handed back the pad to their Dad. He smiled silently, looking at Riley, and wrote down on the pad before turning it to face Riley. "Don't worry, doc said your condition will work with hearing aids. After today we can sing together again." There was this sense of hope, as if Riley had found a light at the end of a tunnel…

Stop…but no, he needed to see…

…His hand, the slim pale hand was pressed against the radio speaker in the car. The vision remaining forever silent, but he could feel the vibrations of sound through his palm. It didn't stop the sense of sadness and longing however. He turned against his will looking towards his father who was smiling in the driver's seat. The front seat suddenly jerked. There were warm arms around him. He felt like he was screaming, but hear no sound…

Black swallowed him…

Eyes opened and pain riddled his body. Something heavy was on him. Rubble pressed into his back uncomfortably. Or what it bits of glass from the shattered windshield. Dad was on top of him, his seatbelt snapped, thrown when the car landed on its side. A set of strong arms were holding him in place, shielding him. The bleariness cleared from his sight, and in sharp clarity, inside the reflection of the cracked far window, he could see large piece of hot metal sticking out of his father's back. Horror and fear filled his entire being, and for once it wasn't not it own. For in the reflection, it was his sister's bloodied bruised face that stared back…

These weren't his memories…

Black, the whole room was black. Everyone was dressed in black. The new chatter felt far too loud. Mandy stood prim and proper, her dress uncomfortable, but she held firm. "Don't cry," Mother whispered in her ear, "If you get upset the twins will too and I can't allow them to misbehave." The grave was freshly dug, and she didn't get to say good bye…

Riley inhaled a sharp breath, his own eyes snapping open. The moonlight graveyard coming into peaceful view once more. He could feel the connection between their souls weakening, but the agony remained. Grief became his own, but with it came anger and understanding. Lagoon blue eyes trailed over to his father's grave, tears beginning to well. His father died in a car crash. He died, shielding Mandy from the worst of the wreck. Riley choked hugging Mandy closer. He could've lost her that day as well.

Then came his anger in full force, as he realized. Mandy was blamed for it. Mother blamed Mandy, and now his sister truly believed it was her fault. It was a freak accident! It didn't matter if dad was taking her to the doctors! It didn't matter if he shielded her! It wasn't her fault! Then she had to live with that false guilt for so long…

No wonder she was mad at him when they reunited.

"I'm sorry," Riley sobbed, "I'm so sorry!"

"It's not your fault," Mandy croaked.

"It is Mandy! You should've never gone through this! Not alone! I should've reached out more. I should've visited. I should've been there."

"Why weren't you?" Mandy whispered.

"I-I…there's no good excuse for this…I'm sorry Mandy. I'm sorry I wasn't here when dad died. I'm sorry I wasn't here for the aftermath. I'm sorry I wasn't here when you got," He stiffened, "sick…"

Anxiety spiked in Riley's blood. Mandy had been hospitalized at some point…for what? An injury? Something else? Was it…terminal?

"Mandy, the hospital room?" Riley spoke.

"It's not…It's not what you think," Mandy rasped, pulling away and expression of deep shame on her face.

"Mandy, what happened? Are you…?"

She took a deep breath, fresh twin tears slipped from her eyes, "It's called Usher's Syndrome. It's genetic. I've had it all my life, but it's slow going. I got hit with a poison attack, that aggravated it. It made me lose my hearing…and one day…" She choked, "I'll go blind."

Riley's heart dropped into his stomach, before it rose back up to make his throat and chest burn. He looked into his sister's stormy grey eyes and wondered what it would be like to look into those eyes and know they will never see him again. A memory surfaced at the front of his mind, how mother always made sure to prune the flowers that weren't a perfect white from the garden. He reached out and pulled her back into an embrace.

"How long?" He asked after a minute.

"They're not sure. They don't know how much damage the poison did. I might have anywhere from two to ten years, before…before…"

"Don't go there. You might be blind by then, but I'm not going away. Not again. I'll be your eyes if it comes to it."

Mandy took a deep shuttering breath, "I'm not sure if can I believe you."

"Then let me prove you wrong."

Riley didn't deserve a second chance, Arceus he didn't. But he was going to grab this one with all his might and never let go. He had missed his sister, and nothing was going to rip them apart again.

A/N:

And there it is ladies and gents. Mandy's memories on full display. I really wasn't sure how to go about this scene, but then I remembered Aura users can share dreams, why not memories too?

So, basic summery of her back story is, while Riley was gone, she did become a successful childhood actress. Her mom was not supportive but kept silent since it was doing good for the family's reputation. Her father was in full support, helping her with music and her roles. At 13, she was hit by a poison attack from Bella's serviper, the poison was potent and Mandy was taken to the hospital. There it was realized her hearing was forever affected leading to a number of medical testes one of which was for Usher's Syndrome. She dropped out of music and acting, on her mother's suggestion. She was heading to the appointment to get fitted with her hearing aids on the day of the wreak. After her father's passing her mother forced her out of the public eye, not liking the idea of the world know she would have a "useless" daughter.

In those years of hiding, she lost all contact with friends, and was forced to work on a doctorate while caring for the eevee reserve and her younger brothers. She became a lifeguard but had to quit due to stress.

Thanks for reading.