#while me and sh would bond over the shared relief you find in quiet time. we'd be the kind of besties that coexist in a shared space and —

[matzofficial]

i fear ateez and i would have been too powerful as irls and that's why god made them celebrities and made me a struggling uni student 😔

[catflowerqueen]

You will not... believe... how hard it was for me to get this out...

This is currently up on fanfiction.net, and I’ll crosspost more chapters onto ao3 later... i’m going to bed now...

Missing Scenes

Chapter 44: Safe

Despite the unfortunate fact that he had seen the direct aftermath of Laura’s “incidents” many times before, the Dark-type couldn’t shake the feeling that this one would be far, far worse than usual.

 In fact, he had a sinking feeling that it may even be worse than the first one he’d born witness to—which in itself had been legendary. A small part of his reasoning was because in the ten minutes since he had rescued her from falling into the ocean’s unforgiving waves she had not stopped convulsing or sparking with energy … but most of his reasoning lay in the fact that, even though it was very hard to see her shape through the darkness lit only by her mess of sparking energy and the occasional flash of lightning, her form looked… different than usual.

           As he lowered her to the sand and eased her into a seated position, her upper body leaning against his chest as he cradled her in his arms, heedless of the sparks she was emitting, he did his best to shield her from the driving winds and rain of the storm. Since they were a shock to his own system after having resided in that dark, weather-less world for so long, he could only imagine what it must have felt like for Laura, especially in her current condition. But, admittedly, it wasn’t as much of a shock to him as one would expect since he was far too distracted anxiously awaiting the girl’s sparking to die down long enough to fully assess her condition and see what exactly about her was making her look so strange. His anxiety and guilt only grew the longer it took, and when the sparking died down enough that he could finally see her more clearly, his heart all but plummeted in his chest at what he found.

           She was no longer human. She had turned into a treecko—a pokémon.

           But before he had a chance to do anything about this fact—not that he really knew what could be done, since he had no idea if the sudden species change was the only problem currently plaguing her, or how complete the change was—she opened her eyes to stare directly at him. He winced at the expression she was making. Not only was her face contorted in obvious pain, her eyes—usually so brilliant and lovely—seemed almost pupil-less in the intense glow they were giving off, and were staring intently into his own. She wasn’t glaring at him, but he almost would have preferred it to the utterly lost, helpless, and… disappointed look she bestowed him instead.

           “Why?” she asked, her voice cracking at the end.

           He looked away in shame, unable to bear that sad, betrayed gaze any longer. But it was answer enough for her. Her gaze hardened infinitesimally. “This won’t stop him,” she warned.

           “I know,” he assured her softly, finding the courage to meet her eyes again just in time to see them widen slightly in surprise before softening in understanding.

           “Oh,” she breathed, bringing one of her arms up as if to lay it on his cradling ones in comfort before pausing at the last minute, wary of burning him even more with the sparks she was giving off. “So, then,” she began, seeking clarification, “this was because…” she trailed off, and her eyes widened briefly before she clenched them again in pain as another set of powerful sparking racked her body. He cradled her closer, not caring about the fact that he was getting burned. Besides, he knew her well enough that he could guess the gist of what she was going to ask, and the very fact that she was going to ask it, that she still felt she wasn’t worthy enough to deserve such care and consideration left him feeling so hollow inside that he couldn’t not give her some measure of reassurance.

           “Of course it was,” he told her, his anger and his guilt at this entire situation, his desperate need to get it through her thick skull that she was worth so much more than she gave herself credit for leaking through and making his hushed whisper sound much harsher than he’d intended. “Of course it was!”

           She gave a soft chuckle before raising her arm again and setting a soft hand on the side of his face, apparently deciding that the physical contact might comfort him more than holding back in an attempt to mitigate his physical injuries. “In that case… I’m sorry,” she apologized, “but this won’t stop me either, Cr… Cr…” She trailed off, her brow furrowing as her eyes, whose glow had finally begun to dim, suddenly brightened again.

           But he didn’t notice. He was too busy seeing red at her words and the utter stupidity and stubbornness of her self-sacrificing nature and insistence that she fix everyone’s problems, even to her own detriment. But then his anger suddenly extinguished itself as he realized that her sparking had died down to almost nothing, indicating that the next stage in the cycle of her “incidents” was quickly approaching, and would then be followed by…

           His eyes narrowed, and his gaze hardened. “We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?” he challenged. “But first… ” he said as he secured his grip on her and smoothly lifted her back up off the sand, cradling her closer to his chest, “tell me: where do you think is the safest and most idyllic place for a young, amnesiac treecko like yourself to wait out the saving of the world?”

           But instead of a glare or a frown like he expected, the answer he received instead was a chuckled, “Over… there. A little to… your right. Between that wall and… those small rocks.”

           He was stunned at the response, and it must have reflected in his expression since the slightly-dazed pokémon he was holding snuggled deeper into his arms and explained, “Just now I… had a Dimensional… S-scream… of me… lying there… and you… hiding… and watching… as a pikachu comes up to me and… wakes me up.” Laura paused there momentarily before she chuckled again, rather brokenly this time, and wearily finished, “She’ll ask me… who I am… and I’ll tell her… I used… to be human… and that my name… is Laura… and… nothing else. I won’t r-remember… anything else.”

           He was quiet for a moment, grief and guilt briefly pooling within him once more—both at the realization that she still, after everything that had happened, shared a bond of trust with him that allowed him to activate her ability, and for the fact that, as it always seemed to be the case with the two of them, he’d had to be cruel to be kind in order to truly help her and keep her safe. “I see,” he said softly, honestly regretful for the treecko’s upcoming trials. But the feelings were swiftly washed away by a tide of relief. “I see,” he said again, gently carrying the soon-to-be-amnesiac to the predetermined spot to see what he could do to ensure she would be comfortable there during wait for the destined pikachu. But he soon stopped when the hand that had once been pressed against his face in comfort suddenly grabbed harshly at his arm.

           “Even… so…” she struggled to say, a glare firmly in place as she looked at him with quickly dimming eyes, “th-this… won’t… s-stop me.”

           With that, her arm fell limp and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. The sparking finally stopped, and the new Grass-type fell completely unconscious. The Dark-type felt a moment’s pang of worry and regret, but it was quickly brushed aside in favor of continuing his self-appointed task to ensure the girl’s comfort and protection while they awaited the stranger she had foreseen.

           As was always the case with Laura’s visions of the future, it was unclear exactly how far off those futures were, so the Dark-type wasn’t sure how long he would have to keep watch over his charge before the pikachu would appear. But Laura had, at least, been clear that the Electric-type’s appearance would be the catalyst for her awakening, so there was one surefire way he knew of to speed up the process. However, he wasn’t sure if it would be worth the risk since it would involve leaving Laura alone and unprotected while he searched for the item in question. Admittedly, she would only have to be left alone for a very short period of time since he knew where multiple stockpiles were and he had… ways of getting to them quickly, despite some of them being in semi-dangerous locations. But even so… he was wary of leaving her alone in her helpless state. Besides, it wasn’t like he didn’t possess endless patience when it came to this particular girl. He could afford to wait however long it took—and, given how much energy she had just wasted, it would likely take a long, long time without his intervention. But there was also Laura herself to consider. While he was fully capable of taking care of her for as long as she needed him to, there was also the fact that the longer she stayed unconscious, the more problems she would have in the long run when it came to her health—especially since she had gained a new body.

           Eventually he decided that, as Laura had mentioned that he had witnessed the pikachu waking her up in the vision and she hadn’t mentioned the pikachu worrying over any injuries or other health issues, it would probably be safe to leave her alone while he went in search of the special items. Once the rain stopped, of course, as it wouldn’t due to risk her catching pneumonia (or accidentally drowning) by getting wet because he wasn’t there to shield her from it.

           He returned from his errand just as the sun began rising on a new day, and as he used the precious items on her he was relieved to see her beginning to breathe more deeply and flutter her eyelids open. She muttered something too soft for him to hear, and he watched as her eyes—which, he was saddened to see, had lost their beautiful coloring and become just as ordinary as any other treecko’s—sluggishly moved around to take in her surroundings, focusing briefly on the brilliant sunrise, before shutting once more as she quickly sank back into unconsciousness. Given his experience with her “Incidents,” he knew that she would likely have more of these brief moments of awareness before her true awakening, and he also knew they would be colored by confusion and, likely, panic as she tried to figure out what was going and why she seemed to be missing memories. So as the sun slowly began its journey overhead, he did the best he could to comfort her and assure her that she wasn’t alone.

           He talked to her. He told her stories. He sang her songs. As he shifted his positions accordingly with the sun’s path, ensuring that she was always within his protective shadow and shielded from the sun’s harsh and unyielding rays, he even hummed the lullaby whose melody—though not the proper lyrics—had been passed down from generation to generation since the dawn of the world’s creation. Then, as the sun began its descent back beyond the horizon and krabby appeared in the distance to blow their bubbles, he backed off just the slightest bit so that her body would be able to soak up the last of its rays to use for photosynthesis. But even as he moved away, he kept a vigilant watch for the promised pikachu.

           His patience paid off when, just as the sunset had begun in earnest, a yellow-furred pokémon began to walk down the shoreline and admire the bubbles sparkling in the light and gently floating into the air. He quickly retreated further, hiding himself completely from her view, and, after a brief moment where the light seemed to reflect off of the waves and bubbles in such a way that momentarily blinded him and obscured the pokémon from his sight, he watched as Laura’s vision played out.

But despite knowing the outcome, and despite knowing that this was what was best for her in the long run, he still couldn’t help but be disheartened by the extent of Laura’s memory loss.

           As the two girls continued to talk, he pondered what his next move should be. Laura’s Dimensional Scream hadn’t revealed what she or the pikachu—who was apparently named Paula—would do after she woke up, and he didn’t want to stray too far from her side until he could be certain that she was safe. But just as he was contemplating the benefits of making his presence known, Paula was assaulted, and then mugged, by a duo of Poison-types. He bit back a snarl of anger as Laura was inadvertently shoved aside in the process, and his simmering rage was such that he almost missed the girls’ mad dash past his hiding place in pursuit of the thieves. But he quickly snapped out of it in deference to following them so that he could ensure Laura’s safety.

           He kept at a distance and stayed safely in the shadows, not wanting to interfere unless is help was truly needed. But it turned out that his caution and worry weren’t even necessary; for someone who had just been thrust into a foreign body with foreign capabilities, Laura seemed almost unnaturally good at exploring the cave and defeating enemies. Aside from the way she insisted on walking, it was almost as if she had been a treecko her entire life. Though, given who she was, he supposed he shouldn’t be too surprised by the outcome. In any case, Paula and Laura quickly located the thieves and retrieved Paula’s item, and the two of them—with their unseen tagalong—managed to return to the Beach before the sun had even completed setting. He watched as the two discussed the item—which he was too far away to identify—before Paula broached the topic of forming an exploration team together and joining the nearby Wigglytuff Guild.

           The Dark-type considered the idea. He remembered all of the stories he’d heard about the place; it was considered to be the best institution for learning how to be an explorer, which would mean that, if Laura did end up joining, she would receive excellent training and would be able to learn the ins and outs of her new body and how to strengthen and protect herself. She would also have easy access to food, shelter, and—though she would hopefully never need it—medical care. Guildmaster Wigglytuff was also known to be incredibly strong, so he would easily be able to protect her from harm. The Dark-type was still loath to leave her, but… he knew that, with the world in its current state, leaving her was the only feasible option to ensure that things progressed as they should, and that the opportunity Paula was suggesting was the best scenario that he could think of. Still, though, he couldn’t help but follow the two as they made their way to the guild, and, even once they entered, he still waited patiently outside the gates for a while. But after a half hour had passed and the duo did not come back out, he assumed that they had, indeed, been accepted into the guild.

Even then, he still lingered for a while, staring up at the gorgeous moon in contemplation. He knew there was no more need for him here, but he could not bring himself to leave just yet. A part of it, he knew, was lingering worry over Laura’s safety, but most of it was guilt over the entire situation and how quickly everything had escalated… and how powerless he was to stop it.

“Though, considering how it all started,” he thought with a resigned sigh, “I suppose I should not be surprised…”

He sighed again before tearing his gaze from the moon and shaking his head in sadness. It was time to leave. In light of recent events, there were many things which had just been added to his “to-do” list to ensure that things proceeded smoothly—the first item being locating the other pokémon who had been involved in the fiasco from the previous evening. He was fairly certain that Grovyle would be fine, but still—he just had to see it with his own eyes… even if he had no intention of revealing himself to the Grass-type when he did so. Besides… assuming that things went as they should, it might be his last chance to see Grovyle before he… well.

The Dark-type shook his head again, as if the action would dissipate such morbid thoughts, before he sighed in resignation. He stood up and brushed himself off before giving one last, lingering look at the gate separating him from his friend, and he was unsurprised to feel the pinpricks of tears beginning to form in his eyes as he set off to begin his search.

“Please, please forgive me, Laura,” he silently begged. “But this was the only way for you to stay safe…”