#/ wow so this happened. writing un-hika'ed hika is really something. \

[distortsverity]

@gogogobarry​ whispered : "Um, Hika...I think I lost you! Hello? Can you hear me? Can anyone hear me? Where did everyone go...go...go..." Barry's brave front is breaking, his voice echoing bizarrely in this nightmarish realm, nervous tones twisted by the hellish ambiance. The blond walks, floats just ahead of Hikari, yet he seems completely unaware of her presence. Suddenly, he whirls abruptly to stare daggers at his friend with eyes of glazed hazel (as if just noticing her), and the angry, warped voice that hisses from between clenched teeth is not his own. "You. Your fault. Why did you leave me here? Why did you leave me behind?!" Despite his accusatory tone, Barry doesn't move after snarling his queries, as if frozen in place with an unnatural scowl fixed on his lips. Why? Because none of this is real--it's just another one of Hikari's nightmares, courtesy of the Distortion World. And--thank Arceus--it's almost time to wake up.

                      "Um, Hika...I think I lost you!“

❝ C’mon Barry, I’m literally standing right here! ❞ Lost her? Lost his eyes and ears, more like it.

Besides . . . where exactly is “ here ”? And how did they end up “ here ”?

There are so many telltale signs of a world that isn’t quite right --- how both teens move across sheer black nothingness, how this alien space distorts the boy’s tone and pitch into something half-recognizable at best, how the atmosphere feels dreadfully sterile, how insidious vibrations ripple around Hikari’s body with every stride she takes --- yet there are no blaring sirens in her head to jolt her awake. She never realizes she is dreaming, never even pauses to gauge her surroundings.

After all, she’s too busy running, straining to catch up to him. Her legs are getting tired. Barry’s getting anxious --- frightened, even. 

                      “Hello? Can you hear me? Can anyone hear me?“ 

❝ Yes I can hear you, I’m right here!! ❞ 

Why is he always just a couple arm’s lengths in front of her?

Has he always been this fast? She’s running and she’s pretty sure he is not so why can’t she overtake him? 

                      “Where did everyone go...go...go...”

❝ OH FOR ARCEUS’S SAKE, ❞ Hikari snaps with a scream, ❝ BEHIND YOU, IDIOT!!! JUST TURN AROUND!!! TURN --- ❞ 

And turn he does, as if on command, taking her aback ( surprise quickly morphs into fear great uneasiness, for his face --- that condemning glare --- is not the face she’d grown so fond of after more than a decade of knowing him ).  

How odd. He never looked at her like that. Where’s Barry’s brand of zestful joy? Shouldn’t he be happy to see her? Wasn’t he scared just now, frantically calling out --- 

                      "You. Your fault.” 

. . . . . . What? 

❝ . . . What? Barry, what in the hell are you --- ❞ 

                      “Why did you leave me here? Why did you leave me behind?!"

If he were just about anyone else, Hikari would already be scrambling to defend herself. Hah, she’d probably even send herself into a swiftly-climbing rage in the process ( oh the nerves it must take to attack her out of goddamn nowhere ). 

But he is Barry. She knows for a fact that Barry wouldn’t glare such sharp daggers at anyone --- not like this, not without solid justification. Although his accusations are terribly vague and curt, Hikari foolishly reads into them, perceives meanings where there ought to be none, pronounces herself guilty for crimes the real Barry never confronted her about until now.

. . . So whatever she’s done, she did end up leaving her lifelong best friend behind. How dare she. 

❝ I . . . . . . I’m sorry, Barry. ❞ If only she’d stopped there and let him go ( who knows why she thought it was a good idea to continue ). 

The first apology slips out a feeble whisper, but with each iteration, her voice crescendos until she is borderline shouting at him ( shut your mouth, Hikari! saying it over and over again means nothing, proves nothing, changes nothing so can’t you accept there’s no returning to “ Before ”? ).

❝ I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry I’m sorry please forgive me you know I didn’t mean to --- !!! ❞ Didn’t mean to leave him behind ( not your fault, it is the Heavens’ Will ). Didn’t mean to soar past the clouds and into the stars while he was still earthbound ( millions want and need you up there, embrace it ). Didn’t mean to accept a pedestal that’d prompt a hasty metamorphosis, a kind of withdrawal, closing parts of herself off from even those who’d known her for a lifetime ( that is for the best, you are not just a girl anymore ). On and on and on she rambles and pleads in a woeful attempt to salvage their friendship, but in its futility, all it accomplishes is to humiliate and degrade --- ❝ I’ll make it up to you just tell me how I can make it up I won’t leave you again I promise --- ❞ Poor Barry. He must be tuning her out at this point ( as he should ). Pay no mind to this overly emotional display, lest you succumb to fatal second-hand embarrassment.

Hikari moves her hands to conceal her face, as much of it as physically possible, childishly praying that if she can’t see him he can’t see her. No use. He isn’t moving away, he’s still glaring at her like she had stabbed him in the back and she still feels the full brunt of a hatred that she never ever thought would be crushing her of all people. To her dismay, the first drops of water start trailing down her cheeks. One after the other after the other, they build into a cascade she can’t screw her eyes tight enough to stop ( oh for Arceus’s sake why is there a flood, who turned on the waterworks, where has the dam gone, how were so few words capable of ruining her composure? ). 

Don’t look at her, oh please don’t look at her when her dignity has scattered with the ( nonexistent ) winds! Cast those damning eyes elsewhere, they’re burning her alive! ❛ Hold strong! ❜ her mind demands of the rest of her body. ❛ Hold strong! ❜ . . . yet in defiance, her knees choose to give out from beneath her ( she is sent falling falling falling to the cold dead invisible earth ).

Those hateful, hazel eyes follow. Nowhere to run.

Stupid pathetic child, why do you demean yourself by groveling on your knees? Why do you avert that stone-hearted gaze by turning your face to the emptiness below? Why do you grieve so violently that your sobs wrack your body and reduce every sentence you try stringing together into incoherent blubbering? Shame shame shame on you. Get a grip! Stand back up! Look your old friend right in the eyes and bid him a solemn farewell!

Because where you’re headed, there should not be a single person whose support and company are a necessity.

. . .  . . .  . . . 

She ultimately accomplishes none of that --- doesn’t even begin to try --- because she stays right where she is, doubled over on the ground, hands muffling her cries, writhing in agony like some accursed disgrace ( a meek, final ❝ I’m sorry ❞, but this one is not so much for Barry as it is for some unseen, unknown audience ).

. . . 

All is growing deathly still. If she wasn’t so deep in mourning, she’d realize just how reminiscent it is of an unearthly domain. 

. . .  

. . . Thank Arceus, it’s almost time to wake up. 

She fails to notice how her former BFF’s neither made a peep nor budged a millimeter this entire time. She fails to notice that the scowl he wears is half his own and half that of □ □ □ □ □ ( this nightmare, this place wouldn’t be complete without □ □ □ □ □ , and coming from □ □ □ □ □ , those claims of “ leaving me behind ” are suddenly very true ). She fails to notice when Barry’s figure begins to dissipate into the blackness that engulfs them both, as though he is being steadily consumed, piece by piece, head to toe --- 

And when he leaves, so too does Hikari. 

. . .  . . .  . . . 

Reality is kind in how it welcomes her back. 

Her eyes flutter open to the picturesque scene of a winter night, familiar and comforting like home. Gentle snowfall. The sprawling, starry canvas of the Milky Way. Twisting, snow-laden branches overhead that bend under the mounting weight. So beautiful, so quiet, so serene --- but for perhaps the first time in her life, she finds little solace in the Sinnohan winter environment.  Her distress follows her here, lingering even long after the nightmare’s end ( through her body trembling with heart-aching repentance for a betrayal she had only imagined, through her hands reaching up and clawing deep into her hair in a frankly baffling effort to either recompose or punish herself ). A strange sight it must be, the breakdown of the unbreakable. She knows that too. She hates it so much.

❝ What’s WRONG WITH ME!! WHY WHY WHY WHYWHYWHYWHY --- !!! ❞

There’s the unexpected click and flashing white light of a Pokeball opening by itself, then another, and another, and another --- until her entire team is wide-awake and surrounding her on all sides. She’s barely registered the sheer panic and concern on their faces when she is suddenly enveloped by a Togekiss’s wings, her cries now melting into his chest feathers rather than ringing out across the otherwise silent landscape. 

Had to go ruin their nights too, huh? Get a hold of yourself. 

There, in the safety and comfort of Bubosca’s hug, the world stops, spacetime freezes, and Hikari, Savior of Sinnoh, is just a girl again.