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--Claire--

Tempest had found where he was. I could smell him, too. The blood. There was so much blood. It stained the snow at the bottom of the hole. So far down. Too far down. We couldn’t just climb down. Not like that.

Mira had begun to say something when I felt him. For the first time in days, I felt him. Everything else fell silent. Fell away. I could feel him. He was alive! He was okay!

He was down there. He couldn’t hear me. I wasn’t strong enough. Wasn’t loud enough. He …. Somehow he was.

Darkness. I could feel it. Enveloping me. The sound, echoing in the dark. Cold, damp, black. Fear. Underneath the calm of his voice, fear and pain. Not just fear. Terror, like a cornered caterpie. A sense of being watched. Eyes in the darkness. Being lost. Utterly lost. Confused. Alone. Afraid. Hunted.

“Hunted?” I stared, Tempest’s blue eyes locked to mine. I didn’t realize I’d spoken aloud, it shook me out of the moment. I couldn’t feel him anymore. But I knew he was down there, and we could find him.

“He’s down there. He’s down there and he’s hurt, and there’s something after him. I can’t reach him. He can’t hear me.” I stared, down that hole. There was no way from where we were.

“Whatever is after him had better hope I find him first.” Tempest said… and then leaped.

I’d never seen her move that way before. The narrowest weather worn outcroppings of rock, and old rotted wooden framework became her path. Down she went, leaping, scrambling down the hole. One wrong move and she might not have ever gotten up again.

I couldn’t have matched that. Not on my best day, four legs or two. Even Mira was bewildered by the display. She shook it off first, as Tempest began following his trail into the darkness.

“We need to find another way down.” She was right. And it killed me to think that Tempest was going to find him first.

She didn’t deserve that. Didn’t deserve to be his hero. But at least he wouldn’t be alone.

Walking away from that spot was the hardest thing I’d ever done. But he needed me to. He needed me to find a way in. He needed me to find a way to get him back out.

I’d tear down the mountain, if I had to. He wouldn’t be alone. Not one more day.

“I’m coming, master.”

--Trainer--

It was all I had the strength to do. I was so tired. So weak. I tried to stand, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t. For the first time… maybe the last time, I couldn’t do anything anymore. It hadn’t even done any good. If she was out there, I couldn’t find her.

Maybe she was still in her pokeball. Oblivious to all of this. Maybe Tempest had left, in the end. And just left them there. It would serve me right. I should have listened to her. Back then. I should have tried.

Why had I even been so angry?

The last thing Tempest would ever know of me was that I was so angry I couldn’t even look at her.

Like hell it was.

My body protested it, all of it. Moving, standing, clutching the wall. My broken arm hung, useless and dull now. Blood caked to the side of my face, the swelling had gone down a little. I could almost open my mouth. It hurt, but I could do it. Small mercies. That’s all I needed. A few small mercies.

One shaky step, shoulder against the wall. Then another. I had to try and make my way back. To find where I was before. I had to try.

But I could feel it, gnawing at me in the darkness. I could feel the eyes, they were angry now. I needed to get away. I needed to get out. I needed to get out!

--Tempest--

Dark. Dark dark. Not the way it was at night, with the moon and the stars, and all the little lights that humans like so much. Not the way it was when master asked Claire to light the way for him. The flickering firelight on the end of that annoying branch she lugged around. No. This was a different dark. Deeper. Threatening. A dark that could kill.

And it was my fault he was down here.

She said he was being hunted. I knew him. He was a match for any one of us. Whatever was hunting him… if he was afraid of it…

Then I would just have to kill it, myself. I wouldn't let anything hurt him. Never again.

For now, I had to follow him into the darkness. The darkness I created.

There. Blood. Bile. He was here for a long time. Now he was not. Further in? Why? Why didn’t he go back toward the fresh air?

No. That didn’t matter. All that mattered was finding him. I had to hurry.

Further ahead, there was sound. A snarl, and… and master was up there, somewhere. His blood. The stale, stagnant air hung heavy with it. Sickening sweet. A sound like flies, feeding where his life spilled out.

I could barely make anything out, in the darkness. Faint light glimmering off of damp hanging stones. The smell of rot, and decay. The subtle metallic aroma. His blood, smeared on the walls. Guiding me further into the darkness.

How had he managed to go this far in? I couldn’t see anything anymore. There was no light. No warmth. His scent grew heavier, he’d stopped there. The bleeding had stopped. It would be harder now. In the still dark, his scent lingered everywhere. But I was close now. Maybe close enough for him to hear me.

My voice echoed. I could hear it chasing down the tunnels, stirring everything that lived down here. I knew he wouldn’t understand. Not without Claire… but I needed him to hear it, even if he didn’t understand it.

“Master, I love you. I’m here for you!”

At first, it was met with silence. Then, from somewhere up ahead, pained, rasping, I heard him.

I heard him call for me.

And then I heard the snarling, a demon in the darkness.

--Claire--

It was frustrating how simple the answer had been. As we stood outside the chained, locked gate, rusted from disuse, we could see in. A long, straight tunnel, darkness itself, save the spot of light, so far back now, from where he’d fallen in.

The view from above gave us the answer, and we ultimately just walked a straight line back down the hill, to where the trees were still broken. It was easy to miss from below. Easy to miss, and frustratingly close.

The only thing that kept us from him, kept me from him, was a half rusted gate, and an old lock. A formality to keep the idle curious from wandering inside.

I was neither idle, nor curious. I hadn’t realized just how hot my fire could burn until I watched the lock, the latch, and half of the frame melt beneath my assault. The metal, molten and smoldering, left deep, narrow divots in the snow. Vivid glow muting to dull blacks and grays as the water hissed in protest. Despite the severity of the moment, I allowed myself just a glimmer of self-satisfaction. I could have burned hotter.

Mira was already well on her way back to the sleepy little town to get help. It occurred to me, with a sense of bitterness, that we should have done that first.

But we were here now. It was like he had always told me, we make our choices, and we do our best with that. Worrying about what we could have done differently would never let us change it.

It was time to bring him home.

I was the only one who was really prepared for what I was doing, the dancing golden light I brought with me dispelled the darkness, and I wasted no time making my way down the rubble-strewn corridor, past abandoned mine carts, rusting rails, rotting wood.

The dusting of snow had obscured where he landed when he had fallen. But even through it, I could smell the blood, the bile. Looking up from there, I was amazed he’d survived it at all. It was further down than I’d thought, from above.

But it wasn’t the time to be impressed. His bloody hand print smeared on the wall, footsteps in muddy ground. He’d been lost for days in there. How far back had he gone?

It didn’t matter. I would find him. I would bring him home.

And I’d never let him go again. Next time, I wouldn’t leave him alone. No matter how angry, no matter how frustrated I was, I wouldn’t leave him alone. Not a moment more.

--Tempest--

I don’t know what I’d expected when I found him. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel his warmth, his hand seeking me out in the pitch black that engulfed us. I missed his touch so much. I could smell his hurts, so many. So many. My fault.

But there was something else, lurking out of reach. Watching us. I understood then, how he felt. The fear. The fear of being hunted. Blind, lost.

He could barely move. He was so weak. I could taste the sickening sweetness of his blood in his breath. I could feel how parched he was.

No. He didn’t need me to think of that. Claire was coming. She could get him out. I just needed to keep him safe until she got here. I just needed to hold on until then.

I should have known it would be easier said than done. The truth is, I don’t know what I’d expected when I found it. Lurking in the dark. Waiting for me. The first blow was more than staggering. Whatever it was, it was overwhelming. My blood joined his in the air, and my pained whimper was met with his own agonized cry.

Master… despite all of his hurts, despite how weak and feeble he was, had moved between us. I could hear it, the shuffle of his feet, the snarl masked by his body. The sound, an impact. Hard, and heavy. The familiar sound of one of his kicks, striking home. His rasping breath, pained, labored.

All of his hurts, he could barely move… except to protect me. Me… the one who hurt him most of all. The one who deserved it least. He gave his very last to try and protect me. I knew I had failed him when I heard the rush of air, the sound of that demon in the dark striking back. Master’s pained scream dying in the darkness as he fell, and was still.

Not again. I wasn’t going to lose him again!

I’d never felt power like this before. It felt like I was on fire, my blood boiled, my arms instinctively stopping the raking blow of the monster in the darkness. I remembered how he moved, as he taught Claire, and lunged in, delivering a hard headbutt that pushed the demon back.

It roared. It was almost deafening in the impossible stillness around us. Despite the ringing in my ears, I heard it, masked in the echo, and swept between it and master. It wouldn’t touch him. Not once more.

Whatever it was, I realized as the weight of the impact crashed down on me, it was much bigger than I was. Bigger, stronger, faster. And it knew where I was.

Fine. I could wait. I would not seek death in the darkness.

I remembered how he moved, all the times we fought. All the times we practiced. The way he held his arms, the way he stood. The blow would come. And he would turn it away. He didn’t stop it, only changed where I ended up. He waited, calm and patient, focusing only on protecting himself. I could do that. I could hear it, the demon in the dark. It was clever, hiding itself from him, slinking about in the darkness.

He might not have been able to, but I could hear it. When it came, I was ready. The impact was staggering, even as I shielded myself. I could barely get my guard up in time for the second blow. I heard it coming back for a third, and I lunged for it.

The impact sent us both tumbling to the ground, but I was faster, pinning it down, blindly striking at it in the dark.

It didn't seem to matter at all, the demon heaving me off, claws raking against my face as it tore me away. I tasted blood. Mine this time, and a lot of it.

If I couldn't stop the monster…

I remembered his words. I'd taken them for granted then, but they made sense now. “Focus on what you came to do. No distractions, no half measures. The only thing that matters is doing what you came to do.”

What I came to do.

I felt the burning in my chest fade, as I moved to master. I didn't need to win. I didn't even need to live. I was there for him. Only him. Once again, I became the wall between us, and again the agonizing blows fell. The ones I couldn't stop were savage, tearing into me, my blood joining his in the air.

I couldn't see to fight back. I couldn't even see if he was alright. All I could do was keep that demon from him. It hurt so much. I knew I wasn’t going to last. The thought of failing him again hurt as much as all the places I was being torn apart from. I wasn't strong enough, even now. After all this, to fail him now...

It was then that I saw the face of master’s nightmare, revealed in the flickering firelight as Claire found us. It looked down the tunnel as she arrived. The distraction was all I needed. My claws sank home, rending a deep bloody swath out of the cheek of the zoroark before it managed to shove me off, running away, deeper into the darkness.

I wanted to hunt it down and finish what we’d started. I felt it in my blood, in my bones.

I wanted to. But as Claire ran to us, I could see in her eyes. Two of us needed help now.

--Claire--

If ever I needed a testament to her loyalty, I had it. I had it in every ragged wound. I had it in her blood, spattered along the rocks. I had it in seeing every place she stood, between master and that filthy mongrel.

He lived. Despite it all. He lived. Because of her. She had kept him safe. She would have, if it killed her. She knew it. I knew it. That, at least, was a place to start.

I didn't need to say a word. She didn't ask for my forgiveness. I didn't offer. We weren’t there yet, but It didn't matter. Not right then, at least. As angry as I was, as hurt as I was, it could wait.

He needed me to wait.

--Trainer--

They had found me. They came for me. Tempest… I hardly recognized her, she’d gotten big. And angry. She fought for me. Fought to keep me safe.

The light from Claire’s fire hurt my eyes, but it was also the most beautiful sight in the world. To just not be alone in the dark anymore. My head rested on her lap as she cried and held me. Tempest said something that she nodded to, and they tried to help me up.

I couldn’t make any of it out. I couldn’t even put a coherent thought together. Tempest and Claire damn near dragged me out. In my state, it felt like it had taken forever to go back, back to where I’d fallen in. I couldn’t believe I’d survived it. Looking at it then. Even the broken arm, as bad as it was, was getting off awfully light.

In the end, they could only get me to the entrance, and even then just barely. We sat, the three of us, holding each other as the snow fell around us, Tempest’s blood smearing my clothes as she clutched my torn, tattered coat like a child.

I must have drifted off, my eyes opened to a nurse scrambling out of an ambulance, two machokes and a very worried miner in tow.

There was no arguing as they laid me down on a spine board. I hated to admit it, but that was probably a good idea.

The last thing I felt before consciousness slipped away was Claire’s touch in my mind, that familiar tickle of her thoughts reaching mine. Whatever words she had, I was gone too quickly to hear them.