Ch. 44
Imported from SF2 with no description.
-Wendy-
It seemed like we had been walking forever. The sameness of it all. One moment blended into the next, the whole day. The feeling, distinct and unsettling, that we had seen a particular sight, a particular tree or rock before was enough to set me on edge.
It didn’t help that my feet were blistered, and everything from my shoulders down ached from carrying my bag up and down the rocky inclines along those narrow traces that only the pokemon seemed to know.
I was in poor spirits, and worse with every step. Honestly, I’d have killed for a break, but they kept going, so I kept going. Hell or high water, I was going to see it through. I was worried about the trip back. Even with the map, I wondered if I’d be able to find my way back without breaking a leg falling down some sharp little drop off the side of a hill.
Somehow, I thought the worst of it was knowing, without a word being said, that Annabelle knew exactly how I felt, all day long. That she knew, and didn’t make any notice of it at all, except for one sideways glance when I bit back a profanity over being pricked by a handful of thorns along the way. I could feel the smirk she didn’t give.
Irritating!
On the other hand, it occurred to me that I would have felt even worse if she had made a big show of it. If she’d insisted we stopped because I wasn’t capable of it. She was doing what we all needed her to do. I wondered if she felt much better about it.
At the least, I supposed she was more used to it. A trip like this, I… before, at least I’d have let Staccato do the heavy lifting. We couldn’t do that here, even if I wanted to. The terrain was wrong, he’d hurt himself trying. But I also realized how weak I was, compared to them. I should have been one of the most capable, but I was one of the least.
That musing didn’t make the journey any easier, but at the least it made me determined all the more to see it through.
We’d walked all day. It was already evening when we arrived at the mouth of a secluded cave. I wouldn’t have known about it if we hadn’t been led straight to it. The lopunny sighed and stretched as Annabelle called out into the cave.
The sound of her voice echoed back at us, and for a moment, I had no idea what we were there for. Then, I felt something I’d never experienced before. It tickled, but across all of my senses, the absence of the sensation became a feeling of coldness, and finally, stepping out of the shadows, a delphox approached me, extending a hand in greeting.
“You’ve come a long way to be here.” It wasn’t words. Not exactly. More of a feeling. Surprise, tinged with resignation and a sense of having been interrupted. Not impatience, exactly, but more of the feeling that I was little more than a child, and it couldn’t be helped.
“I’m sorry to intrude but, my friends need your help.” I said, as I gestured to Tempest, and to the pokeball she held. “If what I understand is right, your daughter…” I didn’t get to finish that sentence, the delphox firmly brushed me aside and began to speak to Tempest.
I didn’t understand a word of it, but I knew it was in good hands, and I moved away, let them be. I called to Annabelle, who nodded and followed behind. We wouldn’t be far away, just far enough that maybe I could get some signal, send a message back. We found her. We found her!
The lopunny and nidorina followed, having an animated conversation with Annabelle, who seemed happy and enthusiastic about it. I couldn’t thank them enough, but it didn’t stop me from trying, when we were away enough for privacy’s sake.
Enough for privacy’s sake, but not for the sensation of pain and pressure from Claire’s sudden freedom. For a moment all I saw was red, and after that…. Black.
--Tempest--
I didn’t know what I was expecting when I was finally face to face with Claire’s mother. Her brush of contact against my mind set every hair on end, an icy chill that suited her cold countenance in equal part. She understood what I was holding. What it was. What it meant.
“So, she’s come back. That girl, her trainer?” It was a mixture of resignation and a touch of bitterness.
She growled when she picked up on my thoughts, of master. Of his smile, his touch, his gentleness. “Him.” She said, but I couldn’t make out what she meant of it.
I didn’t want to be the only one there, so I let her out. I wondered if it was a mistake as I did so, but I let her out. My hand holding the ball, cradling it like a treasure this whole time, and as I hit the button I wondered what it would mean. For her. For me. For us.
Her thoughts and mine, for just a moment, for one agonizing moment, were one. Merged and entwined to the deepest sense. My heart faltered, taking on her rhythm and I felt a sense of nausea and terror as my body protested the sudden change. My vision dimmed, and I felt the pressure of every moment, growing.
And then, I felt the sensation of being small, of being a rockruff again, with a motherly delphox chiding her daughter, and washing away all the pain. She shielded me, separated us, and clucked with disapproval as she approached her daughter, turning her, to and fro.
“Well,” She said, quietly. “You’ve grown, haven’t you?” Claire’s mother said, with a sigh. “A little too quickly, from the look of it.” She added, nodding. “It’s been a long time.”
Claire stared for a moment, and then shook her head. “Yeah.” It was all she could manage, before she turned to face me. “Tempest, this is my mother. This is Morrigan.”
I pulled Claire close, for the first time since the whole thing began, held her in my arms. I didn’t have words. Didn’t need them. Didn’t waste them on her mother. Everything I wanted to say was there in that embrace. Everything I needed to know was there.
“I see you’ve made friends.” Morrigan said, with a sigh. “That’s good. The girl isn’t your trainer, so where is he?” She asked, frowning. “Such an important meeting, don’t you think it’s inappropriate he’s not here?”
I hoped sincerely she couldn’t read my thoughts in that moment.
I may as well have been watching the spinarak’s web.
---Claire---
I knew we had been making the journey. That it was the only idea any of us had. The only idea I had. And I hated every moment of it. I hated that we were going back. That I was going to ask her for help. That I had no choice but to do that. I hated feeling incapable, hated that I was held away and my first moments back were with my mother and not with him.
And I hated the condescending tone, the overbearing attitude, the fake friendliness, that bullshit smile. I hated knowing the whole time she was greeting me, she was calculating. Calculating every little thing. Every word, every gesture.
I wasn’t about to let her have one up on me. Not this time.
“He’s waiting for me to come back to him. And to his bed. And that’s where I’m going to go, where I want to be. I’m not here because this is a joyous reunion. I’m not here because you were right. I’m here because you were wrong, in every way, you were wrong. About me, about him, about life outside of your smothering embrace. I’m here because you were wrong about what I’d find out there, and I was wrong about being too weak to look you in the eye.”
Tempest tensed, but I didn’t let her go. I held her a little tighter, and stared my mother right in her cold eyes. “The problem is, I’m too strong to hold it back. So, you can help your daughter, who found her happiness despite your every attempt to the contrary, or I can let him know I’ve wasted a trip. But I’m not going to waste a moment arguing with you over what is already done.”
For a moment, she stared, quiet, contemplative. I could feel the venom on her tongue, her want to lash out. For the first time in my life I felt the cracks in her mask, I felt the masquerade slip, and the anger and the hurt welling up.
Sensations like sharp stinging, fear of being struck, shame, anger, doubt, guilt, all radiated off of her in that moment, and beneath it, something dark and twisted. A torment, and a malice growing like a sickly diseased root from the seeds of my words. Morrigan’s unfocused gaze anywhere but on me, as time hung frozen between us.
A sensation like taste, bitter bile, frustration, anger. My words robbed her of breath, of animus, and for a moment, of id. She couldn’t act on any of her impulses, and I felt the urge to lash out rage in her for a moment, a very long moment, before she swallowed, took one deep breath and sighed.
“I see.” Morrigan said, ice cold eyes locked to mine. “I’ll have the truth out of you. What has he done to you?” She demanded, as she moved closer to me. Tempest spun, pivoted out of my grasp and lunged in, but the force of the psychic assault she met buckled her entire body, and cast her aside as if she were struck by an invisible blow.
Tempest struggled to rise, and failed, collapsing once more. Her battered body slumped against the rocky wall that stood silent vigil to the scene.
I felt the first grasp of her consciousness against mine, and for a moment, I felt panic, I couldn’t escape the overwhelming force of it, and she was anything but gentle. I felt memories bubbling to the surface that I had almost forgotten.
The sensation of her mind against mine wasn’t a touch. Wasn’t a question. It was a cold demand, the hard edge of a weapon, pushing past any resistance I could have mounted, shoving me aside and taking what it wanted. The sensation of pain, of a phantom bruise spread from the side of my head as though I’d been hit.
Her inquisition was such that it seemed made manifest of claws and fire. Her eyes locked to mine trapped me there while she dug viciously through my memories, scolding me the entire time in deafening silent psychic pressure. Relentless, pitiless, and underneath it all, a kind of anger I had never felt in my life.
There was no defense, no shelter from her. There never had been. Coming here had been a mistake. But I was strangely grateful it was only me to pay the price, that master wasn’t here to see me torn apart in front of him. In the midst of the pain and the humiliation, I felt my bladder give, and the shame of it only tinged the moment with further agony.
I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. It all happened in an instant.