sand shifts under his weight, though he does not find ground.[break][break]

this place is unfamiliar. not just the small island they find themselves on, but everything — the air, the stars, and her.[break][break]

the softness in her voice tugs at him, offering a lifeline from depths once thought to be beyond comprehension. but he understands now just how deep it is, just how deep he can fall and has already fallen. so, almost in desperation, he turns to look at her.[break][break]

this is not his artemis.[break][break]

"she understood the risks when she sought you out."[break][break]

his head shakes.[break][break]

"we both did."

[attr="class","ooc"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gallade"]

what have i done? is this place really that much better than the one they'd left? she'd escaped, yes, but they'd abandoned a god to ensure her return home. how - how could that be what he wanted? 

"i was selfish, bringing you here. i'm...i'm sorry, alex." she sits beside him and wraps her arms around her knees.

he looks in a bit of confusion at the place around them and that too hurts. she traces a finger in the earth. this spot that lyune had razed, this patch of charred earth, has grown softer now. little buds of grass and flowers poke through. 

"my alexander saved me here. he saved me many times, really. did you do the same for her?"

ALEXANDER STONE

☉

"she saved me."[break][break]

his gaze falls to the earth, to the lines drawn by her finger. slowly, he reaches his hand out to trace along the path she's made.[break][break]

"before i met artemis, i was lost. angry. afraid."[break][break]

a pause.[break][break]

"i would've died without her."

[attr="class","ooc"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gallade"]

she clasps the vial in her hands tighter. it's one last memory of her and she ought to give it to him, but she draws it close to her chest instead. her finger, tracing patterns in the dirt, finds his. she can feel her heartbeat thrumming in her chest, blood coursing under her skin. embers sputter back to life from that small point of contact. 

drawing in a steady breath, she graces his knuckles, spreads her fingers to cover his hand with hers. 

we are all selfish. even you. even now. fernando's words come unbidden and it makes her recoil. 

"now you have another chance. at another life." she laughs bitterly. "although this plane may be worse off than the one you'd fled."

ALEXANDER STONE

☉

her touch spurs no embers, no sparks, but he can't bring himself to pull away. instead, he stills for a moment, focusing on the back of her hand, on the person beside him that looks so familiar but is by all accounts a stranger.[break][break]

"it's selfish of me to say this, but..."[break][break]

his hand tilts, turns, and find hers.[break][break]

"...i would've rather died with her."

[attr="class","ooc"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gallade"]

their fingers lace together and she thinks, this is what i needed. if she'd gone to him sooner, if she'd had the courage to leave this cursed place, to find her way by his side, then maybe he would still be here. maybe things would have been different. maybe she would have been different. 

she breathes in and out, lungs swelling. her mind is clearer now, no longer clouded with rolling thoughts of ceaseless rage. no fury, eons old, burgeoning in the body of a vessel meant to stand for scant seconds in the grand scheme of it all. 

"i know," she says. "i felt the same way. for a long time. he'd be angry with me, i think, if he knew what i'd done after he passed. who i became."

her fingers tighten and she lifts her gaze from their hands to him. and she gasps, stomach dropping. her mind races to catch up with what she's seeing and she blinks furiously, thinking no, no, no. 

she can see the setting sun behind him, through him. a certain translucence has crept over him. 

her mouth goes dry and she fights back tears as understanding hits her in full force. "i think you'll get that wish," she says softly. 

ALEXANDER STONE

☉

"maybe. but i think he'd also be happy with who you are now. with the steps you've taken since."[break][break]

to climb out of the depths of pain and despair and anger is no easy feat. he could not have done it alone. but she did, didn't she? all on her own.[break][break]

they had just been the catalyst. the spark she needed.[break][break]

his hand tightens around hers, reassuring.[break][break]

"he'd be proud."[break][break]

his gaze, still fixed on their hands, tilts once again to notice the translucence in his skin.[break][break]

"ah."[break][break]

he breathes in, out.[break][break]

"it doesn't quite feel like death."

[attr="class","ooc"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gallade"]

you don't know who i am. her time in that other world will haunt her, for better or for worse. all she knows now is that she can't return to the four walls fernando has built for her. she can't willingly walk through the cage she though she'd so desperately wanted. even if his intentions still confuse her; he'd promised her a pyre for which she could throw herself upon and instead offered her blankets and the prospect of a full life lived. 

her mind is her own again. no longer does it snap hungrily at the rage that's burgeoned her since alexander's death. she feels her grief for him in a way she hadn't been able to at the funeral. 

fitting, given the circumstances. 

she doesn't hide her shining eyes and no longer does she foot around their odd connection. she grips his hand harder, leans her head against his shoulder. 

"tell me about your side of the world," she says. "and not the bad parts."

ALEXANDER STONE

☉

so, the good parts.[break][break]

"it's..."[break][break]

he takes a moment to glance around them, to properly look at the sand, the sea, the stars, before finally returning to her.[break][break]

"...different. colder, but warm to those who know where to look."[break][break]

warm like the feeling of her hand in his. of her presence beside him.[break][break]

"we turned mauville into a safe haven. it keeps people safe when the fighting happens. gives them shelter."[break][break]

is that it, then? all the good in his world?[break][break]

"it likely pales compared to the good in this world, does it not?"

[attr="class","ooc"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gallade"]

it sounds so bleak. no wonder they'd fled. she turns her head, nose against his shirt, inhaling the smell of him, trying to stamp this into her memory so that she can remember this good-bye. this good-bye she never got, that she shouldn't be able to have right now. 

maybe this is all a blessing in disguise. 

she sighs. "honestly, i don't know. it feels like all that's good is getting all swallowed up. there's in-fighting. snakes in the grass." she swallows. 

"i willingly went to FERNANDO SILPH . i let him in my head. artemis, she - that's what she died for. she freed me from his influence. it's quiet inside my head now. and i hate that i almost hate it."

she bites her lip. "what do i do, alex? where do i go from here? i found rayquaza, but it stayed behind. i needed - need it."

ALEXANDER STONE

☉

it is bleak. his world is desolate, barren, and empty. unfit for life and yet those that live continue to fight to live. it's inspiring, in a way. sad in another.[break][break]

the mention of FERNANDO SILPH leaves him confused for a moment for the fernando in his world is a close friend. the silph heir was his best man, after all. but he quickly surmises that things must be different here.[break][break]

almost protectively, his hand squeezes hers, looking to reassure and comfort even if he doesn't truly understand.[break][break]

the one thing he does understand, however, is that artemis died for freya. silently, he mourns.[break][break]

his head leans, nuzzling against hers as he exhales.[break][break]

"why do you need it, freya?"

[attr="class","ooc"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gallade"]

in this body, of her own, away from the mist and the madness that pervaded her, she understands the truth of her wanting. before, it was slaked with envy, the crowing desire for power beyond herself so that she might rampage, slaughter, lose her mind to its fullest. 

now? it's still part of her, that desire, but clarity has brought back her compassion. grief has revitalized compassion.

"here, when the otherworldly came, we couldn't stop them. not properly. not without thousands of casualties. i was there when mossdeep fell. it wasn't until a legendary extended its hand, offered its help, that the tides turned."

but why does she need it? why not leave the saving to the rest of them, to those who've already been chosen?

she simpers, to herself. because freya morningstar isn't one to let others do the work for her.

"it trusted me," she says. "and whatever unfinished business it has there, it will triumph. and i'll be here to welcome it home." 

she speaks firmly. and yet tears spring to her eyes. alex nuzzles closer to her and she grits her teeth. 

ALEXANDER STONE

☉

"in our world, we relied too much on legendaries. idolized them. gave them power until they became untouchable."[break][break]

so, naturally,[break][break]

"it became our undoing."[break][break]

but he expects things to be different here. hopes it will be. even if she isn't his artemis, there's a bond shared between them. he would hate to lose her, too.[break][break]

"i'll make sure it finds its way back here."[break][break]

he squeezes her hand, reassuring her.[break][break]

"back to you."

[attr="class","ooc"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-gallade"]