their political careers had passed each other like ships in the night so she's never been privy to the presence of doctor morales. the clinic itself tells her a lot - that she's warm. forthcoming. kind enough to turn the lights on and give in to freya's odd request of a meeting when the sun still hasn't risen. 

the coffee smells wonderful. it's something she misses. back under tapu fini's influence, its scent had overwhelmed her. those last few weeks, with fernando sharing her apartment, had been awful with his morning brew. even now, it's hard for her to choke it down. 

but that doesn't matter. she's restless these days. caffeine wouldn't help. 

her movements are still odd - she's an amalgamation of proper high class grooming and well over a year with every day spent fighting for her life. so her gaze flicks from the coffee mug to eva's face, back to the door - her exit, should the need arise. 

"dr. morales. thank you for agreeing to my terms." she gives an awkward half-smile, gesturing between the two of them. "you'll have to forgive my manners. i'm recently recovering from...well, we'll get to that, won't we?" 

she moves her hand, finally, and reveals the black scale. it sits in a glass bottle, stoppered with nothing but a cork. leather wraps around the neck of the glass. it's small, really. not what you'd expect from the behemoth she'd come nose to nose with. from studying it and comparing it to lyune's physiology, she's come to the conclusion that it may have come from near its eye. 

Eva Morales

☉

her lips curl at the question and she goes to say no, but she startles at eva's response. her hand flies back up to the scale and she takes a couple of warning steps back, head tilted, fingers crawling upward to grace the necklace that adorns the hollow of her throat. the silver piece is befitted with her pokeballs - a gift from the morningstars. 

but there is no real danger and as soon as she can process this, she relaxes, albeit forcefully. 

she follows neatly after the professor and as soon as she's through the room, she shuts the door behind her. her gaze wanders over everything, assessing it all as she perches stiffly on the edge of the chair facing eva's desk.

"are you hurt?" she asks, looking down at eva's hands. "i didn't mean to startle you."

she shifts and gently takes the leather cord from around her neck. it pools in her lap, hands gripping the vial tight. 

"you have an inkling as to what this is then, yes?"

Eva Morales

☉

with her suspicions confirmed, a bit of admiration trickles onto her expression. freya was a scholar once, a philosopher, and being in the presence of others with a heart belonging to knowledge was always a treat. some of that still lives within her. but that part of her is snuffed just as quickly as eva leans in. 

she tenses again. 

"it was gifted to me," she says. 

hesitates. 

with KING WAYLAND , it had been easy. everything had sort of just spilled out of her. chalk it up to it being fresh in her mind or her physical and mental exhaustion acquiescing into a flood of word vomit or something like that. but really, it's a matter of trust. she doesn't know eva morales.

and more importantly, she doesn't know her affiliations. 

but i need her. there's no on else, freya. no one else to help you.

"gifted by the avatar of alternate rayquaza. my alternate self." artemis. 

she is careful, then, about what she tells eva. she leaves out bits and pieces of it, namely those having to do with ALEXANDER STONE. about bringing him back. about that last night on the island. 

but she tells her about her journey and about their relentless pursuer, kyurem. about her alternate self, leaving out the details of artemis' sacrifice, explaining that she died to save her.

that she gifted her this scale and then freya met their rayquaza. her hand goes to the pokeball at her neck. "some of his energy is imbued in lyune, i think. he taught him a move i've never seen before."

when all is said and done, she looks expectantly at the professor. 

"do you really think...you can find it?"

Eva Morales

☉

there's a touch of envy in the professor's voice when freya finishes. she doesn't bother commenting on it. the gritty details, she'd left out. the loneliness, she'd left out. she's not here to repair herself. she's here to save the thing that saved her.

"it was in battle with that other pokemon. kyurem." she shudders. sleep eludes her now with the memory of that creature's growl echoing in her head. incessant and unrelenting. 

can she return there? to that empty, awful place?

"that place...i wandered for months and saw no one. nothing except the two that were there to find me. if there were ever a place to send a meteor, well..." 

not that she cares about sea!hoenn's oblivion. but she keeps that to herself. 

Eva Morales

☉

the marks on her neck, hidden neatly by the necklace piece that holds her pokeballs, burns at the memories that have resurfaced. freya looks down at the scale, listening but somewhere else at once. the room fragments and her vision skews; half-rotted skulls glean up at her, calling her home. 

almost empty. she wandered for so long with only her dragons for companionship. artemis and alexander claimed they were the only others, but was that true? is it possible that in that lifeless place, more people like her are hidden? trapped? 

that doesn't matter. what matters is she repay her debt. what matters is she saves this god that might just save them all. 

(and so she will throw herself onto another pyre, only this time her sacrifice will have meant something.)

"yes," she says. "i accept your terms." 

she loops the vial back around her neck. "i'll send you, in writing, the finer details of the world i walked. if you think it will help." she grimaces. "time was different there. i was trapped for well over a year, but only several weeks had passed here when i made my escape.

"the last i saw of rayquaza, it was in combat with the other dragon."

Eva Morales

☉

she nods to her. then consider the journal done. it will be her main project for the next few days. in those lonely hours of the morning, when the rest of the world sleeps on, she'll curl over pen and paper, writing furiously as memories flash back. overwhelming. necessary.

she can only hope as well. but whatever variant of rayquaza that chose artemis didn't survive catastrophe either. her jaw sets. 

they can't make assumptions. there is only action. 

she stands, as this is clearly a dismissal. and the sun is rising anyway. the city is waking up. the front door tings and freya can only assume eva's receptionist has arrived. 

she adjusts her hat, adorns her sunglasses. eva's last request brings a smile on her face for the first time. she flashes teeth. 

"i wouldn't dream of doing anything to jeopardize this. call me when it's time."

Eva Morales

☉