Eva may be slow, but she’s no blind - nor stupid. Freya’s dismissal of elaborating on her current living situation speaks volumes. There’s more to be pried out of her, but now is probably not the right time. Eva probably missed a lot in her involuntary absence.

“Riiight,” she coos with suspicion as she follows Freya towards the little kitchen in the suite. Since when has being close to HQ been a priority for any of those on the council? It’s not like Freya lacked the means to fly to Ever Grande quickly should the need arise. The dragon tamer wasn’t running out of dragons any time soon.

It didn’t take long for a little more elaboration. Of course it had something to do with King, what didn’t, nowadays? A fungus she couldn’t seem to get rid of. She hid the subtle frown beneath her fiddling with her own wet hair. Fernando’s concerns were likely valid, but she wasn’t going to argue about it. Eva was hardly biased on the situation.

“You could have stayed at my place. It’s a little homier,” the frown disappears below the ghost of a hopeful, but playful, smile. Though 100% serious, she knew it would be a terrible idea, “Don’t make it permanent, I like your old place better.”

The smell of the warming dish permeated through the air and Eva’s stomach involuntarily tightened and growled, starved any real food for Arceus knows how long. She felt skinnier, bonier, if that was even possible.

“What’s up Fernando’s butt about who you live with all of the sudden? Did King do something?”

---

freya morningstar

around and around go the leftovers. sweet pinaps and heavy spices permeate the kitchen, making freya's stomach growl. the hunger runs deep and she stretches a hand over her stomach, blinking, wondering at just how small her body is. 

eva's suggestion drags her attention back, tethering her to the present, and as happy as she is to see eva awake, she can't imagine any other conversation she'd want to have less with the woman than one surrounding king. 

"king's wasn't meant to be permanent either," she says, lips flat and tight. "but i - " she starts, but she doesn't know how to explain. she hasn't had a home in so long. 

she lost sootopolis and she went to her friend, and he put her in a modest apartment, and then when she asked, he stripped her of all she was. and then king, king brought her back. 

"no," she bristles. your ex did. "but he's still a criminal and fernando just wanted to - it doesn't matter anyway. like i said, i've been here a while. and it won't matter soon..." the microwave beeps; she raises a hand, but doesn't open it, seeing in her reflection the anguish of a rejected woman. 

'this changes everythin'.'

Eva Morales

☉

Eva’s eyes narrow on the woman before her. The pangs of hunger are distracting, as they should be. Her tired, broken body screams and fights for its own survival. She shouldn’t be so in tune with Freya’s subtle movements, the pain in the reflection she sees in the microwave. But she is.

Freya is just as ingrained in her as the need to eat, and breathe, and simply exist, emphasized by the resonating hum that still buzzed in her chest from the brief moment their souls touched. She steps forward with calculated precision. Her own reflection materializes in the warped glass of the microwave beside Freya’s. Their silhouettes blend together, making it hard to determine where one ends and the other begins.

“Whatever it is,” she gently rests a hand on Freya’s shoulder, “Whatever this means,” she speaks to sooth her own fears too, “There’s a reason, and it will all be ok in the end,” Despite feeling like she had been shattered into a million pieces, a piece of her violently ripped from her core, and with no clue how to put herself back together again, she trusted them, “Have faith.” In herself, in Rayquaza, even in King.

---

freya morningstar

the reflection ripples and she's puzzled, for a moment, bracing herself for the falling and floundering in memories. but they don't come. she isn't whisked to a castle bedroom, a slant-rhyme snapshot of eva with her hands on freya. golden seams glow at the distant ends of her mind and she realizes, in full, the gift given in exchange for these new chains.

and yet part of her feels short-changed. the selfish part of her had relished that happiness, those glimmering moments where she could be with eva. where she had been with her in another lifetime. 

she turns her head, rests her chin on eva's hand. the microwave beeps another impatient reminder that their food is done. 

freya almost says, i am clearing his name. i am absolving his crimes. he'll work for your brother. he'll be given our protection. 

and soon, he'll marry me, if i haven't lost him already. 

but she doesn't say any of this. she can't. eva's already been broken a dozen and one different ways and she can't do that to her. not now. not right now. 

"always the optimist," she whispers instead. she brushes her lips against eva's knuckles and then shrugs her off to grab the food. thankfully, steam rises from the plate. she dumps it all in a takeout bowl and fishes around for a plastic fork.

no time to wash dishes anymore. 

"i missed you. a lot of people - " she starts and then blinks, hurriedly setting everything down at the bar countertop for eva before hurrying around her and into the living room. she bats aside a couple stacks of folders, making a noise when she finds what she's looking for. 

"i met an archaeologist. howard slayte. he bought a copy of my book and i, well, i offered to get your signature on it too." she sets it down in front of eva. the golden-embossed letters stare up at them and freya flushes, suddenly nervous.

Eva Morales

☉

Eva relishes in the moment of silence, fore she just emerged from a world of chaos and confusion, only to be greeted by more of the same. Hoenn would likely not disappoint her on this front. Outside the quiet moment with Freya’s warm cheek resting gently on her hand, the turbulence of life awaits her.

The microwave’s chime comes too soon, and her hand lazy falls off Freya’s shoulder as she shrugs it. The corners of her cracked lips twitch into a little smile, “One of us has to be,” she widens the smile, attempting a bit of humor in their otherwise grim reunion. Eva wishes she could tell Freya she missed her too, but she’s not sure she missed any one, single person. She missed everything.

The sight of warm food and the rich smell of the hardy meal sends Eva’s stomach into a frenzy. It clenches in anticipation, hunger clawing at its depth, but a wave nausea also makes it difficult to dig in right away. Her first few bites are small and cautious, the act of physically eating feels foreign to her and she’s afraid her stomach may reject it all together.

Luckily, Freya returns with a distraction. Her eyes light up at the thick, leather bound book crafted with care and love by the very woman that stands before her. It never ceased to amaze her. Her nose crinkles at the idea of signing something she didn’t create, “Why on earth would they want my signature too?”

She abandons the food for a moment to run her fingers over the compendium’s cover. It’s not like she’d done anything great. Worked herself to near death? Sure. Now she’s a living, breathing tale of caution and ‘I-told-you-so’, a washed up, broken shell of what she once was and whatever greatness once lived in her.

“Are you sure they still want it?” her hand slowly drifts towards the uncapped pen sitting on the notepad beside the phone, hesitant in case Freya changes her mind.

---

freya morningstar

it's different, seeing something you hold so dear in the hands of someone you hold dear. the shallow breaths she is taking don't feel like enough, and she's not entirely sure what she's waiting for until she watches eva's emeralds soften as she drag her hands contemplatively over the cover. 

freya frowns.

"because you're a brilliant professor and inspiration to the people of hoenn. eva, everyone missed you, and i know it because it both made me incredibly annoyed and pleased to know so." eva has touched so many other lives; of course they were all going to feel a void in her absence, but freya doesn't like to share, even in her grief. 

"they better still want it. i've been holding onto it for months," she says. she picks up the pen and holds it out pointedly for eva, not taking no for an answer. 

and also because the sooner she signs the book, the sooner she can finish her dinner, and honestly, truly rest. 

Eva Morales

☉

A heat rises to Eva’s cheeks that makes her flush. The compliment feels more like a scolding but it gets the job done. She blinks a few times at Freya, letting the words sink in. Freya speaks of many and perhaps Eva did see them in her dreams; the many faces that materialized in emptiness. Some were comforting, some were terrifying, some just kept her quiet company.

“R-right,” what else is she supposed to say to that? Eva snatches the pen out of Freya’s hand quickly before she changes her own mind. She peels back the text’s cover and smooths out the front page. Her approach is deliberately slow while her brain formulates something meaningful to say to this stranger.

“An archeologist, hm?”

The professor’s face twists into one of deep thought as she begins to scribble a short message for howard slayte.

Howard,
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known - never stop looking for it.
- Dr. Eva Morales

She dots the final I with a little gusto before gently closing the cover and somewhat sheepishly pushes the text back towards Freya, “There, hope he likes it.”

---

freya morningstar

freya's not used to seeing eva flushed and flustered. the heat in her cheeks makes freya stare and she tells herself she should look away, look anywhere else, but she can't. she spent too long by her side in that hospital bed, watching her go pale, watching the life leak out of her, to not bathe in the warmth of her return.

even when she turns her attention back down to the book, freya keeps staring, selfishly memorizing the spooling hair over her shoulder, the way she holds her pen, the quirking of her lips in thought. 

only when the book is pushed back to her does she tear her gaze away. she rests a palm on the cover. 

"he'll love it," she says. 

"now," she continues and gestures to her plate, "finish up and then i insist you rest. stay here tonight. before i drag you back to the hospital tomorrow."

Eva Morales

☉

Though doubt still clouds her judgment, Eva takes Freya’s word for it and trusts that Howard will like it despite the ever-shifting circumstances.

Eva watches the book disappear back into the care of Freya for safe delivery before glancing back down at her food. Her stomach rumbles, but it tightens, nausea flares, but her weakened body screams for sustenance.

“Alright, alright, alright,” she sighs, getting quieter with each word. She doesn’t argue, she knows Freya means well. Before all of . . . this she would have resisted a return to the hospital, refused it outright. But now the Professor sets aside her pride out of fear of the unknown and the persistence she knows the newly blessed avatar will press upon her.

She swallows another bite in quiet contemplation. Then another, as the wheels of her mind, freshly greased and broken free of the comatose rust, grind and turn with no particular purpose. A lack of which leaves her at an impasse as empty and expansive as the void she just crawled out of. It scares her more than she cares to admit.

Now what?

---

freya morningstar