The landscape before them was fragile, with buildings and skyscrapers filled to the brim with instabilities. The actual time they were in this weird, funky dream, everything had appeared resolute and firmly ground. To see it in a state like this was pretty disheartening. Where would all the megaopolans live in a place like this anyway?
But what was more surprising was how Doug had begun to slowly rewind the ages of time that had passed. Lucia stood beside the combat medic, floored at the sudden amount of power he could just have to rewind time so freely.
"Are you doing all this?"She watched as pillars and concrete towers were slowly turned back in time to their original places. Glass shards reformed into planes and settled comfortable inside of their sockets. It was breathtaking to see, but was a good amount of evidence to suggest that they were, in fact, dreaming.
"I guess were are...But it feels so- Grk!"A tightness wound around the child's neck, unseen. Lucia inhaled as much air as she could given the blockage and clutched her throat. Her noises were pained and struggling to breathe properly. Any attempts of coughing or clearing her throat weren't working, and she was slowly falling back down to her knees.
Lucia looked up with terrified, pained eyes that moved in erratic patterns.
A whisper flowed through her own ears, instructions on what to do to survive this ordeal.
She had to confess. To speak only the truth.But she couldn't! All these secrets she had kept from not only Doug, but everybody! She had so much to keep away from people, to make sure that there wasn't anybody that could ever see her dirty laundry!
"Can't...breathe...""If she died in the dream, would she then die in her sleep? Lucia didn't know. The restriction of air was gaining strength over time, a good enough deterrent from keeping things inside of her bright little mind. Her eyes focused on Doug while she reluctantly let the floodgates open.
"I-I'm sorry. I have to tell the truth." Lucia said before reluctantly let the floodgates open.
"M-My parents are Rocket members in Paldea, and they've been in since they were your age."The thorns had stopped growing at least, but she still had felt the air escaping her.
"I have an older brother before he disappeared and put all the expectations on me. My first Pokemon was Hero, I wanted to get something like a cool Fuecoco but he found me first. I helped smuggle Pokemon to Team Rocket"She coughed again, still choking. It wasn't good enough?! She gulped down any last thoughts of what Doug might have thought of her before she finally let out what she had been holding back.
tw:// abuse & its aftereffects
"If...If I didn't live up to my parents' expectations, they'd hit me. Dad would get frustrated that I didn't pass a class or didn't do as well as my brother and just lashed out. Sometimes it was slapping, but other times, he'd throw books, tablets, cups, anything he had at me."
"I had to learn how to apply make up to prevent anybody from finding out."
"Ah-I lost the qualifiers for the Blueberry Regional Trainer Cup. He kicked Hero while he was recovering, called him weak and I yelled. H...He put his hands on my throat and squeezed, all while telling me that I was worthless to him, and that I had better started to take things more seriously."
The thorns were slowly shrinking down again, signifying that she was being truthful, though they still were fastened tight.
"I ran away from Blueberry Academy a week after that by sneaking onto a fishing boat and hiding. We got to Slateport and I ran off as fast as I could. i don't know where I'm going or who I run into, that's why I don't trust the League. I'm homeless and sleep on a moldy mattress in the park where nobody can see me."
Lucia was crying again, tears slipping down her cheeks as her throat was slowly gaining some slack while she continued belting out truths to herself that she thought could help. Anything that she thought could rid this thing lodged inside of her throat.
"I'm responsible for everything. I'm not good enough for my parents, not good enough for the gyms..."
The choking feeling returned, but she continued on.
"I deserve everything bad that happens to me for being weak."
Tighter.
"My parents were right, and I should have been the one to go missing, not my brother..."
Even tighter...
"And I..." she coughed once, then continued. "I don't deserve to be happy."
Although lessened, Lucia could feel the airways struggled to keep from being closed. She wanted out, wanted to actually live through this ordeal./ Hands pawed at her neck for a rope that was not there.
What's... going on?
