exhaustion tugs at her bones and still, days later, they feel foreign. malformed, misaligned, though the initial tests that night showed there was nothing out of the ordinary. a few hairline fractures that would take time to heal. some muscle damage around her mouth and throat.

and then there are the lingering rashes, ruby reddened, on the patches of scales on her arms and under her eyes that refuse to molt. the obsidian horns split through starlit locks, grooves already memorized with her fingers. 

she sits and every piece of her hates the polite glances, but she cannot ignore this. she cannot turn her back on everything she's fought for. all she's asked of others, all she's condemned them for not doing. 

"no, i'm alright," she says stiffly. "did you get the scales i asked the hospital to send over?"

paxton concordas

☉

his trailing off does not make her feel any better, but she has grown accustomed to being patient. so she waits, eyeing the folder and the vial with her scales in it. her scales. it's odd, to look at something so mundane, and to know that it came from her. 

as though sensing her discomfort, or taking quiet signals from paxton, everyone else makes an egress. she breathes a bit easier; hunched shoulders come down. 

"rayquaza's burden and the energy it put in eva's body stopped her from recovering," she says and her monotone is round with worry. not of herself, but of the still-healing professor. "i thought that was the only reason why they came to me, but that's not it either. walsh mentioned something in the leviathan. something about the draconids. my blood."

her smile is tired. "you're going to get the report anyway."

paxton concordas

☉

"our history books say draconids were the first to utilize mega evolution," she says. maybe by proxy they're more in tune with these types of energies? but she's no scientist. at the very least, maybe paxton can do something with the information. 

every week. 

she would be a hypocrite by definition if she put up even an ounce of a fight, so she accepts with a tight nod. she wants to assure him that she can handle herself, that at the very least it won't start to affect her psyche, but she's come so close to unraveling before. even with rayquaza's help, it will still be a long time until she can trust herself again.

but i can trust the people i have faith in will help me through this. 

she exhales through her nose, warming at the thought of those like Eva Morales, Isaac Merlo, Caleb Harcourt, and half a dozen more who've promised to have her back should she need it. 

a grimace at the question.

"i've witnessed lyune mega evolve countless times. felt his bones crack and reshape underneath me. known it caused him pain each time. it was that, paxton. excruciating, both ways." she hesitates, reaches for her horns. "not if they'll come back anyway. rayquaza is resting now, but we could replicate it. if it would be helpful to learn more, we would do it again." 

and when he asks about the scales, she reaches up to her cheeks to pick at one of her scabs. the overgrown flesh comes away to reveal a couple of glittering golds. "i can peel them off, but they grow back when the new skin grows over the sore."

paxton concordas

☉

"take whatever samples you need," she assures once more, lifting her sleeve so he can take the aforementioned blood. he won't find resistance under the skin - no hardened scales to stop the needle in its tracks, lest he attempt to puncture the obvious sores on her arms. 

and this will give her some comfort to know she is not a monster wearing human skin. 

"the horns? no. not that i've noticed. if anything, i think they shrank a little. back when the scales were shedding. but they stopped." and the x-rays are damning. this is no magic trick. no illusion. they've grown from her skull as though they've always meant to be there.

"then we'll do it." it's hard to remember the pain when it's so clouded by memories of fear and fury. in a sterile testing center, she will feel every snap of bone, every lap of flame against reshaping skin. 

she does not bat an eye. 

they soften, actually, when he mentions rayquaza. "stronger now. we're still figuring out my powers, but after the, er, initial shock, we've come to an understanding."

paxton concordas

☉

paxton goes through the motions. a wipe to her skin, elastic around her arm. nothing she hasn't been through before with yearly physicals. but anxiety teethes at her fraying nerves when he steps out, assuring her a room will be made so they can test. 

now? 

rayquaza will come when she calls; that is certain. but their transformation had been heat-of-the-moment and her hands had been guided by the deity themselves. could she ask the same now? or are you making up excuses, freya?

he asks her a question and silence lapses. it takes a moment to register and then she says, "i don't know. they speak in the tongues of dragons, not ours. but i feel...their sorrow. their regret. maybe they did know. they've lived for centuries. if anything's seen something like this before, it's them."

she says, "i want Eva Morales there. to watch. that's my only stipulation."

paxton concordas

☉

“This is a terrible, terrible idea,” she reiterates for the upteenth time, clearly tense and uneasy about the situation, “We should be making sure they are both ok before asking them to do something like this. Do you understand how much energy has to flow through both of their physical bodies for something like this to take place?”

With her arms crossed, her fingers strum nervously against her biceps, eyes frantically flashing between both freya morningstar and paxton concordas then to the data pad she snatches off the table with alarming speed. Her scroll through the data for the 8th time distracts her from the flashes of Bailey Cooper and her Tepig’s corpses, mutilated by an overwhelming surge of energy.

There’s a reason pokemon can only stay mega evolved for so long. It’s still a phenomenon they truly don’t understand in its fullest. The energy used to flow through her when she was touched by the Mikado organ - and it was taxing. It was also nothing compared to the energy it would take for Rayquaza to mega evolve.

“We’re playing with lives here. What answers that we don’t have could possibly be worth the risk?”

She poses the question again, but knows they have both made up their minds. Eva is here as a formality and because she could never say no to Freya . . . Or leave Freya and Rayquaza's well-being in the hands of someone else far less qualified to deal with it if things went South and their bodies reject another surge of energy like this.

---

freya morningstar & paxton concordas

in the time it takes for her to suck down the contents of her apple juice, rayquaza abandons their monitoring above sootopolis' skies and makes way for ever grande. the serpent's consciousness brushes their avatar, searching at first for signs of distress, and when finding staunch intent and determination, understands what's being asked of them. 

and still they come, though the feelings shared between their connection grow muddied. strong and still too alien for freya to understand. 

eva is right. of course she is. but the time it would take for them to recuperate is time wasted - with new information, with new readings, eva will be better equipped to do the next biggest thing freya will ever ask of her (the first, being to forgive king). 

and that's figuring out how to cleanse herself of her pact to kyogre, and to rocket. 

"i can do it," she insists. rayquaza leers at them from above and snorts contemptuously. the dragon's pride makes her smile. "we can do it.

"paxton, show me where you need me."

Eva Morales paxton concordas

☉