While Howard lamented his failure and his broken leg, Regieleki enjoyed being back where it belonged. Buried underneath New Mauville, dusty, and left to rot. But hey, it was home. It continued its ‘positive’ attitude by bouncing all around the scattered ruins. Up, down, left right.

Around the tera crystals that poked and seeped through the very foundation. An inorganic plague that had long since run its course through the place. Its infestation contaminated everything it touched and left the place inhospitable but to the hardiest and foolish of fortune seekers.

One could say that it hoped to turn everything from the historical site into its own visage, a tapestry of crystalline virus.

Miraidon peered down from above, its cyan eyes piercing the darkness. It watched June plummet further and further, until–

“Oof!” She slammed into something softer. Squishier. Her bones rattled and teeth chattered. Is this what it felt like to fall off a ten-story building? “Howard…”

Howard? The miserable pile of flesh and bones she just crushed underneath. Sluggish movements carried her off his body and to his pained side. Even her slowly-adjusting senses knew that his leg was fucked. Didn’t even need to feel it to know it.

“It’s… not good,” she said. If only he was made of metal and steel and had wires instead of veins. “Fuck. Fuck. Alright, uh….”

“VIOLET!” She looked above, her eyes searching for a pair of stars. “GET DOWN HERE AND GET US–”

Another shake, rumble. Her arms wrapped around Howard in attempt to keep them steady. But the very ground they fell on plotted against them. Rubble continued to shuffle until the air swallowed them whole once more. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--”

---

howard slayte

 

The last thing Howard saw before being enveloped in stone was the glimmering shine of Tera Crystals.

The last thing he felt was June's arms holding him tight, lest he slip on his leg and screech in pain.

The last thing he heard was her scream as stone wrapped them in its embrace, cold and unfeeling as their giants lunged forward in an attempt to stop the cave from collapsing. Yet Regieleki was a being of energy, Regirock was too slow, and Regice was a being formed from icy glass.

Giants could not save humans from the earth they were born from. They could only watch as much of the cave collapsed, leaving a small pocket for the Boundless and her companion. Howard and June should have died, yet they didn't. Maybe it was the 'fate' they had discussed earlier, or maybe it was sheer dumb luck. Yet there was one undeniable fact.

They were buried in a tomb, and darkness enveloped them. Howard couldn't see June, but he could feel her touch, her heart, and her breath.

A breath that was accelerating. Rapidly. A heart that was beating. Rapidly.

"June?" His voice was rough from the dust, and small from what had occurred. "June...?"

Then, in his heart of hearts, he felt her break.

---

june sleigh

When things got dark, light was the best thing to make it not dark. The dark held secrets, things that made you question reality. June, gifted powers from a paradoxical being, instinctively flipped on her eye-lights when the dust started to settle. She couldn’t work in the dark. She had to see what to do.

Except, sometimes, the dark holds terrible secrets. Things people aren’t ready to handle. It acts like a prison, in a sense. Trapped in the thick black nothing, the monsters and secrets can’t escape. The dark is scary, but the truth is infinintely worse.

She wished she’d stayed in the dark. Had not learned. When the lights came on, there wasn’t much to see or many places to hide. Stone swallowed them whole and earth ensnared them in its cold, thick shell. No way to know how much rubble rested above their heads, but it did not matter when it rested mere centimeters above her head.

Her first breath failed to escape her lungs. Howard wasn’t there. There wasn’t any room for him. The world pressed down on her. She couldn’t lean fully back, and she’d reach the other side of their enclosure just by leaning across _____.

Oxygen clawed at her throat, and her heart beat incessantly. She could not hear _____, his cries for ____.

The colossal task of breathing, of getting more air into her body, required an immense amount of force. But once she'd done so, it felt like the only thing she could do. Desperate limbs scrambled over ____, and fingers dug into the rough chunks of stone.

Little by little, pebbles and rocks flew backward, slamming into the other side of their packed space. Fine dust particles freed themselves from their grip on solid matter only to find and worm their way inside. Tiny hooks that scored scratches and gave the air better places to hide. She breathed harder, as impossible as it was.

And soon after her excavation attempt started, the stone sported dribbles of blood. Raw, red fingers clawed for freedom. Yet there was no end to the stone. There was too much. There was no escape from this hell. Not for ____. Not for____. Air rushed into her lungs, but it wasn't enough. Never enough. She breathed harder, faster, and the world became a blurry mess of brown and grey.

“______!” She called out. But no words escaped her worn out lungs or across her dusty tongue. “_____!”

Her body collapsed against the earth. There was no room to move, and pressure crushed her muscles and bones into a tight bundle of nerves. Desperation helped her face upward, towards the ceiling, so she could be a little bit free. Arms shoved against the earth itself, as if it would magically bend to her whims and expand forever away. Feet scratched the earth for even the tiniest fraction of room. 

This was a coffin.

They were going to die. 

But there were far worse fates than death.

I can’t breathe.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t breatheI can’t breathe can’t breathe can’t breathe can’t breathe can’t breathe can’t breathe can’t breathe can’t breathe can’t breathe can'tbreathe can'tbreathe can'tbreathe can'tbreathe cantbreathe cantbreathe cantbreathe cantbreathe cantbreathe breathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathecantbreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebreathebre–

Occasionally, ______ wondered why June spent so much time outside her apartment. He had chalked it up to needing money and delivering goods. Couriers and deliverywomen needed only their ride and the open sky above. A place to stay was unnecessary, and June did little but work to staunch the wound that debt had caused in her life.

He wondered now if she simply hated being inside that small room. Why else would she torture herself with nothing but constant work? A bike was more open than a car. Violet more so than a bike.

There was no room for words, hardly any room for breathing, and definitely no room for life. Rationality vanished between cracks of rubble and left them with mania and pain. His leg hurt. She had trampled it in her attempt to move over him, and he let out a dull moan of pain.

The air was too choked with dust to scream.

"You can't shift it. Wait for Regirock and Regice to break free. They're used to things like this." ______'s voice was cracked with pain as blood dripped onto his face from June's incessant digging. There was nothing glorious about a wounded animal digging for the surface. Her fingernails cracked and split and threatened to drown this space in blood. "Stop!"

She didn't. Even he could recognize a panic attack. He had them constantly. ______ reached out and grabbed her turning her towards him in this minute space.

"Look at me." Her eye lights blinded him. "Look at me!"

His breath rattled.

"What's your name? What's my name?"

---

june sleigh

____ struggled against his grip. Stronger than an actually cornered animal, her broken, cracked claws instead sought to drive him away. Room. Space. Space. Can’t breathe. Couldn’t. No matter how much air ____ gulped down, her lungs felt emptier than the vacuum of space.

“Can’t…” ____ huffed out. Rationality attempted to regain control, but it was an impossible battle.

Yet it kept going. “Can't breathe…”

“Out. out. out OUT!”

______ was stopping her from getting out. ____ redoubled her efforts. Needed to escape. Get out. Be free.

Breathe. Breathe.

-
Above, the earth shifted. Little by little, the sound of scraping metal got louder...

---

howard slayte

She was strong. Stronger than him. It was ridiculous how easily she overpowered him, even in a frenzied state. Even if she were functional and not reduced to a scrambling, terrified husk, she would've been capable of pushing him away. Even if she had forgotten, he remembered.

She had pushed him away before, but he had pushed her back first.

______ felt her claw him. He couldn't tell if it was her blood or his. He had never seen her break like this, into a million pieces that left her as little more than wreck.

It hurt.

"Fuck." What did he do? Wait for her attack to subside? That could take minutes. Hours, if the rubble shifted. She'd kill herself by then. He didn't know what to do. Who even was ______ to ___, anymore? Did it matter? He took a few gulps of air, and took a deep breath as she clawed against him, tearing his eyepatch off.

She couldn't breathe? Fine.

Quick as a viper, he leaned in to push air past her lips with his own.

He'd breathe for her.

---

june sleigh

Unfortunately for ______, his attempt to help was as helpful as an open flame to a gas leak.

____ exploded. His helpful gulp of air was stolen from his lungs, then the carbon-dioxide the body despised replaced it in all its glory. That was her gift of departure. Their moment of companionship lasted for a mere moment.

____ forced him away with enough force to move mountains and automobiles. ___ clawed once more at the stone behind her. More blood followed. The lack of oxygen finally affected her mind.

“D-dad!” She pulled more stone, yet there was always more to take its place. She needed him. Please. “Can’t–can’t–”

Sisyphus wept.

---

howard slayte

She stole his breath and left poison in its wake. There was no better way to describe how he had ruined her life with an exchange she could never remember. It had started all of this. It had led to this moment. She had chased Regieleki to fill a void. A void that she would never be able to fill with something as material as speed.

"Hah..." Lips coated in dust parted. He tried to swallow another breath to repeat the process, but she batted him away to resume her torture. She reminded him of a bird trapped in a cage with a broken wing, forced to scurry across the earth on fragile limbs.

But birds were meant to fly.

"He's dead, ____. Your dad is dead." His voice was slurred in pain. He couldn't rationalize anything to someone on the edge of delirium. "Someone killed and now you're chasing a ghost. Someone killed him for daring to live."

The ceiling trembled as cracks began to form.

"But this isn't what he wanted for his daughter. He wanted you to fly. Why else did you keep the bike?" ______ was on the verge of tears. He could feel them welling up, before the dust quickly sapped the moisture before it could fall. "And you can't fly with bloody wings, so..."

He lunged forward in the cramped space, grabbing her again to stop the cycle of self-inflicted pain. Insanity was the term used to describe a repeated action with the expectation of a different outcome. If that was the case, then ______ was mad.

His leg screamed in pain as she clawed at him.

"...I'm not letting go, June. Not now, not ever."

The ceiling cracked open, and violet light spilled into the room. With it came something far more important: oxygen.

Breathe.

---

june sleigh

Light poured in from above, yet ___ did not see them from her own blinding vision. Cyan greeted her, but she ignored it. Warm, loving arms attempted to replicate those of her Father, yet she did not feel the compassion. Air rushed into the cramped space, yet it was not its presence that lifted her heart.

Desperation drove her from ______'s comforting arms, and her savior was entirely ignored. Yet again, that implied she even thought about them. No, there was only one thing on her mind. 

Space. Freedom. 

June clambered above the lip of the pit, then turned to face the ceiling. So high above. So distant. There, she could finally breathe.

Feel. 

Slowly, the adrenaline wore off and she returned to the land of the living. 

To Howard.

---

howard slayte