monstrous silver moons hang above her. pink stings her nose and fear skitters over every shuddering bump of goosepimpled flesh. her lungs ache and beg for air, but if she inhales, it's over. it's all the rest of her willpower gone. it's all her love and her worth (are they not one in the same) broken, begotten, rewritten. 

frigid words, so very real, make her gasp, and the nightmare thins. 

her hair falls lank over her shoulders, head sagging forward. she stares down - though it may not be down at all - and sucks at her teeth until she tastes iron. at lulu's admission, her head snaps up. 

"why you?" she rasps. 

Lulu Flint

☉

exposing her now would only lead to more bureaucracy, and it would mean losing june for good. if there is any salvageable part to this relationship, she will have to find it in her own terms. she must come willingly. 

as she had. 

"in mauville first. we'll fix this. we'll make it right." it sounds pathetic. it sounds desperate. but how many assets can they let slip through their cracks?

'does it frustrate you? that fate seems to be on my side?'

walsh's voice haunts her in every shadow, every breath in darkness. sleep has always been hard to come by, but now it's near impossible. annalise's words are honey on burnt toast and she recoils from them with a glare. 

"there'll be time to rest when this war is over. now, if you'll excuse me, i've half an inbox to clear, troops to oversee, and logistics to write off on."

annalise henderson

☉

spastic fingers snaggle in her shirt, but it gives way to muscle and then scale. it's an all-too-familiar sensation as the scales ripple over her skin, but she cries out in alarm when they take on a blue hue and shudder through her entire frame at once. 

great, velvety wings spurt from her back. her neck lengthens and fangs inch out from her maw. serpentine eyes blink at yuina - how does she know it's yuina? 

an amused hum rattles in her throat and she cocks her head. 

Yuina Higashi

live your life
would u still love me if i was a mighty dragon...

☉

a slight lean backwards shows the arched brow on her face at his audacity. she hooks one of her bottled espressos and cracks it. the rest of the fridge is mostly barren, save for an ungodly amount of bacon, a dozen more bottles of her chilled espresso shots, an old takeout box, and a few bottles of water. 

wedged in the back with a wine bottle tucked in front of it is some cool whip and beneath it - "is that a pie back there?"

she sips, closes the fridge door with her hip, and at the very least goes to the other side of the counter. "i'll admit you're better, but i abhor the idea that i'm useless in the kitchen." she sniffs. "you just know i'll try to make a plate of veggies."

KING WAYLAND

☉

it's not permanent by any means. she'd been startled when he'd offered; she hadn't managed more than a wordless kiss. it felt selfish, and it feels selfish now, hearing the walls echo with laughter and life. danger lurks all around them. a monster slumbers in the deep. 

she stares down at the pool of water. it's a natural formation and though the silver has dulled and the trinkets have gathered a fine layer of dust, the water itself is clean. unlit candles, half-melted, rim the decorated edge. 

her reflection frowns back at her. 

one day soon, she promises herself. one day she'll step as a mirror to her other selves and bathe this flesh in the ritual of her people. but now, she lopes down the long hallway, climbs the stairs past the training pitch, and ghosts into the estate proper. 

her nose twitches at the smell. she languishes in the doorway as delta runs by with her pokemon at her heels. his back is to her, but she catches his wry smile and glittering eyes. it's enough to make her come forward. 

"can i help with anything?" she asks in passing to the fridge, fingers trailing over the small of his back. 

KING WAYLAND

☉

"no, i know," she says and sighs. after a heartbeat, she slides out of pescis' saddle. the flygon turns his head quizzically and freya pats his neck before walking past him. over to the edge of the rooftop she lopes, where she rests her elbows and leans forward. 

"i don't," she adds after a moment, "have my bearings. sootopolis...rocked me more than i'd like to admit. and the banquet was a shitshow. thanks, by the way. for showing up. it's more than others did."

Roy Aker

18 attempt to spend the "night", surviving the elements or any threats.

☉

pescis is a glowing cyan arrow beneath her, wings fluttering faster than the eye can see. a sandstorm haloes her with how low they fly to the ground and through red lenses peer narrowed, golden eyes. 

this will only bring them closer to the end, but they've no choice save to heed the djinn's call. if they don't, its power, its knowledge, would fall into rocket's hands. and while they waltz this endless dance, marvels will splash as their backdrop. 

registeel shines brilliantly in the harsh desert light. her comms crackle with the sounds of battle. pescis alights momentarily, chest heaving. freya yanks down the wrap from her lips. 

"getting through the portal's top priority," she calls out to her cousin. "we'll help along the way, but we can't stop until we're through."

PARADOX PLAINWALK

arrives on illumina flygon
talking to roy

☉

it is quiet here, in the expanse. quiet in the dark. her knees fold. she sinks into spongey nothing. glimmers of light are distant and painful to squint at. her voice is smothered when she whispers, "i didn't know they were so far away." all these bits and pieces of her soul, strung along the dragon's - what was too much has been made scattered and small. will she lose fragments? will she become dust?

eva's green eyes, almost hazel with the filmy tint, rest affectionately on her. they sit in a swingset by the silver spire, fingers locked between them. snow falls delicately around them and freya shifts her toes, swinging closer, fingers reaching to grasp eva's sweatshirt. 

it's gray, crisp with newness. printed in a bright splash of colors depicting the spire, surrounded by dragons, on its front reads 100th draconid heritage celebration. 

a psychic power stabilizes near a cluster of memories and rayquaza spirals towards it. 

this one is not intoned sepia, but the edges are still blurred with wisps of pink. her hair clings wetly to her bare back. long silver tendrils stretch around her and steam coils at the surface of the bath.

her hands are soft and pliant on the councilman's chest. he says, eyes upon her, 'how do you feel? being put together.'

'thankful.'

water erupts. draconic fire evaporates the scene and smoke billows out. rayquaza's eyes are a furious, molten gold. merciless fire sprays from their maw and a strangled scream shatters the mindscape. 

YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE.

mint frost

☉

crimson soaks the earth. viscera splatters her hands. and when she finally moves to dodge, she's taken by the titan. fire sputters in her and now, even though she reminds herself silently that this is not real, instinct makes her nostrils flare and fingers scrabble uselessly against rock. 

"do you know me that well, greyson?" she gurgles as blood wells up her throat. air whistles through a punctured lung. 

her pupils narrow as its own eyes begin to blink rapidly. 

Greyson Connors

☉

"i did too. once." the words are cold and bitter. she had walked beside PENELOPE LIVY and spit on the power that would put people like MATIAS SILPH on a pedestal. and she'd lost everything too, but she'd been too blind, too shameful, to see her own failings that spilled their blood into the earth. 

her palms go to her desk, shoulders drawn. her muscles coil. blood swims in her ears; she hears her heartbeat, the soft lull of her own breath. 

"okay," she says on exhale. 

"we don't have enough information to conclude it's her. no action is required yet. we'll need to do more digging, and a situation this fragile demands caution." her gaze lifts. "do you concur, captain?"

annalise henderson

☉

the way opens. freya squints. shafts of light behind their newcomers' backs make it hard to see any defining features. but when they're no longer eclipsed, her blood runs cold. 

a perfection vision of her walks methodically from the entryway, eyes boring into her own. another yuina is beside her in perfect stride and freya's hands twitch for a weapon that isn't there. 

Yuina Higashi

☉

this time, her skin is not splitting across a disfigured framework. when she raises her hands, they are her hands, and so it's all the more sweet when she feels his bone under her knuckles. she isn't adept at fighting in close quarters, but she's meant to win this fight. 

so while josh's dragons keep his pokemon at bay, she attacks wantonly and violently. every blow he lands is one returned tenfold. memory recalls the sword at her hip when she needs it. his eyes narrow. 

when he goes for distance, she snaps the hilt and twin leaves unfold. thwunk, thwunk, thwunk go the arrows in his chest.

there is little fanfare in the aftermath. it's not him, after all, and killing him here doesn't free her in the real world. so she wastes no time dropping to pilfer through anything that might be of use.

"thanks," she says and lays out the items for josh to inspect.

Josh Devlin

☉