It was Aken that woke him from his fog. A piercing pain stabbed into Pranav’s wrist that forced his eyes open.
“Ngh…” He muttered, forcing himself up into a sitting position. He leaned back against a console, massaging his head as he tried to stave the pounding headache that assaulted him.
“Aken?” Pranav asked, looking to his partner.
“You wouldn’t wake up.” Aken growled, before his anger gave way to relief, “I tried everything…I did.”
His eyes roved to the shuttered windows, now fully closed. The humming was gone from his ears, leaving only cold silence and empty darkness. Pranav tried to move some more, but found himself unable to, the fleeting adrenaline leaving him sore and hurt all over. Wounds kept at bay through sheer determination now flared and pulsed throughout his body.
If only it could take away the panic he immediately felt.
Remi was dead. Even in the dark Pranav could see his still outline, could feel the dried blood flake and crack on his own skin. Panic, fear, doubt, began to worm its way into his mind, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut.
“How do I explain this?” Pranav thought, his breath getting faster and sharper, “How do I explain this to them? What do I do? They’ll ask questions, how should I answer? I can’t lie, they’ll have psychics, can I twist the truth? How? What do I do? Fuck, what do I–”
A sharp pain pressed into his head, and Pran’s eyes snapped open, only to find Aken peering back at him. Did that…the little shit poked him with his horn! Aken didn’t even look the slightest bit apologetic! He looked…
He looked…
“Stop trying to hide your fears.” Aken commanded, pushing his forehead into Pranav’s, “Let go, show me.”
“What the fuck does that even mean?” Pranav whispered.
“Just. Let. Go.”
He couldn’t explain the feeling if he tried. It was as if there was a dam in his mind, holding back an ocean of fears and ‘would be’s’ that all mixed into a damned cesspool of rotten thoughts. But it was leaking, the death of Remi placing more volume and stress into the fears that already clouded his mind, stopping him from acting.
He couldn’t let go. He just couldn’t. If he let himself feel scared again it would mean he’d be weak again. And he couldn’t be weak, he hated being weak. It meant he had to rely on Arun again for every little thing, for every little fucking thing.
To Pranav, Arun was his proof that a god existed. His brother’s tenacity, his unwavering strength, his devotion to a pitiful leech like him, was nothing short of divine. That’s why he couldn’t be weak around him, because he wanted to stand beside his brother, never behind him, and he couldn’t do that if he was scared.
But…Aken…?
“You’re scared, too.” Pranav realized.
“More than anything.” His partner said, pushing himself into Pran’s arms.
Maybe it was because he could see Aken’s fear, maybe it was because Pranav was reaching his breaking point, and he had nobody else to turn to at this moment. But he let go. The dam that was in his mind was shattered, the flood of fear and turmoil, guilt and shame, doubt and hate, manifested as a primal scream that left Pranav’s throat raw and scratched.
But slowly, ever so slowly, it began to drain away. The thoughts were there, but the fear itself began to ebb away, unclouding his mind, having him feel like a drowned man who’d been given a breath of fresh air.
“What did you do?” He asked, looking down at his partner.
“I ate your fear.” Aken said, still wrapped in a hug.
“You can do that?”
He got a slight nod of confirmation.
“Did it taste good, at least?”
“Not so much recently.”
“Yeah?”
“Perhaps it is because it is a shared fear.” Aken said after a moment, “Or perhaps it is because I felt terrified, more than ever.”
“Can’t eat your own fear, huh?”
“Apparently not.”
They stayed quiet for a moment, letting the silence fill both their ears. It wasn’t so bad when he had Aken with him, Pranav realized. Even without the fear he expected some negativity, but he found himself…well, not well, but…okay.
He felt okay.
“I do not like being scared.” Aken mumbled, “I feel…weak.”
“Same here, buddy.” Pranav sighed, “Same here.”
“Hey…how about this?” He asked, staring at the closed shutters, “From now on, you and me, we can’t be scared out there, alright? We don’t let fear stop us from acting, ever again.”
“An impossible task.” His partner scoffed, “I’ve felt your fear, Pranav. You are always scared…and I believe I am in the same boat.”
“You’re telling me you also have emotion powers?”
“I feel what you humans call 'Negativity'.”
“Huh. That's new. Alright then, we can’t act scared out there, how about that? We could be like…shitting bricks internally, but on the outside?” Pranav waved a hand in front of his face, “Stone cold motherfuckers.”
“Again, a big ask. None can put up a façade forever.”
“That’s why we have each other right? I’ll come to you when I need help, and you come to me when you need help.”
Aken though for a moment, before asking, “Would this not be better with your kin?”
“I tell him everything all the time.” Pranav chuckled, pushing himself up off the floor, “But I need to show him I can stand by his side, that I’m worthy of that. Besides…” He gestured around the room, “It’s not like I’ll be by his side all the time.”
“...Then I accept your proposal.” Aken nodded.
“Glad to hear it.” He smiled, before bringing out Aken’s Pokeball, “Now I’m not saying you have to, but you should rest.”
“What do you plan to do?”
Pranav looked down at the body of Remi. Hopes, dreams, futures, all ripped away in a bloody finale. “If they discover him as he is, they’ll know it was murder. I need to…change that.”
“You will need me.”
“And you’ll be there. But you can’t help me right now.”
“Lies! Don’t sug-”
“[Shadow Sneak]”
Aken frowned, but concentrated, energy flickered and formed, and Pranav swore he could see tendrils moving in the dark.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
But nothing appeared.
“You’re out of energy, Aken. Just rest, I’ll be alright.”
He looked as if he was going to argue, but a sudden dip in his flight only proved Pranav correct. With great apprehension Aken returned to his ball, and Pranav waited for roughly 10 minutes before saying aloud, “Shake if you’re awake.”
The ball didn’t shake. Asleep.
Good, he didn’t want Aken to see what he was going to do next.
He stared at Remi’s corpse. Too many stab wounds, impossible to have been done by a Pokémon. Well, not impossible, maybe a Pawniard. But then they’d ask, “Was it a Pokémon that did this?”, and he’d have to lie, and that of course wouldn’t work.
Irrefutable evidence, no mistake about what happened. It’d have to be so obvious they wouldn’t even bother asking him. He had an idea, but…
“Nobody’s going to recognize you anymore.” Pranav thought, “Sorry it had to go down this way.”
Was he sorry? If he were placed in the same situation he knew he’d do the same a hundred times over. It didn’t matter who it was, he and Arun took priority over anything else. But he was sorry, why?
“Your brother won’t get to see you again,” Pranav said aloud, “I’m sorry about that.”
There was one last thing he needed to address. He pulled Croagunk’s ball from his belt. If the Pokémon was still alive, it would be in no condition to fight him. He grabbed Remi’s stun baton before tossing the ball, watching cautiously as the light formed into a shape.
Croagunk was barely alive, its breath rattled in its chest, but it stared at him with such hate that Pranav considered simply killing the Pokémon right there and then.
But then its eyes flicked to Remi, and tears began to form. A low, mournful wail escaped the dying Pokémon, a sorrowful choir that lamented the loss of someone loved. Pranav had heard the song before, he’d sung it himself in more than once.
“Your master’s dead.” Pranav said, pointing the baton at him, “And you’ll be next…maybe.”
“Die a hundred deaths.” Croagunk cursed at him, “Burn in a thousand fires. I wish you a million misfortunes.”
Pranav crouched by the near-still form of Croagunk, mildly surprised. He could understand the creature, why? No, he supposed it didn’t matter now, there was work.
“Your master’s dead. You are not.” He said, before pointing his knife towards the Pokémon, “That can change.”
“You speak as if I fear death.” Croagunk sneered, “A coward, like yourself.”
Pranav pulled Remi’s gold chain from his pocket, letting the pendant dangle in front of Croagunk’s face as he spoke, “Then I guess that means I take care of the kid myself, huh.”
Croagunk’s eyes widened, and as if possessed leapt forward. Too weak, too slow, Pranav kept him at bay with the stun baton, the hum of electricity growing louder and louder until Croagunk realized it was futile, and collapsed back onto the floor.
“Relax, I didn’t mean I’d kill him.” Pranav said, rolling his eyes, “I’ll watch the kid, make sure he’s alright. But that’s it, that’s all he’s getting.”
“What…what is it you want?”
“Now I’m thinking it’s a good idea for his older brother’s partner to watch over the kid. But the thing is, I can’t exactly have you ratting me out, right?”
Croagunk did not look sure, staring at him with suspicion. Pranav let out a deep sigh, scratching the back of his head as he spoke, “Look. I wouldn’t be in Galactic if I was a decent fucking person, alright? I know Remi wasn’t a saint either so I’m not going to be hung up about his death.”
“He trusted you.”
“And when he stopped trusting me, he died. But what fucking reason do I have to kill a kid? Now you, you I could kill. In fact, I should kill you because you’re the only witness here.”
“So why?”
“I don’t know.” Pranav admitted, “Maybe it’s because I want to feel less guilty, or I want to do a little good. What matters though, is that you have a choice. You either live, stay with the kid, join him on a journey, do whatever you need to do. Or you die. Simple as that.”
He tapped the baton against Croagunk’s cheek, “Of course, you could spill after you make sure the kid’s safe. But could you defend him from Aken? I’ll be killed, or worse, probably. You’ll have your revenge. But then one night, when you’re fast asleep, content on getting your payment in blood, Aken will slip into the shadows, and with you dreaming soundly he’s going to do the same thing I did to Remi, and mess your boy up.”
He didn’t want Aken to do that, but he had to make Croagunk believe he would. He could see the Pokémon's eyes flicker through a hundred thoughts, all of them ending with Pranav’s death. But he could see the realization there too, that so long as Aken, an immortal, existed, the kid would be in danger.
“You stay out of my way, I stay out of yours.”
“...I accept.”
Pranav brought up the Pokeball, pointing at the fallen Croagunk, “Then the next time you wake, it won’t be my face you’ll be seeing.”
Croagunk didn't bother responding to him, instead staring forlornly at his trainer before a flash of white light returned him once more to the Pokeball. Pranav stood, taking in a deep breath before he turned to Remi.
“Time to work.”
He hefted Remi’s corpse onto an office chair, strapping him down and rolling them back to the hall. He’d never done this before, but he’d seen it done in the Before. Jermaine was his name, older guy, you could tell right away there was something a little off in his head. Had a stash of gasoline though, sell to anyone and everyone so long as they had something of value.
Of course, that wouldn’t last very long.
He remembered rolling into old Jermaine’s lot, or what was left of it. He and Arun found the man’s body in the same state the rest of the place was in. Scorched to pitch, a black scar on the earth that left no trace behind. Arun was ready to dismiss it as a mistake, but Pranav always thought differently. The man was too paranoid to keep his fuel stash at his house, he wouldn’t just mess around.
But that wasn’t important, what was important was that people thought he’d fucked around with the fuel, and thus got burned. This would be the same.
When the knowledge and feeling of teleportation returned to his mind, Pranav ripped the front of Remi’s uniform, exposing his chest and multiple wounds. The Uniform was fireproof, couldn’t have that.
Holding onto the corpse he blinked, and all of a sudden he was in the air, free falling from the ceiling as he looked at his target. He blinked again, before planting a foot square into Magmar’s face.
It howled, backing upwards before releasing a torrent of flame. Pranav grunted, hefting Remi in front of him as he heard his former comrade burn. Blood simmered and boiled, bones began to melt, skin charred and popped. Pranav’s hands felt the burn as well, the heat having him grit his teeth in pain as he tried to make himself smaller. He held on for 15 seconds, 15 long seconds where the only thing stopping him from burning to a crisp was a dead Remi.
“....3…2…1!”
Pranav gasped, teleporting one last time, crashing into a familiar pool of water.
“Ngh…FUUUUUUCK!” He snarled loudly, trying to dunk his hands deeper and deeper into the water.
“It appears you have a second degree burn!” Bezos said, “I would get that treated.”
“No…fuuuuuckin shit.”
“Oh no. Your friend is dead.”
“Noticed.”
“It appears Red Chain Protocol: X, is no longer present, would you like to preserve the body?”
“Protocol…X? Xerneas?” Pranav laughed, “Of fucking course. No, fuck you.”
“Ouch.” Bezos said with no real hurt, this iteration didn’t sulk as much.
“You don’t tell anybody about this though, you hear? It’s an admin command, you don’t say shit when it comes to Remi.”
Bezos stared at him with an unreadable expression, before eventually smiling, “As you say!”
“Good, now can you locate my brother?”
“I cannot, however, you did mention a plan before the split, no?”
Right. Dream wing. Arun still had supplies, didn’t he? Maybe he could do something for his hands.
“Okay, we’re done.” Pranav said, looking at the AI, “Disappear until I call for you.”
“By the divine’s command.”
He wondered if he should have said some final words for Remi. A eulogy, of sorts. But he found himself unable to say anything, staring at the unidentifiable corpse. Here lay Remi, an untrustworthy, unlikeable, motherfucker that just did what was best for him and his family. Now here he lay, alone, unrecognizable, because he made the wrong choice.
There was probably a lesson in that somewhere.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first thing he did, stumbling into the Dream wing was stay out of sight. He couldn’t let Hazel or Emily see him, he wasn’t ready for questions, not yet.
So he placed himself behind a statue, listening to distant conversation as his hands trembled in pain and his empty stomach begged for any sort of sustenance.
But he was patient, waiting silently as he heard them climb their steps, the hiss of sliding doors and the booming voice of Bezos…then, silence.
He peaked over the rails, finding the room empty. Teleporting down he immediately began rummaging through the bag of supplies, pulling out sprays and salves, coating his hands in the chemicals until the burnt skin flaked away, and healthier skin took its place. He let out a deep sigh of relief, before he spotted something better than any medicine.
Food.
He grabbed at it eagerly, tearing the wrapper as he stared at the jerky. He’d never really had jerky before, but as the salty goodness entered his mouth he wished he had. It was probably the fact that he’d been starving, but right then and there he'd place Jerky in his top three foods.
He ate 5 whole sticks, teleporting to the pool to get water whenever the salt got to be too much. He wanted more, oh he wanted more, but Arun came first. His brother needed to know, he’d know what to do next. Cyrus was on his way to get the blueprints for the Red Chain, but he couldn’t power on the room without Giratina doing…something.
He walked past different statues and doors, hearing the sounds of wind and laughter coming from one door, the repeated swing of a pickaxe and hearty bellows from another. Until he stopped at Arun’s door.
He knew it was Arun’s because of the birdsong. The same birds he’d heard walking to school every morning, the same birds that kept him company on his late night runs. But how? Wild birds would have been hunted down to extinction in the Pokémon world. They'd exist only in dreams, and Arun knew that too.
“Bezos, can you open this?” He asked softly.
Bezos made no reply, but he heard a click, and the door hissed open for him.
“ADMIN.” A voice boomed, “I REQUEST YOU DO NOT INTERRUPT THE DREAM.”
Whispers of sights and sounds assaulted Pranav’s ear. The breath of a lover, the pride of a father, the warmth of a mother. He could feel the intangible, see the unseeable, and in the center of it all was Arun, staring wide eyed as he lay in a chair, existing in a place somewhere else. Valor was beside him, catatonic the same as his trainer was. Was he locked in the same vision? Or did he perhaps have his own?
“What is this?”
“HE DREAMS.”
“Is he okay?”
“HE HAS CHOSEN THIS OF HIS OWN VOLITION. I ONLY SHOW WHAT HE MOST WANTS.”
“Show me.” Pranav said, looking at his brother, “Please.”
“YOU WILL NOT INTERRUPT THE DREAM.”
“I swear on my life.”
And then he was sucked in, gazing at Arun’s dream from a distance. Is this what he wanted? Pranav saw his friends again, his family. He heard words Arun wanted to hear, he saw what he wanted more than anything in the world.
To just…relax.
To relax with friends, with family.
“I could give that to him.” Pranav thought, watching as his brother relaxed on a couch with a version of himself and their cousin. Money, power, he’d need both. Enough so that nobody could take their lives away from them again.
And then there were the protocols…no, the legendaries.
Cyrus was after Dialga, wasn’t he? What if…what if Pranav got to it first? He could pluck his family before their death, couldn’t he? He could bring them back. Hell, even if he got just their corpses, he could go for Xerneas next, couldn’t he? It was possible.
No…it was doable.
“If they were under my control…I could make him happy, give him what he deserves.” Pranav thought, watching as Arun laughed at a joke. The weariness that Pranav had always seen hanging about his brother’s eyes was gone, replaced with hope. “It’s not like I’m destroying the world. Once I get what I want, I can release them.”
A world where luxury meant nothing to him. A world where the two of them could sit with their family and friends. Arun would find a nice lady to settle down with, start a family of his own. He could bring Ivan back, show him how beautiful the world was, hell, if he wanted, he could even bring back Al, just to kill that son of a bitch again. It was all possible, it was all in his grasp. Unlike the Before, where no matter how hard he worked, he wouldn't be able to reach the heights of someone with actual power.
Here...he just needed to work for it, and do what he'd always done. Be tricky, be clever, be strong.
The dream began to fade, and Pranav stood once more in the square room, watching as tears ran down Arun’s face.
It only made him certain that his plan was the right one.