Chapter 11: Guilt

"~Open the door you FUCKING WHORE!~"

Anne hyperventilated as she watched the door to her room shake inside the weathered frame holding it in place, her father's every bang threatening to finally make the old, slightly moldy wood give in and leave nothing between herself and the result of whichever minor slight it was that upset him this time. Every loud noise made her try to back into the corner further, to little effect beyond the heat getting drained out of her frail body even faster as it pressed itself into the outer wall.

"~Once I get in there I'm gonna fucking KILL that RAT of yours, OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!~"

As much as the girl was panicking though, most of her thoughts that weren't suffocating fear at her own parent were worrying about Ember instead, the teeny Fennekin bundling in as close into her front as she could, trying to find refuge from the hellish world that awaited her outside of Anne's embrace. Her human tried desperately to think of something, anything to do, she could've sworn there should've been a window on the outer wall but there wasn't, there never was, they were cornered and only had as long to live as it took the drunkard mere meters away from them to break down the final barrier in front of him. Each shouted bang that followed was accompanied with its own slam, each fiercer and more savage, wood chips and paint flaking off every time-

"~OPEN!~"

A large crack sprouted from the top of the door, reaching almost halfway through, the girl letting out an involuntary squeal of horror as she held Ember even tighter, helping her look away from the unfolding terror, doing whatever she could to provide the lil' fox whatever comfort she could in their final moments.

"~THE!~"

The crack expanded massively under the second strike, breaking away enough of the rotten wood to let Anne get a peek of the furious, bloodshot eyes on the other side of the doorway, and the bared, rotten teeth underneath them, the sight horrifying enough to the point where all she could do is close her own eyes and curl up even tighter, bracing for whatever was to follow.

"~FUCKING!~"

"I don't think you need to see any more of this...~"

"~DOOR!~"

The strange, whispered voice made Anne look up just in time for the final strike to connect and break the door in half- followed by the rest of the reality around her, the whole scenery breaking apart into colorful, sparkly glitter before fading away into utter darkness, leaving her staring at nothing as her dream-numbed brain tried to process what it was even seeing. In an instant, it was only her, Ember, and someone else left, the girl's shaky gaze slowly turning to take a closer look at the Mismagius that had been hovering in the void beside her for an indeterminate amount of time.

As terrifying as that sight would normally be, the unreality of everything around her heavily dulled its impact, limiting Anne's reaction to just a quiet gasp and a brief stare before looking back down at the fox she'd been trying to comfort all along- only to find her too to be very different. Larger...? Taller...? Was she wearing something...? She was thankfully too dumbfounded and shellshocked to pay enough attention to the sluggishness of her thoughts to get frustrated by it, but the genuine confusion that underlied them was still there, trying to make heads and bushy tails out of the bipedal fox resting their head on her lap, ultimately seeming unable to.

"Hmmm... I suppose it won't hurt...~"

The whispers made her look back up at the ghost again and try to at least crack that odd mystery, their innately crooked smile growing that much wider in response, yellow eyes starting to glow the more she looked at them, the darkness around her starting to warble-

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And then, one blink later, Anne found herself in yet another kind of darkness, more and more of her sensations starting to slowly come to as well. As dark as the almost pitch black ceiling of this odd tent was, one glance over to her right and at the outer wall did provide her something to actually focus on, the bluish moonlight just strong enough for her to make out the treetops through the window, and to weakly illuminate the bed she was resting on, the raggedy blanket providing more warmth than she would've-

...oh?

It wasn't until she tried to shift on the soft bedding that Anne actually felt the furry, warm weight that had been pressing itself into her chest and side up until then, with what felt like thin arms and paws mirroring it from the other side. The awareness that there was something else in here with her and this close while at it almost made her try to scramble away there and then- at least, until she began to realize how... familiar some of those sensations were. The weight, the warmth, the texture of both the softer fur that was nuzzling her through her shirt and the much warmer, much rougher kind that she could feel pressing into her collarbone- the more she thought, the more of the details began to creep up from the recesses of her memory, and not the recent kind.

Wait...

Trying to figure out who this other being was was rather tricky on the account of limited lighting and the light shawl that was covering most of the stranger, obscuring most details. Most but not all, with one large, triangular ear sticking out through a hole in the fabric, the clump of darker fluff inside it stiff enough to not care about gravity as it pointed straight up. Not like a Fennekin... but from the pictures of a couple encyclopedias she remembered reading through to try to process her grief before it backfired hard on her, quite like a Braixen.

It can't be...

The body shape seemed to fit, a light squirm test determining most of the fox's body to be cuddled right up to hers- and also that whatever it was that had been keeping her left arm numbed had mostly worn off by now, even the small motions making Anne wince. The trepidation that gripped Anne's mind as she reached over to pull back the hood on the fox's head largely overshadowed any physical aching though, the girl trying to suppress the internal realization that was steadily building up as much as she could lest it all turned out to be merely a freak coincidence, lest she would have to experience the pain of having to let go of Ember again-

It wasn't a definite answer, but as far as hints go, the Braixen wearing an eyepatch on the same eye that Ember couldn't see out of was probably the strongest one she was ever going to see, Anne's eyes going wide as the mental dam she'd set for herself began to buckle and shatter, the entirety of her tiny body shaking at the realization-

"~E-Ember...? EMBER!"

She couldn't care an iota less about how much noise she made as blinding, overwhelming joy filled her mind, her right arm reaching up underneath Ember's armpit to scoop the vixen up into as close of a hug as she could manage in her moment, sitting up just so she could comfort most of her friend in the same position they would spend hours at a time in- or as close of an approximation as possible considering the fact that she just didn't fit anymore. As much as she wanted to verbally express her joy further, soon enough Anne found herself fighting through tears as she curled her body around her one flame of hope, now reignited into a roaring inferno, warm and nourishing enough to drive away any strain and exhaustion she was currently experiencing, leaving only bliss and relief.

Just as her jubilant exclamation turned into a silent, intense hug, the hug slowly turned into quiet, held in sobs- all the fears about how she was doing, all the worries about whether she did find someone who would love and protect her in the end, all the harrowing possibilities of her having been put down or handed off to a novice trainer- all of them were now leaving her strained mind one tear at a time, increasingly wetting her well worn shirt as she felt the asleep fox's chest expand and contract into her own.

She was safe... th-they were finally safe...

As Anne continued to cling to Ember, not wanting to let go of her even briefly for the next forever, the sheer adrenaline that accompanied her revelation had slowly began to fade, her breathing growing shakier as she burned through the remainder of her emotional high, leaving her just achey and drowsy- and with Ember at her side, once more. Judging from how she didn't even wake up at that hug, she must've been just as exhausted, the thought making Anne chuckle weakly while she snuck her hand underneath the shawl and slowly stroked the vixen's head between her ears, the repetitive motions from years past getting put to use as if no time had passed at all.

"~I-I'm here, I-I'm here…~"

The gentle, calm repetition was equally effective at soothing both Ember's and Anne's own psyches, the tween drifting increasingly closer to total exhaustion by the moment, closing her eyes for a bit longer- before a quiet, unnatural whisper from deeper inside the room snapped her back to full awareness, unconscious foxie getting held tighter as her human scanned for threats-

A pair of dimly glowing, yellow and red eyes staring at her from further inside the room was as definite of a threat as they got, a shriek of fear getting caught in Anne's throat as she tried to scoot away, twisting herself as much as she could to try to put her own body between the seemingly malicious ghost and the innocent fox, clinging to the latter closer still. The Mismagius' attempt to approach her received a similar horrified whine, audible this time, the pitiful sound thankfully making the much reviled bringer of curses stop in their tracks with another drawn out whisper.

Anne had no idea how to react to these sounds, whether these were the terrifying, mind breaking incantations she'd read about growing up or whether they were something else altogether, her injuries not even letting her attempt to protect herself from them by plugging her ears, as obviously futile as that idea was. What she could do at least was look away, and that's what she did, clenching her eyes shut and trying to bring her head closer to Ember's, before curling up even tighter, bracing for whatever was to follow.

But then... nothing did, nothing painful or threatening at least- she heard the ghost start whispering again, more drawn out this time but also more... melodic, almost rhythmic at times, mumbling out what felt like a rudimentary yet ethereal tune, one that Anne couldn't help but to have reached deep into her mind with each syllable. Sound by sound, the tension in her body began to evaporate, the terror that had gripped her mind started to lose power, even the constant aching in her left arm started to diminish to the point of being completely ignorable in just a few short moments, the girl's breath steadying out by the verse of what had to be some sort of chant.

And then, it ended, Anne left with a much less preoccupied mind all of a sudden, some of the resulting space getting taken up by her redoubled efforts to provide Ember all the affection she was owed over the past year, and with the remaining bit daring to look up from its impromptu hiding spot once more. The Mismagius was now much closer, most of its body illuminated by the moonlight, easily in reach if she were to untangle her arm from around Ember, and floating low enough to be on eye level with her, their angular smile becoming larger and yet less contorted as they made eye contact. Curiously enough, they also seemed to be holding a book in one of their front... tendrils, Anne's focus shifting over to that object making the ghost vocalize again, sounding like a chipper, breathy laugh.

At a certain level, she knew she ought to be scared of them, but she just... wasn't. She didn't even have the time to dwell on that odd absence of a sensation any longer before they hovered that bit closer, setting the book down on the bedding and reaching the freshly freed tendril to... gently pet her on the head, the gentleness combining with a hard to describe mix of physical coldness and... spiritual warmth, the affection filling her with reassurance. It felt much nicer than she ever expected a creature like this to ever be able to feel, the repetitiveness of that thought not going unacknowledged despite the girl's exhaustion.

"~Th-thank you...~"

The ghost leaned their hatted head in a bow in response, light pets continuing for a bit more before slowly ceasing, their focus suddenly drawn away to... the nearest wall. Before Anne could even begin to be confused, their gaze shifted along the wall in tune with muffled sounds getting closer and closer, until something entered the room she was in. The girl had absolutely no idea what it was, the creature completely obscured by the darkness that filled the room, even its footfalls only barely audible on the carpeted floor- though its noises most certainly weren't. As evidently as they were attempted to be pronounced quietly, the mewls, purrs, hisses and growls were still much more earcatching than the Mismagius' utterances, putting her on edge.

For a few moments, the ghost and the unknown being seemed to talk, the former glancing behind their... absence of a shoulder at her a couple times throughout- though the chitchat's conclusion didn't bring any immediate relief. The opposite if anything, the hidden creature getting closer making Anne try to lean further away from them as they approached, a brief golden glimmer the only visual indication of their existence as they quickly made their way around her bed before seeming to start digging through her bag, at least if shuffling of cloth and a couple firmer thuds was any indication.

Anne could only hold her breath as she listened in, hold her breath and try to comfort herself by petting Ember, the rustle eventually stopping for a few tense moments-

Before a light pat from something cold and smooth on her exposed arm made her jump briefly, the mysterious object getting placed down leaning on her body afterwards, Anne's brain taking its time to process the events as the stranger walked back further into the room. Begrudgingly, she unwrapped her arm from around Ember, though not without making sure she was leaning on her front comfortably, before reaching down to grab what quickly turned out to be the cheap, plastic flashlight she nabbed from the house's toolbox on that fateful evening.

With the realization filling her awareness, Anne did the thing that immediately came to mind in response, pointing the tool in the direction of where she last heard the noises come from and turning it on with a satisfying click… Just in time for her to realize why that wasn't a good idea to the tune of seeing the Weavile she'd inadvertently flashed flinch and squint before trying to block out the light with their dangerous looking paw.

"~S-sorry!~"

The cone of light was immediately redirected towards the ceiling, lighting up the dark space enough for her to be able to make out the Dark type from their namesake darkness without resulting in any other acts of accidental blinding, hopefully. Thankfully, the apex predator didn't seem to mind all that much, nodding as the light was aimed away from her face and chuckling at Anne's following expression- they may have smiled too, but Anne couldn't quite make it out. It seemed like they wouldn't be the only stranger congregating in the bedroom of this quasi field hospital she was in though, the next bit of outside rustling getting followed up with an honest to gods Scizor stepping in, seeming to be taken aback by her somehow.

As they and the other non-human occupants of the room exchanged words, even more of them began to show up- first a Luxray, likely even the same Luxray she saw yesterday, the glare of their gleaming eyes chilling her body before it got tempered by what they saw, eventually looking away and joining in on the ongoing discussion.

Yesterday, yesterday...

An attempt to remember just what had happened yesterday once that bubbly Azumarill had visited them failed completely- there was some smoke outside, Blossom was worried about it, and then... out cold. Decently possible that she was just so exhausted following everything that had happened the previous day that she dozed off on the spot though- though with how abrupt her sleep seemed to have been, even that option felt unsatisfactory.

Before she could ponder too much on that observation though, the next stranger made their entrance, and it was less subdued than anyone else before. The Decidueye was almost the Luxray's polar opposite in the look they gave her, though much of its impact was dulled by Anne's latent fear of their kin. Definitely not as strong as it used to be though, especially with the warm second impression Blossom had left yesterday, making the girl "only" flinch backwards as she saw the owl approach and start cooing at her, the light slowly beginning to creep in from the outside letting Anne see their smile. As unnerving as most of this was, Anne couldn't deny that it felt nice for others to get happier at seeing her, even if she had no exact idea as to why it kept happening.

The owl might have been nice, but it was the final arrival that really brought relief to Anne's confused mind, the flashlight getting turned off at the steadily creeping sunrise while she watched Mrs. Aria walk over to her bed, the dimly glowing red eyes a more comforting sight than the girl would have ever thought possible.

"^Good morning Anne! How are you feeling sweetie?^"

She herself might have been fine enough, but it paled in importance with who it was that she ended up waking up next to, Anne embracing the unconscious fox once more as she formulated a reply-

"~Sh-she's here, Ember's here, sh-she's safe, she's-~"

A sniff cut Anne off before she could finish her sentence, whole body snuggling up closer to the fox's as she experienced the sheer joy of their reunion once more, the Gardevoir's resulting headpats just as tingly and nice feeling as she remembered them to be, her whole small body squirming a bit as she continued to hold her best friend.

"^Mhm! She'd been living with us for the past year or so. I apologize for not introducing you to each other earlier, but we weren't sure whether she was really the Ember you knew. Thankfully, she... remembered you, and was overjoyed to see you again.^"

The couple sentences resulted in an emotional turmoil inside Anne as she processed them, each small pet along Ember's head helping to straighten her racing thoughts that bit more. Ember having been here all along was as relieving to hear as it was sad, the thought that at any given moment she was just a few hours by bike away from seeing her thought to be lost friend again cutting in deep and filling her with regret for not thinking to even try looking. At the same time though, hearing that Ember was apparently just as happy to see her again as she herself was made the girl part ways with more happy tears, so deeply relieved at her best friend not holding a grudge against her because of all the pain she'd experienced on the hands of what was ultimately her family, or at the pain their separation must've brought her.

"~I-I'm- sniff- I'm so glad to hear... sh-she was so scared when I-I left her at the shelter, and- sniff- I w-was so worried she'd hate me for it...~"

The tingly, magical pets continued, the Gardevoir sitting down on the mattress for better reach, Anne almost involuntarily scooting over closer enough to her in response, close enough to be able to lean on her with her full body as she continued to hold Ember tight, sniffling intermittently.

"^No, not at all~. She loves you just as much as you love her, and I can feel that rather well~.^"

The remark at the end accomplished its intended purpose in making the girl giggle quietly in the middle of her hug, sniffling a couple times more before clumsily wiping her nose into her shoulder and looking back up at the Gardevoir, teary eyed.

"~Th-thank you... is she alright? I-I think I shouted rather loudly earlier a-and she didn't wake up...~"

Anne watched closely as Aria moved her hand from her forehead over to the Braixen's, a brief moment of focus resulting in a small, yet confident smile on Aria's face, and an equally assuring nod.

"^She's perfectly okay, just really, really, really tired after yesterday. It was a lot for all of us, her especially.^"

That made sense at least, Anne nodding and hugging Ember one last time before slowly letting go of her- as comforting as it was to pet her like this, being held between her front and her thighs couldn't have been anywhere near comfortable for a biped as it was for a much smaller quadruped, the sleeping Braixen getting carefully lowered down onto the mattress next to her, taking over her human's pillow and a decent chunk of her blanket. It was rather chilly in here, yes, and laying Ember down certainly didn't help with the goosebumps all over Anne's body, but Ember, more than ever, deserved comfort right now, so she could live with a little bit of cold.

The thoughts in that vein helped greatly in distracting her from everything else that was going on in the room in the meantime, the previous conversation having reignited in the meantime, the sum total of all but Aria's parts getting audible and equally incomprehensible putting the girl on a bit of an edge- one that was constantly being melted through with each successive warm pet.

Thankfully, the resulting whispered near-cacophony didn't end up lasting that long, most of the other mons sans the Mismagius getting going in not too long, the final one leaving just a couple passing words to Aria to which she then groaned and nodded, looking over at Anne again afterwards-

"^Anne?^"

"~Y-yes, Mrs. Aria?~"

"^Just "Aria" is okay sweetie. I was thinking actually, would you like to meet my kids? I've a daughter that's around your age and a much younger son, and they've both been rather excited at the presence of a human in our little village, teehee. And considering you're not going away any time soon, probably wouldn't be a bad idea to start getting to know some more people here~.^"

The offer felt like it came out of the left field a bit, taking Anne aback before she could give it some deeper thought. On one hand, she wasn't exactly good with meeting people in general, be they humans or mons, but on the other, what M- Aria said also made a lot of sense, as somewhat frightening as that whole prospect was, it was probably a very good idea to start it as soon as she could, and with someone she could reasonably expect to not be mean.

"~A-are you gonna be watching o-over us?~"

Anne didn't expect the Gardevoir to be slightly taken aback at the question, evidently needing to think for a moment before replying silently-

"^Hmm... I do have my duties to attend to, and I should do some of them at least... how about this- I ask my brother to watch over you all, and then I'll come back in a few hours and rejoin you~? Maybe even with my husband, hah!^"

"~Okay, th-that sounds good. Does your b-brother know about m-~"

"^Yes he does, I'm sure he won't mind helping out like this.^"

"~A-alright. What are they like?~"

"^Well, my brother Marco is a bit more withdrawn than me, may come off as a bit cold, but give him a chance and he'll warm up quickly, he's lovely. My daughter Cadence is really energetic and excited about meeting you, don't hesitate to tell her to slow down a bit if needed, she won't mind. Bell is really little and mostly just really happy about meeting a new friend, even if that friend is a bit different from others~. Elric will also be here, he's a boy we're looking out for while his dad hibernates- he's shy at first but really playful once you get past introductions, teehee.^"

The descriptions of Cadence and Elric in particular made Anne a bit worried about how well their personalities would end up meshing, especially with her being the absolute furthest thing from energetic or physically playful even normally- as much as she didn't mind being a shy bookworm herself, considering the fact that nobody else here had any books, that sort of personality type might've been rather alien to the village as a whole.

Still, no way to know but to try.

"~Okay! Wh-when are they gonna b-be here?~"

"^Once they wake up and have breakfast, hah. Cypress here will keep you company until then, is that alright?^"

The namedrop made the girl look back up over at the Mismagius, the ghost looking increasingly less worrisome as the sun rose further, his relatively small stature in particular dispelling much of Anne's extant worries.

"~Yeah! Th-thank you. Oh- and who were... e-everyone else here, the ones that have left by now?~"

"^They're my coworkers Anne. We all look out for the safety of our village and make sure that nobody dangerous ends up stumbling on it, be it an angry predator that wants to hunt those less capable of self defense, or... well, a human.^"

As much as Aria expected that latter detail to confuse or worse, upset Anne, it thankfully didn't result in either, the girl just nodding in understanding, seeming to be subconsciously aware of the kind of threat that human awareness of a place like this would pose.

Trainers were one thing, but Anne could also distinctly recall reading about something like this in one of the stuffier history books she'd gone through in her many years at Mrs. Graham's library. An incident in Kalos some half century ago where a few dozen mons have moved into an abandoned village and were living in it like humans did- fully utilizing the buildings, engaging in farming, even stockpiling food together and visiting other nearby, human villages to barter for useful items in exchange for the crops they grew.

According to that book, that went on for a good couple years before the news eventually spread over to the city- as an unbelievable rumor, sure, but it was enough for the League to intervene. Within days, a bunch of elite trainers had arrived and either captured, or chased most of the village's inhabitants away, making sure to utterly destroy any buildings and poison the farmland in their wake. The official reason was preventing wild pokemon from becoming a danger to the nearby humans and potentially putting themselves at risk by misusing the buildings... but those who were there knew better.

"~I-I see. But... why in this r-room? Was it about me?~"

Aria sighed heavily, unable to help but to confirm Anne's hunch.

"^Yeah, it was- but we were mostly just discussing where you're gonna be staying in here once you recover. I think it's about time I got going and join the rest, hah, there are some other big things we need to discuss in a more appropriate place and I'd hate to keep them waiting for too long.^"

"~Okay! H-have a nice day M- Aria!~"

With the final hair ruffle, much to the human girl's amusement, the Gardevoir could get up and start heading out, her smile immediately vanishing the moment she looked away, her departure leaving the room in mostly silence, only broken by the muffled sounds from the next chamber over. Guess she could go ahead and try to relax-

Huh?

As much as she'd expected the recently introduced Cypress to have been reading, or at least attempting to read the book she'd brought with herself when running away from home, that turned out to not be the case, taking Anne aback as she stopped petting for a few precious moments to actually investigate what this book was. The front cover was someone's reflection in a shattered mirror as the front cover image, with the cracks in the mirror spreading radially from a single spot centered on their right eye, definitely making for an eye catching draw especially when combined with the title:

COMING TOGETHER: Recovery after trauma

The appropriateness of the book didn't shed any light on how in the world was it here to begin with, Anne only growing more confused by the moment- and wait, those bags in the corner, is that one of Mrs. Graham's old coats!?

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Aria hated lying.

Immediately after leaving Anne's room, she had to take a moment and mentally reset, regretting having to obscure the truth to her to that extent again, even if she knew full well that it was definitely preferable than having the girl panic at the awareness that her life was dangling on the line drawn by a trio of old coots. She only had barely enough of a grip on her own emotional state to be able to effectively hide her own anxiety at Anne's uncertain future, and the last thing she wanted to do was to deny her at least one day of being cared for and being surrounded by friendly faces.

"Aria?"

Speaking of friendly faces.

The call had her walk over to her brother's bed, the Gallade thankfully already feeling much better than the last time she'd seen him, even if still in nowhere near a shape for actively scouting, sensing his improved disposition bringing a smile to his sister as she spoke back-

"Morning Marco- I'm alright, I'm alright, just got lost in thought."

"You sure?"

No, no she wasn't, but the rest of the scouts were likely already getting annoyed at her taking so long, there wasn't much time to elaborate and go over every single little detail that interweaved into this terrible situation once more.

"For the most part. Do you feel like you'll be able to come over to the elders and give your testimony about what you saw?"

"For sure, meant to ask you about that, hah. Yeah no, if they think they can decree Anne out of this place then they're wrong, Ember won't let them and I for sure won't let them either."

"That's what I wanna hear! On that note, I... agreed for the kids to come over and meet Anne, and she was mostly positive about the idea as well, though we'll need someone to watch over them and be on the lookout for Cinder just in case."

Marco blinked at her confusedly a couple times, very uncertain about how well he'd perform as a nanny... but at the same time, that most definitely was something he was in the state for, as opposed to basically every single other duty he might have wanted to undertake instead- including the latter part of what his sister had described.

"I-It'd be new for me, and I doubt I'll be too good at it, but I think I can give it a shot. Though if Cinder comes I-I don't know much of anything I'll be able to do about her..."

The Gallade's stammers had him get enveloped in a light, telekinetic hug from his sister, the warm sensation making him squirm a bit as he looked up at her, trying to cool himself back down after the mention of the vixen that had assaulted him yesterday.

"It's no big deal, we can ask Cypress to stay here for longer then. And~ I think you'll do fine at watching over Anne, she reminds me of you a lot really, just give you both time to warm up to each other."

"Th-thanks, I'll try that..."

"You've got this, I believe in you~."

The affirmation had Marco give Aria a shaky smile as he slowly stood back up, wincing a bit as he stretched and tried to scan his immediate environment, the auras of Anne and Ember being so closely bonded bringing a smile to his face instantly.

"Th-thanks sis. And goodness... I had no idea what I was gonna see when the girl's memories started flowing yesterday, but just... the sheer love like that wasn't it, it's so sweet it's almost cloying to feel isn't it?"

"Hah! Knew it."

The smug, satisfied chuckle had both siblings look over further into the tent, the psychics blinking in unison at seeing a smug expression on the local tinkerer's front face- or at least the half of it that wasn't covered in dressings and which didn't have a cold bag tied to it.

"...Mikiri?"

"Yeah~? Just saying that I knew these two liked each other."

As much as Aria wanted to roll her eyes at the only partial accuracy of that description- there was a ton more smugness there than just affirming one's own accurate hunch- both the shorter fairy's presence here and possession of an insight like that ahead of them took her aback, the Gardevoir holding her mouth open for a few moments before going with the first question-

"...why are you here?"

"Ask your brother- I was test driving a fixed version of the big human two-wheel with Ori when we had to emergency brake and it all fell apart and sent me tumbling- and then Ori went on about how I was bleeding and nagged me into coming here, and then the medics nagged me into staying the night because something something concussion something. I feel fine."

That most definitely was a quintessentially "annoyed Mikiri" response, but also one that only resulted in more questions, none of which they had much time for aside from the most important one-

"Uh huh. How did you know Anne and Ember liked each other?"

"The weird thin painting, silly. I'm supposed to be the one that can't communicate with people well and even I picked up on how much that human and Ember clearly liked each other, and all Lumi could go about when I showed it to him was yapping on about how the human abused her and such and- for all his fancy eyes he sure can't see for shit sometimes. Though then again, considering how much meandering there apparently was there among the scouts before anyone considered that obvious fact from what I've heard, I'm not sure how much any of y'all are better at that."

The worst part about Mikiri's words was that Aria couldn't even immediately dispute them, her own worried uncertainty looking patently absurd in hindsight- though then again, that was simply the magic of hindsight, wasn't it?

"It's- it's not always as simple as that when so much is on the line, Mikiri."

"Maybe- but that doesn't mean y'all should go around trying to cram what you see into the box of your pre-existing biases and ideas as opposed to shaping the latter around the former."

The siblings' blank look had the metal fairy chuckle to herself, the motion unfortunately aggravating her headache a bit.

"What~ I just pay attention to Jovan's fancy schmancy philosophizing from time to time- it has some useful tidbits like that, even if it's mostly boring as mud."

Perhaps it wasn't a bad idea to attend some of those themselves some time, instead of just trying to convince Cadence and Elric to check them out from time to time, hah.

"Seems so, yeah. Well, best we get going in any case, the others are waiting for us."

"Don't let me hold you up any more then, you gotta do what you gotta do to keep this whole place safe, and hopefully it won't include a humanling getting torn away from Ember again in all this mess."

"We'll- we'll try our best, Mikiri."

"I know that much~ now off ya go!"

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The elders' tent was far from a lively place at the best of times, and the weight of the situation hanging in the air sure didn't result in anything but more gloom, the few present scouts gathered in a loose semi circle around the central, sunken fire pit, the gentle, steady flames keeping the physical frost at bay, even if they couldn't be said to do the same about the more emotional kind of coldness. The front flap getting swung open had a couple less patient voices react with some variation of "finally", the two siblings rolling their eyes before taking their spots, Marco leaning on Aria all the while.

"Apologies for the delay, a couple things held us back."

"Were any of them more important than this?" - The slow, somewhat gurgly voice that immediately spoke up in response only elicited a couple more eyerolls in response, from most of the audience at that, the Breloom that had muttered it grumbling to himself afterwards at seeing the wordless reactions, the arms extending only just enough for him to be able to cross them as he narrowed his beady eyes.

"There's a difference between importance and urgency, Elder Winnie. Comforting a scared child is more urgent, even if for some reason we're placing more of an importance on deciding just how we're gonna make them suffer." - Aria's words had most of the tent grow silent with the exception of continuously grumbling Winnie and the Torkoal that laid beside him, lifting herself up and walking a few steps forward, closer to the central hearth, before herself replying, voice slow and low.

"I ask you to stay away from emotional language like that, Aria."

The Gardevoir sighed as she took a deep breath and closed her eyes- as much as she respected the Torkoal, she couldn't deny her constant pretense of dispassionateness being really annoying at times. Still, it's not something to whine about here, Aria simply nodding as she replied-

"Understood, Elder Ana."

"Very well. Let us begin this session in earnest then."

The somewhat undignified looking kindling of the central firepit, consisting of Ana spitting some more flame into it, was nonetheless treated seriously, everyone gathered trying to put their most serious and objective foot forward, even if their opinions about this entire mess spanned all sorts of spectra.

"Our topics are to be: current situation around the human, Cinder's apparent involvement, and the decision of what shall we do with the human going forward. Are these accurate?"

Ana's gaze moved around the chamber, each other elder and scout like nodding in acknowledgement one after another- at least until she'd made it over to the very last person on her checkup, giving her a couple more moments to hopefully realize what was going on before resorting to speaking out loud-

"Celia?"

It was only hearing her name that took the Primarina out of her mute pondering, gaze moving up from the spot on the floor in front of her over to her fellow elder. The dim, harsh lighting brought particular focus to the many scars covering her face and arms, especially the couple larger ones next to her right flipper, of which only one finger remained, and her forehead, without any of the pearls or stars that typically adorn her kin, a large chunk of the semi translucent fin and hair that sprouted behind it missing from the left side of her head. With a couple strained motions, she pulled herself up to be in line with Winnie, the wheels of the large open cart the rear half of her body rested on squeaking as they rolled forwards a couple paces.

"Present. The topics do sound accurate, yes."

Despite everything she'd been through, her voice was still just as smooth and soothing as it was the first time most of the present had heard it, and not for the lack of effort, the Primarina reaching over for a small bowl of saline always by her side as her fellow elder continued.

"Very well, let us begin with discussing the current situation around the human. Aria, from what I've known you've had the most involvement with them, would you mind catching us up with everything you've learned so far?"

The Gardevoir bowed in response, shuffling forward a couple feet as Ana backed the same distance, the Gardevoir briefly clearing her throat before starting to barrel out-

"The human's name is Anne. She's a child, of approximately the same mental age as Cadence. Two days ago, before dawn, Sprout had spotted her having fallen into the ravine close to the human path, and rushed her into the village because of the grievous injuries she'd sustained. She would almost certainly not have survived being flown to the nearest human medic, and that's if we even knew where inside their large town the medics are even located."

"Sprout, can you vouch for Aria's words?"

"Yes, I can, Elder Ana."

"Proceed as you were."

"Anne woke up for the first time here yesterday morning. I had attempted to fool her into thinking she was located inside a human hospital, but eventually she saw through the lies and panicked. I then told her the truth about this place, and spoke with her honestly, as myself, to attempt to find out more about what led to her crashing in the ravine in the first place."

Most of the room saw the corner of Winnie's mouth twitch, the Breloom clearly wanting to interject at this point, likely quite loudly at that, but ultimately reined himself in to maintain decorum. Celia on the other hand was back to her thoughtful expression, left flipper covering her mouth as she pondered on things unknown, listening keenly. Ana remained as stone faced as ever, though that was more so to her anatomy than anything else, internal veneer of objectivity being currently maintained with significant effort, none of it noticeable to anyone but the psychic siblings.

"Continue."

"Her crash was a result of her having attempted to run for her life away from her abusive family in desperation, in utter exhaustion and without any plan aside from pushing herself forward. She has no relatives she can trust to provide her a safe shelter, and no home to go back to."

"Elaborate on that latter point."

"I'm speaking both figuratively and literally. Her parents are abusive to the point of having frequently physically harmed her, and the physical building of her house has burned down."

For the most part, all the elaboration had accomplished was making most of those gathered blink in confusion, uncertain how Aria could even claim to know that, the briefest sign of a raised eyebrow creeping onto Ana's face before it disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

"How do you know that?"

This is where things got trickier to justify, Aria taking another moment to clear her mind and glance over at both her brother and Lumi, the latter nodding at her as she got her thoughts in order. He might've been cranky and crass, but his loyalty was undeniable.

"Yesterday in the afternoon, Lumi had alerted me to a human from their nearby village being on the lookout for Anne. Me and Marco briefly interrogated her, where she turned out to be one of the few people Anne could trust back in their village, and felt obliged to search for her and find out what had happened to her. Considering the girl's situation and her uncertain future, I brought up the idea of asking her for help with any human necessities that Anne might need, of course with us removing any memories of that encounter from either her or her companions afterwards. She agreed, and provided invaluable support and insight, including grabbing Anne's remaining pieces of clothing from her house. When we arrived there, it was abandoned, but shortly afterwards, Anne's father showed up, and tried to attack our guide, in response to which I incapacitated him. He was extremely aggressive towards all of us, up to and including physical violence, and showed no remorse for any of it, and we have good reasons to believe he behaved the exact same way towards Anne on a daily basis."

Thick silence fell upon the room at the mention of their excursion, even Celia's azure eyes looking up over at her in response, though without any less intense of a constant thought stream behind them.

"...Lumi, can you vouch for Aria's words?"

"Aye."

"Proceed as you were."

"All throughout the morning, Anne continued to mention someone called "Ember", who was a Fennekin she lived with and grew up with. She regarded them as very close friends that she had to part ways with under tragic circumstances. We also found a photorealistic artwork depicting our Ember, but younger, together with Anne among Anne's possessions. I immediately attempted to ask our Ember about whether she remembered Anne without causing her distress, to which she said no. I ask that Marco be allowed to provide his perspective here, as he was the one to ultimately get to the bottom of this issue."

"Granted."

As Aria backed out away from the speaker position, she passed her brother a couple telepathic pats on the shoulder for reassurance, most of the Gallade's body still aching, but it wouldn't be like him to not push through it. As he concentrated on how he was going to describe it, his sister took a closer look at the emotional look of everyone else gathered, all focused around the board, even Lumi much to her surprise. Sure, in his and especially Winnie's case it might have been tinged with a bit of inherent dismissiveness, but their attention had been firmly caught, and hopefully they'd be able to evoke the reaction they were looking for out of them.

"Ahem. After we agreed on what to do with Olive, I thought to ask Ember about what she could remember of the human directly, which initially backfired- she had a panic attack and Cinder almost roasted me there and then in anger. I thought all of this was done for, but then... Ember ran over to catch up with me. She still didn't remember, but the question had made her become much more aware of something weird going on with her memory, and she ended up asking to see Anne in person anyway, without herself getting seen."

Both siblings felt a few minds around them feeling that bit more doubtful at hearing that detail, which he couldn't blame them for- but thankfully, it wasn't what mattered here.

"Continue."

"I escorted her over and made sure she would remain hidden from Anne. The moment she saw her though, she froze up in panic, not even at what she saw but at that issue going on with her memories, and I attempted to help her there. From my perspective, it felt as if all memories of Anne had been carefully removed from her recollection, and my intervention there undid whatever had caused that, and enough memories rushed from Anne to Ember that it resulted in everyone involved fainting. From what I've been told by the medics, Ember woke up first, immediately laid down next to Anne, hugged her and wouldn't let go when asked, eventually falling asleep beside her. Following all that, we have discovered that Cinder had left or fled the village at some point between me speaking to her and Sprout sweeping the area for her, and couldn't be found."

The assorted reactions at the finished tale were mostly various degrees of disbelief or anger at Cinder on the side of the scouts, and astonishment on the side of elders- Winnie briefly broke through his grumpy facade into genuine concern for Ember in particular, Celia's eyes went wide as she continued to cover her mouth with her flipper, already trying to think through reasons as to why Cinder could've done something like that, and if not her then who, and Ana... simply closed her eyes for a few moments, eventually lowering her head in defeat, the quiet mutter that followed bringing the room into a stone cold silence-

"And so it is..."

The other two elders looked at Ana in shock, neither having any idea what she meant, the scout collective similarly trying to figure it out, some of them growing increasingly displeased with what they were increasingly accusing her of- though thankfully, they had enough composure to keep their words neutral, even if the tone behind them most definitely wasn't-

"What... do you mean by that, Elder Ana?"

Sprout's wings itched at something very, very much not right seeming to be going on in here- what had happened to Ember was a disgrace, especially if it was committed by her own guardian no less, and the one person they all expected and relied on to be objective and rational knowing something about such a treachery. The elderly, fiery tortoise kept pondering in response, the Decidueye in particular growing increasingly spirited at what felt like stalling for time, expression slowly twisting into a snarl.

"Elder Ana-"

"I am thinking, Sprout."

"What is there to be thinking about!? A little one had her mind violated to erase what sounds like the only friend she'd had prior to ending up here and you seem to know something about that!"

"It is not as simple as that-"

"Then what is it!?"

A low, frustrated grumble left the Torkoal in response- as much as she loathed getting hurried along and would've ordinarily chewed Sprout out for these outbursts, she knew better than to go against the will of the crowd like this, especially in such an emotional of an issue- there's only so much value in choosing the perfect wording for what ultimately accounted to a sad, unsightly truth.

"I suppose it is time for me to recount the events I've seen then. Three hundred and ninety four days ago, eleven days after the group of which Ember was a part of first showed up on our doorstep, Cinder approached me with a dilemma she had been struggling with."

Aside from the crackling of flame, the tent remained dead silent, every soul awaiting Ana's next word with bated breath.

"Ember had been getting better to an extent. She was recovering from her injuries, making friends around the village, growing more and more comfortable thinking of Cinder as her mother. Becoming happier by the day. And yet... she was still suffering, immensely. For she knew that someone she'd known and loved for her entire life, someone she wanted to do nothing more than to be able to comfort, was still suffering in their own personal hell. They might have left her in an unfamiliar scary place, it might have all been terrifying, she might've been hurt... but in the end, she ended up in someplace actually safe, someplace where she was loved and cared for, all of which were things she knew her friend lacked. She begged Cinder to let that friend come and be safe with us, every single day, every single time. She even begged me, the few times Cinder had facilitated communication between us during these early days."

But, of course, that friend also happened to be a human.

"We didn't know what to say. We tried to explain to her how that just wasn't possible and that there was nothing we could do. Of course, in the strictest sense, we were both lying, but that's not how we thought about it at the time. The idea of permitting a human to live with us feels even now like a heresy, but at that point, it was simply not an option to begin with. Our attempted explanations were about as successful as trying to calmly argue a river into changing course- Ember was deaf to all of them, and she was likely right to be. Soon enough, we had run out of ideas- but Ember kept pleading, every single day."

Thinking back, Ana could remember that day with crystal clarity, the sheer expression of defeat on Cinder's face, the awareness, deep down, of just how wrong her idea was- while also being the only course of action she could think of, making it the lesser evil by definition.

"Cinder didn't know what to do, every way of rational argumentation was exhausted with no progress she could see- all she knew was that her daughter was hurting, hurting so very much, and she wanted her to not hurt anymore, to finally be able to be happy. I tried to advise her against her idea, but at the same time, if it was my own little one and I had been the one unable to help... I don't know. It's not a position anyone should ever have to experience the misery of, on either end."

For a few, tense moments of everyone chewing through the ghastly possibility, a birdsong voice finally rung out throughout the tent again, its owner still cross if not outright seething like before-

"Regardless whether Ember was hurting or not, what made Cinder think she had the right to control her daughter like that!?"

Before the Torkoal could respond, another voice joined the chorus of opposition, one quieter and more sly-

"Whether it was love or malice, Ember was still hurt all the same in the end, wasn't she?"

And then another, colder and pointier-

"Nor does it explain her outburst at Marco."

"Sprout, Ruby, Aria, I do not know! Her sins are her alone to atone for, I am not excusing any of them, I merely want those gathered here to not think she had done the act that had sparked this out of malice. She will answer for her assault, she will answer for attempting to obstruct you like that- and if nobody else, Ember will hold her accountable for having her memories tampered with."

As angry as many of the gathered still were at the Delphox, partially wanting to get to sentencing her for everything she'd done there and then some, the answer to the impossible dilemma that had ultimately resulted in this nightmare in the first place felt like it became clearer and clearer by the moment, the owl mom once more speaking up out of any semblance of order-

"Then let us get to voting for Anne to be allowed to remain here, and avoid forcing anyone else to even consider what Cinder ended up resorting to ever again!"

"An unfortunate circumstance or not, a human is a human, declaring any of them as acceptable risks is a slippery slope that will only culminate in our destruction-"

"With all due respect Elder Winnie- shut up. Her soul is no different than ours just because she's a human-"

"This is not about abstract philosophy Aria, it is about the material danger posed to us by Anne having access to that knowledge and being able to leave-"

"All of us have the exact same knowledge and yet we're all free to walk Ori, are you implying that she would be somehow more inherently willing to betray the only place that had offered her safety-"

"You know how humans are, why wouldn't you think th-"

"Ahem."

It might have only been a brief clearing of her throat, but Celia's Disarming Voice wasn't any less effective as a result, the quickly escalating shouting match getting diffused in an instant as the Primarina now held the room's undivided attention. Her eyes scanned the room as she took another sip of the saltwater, seeming to be counting something up for a couple moments before speaking again, now in her normal tone-

"I doubt any further argument today will be particularly productive. Considering the importance of a decision like this as a precedent, I reckon we oughtn't vote until everyone is present and we've all had some time to mull over the decision and everything else that it would imply."

Even once the immediate effects of the Disarming Voice had worn off, nobody around the tent was exactly in mood for any more fighting today, the Primarina receiving a chorus of nods in response, regardless of what specific position each individual participant thought that some time off to think would push everyone else towards.

"Perfect. How does tomorrow's twilight sound in terms of an appropriate date and hour?"

Once again, no vocal objections, the water type taking a sigh of relief at fortunately managing to steer an entire group of very understandably annoyed guardians away from something more drastic.

"Let it be so then. Make haste with spreading the date and hour to the remainder of the scouts, and let tomorrow bring us some closure in the end."

With the atmosphere in the room sufficiently defused, Ana could eventually step forward and catch everyone's attention once more, about to try to steer the messy chaos that their hearing had turned into towards properly summarizing everything they've discussed and properly closing the session- before Celia spoke up once more at the last moment, attention aimed at Aria specifically as opposed to the ground or the center of the room.

"Aria? I would have one request in particular for tomorrow's session, and considering your closeness to the human, you are likely the best equipped person in the village to help us fulfill it."

A light jolt of dread shot down Gardevoir's spine at hearing herself be addressed directly like that, having no idea what would the other Fairy type expecting from her aside from potentially being prepared for administering a memory wipe right after their verdict, the mere thought making her want to shout at the injustice of it all.

"How could I help, Elder Celia?"

"I wish Anne be brought over, so that we, the elders, could have a chat with her directly. I would facilitate the translation."

As much as Celia was confident in her suggestion, it was clearly the other two's first time ever hearing such an idea being brought up, their expressions conveying their uncertainty. Though, the more they thought about it, assuming Celia could let them communicate with the human effectively enough, both of them had some personal questions they'd ideally have the girl answer directly, the rest of the elders' council affirming the request. The human's guardian shuddered in response, both at the logistics and at the cruelty of Anne possibly overhearing several beings she didn't even have any familiarity with verbally arguing for whether she was worthy of being allowed to live safely here.

"I do hope you aren't requiring me to have her be able to listen to and follow every single argument arguing against her personhood-"

"No, no such thing. She can stay unaware of the actual debate, or even of her purpose there- we merely want to have a brief chat with her before we get into the voting proper."

Guess she could do that much at least, even if she really, really didn't want to out of fear of Anne simply panicking once she realizes what's going on- suppose that would also be on her to try and keep the worst of the details away from her attention.

"I'll try, Elder Celia."

"Splendid, thank you Aria. You can proceed, Ana."

A couple short rounds of the ceremony later, it was officially over, the scouts individually beginning to depart from the elders' tent and onwards their duties, the uncomfortable truth of what they've been told about Cinder still weighing down on their minds, together with the sheer weight of tomorrow's decision, only pushing them further into dissociation, be it by performing their scouting duties or otherwise. Aria was no different, saying her goodbyes to Marco before turning towards the woods that surrounded their village, starting to make her way towards her patrol path, one hope burning brighter than the rest as it bounced around her head with every step-

I hope you know what you're doing, mom.