Chapter 6: Encounter

She could probably slow down just a bit...

The old woman took a moment to stop and catch her breath on the side of the snow covered road, passing the cane over to her other hand before attempting to resume her trek, any hopes of her managing to do so without grabbing her companions' attention dashed as the Arcanine stopped with her, turning to look up at her with clear worry on his snout.

"~Don't worry Leo, I'm good, I'm good, just- just need a moment, much more walking than usual but I'll manage.~"

A glove-clad hand reaching over to stroke the hound's rich mane helped her counteract the stinging cold at least somewhat and regain more feeling in that limb, but it did little to convince Leo himself, the reassurance falling flat when compared with his human's obviously pitiful state. Much the same was true of the passenger that emerged from his mane shortly afterwards, the Ribombee's expression just as uncertain of this entire excursion of theirs. She wasted no time before trying to convey that over to her human, buzzing softly as she flew over through the light snowfall and pretended to drag the woman's free hand in the direction they came from, only making her sigh in response.

It's not like she was wrong even- her years were catching up with her, she was in absolutely no condition to be undertaking anything like this, it shouldn't have been her tired old self pushing herself through the snow and dirt deeper and deeper into these woods in search of a lost child-

But if not her, then who?

The girl's damnable parents that fled the place the moment people realized and more cops started getting involved? The cops that barely even pretended to do any searching themselves and only put up a couple disposable 'missing person' posters? The rest of this anemic, half-dead town? She shouldn't have to be one doing this, but if she wouldn't at least try looking for her, even if just to confirm what felt at this point like the inevitable, nobody else would.

"~L-let's keep going for now. Still got the lead Leo?~"

Near constant snowfall of the past couple days had mostly covered over any trail the girl had left to begin with, visual and olfactory alike, the Arcanine letting out a low ruff before starting to sniff the air again, finding himself growing increasingly unsure, even if the current path didn't exactly leave many other directions for her to have gone in. The human knew what to do, Leo's head perking up as he saw her pull out the book out of her purse once more, sniffing it intently before picking up on the trail again, slowly making his way towards it as his guardian resumed her slow march, gripping her cane even more firmly than usual.

Heh, 'Understanding Pose and Motion, Illustrated'- she could bet a fair bit of change that not a single person aside from Anne had ever borrowed that one in all the years she'd been working as the librarian. Or likely even before that point, the book's cover holding up surprisingly well considering that it was about as old as she was, judging by the print date.

As the group got going again, the Ribombee flew over to her human's pocket, snuggling up to her free hand, torn between not wanting to be out there in such bitter cold one bit, but at the same time not wanting to stay back at home while her guardian was putting herself at a risk like that. The small hug was gently responded to with the human's thumb embracing her back, her tired, croaky voice speaking up shortly afterwards-

"~I'm okay Luxie, don't worry sweetie. It's... cold, and scary, I know, but we can do this, one step at a time. Hop back into Leo's mane and warm yourself up, don't feel like you have to be freezing yourself in there for me.~"

The words had their desired effect thankfully, the lil' bee soon squirming out of the woman's pocket and looking about ready to dive back into the hound's bright mane- before stopping herself at the last moment and flying up over her human's face, the determined expression making it clear that there will be no arguing with her about this, not really. The least she could do in that case was to just comfort her some more, the elder's features softening as she closed her eyes just for a moment at feeling Luxie nuzzle her cheek with her entire body, the tiny fairy thankfully returning back to warmth shortly afterwards.

The brief moment of comfort was appreciated all the same, softening the impact of yet another frigid gust that had followed it, a quiet grunt leaving the human before she just doubled down in response, aching legs pushing on to the best of their capability- for a while at least, spite proving to be a very fickle fuel for tasks like this. Fortunately, she wouldn't have to completely rely on it for much longer, a sight ahead of them catching her attention, a bump in the near uniform blanket of snow that surrounded them with a couple inches of wood peeking out from underneath the unceasing whiteness. Guess they'd have to push through the white menace around it, sigh-

At least, that was what she thought, Leo stopping to do a nasal double take before slowly, yet confidently leading them off into the trees, even the gentle down slope sufficient to make following him that much harder than merely following the trail, the dog not leaving his guardian's side even for a moment, providing a constant, constantly needed support. Each pebble or root deviously hidden underneath the snow made proceeding along the doomed path that much harder, both for them and for Anne alike all these days ago, and they weren't getting any closer to climbing back onto the path either.

"~Goodness Anne, what happened to you...~"

Both her companions shared that thought, Luxie's quiet squeaks sounding equally confounded about the girl's situation- they all knew at a certain level, deep down, that she didn't make it, but seeing her tragedy unfold like this only made that clinical realization that much more viscerally disturbing. Thankfully, the path eventually evened out, the absence of a slope making it that much easier on the old woman, letting the Arcanine lead the pack properly once more, sniffing intently all the while- before stopping eventually, at what felt like random, the sight unlike him.

"~Leo? What hap-~"

Only a couple more steps made the reason behind his sudden pause that much clearer, the woman's eyes going wide as she took a step back in reflex, the ravine in front of them as deadly deep as it was hard to spot in the uniform whiteness.

"~Verdammt...~"

Much like the sinking feeling in their stomach's suggested, a glance down revealed Anne's ultimate destination, the handful of specks of red on white making that clear enough. At the same time though... the snow layer down there wasn't so thick as to even fully cover the muddy dirt, and there was no sight of either Anne's body, the bike she stole, or anything she might've worn on that night. As Luxie scrambled out of the warm mane to take a look at the commotion, gasping as loudly as her tiny body was capable of at the sight, her human was already thinking through what could've actually happened in there- they would have to see this to the end in either case.

"~There's no way she survived that fall, something must've dragged her, but... carnivores would likely do their deed on the spot, especially in such a hidden location. Even the few species that would store meat for later like that wouldn't bother with dragging a body whole and just cut the good bits and take them directly, and I'm not sure any Sneasel even live here to begin with...~"

As the human muttered to herself, trying to make any sense of the situation at hand, it was Leo's turn to suddenly realize something, freezing as he sniffed the air some more, suddenly finding another, incomparably stronger lead. Stronger, fresher,

Nearby.

Without waiting, Leo turned in the direction his nose was guiding him towards and bolted, mind deadset on either protecting and rescuing the lost youngling if it was her, or avenging her if it was the creature that got her in the end.

"~Leo, WAIT!~"

Having no choice, the old woman tried to bustle to catch up with him as fast as she could- which wasn't fast in the slightest even for human speeds, only reaching a light jog as she pushed through the snow, Luxie left unsure which of the two to stick with before zipping forward to catch up with the Fire-type, having no idea what was even going on.

Fortunately for them, they wouldn't have to run for long, the Arcanine having stopped in his tracks only a couple dozen meters in front of them after dashing within view of his target, intimidated at being outnumbered and confused as to what he even was seeing. He might have been a town hound most of all, but these two... kinda-humans-but-not-really sure didn't look like the kind of creature to get particularly hungry for something else's flesh, even if one of them was downright rife with the girl's scent. On the other hand, the mostly black leonine quadruped that accompanied them looked very carnivorous, but barely smelled of Anne at all, the scene not adding up in the slightest.

Having no clue how to proceed, Leo assumed a defensive stance and backed up a couple paces, eyes locked with the opposing group, shifting from one potential threat to another while he growled quietly. The Ribombee that followed had a similar reaction, though in her case a defensive stance consisted of diving back into Leo's mane to hide and only barely peeking out to keep track of what the wildlings were doing, or rather, presently, not doing.

It took a longer while for the human to finally catch up, even the short period of exertion and a sluggish pace leaving her completely out of breath, the woman supporting herself heavily on her cane as she stopped behind Leo, the hound shifting to shield her just in case while she recovered. Eventually, she found enough strength to look back up- and recoil a step or two at what she saw, gasping breathlessly. While the two mons' reactions at the sight in front of them were mostly confusion at having never seen creatures like that before, the human's response was a very clear fear, fear based on knowing what these beings were, what they could do, and why crossing them like that was the kind of mistake one only made once.

"~L-Leo, L-Luxie, back slowly a-and don't make sudden moves...~"

The human followed her own advice as she began to inch backwards, the freezing air hurting her airways as she panted in a mix of strain and anxiety, fearful mind trying to figure out what was even going on- did Leo catch a cold or something to lead them there, right into the maw of danger? Or did these three do something to Anne and... oh god, oh god, Dialga merciful-

"^You're looking for someone, aren't you.^"

The feminine voice that manifested in the old woman's mind, as well as the minds of her companions, was much like an icicle- crystal clear, freezing cold, and pointed like a dagger, hitting the whole party differently. Leo and Luxie were taken aback at hearing such a... clearly understandable message for the first time in their lives, though the former was much too focused on protecting his human to acknowledge that much. The human on the other hand, only grew more afraid, the neutral question sounding taunting to her already terrified mind, as if offering to lead them all to the same fate Anne ended up with. Even beside that fear, the old textbooks she taught from years ago made it clear that telepathy was much more of a tool of intimidation, used to convey the message of "you can hear me clearly, back off now" rather than used for some amicable chit chatting...

"~K-keep going until we make it back t-to the path sweeties, k-keep going...~"

Before her elderly heart could give out, she heard the voice elaborate, slightly less tense this time-

"^A young girl named Anne.^"

The confirmation of her worst fears made her gradual retreat stop in a mixture of terror and grief, old hands shaking at the ghost bride's "words". A rational part of her knew she should've kept going, to not herself be taunted like that, but deep down she had to know, had to know just what exactly happened to the little one, her eyes affixed firmly in the back of Leo's head as she replied, croaked words drier than sand-

"~I-I take you know what... b-became of her then...~"

To even acknowledge the wraith's words felt like asking for trouble, to invite further interaction by responding to them was to sign one's own doom- though considering the circumstances, it's not like they weren't doomed already. As they awaited a response, the small group huddled, Leo's piercing gaze locked with the Luxray's before shifting over to stare down one of the white humanoids that stepped forward, the one with a faux dress, his low growl thankfully making the foe stop in place.

"^She had suffered a serious accident, but is now safe, and is being tended to.^"

The woman heard herself gasp quietly at that admission, despite how utterly infeasible it sounded. It felt impossible, but at the same time... what use was lying for that ghost bride, anyway- it had her on a platter if it so desired. The tiniest bit of relief crept into the elder's mind, and much more of it into the heads of her companions, though it also left the big and almost as morbid question of what would now happen to the girl while she was at the wraith's mercy like that-

"~T-that's... good. What... what will h-happen to her once she recovers?~"

There was a longer pause following the question, the Luxray barks and growls that intermittently filled it sending cold shivers down the human's spine as she kept trying to back off bit by bit, the rest of her group eventually getting the cue. Before she could skitter away too far though, she saw a motion in her peripheral vision, Leo barking ferociously at the not-human lifting its arm towards her as its eyes were enveloped with a white flare, his guardian bumping into an invisible wall right behind her an instant later, letting out the tiniest, most pitiful whine at realizing her own entrapment.

"^Who are you and what brings you looking for her?^"

This voice was more masculine, distant and not quite as pointed, though still just as cold and unwelcoming, the fright that had taken over the human's mind at realizing she was being essentially held at gunpoint making her thought process, ordinarily still glib despite her age, that much more slower and miserly, her dry throat eventually forcing out-

"~M-my name is Olive Graham. I'm- I'm Mylock's librarian. I used to see Anne all the time, she'd spend most of her afternoons i-in the library and stay until closing, doing homework or reading or t-trying to relax, with Ember or later on alone.~"

Olive's miserly body did not appreciate the current situation she was put in one bit, leaning on further on her cane as she shook in place, afraid of even reaching her hand towards her companion to warm it up.

"^That does not answer why would you push yourself though this cold in search of her.^"

Indeed it didn't, leaving Olive taking a deeper breath before replying-

"~We never t-talked much, but... if I didn't go find out what happened to her, then nobody else would. M-My library was one of the few places she ever felt safe in it felt like, I- I want to do right by her.~"

Olive found herself going back through her memories as she thought about the girl, the possibility of those recollections not being of her own volition not registering for her even briefly as they played back in her mind. One spring evening a couple years back, herself sorting through the recent arrivals and stocking the shelves while listening to Anne and Ember exchange giggles and woofs respectively just out of sight, the little fox essentially a fixture in the girl's lap. She wanted to get the whole box done in one go and not split it between one evening and the next morning, the library staying open a couple hours longer than normal- long enough for its most frequent visitor to end up dozing off in the corner after a couple cups of sweet tea, the little one on her lap sharing her fate. How much she wanted to be able to let them stay, to keep the two of them in possibly the only safe space they had left- but alas, they would have to head back to their horrid house, day after day, even the lightest touch on her shoulder ending up startling the girl awake.

Yet another scene, back when she briefly substituted as a biology teacher, when Leo was still just a lil' Growlithe pup and just as affixed to her lap as Ember was to Anne's, the two of them watching over the school's courtyard during recess. They took too long to notice the scene brewing off in the corner, a couple of boys from the rougher families cornering Anne as she knelt down facing the fence, comforting the lil' fox. One of them tried to taunt her, making her stand up while still facing away from him, Olive about to call out to make them disperse- before Anne herself cut her off, turning around with a sucker punch to the nose, knocking the hoodlum down on his rear and making their whole group scatter. As much as Olive wanted to cheer her at that, she limited herself to just looking the other way, and making sure Anne wouldn't get in trouble over any of that.

As she reminisced, the old woman felt her body become that bit lighter, some of the unceasing pressure being taken off of her elderly joints, a large weight leaving her chest because of what she could only explain to herself as her own conscience. After a long, increasingly less tense silence, the feminine wraith spoke again, though this time, she sounded... different. Much less imposing, less pointed, warmer, much more uncertain, with a clear gratitude in her words-

"^Thank you. As to your question... we aren't sure. We don't know how safe she'd be to return to... the human world eventually, and we hope you... can advise us, somehow.^"

The sentence made all the grammatical sense in the world, but Olive's mind was thrown for a loop when hearing it, hearing the voice of a cruel, deceiving spirit suddenly turn... questioning, uncertain, asking her for help and not the other way around, sounding so... normal. Like a person.

Olive breathed deeply as she chewed through that conundrum, the lessened pain around her body making that task easier than usual, though she wasn't arriving to any particularly reassuring conclusions, unfortunately.

"~I'm... unsure. She'd eventually end up with a foster family, though given her age I don't know how likely she'd be to find one before she turns 18 and gets kicked out of that system. With how underfunded that whole program is, I can't imagine the places she'd be staying at in the meantime to be all that much better than her present house...~"

The situation was even more grim the more she thought about it all, to the point where she found herself wondering whether Anne staying under the woods' and ghost brides' protection wasn't the best possible outcome for her, as outlandish as that idea was to consider. To think the very society from which she sprung failed her so much that her safest option is being given shelter by spirits...

Unknowingly to Olive, her thoughts were picked up upon by others beside just herself, the old woman finding herself thinking back to how normal that ghost bride sounded, again and again, mind wondering whether all this was just yet another cruel trick its kind so often engaged with based on all the stories she'd been told as a girl... or whether it was actually being genuine here. As she chewed through that idea, the sound of snow being waded through sent cold shivers down her spine, glance upwards revealing to be the more feminine of the wraiths to be approaching her. Olive knew better than to ever meet eyes with them, only trying to sneak in the briefest of glances- but from what she could make out, the spirit's expression was calm, sad even, lacking any ferocity aside from the vivid hue of its eyes.

"^I see. With how unsafe the human world sounds for her, it sounds like she'll have to stay with us for some time longer then. She told us she has no family left either...^"

"~N-not any that she should be with, no. Heard her mother ran off back to her folks when the news broke, that whole rotten bunch shouldn't be let anywhere near her, even if she's not near as awful as Anne's father.~"

Guess this really was it then, wasn't it. She found out what had happened to Anne, even if the answer in its fullest was one she had a hard time comprehending the full impact of, or fully trusting the beings that had conveyed it to her. She was in absolutely no position to debate, or worse yet argue for a more appropriate end for the girl though, both because doing so with a ghost bride is how one ended up being buried alive, and because she really had no argument for a different outcome- there wasn't anywhere safe for Anne, and if nothing else, the wraiths of the woods were at least powerful enough to protect her from other people.

It was an answer, it was the answer, but... she wasn't satisfied, not one bit. She couldn't just let it happen like this, not if she could help it- and help it she wanted to.

"~Is there... is there any way I could possibly help her out? I owe at least that to her.~"

There was another longer pause from the mostly wraith group, one once more interspersed with Luxray barking, sounding louder and more forceful this time, the harsh sound making the old woman shrink backwards, realizing there was no longer any barrier keeping her trapped. As much as she wanted to flee from all this and bring her companions to safety, her duty was not yet done here, and the resolve to help Anne out ended up outweighing her own waning fear. A couple more minutes of mostly inaudible exchange later, the group seemed to have arrived at some sort of agreement, even if a tenuous one, the sound of very fast steps trailing off into the woods making Olive glance up and watch as the more masculine of the wraiths left, leaving just the one near her and the Luxray, both walking over closer.

Leo was much too confused about what was even going on anymore to keep on posturing, shielding his human from the stranger but not otherwise trying to scare them back anymore, more concerned about the snarl on that Luxray's expression as it stared them down.

"^I would greatly appreciate any help, and I'm sure so would Anne. I don't- I don't know what a human girl like her needs. I will do all I can to keep her safe and cared for, but I am completely clueless on any specific human requirements or wants.^"

To meet a ghost bride in person was surreal enough, to have one outwardly ask for and admit needing help was an act so dumbfounding that it had a powerful side effect of slicing through the fear that many of the stories Olive heard growing up had instilled in her, making the being a few short feet away from her feel like just another person and not a mighty guardian of the woods. Enough so even for her to do the unthinkable, body shaking as she finally looked up the rest of the way, finding the white creature's expression soft and uncertain- and that bit warmer in response to her finally looking up, red eyes as striking as the myths would lead her to believe, but for once with no more malice behind them.

"~Well... shelter, food, and water are the obvious basics. Being wanted, cared for, clothes... beyond those, there really isn't anything that's strictly needed I don't think, especially in Anne's case, hah. Give her a book or something to draw on and watch her sink into her own little world.~"

The spirit acknowledged her words, seeming to be calmed a fair bit at that, internally thanking whoever was watching for the little one being almost just like everyone else in that regard- but only almost, and there were most definitely some places where Olive could help.

"^We can provide most of those, thankfully. Though, clothes and "books" in particular are something we lack.^"

"~Hah, books are my specialty you could say. With how few people visit the library I don't even see much of an issue with her getting to take a few of them for good, though knowing her she'll be done with them in a span of days. Clothes though... I imagine rifling through her wardrobe would be helpful here, as rundown as it is, no way she took every last thing with her after all. Beyond that... I don't think I have anything that fits her particularly well, but a bad fit is better than no fit, and there are definitely a few things that spent the last decade in my wardrobe uninterrupted. Plus, she'll grow into it assuming she stays there for long enough.~"

"^This would involve heading over to your town to take these items, wouldn't it?^"

As obvious as the truth was, it was worth acknowledging, Olive's free hand reaching into Leo's mane as she nodded, the hidden Ribombee snuggling into it all the while.

"You can't be seriously considering that Aria."

The low, gruff voice caught the human group completely off guard, neither of them seeing any obvious subjects but the intimidating Luxray that was staring up at the spirit a couple meters away from them, before giving their group a brief, narrowed stare.

"^I don't see why not. I know my stealth, and unless a sight of a Luxray accompanying Olive's group is sufficient to send that whole place into a panic I imagine we'll be inconspicuous enough. And- I figured it'd be the best for us all to be able to understand each other, if this is gonna take a while.^"

The Luxray looked like he was about to blow over at the freshly named Aria before her addendum made him look over at the group wide eyed, only able to spit out-

"Have you gone completely mad!?"

"A-all of us?" - The quiet, squeaky question made the whole group look over at its source, Luxie daring to peek out from Leo's mane properly this time, looking up at the tall pale stranger and watching her respond with an affirmative nod. Not an instant later, the little bee was back over at her human's cheek, nuzzling and hugging it to the extent her little body was capable of.

"T-thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! O-Olive, I-"

Luxie paused, never in a million years expecting to have an opportunity like that, everything she wanted to say welling up inside her fairy body, words caught in her throat leaving her just sniffling a couple times as she snuggled in, the human's hand reaching up to gently pet her back. Olive was similarly taken aback at it all, but knew just what to say in response, closing her eyes as a respite from it all and whispering-

"~Love you too Luxie.~"

Leo was nowhere near as talkative, instead just nuzzling into his human's cane hand with as much of his body as he could, the pale creature off to their side giving the Luxray a smug smirk, the electric feline just rolling his eyes in response. The librarian's group took a moment to compose themselves, the human herself eventually opening her eyes once more to look at the magical stranger.

"~So... would following us back to our village be something you'd be interested in?~"

"^Anything if it means I can help Anne out that bit more.^"

Olive found herself smiling at that conviction, feeling much the same deep down, a sense of purpose renewing her strength, as tired as she might've been.

"~Well, I suggest we get a move on then. The snow sure isn't stopping any time soon, and I'm feeling myself slowly lose sensation in my legs, hah...~"

The off the cuff remark made both companions look up at Olive worried as the whole group started to turn around and face where they came from, fresh snowfall already having slightly obscured their tracks. Before the librarian could properly push herself towards motion again, she saw yet another on an already very long list of completely unexpected sights today, the spirit's green hand hovering in the air for her to hold, the stranger offering her a soft smile. At any point in her life prior to now, she would've thought herself having mere minutes, if not seconds to live in a situation like that, but now... now she felt just about ready to take her chances.

And was she glad to have done so- the warmth that filled her body as her hand grasped the spirit's was almost the complete opposite of anything she could've expected, be it now or in the past, working away at the numbness and aching while undoing what felt like decades of strain and wear, making her feel almost weightless.

"~Ohhhh. N-not a situation I thought I would ever find myself in, and definitely not what I imagined it to feel like.~"

The spirit giggled at her words as they all got going, the sound so unlike anything she expected from her kin while also just being very pleasant at the face value, the librarian finding herself feeling just that bit more self conscious about the spooky stories she spent her life believing in.

"^Hah, I gathered. I've no idea who came up with half the things you were thinking I could or would do.^"

Despite her disillusionment, this seemed to be the one part that was indeed true, enough so that the stranger even offhandedly admitted to it, Olive not sure how she felt about her thoughts being read like that.

"^My name is Aria. I... can't thank you enough for agreeing to help us, Olive.^"

"~My pleasure... Aria. I expected, braced myself to find a dead body if even that, and to hear she's doing alright is... best news I've had in a long while, that's for sure.~"

"M-me too... that ravine looked so, so scary, h-how did she survive that?"

Hearing Luxie's voice again made the librarian smile, the sound such a dead ringer for how Olive imagined the lil' bee would sound if she could talk that it was almost baffling, but at the same time, so sweet she absolutely had no reason to even wonder how come it sounded the way it did.

"^Barely. Thankfully, we... found her quickly.^"

The pause in Aria's voice to carefully pick her words was noticed, but Olive was of no mind to even think of prying any into it- even if she wasn't a vengeful banshee the human was expecting one of her kin to be, she was still a magical creature, one that likely kept many secrets.

"Yeah... I-I was so scared for her when she went missing like that, I thought she was dead for sure a-a-and it'd probably just break my heart, A-Anne's too sweet to have something like that happen to her..."

"I knew she'd make it- she's much more resilient than she looks."

Leo's addition, delivered in a low, slow voice made Luxie raise her eyebrow as Olive chuckled, sighing deeply before nodding-

"~Indeed, even if it's by necessity.~"

The Luxray let out a low grumble at that as the now expanded group made their way back onto the main forest path, Aria's magical assistance helping make the return leg of their journey take less time than in the other direction.

"If you apparently 'care' for her so much, why didn't you help her before?"

The Electric type's snarled gotcha made most of the rest of the group glare down at him in response, the human herself sighing quietly as the question got to her, stinging her even as she knew, on a rational level, that she had done everything in her power to help.

"^Leave judging people's hearts to me Lumi-^"

"~No, no, he has a point, I think.~"

"No he doesn't! You g-gave her a safe place all the time in the library, made her feel as welcome as you could- you even called for people to come and investigate what her p-parents were doing to her-"

"~And what came of it?~"

Luxie couldn't respond to that, the simple lack of knowledge shutting her up there and then- though considering Anne's situation didn't improve any afterwards, the answer was likely 'not much, if anything'.

"B-but, didn't someone c-come to look at what was happening?"

"~They did. I saw a single police cruiser roll up to their home, then her father talking to one of his coworkers and blowing that entire thing off. Then the next day, a couple new bruises on her neck.~"

Aria's free hand clenched at hearing that, the pangs of fury she felt back at the clinic coming back in force as she tried to control herself to the best of her ability, the realization that she was saving the girl away from those horrible, evil people giving her more and more motivation each time she thought about it. Lumi on the other hand was still not fully convinced, though at least his next question wasn't dripped in as much smarm-

"Then why not take her under your own wing, if her own family is so monstrous towards her?"

"^Lumi-^"

"~Do you think I wouldn't have done so if I had the ability to?~"

As much as his first question made her pensive, Olive's response to the follow up was dripping with contempt for these words even being asked, contempt and more than a bit of regret at her own impotence in that regard- she wished so many times that she could just spirit the girl away from her day to day hell, but... alas.

"~I'm not her relative, and she has living family. Best case she'd spend a few days with me before I ended up behind bars for the rest of my life and she would be forced to get back to her house, and I can't even imagine what her father would do to her after having something like that happen.~"

Aria didn't need to know what exactly 'behind bars' meant to realize it referred to some sort of punishment, her heart shuddering at such an obviously generous act potentially being held against the elderly woman. As much as her perception of how virtuous individual humans could be kept changing by the minute, humanity as a whole remained little more than a monstrous, vile mass inside her mind, one that seemed to bring misery to everything it touched, including itself.

The terrific mental image chilled the discussion for a long while, enough for the group to start approaching the end of the forest path, Luxie hovering out of her warm shelter to nuzzle her guardian's cold hand, simultaneously succeeding at catching her attention away from the trance of psychically enhanced walking through snow.

"~We're getting close. Whatever stealth you had in mind Aria, now's a high time to start exhibiting it-~"

The end results spoke for themselves, even if Olive was left temporarily speechless at how effective they were. She was still holding the spirit's hand, a couple momentary clenches that were then returned by Aria confirming that well enough, but attempting to look over at her, or even at the hand she knew she was holding yielded no results, eyes just sliding over the spots she would've been in.

"^How's that for stealth~?^"

"~What in the...~"

Another giggle from Aria, feeling much more disembodied on behalf of her functional invisibility helped in warming the atmosphere away from its previous gloom as they all neared the entrance back into the human village. The psychic herself almost never ventured this far, certainly not as an adult doing her duties, and never ever any further, but there was one unassuming sight in front of her that she felt compelled to ask about-

"^I've always wondered what was written on that sign.^"

"~Hmm?~"

The partially faded and grossly out of date sign that flanked the small gate at the end of the forest path was a sight Olive had already completely tuned out over the years, finding the wild creature's curiosity of it charming, cute almost.

,-----v----_------. MYLOCK POP: 1,634 \----^-------^---/

"~It has the name of the town on it, Mylock, and its population. Says its sixteen hundred, nowadays the actual number is closer to eleven hundred.~"

The number was rather pitiful by the standards of human settlements, though still sufficient to make Aria sound genuinely surprised at it as she continued-

"^T-that's a good few people, goodness. And on the other side?^"

,--------_----v-----. /^\ LILLYWOOD | | 8 MI. \---^--------^----/

"~Name of the town at the other end of the path, Lillywood, and the distance to it.~"

"^And how big is that one? I've heard it's quite a bit bigger than even this place.^"

"~Not a high bar to clear. Hmm... last time I checked it was something like sixty, seventy thousand.~"

As fairly underwhelming as Lillywood was, especially when compared to the regional capital of Mistralton, the number was apparently high enough to completely stump both the Luxray and Aria, at least judging by Olive's arm suddenly being gently yanked backwards as she walked on, as if her impromptu companion had stopped.

"~What's wrong?~"

"^That's an astounding number of living beings, good heavens...^"

The librarian just chuckled, amused at Aria's apparent innocence on that matter.

"~I've a feeling that if I told you Castelia's population you'd faint on me.~"

"^May be if it's substantially higher than that...^"

Did two and a quarter orders of magnitude count as substantially higher?

Thankfully, Aria eventually managed to snap out of that momentary daze on her own, shaking it off as she pressed on, Olive in tow, the cane taps against the pavement making for a pleasant, rhythmic cadence. The sight that met the group immediately after the forest path ended was solidly underwhelming for the town's inhabitants, and confusing otherwise. The dirt trail opened into a wider one, made out of stone slabs, many of them cracked, with a much larger, also stone-looking black path beside it, faded white markings covering it in places giving little clue as to its function.

The most eye catching sight, by far, were a couple large, metallic objects standing inertly off to the side of the black path, each large enough to comfortably contain their entire group in them- probably even two of them if they squeezed in the right way.

"^What are those...^"

"~Cars. Used for getting around much faster than we can on foot.~"

The description left a lot to be desired, and a part of Aria was just about ready to ask Olive's ears off at all the objects around them, but ultimately, their mission here had priority over everything else, and it was a good idea to not waste time and be done with it as fast as they could. In addition, maintaining her stealth suddenly became that much more draining on account of so many more minds all around her, not giving the hidden psychic much capacity to further inquire into things, Aria having to focus quite deeply just to not let herself be spotted.

Thankfully, she had Olive to guide them along towards where they needed to go, the destination not too far from the entrance to the woods, Anne's former house one in a row of ugly, rectangular, multi story single family housing built decades ago, much of it now abandoned. Or in the case of the specific building they were heading towards, somehow even worse than abandoned.

The sight of a Luxray suddenly accompanying Mrs. Graham's Arcanine was one that turned a few heads as they passed, but it was far from anything that would deserve any stronger reaction than that, the electric canine just leering down any potential onlookers as he scouted the area. Even besides having way, way too many humans around for comfort, this place was just obscenely ugly, with the tide of gray and black around them only occasionally broken by a "car" of a different color passing by or a stark outfit of one of the locals. Even the massive, multi story building on the other side of this black road, much larger than any other the Luxray had seen in his life was rendered pitiful and off-putting by the drab, almost completely desaturated paint that much of it was painted with, raw stone and dark smudges peeking out in places only making it all more unsightly.

"What an ugly place."

"~Harsh, but true. Can't believe they still haven't renovated the school after all these years, good god.~"

A glance back over at the building they were heading towards had Olive's calm expression turn into a snarl of her own, the litter strewn around the building's front yard a perfect company for the opened front door and the reek that emanated from within, Luxie in particular reacting with a loud, whiny grumble before diving into her human's pocket.

"~Just a couple days and this place already feels like it's rotting. Only befits her family if nothing else. Hold your breath.~"

The party didn't have to be told twice, walking in through the front door and looking around in confusion for the most part, Olive trying to recall this place's layout. The atrium opened up to the kitchen immediately in front of them, lack of doors between the two rooms letting them determine with vivid clarity that it was the kitchen that was the source of the putrid odor, the door of the fridge hanging open providing even further clues for the city dwellers. To their right was a small closet, mostly full of junk, while the other side had the stairs up to the first floor, the librarian leading the group in that direction after a few moments. As used as she was to them, the two wilder members of her party paused at the sounds from the floor above mid step, Aria having caught enough of her breath to ask-

"^Is there someone up there? I can hear voices but can't feel anyone...^"

"~No, no, it's just the TV. The bastard didn't even turn it off.~"

There was enough contempt dripping in Olive's voice for her to physically spit the excess out as they made their way all the way up, the human voice from one of the rooms the corridor opened up into now clear enough to make out for anyone who could understand Unovan-

"~-and now for the recap of Hoenn Pro Series 47! Following eight tense weeks of battles, Trainer Brendan and Gym Leader Flannery with scores of sixteen to four and fifteen to five respectively have managed to secure the top two spots, giving them a possibly once in a lifetime opportunity to challenge the Hoenn Elite Four to potentially replace one of their members- and if they succeed at that, potentially even Champion Wallace himself! In anticipation to the no doubt grueling fights that shall await them and their teams, let's take a look at the best, most tense moments of all the battles that had led them here, right after the message from our sponsors, on League24 Extra 2!~"

The sensation of hearing a voice without any corresponding mental activity or even just physical presence associated with it was an extremely dumbfounding one for Aria, her aura's subconscious attempts to probe in the direction of where the sound originated only finding a quasi metallic slab it had a hard time penetrating, the mismatch between her senses making her head spin a little.

"^What's that voice saying even...^"

"~You don't want to know.~"

Olive's answer was as short as it was definitive, not leaving much room to argue with, the psychic just taking it at face value. Thankfully, she didn't have to concern herself with it for much longer, the elderly human beelining to what had to be the girl's now abandoned room, the sheer mess it had been left in making it look like it's been ransacked several times.

"~Here we are.~"

This might've been much more furniture than Aria was used to seeing in a single room, but the despairing state of all of it kinda offset that a fair amount. Desk and shelves falling apart, wardrobe missing one of its doors and chair one of its legs, half of the outer wall reduced to bare brick and mortar, the few plumes of mold on the ceiling completing the picture. And all over the place, smaller pieces of what looked like variously coloured fabric mixed in with white, rectangular sheets, some of them with black or blue symbols on them, none of it making any sense on the surface.

"~Might as well grab everything she has left at this point, underwear especially.~"

A colorful, glistening bag was pulled out of Olive's handbag and unfurled open, big enough to contain this entire mess, the librarian walking over to the wardrobe and grabbing pieces of clothing by the handful, most of them in a sorry condition.

"~Luxie, take a look at shelves and nooks, she had a whole pencil case she kept hidden.~"

"On it!"

Lumi and Aria were too taken aback to contribute much directly, the former standing guard outside the room instead as the latter paid close attention to everything the librarian and her friend were doing, the bee fly zooming around the room and collecting small, stick-shaped objects, slowly building a pile on top of the nearby desk as her hunt continued. A good dozen pens and a couple pencils was a good haul, but the actual pencil case remained stubbornly hidden, Luxie increasingly growing frustrated at double and triple checking every corner without spotting it.

"^What does that... 'pencil case' look like?^"

"About as big as I am, tubular I think... I remember seeing it just a few weeks ago, it has to be in there somewhere!"

"^Lumi?^"

"Hmm? Sigh... fine."

The Luxray's eyes glowed slightly as he swept the room, solid objects reduced to mere outlines and other living beings to what humans would call anatomical diagrams, the perspective one he rarely enjoyed seeing the world though, but which came in handy sometimes.

"Inside the top layer of this... bedding, I think?"

The rest of the group looked down at the unkempt bed, Leo reaching in and pulling the covers off with one firm motion, revealing mostly just a stained, bare mattress underneath- one with a barely visible hole in the side that faced the wall, Luxie spotting it first and buzzing right in that direction.

"Got it, thank you!"

The pencil case was rather heavy on behalf of being almost full, and considering how much the girl valued being able to draw, it only made sense for it to be so well hidden. A glance later though, it turned out to not be the only thing that was stuck in there, a large photo frame barely fitting through the gap, Aria about to ask whether Luxie needed help before the bee fly managed to pull it out, laying it out onto the bed for everyone to take a look.

An elderly woman, gray hair tied in a bun and a sea of wrinkles dotting her smiling expression, sitting on a large couch, hugging younger Anne on her lap as the girl leaned on her front, and even younger, sleeping Ember on Anne's lap, the girl gently holding her all the while.

"Oh my goodness, we have to take it!"

"~Of course- pack it in, and all the pencils, we're scavenging everything in here. Aria, could you help us with paper?~"

The librarian's mental image was thankfully clear enough for the psychic to realize that the word referred to all the white rectangles, a shimmering glow surrounding them all as they were lifted off the ground at the same time and gathered into a neat heap, the sight making the bee fly 'wow' quietly under her breath.

"There's more of it on the shelves and inside the desks, and a few notebooks too, I think she'll appreciate everything we can grab."

Aria didn't have to be told twice, all the doors and drawers getting rattled open as her mental reach scoured every last inch, picking up everything that was either paper, looked like paper, or had paper in it, the sheer quantity of all the objects even in this rundown room utterly baffling for the psychic, making her own dwelling look ascetic by comparison. The heap ended up being a few inches tall by the end, and if even half of it was usable for drawing, it'd be at least a few weeks if not months of canvas for the girl, the drawing supplies getting stashed in next to all the clothing and valuables inside the large bag, filling it almost to the full when combined.

"~She took almost everything that wasn't falling apart clothes-wise with herself, not much else left. One more sweep and I think we can get going-~"

"Someone's coming."

Lumi's call had everyone freeze as they listened in, the Luxray himself staring down his target from behind several walls, the figure shambling forward through the front lawn after disembarking one of those metal cages on wheels, slamming the front door behind itself after it had walked in, a gruff grumble audible to the rest of the group by now.

"~Can only be the homeowner.~"

Olive's whisper made Aria in particular freeze, all the wrathful thoughts slipping back into her mind as she pieced together the identity of the newcomer, hands clenching into tight fists as she spoke to the rest of the group, her voice as pointed and cold as it was when she'd first addressed Olive, sending a shiver through them all-

"^Leave him to me.^"

With a short nod of acknowledgment, Olive began heading for the stairs, baseline fear of the person that awaited them getting subsumed by the emboldening effect of Aria's presence. The librarian didn't even try to keep her footsteps quiet as she descended down towards the atrium, the adrenaline making the bagful of spoils in her free hand not even weigh all that much as she turned to face the kitchen, and the wreck of a man inside it.

The brown bottle was held with shaky hands as the last of its contents were emptied with staggered, uncoordinated gulps, the excess of whiskey splashing down onto the man's unkempt, short beard and the vomit stained police uniform immediately underneath it. His face, already adorned with a permanent grimace, only twitched harder as it turned to face the intruder in HIS fucking house. Even as he began to shake in anger, the greasy, patchy mess that constituted his hair didn't move even a bit, uneven buzzcut looking glued onto his acne covered skin.

"~Tom. Fancy meeting you here after all this.~"

Anne's father responded with an animalistic, low grunt, Leo and Luxie alike staring him down beside their human, the former in particular about ready to tear this worthless human's throat out if he as much as tried hurting his guardian. As clear as their joined intimidation was, the human's inebriation and aggression were even stronger, shaky hand grabbing the freshly emptied bottle by the neck as he lunged towards Olive-

"~Get the FUCK out of my house you FUCKING BITCH-~"

Before Leo or Luxie could do anything, they felt something deep inside their minds hold them back from acting, Olive flinching in response to the other human's attempted swing before seeing his arm become enveloped in bright, white light, frozen in place completely as if air itself was holding it in a vise.

"~Wh-what the FUCK is-~"

The sight of a ghost bride, its eyes burning up with a white flare, emerging from behind that worthless bitch of a librarian made Tom start to panic, putting in his all to try to pry his arm out of the demon's magic as it approached, step by step, the limb not bulging in the slightest. His mind was equally entrapped, the fiendish eyes occupying his entire attention, tendrils of terror stabbing deeper and deeper into his psyche with the wraith's every step.

"~G-get THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME- GAAAAAHHHH!~"

His spat out demand was interrupted with a disgusting, visceral crunch as the bones in his wrist twisted and broke at the sudden application of more force, deep blue bruises enveloping his hand moments later. The agony broke out through his grimace with a pathetic shriek, his thoughts utterly filled with pain and anger-

And not even the tiniest shred of remorse, or even regret, an unceasing fury at the whole world being against him taking its place instead, removing all traces of doubt from his tormentor's mind.

Before Tom could do anything more, his whole arm was yanked backwards with enough force to bend his elbow the other way as he was flung further into the kitchen, cracking sounds of bones breaking and ligaments snapping mixing in with the shatter of glass and plastic from the stove he impacted. The combined sounds sent a wave of nausea rolling through the librarian- though at the same time, she couldn't really say she disagreed with Aria's justice one bit either.

As inconceivable as Tom's pain was, he still wasn't thinking of relenting, drug induced haze muffling it out enough for rage to continue to drive him on, the trash bin of a human being staring down the demon as he pushed through the torment, physical and mental alike. Near blinding migraine and the sensations of molten knives stabbing his head did little to slow him down as stood back up, trying to bolt over onto the other side of the kitchen to grab a knife-

Another disgusting crunch filled the room as his ankle was crushed into a thousand pieces, his shrill cry cut off as he collapsed onto the filthy floor, utensils and shards of glass digging into his skin with every motion, all the suffering magnified tenfold thanks to the ghost bride's influence, finally beginning to burn the man's unceasing fury out.

In desperation, his other hand reached down for his holster, managing to pull the pistol out through all the pain and adrenaline and aim it roughly in the demon's direction, his shrieks full of hatred as he tried to pull down on the trigger- only for the hand holding the gun to smash into his own face at full force, the sound of multiple bones breaking on both ends mixing in with the deafening gunshot and a bullet ricocheting off of metal before it pierced through his leg, the last of his resolve finally snapping.

Even as the monster of a human was utterly reduced to a screaming mess sprawled out on the kitchen floor, capable of little more than twitching and bleeding, a part of Aria wanted to keep on going still, to fully reciprocate the enormity of suffering Anne had experienced on her father's hands, eyes burning up with white once more- and stopping shortly after, her own anger fueled high beginning to slowly die down.

An eerie sensation filled her as she stared the pathetic heap that was left of the man down, not joy or hateful glee, nothing as uplifting as that, more so… contentment, at the awareness that he would likely never be capable of hurting anyone else again, at Anne and Ember's pain being avenged. Even if he were to eventually recover from all this, he would never be able to forget all the pain, it would remain his lifelong companion, its burning presence accompanying his every waking moment, as he deserved.

"^L-let's... let's get going...^"

The rest of the group didn't even think of disagreeing, all of them thoroughly shook by what they just saw take place in front of her, the display of violence so utterly unlike Aria much of the time it left even Lumi worried, the Luxray looking up uncertainly at his coworker as they hurried through the front door, Aria only barely remembering to reapply her disguise.

"D-did he r-really d-deserve all that..."

Luxie's quiet whimper stung the psychic's heart as she felt all the fear that emanated from it, the sensation saturating the air around her making it hard for her to think, Aria not sure what to even say in defense-

"~All that and worse. Hold on.~"

Olive's grim tone continued as she reached over for a small item from inside her purse, the bag full of their spoils so far getting set down beside her as she talked to the metallic device, its purpose unknown for the two wildlings-

"~Afternoon. There's a man with broken hands and a broken leg in here, I'm not sure if he can move. 17 Central Avenue, ML4 468, Mylock. My name is-~"

click

"~None of your business. Alright, let's go, before the ambulance gets here, he'll live.~"