Chapter 1: Cold Open

The gentle glow of the earliest dawn bathed the inside of the tent in just barely enough light to make out the several figures spread around the space, most of them concentrating more so on staying awake over anything else. Everything that needed to be said had already been exchanged, an expectant silence lingering in the room as they awaited the arrival of the final person they were waiting for.

The quiet was only interrupted by an occasional held-in yawn and some muffled steps on the other side of the flap that separated the chambers of the medical tent, several medics busy moving around as they tended to the sole reason behind all this commotion. And as much as most present would've preferred to get an hour more sleep, or four, they all agreed that said reason was... significant enough to warrant being there, even if begrudgingly.

If only Aria could finally show up so that they could finally discuss this mess they were in now-

"^Apologies for the delay, had a bit of a hard time putting Bell back to sleep but I'm here now. Anyone care to fill me in beyond 'oh no, human'?^" - The crystal clear words filled the minds of everyone gathered as a pale, tall figure stepped through the flap into the room, red eyes glowing dimly in the barely present light.

"Well, so far there's not much beyond that really. Sprout found it crashed in the ravine east of village, dying, and managed to carry it over to the medics in time before waking us all up to help with cleanup and to watch over it while she finishes her shift." - The quieter, rougher voice woofed up from the corner as Lumi picked himself up from the carpeted floor and into a sitting position, black fur arcing lightly as he stretched.

"^The ravine near their path? That's... rather close, considering.^" - Aria answered with concern in her voice, at least as much of a voice as there was without her ever moving her mouth.

"That's what we ended up at, yes. Too close for comfort, though if they were trying to spy on us Sprout would've found them eventually, and I would imagine even a human would be competent enough not to crash like that if they were pulling something like that off." - The source of the words was all but invisible in the shadows, with only a faint golden sparkle on Ruby's forehead and the tiniest hint of red piercing the darkness where the morning sun did not shine.

"Perhaps their contraption might have malfunctioned on them. Though that in itself does not explain their reason for being there in the first place." - The source of the final, harsh sounding voice was downright hard to miss, the matte red metal clearly visible in the faint light as Ori's yellow eyes investigating the nondescript object laying in the far corner.

It was very narrow and mostly made out of metal, with the exception of two wheels, one now bent at a harsh angle, and a T-shaped segment that seemed to be made out of a completely different, wholly unknown material, black and soft to the touch. Its purpose was completely unknown to anyone present at a glance, though since it had wheels it might have been meant for carrying things? Didn't look like it had room to carry literally anything though... At least the other object next to the metal contraption was more self explanatory, some sort of closed bag with a pair of straps.

"No it doesn't indeed. Hopefully Sprout has enough experience with human watching to know what... this is, and help us figure out some sort of a plan for this mess." - The psychic responded, her own attempt at categorizing the mysterious object failing so utterly it threatened to give her a headache.

"Plan? Not sure what there is to plan Aria, at least beyond the 'we help them not die over here and then dump them off back at the human village'." - Lumi said dismissively, flicking his paw off to the saw.

"What if another human comes looking for them? What if they had managed to find what they were looking for before getting themselves injured and we're at risk of our cover being blown now? What if they wake up and start fighting?" - Ruby cut back in, eyeing the Luxray down.

"Are you implying that all of us couldn't take on a single half-dead human without all their silly objects?"

"Hopefully not. But the questions remain, we have to know what they were doing there before deciding what to do with them."

As the tall psychic kept visually inspecting the obviously damaged device, she felt attention being drawn back to her, groaning internally at being expected to dig into the subconscious of a human of all things, though they were right, not much else they could do right now.

"I can try to take a look once the medics are done with them. How long have they been at it?"

"Couple hours, give or take. Must've been something nasty, the crash site had blood all over, managed to cover it all before any wilding could take too good of a sniff thankfully." - Ruby shook slightly as she responded, the gruesome scene still fresh in her memory.

"I don't get it, why move them here in the first place? Humans have their medics too, right? Could have them deal with their own injured and save us this mess." - Lumi chimed in with growing annoyance in his voice, really preferring to have been able to get a couple more hours of rest in.

"Sprout wasn't sure whether they'd survive long enough for her to fly them to the human town with how weak they were. Better to have a bit more of a mess on our paws than condemn someone possibly innocent to death, don't you think Lumi? Besides, as I said, we don't yet know what they had seen, so better be safe on that front as well." - Ruby shot him right back down, eyes narrowing ever more at his complaints. The more canine of the dark furred creatures grumbled quietly before weakly agreeing, sighing before laying back down on the cold floor.

"What if they indeed had seen too much then. What is your contingency for that outcome Ruby?" - Ori's voice was calm and flat as ever, the question intended much less as a gotcha than it was the the tallest, most metal speaker in the room wanting everyone to be on the same page.

"Well-" - The shorter shape looked up at the green haired psychic, a step out of the shadows showing off the red feathers on her head and ears - "-from what I know, targeted memory removal is a thing, and we're certainly not lacking on skilled psychics~"

"I appreciate the flattery, but it won't make what you're describing any less difficult- or less messy. Not that I won't try my best should the worst come to it- but it's something that can go wrong in more ways than one, and I don't even want to consider it until we're absolutely sure it's a necessity."

"But it's always an option should it come down to it, got it. Hopefully one that indeed won't even have to be considered, so let's not preemptively antagonize them any more than we need to, they've been through a lot in any case."

Everyone nodded with various levels of reluctance, nobody exactly looking forward to having to deal with a human, even if they were in no condition to fight, but understanding that fate didn't exactly leave them with any other choice.

Or at least, any other choice that wouldn't make them worse than these very beings they were hiding from.

As the sun rose further, pushing through the snowy, white sky, the commotion in the part of the tent the human was housed in began to gradually die down, Aria eventually deciding to walk over to take a peek, the sight hard to make anything out of.

The majority of the human was either laying under a thick blanket or covered in bandages, the entirety of their left arm being enveloped in a thick, blocky cast, one of the couple remaining medics busy wrapping it in layers of light silk to further stiffen it. All that was visible of the human was their head, remarkable in how unremarkable it was- pale skin, couple eyes, mouth, pointy, comically shaped nose, ears, with a decent bit of brown hair covering its top half. Utterly nonthreatening.

And maybe, in some other world, in some other time, it might have very well been.

"^How are they doing?^" - Aria spoke telepathically, cautiously approaching the human's bed as she addressed the busy medic.

"About as well as someone with their injuries might get. Left arm was downright shattered, they must've landed on it, took a long while to put the bones back into place. Plenty of bruising and trauma elsewhere as well, recovery is gonna take a while. Though, judging by some of the scars it's hardly their first scuffle."

As if she needed more to make her even less eager about it all.

The application of the arm cast was wrapped up with a light pat of the medic's leafy arm and the blanket was pulled over it, leaving the human patched up and sleeping soundly, paralytic venoms numbing the pain that would've otherwise been barraging them all over.

"^What do you mean?^"

"Wish I had a better idea of what I was looking at myself, hah. Some odd scratches on their forearms, burn scars like I've never seen before, all the same size, small and rounded, signs of past bone bruising..."

Aria didn't even want to think about what all that would imply, just hoping that they would manage to find out how to move this human back to their clinic before they were to wake up and start making trouble here as well. With that in mind, the idea of digging into their sleeping mind suddenly became even less attractive, another plan sprouting up to replace it without sounding too much like an excuse.

"^Thank you for your work Maple. Hopefully you won't have to patch them up any more than that before we can manage to transport them over to their own medics to deal with.^"

"Eh, unsure how much they're ready to be carried, unless you're intending to hover them all the way over there yourself. Too much pressure on the injuries and they're likely to get even worse- and human or not, I'm not a fan of my work being wasted for naught."

Oh joy.

Aria nodded and acknowledged the Leavanny's concern, sparing one last glance over at the bedful of trouble on their hands and paws before heading back to the other room, idle chatter interrupted as she brought up her idea-

"So, turns out that our... 'guest' might be something of a troublemaker. Have you all had a sweep through the things they brought with themselves to make sure there's nothing dangerous in there?"

The other three glanced at each other before slowly shaking their heads, nobody exactly eager to go digging through human creations, horror tales of what they could do not exactly alien to them, some having experienced them more than others. Aria didn't even have to glance at the others' thoughts to know that the expectation was being silently placed on her- why should anyone have to touch it if she could handle it all at a safe distance?

Which- yeah, they were right. Didn't make her roll her eyes any less as they lit up, the bag surrounded in a bright blue shimmer as it was lifted off the ground and moved further the corner opposite of her, Lumi and Ruby scooting over towards her, giving the bag a wide berth. As Aria manipulated the bag, Ori tried to maintain focus to be able to Protect them all should the need arise in their immediate future, the whole group eying the bag carefully as Aria ran into another conundrum-

"Does... anyone know how to open this thing?"

At a closer inspection, the bag did not appear to have any visible openings, fabric connected to what looked like some sort of metal seam, but otherwise uninterrupted.

Humans sure were dedicated to making sure nothing they did or created made sense, weren't they?

"Wait, maybe there's... no, no wait, how's this thing even work?" - Ruby was no less confounded at a closer glance, the one object they expected to be relatively self explanatory turning out to not be so in the slightest.

As they were about to start arguing between each other as to how this "bag" even worked, the flap of the tent being shuffled behind them made those that weren't busy holding up what very well could've been a ticking time bomb turn around to see the Sprout herself step in, exhaustion mixing with bafflement at the scene in front of her, an eyebrow lifting underneath the green leafy hood.

"What... are you all doing?"

"Trying to see if the human was carrying anything dangerous with themselves without getting ourselves killed." - Aria responded without budging her attention even slightly, keeping a vise-like mental grip on the hovering bag.

"In the immediate moment, attempting to solve the mystery of this bag they were carrying with themselves." - Ori chimed in, looking flatly at Sprout with hope she might know the mystery of the human's hole-less bag.

Sprout could only let out a tired sigh as she buried her face into her wing, a mix of grumble and muffling bird whistling the only sound audible in the room for a couple moments. After getting that out of her system, she stepping forward, grabbing one of small dangling bits at the end of the largest metal seam and giving it a solid yank, the seam coming undone and showing off the insides of the bag.

"That's how. And that's not how... these work, nothing's gonna blow up in your faces. Besides, I really doubt this human was carrying anything particularly dangerous with them. How are they doing, by the way?"

Aria could only blink dumbfounded at Sprout's apparent recklessness, lowering the bag down closer to the floor, more questions replacing the only partially answered one of how did this bag even work.

"The medics finished patching them up for now, and I've heard them mention they found some scars of past fighting on their body, so if anything I'd be even more suspicious of them. What makes you so doubtful Sprout?"

The news seemed to wake the owl up somewhat, sleepy eyes opening wider as she looked back at the psychic, expression filling with concern.

"I certainly wouldn't expect a child to have anything too dangerous on themselves. Or to be the aggressor in any fighting they might have been a part of."

...

A... child?

The bag landed on the carpeted floor with a faint thud as everyone stared at the owl with a mixture of confusion and astonishment, the revelation painting every single detail in a whole new light, a much more unsettling one at that.

"S-Sprout, are you sure of that? What if it's j-just a small one-" - Lumi attempted to bargain with the facts, suddenly feeling just a tad sorry for his earlier comments.

"I sure haven't seen a grown human this small in all my time scouting. Adults are easily my size if not taller, this one would fit snuggly under my wing." - The owl lifted the brown limb up for emphasis, making the size difference even more noticeable.

As much as the more canine speaker was unsettled by this, yellow, piercing eyes looking with unease around the room and towards the sleeping human behind the wall of the tent, the smaller figure was deep in thought, sharp claws rhythmically tapping against the metal of the damaged machine before she spoke up, asking for clarification-

"Humans are diurnal, correct?"

Sprout answered with a nod, chuckling internally at the understandable question, knowing full well how being nocturnal teaches one to not assume on that front.

"Diurnal child getting into a lethal accident, on their own, at night, away from their settlement... something's off about all this."

It was hard not to agree with this assessment, even if the conclusions everyone's minds went towards couldn't be further apart. Each scout imagined the situation as everything from deliberate subterfuge, knowing that a child in distress would be helped and taken in no matter what, which would then be used maliciously... somehow, to a perhaps even more disturbing possibility of said child desperately trying to run away from some danger that had already claimed the rest of its family.

...probably the latter more so than the former.

"Undoubtedly. With any luck an inspection of this bag's contents will reveal more important information about it all and cut through the confusion." - Ori's voice gained the smallest hint of emphasis and excitement, the Scizor ready to go inspect the bag's contents himself if needed.

"I hope you're not seriously considering the idea that this is all some nefarious action Ori-"

"Certainly not Sprout. That possibility sounds... incredibly silly to state it bluntly. Disregarding that, I still think we can gleam much from the bag's contents."

With everyone else nodding and Lumi trying to innocently look away from the rest of the assorted party, focusing on someone standing on the other side of the tent as a distraction, the attention could once more shift to continuously inert bag. The open seam was soon enveloped in a bright aura before parting wider, the whole bag then being lifted up and turned upside down to pour all its contents out of it.

Which, to everyone's relief, featured an absence of any of those round wretched things.

And a marked presence of... a whole lot of cloth, which at a closer inspection, consisting of Ori walking a couple steps closer and picking the topmost piece of it off the pile with a round pincer, turned out to be clothing. It was obviously tailored for a human, with its make being particularly perplexing, managing to simultaneously be of higher quality than any craftsmanship their village could produce and in an objectively rough state, full of various holes at the seams, discolored yellow in places, and creased all over from the haphazard packing.

As much cloth as there was in there though, some other items also stuck out- a small metal object, thin and about as long as one of Ruby's claws, pointed at one end, a larger, hand-sized tubular thing, black and flaring out towards one end, material hard to tell at a glance, a simple and undecorated if high quality knife, sized for a human hand, and... a Fennekin doll, a really well made one at that.

"That is an unreasonable amount of clothes for one person."

"Well Ori... yes, but humans do wear a silly amount of clothes constantly so it's only appropriate I suppose. This one was wearing three layers in places when I found it, sure baffled the medics."

As confused as the others were at such news, it could ultimately just be swept under "Humans are weird", it didn't tell them much if apparently all humans each wore about as many clothes as a dozen denizens of their village combined-

"Though, I can't say I've ever seen them carry that many extra clothes beyond what they have on themselves, or at least not without setting camp somewhere for the night."

Or maybe it did?

"Well, what then could it mean, you think?" - Ruby tried to cut to the point, the whole mystery unnerving her more and more by the moment.

The owl could only sigh and shrug, expression growing more and more tired by the moment, sun continuing with its late if unrelenting ascent.

"I only keep watch of them, not their thoughts. Though, taking a gander at these would probably help as well-"

"After we're done with these."

Much as the situation might have changed at the knowledge that this one was just a youngling, Aria was still far from eager to go diving under a human's skullcap for no reason, deep down hoping they could figure it out just by examining their bag and the curios found within.

"That's a remarkably well made knife, though why would they need one?" - The Weavile picked up the knife for a closer inspection, hearing plenty about the extent of human mastery with metal despite being neither Fire nor Steel typed, but not having a chance to see it for herself until now, effortlessly managing to sharpen a claw on the knife's edge.

"No clue about that either, never seen any other human with a knife on them, or at least not one this large. I guess it'd be helpful in food preparation on the go- though why would they even bring one instead of just preparing the food beforehand is beyond me..."

This was even more confusing than all the clothes, figures humans would use knives without either claws, blades or being able to use Psycho Cut in their stead, but even then, why would this child bring it with themselves? Maybe they're a cook of some sort, though they still wouldn't get any use out of it without a fire or more importantly food unless they went foraging, cause if humans most definitely *weren't* something, it was hunters.

"Guess just one more unknown to throw onto the pile."

"Now, this item."

The black cylinder was certainly the most obviously human item on the pile, made out of some smooth and ever so slightly bendy material, the wider end seeming to have a large opening with what looked like glass inside it, and something impossible to tell behind the glass.

"To have access to all this pristine glass and then use it for what I can only imagine to be decoration. I do not understand it."

The barely noticeable confusion in Ori's caught the attention of others, Aria deciding to take a risk and step closer to investigate, reaching over towards the Scizor with an unspoken request.

Grabbing it in her hand, Aria couldn't help but take a closer look at the perfectly clear glass, so unlike the dirty, colored beads their own craftspeople made, to the point that if not for hearing tales of humans having the clear stuff in abundance, she wouldn't be able to connect the two-

*click*

As she kept inspecting it, her hands shifted along the smooth material, one finger eventually landing on a softer feeling part that gave in at being pressed against, until a sudden click made the glassy end of the device explode with light. The sudden blinding glare aimed at her face made the Gardevoir psychically toss the item away out of reflex, the object bouncing off the floor and rolling for a bit before stopping, light continuing to shine out of the wider, glass-tipped end.

After a few moments for everyone to calm down after the sudden noise and action, and Aria to blink the glare away, Ruby cautiously approached the device before picking it up, cone of light moving along with the black tool.

"Guess that's quite handy if you can't see in the dark. You alright there Aria?"

"Y-yeah, just caught me off guard all wide eyed, gah that stung."

Even if it was much too weak to be a Dazzling Gleam on a stick, Ruby still handled the item carefully, keeping the light away from everyone before spotting a differently looking bit on the handle-

*click*

And turning the sudden Flasher off that way.

"I feel like Mikiri will have an incredible field day with this item."

"Will she now?"

Sprout's tone made it clear that the only correct answer was 'no, she will not', the tinkerer in Ori letting out a tiny, metallic, disappointed sigh.

"One thing to find some abandoned scrap laying out there and try to pick it apart to see what makes it tick, another to have it belong to someone under our collective care."

"An unconscious human-" - Lumi attempted to cut in, Sprout having none of it-

"Someone under our collective care. A child no less."

"Even then- if you're not planning on just keeping all their junk in here, taking up a clinic room, maybe handing it off for someone who has an idea of what they're doing to watch over isn't the worst of ideas?" - The Luxray persisted, his point more agreeable now.

"The best of ideas would be stashing it all off for nobody to touch until the human's awake again and can decide for themselves. Though... *sigh* there isn't exactly anywhere else appropriate or with as much free space as her workshop now, is there." - The leafy owl sighed again, it was way too late in the morning for her to be dealing with any of this.

"Just- just tell her not to touch anything once you move it over."

Much as the extent of her knowledge was helping the ongoing investigation, Sprout was more than deserving of some shut eye, Aria's green hand gently laid on her shoulder combined with a caring expression wordlessly getting the suggestion across, making her nod deeply in response.

"Yeah, just move all the human things over there, tell Mikiri to contain herself, and I suppose any further decisions can wait for now..."

"If it is a child, what happens when their parents come looking for them?" - The eventuality in Ruby's question gave everyone else a pause, Sprout sighing deeper before muttering the best plan she could come up with on the spot-

"I told Lucere to contact you all if some human does come looking, and I trust your combined judgment to be able to think of an appropriate response, much as I hope it does not come to it."

With the answer being found satisfactory, the rest of the room got to gently urging Sprout out- even experienced scouts have bedtimes and she was way past hers.

"Rest easy Sprout, we'll figure it out."

As everyone else was bidding her goodbye, the sight of a doll bundled in the corner, overlooked until now with all the other, more eye-catching trinkets around, caught Aria's attention, a brief shimmer levitating the yellow-red pushie over into her hands.

That certainly wasn't any fabric she'd ever felt, simultaneously slicker and rougher to the touch than any of them, making for a rather poor imitation of fur, even though the actual craftsmanship was once again final than any doll she's ever seen, be it a toy or not. So much detail, such a cute little expression, even got little fabric pawpads-

Oh?

A glance at the underside of the doll revealed the presence of a newly familiar if utterly unexpected element, one of those metal seams running down the length of the doll's tummy, a small metal element hanging off off one of the ends of the seam.

"It seems humans are big fans of this particular kind of metal seam."

Aria could only shrug her shoulders as she recalled the trick Sprout used to open the bag, carefully grabbing the dangle and giving it a firm pull-

Well, at least it worked, even if the immediate result of that action was a handful of small, metal disks falling out of the opening, ringing as they bounced off of each other before scattering across the carpeted floor.

Even if this surprise was nowhere near abrupt or blinding as the black device from earlier, everyone still needed a moment to process it, each picking up or otherwise investigating one of the disks to give them a closer look.

"Would they forget what they are if they didn't have these... reminder circles?" - Lumi asked dismissively, the trinkets wholly useless, wasteful even at a glance.

"It wouldn't hurt you to try to be less snarky sometimes. They're too well made not to be decorative, maybe some kind of charms?" - Ruby rolled her eyes as she kept inspecting the tiny disk in her claws, the intricacy of its etchings stunning even if its function was nowhere near clear, a detailed Serperior motif wrapping around the outer rim.

"Why would you carry several identical charms, and keep them so hidden while at it?" - Aria brought up a counter argument to Ruby's theory, though she'd be lying to say she had any better suggestions.

With a bit of focus and psychic assistance, all the remaining disks could be picked off the floor all at once, Ruby flicking the one she was holding up for Aria's mental reach to pick up as well, the circle extraordinarily well suited for such an action.

"A human custom perhaps? The more charms the better or something." - Ruby suggested offhandedly, part of her wanting to flick another disk like that again.

"Sure wouldn't be out of character for them..." - Lumi mumbled under his breath with a low chuckle.

As the psychic was about to slide the disks back into their hiding spot, something else was spotted in the small pocket, gentle tugging sliding several rectangular pieces of something that felt like canvas out of it, artwork on them incredibly detailed, though appearing to be identical on all of the smaller rectangles.

"More charms I suppose?"

Lumi's sarcastic comment was ignored as one of the rectangular objects stood out, larger in size, much stiffer and smoother to the touch, not to mention having a wholly different kind of incredibly detailed artwork on it.

Where as the metal disks and pieces of canvas bore art that was as detailed as it was abstract and hard to describe, this stiffer piece featured a scene so realistic it looked no different than if she had been observing it with her own eyes, making for a rather confusing sensation. It pictured a human, at a glance looking to be the same human that ended up here, looking up directly at the viewer with a smile as they held an actual Fennekin in their arms, little one seeming to be no less happy as they stared up in the same direction as the human.

It looked so much like a window to an real place that Aria tentatively tried moving it around to see if the perspective would shift, which to her slight disappointment it did not. Guess it was just a painting after all, even if an apparently infinitely detailed one. The other side looked to be blank aside from a few scribblings in what must've been the fabled human writing, contents as inscrutable as ever.

"Did you find something interesting Aria?"

Wordlessly, Aria passed the realistic artwork over to him, sliding all the disks and other rectangles back into the doll, the Scizor paying a very close look, seeming to be no less baffled by all the detail.

"I have no idea how would one create a painting like this. There does not appear to even be a visible paint texture anywhere. It's as if a piece of reality was directly implanted onto thin wood."

Such an interesting curio couldn't resist being passed between all the hands, red pincer soon handing it off to a white, clawed paw, the attached face forming a small smile.

"That's a cute scene. Wonder how long did they have to hold the pose for the artist to finish painting it."

"You think it was made after an actual scene?" - Aria asked, wholly dumbfounded by the tiny painting.

"Sure can't imagine it not being. Creativity's one thing, but making all this detail up from scratch doesn't exactly sound feasible."

The Gardevoir couldn't help but agree at a second thought, wondering what sort of connection was there between the doll she was holding and the real fire fox that the human apparently knew and had some sort of affinity for as the picture was shown to the least handied scout in the room.

"Wonder how much the little one was actually enjoying it, hmph..."

"It wouldn't hurt you to not assume the worst of people for once." - Ruby jabbed in, not appreciating Lumi's response any.

"Humans sure ain't people-"

"Let me guess, they're just some mindless beasts that only want to harm and prey on 'us', the enlightened species?"

Silence fell over the tent as the Weavile leered at the Luxray, glare tempered a fair bit by her exhaustion as she took the picture away, wordlessly passing it back to Aria.

While Lumi attempted to shrink or preferably collapse underground under the ice-type's scalding gaze, Ori took it upon himself to diffuse some of the tension, peeking out of the room and glancing over towards the sleeping human, the unexpected guest appearing not to have moved at all much to everyone's relief.

"How difficult is it to investigate into a person's memories, Aria?"

With the detailed image slid back into the doll, the seam could once more be closed, the Gardevoir's attention shifting over at the red giant as she was begrudgingly reminded of her upcoming duty.

"Harder than it would be if they were awake to cooperate. Though, ultimately, not too difficult either way. Not waking them up will be the bigger concern here."

"I would've thought all four of us could easily restrain a half dead juvenile human even if that were to happen..." - Lumi gathered the courage to quip in again, before it was swiftly dashed-

"Either of us could probably pacify them with a stern look at this point, I think the point is to not put them through any unnecessary fright and pain, Lumi." - The quadruped took his clue to shut up at the Weavile's half gritted words as the doll was put back onto the pile of all the other human stuff, leaving Aria with nothing to stall with anymore.

"Do you need us to do anything while you are in the middle of that process Aria?"

"Not wake them up preferably."

With a deep breath, she left the room of the tent they were in, once more walking over towards the unconscious child, their expression dead tired.

"What if it ends up being too much?" - Ruby chimed in, tired concern in her voice as Aria took her position on the side of the bed, eyes and hand alike soon enveloped in a bright, pale shimmer while she concentrated on the task ahead.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're the expert here, I don't know the specifics, but I'd imagine some memories like that could be a bit too much to bear, especially ones as... possibly traumatic as here."

Aria paused for a moment, not paying the possibility too much mind before proceeding.

"In theory yes, though I heavily doubt it will be anything I can't snap myself out of."

"And what if it will?"

The question came through too late though, Aria's shimmering hand already resting on the human's forehead, their minds melding together as the psychic descended into the child's subconscious.