THIRD PERSON

Sammy felt her heart pit into her stomach, the Braixen's initial reaction being to immediately freeze in pure shock.

"N-No, this can't be..." The vixen stammered under her breath. "Sam did it..."

"S-Sammy...Sa—ammy..." Talus croaked in pain, a new wave of fresh tears streaming down his face. "It h-hurts...so much..."

"Arceus..." Sammy muttered and leaned closer to the glass. "Talus, can you hear me?"

The Lycanroc quickly nodded after hearing her voice, a gleam of hope in his eyes. "Yes..."

Now that her adrenaline had settled in, the vixen decided to take a deep breath and slowly analyze the predicament ahead of her. The first noticeable feature about Talus was that his body was the same as it was when he was murdered—albeit a lot more fragile.

The scientific explanation for the boy being able to live with his fatal wounds was ambiguous.

"O-Okay, do you know how you got here?" The Braixen questioned as she tinkered with the machinery in front of the chamber.

Understanding Sam's technology was no easy feat; not even Sammy could entirely figure out how it worked. What she knew, however, were her sister's goals.

"No, I don't." Talus answered with a small frown. The midday Lycanroc lightly gasped in pain, causing him to sit on his haunches to ease the pain.

Understanding how Sam managed to bring Talus back to life was no easy feat. After her attempts of understanding were in vain, the Braixen paced back and forth in thought.

The large gash in his head was no longer the improbability for the vixen to figure out, it was the fact that his body had gone nearly decrepit over time. If Talus was surviving with conditions as critical as those...then there's no measurement for just how much pain he was in.

"How, how..." She muttered to herself.

"If...if it helps, I k-know Sam was here." Talus offered with a weak smile.

Sammy returned his smile and nodded at the young canine. "Y-Yeah, thank you."

It was quite obvious that whatever the Lycanroc had to offer was of no use to her, but it didn't hurt to comfort him at this crucial moment.

"Sammy...it hurts t-to live..." Talus whined, his eyes tearing from her gaze and onto the floor. "My head hurts, and so does my h-heart..."

"Do you remember everything that happened to you?" The Braixen inquired.

"Mhm..." He nodded.

The best-case scenario was for him to forget, yet remembering how he died seemed to be affecting him a lot. Not only was the canine in a horrendous fit of pain, but he was living with the knowledge that his own brother previously murdered him.

Sammy focused her attention on the giant scar on his head. If she could just find a way inside the cell she could potentially help him.

If there's something she knew, however, was that the chamber was never going to open once there was a gem placed inside.

"Can you m-make it stop?" The young canine pleaded once again.

"B-But I can help you...if I could just get you out of th—"

"I don't want to live if it's without my brother..." Talus shook his head as he winced with pain. "I know what he did to me was unforgivable, but I...can't do anything without him."

Sammy only stared at him with a distressed frown. She knew exactly how to end his pain, yet the Braixen didn't know if she had the strength to do so.

"How did you know he died?" At this point, it felt like the Braixen was stalling.

"Sam told me." The midday Lycanroc let out a choppy sigh. "I know he did some horrible things, but it's not like life in here would be any better."

"I-I see..." Sammy shuddered at the idea before rising up to hover her paw near the gem's container. "Are you...ready?"

"Make it painless, p-please." Talus sniffled.

"It will be, my friend." The Braixen eased his worries with a weak smile.

She reached into the machine and held a tightened grip on the memory gem inside.

"Goodbye..." The Lycanroc uttered, managing to force a small smile at the vixen before the gem was pulled out of the machine.

She hadn't noticed it before, but a small machine-like noise came to a halt the moment the gem was pulled. Any sort of whirring was cut as the chamber lost its main source of power.

Inside the cell, Talus instantly dropped dead, the canine's body collapsing onto the metal below him as whatever was supporting his life seemed to be cut.

Sammy glared at the memory gem in her paws. For once, the feeling of despair was finally settling in.

Now, there was just one more thing left to do.

"Sam." The vixen muttered to the crystal in her paw as she too collapsed onto the ground.

She desperately needed to know what had happened.

...

...

"Start of memory!" Sam grinned as she waved toward a mirror directly in front of her. In her cupped paws was the same memory gem Sammy held—at least in the future. "I've figured out a way to document my experience exactly before the research!"

The Braixen proudly skipped her way through the office and plopped onto her desk chair. She swiveled around for a few seconds and began scribbling a few words onto the paper.

"Hmm, dear diary!" The demented vixen giggled. "Nah, way too kiddish! Let's try...subject one!"

After writing down the words, Sam leaped out of the chair to hurriedly scatter through a pile of papers.

"Even though I don't know how I've done this before, just because it's an accident doesn't mean it can never happen again!" She grinned and secured her hold on the memory gem. "Whatever, let's just give you a try!"

Sam paced across the room and turned toward the cell. Inside was Talus' practically rotting corpse.

After inserting the crystal into her possession, the machinery came to a quick start. A metallic rod hidden somewhere in the room flared with power as it struck a bolt of energy directly into the Lycanroc.

"With the gem giving him his life force and returning his memories, he should..." Sam monologue as she watched the midday Lycanroc seize and jerk—which she figured were just the nerve endings "acting up".

From a small monitor on her left, she noticed the graphs spiking from their once-neutral position. A small smile creased her features.

After about a minute of watching, Talus' eyes shot open.

The realization took no longer than a mere minute for the Braixen to start maniacally laughing.

"I DID IT!" Sam proudly spread her arms in the air.

GRACE'S POV

Sammy hasn't been seen for quite some time now. Galant warned us that she snuck out to learn more about what Sam was doing in the background.

It's quite odd to me how Sammy is working with Sam yet she isn't informed about her research.

Either way, I hope she's okay.

Before I could think any further, a gentle knock snapped me out of my trance.

"Hello..?" I heard a rough voice call to me.

Peering its jet-black color through the door crack were a pair of Umbreon ears. I already knew Vanta was the one calling for me, but I didn't say anything yet due to how funny-looking it was. Someone as tough and stoic as him timidly slipping through a door was humorous—and uncharacteristically cute—to me.

"Mhm." I finally hummed after a few seconds, causing him to slip his head inside to gaze at me.

"Is now a bad time?" The canine tilted his head.

Only now had I noticed that I was a mess of pillows and bundles of covers. I forgot it started to get really cold this week, I don't know why.

"Not at all..!" I flashed the Umbreon a gentle smile as he walked in.

"I've already discussed this with Vince and..." Vanta cleared his throat, evidently trying to make his next words as mature as possible. "I haven't slept in about three days...which caused me to pass out in the living room."

"What?" I leaned forward on my paws to widen my eyes at the canine. "Really? Why?"

"There's a personal reason why, but just know that I will be forced to sleep in this room for the rest of the night." The Umbreon turned away with a small frown. "I hope this does not make you uncomfortable, or anything of the sort."

"Of course not!" I backed away from the edge of the bed to offer him the space. "You definitely need the rest."

Vanta gave me a thankful nod, the smile on his face being the only form of appreciation I needed. As he leaped up onto the mattress, I realized his stamina was at an all-time low. It felt like the last of his energy was spent talking to me and keeping his eyes open.

"Arceus..." I couldn't help but mutter under my breath at the Umbreon. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

He couldn't even answer my question as the feeling of the comforts below him caused the canine to plummet forward directly against a pillow.

He really needs this, huh?

Praying to Arceus that he wasn't dead, I trudged across the bed to slide the covers over Vanta's body. Luckily, he landed straight on a pillow, so I didn't have to worry about doing any heavy lifting.

"Sweet dreams..." I whispered and plopped directly next to the sleeping Umbreon.

Looks like I'm on guard duty tonight.

...

...

...

A gentle creak in the floorboards. Was I asleep?

It looks like I let my guard down and fell asleep somehow. I'm not sure how, either...seeing as how my body was curled up against Vanta's back.

Speaking of which, the Umbreon was still completely unconscious—which is probably a good thing.

Tidying up the fur I ruffled on his side, my attention soon was caught by the front door. It was barely open by an inch, but just enough to tell that there was something sticking out the corner.

I felt my body freeze.

A large skull-like head hung over the edge of the door, a pair of socketless eyes coincidentally staring at me.

I forced a blink as if it was all a bad dream, but it wasn't.

The Mingle was here again.

It looked different, too; there was less gunk on his body, which revealed that its internals were just more bone structures.

The creature didn't give me much time to think, however, as it had already stalked its way into the room. Thank Arceus that it was still blind—evident by the dressers and tables it was having trouble getting by.

I don't know why, but I held my breath.

Even if it was blind, I still witnessed the creature turn exactly in my direction and basically stare at me a few times.

"M-Momma..." I heard a horrid and putrid voice gurgle out from the Mingle.

This thing can fucking speak? What the hell?

Suppressing the urge to talk back, I watched it hunch over against the shut closet door.

"Mo—other k-knows be—est." The creature managed to croak out. It was as if a bundle of tortured voices were fighting for control over their vocal cords.

Suddenly, I felt something wrap around my chest, causing me to nearly jump out of my own fur.

It was Vanta, and he was wide awake, already propped up behind me. His paw was wrapped tightly around my chest as he pulled my body protectively into his own.

I felt safer, somehow. Even if I knew far more about the Mingle than he did, something about the warmth of his fur made it easier to stare at the abomination in front of me.

At least he knew that the creature was blind as I could feel his head turn to focus on the Mingle's drunk movements.

It took what felt like hours for the creature to finally walk off and stumble into the living room. Vanta took this time to quickly leap off the bed and gently lock the bedroom door.

"That's a first." The Umbreon whispered as he vaulted back onto the mattress.

"H-Hydra wasn't here this time." I stammered.

Only now had I noticed that I was shaking. How come I never notice my adrenaline until it's painfully obvious?

"Must have been asleep, or something." Vanta cleared his throat and kept his gaze on me. "Are you hurt?"

"Nope." A small smile was all I could give him in response.

He seemed content with that answer and turned his focus to the room door.

Now that I remember, the canine previously mentioned that he would protect me if anything went wrong.

It looks like Vanta is true to his word.