ALEXANDER

Alex Specter sat at a desk in the library by the flickering light of a melting candle. The book he had open was a history of his own family, complete with birth records as well as deaths. He thought it would be a good place to start when trying to find any sort of information about his mother. If this Spector family tome has any mention of spouses in it, he thought.

Sure enough, towards the back of the dusty old book, before the pages were blank, he found his mother's name.

"'Lady Susan, formerly of House Forrest,'" he read. Her death had not come far after Alex's own birth date, but still his suspicions were raised. It may have been true she died not long after bringing her son into this world, but it seemed her death had come much too late for it to have involved birthing complications...

Thump!

Alex awoke from his drowsiness to the sound of some other book falling off a shelf somewhere in the corner of the room. He knew he had better put it back before he left the library. The book keeper was a grumpy old man who liked to keep his stacks neat and orderly.

He clumsily walked over holding his candle to the place where he thought he heard the sound, and sure enough, there lay an open book on the floor. The young Lord's son wouldn't have given it a second thought if he hadn't have seen his name scribbled in a fine cursive on the page.

...Father will be delighted to meet Alex. Thankfully, he has more of the Forrest look than that of his father. As his health fails him, I hope Caitlyn makes her way in haste...

Alex's heart skipped a beat. He put his thumb in the page and closed the book, looking at the front cover. It was blank. Alex sifted through the first couple of pages and found who the book had belonged to.

To Susan, Alex read silently. When you are feeling lonely, write down your words so I can read them from the other world. I will always love you, my Princess. Love, Mother.

He couldn't believe it. How could this be his mother's diary? It was surely too coincidental. He pinched his cheek, to make sure he wasn't in a dream. Surely a book as important as this would not be kept in the library, but in his father's own personal collection. Susan Forrest was, after all, his first wife. Alex put aside his questions and turned to the last page.

It seems my birthing sickness hasn't yet left me. The nurses seem puzzled, and most are confident that I'll make a full recovery. Sheila, the head nurse, seems most distraught, however. Her hands are shaky as she delivers my medicines. I've never felt so terrible after taking treatment, but I must persevere, Mother. I have a son to take care of...

He turned the page.

Your world is calling to me, Mother. The leaf on Grovyle's head is beginning to change colors. The sickness is growing stronger by the day. I can only hope that Caitlyn is around to watch over little Alex as he grows up. My husband has given into fear and joined with the Empress of Sootopolis... The Kingdom of Foretree as I knew it has forever changed. I am part of that old world. Tell Father, and now Solomon, that I'll be with you soon. It's so hot... I need to sleep...

There were no entries after that page. Alex found tears welling up in his eyes. If only he could tell his mother what Caitlyn had become... Wait, Alex's thoughts interrupted his longing for his family. Aunt Caitlyn had was the client who tried to have Burningtree and the Draconids capture Leo and hold him for ransom...

Alex shut the diary and made his way back to the desk and began scribbling words down on the parchment, splattering Tentacool ink from the pot as he went. Caitlyn... The Draconids... He racked his brain as he scanned the last two pages of his mother's diary for something that he couldn't put his finger on... until his finger stopped on the name that brought it all together.

Sheila, he knew for certain. The old nurse... What if Caitlyn

had hired the Draconids for something other than the kidnapping? What if she had Sheila killed as well because she knew that she was poisoning her sister...? My mother...

But why, his conscience was asking him. Why would the head nurse take it upon herself to rid Lord Spector of his, by all accounts, beautiful bride? Was it because of who her family was? He would need to ask his father.

"In any case, I think I'm done here for the night," he said aloud as he shut the diary.

Banette was there hovering in the air as he turned around. At first, Alex was angry. Why had his Spirit Pokémon come back? It had known all along that Caitlyn was the client, that it was she who had brought such disarray to his life...

"Ban..." the Pokémon growled nervously, motioning to the diary Alex carried at his side. He understood. The diary falling out of nowhere was no accident. It was Banette who had been there in secret, trying to deliver hints.

"Why now?" Alex asked the Pokémon. He had now realized that he was alone, and he needed the little ghost more than ever. "Why help me now? Why could you not help me earlier?"

The Pokémon turned its head away, and looked back with wet eyes. Alex understood.

"You weren't supposed to tell me?" Banette nodded. "For my own safety?" Again, another nod. "Do you know what happened to my mother? Did Sheila deliver poison to her?" His thoughts traced back to Caitlyn's words with Leo in the clearing. "Was it Seviper venom?"

Silence ensued as Banette looked Alex deep in the eyes... and nodded. "How long have you known?" This time, the Pokémon didn't respond. Alex could tell that it hurt his Spirit Partner to not let him in on all it knew.

"Fine then," Alex said, with a hint of finality. "Let's go to the Pool of Memories, and you can show me." The look in Banette's eyes was one of pure shock. The Pokémon vigorously shook its head. "If you want me to forgive you, you'll go with me. Now." Reluctantly, Banette bowed its head and followed Alex out the library door.

Once outside, Alex took a deep breath of the night air. He was above the fog of Mt. Pyre, and above the sky shone with the twinkling of a thousand diamonds. The Pool of Memories, however, was still misty.

Alex waded into the pool. Banette appeared by his side. There was no fear in Alex as had always felt comfortable in the water. He reached out and placed his hand on the Pokémon's head. Banette's eyes glowed, and the shapes began to appear.

A woman in green robes... Was it his mother? No... He recognized her face as she moved closer, and her voice was all too familiar. You gave him the book? Good. Maybe he'll finally understand. A Forrest is a Forrest. No matter how many-"

The apparition collapsed into the mists, and Alex looked away as the severed head uttered the word "trees." He couldn't stand to see the death of his Aunt Caitlyn again.

The mists cleared, and Banette looked up at Alex with eyes full of tears. Alex wiped the saltiness out of his own eyes and looked back to Banette. "Take me back to my mother," he commanded. "Take me back."

Banette's eyes glowed intensely as ordered, and the mists began to swirl again... They began to take the shape of a bed, and finally, a woman appeared. She was sleeping... but muttering something in her sleep. Around her, a darkness seemed to swirl. Take me closer...

The mists moved towards him at first and the vision became clearer... until the darkness pushed back. What was happening? Take me closer! Alex concentrated with all his might, but again, the dark mists pushed the vision away. Alex released his hold of Banette's head and looked the Pokémon in the eye.

"Are you stopping me from seeing?" he asked.

"Ban, banette!" the Pokémon denied. It looked back at the center of the pool. The mists had returned to its natural state. Alex saw that the Pokémon was trembling.

"Are you frightened?"

Banette looked up, and nodded.

Alex knelt down and placed his hand on his Pokémon's head once again. "I am too... but they're just visions. They can't hurt you. And besides, we're together again. You have to help me push through, and I promise, I will never ask this of you again."

Banette seemed lost in thought for a moment... Until it nodded its head finally. Its eyes began to glow an intense purple.

The vision reappeared within a second. The bed... the sleeping woman... and then came the dark mists. Closer the vision came... Closer and closer... The darkness pushed back. Alex felt himself straining, and could feel Banette trying to push into the darkness, to find the vision...

There was a sound like that of shattering glass, and everything changed. No longer were they surrounded by the mists. They were in what Alex recognized as the infirmary room where Alex had recovered from his encounter with Burningtree.

He saw a beautiful woman lying on the bed, she was sweating. By the window lay a green, lizard like Pokémon. The leaf on its head had turned brown and looked like it might crumble at the touch.

Her voice was quiet. Alex looked over at Banette. Its mouth hung open as its eyes radiated purple light. There was no coming out of this trance on command; the Pokémon had entered into a deep state of remembrance, its connection between the real and ghost worlds was inseparable. What is she muttering?

When he moved close to her, he saw his father, Lord Specter, sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed. He was tapping his fingers together softly, and sighed.

Alex felt a leap in his heart, and he noticed that the woman had woken from her slumber. He saw his father look her in the eyes, and say something. The woman put her head in her hands and began to cry. He couldn't hear a word.

His father lifted a hand, and Alex saw Lord Specter snap his fingers. The dark mists returned and gathered around the woman. She reached and grabbed at her throat, gasping for air. Her feet thrashed underneath the quilts.

"NO!" Alex wanted to yell, to scream. He wanted desperately for someone to hear him, to come help. He nudged the green lizard Pokémon, but when he did, the leaf withered away into the gathering dark mists.

He looked back to the woman in the bed... and her hand finally fell from her throat. He saw his father lean over and kiss her on the forehead... That was when the dark mist turned to Alex and looked upon him with one, horrifying, bloodshot, and angry eye.

Dusknoir, he knew. It sees me... He nudged Banette. Take me back... It sees me.

Just as the airways began to close around Alex's throat... the white mists returned. He was away from the vision... But when he looked at Banette, his hand still on the Pokémon's head, the eyes still glowed purple.

"Take me back," Alex heard his own disembodied voice say, yet he hadn't uttered the words this time. Banette was still stuck in the trance.

The mists swirled and rushed around him. He saw other shapes in the mist...

He saw himself, standing next to a rocky cliff, grabbing a spear with a jagged blade. When he approached his misty twin, however, it disappeared. Alex turned around and saw his Aunt Caitlyn, standing in front of his face.

"A Forrest is a Forrest, no matter how many-" Caitlyn's head fell off of her shoulders, and this time Alex was sprayed with blood.

The young lordling collapsed into the mists with a splash. He looked at his hands, drenched with his Aunt's blood. He tried to wash them in the pool, but it wouldn't come off.

He saw himself again, this time, running from something. His misty twin dove and rolled on the ground. The misty figure tried to stand back up before something flew towards the spirit, and the apparition disappeared again.

Alex looked back at his hands, they were still dripping red.

"I'm sorry," he muttered to himself. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," came another voice, a voice he had never heard before. No, that wasn't true. It was familiar somehow. It was sweet and melodic, and it filled Alex with comfort and warmth. "Remember who you are Alex."

"I don't know who I am, Mother," he sobbed through the mists. "I don't know anything anymore."

The woman came closer, and Alex felt a cold but welcome touch under his chin. He looked into her eyes. She was so beautiful, and her eyes looked like a reflection of his own. "Let me help you."

"Mother, I'm scared." His voice echoed in the mists... until the figure of a little girl materialized alongside the ghost of Susan Forrest.

"Mommy, I'm scared," the girl said.

His ears rang with a piercing shriek as her head contorted to the side and the blood from the gash in her neck spilled into the mists. The girl's body began to melt, and the cool white mists turned red hot as they began to swirl around Alex. He could smell the stench of death. What was happening?

He looked back to his mother for consolation. "Remember who you are," was all she said as the vision changed for the last time.

Alex was cold. It was a chill he had never felt. He stood up, and looked around for Banette, but the ghost Pokémon was nowhere to be found. When his vision came into focus, he found that he was in a tunnel of some sorts.

The walls were covered with ice, and Alex's footsteps echoed as he approached a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Who are you?" came a voice with the shrillness and cracking of winter ice.

"Alexander..." he wanted to say Specter, as he had all his life, but something stopped him. A Forrest is a Forrest, no matter how many trees, he remembered. "Forrest," he uttered confidently.

"Wrong," came the icy, faceless voice. The cold swirled around him, and Alex felt like his very bones were going to freeze. He could feel the icy kiss of death upon him.

Alex woke up at the edge of the Pool of Memories to the same cloudy sky he had known all his life, and felt the familiar drizzle on his forehead.

He looked to his side, and found Banette, fast asleep. Alexander Specter knew that his life would never be the same from that moment until the end of his days.

Some memories werescars that never truly fade. ����qY�