Chapter Sixteen: Come Back To Me

"I figured out yesterday who I was in my past life."

Avis blinked as he registered Yan's voice behind him, not quite finding it in him to scowl at the fact that she was talking to him, and he turned to look at her, hoping that Aiden's tired smile would enough to compensate his tone.

"Who is it?" he asked. His tone wasn't gentle; it was rough around the edges and a bit too curt for his liking, but he couldn't be bothered to fix it—and besides, he suspected that his former friend had already figured out something. "And how did you find out?"

She bit her lip as she responded. "The prince has a Litwick that used to be his little sister," she muttered, drawing back and glancing at the floor with an uncertain look. "That was me. And I'm sorry, but I'd rather not tell you."

He paused for a few moments before nodding in return, and Lillian leaned over just as she turned her head away. "She's hiding something from us."

"So are we," Avis argued. He was more than tired of the situation at hand. "Just drop it already. Besides, are you sure you want to go out again?"

"Of course," his partner pressed, glancing at the door's frame as she spoke. "I got directions on where to find the rumoured witch yesterday. If we go according to plan, we should be able to speak to her there. Of course, my plans always work out."

Avis raised an eyebrow. "Now you're just being arrogant. How the hell are you going to get the witch to give us any information?"

Lillian shot him a rare smile, leaning closer to him and staring at her with those golden eyes of hers. "It's because I've never had a plan fail before," she uttered. "I don't plan on having any of my future ones fail either. And besides, I've thought about that. If anything goes wrong, I'm good at persuasion."

To him, whatever idea that his headstrong partner had wasn't well thought-out at all—but then again, there was another side to Lillian that he found himself trusting, so he could only nod and shoot a last suspicious glance at her.

"Well, it's eight. We should get going," she commented. "We'll get breakfast first. Are you coming along, Yan?"

The younger girl glanced back, as if not having listened to their conversation at all, and a indecisive expression played on her features. "S-Sure, I guess? Just give me a bit. You can head out first—I'll find you when I'm ready."

This time, it was Avis that wanted to ask just what she planned on staying back for, but Lillian just nodded and turned to unlock their door. "Sure. Today's our last day, so remember to book out of the inn for us."

She tugged on his hand as she strode out of the room. "Come on. We don't have time to waste."

§

He was relieved that, at least, the witch wasn't a myth.

She glared at them from underneath messy locks of hair that he was sure used to be a pretty indigo once, dark eyes emphasised from the circles underneath them and a bitter expression on her sallow face. "What do you want?"

Her bony hands quivered from their place under her robes, and Lillian stepped in front of him to answer her question. "It's nothing bad. Firstly, what's your name? I'm just trying to be friendly, OK?"

"Don't treat me like a beggar when you're the real peasant," the woman hissed, her palm curling around a dusty crystal ball as she spoke. "It's Lacia. What are you here for? If you want to drive me out, I'm staying put."

"We're not from the government," he blurted out in defence, and her sharp gaze shifted to the panicked look in his blue eyes. "Well, if that was what you were worried about, then..."

The witch shook her head. "Fools," she whispered. "Do you know why I'm called a witch? It's because I'm cursed, so you're asking for bad luck if you continue talking to me. If it's not anything important, then get lost."

"Well? Do we trust her?" Lillian glanced back to where the other member of their group was standing.

"I—" she seemed to be taken aback by the question, and she stared at the wall beside her as she answered. "Yes. We should."

Avis knew that something was going on with the girl—what with the way she glanced at the wall as if it would answer her—but he couldn't bring himself to raise the issue, not when he'd been the one to hide things from her at first.

"Come here, boy." Lacia's voice was rough, and he took a moment to get around Lillian so that he stood in front of the older woman. "Something seems off about you."

As soon as he stepped forward, he found his own hand being clasped by the witch's cold fingers, and he peered down to flinch at the calculating look in her onyx eyes.

"I see," she frowned, letting go of his hand and leaning back against the wall of the alleyway. "You're from that nasty next generation. Whatever you do, you can't go to Terminus Cave. That's where Zygarde lives, and it won't end well if you go."

Lillian's lips curled downwards at her statement, and she brushed forward so that she was nearest to Lacia once again. "And why wouldn't it end well?"

The woman scowled at her. "You meddle too much, girl," she retorted back, her fingers sliding over the cool surface of her crystal ball as she spoke. "It is not my business to tell you anything past that."

"What?" Her voice had degraded into a raspy snap, and she glared at the group as they continued to look at her. "I didn't come here to entertain impressionable kids like you. Get out."

His partner opened her mouth, about to protest the witch's words, but Yan tapped the older girl on the shoulder before she could say anything, watching as her acquaintance turned around to give her an annoyed glance.

"Let's go now," she urged. Her voice was quiet, almost nervous, but it held a certain firmness to it that made Lillian continue listening. "Seriously."

§

Yan seemed to be in her own small world as she led the two of them.

She never once lifted her head to talk to the two of them—instead, she kept her head on the ground, concentrating on the path ahead of them and keeping her mouth shut, and he could only follow behind without a word.

The silence was broken as she froze for a split-second, causing him and Lillian to stop and look at her back as she dithered on the tip of her toes.

"We need to go to the cave right outside the village." Her tone was unusually urgent as she turned back to them. "Now."

His partner folded her arms, frowning at the sudden declaration and shooting her a confused expression. "Why?" she asked. "And how do you know this?"

A growl escaped the girl's throat in response. It was jarring to see such a sound come from her when she was so soft-spoken and sweet most of the time—but then again, she'd changed a lot in the past week, and he didn't know if he could label her as the same person anymore.

"The prince will be there," she said in return. "And I don't feel the need to explain myself. It's not important."

She glanced at him as she muttered her last sentence, and the bitter look in her eyes told him that there was something more to it; that there was a double meaning to that sentence, something like you told me a lie so why can't I tell you one too?

Avis forced himself to ignore it. It wasn't something he could do anything about in the first place.

§

"But didn't my father send me here to drive off the wild Hydreigon?"

Regis' expression was panicked as he stumbled back, back pressed against the wall, and Avis could only stare at the commotion in front of him in shock.

As he took a glance at the pack of rabid beasts just past the cave's entrance, he found his hand trying to reach for a Pokeball, but Lillian stopped him before he could do so.

"Those Hydreigon are too high-level and there are too many of them," she mumbled. "I get that you want to help, but this all happened in the past. It can't be altered."

Her serious face was interrupted by a small smile. "Still, you've changed, haven't you? You were always kind, but you show it more nowadays."

"Now's not the time for that," he muttered in return, steeling himself and forcing his eyes back on the situation at hand. "You should shut up."

"I apologise, Young Master." The old man by the gate shook his head, the features on his face sagging into something that was almost sympathetic. "I work for the King, and this is my job. Alas, he has ordered me to do this, and lest you escape, I will have to corner you. If I fail, a punishment worse than death will befall me."

He bit his lip, hand curling around a stone sphere and trying to open it once again. "I knew my father never liked me, but I thought that it was just because of our different opinions. Did you seal my Pokeballs because of this?"

"It's most unfortunate," the worker replied. "Your father was afraid, Young Master. After all, you have the talent and charisma to be able to overtake him one day, and he fears that he will lose his position."

With that, he leant against one of rocky walls outside the cave, closing his eyes in regret and watching as Regis stared at the Hydreigon before him with wide eyes.

The three dragons swooped down, ready to attack their prey and get in for the kill, but a strangled whimper interrupted their pounce before they could do so.

"Litwick?" the prince whispered, and Avis stiffened at the Pokemon's name—he remembered the small creature as what Yan had used to be. "What are you doing here? It's not safe at all, you know. You have to go back now."

She shook her head, a sad frown on her pale face, and she stepped in front of her trainer, her blue flame glowing brighter and bigger in the dimness of the cave—as if she wanted to protect her trainer from the three towering monsters in front of them.

"Listen to me." Regis' voice bordered on an alarmed plea. "Litwick, please. Leave before it's too late. I promise I'll come home soon, OK?"

The Hydreigon didn't spare any chance to let them talk. They spread their wings, baring ugly fangs that were too sharp to not do a shred of damage, and nine spheres of darkness started to form in the dragons' open mouths.

"At the very least, one of them will die." The deduction didn't come from Lillian, which caused him to start, and he turned to see Yan staring at the cave in regret. "A low-level Litwick won't be able to take the attacks of those Hydreigon, and the human body is far too fragile."

"Are you alright with this?" he asked. "After all, if Litwick used to be you, then—"

She just glanced down at his question. "I mean, it all happened in a previous life," she muttered. "I don't know what would happen if we tried to interfere. The only thing I'm sad about is that no matter what world he's in, he can never live a happy life."

Yan slapped her hand over her mouth when she realised what she'd said. "You don't need to know who I was talking about. Never mind."

They were cut off by a pillar of smoke and dust that reduced the cave's ceiling to pitiful rubble, and his ears seemed to be numbed to the defeaning sound of the fist of flames that punched its way through. Gases fought their way to his nose, forcing him to inhale the acrid stench, and he couldn't bear to look up until the flames had died down.

In all honesty, he'd expected that the Litwick would be the one to die—so when he opened his eyes and took a cautious look at the remnants of the cave, he was surprised.

"You're safe," the prince whispered, managing a small smile as he rolled to his side, glancing at the creature cradled tightly in his arms. "That's good...I'm so relieved that you're safe."

The Pokemon didn't seem to care about that at all. She made a series of sounds that sounded like the distorted voice of a young child, but he could tell by her tone that she was panicking.

"I'm glad I died this time," he spoke. "I wouldn't know what I'd have done if I lost you again, so don't cry. This is for the best, OK?"

He paused to glance at his two companions. Lillian had that impassive expression on her face as usual, no different than if she was taking an exam, and Yan had moved into a squatting position, her hands over her ears and her eyes glued on the floor.

"This was the outcome Father wanted," Regis uttered, taking a second to cough up a mouthful of blood and clench his hands into tight fists. "Even if you'd taken the blow for me, I'd have died anyway. This was inevitable, so don't blame yourself. I'm just glad I could protect my little sister this time—"

There was silence after that, and he let out a choke as he slumped on the floor.

"I love y—"

He never spoke again after that.

"So?" Lillian raised an eyebrow at him, her gaze fixed at somewhere further away from the scene. "This world is pretty tragic, isn't it?'

§

"Did you get the information I wanted?"

The boy looked up as Damien Albus walked into the room, blue eyes cold and stern as he focused his stare on the unconscious blonde on the ground and the smiling mercenary above him.

"Who do you think I am?" Leone scoffed, twirling a pair of handcuffs in his hands as he glared at the other teenager with a glance that didn't quite match his tone. "If not for my tendencies, I would have far outranked Faust. We can let him go now."

"What did you do to him?" The general's voice was somewhat cautious, as if having found a hint of a monster inside the sadist's black heart. "And, if I may ask, are you sure that it's safe to let a prisoner simply run free?"

His son laughed in response. "He's barely ate for the last few days, and he's in no state to do anything. In response to your other question, I gave him a bit of Hoenn water torture and changed it to acid halfway through. You know, the one where you let water drip against your victim's forehead? It's my favourite. Causes so many psychological problems. Of course, the rest of the things are unspeakable of."

He was answered by a short moment of quiet, and Damien took a while to respond. "I'm assuming that he's the one who took care of you when you ran away."

"Who else would?" he growled. "But he still abandoned me in the end and left for Kalos. I became a mercenary because of him too."

"You still want him back, don't you?" His father's expression never changed. "The life you led has always been solitary. In the end, you managed to lose the only one who bothered to take care of you and keep you alive."

Leone gritted his teeth, golden gaze narrowing into a fit of bitter anger. "Yes. I want a life without all of this. Too bad the both of us had shit lives, and you turned me into a monster after I came back."

"You're not staying, aren't you?" The man turned to leave. "You would earn a high position in the army if you were to join us again."

"Don't try to be funny," the boy snarled in return. "I'm never forgiving the man who caused all this."

§

Ahaha, I'm so sorry for updating this late~ I had a lack of motivation and everything~

And if you want to ask questions like "why is aiden the prince?? why is yan the litwick??" does it actually matter lol I was trying to write out what happened in their past lives and how it's going to relate to them LMAO

and yessu the first half-ish of the book is done ^^ The only reason why I got through the first half was because I was looking forward to writing the second half oops

Thank you guys so much for 2.9K reads and 493 votes!! :0 You have no idea how much this means to me <3

As always, votes, comments and critiques are very appreciated °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°