Chapter Twenty-Two: Moratorium Sensation

"Terminus Cave?"

Avis scowled down at the map he'd been given, about to tighten his grip on it, but he soon realised that he'd scrunched the paper several times over and that it was going to be illegible if he was to crumple it even further.

He didn't know which was worse—staying behind to continue on with pointless missions, or being dragged several kilometres away from the village on something else that was most likely futile as well.

Still, he appreciated Lillian's tenacity. She didn't ask too many questions, and he was glad for that—she had a one-tracked mind, it seemed, so he just needed to follow her until she was done with whatever little world she was living in.

The boy tried to tell himself that he was doing this for a cause as noble as Aiden's should have been, but the truth lay bare in the pits of his mind. He was agreeing with Lillian because she was allowing him to drop the act—nothing more, nothing less.

He did enjoy the girl's company, though. Avis almost preferred the excitement of this life to the dull, dreary days from just a few days ago.

"Oh—Aiden?" He looked up, snapped out of his thoughts, and he startled when he saw Fabio standing a few metres away. "I didn't expect to see you here, but good afternoon, I guess."

He didn't return the greeting, knowing that it wouldn't have affected his former friend in the slightest, but he did give him a curt nod and open his mouth to at least give him an answer. "What are you doing here, Fabio?"

"I'd rather you call me Faust, but since I know you, I'll let it slide." He raised an eyebrow at that, and Avis remained motionless in response. "I'm going to investigate the Hoenn headquarters on Lillian's request. I dug around a little and found that it was somewhere after this path."

"That's nice. Be careful." His cool tone was a little too detached for his liking, too alike to Avis' voice and lacking the warmth that Aiden's had, but he tried to brush that fact aside as he continued speaking. "I'm going to head to Terminus Cave."

Fabio tilted his head at that—and though the action was the smallest bit forced, he was relieved that the two of them were able to carry out a somewhat normal conversation just like they had before.

He smiled, the edges of his mouth pinched, but that wasn't too noticeable and he respected the boy's skill. "Really? They're on the same path, y'know. It's getting late, so I can come with you to an inn or something."

Avis was about to question why an inn existed just several hundred metres away from a village—or anywhere near the headquarters, really—but the older boy was right. Night was approaching soon, and he wasn't in the mood to trek with cold nipping at his skin.

"That would be nice." He made sure to sound more grateful this time, and it seemed to work—Fabio matched his expression with a smile of equal sincerity. "Thank you...Faust."

"I told you that I was fine with you calling me by my name, but thanks for taking the consideration." He pressed his lips together into a thin line at that. "Still, it shouldn't be too long until we reach."

• • •

He woke up the next morning with a tired grunt.

Avis wanted nothing more than to strangle Fabio right then—their views on "not too long" had apparently been more than a little different, but he supposed that he couldn't blame the mercenary. He had, after all, been confined to the same village for most of his life, and the other boy had had missions involving the whole of Kalos.

Forcing himself out of bed, he rose to his feet, grabbing the cloak that hung over a rotting chair and slipping it over his shoulders. It was a nasty he'd developed in the few days since Aiden's death, and it was something he wasn't able to get rid of.

The knight took a moment to shoot the mirror a swift glance. He wasn't narcissistic by any means; he just had a sudden urge to check it, and he was surprised by what he saw.

He was more haggard than he remembered. Dark circles were starting to form under his eyes from the constant midnight meetings that Lillian insisted on—though, he wasn't too sure if that was the only reason why they were there—and his skin was paler.

Calm down, he told himself, feeling his heartbeat start to quicken at the sight of the alien figure staring back at him. There's no need to panic. You're still you.

Something deeper down told him he wasn't still him, as much as he wanted to believe his head.

Avis exited the inn before any more thoughts could invade his mind. He slammed the money down on the worn-down counter, wheeling around and escaping the suffocating chamber without a word.

His first thought was to proceed to Terminus Cave; the destination that Lillian had supposedly sourced out with her limited sources, but it was soon interrupted by the sight of a Hoenn soldier standing guard just metres away.

The man was patrolling. The stiff stance in his posture said more than enough about the situation at hand—and he was more than sure that there would be at least a few more soldiers lurking behind the trees to attack him.

Perhaps Aiden would have been able to take them out, but he was still an amateur.

Avis jumped as he sensed a prescence behind him. He drew his brother's sword, the tip of the weapon glinting in the dim morning hues as he turned to face the enemy he assumed to be standing across him.

He was surprised, however, when the enemy turned out to take the form of a majestic beast as deadly it was familiar, red body streaked with the deepest blacks that seemed as if it could take one to hell just by touching it.

"We are not allowed to let you die now," Yveltal hissed, wings emanating a kind of crimson aura that seemed closer to blood than to ruby. "Our greatest priority will still be your brother's revival—at least, that is so for the sake of the world. Now, charge forward. You're wasting time."

The boy took another moment to let the Legendary's works sink in—then, he nodded, tightening his grip around his trembling blade and bringing the flat of it down on the surprised soldier standing by the tree.

As the man crumpled to the ground, as if having become a rag-doll, he tried his best to stifle a gulp as the nearby forest rustled with movement,.

Several more soldiers emerged from their hiding position. They were almost enough to form a small army, and that scared him like hell, so he stumbled forward and sliced at whatever patches of skin he could find, panic clouding his senses and telling him that there were too many of them.

Yveltal followed his lead, except that he was more useful than the mortal beside him. Though his mighty claws were stained in the darkest shades of pure obsidian, they still seemed to glow in that ethereal Legendary radiance, and they knocked soldiers unconscious just by a fleeting touch to their heads.

They passed through their enemies with a flurry of slashes and unconscious men scattered amongst broken branches and seared trees, and the beast turned to him with a cross expression.

"Your brother may have trained you in the basics of sword-handling, but you are still weak at the technique." Avis averted his gaze at that. "You need to learn to panic less during the situation and analyse your enemies. Keep your elbows close to your body no matter what, have a strong sense of balance, and read your opponent's moves."

He could respond with nothing but a muted expression. "Was that what Aiden was strong at?" he asked bitterly, looking at the ground and refusing to look Yveltal in the eye.

The Legendary paused for a moment. "It is the basics of a good knight," he said with an air of finality. "Your brother was just gifted with good reflexes and a good mind."

"Hm." His mind felt clogged up; so much so that he couldn't form a coherent response, and he took a few more seconds before the fog cleared from his mind. "You're done with helping me, right? You can go now. Thanks."

"That is no way to speak to an authority," the Pokemon frowned, glancing at Avis with an unpleased expression. "Very well, Avis. I will stay to just tell you one more thing. The way you have given up on life saddens even beings like me. Terminus Cave is up ahead."

Yveltal was gone before he could ask anything else.

• • •

"Oh. You're here."

The black-haired girl glanced up from the notebook she held. She'd lost most of her Hoenn vibe with her change in clothes, choosing to wear the hood and skirt of a typical Kalos villager, but the sharp look in her eyes was still present beneath the bits of black hair that peeked out from the cloth.

Lillian sighed as she snapped shut the book, sliding off from the rock she'd been sitting on and walking a few steps to face him. "Are you ready to go in?"

"Why do I even need to accompany you?" the boy muttered. "I mean, I don't have half the talent Aiden had at battling or fighting. Nothing would have happened if you decided to continue by yourself and left me the hell alone, right?"

He wanted to say more, but Lillian had already crossed the distance in between them in a heartbeat—she glared up at him, the white hood slipping off to reveal ebony locks, and as she grabbed hold of his collar with a surprising amount of tenacity, he found himself surprised by just how intimidating the smaller girl could be when she wanted to.

"Did you think I wanted you to join just because of Aiden?" she uttered, letting go of him and watching him stumble back. "Stop trash-talking yourself—I also gave you a choice, remember?"

She didn't wait for him to reply, turning around with a barely-concealed huff and glancing ahead at the mouth of the cave. "There's some Pokemon up ahead," she called. "Send out your Pokemon to help fight them off."

A Beautifly appeared from the sphere in her hand, and his brother's Heliolisk and Klefki soon joined the fray, shooting out attacks at the herd of Pokemon while Lillian's Pokemon flew around and put the rest of them to sleep.

"That was easy," the Hoenn girl commented, stretching out her hand and recalling the creature back to her home. "All we have to do is go inside a—"

She was cut off by a deep rumbling from somewhere within the gave, one that chilled him to the bone, and his gut instinct was right as a shrieking boom filled his ears and forced him back.

Avis looked down at his feet. He'd been unharmed, mostly, and he was confused as to how he even survived, but the shock switched to immediate concern as his gaze travelled further up and met the sight of an unconscious Lillian.

"What the—" He stumbled forward, his first thought being to place two fingers on her wrist and check for a heartbeat—and he gave an internal sigh of relief as he felt a faint pulse tremble through the girl's skin.

There was a nasty wound on her head, one that was causing a thick trail of blood to start clothing just above her eye. It was the wound that caused him the most worry, even though he'd claimed to himself moments ago that he didn't care about her or her goal, but he couldn't just leave her to die.

"You seem interesting, child." A deep voice echoed around the rocky walls of Terminus Cave. "Come in, then. I will try not to harm you."

His first thought was to run, but that was an unwise option. Whatever that was lurking inside the chamber was most likely something that was faster and stronger than he could hope to be, and he would be killed if he refused.

"Are you worried about your friend?" The creature spoke again with that deep baritone of his—and there was a short pause before the teenager tensed up, a layer of frost curling around her limbs before forming a thin sheet of ice around her. "She's cryogenically frozen. She'll stay alive unless I release her."

Gritting his teeth, Avis steeled his mind for the worst and entered.

He was met with the sight of a smoky figure that towered over him, draconic body having an icy sheen to it that made him all the more frightening, and the Kyurem stared at him with its yellow eyes. "So you decided to heed my word. A wise decision."

"Why aren't you in Unova?" the knight asked instead, deciding that it was a safe topic of conversation. "Isn't that where you're from?"

The Legendary didn't seem too offended by his question, but a permanent frown was on his face—still, he took it as a good sign. "I came here to help a friend," he replied. "It is the one that is behind the attacks that pain your region so. However, I was not responsible for any of them."

Avis shrank back at his response, daring to go a step further and looking up at the beast with a firm expression on his face. "Then, would you mind if you told me who is that friend you're talking about?"

Kyurem hissed at that. "I would very much mind," he replied. "And I would kill you right here and now, but I smell Yveltal's scent on you. You are someone that is not due for death yet, so I will spare you my wrath and give you one more chance."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "But if you tell me, wouldn't it be best for the world? If you followed your mind instead of your heart—"

"And that is exactly why I hate people like you," Kyurem growled, and the temperature in the cave plummeted a few degrees—the cold bit at his skin like thousands of tiny needles, and he hated it. "I suggest that you take this chance and get out. It seems that I was misinformed about you being interesting."

Avis stilled at the command, and the beast took a step closer, biting frost attacking his body as the temperature continued to drop. "I mean what I say. Get out before I decide to change my mind."

At that, he took Lillian and ran.

• • •

i'm sleepy nwn

updating early because I'm going to be at camp next week!! for five whole days so there's probably going to be no update that week~

i wonder if i ship lillian/avis or fabio/avis more the world will never know maybe i even ship yan/herb shop

Thank you guys so much for 1.5k reads and 229 votes!! :0 You have no idea how much this means to me <3

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