SUSAN

Another day of fever was coming to an end. There were days she felt stronger, and she just knew she was getting better. Then the fever would come back a little stronger. She had beaten it every time so far. Now, though, when she looked over from her bed at her Grovyle, she knew it wouldn't be long. The Pokemon's leaf was turning a sickly brown.

She hated the days. From the time the sun rose till the evenings, she would lay awake, not able to go to sleep and pass the time. Now, however, there was no sun, just the sound of an endless rain that always lingered in the quietness of her chamber.

Susan Forrest was getting tired... So tired... and so she closed her eyes.

The dream came immediately. She was standing at the edge of a forest, where the trees gave way to a sandy desert.

You shouldn't be here, Susan, came a familiar voice. Don't come closer. You have a son; go to him. Don't come here. Leave this place.

In previous dreams, she had sat in the sand, contemplating. She knew it was a dream. Her dreams since she had come to Mt. Pyre were more vivid and lifelike than anything she had ever experienced. Most of the time, she listened to the voice, and she opened her eyes to another day of fever.

This dream was different. In a flurry of determination and curiosity, she walked into the woods. Why won't you listen to me, Susan? The voice said.

She came upon a familiar inn. The voice kept calling out to her, telling her not to come in... But she was tired of running. She was tired of her days of fever and sickness. Susan opened the door.

He was there like she remembered. It was just like she had gone back in time. Chris Marsh lay on his bed, arm wrapped like Susan had left it, the broken bones beginning to heal.

His eyes looked happy and sad at the same time. "Why didn't you listen?" he asked.

Susan felt herself about to cry. Was this real? She slowly walked over to the bed and sat down on it, as she had before. It seemed real. Everything was as she had remembered it. His tan skin, the shape of his arms. His smile. His hair that seemed to radiate three different shades of brown in the morning sun.

She said the same thing she had said back then. "I came to change your wrappings again."

Her heart skipped a beat again as she felt his warm skin. She began to unwrap the leaves. His arm was no longer swollen. It had worked as she knew it would. Chris's arm had healed. Susan smiled.

"Susan," he said quietly. "You shouldn't be here."

She ignored that. She was tracing the length of his arm with her fingers. I was perfect. Who could have ever known that it was broken?

"What is this place?" she asked.

"It's the place between life and the life after," he answered quietly. "You shouldn't be here Susan. You need to go back. Leave me. You have a son to take care of... A family."

"The world has changed, Chris," she said quietly. She looked out the window. It was so real. The sun shed light through the room. "The sun doesn't shine anymore... Sootopolis... The Empress has taken everything."

"I know," Chris said quietly. "The other spirits speak to me when I open my ears to listen to them." He clasped her hand tightly. They locked eyes. "You need to leave."

Susan shook her head. "I want to stay here with you."

"You don't," Chris pulled away. "Every day, I see things that I wish I hadn't. I've seen my friend Ryan as he would never have wanted to be seen. My uncle, consumed with anger and hate. And my sister, Lily..."

"What do you mean?"

They gazed into each other's eyes again. "I see them die again every day. Over and over and over. It never ends. This is what the after life is like: a never ending cycle."

Susan looked out the window. "But it's so beautiful here."

"It is," Chris said, his voice barely above a whisper. "But it never ends. You see the peace, the wonder, the tranquility... And then comes the death again. It always creeps up on you. You know it's coming but you never expect it..." his voice trailed off.

Susan grabbed his hand again. "I don't care."

Chris looked sad again. "You should, Susan. We were never meant to be. You were supposed to marry Chief Specter and I was to marry Sarah Spark. Go, Susan. You have a son to take care of now. Live. For me." His eyes were pleading with her. How she had fallen for those eye. "For your baby boy."

"Our baby boy," she corrected him. "Alex is your child as well as mine." She leaned close to him, as she had that last day at the inn. She could feel his sweet breathing on her lips. She put her hand on his chest.

"I know," he said, as he pulled her close.

Their lips locked. The flood of emotion and passion washed over her body. They were locked together, joined as one. Susan's tears became tears of joy and of ecstasy.

She knew it was love. Susan loved him, and he loved her. Since the first day they had seen each other. There was no mistaking it. Every breath, every kiss, and every moment passed like it had that last day at the inn.

Afterward, like before, she lay in his arms.

"Why did you leave?" Susan asked. "Why did you go against Solomon's advice? You promised to be back for me... To protect me."

"I did," Chris said quietly. "That's why I had to go. What if the secret got out? What if your husband-to-be discovered us?" She had no response for him.

A shadow passed in front of the window. Chris got up and began to walk towards the door.

Susan didn't want him to leave again. "Chris, no. Stay here. Stay with me. Don't go."

Chris looked back at her with a sad smile. "I told you. You don't want to be here. Death comes for me every night."

She got up and tried to give chase to him... but her dream changed.

Susan stood near a rocky outcrop. The air was thick and hot and dry. The moonlight shone down on a clearing. There was a roar and Susan turned around...

Chris was there, on the ground reaching for some red berries just past his spear. Susan barely had time to blink before a blue blur crashed into him, knocking him into a wall.

Chris was in terrible pain. He grabbed his arm. Susan tried to run towards him. To help him, to tell him to move, to leap in front of him when she saw the Swampert rear its arm back to throw the spear...

Her legs were felt heavy, and they wouldn't take her anywhere. She made no progress, and she couldn't move when the spear pierced his chest.

"No, no, no, no," she said as she fell to her knees and began to cry.

Chris's eyes looked more surprised than scared. They found each other. The young King of Slateport smiled. "I will never love again..." and then his head slumped down.

"SWAAAAAAAM!" shrieked the blue Pokémon pitifully. It tried to crawl towards Chris' lifeless body to no avail. It reached out towards his Spirit Human before it fell onto the ground.

"No," she cried. "Chris! CHRIS!"

"CHRIS!" she woke in a frantic sweat. She was back in her chambers where she had fallen asleep. She saw Grovyle resting peacefully next to the window. The Pokémon seemed to be aging... There was a figure next to her. It wasn't her love.

"I've heard you say his name every night in your sleep since we got married," he said. Susan trembled. There was a dark shadow next to him. She could feel his anger.

Her husband continued. "You married me. You were supposed to love me. Not some dead boy. You had my child, Susan."

No, Susan thought to herself. He's the trueborn son of Chris Marsh. He's nothing like you.

There was a silence as they looked at each other in the dark. "I tried to make you love me. Alas, I realized it was no use. I've seen the way you look at me..." He paused. "By all accounts, the poison should have killed you by now. It makes no matter. It seems I must take matters into my own hands. Dusknoir."

Susan tried to scream, but no sound came out. She kicked and flailed with all the strength that remained to her in her bed. Susan couldn't breathe. She heard her Grovyle crying out in pain as well... and then the darkness took her and she lay still, falling asleep one last time...

She woke up where the forest met the endless sand of the desert. Once again, Susan Forrest walked to the familiar inn.