NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 4: Facade
The sight awaiting the scouts in the human’s room was less scary than it was sudden.
The healers tending to them had backed off, unsure how to proceed or what had even caused this outburst. Once Aria stepped into the room, they turned to face her, wordlessly asking for advice.
Advice she wasn’t about to give, deciding to intervene directly instead.
Anne’s eyes were clenched shut as she shook on the soft bedding, feebly trying to twist her body onto its right side. A cursory check of her thoughts revealed her screams were caused by the pain in her left arm, unceasing even as she quietened into pained whimpers.
Aria’s medical expertise was very limited, but she still knew enough to put a Calm Mind to use. Her touch on the cast-wrapped arm numbed the nerves, gently cooling the panic building inside the human child. In just a few moments, Anne’s whimpers gave way to quiet gasps, and then deep breaths as pain left her be for now.
“^She was in pain,^” Aria explained, her comment making the Leavanny’s eyes go wide.
“Must’ve underestimated the dose, damn it. Can you hold them like this for a moment?”
Close watch over Anne’s thoughts let Aria know she’d heard Maple’s words—and that she was much too tired to pay any attention to what she perceived as incoherent insect noises. The Gardevoir shuffled off to the side as she held the human’s arm in position, giving space for the leafy nurse to walk over.
Maple looked for the right spot before administering the fastest Poison Jab of her life, blissful paralysis soon returning to Anne’s left arm. “Better now?”
“^Much better, thank you Maple.^”
“Are you gonna put them back to sleep?”
“^I may, but it’d be good to see if I could figure out what—^” Aria spoke, before Anne’s mumbled words cut the hushed conversation short. The rest of the room froze at realizing they still had an awake human in their midst. They watched as Anne shakily rotated herself onto her back, before Aria instructed them, “^Back off for now, I’ll handle this.^”
Aria waited nervously as the human girl looked at her, torn between helping her and protecting her village in her secret. Anne’s condition, though, skewed the Gardevoir mostly towards the former. Everyone watched closely as the girl pried her eyes open, immediately squinting as she stared at the ceiling. Her gaze took its time moving around the walls before landing on Aria and trying even harder to focus. The room’s collective beat skipped as they awaited their inadvertent guest’s reaction—
“~Th-thank you, nurse...~”
Out of everything Anne could have muttered in her miserable state, Aria expected gratitude the least. It made her feel warm, but the uncertainty about just what the girl meant soon eclipsed that sensation. The Gardevoir walked half a step closer in silence, eyes closing as she dug into the girl’s thoughts, trying to piece together just what was going on in here.
...
Figures Anne wasn’t scared; she could barely see her.
Peeking through her eyes revealed the resulting image to be unfocused beyond all recognition. Aria’s appearance was reduced to a tall white and green blur that Anne was interpreting as some sort of human in a full body outfit and a face mask—
“~N-nurse?~”
The confusion in the human’s voice left Aria unsure how to respond. After chewing through it for a moment, she went along with what the girl thought she was seeing, and answered in character, “^I’m here Anne, I’m here. How are you feeling?^”
Aria sighed inwardly in relief at Anne not suspecting something was afoul. As her’s slow, muddled thoughts coalesced to come up with a response, the Gardevoir glanced at what remained of her group. Sprout and all healers but Maple have taken their leave in the meantime, leaving just the Leavanny and the scouts. Before any of them could try catching Aria’s attention, Anne said, “~I’m thirsty. C-could I have some water, please?~”
Aria wordlessly passed Anne’s request over to Maple as her expression continued to soften. Anne’s miserable state fired up every last bit of empathy in her system, making her inch just that bit closer. Still, her duty weighed on her mind, forcing her to maintain an impersonal facade of a human nurse. “^Water is on its way, Anne. Would you want something to eat as well?^”
“~Mhm,~” Anne mumbled before closing her eyes and relaxing into the bedding, giving Aria an opportunity to dash over and grab the meal Holly had made for her. The sweet, buttery aroma immediately filled the air as the pastry was taken out of its protective bubble and set down on the bedstand.
The girl was much too exhausted to think through the weirdness of food being provided so quickly. Most of her senses that weren’t busy hurting focused on how wonderful the smell was, making the cold room feel so much more welcome. “~Th-that smells so nice...~”
“^It does, doesn’t it?^”
The allure of a warm meal made the injured girl try to squirm around on her bedding; wincing as she tried to get closer. She managed some steady, if slow, progress towards that before suddenly stopping, the outburst of anxiety in her head taking Aria aback. “~C-could I have m-my clothes back? If there’s n-nothing medical stopping that. A-and glasses...~”
The first part of the request was easier to understand, if difficult to fulfill in the heat of the moment. The second part, though, had the Gardevoir completely dumbfounded. She froze for a moment, eventually deciding to buy herself time, “^We’ll get to looking for your clothes, sweetie. In the meantime, could you describe what do the ‘glasses’ look like?^” Once she had answered the girl’s request, she spoke to just the Luxray, “^Lumi, run to Mikiri’s and bring over Anne’s bag and all the clean clothes it had in it, right away.^”
“Aye aye,” Lumi answered before bolting out of the tent, passing the leafy nurse holding a cupful of water on his way out.
The part of the exchange Anne could hear confused her almost as much as the ‘nurse’s… oddly phrased question. “~V-very t-thick lenses, metal rims and temples. Black, b-but some paint is flaking.~”
As unhelpful as the description on its own was, the mental visualization that accompanied it was a godsent. It let Aria get a good look at the item in question—and made her realize they had seen nothing like that when digging through the girl’s bag. She focused on passing the imagined image over to Ori and Ruby, making their heads spin a bit as she spoke up telepathically, “^She asked for this item. There wasn’t anything like it in her bag, right?^”
Ori opened his mouth before remembering their guest could hear him, too. He tried putting on the quietest whisper he could manage, to… mixed results. “None to my recollection.”
“I’ll have a sweep through where Sprout found her, just in case,” Ruby added. Despite her trying to keep her voice down as well, it was unsuccessful at avoiding catching Anne’s attention—or at least it would’ve been, if not for the green-yellow blur much closer to her occupying her entire focus.
This weird, tiny hospital she must’ve been in only got weirder and weirder at the moment.
Anne asked, figuring one question wouldn’t hurt, “~I-is this a Leavanny?~”
Aria thanked the stars for their facade remaining unbroken as she looked over at Maple. She only barely avoided a mistake of her own; her mental reach stopped an instant before it would’ve become visible. Instead, she grabbed the cup with her physical hands, cursing the close call under her breath.
“^Yes, Anne. She... helps us with our patients.^” Thankfully, the girl took the answer at face value, as vague as it was, especially once her ‘nurse’ continued, “^I’ve got the water. Will you need help with drinking, Anne?^”
“~Mhm.~”
As Aria made her way over to where Anne could reach, the girl slid towards the back of the bed. She was holding the covers with her good arm as close to her front as possible, not letting them slide even slightly. A rather confusing behavior, but Anne’s discomfort at not wearing any clothes was trivial to sense, and this tied into that in some unclear way.
No matter what exactly was the reason, Anne had a spare pair of hands to help her out, regardless.
The pretend nurse had to help herself keep the cup stable with a bit of telekinesis as her pretend patient drank. Anne downed the entire cup without pausing even for a moment, gasping afterwards. She got a much closer look at her ‘nurse’ now—but even though some details weren’t adding up, she wasn’t focusing on that. “~C-could I have more, please?~”
The unnecessary nicety of the question brought a soft, sad smile to Aria’s face.
“^Of course Anne. Will you need help with eating as well?^”
“~N-no, I think I’ll manage that one. Though, I-I have a question if that’s alright...~”
“^Go right ahead, sweetie.^”
Once the cup was passed to Maple, Anne once more had Aria’s undivided attention as she reached into the bundle of Holly’s meal. She kept her hunger in check for just long enough to stammer out a question, “~W-where am I?~”
The one question Aria hoped she would not have to answer.
Her silence unnerved Anne while she waited for a response. Fortunately, while the Gardevoir had no idea on how to respond to that without making the girl more suspicious, Anne herself did. She mumbled quietly as her train of thought was investigated, together with the name of the location she hoped she was currently in.
“^This is the Lillywood hospital, sweetie. You... had a very rough accident in the woods, but the rescue came in time and moved you here.^”
Anne sighed as her hunch turned out to be correct, before freezing at the mention of her accident. What she had previously assumed to be a nightmare turned out to be exactly what had happened last night, the realization making her gulp. Aria felt the accompanying pang of fear clearly, reassuring her right away. “^Don’t worry Anne, you’re safe now—^”
“~A-a-are they here?~”
The fear dripping from Anne’s words gave Aria a pause, her attention narrowing as she responded, “^They?^”
“~M-m-my parents...~”
...
The Gardevoir could only stare as the pieces of the rotten puzzle suddenly came together in the most disgusting, harrowing way imaginable. Something deep inside her cried out at the realization; her body trembled as she spoke up, “^N-no, they’re not, Anne.^”
“~Oh, oh good.~”
The girl was still thoroughly shook, the reassurance and her delicious meal providing only a fleeting reprieve. As she wrapped her portion up, though, fear crept into her mind once more while she eyed up the ‘nurse’ and the Leavanny beside her. She knew full well that her request wouldn’t be honored, but she had to do something, say something, try to fight what felt like the inescapable—tears welled up in the corners of her almost-blind eyes as she stammered, “~P-p-please don’t make me go back...~”
Anne’s whimper almost made Aria break her facade there and then as the child shrunk into her bedding; her terror the likes of which the Gardevoir wouldn’t wish even upon her enemies. “^I-I—^”
“~P-please! I-I’ll do anything, PLEASE—~”
“^We won’t let them hurt you again.^”
The girl’s teary eyes snapped open at hearing that, staring at her nurse in all her blurriness. A desperate question bubbled up from the depths of her terrified mind, carrying within it the tiniest spark of hope, “~R-r-really?~”
“^Yes Anne, really. Y-you’re safe here, I... I promise.^”
It was the one response the human wasn’t expecting in the slightest. Even if a healthier, less exhausted Anne would’ve immediately doubted the truthfulness of these words, the pained, blind, tired her couldn’t help but to latch onto the stranger’s promise, shaking as she tried to process it all. “~T-thank you n-nurse...~”
Her relief was as immense as its effects were immediate.
The release of tension, combined with her exhaustion, knocked Anne out in moments. Before long, the room was plunged into a thick, confused silence once more. Nobody but the Gardevoir was aware of what was said before them, having just been observing their coworker for the last few minutes.
Anne falling back asleep brought relief to everyone around. Maple set the cup of water down on the bedstand next to the unfinished pastry while Ruby attempted to catch the Gardevoir’s attention, “Aria?”
Her name being spoken out loud finally got the Psychic-type to face her group once more. Nobody expected to see a handful of stray tears flow down her cheeks, or to see her body shudder.
“We’re—what happened?” Lumi asked, his tone unusually not dismissive, the distraught state of his coworker stopping any snark in its tracks.
“^We—we need to talk.^”
Nobody could deny that.
After sparing one last look at the bedful of trouble on their paws, the scout team returned to the side room. Lumi dropped the human’s bag in the middle of the room; Ruby held onto her spoils. Took a fair bit of raking the snow with her claws, but she eventually found the glass-and-metal trinket.
Everyone remained silent as they awaited Aria’s words—words that kept not coming. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, unable to force anything out, before resorting to telepathy, “^I figured out what she was running away from.^”
“Great. What is it and how do we deal with it—”
“^It’s her own family.^”
The answer cut Lumi off mid-sentence as a cold shudder ran down his and everyone else’s spines.
“What do you mean?” Ruby asked.
“^I wish I had a more concrete idea. But... the fear she felt when asking if her parents were here was more than just worrying about being chewed out. She was scared for her life, and if they’re the reason she ran away... what do we even do?^”
The rest of the group looked among themselves as they thought back to their earlier spat with Sprout. Nobody liked where their imaginations were ending up when attempting to think through it all.
Still, the girl’s parents being terrible didn’t quite mean she didn’t have any other family.
“I find it hard to believe she was running towards nowhere on that fateful night. She must have some other relatives she intended to reach before suffering her accident. If we can ensure she reaches them, then that will be all our problems solved,” Ori said. While most of the group was persuaded by his argument, Aria most definitely wasn’t, not after feeling it all for herself. She couldn’t imagine someone gripped with that much fear had a plan beyond their immediate future.
Though, it’s not like either of them had any concrete evidence to base further decision making on, and they both knew that. The Gardevoir sighed and nodded along—they’d have to dig into it further once Anne was awake again and could answer questions.
But, at the same time... what if she indeed had nowhere else to go?
“Besides, judging from what Mikiri just found out, I kinda doubt we’d ever want this one of all humans staying here longer than necessary,” Lumi commented. Aria was about ready to snap at his remark, but ultimately held herself back. Everyone watched as Lumi opened the bag by yanking on the dangling bit with his teeth, and reached in to clumsily grasp the Fennekin doll. “Look inside, at that weird painting again. That’s our Ember.”
The revelation chilled the room almost as much as the one from a few minutes earlier. Aria’s psychics yanked the doll out of the bag before forcefully unzipping it; her hand shook as she reached into its pocket. It couldn’t be true, it wouldn’t make any sense with what she’d seen of Anne—
...
The doll landed on the carpeted floor with a weak thud, spilling out some of its metal circles and canvas rectangles. Aria could only stare transfixed at the tiny detail inscribed on that thin piece of wood, Lumi’s words unfortunately coming true.
The little Fennekin’s left eye had the same misshapen iris and almost nonexistent pupil as she had seen on the Braixen the few times she took her eyepatch off in public. Aria kicked herself for overlooking the detail in earlier chaos, and her spirit burned up in flames as she passed the picture to other scouts.
“That is... terrible.” Ori’s response summed up the group’s thoughts about the matter. Lumi felt a slight pang of guilt at shattering everyone’s spirits, even if the reason for it was one they would’ve had to tackle eventually, anyway.
“Not like it changes much. Her staying here was never an option. All this means is we’ll have to pay closer attention to her and make sure she’s out of here and someplace safe as soon as possible.”
“Do you really think she deserves safety anymore, Ruby?” Lumi responded with contempt, more so towards the subject of their discussion as opposed to the Weavile.
“If this is true, then no. But if what Aria said is true, and the girl really ran for her life, then sending her back home would sentence her to death. That ain’t a punishment I’m comfortable condemning anyone for, no matter how severe a crime.”
Even Lumi knew better than to argue a philosophical matter like that, swallowing his disagreement as the tiny painting was passed over to Ori. The Scizor expressed more emotion after glancing at the image than he usually did in a week, immediately closing his eyes and sticking his pincer out for Aria to grab the cursed item again.
“Though... what is this for? Do you know, Aria?” Ruby asked as she showed off the trinket with two large glass circles and bits of metal surrounding them. Two longer metal pieces stuck out to the sides of the glass, one of them bent harshly.
“^I’m uncertain. Considering her eyesight was so terrible she couldn’t tell me apart from a clothed human, I suspect these to have something to do with alleviating that.^”
Lumi blinked dumbfounded at that claim. He had a difficult time imagining a vision so crippled it couldn’t differentiate his friend from one of those despicable creatures. Though, compared to what his eyes were capable of, almost every other creature was stunted in that regard.
“Sounds like she should stay parted with them, then,” Ruby commented.
Aria felt like she ought to disagree, to claim that intentionally keeping someone blind was cruelty, but… she couldn’t bring herself to say that out loud. Not when knowing that the injured human had something to do with what had befallen Ember all these years ago. No better way to maintain their facade of this being a human facility than to keep Anne unable to tell what she was even looking at.
That silver lining couldn’t conceal how conflicted Aria felt about all this. Her desire to comfort Anne clashed violently with the scorn she felt like she ought to be showing the girl; her expression twisted before settling back down. The conflict left her unable to move on even as the rest of the group took their leave, the glass trinket left on the floor beside the bag.
In desperation, Aria took another look at the image in her hand. The human was unmistakably Anne, and the Fennekin was unmistakably Ember, but...
How could both of them look happy if that was the case?
A part of Aria considered bringing the painting with herself, before deciding against it in the end. If it was all true, if Anne was indeed one of Ember’s tormentors, then the last thing the Gardevoir wanted was to subject the vixen to more trauma.
She wouldn’t ever forget the night when she, along with so many others, first arrived at the village. Based on their recollections, there was a human facility some distance away, where many mons were housed before eventually breaking out.
The conditions they described were barbarous. Bright lights, minimal space, being trapped in cohabitated cages behind metal bars. And yet… it was apparently a marked improvement for many there, purely by the virtue of food and water being provided regularly. That fact did little to make it all sound any less monstrous, any less…
Human.
Many escapees ran off wherever the wind took them, never to be seen again, but the rest eventually stumbled upon their village, Ember among them. Terrified, scarred, traumatized, the cruelty she’d been on the receiving end of monstrous beyond words—
Before Aria could mull through her thoughts any further, she felt her attention be psychically grabbed by a passerby. Her pose slumped a bit at seeing who it was, but she didn’t let it get to her voice or actions. “^Good morning, Cinder.^”
“^When will that thing be gone?^” the Delphox asked, leering at her.
The Gardevoir had to commit the entirety of her willpower to keep herself from rolling her eyes at the Fire-type’s pointed question. Sure, hardly different from what most of her coworkers had expressed in content, but much more insufferable in tone. “^We’re doing what we can to resolve their situation as soon as possible. We’d rather take a bit longer to avoid tossing an injured child out to die.^”
While the first part of her response had Cinder snarl at her, the second managed to shut her up for the time being. Much harder to overlook the ‘injured child’ part than the ‘human’ part.
Especially with her daughter also fitting that category.
“^Do hurry. Ember could barely sleep last night in fear, and I have no doubt that many others are suffering just as much because of its presence.^”
“^I’m aware,^” Aria responded.
The uncomfortable silence lingered until the Delphox took her leave with a barely concealed side eye. Even once she’d left, it took Aria a while to get going again, the mental murk about the older vixen fighting against the realization that she had a point. She ought to get this dealt with as soon as possible.
Still, the hateful scorn with which Cinder had referred to a child made Aria shudder, even if said child was human and possibly had hurt Ember in the past. She understood why; she was there when Ember told her what she’d suffered through; she witnessed her burning rage turn into an unbreakable resolve to let no harm come her adoptive daughter’s way ever again.
And if said resolve didn’t keep veering all too close to wishing for a bloody, fiery vengeance, it might’ve even been laudable.
Regardless of any objections Aria held towards her mother, she only had sympathy for Ember. Even beyond her harrowing past, she’d soared during her stay here. Evolved, started catching up to other kids, and even started volunteering to help look after the village’s little ones. Bell adored her, and his mom wasn’t far behind in that regard.
As expected, Ember was busy tending to the kids today as well. While most tykes were gathered around the Torkoal resting at the center of the large, open tent—many of them asleep—a few other, smaller groups played around the tent.
The tots sitting on the Braixen’s lap looked to be taking a nap after a playing session earlier, basking in the warmth trapped underneath her off-white shawl as they grazed on a handful of nuts. Even beyond the bliss of having someone warm to snuggle into on a cold winter day, the shaking of her paws made any casual affection all the more pleasant.
And while much of the shaking was because of what humans had done of her in the past, the fear flowing through her mind was clear to sense, much starker than yesterday. Aria loathed to add to that misery, but… she had to know.
“Good afternoon, Ember,” Aria greeted with her physical voice. Mellow as it was, it still made the Braixen jump–and sneeze. Thankfully, not even the louder sound managed to wake up either the Riolu or the Shinx on her lap. The Gardevoir remembered Cinder blowing sparks and flames by the lungful when she got sick, and was surprised to not see any with the younger vixen.
Curious, but nowhere near as much as the reason she was here.
“G-good afternoon Mrs. Aria! B-Bell is with the rest, next to—”
“Oh no, no, I’m not here to pick him up. I wanted to talk to you, actually.”
Even through her shawl, the Gardevoir noticed Ember’s shaking intensify as a stray gust of wind made her white eyepatch flutter. “Oh. Wh-what about?”
Aria need not have been a psychic to tell just how spooked the vixen was, or even what she was so scared of, one-eyed glances towards their clinic telling her everything. Entirely understandable, and sure didn’t make the Gardevoir regret having to ask her about all this any less. She telekinetically shoveled some snow off to the side before she sat down beside the fox and offered her a shoulder to lean on. “Well… it can wait a bit. How are you doing, sweetie?”
Ember eagerly accepted the offer, huddling in as she tried to keep her breathing under control. “W-when will that human b-be gone?”
Aria pet the fox’s head as she took a deep breath. The answer was as straightforward as it was unsatisfactory, Ember’s body language shrinking as she explained, “We don’t know, sadly. Their situation is... a complex one, and we want to avoid potentially harming them even more through acting hastily.”
The Braixen leaned further into the Gardevoir as she churned through her thoughts. As she did so, the Riolu on her lap woke up with a big yawn and an almost as large stretch, tail immediately wagging at seeing Aria. “Hiiiiiiii Mrs. Aria! Oh no, is Bell leaving—”
“No no, I’m not picking him up yet, sweetie,” the Gardevoir explained.
“Yaaaaay. Oh oh, did you see dad around?”
The Gardevoir shook her head, internally thankful for that fact. Lariat was as dependable as anyone got, sure, but nuance… wasn’t his strong suit. Not much of it needed when repelling any wildling predators that might take their village for a free meal, but that couldn’t be said for their current mess of a situation.
Or any other one that included humans, for that matter.
“Not yet today, nope!” Aria answered.
“Awhhhh. I love dad!” Reya woofed.
“He loves you too, sweetie~.”
The brief, cutesy distraction did wonders for Ember’s nerves, letting her gather her thoughts and continue, “H-he really does, Reya! A-and as for the human… I hope they get well soon, I-I really do—”
“Even just so they’d leave sooner?”
Ember froze as Aria completed the sentence for her, before looking away in a small, shameful nod.
“Don’t worry, sweetie. If there’s anyone justified in wanting them gone from here, it’s you.”
“It feels m-mean to say...” Ember mumbled.
“Maybe, but I know you’re not doing it out of malice.”
Speaking of possible malice...
“But… I wanted to ask about something else.” The clarification might’ve been a lie and Aria might’ve been a terrible liar, but fortunately for her, Ember was too focused on her worries to notice. The words perked her up, making her look at the taller psychic as she continued, “Does the name ‘Anne’ ring any bells for you?”
Aria had to smudge the pronunciation to hide the name’s obviously human origin—and judging by Ember not immediately panicking at hearing it, she was successful. She didn’t expect the Braixen to focus so much on it either, enough so that it made her stop shaking for a moment. It didn’t last long until uncertainty and… frustration joined the fray. The vixen tried to mask it as well as she could as she answered, “N-no, I don’t think so. Why do you ask, Mrs. Aria?”
“Oh, it’s—it’s nothing.”
The Braixen might’ve been distracted last time, but this time she caught onto Aria not being honest with her. She looked uncertainly at the Gardevoir as the latter got up, swiping the leftover snow off her skin dress. “Alas, it’s time for me to return to my duties. Come visit sometimes, sweetie. Cadence enjoys hanging out with you more than she’d admit~.”
The thought brought a smile to Ember’s snout, distracting her away from her previous doubts. As Aria returned Reya’s excited waving, she thought about whether there was a point in returning to the clinic, or if she should just resume her usual duties.
Before she could decide on either, a low, heavy voice caught her attention, “Aria? A private word if you could.”
The Torkoal’s words caught the surrounding tykes’ attention for a moment, before it went right back to the stories being woven by their caretakers. Said Wigglytuff and Grumpig waved over at her as well; the wordless gesture returned as the Gardevoir addressed the fiery tortoise, “^Yes, Elder Ana?^”
The Fire-type might not have been capable of telepathy proper, but she made up for that by thinking about her words really hard. It let Aria and any other nearby psychics pick up on what she was trying to convey with minimal effort.
Which—considering the group in question currently comprised a handful of toddlers, most of them asleep, and one very occupied caretaker—was good enough.
“^What’s the situation with the human?^”
“^Improving quickly health-wise, she woke up earlier today for a moment. It appears she was trying to escape from her family when she suffered her crash, and it is very uncertain whether she has any safe place to return to. We are in the process of figuring out what to do with her once she recovers. And,^” Aria paused briefly, the fact still not sitting right with her, “^it seems she is one of Ember’s past tormentors.^”
Ana grew quiet at that, old age helping the speed of her thoughts any. She wasn’t gonna let that stop her, though. “^How... confident are you of that claim?^”
“^Not at all, but there is some evidence towards it I cannot argue with.^”
The Torkoal responded with a slow, thoughtful nod. A part of her clearly wanted to say more, but she resigned to wrapping the chat instead, “^Very well. I trust your judgment. Proceed as you were.^”
“^Understood, Elder Ana.^”
“^May the winds hasten you, Aria.^”
The Gardevoir’s walk back to the clinic took a while, her pace dragged down by conflicting thoughts swirling in her mind. They took up enough of her attention to make her overlook a couple of very critical facts until after she’d stepped into the large, multi-chambered tent.
One, Anne was awake.
Two, Autumn was with her.
One hurried dash later, the Gardevoir entered Anne’s room, thankfully finding the situation under control. The Indeedee was pouring the girl a cup of Holly’s concoction as she watched with curiosity; the green glow of Autumn’s telekinesis captivating despite being little more than a blur to her eyes.
“^Autumn, what are you doing!?^” Aria shouted telepathically, her private message going unnoticed by Anne—which couldn’t be said about Autumn turning her head to look up at her daughter-in-law. Her motion made the human glance over in that direction as well, mood improving at the sight of her ‘nurse’.
“~H-hello, nurse!~”
“^Making sure the girl’s comfy! I’m not even sure if she can drink anything like this, Aria. Someone had to come help her.^”
“^She thinks she’s in a human hospital—^”
“^And she still does, don’t you worry. I didn’t try to talk to her.^”
A quick check of the human’s surface thoughts confirmed the Indeedee’s words, much to Aria’s relief. All Anne perceived was a mon nurse checking up on her and helping her have a drink.
“^Alright, I see. Sorry, I—^”
“^Shhhh. Don’t go around worrying Aria, you’re just trying to—^”
“~N-nurse?~” Anne asked, interrupting the mental exchange. Aria cleared her throat as she refocused on the girl, taking a couple of deep breaths before responding as calmly as she could.
“^I’m here Anne, I’m here. How are you feeling?^”
“~Better. T-this Indeedee came and helped me w-with the drinking while you were gone!~”
Even if her phrasing wasn’t ideal, Anne’s gratitude was downright palpable to both women. The nearly blind human looked at the shorter psychic with a weary, tired smile, before asking uncertainly, “~Um... c-can I thank them in a w-way they’ll understand?~”
Autumn had to bite her tongue not to chuckle at the silliness of the question. The small smile on Aria’s expression was thankfully much harder to spot for their guest.
“^Just say it out loud and she’ll get what you mean, don’t worry,^” the ‘nurse’ explained.
“~O-okay. Um... thank you, Mrs. Indeedee.~”
The elderly psychic answered with a light bow before hovering a freshly refilled cup of juice over to the girl’s mouth. It was some of the best tasting… anything she’s had in years now, unable to keep herself from downing the entire portion at once despite how intense the flavor was.
While Aria was glad Anne was feeling better, the pressing questions remained, regardless of how unpleasant they were to talk about—or difficult to segue into. She didn’t want the girl to get the impression she was being interrogated, but… she had an idea. “^We’ve found your bag, Anne. I’ll move it over to your bed.^”
The news had the girl drink faster, spilling some juice onto her face as she tried to nod in response. Aria was conflicted about what to do with the eye-related glass trinket, ultimately following the conclusion they had all settled on earlier and leaving it be.
The Fennekin doll peeked out of the bag’s opened metal seam as the Gardevoir picked it up by the weird-feeling handle. Even if Anne couldn’t make out much of it, she reacted immediately to getting her bag back, “~Thank you s-so much, nurse! What about t-the glasses?~”
“^We’re... still looking for them, unfortunately.^”
“~Oh, o-okay. I really hope they’re alright, they’re so ex-expensive...~”
The thoughts about the trinket’s price didn’t translate into anything Aria was familiar with, leaving her confused about what the ‘expensiveness’ actually implied. That unknown was soon swept off to the side, though, replaced by a cautious observation of what Anne would do with the bag’s contents. Autumn wasn’t any less curious, watching from behind her daughter-in-law.
Reassuringly, the Fennekin doll was given a close, one-armed hug. Internal warmth mixed with somber longing as Anne held onto the toy for a few moments longer, before setting it down and reaching in for her other items.
“^That’s a nice doll,^” Aria commended. While her precise phrasing confused Anne a bit, the gist was understood all the same. Shaky fingers brushed through the fake polyester fur as her almost blind eyes tried to hold back tears, taking both Aria and Autumn by surprise.
“~Mhm. It’s nice, a-and I’m glad I found it...~”
There was a lot left unspoken in that sentence, prompting the Gardevoir to keep going with the topic, despite how upset it was making the girl. “^Is there something wrong, Anne?^”
“~Oh n-no, no, no, it’s just... I-I miss her, the real her.~”
“^Her?^”
“~My F-Fennekin, Ember. We... we had to separate, and I p-promised her I would find her one day and we’d both finally be safe...~”
Autumn’s resulting gasp startled Anne, making her look in the Indeedee’s direction as she shook.
“~W-what was that?~”
“^Don’t worry Anne, she just... sneezed. So, Ember used to live with you?^”
The Indeedee slowly backed out of the room, confused and disgusted by what she’d just heard. What followed right after, though, gave her a pause.
“~Mhm! We’ve known each other since sh-she was tiny. I loved her, and she l-loved me too, it felt like. We’d go everywhere together, she’d snuggle i-into me at night, we’d hide together from the other kids, o-or my parents...~”
This wasn’t adding up.
Anne’s recollection was so utterly different from what they ‘knew’ about Ember’s upbringing that it felt almost insulting, but… it was as genuine as it got, every word of it. Aria and Autumn stared at each other in shock as they tried to figure it out. They weren’t about to take some random human’s word over the Braixen’s, but the former meant it in a way that left no room for deceit.
Could a tragic misunderstanding have taken place? Was Anne’s ‘Ember’ even their Ember? Or, most distraughtly, could what Anne thought to be affection have only harmed Ember? While the two psychics exchanged thoughts on how realistic either possibility was, the girl they talked about had stumbled upon a mystery of her own.
As she reached up to wipe the tears from her face, she noticed a stark absence of something very expected. The shocking realization made her keep going, sliding the rest of her right arm along her nose and mouth before feeling along the cast covering her left arm. Her movements grew shakier by the moment as they continued around her body—her neck, shoulders and stomach all coming up clear as well.
By the time Anne was done, the anxiety building within her was acutely palpable, made more unnerving by neither psychic having an idea of what could’ve sparked it. Keeping her cool, Aria put the earlier confusion aside and spoke up calmly, “^Anne? Is something wr—^”
“~W-where’s the IV tube thing... o-or the nose thing with oxygen, o-or—~” Anne rambled before taking a long, careful look around the room, trying to spot anything white or metallic from the oddly brown and tan decor. Nothing, nothing that looked even remotely like any medical equipment or like what an inside of a hospital should look like. Anne shrunk into her bed by the moment as panic built inside her.
“~O-or anything...~”
Aria had no idea how to respond, slowly backing off from the bed. Their entire facade had come undone in an instant, leaving Anne to whimper out in terror,
“~Wh-where am I?~”