Chapter 26: Traitor
redspah
turning the frickin pokemon gay
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Chapter 26: Traitor
Marco's heart hammered in his chest as he jogged through the snowy woods.
On any other day, he would've considered his current pace to be sluggish–to put it kindly–but at the moment, it felt like he was rushing headfirst into something someone would regret. Whether it would be him, his sister, the human girl with whom they had grown closer than either of them would admit to, or their entire village, he didn't know.
And it agonized him.
It'd be many more days until he fully recovered from everything that had happened with Cinder. And likely even more until all warmth would stop carrying with itself the all too familiar aching. It was the time he wanted to take for himself, time he knew he should be taking for himself, time Aria had stressed he deserved, but... the obvious loomed above him, above them all.
The task he'd decided on last evening ended up being an abject failure by any metric. Worse than that—he didn't just make no progress; he made negative progress.
Because now, he too doubted his sister's actions.
Marco trusted Aria; he trusted her more than anyone else in the world, and yet... doubt lingered. He felt the blatant uncertainty in her voice and aura when she'd relayed to them she'd wiped the memories of that human—the telltale sting of a badly kept lie—but deliberately overlooked it until now.
But now, with the light having been shone upon it in such a stark way, he couldn't look away.
He couldn't think of a motive that wasn't malice, and didn't have it in him to imagine his sister as a traitor, but... why would she lie about this? If he'd felt it right, if it was so blatant that even a non-psychic had noticed it, then the only question remaining was 'why?'.
He had no answer. As far as he was concerned, there was only one way to sort this harrowing enigma out.
Checking up on that human in person.
It was far from his first time sneaking into the human backwater, though he hadn't ventured further than the end of their path in years. What was once an expression of frivolous curiosity had turned so much more dire the more he learned about humanity, so much riskier.
He didn't need to do this; he doubted he even should be here. Even if his sister had kept that human's memories and lied to them about it, he couldn't accept that it was for any truly malicious reasons. Aria had to have had a plan for this; she was much too intelligent to knowingly expose their village to so much risk without gaining something from it.
But what if she had misjudged? What if she had acted in the best of intentions and ended up bringing on their home's eventual demise?
...
What if he had misjudged, too?
The movement in the Gallade's peripheral vision made him jerk into a combat-ready stance before easing out. Just a white sheet, much like the ones he saw Anne draw on. It fluttered in the freezing wind, attached to the sign at the end of their path. On it, a depiction of the girl's face, and an incomprehensible soup of blacks and whites, of meaningless symbols humanity comprehended all the same.
It might've only been a day, he might've only spent a few hours in Anne's company, but... he already felt close to her, closer than he probably should have. It was hard not to feel for her. The girl had bonded with Cadence further in a day than almost all the other children around in the six years she'd been alive, and that bond was mutual.
For crying out loud, he experienced so much more of their mutual memories than he'd ever wished to—enough to still see occasional flashes of them as he daydreamed or fell asleep. He didn't know the names of the two humans branded into his mind, knew nothing about them beyond them being Anne's biological parents and that Aria had apparently had a hand in the death of one of them.
And yet, he hated them more than almost anyone else in the world.
He wished only the best for the girl; his heart yearned for her wellbeing to a degree he would've found embarrassing if he'd given it closer thought. But what if her and their village's safety were truly incompatible? Or the much more harrowing possibility—
What if investigating this would doom Anne?
Marco didn't know—he couldn't know. All he had any certainty about was that his sister lying about something this important had hurt him, and that he wanted to know why. Whether to help her or to stop her, he had to know.
Too late to turn back now.
The snowy shrubs and deciduous trees bordering the black stone path provided just enough cover for him to scout out of. He was unsure how Aria had managed to get through this place unnoticed, and if it was by actively keeping herself from being spotted, then he'd have to come up with something else.
His relative inexperience in psychic arts compared to her might've only bugged him in the abstract most of the time, but here it was a very practical problem. One he'd either have to push through, however feebly, or sidestep.
And the latter... just might work.
He remembered enough of their standoff against the human and her posse to tell her aura apart in a crowd, and if he just got further into the town, he'd pick her up, eventually. What would happen afterwards was an unknown that refused to be shoved into the back of his head, but which could just barely be delayed until it became relevant.
The main street was too busy, which left sneaking around the perimeter. From his exploration many years earlier, he knew that this place was shaped by the road at its center. Almost all the buildings stood next to it, with side paths so few he could count them on his fingers. Just had to stalk the town's edge, and something would come up eventually.
Hopefully. Not the most encouraging outlook, but a far better one than sprinting through it and sending this entire place into a panic.
The opposite side of the black path held the bulk of the buildings, making it the obvious starting point. Right as he was about to focus on a Teleport, Marco spotted something large and blackened not too far, so unlike the gray, snow-covered blob of human—
Oh.
Aria had described that Anne's home had burned down, but seeing it for himself was something else altogether. Less of a pile of charred wood, and more of a scorched carcass of what was once a home, what was once a family, and which ultimately fell to its own cruelty.
It made him feel so, so very cold.
In a split second, he was crouched on the other side of the road, catching his breath. Even Cadence could've likely managed this one without too much difficulty, and yet here he was, gasping for air.
He was doing his best to keep down the self-conscious feelings. Aria's words were still recent, but this time, he didn't have the reassurance of doing a good thing. He might've very well been in the middle of something that would turn his family against him, something that would turn him into a traitor of Anne's safety. No way to know but to keep going, no luxury of being able to choose until he was on the same page with his sister.
The building he first passed by was by far the largest in their entire town. On its own, it could easily house all of their village, but its intended usage was... uncertain. Many, many children of various ages, with several older humans sprinkled among them. If it was a school, then was a rather space-inefficient one.
Before the Anne affair, he would've added some jab at humanity being wasteful as a whole at the end there, but couldn't force that out of himself anymore. It was hard to do that after interacting with the girl, after gaining an awareness—much of it through literally unforgettable memories—that humans were just like them. In all their good, in all their evil.
In all their lost, confused selves.
For a while, he thought that one of the little humans had spotted him through the large, clear windows. He could sense shock, but didn't have the time to investigate further, or to even make sure if that shock was caused by him. No endurance for the slow deliberation. He had to get this over with before he'd grow even sloppier. The massive courtyard, delimited by a fence woven from metal wire, was more of a challenge.
Or at least would've been, if there was anyone present there. He had no idea why wouldn't anybody be using such a vast space for anything, even just meditation, but wasn't about to look the blessing in the—
rr-ring-ri-RING-RING!
A panicked Teleport at the sudden, shrieking ringing wasn't the best idea in hindsight, but at least it got him out of there. For the next few buildings, he just had to be mindful of the windows with almost all humans being inside, slowly crouch along, and occasionally climb onto the roof.
All that was augmented by much the same tricks his sister had used, just on a far smaller scale. Much easier to deceive one human as opposed to a baker's dozen. Even if it was slow, and required a lot of climbing and acrobatics, this combined approach was getting him further and further into—
There she is.
Three auras, just like the ones he'd remembered. One of them was muffled too, as if asleep, only helping him further. Unfortunately, they weren't alone—two... no, three? Three others with them, likely human. No... the third aura felt so weak; maybe he was just miscounting, and it was really two?
Didn't matter, he just had to find a safe spot to blink to.
The cold, snow-covered roof froze his body as he leaned in and focused all he could muster out; the tendrils of his aura scoped out the inside wall by wall. One large room with way more internal walls than was reasonable, but which formed a natural cranny that—to the best of his ability to tell—nobody was looking at. Now all he needed was a distraction, accomplished by flipping over a pair of freestanding metal cylinders filled with trash on the opposite site on the street, aaand—
Oh goodness, this place was warm.
The unexpected sensation almost robbed Marco of his entire focus before he scanned his surroundings. A cranny indeed, with nobody in a direct line of sight. To his right, a wall composed of hundreds upon hundreds of colorful rectangles of varying sizes, difficult enough to make any sense of that he didn't even try. On its other side, the five... six... five souls in here.
Three of which were chatting in human.
"~W-what just happened? Wait, did these just fall over?~"
"~Sure seems so. Must be the wind.~"
"~Woooo, what if it's that ghost everyone is talking about!?~"
"~Liam, please don't joke about that, it's—it's not even a real ghost. It's... goodness, I still have no idea what any of it could mean. Are you really sure it has nothing to do with the Anne situation, Mrs. Graham?~"
"~I don't see why it would, Julie. Sure, there are fairy tales of 'Ghost Brides' kidnapping children, but no actual evidence of that having ever taken place, to my knowledge.~"
Wait a minute...
Marco had to keep himself from jumping in there and then at hearing the very human he was looking after mention a Gardevoir. Once he took a moment to parse through what was being said, both this worry and confusion only grew. He had to know more as soon as possible.
Blocking four awake minds from perceiving him wasn't easy, but with their attention not being aimed anywhere near him, it was just about manageable. With that done, a peek around the colorful wall clarified the scene. The human he was after—'Olive', if his memory served—and two others, sitting at a table. One grown up, one obviously a child. The child was looking at pictures on that white 'paper' stuff; how they got there exactly was not something Marco had the time to think about. Beside him, the Ribombee, sitting on his shoulder and enjoying the pictures along with him.
Quaint, even if it explained little.
"~Well, I can imagine there b-being few reported cases, of course the League would want th-that stuff covered up. Otherwise it'd have to do something and be more proactive with their interventions...~"
"~I really don't think that's the case, Julie. I get it, it's scary, but we should avoid jumping to conclusions.~"
"~Then what else should I do? What if that Ghost Bride had hurt someone? What if it really was the one that set fire to Martins' house—~"
"~Julie, that was a gas leak.~"
"~But what if it had caused that gas leak!?~"
"~With that logic, you could blame every single event that happens on them. Bad weather; must be the wild mons. Rotted crops; must be the wild mons. My child is disabled; must be the wild mons. At that point, you're no better than the first-century peasants I remember you snickering about in class~.~"
The snarky, ribbing response interrupted the other adult human enough to get her to think for a moment. Mrs. Graham was right, but she wished it helped with her and so many others' anxiety as much as it ought to have.
As the concerning discussion took place around him, Marco reached into Olive's memories to get a direct confirmation of his sister's actions.
And Aria, along with Lumi and him, were still there, starker than anything else in the last few years.
A cold dread shot through him and Olive simultaneously at that find. Her sensation of being watched was almost nothing compared to his heart dropping, but it sure didn't help any. Aria had really done it; she had lied to him; she had lied to them all. All the Elders would immediately brand her as a traitor if they ever found out; the thought deeply terrifying.
As was the adjacent thought of him being a traitor to Anne's cause if his presence here would blow Aria's plan for keeping Anne safe wide open. Hell, even without that, even if he just went back and reported this to everyone else come voting time, they would all turn on not just Aria, but the girl as well. He wished his fellow scouts were better than conflating Anne's safety with Aria's potential mistakes, but he didn't trust them all to be.
If he did that, he'd be just as much of a traitor, but to Anne instead—
"~I FOUND IT!~"
The loud, shrill cry startled everyone in the building, Marco included. Peeking around the wall again, he watched the little human carry a large picture over to his mom, showing it off to her with beaming joy. All the while, Olive grew concerned, and not-Olive... almost fainted there and then.
"~Breathe Julie, breathe. It's okay, it's—~"
"~That's the one I saw, mom! The big white and green! I saw it here, oooo lemme read it! 'Ga-ra-da-vora'!~"
"~Wh-what do you mean you saw it here, Liam...~"
"~Behind the bookshelves there! It was there, mom, I told you, but you didn't believe me! Do you believe me now?~"
The boy's mother did believe him, but not for any reasons he or Olive would've wanted. Attention being brought towards Marco's hiding spot had him backing off, ducking behind the not-wall.
"~M-Mrs. Graham, a-are you sure that the Ghost Bride d-didn't make its way in here that day...~"
"~Of course not, Julie. There was nothing to suggest it got here in the end.~"
"~B-but the footage got corrupted, a-and—~"
"~Happens all the time, these cameras are old, cheap garbage. Besides, I doubt a wild mon could manipulate technology to that level—it got caught on camera after all.~"
The application of logic to the stressful situation was only barely more effective than it sounded. It kept the not-Olive from freaking out immediately, but she still teetered on the edge of a mental breakdown.
"~But I saw it here, mom!~"
"~Are you really sure, Liam? I don't see why it would end up here, of all places. I think all the mania might've gotten to you, too~.~"
"~Nooooo! Mrs. Graham, I saw it, believe me, I'm not lying!~"
"~I'm not saying you're lying, sweetie. All the buzz around something stressful can get to us all, even if we try our best to avoid it. And between the entire Mylock losing their marbles about this, and the news of that scary Gardevoir in Hoenn or whatever, it's not impossible for our brains to get confused, you know.~"
"~But I didn't! I saw ittttt, Mrs. Graham!~"
"~L-Liam, please...~"
Even if the other adult human wasn't about to collapse anymore, her state still wasn't the best. Olive was very aware, leaning in over towards her and putting on the most motherly voice she could manage.
"~Julie, sweetie, I think you should lie down right now. Past few days have really been a lot for us all, and you especially. Just rest your head and cool off, no need to keep panicking about this.~"
In her unstable anxiety, the other human nodded her head along with Olive's recommendation. Shaking, she slowly got up, giving Marco a better view of the massive, bulging stomach. The sight took Marco aback, but he didn't have the time to focus on it much longer—she was probably gonna lay her egg soon, is all. Worthy of congratulations, but he wouldn't be the one giving them to her.
"~L-Liam, please c-clean up—~"
"~Don't worry Julie, I'll take care of it.~"
"~B-but, Mrs.—~"
"~I mean it, Julie. Get yourself home and rest. I can sort around a few books on my own, no problem.~"
"~Moooommm, can I take out—~"
"~Not today Liam, I'm sorry. Your mom is feeling terrible right now, and should get back home soon. How about this—I'll let you take out twice as many books out on Monday instead, how's that sound?~"
"~Awwwhhhh... okay...~"
It took a couple minutes for the not-Olive to get herself together and head out, Olive helping along as much as she could. The little human wanted to keep on talking afterwards, but they got the clue it wasn't the best time for that. Quite a rarity for them, if the adults' unspoken reactions were any sign.
With a few parting words and double checking if the not-Olive could make it back home on her own, they left; the door chiming quietly as it opened and much louder as it closed. It left just Olive and her two mons, one of them slowly waking up. Now that the situation had calmed down, it was the perfect time to come up with an escape plan. Blinking back up onto the roof and retracing his steps sounded like the best course of action, though he'd also need to put in effort towards masking his footprints in—
woof-woof-arf-BARK-BARK!
In Marco's focus, he didn't pay attention to the Arcanine in the other room waking up from their nap—but they most definitely noticed him. With a couple of tentative sniffs and a shocked realization, the Fire-type sprang into action and turned the corner, barking out loud at smelling someone very familiar around before switching to low growls.
"~Leo, what is—~"
Olive and the Ribombee followed right after, looking around the bookshelf only to see nothing. For a moment, Marco thought about teleporting away anyway and hoping that all this would just get overlooked, but... he couldn't; of course he couldn't. Not with her knowing so much, not with him knowing so little.
He needed answers, and she better had them.
In a split second, a Gallade materialized where once there were only bookshelves. The sight startled everyone present, Olive especially, shock immediately giving way to terror. The Ribombee fared better, more curious than anything else, and the Arcanine similarly calmed down a bit. An intruder, sure, but one he'd already seen before and which didn't hurt his human in the end.
Marco's attention, however, rested entirely on the human, and vice versa.
"~Guess I should've expected your people coming over to finish the job...~"
The words took Marco aback—he couldn't disagree with the thrust, but needed to know more about the specifics.
"^What do you mean by 'your people'?^"
"~Aria told me she was supposed to remove all memories of us having met, but she didn't. Seems I can't run away from my mind getting violated in the end, can I.~"
The phrasing took Marco aback as he paid closer attention to everything going on in Olive's mind. Fear, indignity, outrage, acceptance. All of them just about expected, and he'd have to respond sooner or later. He had no idea just how he should respond, earlier doubts returning in force. This was madness, but he trusted Aria to have a reason for any madness, this included.
But first, he needed to know more.
"^I... I need to know what happened. With Aria, with... everything that you and these other humans were talking about. I didn't come here to wipe your memories, I came here to figure out what my sister had done.^"
His admission was as honest as it got, but it wasn't enough for it to be perceived as such. The thread of suspicion was still there in Olive's thoughts, and it was hardly unearned. Before the human would speak up, Marco felt the Ribombee's desire to speak, linking the entire group together right before words left her mouth—
"Ooohh, you're her brother! Uh—please don't take our memories away! We just want to help Anne. We promise!"
Good gods, did Marco want to believe that as wholeheartedly as the little fairy did. He was too preoccupied by all the mess in his mind to notice the happy, barely held in gasp Olive let out at hearing the Ribombee's voice again.
"^I-I can gather, I-I just... what's going on? Aria lied to us about what had happened, and I'm unsure how to react to all this. I want to help Anne out too.^"
The Gallade's uncertainties were brought to light and scoured under a microscope. Going against someone who was clearly on Anne's side hurt; the worries that he might turn Olive against their village through his actions hurt. The human's fear hurt–that perception of him as an executioner against whom she could only beg for mercy.
He couldn't even claim it to be incorrect, either.
"~I... I suppose I can see it. Alright... what do you want to know, ...?~"
"^Marco. And... everything, really. You mentioned a Gardevoir earlier while talking with that other human, and it sounded like you were referring to Aria but trying to hide it.^"
"~Ah, right. Well... the gist is that Aria was spotted while I guided her through Mylock, on my way here.~"
Marco's eyes went wide, his breathing sped up. That was bad, that was very bad—but if anyone had really seen her then, they would've reacted, right? Humans were afraid of them as the one that just left showed; his sister would've sensed that if it had really happened!
"^How come the person who spotted her didn't react? She—she would've noticed that!^"
"Not a person, a camera! Oh oh and I'm Luxie!"
The Ribombee's clarification explained precious nothing, and Olive could tell. Sighing in relief, she thought about how to explain that to the Gallade as she glanced towards the front door. Still marked as open, had to fix that.
"~Think of a 'camera' as a... mechanical eye. It sees things, and everything it sees can then be seen by others later if they want. Whatever magic your sister had used to remain unseen, it doesn't work on cameras, and she got spotted when passing in front of the grocery store. Not very clearly—it's only for half a second and the image quality is so bad there's a lot of plausible deniability, but she's there all the same. And that... *sigh*, got people panicking.~"
"^Wait—what do you mean it didn't work with that 'camera'?^"
"~Well, you're the one with psychic abilities between us two, you would probably know much more about it than I. Though... if I had to guess, whatever trick Aria employed only works to confuse people, and not mindless, soulless machinery.~"
Marco's shock only grew at Olive's explanation, the contraption she'd just described terrifying in its implications. If it was just some metal with those unthinkable properties and not a person, it meant there was no way for them to detect it, no way to fool it. Destroy it, most likely, but not work around it unnoticed.
"^Is-is that object only—^"
"~Hardly.~"
"They're everywhere! Look look, we even have one in the corner up there!"
Luxie's call redirected Marco's attention to the middle of the opposing wall, up where it met the ceiling. Indeed, he could spot something in there, angular and shiny. Way, way too small to notice normally.
"~This one was a headache for me. I went over the footage when the panic started, and sure enough Aria was there, plainly visible, even when I couldn't see her at all. Goodness, your psychic tricks are scary to think about sometimes. I went and tinkered with the recordings, breaking them so that they couldn't be seen, and blamed it on the camera being damaged. Didn't help with everyone losing their marbles one bit, lemme tell you that much.~"
Before the existential horror of a contraption not even the size of his hand countering psychic-based stealth could hit Marco in full, the implication in Olive's words caught his attention right back.
"^You lied to them about this, then.^"
"~Yes, of course I did! Even with Aria's... e-even with her threat, awful as it was, I still want to keep Anne safe, I almost went behind bars because of what Aria had done!~"
"^W-what?^"
The anger in Olive's voice wasn't unearned either, but what it conveyed was... confusing. With a couple of deeper breaths, Olive closed the front door and rolled the window blinds back down, granting them privacy.
"~You can come out of that corner now. And yes. I got interrogated yesterday. Cops took me in and asked me questions about what had happened with Anne's house. I didn't mention Aria at all, framed it as myself looking for Anne in her disappearance, or any clues about her whereabouts when her father attacked me. Of course, without Aria in the picture, it just looks like I walked into her house with a Fire-type by my side, there was a bang, and then the whole place went up in flames.~"
"Not that it didn't deserve that..."
Leo's low, gravely voice took Olive aback with a quiet chuckle, the relief of tension much appreciated.
"^Wh-what happened then?^"
"~I argued my case. I said I went in to have a look around, and then got attacked by Anne's father. Both are true. I brought up that the building only caught fire a good while afterwards, and since it was a gas fire, if Leo really lit it up, it would've been visible right away. I doubt that'll be the end of it all, sadly, but I know how to argue that all I did was trespassing at worst, and that Tom tried shooting at me, but had his bullet ricochet to hit him back, giving me time to escape. They won't have anything except a bit of circumstantial evidence.~"
Even as Olive went through everything in her mind and that she wasn't too likely to be deemed guilty of setting fire to Anne's house, uncertainty remained.
"~And... if I didn't remember how it all went, if her plan had worked, then... I don't know what might've happened. To me, to you all, once the authorities figured out my memories had been meddled with. I...~"
Soon enough, though, an emotion Marco wasn't expecting joined her uncertainty.
Anger.
"~I helped her all I could, gave her everything that would help Anne even slightly, I'm putting my freedom on the line for her, lying left and right to cover for her, and this is how I'm repaid? By being doubted enough for someone to come over and either wipe me again or threaten me into submission!?~"
"^I—I apologize, I really do, but this is a life-or-death situation for us all! If the rest of the humans learn of us, we'll be doomed!^"
"~But I knew nothing of the rest of you. All I've seen of 'you all' was you, Aria, and that Luxray. I had no idea where you came from, how to track you, or what your motives even are! All I knew—hell, all I know even right now—was that Anne is with you, and that I wanted to help you out because of that reason alone. And for you to claim secrecy as the reason, while I could find your hiding place in two minutes on the map anyway, is—~"
"^WHAT!?^"
Marco's telepathic shout startled everyone else; the Gallade himself was barely keeping himself from intervening in Olive's memories directly there and then.
"^What do you mean!? How did you find us!?^"
The force and barely-veiled fear behind the questions intimidated and shocked Olive in equal measure. She knew she had to answer, but it was something she didn't expect to have to explain. Her previous interactions with Aria and Lumi painted a picture of mons who had stumbled out of the stone age, sure, but at least one of them had to have picked up on humans having flying vehicles, right?
They had to know they were visible from above, right?
Each moment of silence only made the psychic's panic grow, and Olive could tell. In desperation, she made the 'hold on' gesture as she gathered her thoughts.
"~What I mean is that it's possible to tell where your hidden... village is with information humans already have. We take pictures of the land from way above, and you can see a few unmarked buildings in the middle of the woods on those pictures if you know where to look. They're not too suspicious by themselves, but with you three running into us near there, it becomes obvious.~"
The elaboration did little more than amplify the shock in his mind. Was—was everything the scouts were doing for naught? Had humans already won and were now just waiting to deal the finishing blow?
Have their days been counted since long before Anne ran away from her house?
"^I-I... that's...^"
"~You really didn't know, did you?~"
The clarification didn't justify how she'd been treated; but it made it make sense. She figured if these wild mons were unaware of the power of aerial photography, they would fixate on anyone who knew of or saw them personally. A very limited perspective, but an understandable one.
It didn't make Olive forgive everything there and then, but... it helped shift her gears from anger to a desire to help them out further. No matter how Aria and Marco had treated her, as long as they were treating Anne better than humanity ever would—a trivial task—they had her support. After all, even the Gardevoir had stressed how invaluable her knowledge had been for the wildlings, and this was just more of that.
And with everything she'd heard about League's efforts to 'disperse' overly large 'groups' of wild mons in the past, she could only feel bad for them, really.
"~I can show you how it looks like, if you want.~"
"^I... y-yes, please.^"
Marco could barely force the words out, his sheer terror nigh-paralyzing. The very worst-case scenario had already come to pass many, many years ago, and they didn't even know.
"~Come over to the desk. I'll get some tea going in the meantime.~"
The Gallade did as instructed, walking over to the smaller table in the library's corner, housing several pieces of difficult to describe human machinery. Yellowish, rectangular... object, on top of which sat a much larger, much bulkier, much more angular one. It was opaque from all sides but the one facing the chair behind the desk, glowing from just that direction.
"^Wh-what is this, anyway.^"
"Computer! Olive does all sorts of stuff on it, mostly checks books in and out!"
"~Oh that's just a fraction of what computers can do, Luxie. But yes, this one's a pile of junk that only barely works, I use it for the library. Here, let me show you what I saw.~"
Olive pulled another flat, rectangular object over to their impromptu group. The many bumps on its surface turned out to all be buttons one could press—and which she was pressing tons of, without even looking at it. As she did, the glow on the upper contraption changed. It remained mostly white with many smaller symbols for a while, but eventually turned almost entirely green.
"~This is the map. Think of it... think of it as seeing the terrain from a bird's-eye view, looking straight down. This long strip is all Mylock, this black line is the road, and all the greens are the woods. Following so far?~"
The answer, to Marco's annoyance, was 'barely'. Even a concept as simple as 'terrain as seen from straight above' was difficult to grasp, especially with anxiety's bind over his mind as firm as it was. After a few more tries, he just nodded along—they didn't have the time to be doing an in-depth lesson about this.
Olive was unconvinced, but went along anyway.
"~Now, let me zoom in so you can see more detail. This is the entrance to the path between Mylock and Lillywood, the one Anne took before she crashed. And now, let me move the view over along it and a fair bit off to the side, and you might spot it...~"
The spatial transformations involved went so far above the Gallade's head they threatened to crash into an overhead satellite. If nothing else, though, he could still play the game of 'one of these pieces of green is not like the others'.
One of the easier ones he'd ever played; concluded with him reaching to uncertainly point at a scattering of several brown and gray spots, as well as smaller, colorful ones.
"^Is this what you mean?^"
"~Indeed! Let me zoom in, it'll get a bit blurry but hopefully you'll pick up on it—~"
"^That—that's it, I-I see it now. Holly's pantry, our tree, I think I-I can even make out the clinic. I-I—is it really just visible to every human like this?^"
"~That's what I meant earlier, yes.~"
"^D-does anyone else know!?^"
"~Well, I don't know for sure, but from my attempts to search for it, it seems not. I've only found any discussion about it on a single website from several years ago. They didn't know what it was, but guessed it was either some sort of ongoing construction effort, or a black site for training army mons. Nobody mentioned the possibility of it being a village of wild mons, no.~"
"^But that won't remain the case forever...^"
"~Quite likely, yes. Especially now that there's more attention on this area because of what had happened to Anne. All it takes is one popular person looking at the map of these backwoods, pointing this weird spot out, and suddenly you'll have many, many people knocking on your door.~"
The exact thing they all tried to avoid happening with their scouting efforts. Everything Geiger had drilled in them about information spreading through humanity like a wildfire; all of it to prevent this exact scenario from happening. And yet, it could just… happen no matter what they did. Just like in person, all it took was a single human spotting it, and they'd be doomed.
But with these 'maps', they were entirely defenseless. At least, that's how Olive made it sound.
"^Is-is there anything we can do about it? There has to be something we can do to make sure nobody sees it, r-right!?^"
"~I don't know, Marco. I'll try to see if there are any options, but I doubt it. It's all done automatically at this point, there's only minimum human oversight. Besides, erasing just that little spot will draw more attention to it than if it just remains as it is.~"
The revelation of 'cameras' had put a dampener on his spirits, but this... almost broke Marco entirely. How was he to respond to this? If there was nothing Olive could do, if there was nothing they could do but pray that they wouldn't be noticed either... what now!? They were at the mercy of fate, the very thing they had their procedures to avoid—they were doomed!
Humanity had won without even being consciously aware of their existence. They would know eventually, but not yet.
...
Aside from Olive.
As the librarian went to a side room to finish making tea, Marco's mind threatened to tear itself in half. He was afraid; he was fucking terrified, and at that moment, there was a large part of him fueled entirely by that emotion.
All it wanted to do was finish the task that Aria couldn't, to wipe the memories of the only human that could rat them out whenever she so desired. Hell, nothing stopped her from using that knowledge as a bargaining chip, demanding gods-know-what from them in exchange for dooming them—
Nothing but basic decency and having a soul, of course.
Which was what kept him from going forward with this kneejerk of an idea as well. Fear screamed for him to act, to ensure that bit more safety, but that pesky brain kept reminding him how wiping Olive's memories wouldn't just be abhorrent—it'd be unhelpful. If not for her input, they would have remained entirely unaware of the sheer extent of humanity's knowledge of their every move, of being in their sights, of many of their psychic tricks amounting to nothing.
These wouldn't stop being true just because he didn't want to think about them. He could either run away from all this, or face just how enormous the implications were.
The latter, of course, would imply action. What action; he had no idea beyond it being massive in scope and likely to splinter their village. That's what the Elders' guidance ought to have been for, and yet...
The screeches of primal fear and careful consideration fought a savage battle in Gallade's mind, only interrupted by the soft thud of a teacup being placed in front of him. Different aroma from what he remembered, much fruitier—but not at all bad.
"^Th-thank you, Olive.^"
"~Bitte schön, Marco. I suspect nobody else in your... village knows about this either?~"
"^N-no, not to my knowledge. I feel like anyone would've spoken up if they knew, this—this could end us at any point...^"
"~The uncertainty of life, indeed. If nothing else, now you know how little you know. If this was this much of a shock, I can imagine your knowledge of humanity overall, even when combined, is... low.~"
It wasn't meant as an insult. Marco was well-aware, but it still stung a bit.
"^Y-yeah. I can't disagree with that. Even those of us who used to live with humans or be trainer mons only know so much.^"
"~Hah... I'm guessing that Anne breaks several m—people's minds every day just be existing?~"
"^Not quite, she's—she's really not too different from us. That's the biggest thing I realized after watching over her for a while.^"
"~I can say the same after my run-in with Aria and... Lumi, was it?~"
"^Yes, Lumi.^"
"~Being a bitter, short-sighted grump truly transcends species.~"
Marco had to use his entire willpower to not spit half a cup's worth of tea at hearing that said so casually. He couldn't disagree with that in the slightest, but he sure didn't expect Olive to be so... direct about it.
"~How has Anne been doing, by the way?~"
A swerve towards a pleasant topic melted through much of the apprehension gripping Marco's mind. It was hard not to smile after thinking back to the previous day, and its affection between the small bundle of children.
The knowledge of just how fleeing that happiness was, and that it was gone now that Aria had hopefully come clean about the upcoming vote to Anne, undid much of the comfort an instant later.
"^Really well! My niece and nephew—Aria's children—have really taken a liking to her. And now that Ember is with her again, she's been feeling even—^"
"~Ember!?~" / "EMBER!?" / "...Ember?"
The trio native to the town shouted in unison at hearing the Braixen's name, the implications immediately exploding within their minds.
"OH MY GOODNESS IS EMBER ALRIGHT DID ANNE FIND HER HOW DID SHE GET--"
"^Yes, yes, Ember is doing well! She—she ended up in our village a year ago, and has lived there since. A-and once she'd heard that Anne ended up there as well, they became inseparable.^"
As much as the aftermath of Cinder's involvement still stung his skin and pride alike, Marco felt it was best not brought up here.
"YAY YAY EEEEEEEEE I'M SO HAPPY TO HEAR THAT! I WAS AFRAID WE'D NEVER HEAR FROM EMBER AGAIN AND NOW SHE'S SAFE AND SHE'S WITH ANNE AND THINGS ARE GONNA BE ALRIGHT, EEEEEEEEEE!"
"~That's... good heavens, I'm so glad. They deserved to find each other again, oh my goodness...~"
"Good for her and Anne."
The group's overjoyed reactions only made Marco feel even warmer. With so much fear surging through his and Aria's minds alike lately, he really appreciated having pleasant feelings to bask in.
"~Goodness, guess it's time to retire that plushie I gave her, ha.~"
"^P-plushie?^"
"~Oh~. After—after she parted ways with Ember, I wanted to get her something to help with her sadness. I knew I could only do so much to help, but figured that even if a lil' Fennekin doll wouldn't be anywhere close to a replacement, it'd still bring her some comfort. Heh... I still remember roughing and dirtying it up a bit, cutting off the tag and all, before dropping it to the side of the path Anne took back home. She must've taken it with herself as well, didn't see it at her house.~"
The parts of the story Marco understood were sweet as all get out, though there was one detail that didn't sit with him well.
"^Why did you 'drop' it like that?^"
The librarian looked up at him from her drink; her wrinkled face sighing at the unpleasant question.
"~Well... I knew she wouldn't take a direct gift well. Hell, she felt self-conscious even over the cheap tea I gave her every time she visited. I hope that she'll slowly get over that now that she won't live with living pieces of shit...~"
Marco concurred with a nod as he finished sipping on his cup. Of course, there was one detail that hadn't been mentioned yet, one he was deeply unsure how to even bring up. After everything he had seen from her so far, he had a hard time imagining Olive doing anything that might bring Anne harm, but...
What if Anne suddenly left the picture?
What if they ended up voting for exile, got rid of Anne, and Olive caught wind of that? She'd have no reason to play nice with them anymore, and all the motivation to destroy their village. He'd been wrong earlier, the reality of the situation now clear to him.
Olive wouldn't use that information for any personal benefit, no, but as blackmail to force them to keep Anne no matter what the vote settled on? That he could easily imagine.
Speaking of, the sun was setting outside.
It was time to go.
"^Thank you for talking with me, Olive. I-I should be going now.^"
"~Well~ I'm glad I could help, Marco. As-as long as you won't try backstabbing me now.~"
Her words were said in jest, but there was an undercurrent of genuine fear to them, one Marco couldn't dispute. Even now, after all this, fear and consideration in his mind fought on, leaving him woefully unsure what to do. Should he let anyone but Aria know about this? And if so, how much?
Knowledge of just how unprotected their village was; having someone that could guide them through the vastness of the now-known unknown of humanity's technological sophistication; awareness of their ability to see through their disguises.
The revelation of Aria having gone against her orders; of her being a traitor to the village; of this human wielding leverage over them.
Was the former worth the latter in how it would impact Anne's chances once the vote came?
His sister made her choice that day, but he couldn't, its consequences were too vast for him to comprehend. Whichever doubts she had had, she'd overpowered them, and yet he was left thrashing against fear, both his own and of how other scouts might react.
At a rational level, he knew that none of the newfound knowledge about humanity should convince anyone to vote against the girl, but... he could still hear that dark, fearful voice inside him. The terrified one, the one that would ideally forget everything it had learned today, the one that didn't want to permit any risk, no matter how large an accompanying reward.
He couldn't dismiss that voice either, especially in how it pertained to the librarian herself.
What if others would react with mindless fear? What if they were left wanting nothing more than to get rid of anything human around, toss out Anne, wipe Olive's mind, just to not have to think about just how deep of a shit they were in?
Hell, he wasn't even sure if he'd truly conquered that fear in himself. It was there; it tugged on his worst impulses; it begged for him to stand up now and do what was needed—
"~M-M-Marco?~"
...
Ultimately, however, Marco knew there was only one right course of action here.
And all he could do was hope he would be forgiven for taking it.
If you want to discuss the story, I've set up a Discord server for it! (and my other writings)
Also check out my other main fic, Another Way!
Also check out my other main fic, Another Way!
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