Chapter 8: Secret

The gunshot suddenly ringing out from inside the the rundown building had the few nearby passersby glance over in confusion, but considering the family that lived there and what had recently happened to them, most of them dismissed it soon after as the father of the household having yet another aggressive episode and using it for intimidation- far from the first time this had happened after all. Especially since Mrs. Graham had left the building looking aghast not long afterwards, obviously not having been shot herself.

The ambulance getting called helped Leo and Luxie cool back down following the display of violent force they'd just witnessed, the Ribombee in particular unsure about whether such a harm was right to inflict on anyone else. The more she thought about what she'd seen of Anne though, the bruises and scars the girl tried her hardest to hide day in and out, the less empathy she had left for the girl's father, eventually hiding back inside Leo's mane at just feeling cold about the whole mess.

Lumi and Aria alike were mostly just surprised that the Gardevoir was even capable of something like that, the bloodthirst so unlike her- though the Luxray in particular wasn't gonna object to an awful human getting put in their place, no matter how cruel or unexpected the delivery of their justice.

"Where are you leading us to now? Is this not everything the girl had?"

The translated barks made the old woman flinch as she was slightly startled out of her own trance at what she'd just witnessed, trying to push it aside with a light shake of her head before answering the question-

"~It is, yes- but I want to add something from myself too. If she's gonna live away from other humans, she'll need... a few things sooner or later, and some books she particularly liked wouldn't hurt either.~"

"Things? Such as?"

"~Personal hygiene. Knowing what's gonna be happening to her body in the next couple years and afterwards.~"

The latter mention got the leonine hound particularly confused, his vocalizations catching the attention of a couple bystanders as they headed further into the town, the buildings surrounding the central round growing denser and taller-

"I thought humans didn't evolve."

"~No, no we don't, this is something else.~"

That aside explained precious nothing, the little spare brainpower Aria had that wasn't devoted to keeping herself hidden growing a bit concerned at hearing that- hopefully whatever that mysterious process is, she'd be able to help the poor girl out through it, assuming Anne would be allowed to stay in the village that long. Alternatively, having Olive relatively on hand in a nearby town like this to help answer any further questions would help greatly as well, but... that wasn't gonna be an option, unfortunately.

Aria found herself putting in more and more effort with every step, the growing number of onlookers straining her psychics as she kept her visual appearance hidden from all of them at the same time, her breathing growing loud enough to where a couple passersby glanced over their shoulder as they walked past in confusion, before shrugging it off right afterwards. Lumi wasn't a fan of the increased human presence either, keeping himself close to the more acclimatized half of the group as they walked on the stone road, the metal monstrosities whizzing past them every once in a while, startling him less and less every time.

The town center was at least slightly less drab, though much of the color it had was in form of visibly flaking paint or weathered storefront decorations, some of the promotional posters eroded down to just cyan and white as they proudly advertised a music festival from seven years ago. The Luxray had no idea what any of it meant- only that it all looked either tacky, or just... wrong. Though, there was one thing that was somewhat recognizable to him that he did notice all over the place, keeping his voice down as he asked-

"Is that the girl's face on those white things flying everywhere?"

Olive sighed and nodded deeply- the missing person posters were sloppily slapped all over the place only the previous day, and many of them were already illegible thanks to the snow or vandalism, the few that remained intact had an out of date school photo, Anne's thousand yard stare visible even then.

MISSING

ANNE JACOBS

Missing from: Mylock, Lillywood County, ML Date Missing: January 29 Age: 10 years old Height: 4'6" Weight: 65 lbs Hair: Shoulder length, Brown Eyes: Brown

Anne was last seen wearing a green jacket, a pair of blue jeans, and a gray cap.

CAN YOU HELP? Please call the Lillywood County Sheriff at 555-252-1221

Callers may remain anonymous

"~Missing person posters. In theory they're there so that people can look at them and be on the lookout for those who've gone missing, in practice… an excuse to not do any real searching for those with the resources to do so, really.~"

Olive's grumble made it clear she didn't hold them in high regard, them and especially the people that put them up, Lumi simply nodding as they ventured further into the small town, staying on the lookout for any humans that were getting too suspicious or looked at them weird.

"How long until we'll get there? This place gives me the creeps."

"~Hah. It's ugly, yes, but most have a better idea than to bother strangers like that.~"

"It's a bit of a shame sometimes. Makes Mylock feel really... lifeless at times."

The old woman couldn't help but to agree with Luxie's comment, sighing deeply as they turned the corner, the side road much more narrow and with less of the sidewalk actually usable, much of it occupied by parked cars. Outside of the miserly church that she couldn't even force herself to attend anymore, there wasn't really any social space left in the village anymore, the small park long since swallowed by the neighbouring woods, and the nearby plaza by a newly cropped up supermarket, looking like it was struggling to stay afloat just a couple months in.

"~That's because it is. And we're almost there, the library's just up ahead.~"

As much as Olive meant these words, they weren't quite wholly true- sure, the town wasn't doing well, but there were some signs of life left in it, one of them right ahead of the group no less, busily trying to open the library's front door. A few attempts to futilely budge it later, his mom finally spoke up in a tired, exasperated tone, shaking her head as she finished making it across the street.

"~Liam, it's closed, don't you see?~"

"~But it's Thursday! It should be open!~"

"~But it's just not, Mrs. Graham isn't in, let's head back home-~"

"~I'm here, I'm here-~"

The elderly voice picked up the attention of both the tyke and his mom, the former immediately scrambling over in the direction of their group, jacket-clad arms waving excitedly in the air with every step-

"~Hello Mrs. Graham! Hello Leo, hello Luxie!~"

The Arcanine sped up as Liam approached, the hound and the boy at the same approximate eye level, letting the latter hug the former with ease, the pleasantly soft and warm mane returning sensation to the tyke's nose as both his cheeks were nuzzled, Luxie eagerly taking the other one much to the child's happy giggles.

"~Good afternoon Liam! I apologize, I was busy earlier, but I can stop by for a moment and let you grab something.~"

"~Thank you!~"

Without wasting another instant, the little tyke turned back around and got to running back to the library's entrance, Leo taking off into a slow jog next to the child, starting an impromptu race that he then tried his best not to win... at least not too hard.

With fewer minds around, it became easier for Aria to relax enough to be able to do more than just hide, the boy's excitement growing more than a bit contagious at being near him, the Gardevoir mom admitting quietly-

"^Aww, he feels like one of my own kids...^"

"~He's sweet, isn't he? Guess expecting a sibling in not too long really gets one excited to be able to read to them, hah.~"

Olive kept her voice down enough to not be noticed by the boy's mom as the rest of the group got closer, Leo predictably winning the race against a four year old, though the consolation prize of more puppy hugs and kisses made the bitter defeat more than palatable for Liam. As everyone else approached the front door, the spray painted mural on the front of the building came more and more into view, a bit tarnished due to time, and hardly of highest quality even when it was made, but it was nonetheless an improvement over the bare glass and gray facade. Plus- the picture of a Dragonite casually enjoying a book while surrounded by piles upon piles of other books was just cute.

"~M-Mrs. Graham, there's really no need-~"

"~Oh it's no problem Julie, I need to grab something from there myself anyway.~"

With the librarian having made her way over to the door, the excited tyke stepped away to give her space, giddy to rush right in before spotting someone he hasn't seen before, the Luxray's expression not particularly friendly on its own, though Liam wasn't about to let that stop him.

"~Who's that?~"

The sight of a ferocious and proud Luxray backing off a couple steps at the child suddenly deciding to run up to him was an amusing one for the two town mons, though the boy's mother wasn't quite as giddy, the mon's fearsome appearance and lack of any collar she could see a bit unnerving.

"~Liam, give the Luxray some space, they're not used to you.~"

"~Mhm! His name is Lumi and... I'm looking over him while his owners are on vacation. He doesn't really like being touched, so listen to what your mom said Liam.~"

"~Awwwh, okay...~"

Even if more hugs were off the table, the boy wasn't gonna waste the chance to at least greet the hound, waving excitedly at them much to Lumi's confusion-

"W-what is he doing...?"

The growls made Julie gulp, the worried mom walking over to take her son's hand and drag him a bit further away, leading him into the library proper as Olive unlocked the front door, Luxie giggling at the scene all the while in her twinkly voice-

"He just wants to say hi!"

Lumi might've been a bit taken aback at the situation and not exactly feeling like greeting particularly many humans during their excursion, preferring to keep that number at zero, but even he couldn't deny that of all the possible answers, this was probably one of the nicest.

The mons made their way in shortly after the humans, the two wildlings hesitating before following them in as well, Aria immediately scurrying to some more hidden spot inside the building to catch her breath as Lumi took in the view, probably the most confusing one in this whole bizarre human town yet. Almost every wall was filled with an assortment of colorful rectangles, only a few shelves not filled in all the way through, letting the Luxray actually see how it was all laid out. The rectangles he could see turned out to just be the narrow sides of larger slabs that filled up all the shelves, both those up against the wall as well as a few freestanding ones strewn around in the middle of the library, the end result overwhelming at a glance despite the room itself being no larger than a usual classroom.

What space wasn't being taken up by shelves of colorful blocks was instead filled with a couple tables, one in the corner, and a few chairs, the dark green and blue paint mostly flaked off by now, one of them getting immediately taken by the boy's mother. The only other element of note was an unpainted counter that Olive immediately walked behind of, the clicky noises that followed making the big black metallic box on top of the counter spin back to life, ancient fan begging for mercy as it whined and rattled, the massive off-white weirdly shaped object that stood on top of the box seeming to shine light but only in Olive's direction.

"~I want to return these!~"

Liam's cheerful call was followed to him running up to his mom and reaching into the bag next to her chair, a handful of smaller books with more pictures per page than the words on them had syllables getting taken out and deposited onto the counter top moments later, the boy's arms barely reaching.

"~Sure thing Liam- I'll take care of them, you go and look for more in the meantime.~"

"~Okay!~"

That BITCH was gonna PAY.

Tom's intermittent grunts and whines of pain were one of a whole host of noises that rang through the decrepit kitchen, though as opposed to the hum of overhead lights, the hissing of pipes, and the drops of leaking water, the man in question could actually hear them, without the deafening sound of his blood moving through his veins and his racing heart to obscure them. As much as the pain of having half his limbs crushed filled him though, it was still eclipsed by the fury burning in him at what had happened, a bestial snarl of anger getting cut off by another pained gasp.

He'd have her head on a stick and her fucking dog turned into a pelt- and that demon, ooohhh he was gonna burn down the entire bloody forest if it meant getting his hands on that thing. It was going to pay, and after their men would catch it, he'd have a field day with a hammer going over its every limb and joint- AGHHH!

As the sound of approaching sirens began to pierce the veil of agony he was under, an evil, vengeful glee began dripping into Tom's train of thought, providing enough of a fleeting relief for him to sate his urges as he waited for the help to arrive. He would make that bitch regret everything, especially being weak enough to call in help for him, the thrilling thoughts of torture racing through his mind as whatever he had left of his working hand reached into the pocket on his vest and pulled out a cigarette, followed by a lighter, grim murmurs only stopping after the latter was in his mouth.

She would pay, that fucking thing would pay, they were ALL GOING TO PAY-

click

Aria took her time getting her bearings as she took her disguise off, the nook between the bookshelves she hid in hopefully providing enough of a hiding spot, at least for a moment. Olive's explanation of why they were here made sense enough, though she didn't envision it being so, so intensely draining to go just make her way through the human settlement- if she was ever going to repeat this, she was going to need some better way of hiding, a more sustainable one-

"~gasp!~"

The Gardevoir's eyes flew open as the sound, the sight of a young human boy in a funny looking outfit looking up at her freezing them both- and most of the rest of the library while at it, only the boy's mother ending up more confused as opposed to shocked at hearing the telltale sound. In the couple moments of tense silence that followed, Aria began bringing her finger to her lips to try and shush the boy- before she could even get halfway there though, Liam erupted with questions and excitement, running away-

"~Mom mom mom there's a big mon and white and green in there, mom!~"

Much to the group's relief, Julie's reaction to these words was an exasperated, tired sigh as she forced her eyes open to watch her son run back over towards her, trying desperately to catch her attention while waving all the while.

"~Mom!~"

"~Liam, what are you talking about...~"

"~Mom there was a big mon there!~"

Realizing there was likely gonna be no way to get out of having to be dragged along, the woman slowly stood up and began following his son, Olive hoping that Aria had this in control despite letting herself be seen like that in the first place.

"~Where did they go?~"

"~I truly wonder.~"

Liam wasn't familiar enough with sarcasm to detect it in his mom's dead tired voice, looking all around that part of the library as Aria slowly inched away, making no sound at all as she hovered over to Olive's side, the old woman jumping a bit at feeling a hand on her shoulder all of a sudden.

"^Sorry for that, I was catching my breath and let my guard down.^"

Olive shook the concern off with a light nod- the boy's mother didn't see any of it, there was no reason to panic, her whispered words hoping to calm the psychic down.

"~Don't worry, she just thinks he made it up.~"

"^I know, I know, thank goodness.^"

"~But it was right there!~"

"~Big and white and green pokemon, right in that corner?~" - Julie's voice sounded even more done than before, the woman passing by the counter on her way back to her seat letting Aria see, and sense, something extremely off about her, beyond just the unusually large belly size, the Gardevoir freezing at the realization as the mom conversed with her son-

"~Yeah! I told you!~"

"~Sweetie, a Snorlax wouldn't even fit there.~"

"~Not a Snorlax, they're not green!~"

"~They kinda are.~"

"~No! And it wasn't fat, it was just big like you!~"

The librarian and her companions had to keep their amusement to themselves at listening to the exchange, Olive managing on that front much better than Luxie, the bee's twinkly, squeaky laughter making her human break the facade of calmness as she finished checking in the books. Julie didn't mind one bit, mostly glad at least someone was enjoying the silly stuff her son was saying, but Liam was determined, running over to the librarian with questions on his mouth-

"~Mrs. Graham, are there any big and white and green mons out there?~"

Aside from the one standing almost shoulder to shoulder with her?

The thought made Olive chuckle softly as she smiled down at the boy, grabbing the thin books and heading over into the library to return them to their proper spots.

"~I don't know Liam, I really don't know pokemon all too well.~"

It was a convenient enough lie if nothing else- and while his mom saw through it on account of the elderly librarian being her own biology teacher back in the day, Liam wasn't privy to any such knowledge, the boy deflating a bit as he thought on what to do next, the mystery still burning bright in his head, frustrating him. If not for the answer to that particular riddle being likely to give their little covert action away, Aria would've been unable to resist giving him a hand, all too familiar with Bell getting stumped on questions like that.

Unfortunately for their secrecy, the little one eventually reminded himself of one way that he could figure out what mon it was- the very hard and slow way, changing his trajectory over towards the larger shelf filled with several large tomes, each as thick as his fist and bound in fake leather.

"~Mrs. Graham, can I go through the dexes?~"

"~Sweetie, we don't have time...~"

"~But mooooom!~"

"~How about I let you borrow one and then you can go through it at home Liam?~"

The suggestion perked Julie's head up- not because of the prospect of listening to her son's excitement every time he flipped a page on something that vaguely looked tall and white, but more so at the librarian even letting anyone take the large, expensive looking tomes out... though at the same time, there were the digital versions now, even as applications on smartphones, the big books were nowhere near as valuable anymore. Still, it made her feel a bit bad to have the librarian cave like that to her son's silly demands, the mom speaking up apologetically-

"~You really don't have to Mrs. Graham-~"

"~Don't worry sweetie, it's not an issue. So, how's that sound Liam?~"

"~Yes please!~"

"~Alright- I'll get it checked out for you while you look for other books to take home, okay?~"

"~Mhm!~"

Julie just shook her head with a sigh as she leaned back on the chair, the big tummy not exactly leaving her with many comfortable spots, and this one was the least bad she supposed. Leo's nearby presence helped a lot too, the Arcanine's warmth taking some strain off as she closed her eyes and reached both hands into his mane, the hound's cheek very carefully nuzzling the baby bump. The sight brought Lumi's attention over to that oddly oversized body part, no other human he's seen sharing that trait.

Wonder what was up with-

...

Oh heavens.

"Aria, are you seeing this?"

The Luxray's harsh noises made the drowsy woman perk up, eying up the Electric type with more than a bit of uncertainty, maybe even a little fear, Lumi laying down to look less intimidating as he heard Aria's voice respond in his mind-

"^Yes, yes I am. O-Olive, what is- what is going on with her?^"

"~Hm?~"

As the librarian went through what books to grab for the girl she was actually here for, a brief glance around the nearest shelf let her determine that nothing about the expectant mother has changed since the last time she'd seen her approximately thirty seconds ago, the old woman whispering her response, hoping Aria would still hear it-

"~I've no idea what you're referring to.~"

"^Her... stomach.^"

Olive blinked in the direction she heard Aria's voice come from a few times before the question finally clicked in full, the librarian flicking her head back as she realized what was the source of the confusion, an amused smile filling her face as she whispered on, slowly building a pile of books on the counter all the while-

"~Forgot that all mons lay eggs for a moment, hah. Well- humans don't, instead we... how do I put it, you could say that instead of inside an egg, the baby grows inside us. And then later instead of the baby hatching out of the egg, we... kinda lay the baby, already formed and breathing.~"

Both Lumi and Aria were dumbfounded at the revelation, though to very different extents. As weird as an idea of offspring growing inside one's body was, it was the part at the end that shocked him the most- that baby was massive, how in the world was that human going to "lay" it like that, there's no way it would fit! Though... on the second thought, it's not like their normal, proper eggs weren't similarly sized either, and they got laid all the time, which... how in the world does that work either, what-

The sound of amused laughter at his expense filling his mind was enough to chill Lumi's racing train of thought at that revelation, Aria internally snickering at the fact that a father to a lil' cub had no idea how that whole process worked beyond the immediately pleasurable part. That's not to say she wasn't confused at Olive's words either, but at least the whole idea made enough of a sense that the Gardevoir could at least visualize it, even if it sounded very unpleasant, much more so than what she had to go through with Bell and Cadence.

"^I see... that sounds so, so unpleasant compared to just laying an egg though.^"

"~Oh I've no doubt it is- thirty nine weeks as opposed to... what, three?~"

"^More or less, yeah.^"

"~Hah, I would've gladly taken the egg option after my oldest, believe me. Alas, we have to go through that whole process the hard way.~"

And a hard way it clearly was, the wear and exhaustion on Julie's body clear to sense for the Gardevoir- there was only so much she could do to help without inadvertently getting herself spotted again, but a touch of relaxing warmth applied to her joints and muscles while she rested wouldn't hurt. As much as the expecting mom's body appreciated the gesture though, her mind was taken aback by it, making her look around the library in confusion, only seeing the Luxray where he was previously, Leo still snuggling her, and both Mrs. Graham and her son assembling a pile of books on the counter each, the latter constantly accompanied by occasionally squeaking Luxie.

"~Something wrong Julie?~"

"~No, no, Mrs. Graham, just...~"

"~Tired?~"

"~That too, yeah, heh...~"

Julie's quiet chuckle helped her get through most of the weird surprise as she tried stretching a bit, her past teacher's caring nature appreciated even now, long after her graduation.

"~Managing to get some sleep in?~"

"~Barely, though today was especially hard with all the news of Anne.~"

Olive acknowledged the words with a quiet sigh, the topic made Aria keep particularly close attention on the conversation being had, just in case- though fortunately, there ended up being nothing to be suspicious about.

"~Terrible situation, isn't it.~"

"~It is, poor girl. Hope she ends up somewhere safe.~"

As much as everyone gathered agreed with that sentiment, some of them were contributing to that more directly than Julie could've ever known. The worry she felt for Anne felt reassuring for Aria, a gentle and well needed reminder that not all humans are bad or malicious, even if they're weird and something to hide from- worry made that much more real by the virtue of her having known Anne at some level.

"~I'm sure she will.~" - Olive's words were confident, though not as much as to come off as suspicious, the mom appreciating some feel good reassurance even if she didn't believe it deep down herself.

"~I don't know. Did you hear about what the police said?~"

"~Hmm?~"

"~Yesterday I heard that she was spotted in Lillywood, but apparently that wasn't true, nobody has any idea where she is. She took that path through the forest, has to be in Lillywood or nearby, but if there wasn't anyone who spotted her there... I-I don't know. I-it's all just nightmarish, I-I can't w-wait to get out of here.~"

Julie's voice grew noticeably wobblier near the end, Olive pausing her book hunt to walk over towards her former student and try to reassure her with a pat on the shoulder, the expectant mother wiping off tears before they could finish forming.

"~How's Ethan's job hunt going?~"

"~It's going well, thank the gods. Has a couple interviews in Mistralton scheduled up this week, house is mostly packed up and ready to move whenever. That whole mess kinda gave us a kick in the butt to get that done before the due date. Once we get a go ahead I'll have to start looking around for any school vacancies there, hopefully there are still some spots somewhere.~"

"~I'll miss you all, hah, not many bright spots left in this town.~"

The mom nodded somberly, wishing she could disagree with that assessment, but, even after teaching here for a couple years, it was very hard for her to do so.

"~Y-yeah. It's just an hour by car away, wonder if Liam will be up and asking us to take him to visit you all again, hah.~"

"~I'll try to keep the library well stocked for him just in case.~"

The mention of the boy got him to peek behind the corner towards his mom and the friendly old lady, his glance interrupted by the Ribombee diving in to strike his exposed neck with some more tickles, chirped out giggles lighting up the atmosphere some more.

"~How's the book search going Liam?~"

"~It's going good Mrs. Graham! Just one more! Can I take out one more mom?~"

"~Yes, yes sweetie, go ahead- remember that you're the one carrying them.~"

"~Mhm!~"

As the adult women in the room chuckled, the distant sound that was creeping closer and closer by the moment caught their attention, though not all of them knew exactly what it meant. It sure got all three of them looking through the front windows as it grew even louder though, Aria wincing at the sudden intensity before being taken aback by something very large and very red moving past their building, the handful of people in yellow outfits all over it not making the sight any clearer.

"~Oh shoot, hope it's nothing here.~"

"~Oh no, did I miss it?~" - Liam's question sounded disappointed as he dropped off the final book, the boy visibly deflating with a quiet awwwh, sighing to himself.

"~Yeah, it was a fire truck sweetie. I thought your preschool took you to see them from up close recently?~"

"~We did, yeah! It was so so cool and the Blastoise wore a big cool yellow glowy suit! I wanna see more!~"

"~Hopefully we won't have to see it from up close...~"

As the mom and son chatted on, Olive took the opportunity to check all the books out and pack them into a couple small bags, each rather heavy for Liam's size, but she had no doubt the boy's excitement would let him carry it all.

"~Alright, all checked out!~"

"~Thank you Mrs. Graham!~"

The two bags were taken and moved closer to the front door to the library, followed by the boy scrambling back over to the librarian and hugging as much of her as he could, and then by him doing the same to Leo and Luxie, the latter with as much care as he could manage, and then, mistakenly, to Lumi too.

"~Hehe, tickles!~"

The Luxray was as startled as the boy's mom, both of them too taken aback to react in any way, though for vastly different reasons- thankfully, Liam's hug was short lived, his hair all frizzled out as he stepped away from the mostly black canine, his mom whimpering afterwards-

"~L-Liam, Mrs. Graham told you he doesn't like being touched...~"

"~Oh! Sorry!~"

While the apology might not have been understood by its intended recipient, Aria passed it on, herself trying not to giggle at the sight of her coworker so startled by a literal harmless child.

"~let's get going sweetie.~"

"~Mhm! Bye bye Mrs. Graham, bye bye Leo, bye bye Luxie, bye bye Lumi! Oh, Mrs. Graham, if you see any big white and green mons can you tell me when we come next?~"

"~Teehee, yes, yes I will sweetie, pinky promise.~"

The boy was thankfully convinced, following his mom out with bags in hand, looking so excited he was almost running circles around her as they walked out of sight, Olive chuckling softly to herself before turning over towards Aria, the Gardevoir taking a breather after dropping her disguise-

"~Found them.~"

Luxie broke into chirp-like laughter at the remark, the amusement quickly spreading through the rest of the group as some of the tension was released, the librarian getting to checking out Anne's fill of the books, their covers much less eyecatching than those on Liam's pile.

"How did he even see you Aria?" - Lumi's pointed question had the Gardevoir sigh and roll her eyes, answering tiredly-

"^I had to catch my breath without the disguise. Believe it or not, keeping oneself hidden is much harder than just looking grumpy at everyone that passes near.^"

"~And besides, nothing came of it now, did it.~"

"But what if it did?"

"~I really, really doubt anything would, even if Julie caught a glimpse of Aria too. She'd maybe freak out a bit, but eventually she'd probably just think she were seeing things because she was exhausted and that would be it.~

"Do humans lie like that to themselves all the time?"

"~From what I know, confirmation bias is hardly a trait that's exclusive to humans- as demonstrated very well by you, Lumi.~"

Luxie and Leo giggled at the Luxray's expense, the latter grumbling to the backdrop of repetitive beeps as each book was checked out and put into a decently hefty bag, the sight catching Aria's attention, figuring this was a good of a time to ask about what these things even were to begin with-

"^These books. What are they?^"

The phrasing gave Olive a pause, the librarian eventually deciding to just go through the titles one by one as she went through the bag-

"~This one's about puberty and how it impacts one's body, this one's a fantasy novel she liked a lot for a good while, this one's about confronting trauma-~"

"^No, I mean... what are they as items? How does she get these abstract concepts from them?^"

Without skipping a beat, Olive laid down the book she was holding down on the counter, opening it to a random page, Aria's eyes going that bit wider at the block just splitting in half like that, and even more so at the ocean of tiny, black symbols filling the off-white interior, their sheer number making her eyes glaze over.

"~Simply put, they're stacks of pages with words written on them. You read the words in order to get what the author was saying.~"

As weird as it was to explain books on such an abstract level to any person she could talk with, it was not wholly unexpected here- as much as the adjective "illiterate" and the graceful, almost ethereal appearance of Anne's guardian spirit were contrasted in tone, it's not like it was an inaccurate description.

"^And all these... symbols are the human writing?^"

"~Unovan more specifically, but yes.~"

"^And if I don't know that writing, then I'm not getting anything out of these books?^"

"~I'm sure Anne would be glad to teach you.~"

Aria was caught off guard by that assertion, blinking as she watched the librarian finish packing the books up into a more sturdy bag, Olive gesturing at Leo afterwards to help carry it.

"^Are you sure? I don't know if I could even learn it-^"

"~I'm much older than you and I'm learning a new language right now, I think you'll manage well enough.~"

"^I mean- I'm not human-^"

"~And?~"

The blunt question gave the psychic a pause, Aria left uncertain how to properly word her worry before Olive beat her to the punch while putting her jacket on-

"~It's just a language and a bunch of symbols. There's nothing inherently human to it, we have to learn it too when we're very little. You'll manage honey.~"

As much as Aria's thoughts about Anne's situation had her worrying how would she get acclimatized to the village properly and learn everything about it, she didn't consider the possibility of some of the knowledge exchange happening the other way around, which, the more she thought about it, the more potentially useful it sounded.

"^And these books, the other ones in here, what... 'words' do they have in them?^"

"~Hundreds of stories, large and small in scope, a bunch of religious texts, and a hoard of knowledge about our world, both the natural and manmade parts, and its history. How do we breathe and eat, what are the migratory patterns of birds in southern Galar, what's the chemical composition of the Moon, who were the peoples that lived here before the Unovan expansion massacred them, how are these very books made- if you're curious about something, anything, it's likely that someone has already written down their knowledge about it.~"

"^And all you need to get that information is to just know how to read the human writing?^"

"~Pretty much, yes. Hope that was a good pitch for getting you into reading, hah. Alright, ready to get a move on again?~"

Aria nodded as she chewed on that knowledge- she might have overheard Lumi's thought process shrugging it all aside as just silly human nonsense that wasn't ever going to matter for them, but she knew better from the rumors and stories she'd heard from those that used to live alongside humans before ending up at their village. Even something as basic as knowing how to write down their own knowledge and having a better ability to pass it down over generations would help a lot, and that didn't come close to half the wonders human inventions were supposedly capable of.

"~Aria?~"

"^A-ah yes, yes, let's move on.^"

As much as she disagreed with his dismissive stance on the subject as a whole though, she couldn't help to admit the fact that some of his objections held water- such as the question of how much would Olive be able to help them with in the end. The question and its implications refused to wash from her mind as she chewed through them, the librarian leading the pack once more after they left the library building, quietly following her.

As they turned the corner back onto the main road of the village, an odd sensation struck Aria- the humans' attention wasn't anywhere near as hard to redirect anymore, almost all their focus squarely honed in on something behind the group-

...

"^O-Olive...^"

The call made the old woman look over her shoulder, followed by the rest of the pack, the sight down the road as eyecatching as it was alarming. A pillar of black, thick smoke rose up from the burning house up to the clouds, the firefighters' attempt to quench it proving ineffective, even as the second fire truck arrived from the other direction, the second stream of water finally seeming to be making an actual dent in the blaze-

BOOM!

The larger fireball that suddenly engulfed the building made Olive gasp in fear of the fire crew, the team of an already present ambulance jumping into action shortly afterwards as the cloud of smoke rose further into the sky- revealing the building to have been completely levelled by the blast, the remaining charred ruin getting extinguished soon after.

"~Mein Gott...~"

"I-is that- is that Anne's house?"

The librarian nodded slowly in response to Luxie's question, the bee huddling up closer to her afterwards, nobody sure how to exactly process the sight in front of them. Or rather, almost nobody, Lumi just smirking to himself at the followup to Aria's justice from earlier.

"Well, that's that for that rotten place."

"^Now she really has nowhere to go back to...^"

As true as the sentiment already was prior to now, having the whole building disintegrate in front of them so suddenly only drove another nail into the coffin of Anne ever coming back to this place, a coffin that at this point was about ready to break the floor underneath it from the sheer weight of all the nails that had been hammered into it. The sight was deeply sobering, though more so for Aria than Lumi, the hound's steadfast opposition to any prolonged human presence in their village growing just that bit weaker.

"~I don't think we'll be doing ourselves any favors by staring into it. What's done is done, I just hope not too many were hurt.~"

"B-but- what if we caused it?"

"~Nothing was burning when we left Luxie.~"

"What if we just did-didn't see it-"

"~I-I don't know. I...~"

There was a conflict in Olive's voice, sound getting caught in her throat at the possibility of being indirectly responsible for all that, the worry getting compartmentalized away in her head shortly afterwards with a sigh.

"~I doubt we did it. Even if we indirectly caused it somehow, Tom only has himself to blame for this. Let's move on.~"

Luxie wasn't wholly, utterly convinced, but she supposed the justification made sense, the bee shaking with a nod as the group resumed their march again, if more slowly this time. Aside from the two most worried women, the rest of the band were nowhere near as worried about the moral implications of their actions, be it from not having any direct impact on what had happened, or by having an ironclad moral justification- still, hopefully nobody got seriously hurt in that big blast.

The silence hung rather heavy over the group as Olive led them into one of the several multi story buildings, the inside weirdly barren, especially when compared to the library. The floors were mostly undecorated stone, walls full of different looking if similarly plain wooden doors, with only the plainest of white paints covering up the rest of the surface, as well as the railings to the sides of a serpentine staircase winding upwards in the building's center.

"What is this place?"

"~Oh? My apartment building, I live here.~"

"You mean in this entire building?"

"~No, no, obviously not- I mean in one of the apartments here.~"

The word wasn't one Lumi consciously recognized, simply getting a lookout as the group ascended up a couple flights of stairs, eventually stopping in front of one of the less barren doors, the mat that laid in front of it providing some much needed color, even if much of it has been long since worn out and muddied.

"~Here we go, make yourselves at home.~"

Even if the apartment wasn't anywhere near as massive as this whole building, it was still larger than Aria's burrow, and decorated much more densely while at that. The individual chambers were all perfectly rectangular, most of them painted in bright, if somewhat muted colors, the extent of the furniture eyecatching in particular. All the little shelves and drawers added up into an overwhelming, colorful mess, with even all the items of clothing and other trinkets they could see in plain sight making the apartment so much more cluttered than any of their dwellings.

"~Tea?~"

Aria wasn't a stranger to the drink, and even if in any other circumstance she would've loved to be able to sit down and get a sip or two... it wasn't gonna be possible here.

"^We'll pass, thank you.^"

"~Suit yourselves. Come and take a seat in the living room while I grab everything.~"

The Gardevoir took her time as she walked further in, taking in every single detail of this home she found herself in, the Luxray just glad to see something soft looking he could lay down on as he mumbled in a mix of genuine confusion and scoffing-

"This place is still massive..."

"~For just poor old us? Yeah, not disagreeing, though back when this was a family of six even all this space felt cramped much of the time.~"

On cue with Olive's words, Aria caught a glance of the large family portrait next to the entrance to the living room, looking similarly magical to the smaller photo she had found in Anne's plushie, but much larger and depicting a much more populated scene. A younger Olive, another adult human, and three human children to the best of Aria's ability to make out, together with a rather lightly colored Eevee, all bundled underneath a large blanket, mostly just heads peeking out, watching something out of frame.

"^Was this how your family used to look like?^"

The librarian peeked out of the kitchen to nod firmly at the sight Aria was referencing, bringing over her own cup of tea to the living room table shortly after, not resting for a moment before immediately beelining for the bathroom, continuing to talk in the meantime-

"~Yep! This was... twenty five years ago I think. Husband's gone, boys have all moved out, and now it's just us three, a more makeshift bunch.~"

"^What about that Eevee?^"

"~Oh, Lovelace- she and my oldest were inseparable, she evolved into an Umbreon and they headed off together, live in Hoenn now and both have started families. Speaking of-~"

Olive chuckled to herself as she packed a couple lighter colored packs of something into the same bag that had the books, before grabbing another book that laid open on top of the living room table, its front cover two colorful rectangles.

"~Been trying to pick up some Hoennian so that I can go and visit them someday without making a circus of myself, hah. It's slow going, but if I can learn a third language at seventy then so can you at... however old you are, really. Let's see, how did the greeting go... a-ri-ga-to... let's check the glossary... saa-na-i-to.~"

Seeing a human have difficulties grasping one of what was quickly turning out to be many, many human languages out there was quite reassuring for Aria- yeah, she could definitely do it if she tried hard enough and gave it enough time, though it'd remain to be seen how necessary that would turn out to be.

"Now I wonder how the mons ended up being included as a part of this family." - Lumi managed to keep his tone juuust down enough to not come off as accusatory, though the intent was rather clear by now, Aria lightly facepalming as Olive answered, continuing to fill the bag with everything Anne could possibly need out there, including a couple of her own clothes-

"~Lovelace was adopted, way way back, though most of the details are blurry by now. Leo... my youngest worked as a firefighter for a while before changing careers, got wind of some... sigh... some Growlithe runts looking for a place to stay since they would be unfit for working with the cops, and one day showed up on my doorstep with a puppy in his arms. By then I was living alone and having nobody else around was really starting to wear me down, but I was too hesitant to adopt again because of my age... so he did it for me, and I've been grateful ever since.~"

The fiery hound responded with a big yawn from his resting spot beside the main armchair before picking himself up and eagerly nuzzling his human some more, the loving pets bringing a smile to everyone's faces. Before Olive could continue, Luxie spoke up first, cutting her off-

"Oh oh oh, can I tell this one?"

"~Teehee, of course Luxie- who's better to tell it than someone who it's all about?~"

"Okay okay! I was much much younger, just a Cutiefly far far far from where I hatched, and it was so cold and I couldn't find many flowers anywhere anymore. I was so hungry and so cold, and it was starting to rain, and then I finally sensed some pretty flowers nearby, I beelined straight for them, just really wanted to get to them- and then I hit a weird barrier that I couldn't see and was so frustrated and angry and kinda despairing a-and then Olive opened the window and let me in! And she gave me something warm to dry myself with, and some sweet water to drink, and I could sip the nectar of all the flowers and she was so nice! And then few days later when the weather got better she let me back out again, but I came back because I liked it here, it was nice and warm and I had food... and then I stayed!"

As the bee finished recounting her experience, the last of the free space inside the bags was being filled in with whatever last pieces of useful clothing Olive could squeeze in, eventually admitting defeat and smiling up at the littlest member of her household, Luxie wasting no time in flying over and hugging as much of her human's face as she could afterwards.

"Thank you for making my life better..."

"~Thank you for being a part of mine.~"

With a couple last pats on the Ribombee's back, the human could grab the two sizable bags and move them off the table, straining the little strength she had left in bringing them over to the couple wildlings.

"~Alright, I think that's everything I can squeeze in. Clothes, paper, pens, books, a couple snacks, hygiene, thank goodness I kept some extras of these for other girls from rougher families. I hope all these will be of help.~"

Aria eyed down the spoils with a mix of trepidation and relief, a brief weight test resulting in them being suspended in her pale glow for a couple moments before dropping back down- bulky as they were, they were nothing compared to what her mind could bench press on a good day.

"^I can't thank you enough for all this Olive. I'll be forever in your debt.^"

"~Then repay it by making Anne's life as good as you can, Aria.~"

The Gardevoir nodded deeply, the Luxray's rest getting cut short after he leapt off of the couch, grumbling quietly while readying for their departure.

"^I will. I promise.^"

"~Godspeed, Aria. She counts on you.~"

Aria closed her eyes, acknowledging Olive's words as she mulled through her own internal conundrum, one that a whole lot more light was about to be shone on-

"C'mon, get it over with and let's get out of here."

"~Get what-~"

Before Olive could complete her sentence, she saw and felt herself and her companions be surrounded with the same bluish sheen as the bags from moments prior, the grip binding them all in place, any attempts to move beyond breathing or muttering proving unsuccessful as the air held them in place.

"~W-what are-~"

"^I'm sorry. I can't express how much I appreciate everything you've all done for us, but... I, we, can't risk you knowing where Anne is either, or about our involvement. The stakes are too great. I wish I didn't have to do this.^"

"Wh-what are you gonna do-" - Luxie's terrified squeak cut deep into Aria, her expression stone faced aside from the fiercely growing eyes, bringing back all the terrifying mental imagery of ghost brides back into Olive's mind, the Gardevoir's composure fading at overhearing the family's mental reactions to being betrayed like that.

"^You will forget everything that has happened today. You'll only know that Anne is safe, but nothing more.^"

After a longer, painful pause, the psychic's eyes lit up brighter still, the whole group wincing in various ratios of fear and anger, Luxie obsessively going through the events of the day in her little head, trying to hold onto the memories as well as she could, even if it all would only ever amount to an equivalent of trying to keep back a tidal wave with one's bare hands.

"^I'm sorry.^"

The mental grip grew tighter to an almost painful degree as the family either stared back at her or braced themselves for the inevitable at this point, waiting for the evil deed to happen... only for it not to, moment after moment. After a few long, drawn out seconds, before the group's expressions could change to confusion, they heard Aria's voice again, much quieter this time, little more than a hushed whisper.

"^Keep your faces like this. Don't speak, think aloud.^"

The instructions made little sense, though the trio was much too shaken to even think about not following them, keeping their faces as they were as an expectant silence filled the brain space of Olive's living room.

"^I... don't want to do this. But I must know, with an absolute certainty, that no word of this will ever reach anyone else. Your aid and knowledge has been invaluable, and will continue to be so if Anne stays with us, and it would be cruel of me to reward it like this. But I cannot risk our safety, ours, Anne's, safety of hundreds of other beings that would be in peril if the human world at large knew.^"

A heavy pause followed, mental grip relaxing ever so slightly as Aria took a deep breath.

"^Can you all, especially you Olive, promise me that? Promise that no word of what had happened beyond the pretense you've already set up will ever reach anyone else, not even your loved ones?^"

As much as the Gardevoir's actions made sense with how much was at the stake, the group in front of her still felt a bit betrayed at a threat like that even being held over their heads, Leo in particular wanting to just bark something back, literally and mentally like, before ultimately keeping himself down, Luxie's thoughts reaching the others first-

"^I... I promise. I, I want to keep you all and Anne safe, I don't want to forget you, forget knowing she's gonna be alright.^"

"^Hmph, fine. Promise.^"

"^Olive?^"

The old woman kept quiet the longest, the turmoil of fright at the situation, sting of betrayal, deeper fears of losing her memory, and deep affection towards the girl all this was happening for swirling under her skullcap, hand clenching briefly as she eventually got a grip of herself with a breath of her own.

"^Just as you promised me her safety, I promise you your secrecy, Aria. If she ever needs anything, I want to be able to help.^"

There was a tinge of hurt in Olive's words, a bit of resentment towards the Gardevoir for even considering just using them all like that- a resentment that wasn't at all unearned, as sad as Aria was to admit that. Alas, that was the only way Marco and Lumi would ever agree to confide in a human like that, and as much as she was growing to hate the forced secrecy of their village, she couldn't deny things being the way they are for a good reason.

"^From the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you all, for everything. When I let go of you, pretend to be dazed and confused.^"

Aria's grip continued for a few more moments before fizzling as suddenly as it had initially appeared, Olive blinking at her surroundings as she took a couple steps back, Luxie buzzing straight into Leo's mane as the hound laid back down on the floor and onto his side, looking up at the ceiling.

"^Quick, before they come back to.^"

Lumi didn't have to be told twice, bolting out of the apartment as Aria hovered the bags over towards herself, passing the group a final, brief smile, before following the Luxray back out, into the vast expanse of the human world.