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Clang.
The iron gate creaked open, and Kael's body was hurled into the cell. He rolled across the cement floor before finally coming to a stop.
"Still heavier than he looks…"
The overweight guard scowled, flicking Kael's blood off his hands. He wiped them on his sweat-stained uniform, grimacing.
Snapping the gate shut, the guard began humming an off-key tune and swaggered away, the sound of his boots fading into the corridor.
Inside the damp, shadowed cell, Kael lay trembling, his body convulsing. His eyes rolled back, leaving only bloodshot whites.
The violent clash of three powers inside him had already stripped him of consciousness.
From the corner, a timid head peeked out Ralts.
Its crimson eyes reflected Kael's collapsed figure, worry etched across its pale, fragile face.
The small red horn on its head pulsed, sending ripples of psychic energy into the air. Tentatively, it reached out, brushing its mind against Kael's presence.
But the moment its consciousness touched his, it recoiled in terror, as though struck by a wall of malice.
Pain lanced through Ralts' head, forcing a cry from its lips. It clutched its skull and collapsed to the floor, trembling.
For a long moment, it lay there, body shaking. Then, with effort, Ralts pushed itself upright and staggered toward Kael.
It pressed a tiny white hand against his chest.
The cruel experiments had stripped most of its psychic power, but at its core, Ralts was still an Emotion Pokémon. That essence could not be erased.
A soft, pearly glow formed at its palm. It poured what little joy and warmth it still carried into Kael.
His convulsions did not stop, but the agony on his face softened ever so slightly.
It wasn't enough.
The glow could ease pain for a heartbeat, but inside, the battle raged on, Ghost-type curses from the Blood-Eye, his own Fighting spirit, and the invasive shadow of Gengar's energy, tearing at each other.
Ralts' breath came sharp and uneven, yet it kept channeling more. Its pale body trembled, strands of sweat rolling down its cheeks.
It remembered their first meeting, deep in Kael's consciousness. How, even in that cursed place, he had shown kindness.
To Ralts, simple-hearted and fragile, that moment was enough. It had found a partner.
And it knew its time was short. The experiments had already drained its life away.
So instead of waiting to fade… it chose.
Biting its lip, Ralts stopped the flow of gentle emotional light. It straightened, folding its hands before its chest.
Rings of pink psychic waves pulsed from its horn, wrapping around its frail frame.
Its tiny body shook violently, but still it focused.
Reaching deep into its spirit, past every scar and wound, it found its last ember.
A glimmering koi of light, the final fragment of its life-force.
Blood spilled from its mouth as it tore the energy free.
In its hands, a single luminous droplet formed pure white, radiant yet soft. The very essence of its life.
With all its will, Ralts guided the droplet toward Kael.
It floated gently down, merging into his chest like a teardrop falling into still water. Ripples of white light spread across him.
Relieved, Ralts collapsed backward, body too drained to move. Its chest rose and fell in ragged gasps before gradually calming. With the last of its strength, it pressed its hands together in prayer.
Closing its eyes, it lifted its face toward the dark ceiling and imagined a bright, shining moon.
---
Kael's eyes fluttered open inside a nightmare of crimson.
The ground beneath him was a swamp of blood, dragging him down with skeletal claws. The more he struggled, the deeper he sank. His chest, his neck soon he would be swallowed whole.
His vision dimmed to black.
But then, in the sky above the endless red, a pale light appeared.
It spread, round and soft, like a full moon.
White rain fell from it in droplets, scattering across the swamp.
The bloody mire hissed and dissolved. The crimson sky peeled away, replaced by pure light.
The curse broke. The nightmare melted.
---
Kael gasped awake on the cold floor of his cell.
Shaking, he forced himself upright and turned his head.
Ralts sat beside him, its body so frail it looked translucent. Wisps of light drifted from its form like motes of ash.
It looked up at him with tired eyes and managed the faintest smile.
"…The moon… is it beautiful?"
Kael's throat closed. He nodded, lips trembling.
"Beautiful…"
Ralts whispered, its eyes falling shut.
"No! Don't—" Kael shouted, reaching for it But his hand only closed on air.
The glow around Ralts shimmered like fireflies on a summer night then drifted apart, fading into darkness.
Its last gift lingered in the air, a memory carved in light.
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