Chapter Text
As Team Flora was leaving Temporal Tower, Rose started violently coughing. As soon as Chrysanthemum turned around, Rose was hacking up green blood—which Grass Types usually had—as she dropped to the ground wheezing. Blood dripped out of Rose’s open wounds as her breathing became shallow.
Chrysanthemum immediately rushed over and started digging into their Treasure Bag for medical supplies, only to be filled with dread as she couldn’t feel anything within it. Just as she was about to start tearing it and her Power Band apart to use as bandages, she realized she could no longer hear Rose’s breathing.
After both trying to warp the two of them home with their badges and performing CPR—neither of which worked—Chrysanthemum made sounds somewhere between screaming and sobbing as she sat in front of Rose’s lifeless body with blood on her paws. Rose’s skin felt icy to the touch, and she had no heartbeat.
Chrysanthemum tried to even her breathing so she could at least take Rose’s body home for a proper funeral, but before she could get anywhere near remotely calm, a voice started ringing loudly within her head, YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT! YOUR FAULT!
Within the moment, Chrysanthemum believed that voice, and she started crying harder.
IT’S YOUR FAULT THAT YOUR PARTNER IS DEAD! YOU SHOULD’VE NEVER LOOKED INTO THE TIME GEARS AND MINDED YOUR OWN BUSINESS!
Suddenly, the ground beneath Chrysanthemum gave out, and she started to fall. As she descended, the world around her steadily got darker. She began to lose her senses as her voice made no noise, despite her trying to scream.
YOU DESERVE TO DIE TOO! SO GO AHEAD AND DIE!
Then, everything was no more.
•─────•°•❀•°•─────•
Chrysanthemum woke up with a jolt after hitting the floor.
Her heart felt like it was beating too fast. She shot her eyes open, and her sight was blurred as tears ran down her face. She shook as sobs wracked her body. Her senses felt both dampened and heightened; she felt like she was drowning, and breathing felt uncomfortable; her body felt both hot and cold.
Chrysanthemum bent her hind legs and closed her eyes, trying to remember the breathing technique she had been taught.
In. Two. Three. Four. Hold. Two. Three. Four. Out. Two. Three. Four. Hold. Two. Three. Four.
Chrysanthemum repeated that over and over, putting one paw on her chest and one on her stomach after a few times. As her breathing and heart rate evened out, she offhandedly remembered that her dad had taught her that breathing technique.
As she sat up, Chrysanthemum opened her eyes. She started taking in details around her.
She saw the light shining through the window, the stone walls and ceiling, the wooden floor, and the orange blanket she accidentally took down with her when she fell.
She felt the tears still on her face, the cold floor and air, and the soft blanket.
She heard her own breathing, and she heard movement and voices passing by the room.
She smelled her own scent and… Rose’s scent.
She tasted her own morning breath.
Chrysanthemum let out a sigh of relief upon processing the fact that what she had just experienced was only a nightmare.
For the most part, anyway.
Chrysanthemum looked over to Rose’s bed, which stayed neatly made from when they left for Brine Cave. It was a reminder that Rose never came back with her, and she was effectively dead.
Rose… Rose’s ribbon!
Chrysanthemum’s eyes widened as she realized she no longer felt it around her ear. She started frantically looking around the floor and started to panic again before she looked over to her bed and saw it lying next to her pillow. She breathed out another sigh of relief as she went over to pick it up.
As Chrysanthemum tied the ribbon in the same position it was in the day before, she couldn’t help but think about the voice she had heard in her nightmare. It wasn’t her own, yet she heard it within her head. She was so ready to agree with it, despite the fact that what it was saying made no sense.
Pulling the ribbon into a proper bow, she still felt sick to her stomach about the guilt she felt. She sighed, knowing that she wasn’t going to get any more sleep that day.
Deciding that lingering on Rose’s absence wouldn’t be productive at the moment, and that she wanted to at least get the taste of her own breath out of her mouth, she headed to the bathroom attached to the room to occupy herself with brushing her teeth.