Chapter Text
The sinking sun painted Serene Village with a duality of dull orange light and dark blue shadows. The water's shimmering surface reflected a newborn ceiling of stars. Aside from the lapping of the waves, all was silent. Everything was exactly the way Panne remembered it being. A great deal had changed over these last eight years, but at a glance, this view was left completely untouched by time. Even the tree she'd always sat underneath was the virtually the same, though perhaps a little wider now. This place would never get old.
Panne fought the urge to yawn and stretched her neck to put Vallion's head deeper beneath her chin. The Servine leaned into her, supporting himself more on the Braixen than the tree they were sitting against. It was almost too peaceful up her. She was so ecstatic when Ampharos finally made the announcement that the map of the world was complete, but that was a week ago already. The high had faded far more quickly than she anticipated, and all that was left was a vague feeling of emptiness. There weren't any dreams or aspirations to obsess over. They were just...done. The destination was nowhere near as important as the journey was, she guessed. That map was such a big deal that it didn't even feel like it could be complete.
"Vaaaaal," Panne whined softly to her lover. "What do we do now? It's not like we can really help Floatzel with his oceanic geography thing. I can't even hang out at the beach without getting annoyed by the tide."
"Well we aren't water types, silly. Do you mean right now, or what do we do from this point in our lives?" The rumble of Vallion's voice traveled straight into her chest. "I dunno. I'm sure we could help Floatzel with that project some way. He's still gonna have to sail around for that, and we're pretty good navitators."
She scoffed. "But I don't want to die of boredom on a ship for weeks at a time, either. And on top of that, I don't think I'm very interested in being a professor. I know the Society's getting made into a school and all, but teaching people for a living sounds hard. Isn't it like, a ridiculous amount of work? Don't you remember how annoyed Fartetch'd was all the time? All I know is that I'm definitely not retiring before I've even finished evolving."
"Sure. That's pretty reasonable, I guess. I mean, we just kinda validated the entire existence of the Expedition Society last week. It's okay to feel a bit hollow. Aren't you the one that wanted to go on vacation in the first place?"
Panne glared at the shadows cast by the village, watching as they grew longer with the dusk. The anxious feeling in her gut got worse. "Yeah, but that was just because I was tired! We were all tired. Those last few months were horrible on everyone, especially with the double-checking and remapping. I was just glad it was over! Now that it's over, though, it's like...when do I get back to work?"
The Servine gave a chuckle and sighed. "That's silly. You're silly. At least try to relax for a few days, will you? What happened to all those times when you just stayed in bed and ignored the morning assembly until Dedenne came shouting?" Panne felt his vines slither through her fur, squeezing her torso like he was trying to wring the stress out of her. "We'll figure it out, alright? We have more than enough time. Don't worry about it so much."
"But I can't not worry about it, though! It's too hard!" Panne tried to pout, but couldn't find it in herself to suppress a smile. "I didn't know that having free time was gonna be this scary. How does anyone deal with feeling like this? I've always had something to work towards until now. Even if it was something stupid on the side."
Vallion turned his head upwards, his breath tingling against the base of her neck. "I know, I know. Just let it settle in for a little while longer. It was always gonna feel weird at first, but I think we'll get back into the swing of things in no time. Until then, we'll just have to figure out how to relax like normal pokemon. There's plenty to just be happy about."
With the stars out in full force and the sun lost behind the mountains, the summer heat dissipated up into the atmosphere. Panne had to huddle even closer to the Servine for warmth. She lowered her muzzle close to his nose and rubbed her cheek against his sleek scales. "Alright, fine. Tell me some stuff I'm happy about, then."
"Oh? I thought we were on the same wavelength. Guess not, huh." Vallion hummed right into her ear. "In that case, it's a secret."
"Oh, we're on the same wavelength, alright. Good thing I know how to get secrets out of you." Panne wrapped an arm around his neck and started to scratch her claws up and down Vallion's exposed side. The Servine yelped and immediately fell into a poorly-concealed fit of giggles. His attempts at escape were all in vain, and mostly just dragged the pair of them further down the grassy hill. She only stopped because of how close they were getting to the water's edge.
Despite being pinned to the ground and out of breath, Vallion huffed triumphantly in her face. "Nice try, but you'll have to try harder than that if you want to crack me."
"Whatever, dummy. I'll just guess until I get it right." The Braixen leaned in closer to his mouth. "It wouldn't happen to look like this, would it?"
Their lips met in the dull light. She clung to him with all her might, only stopping to catch a quick breath before diving back in. Their bellies pressed together and their tails tangled up. Something about this place was so horribly romantic that she just couldn't help herself. For those few moments, Panne completely forgot about the cold breeze, or the dusty ground beneath them, or any of the worries that were on her mind beforehand. The whole world and everything that mattered in it shrunk down to just that tiny patch of grass.
When the kiss was over, Vallion opened his eyes a bit and nuzzled into the side of her face. "I will admit, that's pretty close. But that's not the secret."
"What? Then what the heck is it?" Panne collapsed on top of him like a blanket, too comfortable to bother adjusting her position. "Do you actually have something you're hiding from me? I thought you were just messing around."
"You'll see," was all he had to say about it.
Hmph. The Braixen slid away and settled down next to him. Was there actually something he meant by that, or was it just a ploy to get her thinking about something else? God, it was so annoying that she couldn't even tell the difference. All she could do was lay there and her furrow her brow at the stars in silence.
After a few minutes of the pouting, Vallion pulled away and sat up in the grass, a yawn stuck on his face. "Man. It got late pretty fast. We really ought to head back before we miss dinner. I don't even wanna know how mad your Pops would be if we were late to supper on our very first night back in the village."
They were both reluctant to leave. Pinpricks jolted up and down their legs and the cold rushed in where their bodies parted, but these annoyances were nothing compared to how mad Pops could get. She glanced out over the village one last time before she hopped down to the path at the base of the hill. It didn't really sink in until this very second that she was home. Not some busy compound where everyone's on crunch time, and not in a bustling city full of faces that had somewhere to be, but REALLY at home. It had been far too long since she had last visited.
It was a short trek back, and a rather uneventful one at that. There really wasn't much to hear other than the sound of their own whispering. Everyone else had already clocked out for the night, it seemed. Candlelight projected the shapes of windows onto the path every so often. Meowstic's house in particular was as dark as a Liepard's den on the winter solstice. As the two walked by, an fit of coughing echoed through the glass and lasted for a positively miserable amount of seconds before silence took hold.
Panne stopped in place and frowned. "Gosh, I really hope she's doing okay. We've seen almost everyone today besides Pancham, but Meowstic couldn't even get out of bed, right? Maybe it's the flu?"
"She probably just didn't want to get us sick with whatever she's got on the very first day of our vacation." Vallion shrugged. "She's one of the toughest pokemon in the village, anyways. A little cold isn't going to do her in. We'll stop by tomorrow when she's feeling a little better. Probably should bring some juice for her or something, too."
It wasn't too much farther to Carracosta's house. Panne stopped in her tracks, suddenly struck with a stunning sense of nostalgia. The wafting scent of Pops' cooking spirited past her nose on a breeze and sent her spiraling eight years into the past. Vallion eventually noticed that she had fallen behind and turned back. It was such an intense feeling that she didn't respond until he had sidled up right next to her.
"God, it's like I'm just getting home from goofing off after school," the Braixen whispered. "It literally hasn't changed at all."
"Yeah, it sure hasn't. You're still always goofing off."
She flicked him on the nose, then immediately pulled him closer by the collar. "Shut up, stupid." Their lips met and parted rather quickly, but the embrace itself persisted. They swayed together in the cool night air, their bodies aligned from the tips of their snouts all the way to their feet. The Servine had to stretch himself a bit so that his serpentine form could match up with her own, but she more than compensated for his loss of balance. The two of them stood amidst a font of warm memories, and invited the fact that they were about to make one more.
"Are you two going to come to dinner or what?"
Panne must have jumped a foot in the air. Pops leaned out of an open window with an impatient look on his face. "Come on, the food's starting to get cold. I didn't make all this so you two could elope all night." The Carracosta sighed out his nose and waddled out of sight, leaving them alone and guilty in the window's spotlight.
It took the Braixen another few seconds for her heart to stop skipping beats. "Dang it..." she said, shuddering. "Did he have to be so sneaky about it? He could have stopped us earlier! Or not at all. That would've been nice, too."
As soon as Vallion opened the front door, the savory scent she had only caught a whiff of had amplified twice-fold. The buffet that was spread out before them was like something out of a dream. There were bowls of pasta, steaming generously and soaking in all manner of colorful sauces. The rolls of bread couldn't have been out of the oven for longer than twenty minutes, golden butter having already melted into their spongy crusts. There were berry spreads and bowls of candied almonds. Any kind of grilled vegetable you could ever crave--it was here, salted and waiting. Val might have been the one to open the door, but Panne was already pushing her way in. Swirlix was great and all, but there was nothing on this big planet that could even come close to Pops' cooking.
"Y'all certainly look hungry," Nuzleaf pointed out. The grass type had already found a seat on the other side of the table, a proud smile stuck on his face. "You better be. Me n' Carracosta didn't make all this for nothing."
"So what do you think? Is this a good enough meal for the kids that mapped out the whole planet?" Pops' hearty chuckle filled the room. "Oh goodness me, look at what's happened to my little girl. I look away for one minute and she goes off to save the world. Then I blink and she's drawn the entire thing from the ground up. What's next for you two, then? Are you going to bring about world peace when I step out for groceries?"
Panne strode past the magnificent array of platters to take her father up in a huge hug. "Aw come on, Pops. Just shush. Quit trying to make me cry in front of everyone. You know it'll work."
Carracosta pat her on the back, his flipper pretty much the size of her whole torso. "Now now, that's enough of that. Nobody's going to be crying tonight. And besides, the food is only getting colder the longer we wait. With how long it took to gather all these ingredients, I won't have any of it go to waste!"
Sentimentality was fun and all, but it was just a fleeting distraction when there was such a rainbow of flavors waiting in front of them. Without any further ado, they dug straight in. Panne could immediately pick apart the experimental recipes from those tried-and-true masterpieces that she only ever had on special occasions, but there was no use in rating anything. There wasn't a single part of the tongue that had gone ignored--no specific taste unappreciated. Often times she'd end up handing off things for Vallion to try while her mouth was still full. There were spices she recognized that were supposedly only found on the other side of the world. She would've asked how he'd got a hold of such delicacies, but there was no room between bites to say.
In fact, no one really spoke at all for the first few minutes. In the absolute frenzy that had overtaken them, there was only time for approving hums and surprised murmurs. Every time the Braixen conceded that she was full, a different scent brushed past her nose and convinced her otherwise. Vallion had practically inhaled a plate of Sitrus tarts and refused to share. Nuzleaf got caught halfway through some overly-rich foreign cheeses and had to take a break just to process it all. Carracosta took a little bit of everything and ate a little bit of a little bit of everything, which still happened to be a whole lot.
"Hey Pops," Panne said with a heavy breath. At this point, speaking was just an excuse not to shovel more food into her maw. "Meowstic's doing okay, right? Everyone was saying it was just allergies, but we walked by her house on the way here and it sure doesn't sound like it. I know she could get a little stuffy sometimes, but hacking up a lung and being congested are two totally different things."
Having been defeated by cheese a while ago, Nuzleaf's mouth was clear enough to answer. "Oh, that? That's, uh, probably a little more than allergies, I reckon. Everyone gets the sniffles around this time of year, and it's always possible that she happened to get sick at the same time, but there's this thing that's givin' me the creeps about it, right? Around the time everyone's getting these allergies, talk of weird dreams start floatin' around. Everyone's had 'em, but nobody really remembers what they're about. Apparently Meowstic's been having full-on nightmares. She's got it worst of all this year."
"Allergies that cause nightmares?" Vallion managed to say as he finished off a roll of bread. "You're right, that does sound pretty strange. It's also weird that Meowstic would be getting it worst of all when Farfetch'd is usually the one that gets hay fever. You sure the ghosts down in the barrows aren't coming up to mess with anyone again?" Panne nearly cringed at the mention of the barrows.
Nuzleaf shrugged and shook his head. "We already checked up on that. They've actually been staying unusually quiet, but not all mischievous like you'd think from it. Something bad's sure floating around these parts if it's making the folk in the barrows bury their heads deeper'n the sand. I don't feel good about it at all, and I've a part of enough bad business in my lifetime to know."
"Um. So Meowstic's going to be okay, right?" Panne meekly asked once more. "We're not gonna all catch some kind of dream plague, are we?"
"Not likely," Pops assured her. "If anything, you'll just have a scratchy throat in the morning. Nothing more than that. If there is a strange dream, nobody tends to remember them anyway. I don't feel too particularly affected by them." Carracosta took a small bite of rawst bread before continuing. "Don't worry about it too much. It's just in the season around here. Even the kids get it from time to time."
Still, Vallion looked a little too contemplative to not be worrying about it, which in turn made her start worrying about it. Anything that could make those ghosts start to cower in fear is absolutely something to be worried about. If it was the sole reason why Meowstic was out of commission, that's a threat that would actually warrant looking into. Or it could just be allergies. It better just be allergies.
The topic came about as quickly as it went, and suddenly everyone was left with the scraps of what remained of their meal--and a lot of leftovers to deal with. It took forever to clean it all up, and that was just putting stuff away. There were so many dishes and they were all so full that even Pops decided that a few could even wait until morning. Wonderful flavors mockingly lingered in the Braixen's mouth as a reminder of what she could have been eating if she wasn't so stuffed. While she was busy covering up a bowl of the remaining bread rolls, Nuzleaf took Vallion aside and whispered something into his ear. Whatever it was, he said it in such a vague way that her ears couldn't make sense of it. Not that she had room to care.
"I can't believe it, Pops. You really taught Nuzleaf to cook." Panne muttered to the ceiling. "I couldn't even tell his dishes from yours at all. That's incredible."
"For as good of a student as he is, I happen to be an excellent teacher, as well," the Carracosta said over the clattering sounds of the dishes. "If you're going to be staying long, you ought to learn a thing or two about cooking, too. I heard you let Vallion do all the hard work when the Society's chef isn't around. My daughter should at least know how to cook a good meal when it comes right down to it."
Panne had heard this lecture before. Nodding in vague affirmation, she concentrated her attention at the secretive exchange that was going on in the corner of the room. Nuzleaf handed off some tiny burlap bag to the Servine. It seemed completely unassuming and ordinary, but the way Vallion held it so dearly to his chest gave away that there was definitely something important about it. Before Panne could speak up and ask exactly what, Vallion sped off into her old room and disappeared into the clutter.
"And what was all that about?" Panne said as her lover came skipping back into the room, clearly trying to hide his excitement.
He couldn't bear to look at her. "Ssh. It's still part of the secret. No peeking at all, or else you're never gonna have another Christmas gift from me ever again. And I really mean that!"
"Whaaat? No fair! That's not fair at all!"
Before Nuzleaf could head out the door, he turned towards the Braixen and shook his head. "Come on, Panne. Ya heard him. Vallion's got something incredible in store for you, so you better not ruin it. A mighty amount of work went into that. He'll tell you when he's good and ready." With that, Nuzleaf shut the door behind him and disappeared into the night, leaving her to cross her arms and pout. Why'd they have to make that little exchange look so suspicious, then?
Mysteries aside, with everyone's appetites quenched and the day thoroughly spent, it was undoubtedly time for bed. Panne hobbled into her old room like she had swallowed a boulder. For all the clutter that reminded her this was a storage room while they weren't here, there was still plenty of space in one of the corners to set up a cozy little den of blankets and pillows. Vallion wasted no time and curled the mess of bedding. His eyes seemed to be someplace else, molten amber glistening in the candlelight. He was clearly thinking of something she wasn't allowed to know. She hadn't seen him this lit up since that traveling magic show came to Lively City last winter.
Panne scoffed and sidled up right next to him, stuffing a pillow beneath her head. "You could at least try to be a little more discreet about it. It's like buying a bunch of streamers in front of me while saying that you're absolutely definitely not throwing a surprise party."
"Sorry. I got a little excited." The Servine twisted around and wrapped his tail around hers, closing the rest of the distance between the two of them. She welcomed the position like a blooming flower welcomed a Combee, but grumbled all the same. "Just trust me, you're really gonna be surprised. Everyone's gonna be surprised. It's a big deal and I've been working very hard to get it to happen."
"That big of a deal, huh? And it fits in a tiny, crappy sack? It better be the coolest thing in the world." She blew a playful breath into his neck. "You don't get excited about anything like this. Geez, it really must be the coolest thing in the world then, right?"
She felt Vallion's face contort into a smile on the top of her head. "You. Will. See. I'll make sure of it."
"I'm so freakin' impatient."
"I know."
With the warmth that enveloped her and the weight of her stomach, there wasn't much room to wonder before Panne started to doze off. The Servine nuzzled into her and unraveled a vine to put the candle out. She noticed that darkness had fallen, but was already halfway between a dream and consciousness. Her final thoughts for the day weren't about the mysterious gift, however. A brief image of Meowstic crossed her mind, stuck in bed and wracked with bizarre nightmares that nobody could quite recall the meaning of. The only thing that accompanied the scene was a hazy observation before some other dream took hold.
"There's no way that thing is pollen."
_____
And then Panne woke up.
The Braixen opened her eyes to a moonlit room, ripped away from the dream that clouded her head just a moment ago. She just laid there for a few seconds, glancing at different shadowy objects in the room, confused as to what had disturbed her in the first place. It was then that a painful, shuddering cough tore open the silence, right beside her ear. Vallion clung to her arm like his life depended on it , his vines wrapped around her shoulders. His scales were clammy and cold, but his head was burning up.
"Hey...Wake up..!" Panne tried to shake him awake. She was gentle at first, but the nightmare held him so tightly in its grasp that she had to throttle him just to get a reaction. "Val! Come on, wake up!"
A silent scream left the Servine's wide mouth as his eyes shot open. The first thing he did was fall into an unstoppable fit of coughing, his throat clearly ragged. There was a wild, desperate quality to his eyes, like he'd been running from something for the last half-hour. "What?! I- I...What happened?"
"You were having a nightmare! Did you really get sick? Please tell me you didn't get sick like Meowstic." The Braixen pulled away, glaring at shadows as if expecting them to lunge towards her. They were all just rumors, right? It was all allergies. Summer was in full swing, of course everyone was catching hay fever!
Vallion couldn't respond, still gasping for breath. There was a rattling in his lungs. "I don't know. I... Oh, I feel so drained. Could you- could you get me some water? I don't know how far I can move right now."
She instantly shot up to her feet. "I'll be right back. Stay there." Panne snapped her fingers and brought a tiny flame to the edge of her claw. After her eyes adjusted to the light, she scurried off into the other room and began to rummage through the pantries for a glass. Every little noise was amplified by the silence. Just pouring water into a cup made her anxiety spike into ridiculous levels, as if she was supposed to be hiding from something this whole time.
Vallion was staring blankly at the floor when Panne returned. He was hesitant to break free from his trance, but gulped down the whole glass as soon as his vines wrapped around it. He sighed and slumped against the wall, still not quite done shivering. "Thanks," he mouthed.
The Braixen set herself down, but didn't let the candle on the end of her finger go out. "Are you alright? What the heck just happened to you? Don't tell me you were having a nightmare like Nuzleaf said. Grass types don't get allergies, Val!"
He tried to clear his throat yet again. "It was a nightmare aright. Or something like that, anyway. Hold on, it's hard to recall..." His tongue moved wordlessly as he tried to piece together his scattered thoughts. "It was more of a feeling than anything. Like something coming up on my hiding place and peeking its head around and saying 'Found you.' I don't really know how else to describe it. It's already so blurry."
Maybe it was the way he said it, but the mere thought got under her skin way more than it should have. Panne took Vallion into her arms, partly to try and comfort him and partly to calm herself down. He leaned into her, still staring off into space with dilated pupils. Sensing that she was starting to panic, the Servine shook himself awake and chuckled softly. "Hey now. It's just a bad dream. Just a dream. There's nothing to worry about."
As much as she definitely believed there was something to worry about, Panne couldn't help but settle back down into the warm bedding. The late hour was really starting to get to her. Vallion tried his best to lull her back to sleep, ruffling a vine through her stomach fur in a constant rhythm. Her eyelids were getting annoyingly heavy. "But I don't wanna go back to sleep, though. I don't want you to go through another nightmare."
"It's okay, Panne. Everything's gonna be okay. You don't have to be scared." He sounded so sure of himself that it was impossible to dismiss. Her eyelids started to become too heavy. Soon her arm fell to the wayside, and the flickering flame on her claw disappeared along with it. The Servine curled into her all the while, his vine caressing the faint scar on her chest. "You know I'm fine. And you know I'm never gonna let anything happen to you, either. No more nightmares. I promise."