I Won't Leave You

Tyrin is a sylveon. He is recognized for his pink fur and his ribbon-like appendages, and was sometimes even made fun of for his flamboyant and rather "girly" appearance. He has a very kind heart and is always willing to make friends with other denizens of the forest and wakes up in the morning with the hope that he would meet somebody new, and on this particular day he would meet someone special indeed. He walks over to a small pond and starts to lap water out of it when he sees that he was not by himself. He looks up to see a nearby eevee, who was looking down at his own reflection in the water, looking like he was on the verge of tears. Tyrin felt a wave of sympathy wash over him at the sad sight, and instantaneously approaches the eevee to console the poor child.

The eevee was noticeably thin, looking a bit like a scarecrow as if he was not used to being on his own. Indeed, he once had a home life with his once loving trainer long ago. But, as he found out firsthand, what can be given to him can be just as easily taken away. He was left on his own to rot in the woods, and none of it was even his own fault, but the eevee slowly but surely began to at least accept his lonely disposition, being very modest in nature. The eevee reaches out to touch his reflected image, which further ripples and distorts his image to his own liking. He cannot understand why he was kept away from having an owner, a home...a friend. Somewhere not too far away, he could hear approaching footsteps but he naturally ignored them as if he did not notice. After all, why would anyone want to see him? That was when he suddenly sees another Pokemon casted in the reflection directly behind him with a gentle, sympathetic voice to follow, "Hello little one, what's your name?"

The eevee turned around quickly to reply, but casted his head down. "L-Lonliness..."

The sylveon gives a confused frown at the very abnormal name, "Lonliness?" He quickly recovers and offers another warm, fresh smile. "That's a nice name! What are you doing in a big forest like this, there are a lot of bigger, hungrier Pokemon around here who would get you in a heartbeat..." He looks over the eevee's fur closely, seeing the tear-stained pelt around his eyes and the matted, unkempt fur everywhere else. "Oh your poor thing...where are your parents?" He asks sweetly, but behind his grin he was secretly dreading the answer.

"Well," the eevee who introduced himself as Lonliness began, "If they would like to dine on my worthless flesh, they most certainly can." He lets out a miserable sigh, "I've been on my own for the past few years, neglected by my own trainer just to be thrown away like a broken toy." Warm tears started to fall from the eevee's cheeks.

Tyrin was in utter shock at the strong words, his mouth opening agape with his own tears now forming around his eyes. He reached out to the eevee with a ribbon tendril, rubbing his back. "O-oh my Arceus! child, how could you think of yourself like that? Everyone is special and has their own place in this world, no one is more useless than the other." The eeveelution lies down on his stomach to get to eye-level with the smaller Pokemon, with tears still in his eyes, but with an honest, small smile returning to his cheeks. "You are special Lonliness, no one else call tell you differently."

The eevee's tears finally made their way to the ground, which stains the grass in a dark red color. As it turns out, the poor creature was cursed, but tries to deny it. He looks at the other Pokemon and shakes his head. "But I don't have a place, I serve no purpose. It is a sin for me to be alive. I am special for all the wrong reasons..." At this point, Tyrin couldn't take it anymore and takes the pitiable creature into a hug, who returns the embrace weeping. Tyrin was ignoring the stained grass and whimpering openly into his words. "Please don't say that, Lonely. You are not a sin, you are a beautiful creature that deserves as much love as everyone else, I won't let you think you are hated by everyone else. I don't hate you," he looks into the child's eyes, "that counts, right?" Tyrin closes his eyes again and puts his forehead onto Lonley's and whispers, 'Please, accept my words."

The eevee continued to cry for a full minute, no more, no less. He tries to control the flood of different emotions flowing through him: sorrow, relief and most of all dreaded fear, but has difficulty controlling himself. The kind words of the other male made him feel like...like he actually matters in his pitiable existence for once in his life. Like he was not some sort of plague that he was inclined to believe. He opens his eyes slowly and nuzzles this generous creature, the first and only friend he's had in years. The sylveon is more than excited to see that he has gotten to the thin boy and smiles widely, and happily nuzzles him back. "Lonliness...stay with me please, stay with me and I will love you as much as I can. I will make sure you will never feel sad again," he said, looking down to the little one under him.

Lonliness looks up at him. "Stay...?" he couldn't finish his sentence, not knowing how. Love him? Never be sad again? The words seem to be foreign to him now, not believing them to be true. He looks at the older male to see if he would turn out to be pulling his leg but his expression, his tone of voice were genuine. He stares at the creature in silence before his eyes lit up and kisses his new-found friend's nose.

Tyrin is overcome with joy at the eevee's small kiss and starts to lick the little eevee's face repeatedly. Lonliness closes his eyes and smiles for the first time in years as his face is licked and...is that a purr he is letting out? "Thank you, Lonely! Thank you for accepting me, I know you won't regret it!" He pulls him into another embrace, rubbing his starved belly with his ribbons. After what seems like hours of this hug, he let him go and looked at the eevee with compassionate eyes, otherwise the eevee would be more than happy to hug him for the rest of eternity. The sylveon asks the minor if he would love to play hide-and-seek together, but the eevee declined the offer, now would not be the time for that certain game, he thought. Instead, they decided on the game of tag and they both enjoyed themselves, laughing and giggling throughout the whole game before taking an afternoon nap, with the eevee cuddling up to his friend and hoping never to be separated.

They both woke up in the early evening, stretching a little for their tired bones. It was a warm, brandy night. The sylveon looks over to his little prince and asks how he was doing, who immediately responds with an enthusiastic terrific. Tyrin looks to the pond, " I'm going to catch us some dinner, be right back," and kissed his friend's forehead motherly before walking over to the body of water. The eevee moves to where he can see his friend in plain sight, having a mild case of separation anxiety.

Tyrin concentrates on the fish in the pond, noticing a few. He was about to pounce when suddenly they swim away frightfully. He looks in the water, curious at what scared them, but the next thing he saw almost made his heart stop.

There was a figure beneath the ripples of the water. Its skin was a pure, ghastly white color. It was white across all of its body except for its hands and eyes, red. It was humanoid in appearance, having a feminine face except that its mouth was locked into a broken, yawn-like broken jaw. Upon noticing Tyrin, the figure slowly turns to him, hissing hostilely and reaches a cold, red arm to him. The sylveon yelps and jumps back, with the eevee now running in his direction. He approaches his friend, his voice shaky from fright.

"Ar-are you okay?" and was interrupted by a sudden forthcoming of rain. A storm gradually grows. Lonliness' curse starts to come back, having a friend who cared so deeply made him almost forget about it entirely. His left eye starts to bleed, resembling red tears.

Tyrin starts breathing hard, looking around "W-what's going on, what's happening?!" He looks down at the boy, "Oh my Arceus! Your eye!" He quickly takes a nearby leaf and starts trying to wipe away the blood and looking around fearfully. The eevee didn't seem to notice that his eye was bleeding whatsoever, and his right eye slowly starts to dilate and throb violently as if it was about to pop out from pressure. The rain continues to fall.

"They're coming..."

The older Pokemon notices Lonley's face, becoming scared for the little one he bends down to his level, "Lonely... Lonely?! Please look at me, Lonely! Are you ok?! And..." He looks at the horrifying changes happening. "W-who is coming...?" Lonliness looks up at him and shakes his head at his question, no, he is not okay. He is in unbearable pain. He starts to shake and closes his eyes to try to ease the pain a bit. His left eye even stops bleeding as he does. Tyrin looks a bit reassured at that until the eevee opens his eyes. Tyrin's jaw fell to the floor and his heart sank.

The small eevee's right eye was gone. All that was there was a mere empty socket, but Lonliness did not appear to notice this change yet. His voice sounded desperate and pained, begging his petrified friend. "They want to take you away from me...Please...don't leave..." he pleads.

Tyrin gasps at the sight of the missing eye, but it does not push him away. He has come to know this eevee too well to abandon him now. He looks around, seeing nothing getting any better so he picks up the boy with his ribbons and looks him in the singular eye, "I will NEVER leave you Lonely, never!" With that he puts the boy on his back and bolts into the woodland, "If we can get to the nameless forest area, the others can help us, but I need to know what is happening Lonely, please concentrate!"

The eevee is shaking uncontrollably, just now taking in the fact that he has lost vision in one of his eyes. He puts a paw to his right eye and tries to feel for it, only finding a hollow hole where it once was. His lone eye starts to shed tears from his loss of vision and from fear, fear for Tyrin's well-being just as much as his own. He closes his eyes...eye...and tries to explain. "It all started...when my trainer's raticate died. That's when THEY came. They came...to my owner. They blamed me for its death. They tricked him into leaving me, and so he did. My trainer left me. He called me a curse. They possessed anyone who came in contact with me, everybody. They are mere shadows of their former selves. But...I'm not a curse," he is broken by sobbing, no longer even believing it himself, "I am not a curse..."

Tyrin turns to look at the poor creature on his back, his eyes away from the path ahead of him, "No, you're not! I'm getting you away from whatever the hell is doing this, I will NOT let them hurt you anymore!" He turns back around to watch where he is going but was too late and ran head first into a tree. He falls to the ground, unconscious.

When his mind came to, he found the eevee was shaking him, yelling at him to try to wake him up. "Tyrin? TYRIN! We need to leave! Wake up! Please!" His fur was now a chaotic mess, more frayed than it was before and had many scratches and other abrasions across his thin build. At this point, he is in agonizing pain. Tyrin lifts his head up, swearing not convincingly to his friend that he is fine and rises to his feet. He shakes his head to try to clear away his drowsiness with some success, and takes a glimpse at the eevee, horrified. "Lonely..." he groans with tears in his eyes before cursing the empty, apathetic sky above him for the suffering it has brought upon the poor child. "Damn you, you fucking bastards...ugh..." He puts the boy onto his back once more, but runs at a slow pace, due to his drowsiness and a throbbing pain in his head. Meanwhile, a cut opens on the eevee's head to partially reveal his gray matter. He holds back a scream and weeps into his friend's back in unbearable pain.

Tyrin finds it hard to concentrate on his destination, as he started to hear obscure words in his head about his friend. "Monster...Killer..." he tries to clear his mind on these thoughts but found it to be of no use. He looks down at his paws and gasped as he found that they have become red, he was turning into one of those things that he found at the pond earlier that day. He lets out a silent scream. "Hate, hate the monstrosity..." he falls to the ground with the eevee in front of him. "Abandon him, make him suffer," his mind screamed at him.

"N-no!" the sylveon suddenly yells out, looking at the young Pokemon.

The eevee now has his friend's attention, having a look of surprise as he finds his friend in such a state. He opens his mouth to say something or to perhaps scream, he wasn't entirely sure which, but clamped it promptly shut, probably the more wise decision for both of their sakes. He sobs, pulling on one of the ribbons, trying to make his friend move forward before it would be too late. "You're becoming one of them...you need to listen to me. We need to go to the graveyard..."

Tyrin starts to get up weakly. "Where...is it...?" he asks monotonously, concentrating every bit of will power he has left into listening to and adoring the eevee, but finds it is becoming harder to do so with each passing second.

Lonliness looks at him woefully; he was receiving his own messages and now realized what must be done. He isn't happy about it. "It's in Pallet Town; we need to go to Pallet Town..."

The eeveelution nods solemnly, his color further draining and he starts to argue internally with the voice inside of his head. "Leave him...No, I love him...Why? He is a walking corpse and a murderer, he deserves no love...Everyone deserves love..." His mind was starting to rip itself apart in his internal struggle causing him pain, but he wasn't willing to give up.. "Lead...hurry..." tears running down his face freely. And the eevee started to walk to their destination, looking back and making sure his close friend was following behind him, the rain falling harder and harder with every step towards the town. The eevee says two cryptic words, although he wasn't the one saying them, "Lay to rest...guillotine..."

Tyrin looks at the boy with hazy eyes, confused as to what he meant. "What...do you mean..guillo-(LEAVE HIM)-no!" he abruptly shouts, staggering behind but he keeps up with the eevee. Not that it was hard to, since the eevee was limping. His bright blue eyes stop producing tears, as they now don a crimson shade of red. They were no longer filled with passion or affection, only apathy and malice. They finally reach the town, which saddens them even more. It was too dark for any living creature to be up this late at night. Lonliness remembers that it was here that he was discovered by his first trainer, given to him by a professor. He was the one chosen, he remembers, after his cousin picked out a Pikachu as a starter. His memories fade as Tyrin asks him a question. "Lonely...what do I do...g-guillotine...what do you mean...?"

Lonliness does not respond to his question at first, only looking at his friend with his lasting left eye in utter silence. Tears were falling at a heavy rate, gazing at his loyal friend for a while before pointing at a grave in front of them. It seemed to be new, as if it was just constructed on the spot. Engraved in stone was the eevee's own name, the missing "E" and all. He was mute for a few seconds before he spoke out in a hushed sob. "They want me..." Tyrin was staring at the gravestone solemnly in disbelief.

"Did you die?" he manages to ask before his voice became a dark, dead tone. It wasn't his. "If you did, you deserved it." He quickly looked down at the boy. "NO! No, I didn't mean that! I l-love (it looked to cause him physical pain as he said this) you...what do I do...please...hurry." He fell to a squat and looks around, to see if there was any way out of this. If there was any chance that both of them could just walk away together freely. If all of this was somehow fake. But he knew that there was only one way out, and that way was for the eevee to simply tread forward.

The eevee stares at his grave in fear of what lies beyond that simple message etched in stone. He didn't seem to catch the entirely of Tyrin's comment, or perhaps ignored the hateful words that came out of his mouth when he knew it wasn't his, but he turns to his friend and embraces him in one last, tight hug. "You were the best friend I've ever had." He turns, hiding tears he's shed and walks to his tomb. Each step seemed to numb his pain, as he walks closer to fulfill his destiny, his ultimatum.

The tomb opens up to reveal an abyssal void. Whether it was Heaven, Hell or somewhere entirely different neither of them knew. Nor did they question it. They know that no matter where it lead, it was somewhere beyond this life and that this is their farewell. Lonliness stands in front of the gaping opening and closes his eye. It was in turn followed by the sound of ripping flesh. A large slit opens around his neck. He makes a small groaning noise as his head slowly falls off clean from his shoulders and tumbles into the box, with the rest of his body soon to follow. "Nooo!" Tyrin howls, as if voicing his anguish would somehow prevent the macabre ritual to continue. The void closes as if it never existed, leaving the grave behind. On the monument, it now reads Loneliness; his name has been completed with him now inside it. Put the 'E' where it belongs.

Tyrin runs towards the grave and soaks it with tears. He notices that he was now entirely normal as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened, but at the expense of someone else's life. Looking around, he saw no change in the physical world, but one less eevee on earth. "Loneliness, please, come back! I want you...no, I NEED you with me...you were so innocent..so youthful...it's not f-fair." He looks up at the sky with hatred. "IT'S NOT FAIR YOU SICK BASTARDS!" This time, the sky did respond back. Somewhere, a mad snicker could be heard, a deep baritone laughter without any humor. He fell to the ground and cries for a good hour, muttering words of love and his own misery throughout. His tears soaked the lid. "The cover," he thought. The sylveon slowly opens the cap, hoping that someway, somehow the eevee was merely waiting inside for him to do so.

He looks down the earthen grave, inside lies the body of an eevee peacefully, lifeless. It was seamlessly intact; the eevee looked like he did before the mutilation process began. He stared down at the figure, "Loneliness...?" but heard no response. The eevee, the closest friend he ever had, was dead. All he could do is wish that in a world beyond this stone lid that he was no longer alone. He lies down next to the cadaver and hugged it for the last time. The limp body still had some warmth to it. "...You were the greatest Pokemon I ever knew, Lonely...it was my pleasure to know you while you lived..." He cautiously sets the eevee back down and closed the cover once more with tears rolling down his cheeks. He plucks a red rose from a nearby bush and sets it on the stone.

He recalls what the eevee told him when they were on their fateful journey. "For the record, you were always right. You weren't a curse..." the sylveon agrees with his now deceased friend, giving the cemetery one last glance before walking away, "...you were a blessing."