Lambency (Ingo x Reader)

13. Locked Doors

Ingo assuredly cannot put into words how he feels at this exact moment.

The stirred up emotions

The realisation

Of his loss.

The fact that he cannot remember you or his brother, or anything you have told him today.

But he still wants to believe all of it

From the bottom of his heart.

So why is it so hard for him to accept it? Why cannot he simply remember?

Why does it all sound so foreign to him?

But to you, he is still Ingo.

You have been living with the complete, intact memory of him.

And that memory will linger

Within you.

He understands how sad you must feel, because he feels profoundly sad too.

If he were in your shoes, he would feel helpless too.

You must be disappointed in him.

There is a light flickering, somewhere in his chest.

Like a very small candle, about to go out.

Its glow is so weak that he cannot see the pictures in his heart.

The picture of the man who looks like him, his twin brother, as you revealed.

The picture of a precious Pokémon, whose flames are magical and lambent.

There is also the picture of someone else. Another person he used to love as well.

He wonders if that person could be you.

Although he does not recall how close you were, he does have the sensation that you were important to him.

Your smile moves him like no other, and his throat dries out when you pronounce his name.

Because of it, he wants to believe that you, too, have had an impact on his life. Otherwise, his reaction would not make sense.

He wants to keep that small light burning,

Inside his heart

For his heart thumps when he sees you.

Something is banging at the door of his heart, begging Ingo to let it out.

A faint voice, desperately calling from within.

But Ingo stands motionless in front of that door, impassively listening to the faraway echoes.

Please, forgive me. I cannot help you.

I haven't got the key to that door.

I ignore where it is.

It probably fell

Somewhere too deep and dark for me to be able to recover it.

***

"Thank you for joining us, Ingo. Now please, Sir Gaeric, tell us what happened."

"Thanks, Irida! So yeah, Sabi and I were having a chat at the Icepeak Arena when we saw the rift opening in the sky and the distortion appearing out of the blue at the Avalanche Slopes. We ran in that direction as fast as we could and crossed path with Akari, who came flying. I'll get to the point, it was nastier than the one before!"