The bones are melting (the skeleton is ash)

.

When Akari stumbles into the cave that Giratina was in, she wasn't afraid of angry or anything like that. She was tired. She was tired of the constant reminders of Volo and that damned day on the mountain. But Giratina didn't need to know that, so she closed her eyes and pretended to be confident, cocky even and spread her arms wide with a grin to call out to it.

But when she opened her eyes, it wasn't there. What was there in its place was him. Volo. Hidden by the shadows just enough to show himself to her, he stared with a dead look. Vaguely, an article of clothing is smoking.

Immediately, Akaris heart drops, because suddenly she's looking at the face of h̶e̶r̶ ̶b̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶ a̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶ someone she hasn't seen in weeks.

"....Volo?" her voice comes out broken, and he doesn't even respond. He just looks at her, unblinking, frowning.

She ran. She didn't even think to call on Basculegion because all that's in her head is get out get out get out run run run leave. She doesn't think when she digs her palms and knees on the jagged stones behind Giratina's cave.

She's bleeding and shaking when she finally runs to the camp, her knees torn and bleeding along with her hands and elbows. She passes Laventon and ignores his concerned stares and him calling out- he's saying something but she can't understand all she hears is her own heartbeat and ragged breath.

When she arrives in the village everyone reacts the same as they did on That Day, frightened and treating her like an unpredictable animal, eyes following her while whisoering amongst themselves. She ignores them and heads to her quarters.

She doesn't realize it's night-time until after she's calmed down significantly and stared out of her window, sighing she puts on her sleep clothes.

It goes downhill when she looks at the mirror.

When she looks at the mirror she jumps, when she looks she sees Volo. The very same Volo that stared at her silently at the cave.

She can't even speak as she is paralyzed where she stands, none of her pokemon are addressing him and a few are concerned for her as if she's scared at nothing.

But there is Something there.

And that Something stays there until morning, and she is able to sleep.

A jacket causes unease throughout it's absence.

Akari doesn't get to sleep for long though, as Rei bangs on her door because apparently she has an expedition to go on today.

The expedition goes poorly, mainly because she has had about three hours of "sleep", if sleep classifies as shutting your eyes as you desperately try to drift into unconsciousness with no reward.

Once again, when she returns at night she is met with Volo, except this time he's outside her window. She tries to ignore it and go to sleep but it is about as successful as last time.

Over time, it is always the same with Akari losing more and more sleep as Volo visits her during the night. It isn't until she passes out inside of a Space Time Distortion too far away from either camps in the Alabaster Iceland's, only being saved because of her Arcanine does she finally admit what has been happening.

So Akari confesses to Irida while being tended to in the Pearl Clan Settlement and she knows she made a mistake when she looks at Akari with pity.

"My light...Volo has been considered dead for weeks, that couldn't possibly be him."

"You..you weren't there. You didn't see him standing there and-and--"

"I'm sure that this is just your brain making images out of the dark. The professor has mentioned that it is possible, didn't he?"