PokèDruids [PkmnWattys2016]

This Could Have Been It...

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Hey, folks! Happy new year!
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"I'm... What...?" Eros couldn't manage to speak more than a few words at a time, now, as his lungs filled with air that felt like lead and drew him closer and closer to unconsciousness. "D... Damn..."

The Cacnea gave a morose grin, shutting its eyes from the world. "I'm so sorry, but... She made me do it..." He opened one of his eyes in the slightest, peeking at the fallen Sandshrew. He didn't really move now; He simply lied down, taking shallow, long breaths. The Chicorita on the side was becoming anxious, unwilling to watch the innocent little creature nearly die like this. She turned and hid behind a corner that cut visibility to the room, residing in the hallway as a shelter from this displeasure.

Eros could barely hear now, the sounds of the outside world muffled by some kind of ringing in the distance. The edges of his vision darkened, falling into the same static that all persons witness when they start to faint. Soon, this static-like phenomena flooded into the small circle in the middle of his vision, obscuring all that he should see. Not long after, a swift trail of darkness washed over his eyes, taking him from this mundane plane and casting him off somewhere much farther into his mind, oblivious to all that surrounds him...

Meadows. There were meadows everywhere. Why? What happened? Was he dead? No. No, he was not. He could feel that he was asleep, as if in some sort of dream. He knew he was alive, not dead, and yet... He couldn't pull himself from this dream if he wanted to. There was no escape. Something powerful bound him here. And that made Eros terrified for his life, being trapped within his own mind, without a way to escape...

He looked around. The sky was a dull blue, absent of any sun. The grass and brush went on forever, without a single sentient being to be seen for eternity. All he had for company was himself, a lone companion to think with. He might very well die here, if he doesn't manage to eat or drink while disabled like this... Geez. The odds were not in his favor. He thought that he could just prance in her with his fake Pokemon wife and ask for a humanity stone and do diddly-squat and leave, with smiles and farewells to go around. Granted, he knew from the start that it wouldn't be simple, but still...

He looked around. In the sky, he could see a rain of sorts start to form and fall, causing the entire universe to well up in darkness as the hail of rain snowed upon the ground. The world was so dark, and he couldn't do anything about it... Why is he experiencing this? What does it have to do with anything? Eros curled into a little ball, one of the innate abilities of a Sandshrew. As long as he closed off all the world around him, nothing could hurt him...

Why would Sicily's mom poison him? Surely, even with an undesirable "mate" for her daughter, hadn't she the slightest compassion or mercy? Why would she outright poison her daughter's husband, despite her fake content with the arrangement? Surely, she didn't see through the guise, did she? Even so, why would she resort immediately to such drastic measures? It wouldn't make any sense at all, just jumping to such... Means...

That is, unless she had something that she was in a rush to do. If she wanted him dead, she could sentence him to death, right? On the contrary, this was quite a discrete way to dispose of somebody (save that he wasn't really dead). Wait, he wasn't really dead! Surely, this was because she didn't want to break her daughter's heart. But what did she tell her to explain this? And why would she hurt... Hurt her imaginary husband...

And there were all those suitors...

Husband... Suitors... Did she plan to have Sicily...

Eros woke with a gasp. The room was dark, the only torch in the hallway extinguished by some mysterious force... He must've been out for a while. Eros looked around, trying to understand what happened. He was still  surrounded by the bales of hay, shielding him from the cool earth. Still in the form of a Sandshrew, he took a glance about the room, searching for any clues to indicate as to how long he has been unconscious or what happened.