Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Aya woke to the sound of hurried footsteps and sobbing. Rushing to her twins' room, she noticed that her son, Elio, was out of bed. As soon as she noticed that, retching came from the bathroom moments later. “Elio?” she asked, rushing to the bathroom, where she found her son, hunched over the toilet. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he continued retching, and she kneeled beside him, rubbing his back. “Oh, baby,” she crooned, sadly. Her heart broke as he continued to expel the contents of his stomach.

“It hurts, Mom,” he whimpered during a moment of respite, and she brushed some of his hair out of his face. “I know, sweetheart,” Aya said, as he began heaving again, which sounded like dry-heaving, thankfully. Once he was done, she flushed the toilet as he washed out his mouth and brushed his teeth again. “I’ll get you some water, okay?” she said, Elio nodding. Her poor child was so pale…

When she returned with the water, he was sitting on his bed, the blanket over his head like a shawl. “Here,” she handed him the water, urging him to take slow sips. He looked down at the glass, hands cupped tightly around it. “Mom? D-do you think I’ll be okay?” he asked, voice hoarse and wavering. Without a word, she hugged him tightly, careful not to spill the water. “Of course, baby. Of course,” she said, but there was that doubt that lingered in the back of her mind, and that scared her. As a mother, Aya would do anything to make sure Elio and Selene were okay. “Try to go to sleep now, okay? Can you do that for me, Elio?” “Y-yeah.”

Turning off the light, she returned to her room, chewing her lip. Elio was so, so sick, and it scared her. This wasn’t like the time that he and his sister had gotten food poisoning (as did their father), no, this was much, much worse. “Mrrow?” Meowth chirruped from the floor, rubbing against her legs as she climbed back into bed. “Mrow?” Aya buried her face in her hands, silent tears falling. Arceus, please, please don’t take him from me. Please, just let this be a normal sickness, she prayed. I want my boy to be happy.

With that, she drifted into a very uneasy sleep.

In a panic, Aya rushed to Elio’s room. “IT HURTS, PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!” He was curled on his bed, arms crossed over his stomach. “Elio! Elio, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” she asked, immediately rushing to her son’s side. He was incoherent now, merely screaming and sobbing loudly enough for all of Melemele Island to hear. Without hesitation, she quickly scooped him up, noticing how much he was shaking. His skin was incredibly hot too, he was burning up. “Bzzt! What’s going on?”

She nearly jumped, it was just Elio’s RotomDex. “I need you to go tell Selene that I’m taking her brother to the hospital,” she ordered. RotomDex’s eyes flicked between her and the sobbing boy in her arms, before doing a mock salute and zipping out one of the open windows. “It’ll be okay, honey, I promise,” she whispered to him, as she stepped out onto the porch into the cool and crisp Alolan nighttime air. He shivered in the ocean breeze, his sobbing having devolved into sniffles and gasps of pain.

The trip to the hospital was too long in her eyes. Even though the closest one was in Hau’oli City, which wasn’t far from Iki Town, where they lived, it was still too long. Aya only allowed herself to relax somewhat, once her son had been checked in. She paced the waiting room, just as Professor Burnet arrived, along with Selene and Elio’s RotomDex. “Mom, Mom, is Elio okay?” Selene asked, rushing up to her mother. “Elio’s very sick, sweetheart,” she replied, hugging her, and nodding to Burnet in thanks. “Kukui was very worried, when RotomDex arrived and said that Elio was very ill,” Burnet sighed. “Well, I’m sure it won’t be too bad,” Aya said with a nervous sort of chuckle, glancing back towards the ward he was in.

“Mom, why don’t you get some rest,” Selene said, holding Aya’s hands. “Professor Burnet and I can stay with Elio!” Oh her poor daughter. If only she would know just what would happen, as all Aya and Selene thought it was, was merely a nasty bug that Elio had caught. If only they knew. But Aya agreed, and the three waited. While doctors did their best, to figure out what was wrong with Elio.

But they didn’t know that it was too late. For all of them.

Chapter Text

For the greater part of a week, it was the same. Aya and Selene would visit, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. On most days, Elio was asleep, the medication keeping him under. Those were good days. When Elio was awake, well…

Those were bad days.

He wouldn’t stop crying, or would simply stare into the distance, barely aware of anything other than the pain. The worst of those times was when he’d start scratching, and scratching and scratching, and wouldn’t stop, until a nurse, the doctor or Aya would grab his wrists, gently, of course, and pull him away. Then, it just…stopped. He was free of any symptoms. 

Elio returned home with Aya, antsy but relieved. He still had scabs from when he’d scratch too hard and draw blood, but they were minor nicks. At least, that’s what everyone told themselves. No one had any idea as to what it was a sign of.

“Elio, what’d you get for 15?” Selene asked, sitting on Elio’s bunk. He, who was sitting at the desk, picked up his work, and spun the chair to face her. “The one about type advantages?” “Yeah, that one.” Clearing his throat, which was scratchy, he read, “Which types are super effective against the Fairy Type?” He then looked up at Selene, staring at her for a moment, as if to say “you’re joking, right?”

She met his gaze with a small frown, before throwing a pillow at him. “I’m serious, Lio! I’m not good at these things like you are, Mr. Champion of Alola!” Laughing, he picked up the paper he’d dropped, “it’s B, Poison and Steel.” “Great, thanks!” He spun back around to face the desk, absentmindedly scratching at his arm. He was very glad that he didn’t have to catch up on the work, as the Professor was nice enough to excuse him for the week he was out. Elio was scared, when he thought about it for too long.

He had bad dreams, his brain felt like it was made of Wooloo wool, and everything hurt that night he was taken to the hospital. Whatever had happened, he wasn’t sure, he just assumed, as did the doctors and the Professors, that it had to do with stress. He was, after all, the first Champion of Alola, and everyone knew how poorly the strongest trainer in the world reacted to the sheer amount of responsibility, and he was younger than Elio! So, they shut down all Title Defenses, until he was ready enough to take them on again, leaving him with…nothing to really do.

Lillie was in Kanto, on a journey of her own, Hau and Gladion were out of town, and Selene was working part-time at the Hau’oli Resort. Scratch, scratch. He could train with his Pokemon, but they weren’t listening to him very well. Scratch, scratch. Maybe he could help with the Pyukumuku, as they always needed help. Scratch, scratch. Only problem was that it was too far, and mom didn’t like it when he was away for too long. “Lio? Lio, Lio, you’re scratching too hard!” Sharp pain, and his sister’s shriek drew him out of his thoughts, where he looked down at his arm. His arm, which now had massive gashes, bright red blood welling up from the cuts.

While Selene dragged him to the bathroom to disinfect his cuts, the same haziness from that awful night returned. Actually, now that he thought about it… “Sel, is it hot, or is it just me?” Before she could answer, the world tipped sideways, and it faded to black.

Chapter Text

When Elio had fainted that day, there were concerns, yes, but Selene knew exactly three things about her brother. 1, he was easily distracted, often disappearing inside his own head. 2, he probably wasn't fully recovered from the weird stomach bug (that was her and Aya's theory), and 3, he was terribly, terribly, hemophobic. Anytime he saw even a speck of blood, within minutes, he'd black out. 


So to see that he'd fainted after slicing open his own arm by accident? Concerning, but not as much as the weird question he'd asked. Or the fact that he blacked out on tile. It's a wonder he didn't black out earlier, in her opinion, but after checking for a concussion, he was fine, even if he did scream "ricotta cheese" at her, before waking up fully. "No way," he'd refuted after finding out that he did indeed scream about cheese. "Yes way, Lio. You opened your eyes, and yelled ricotta cheese!" Selene said with a smug grin, as Elio groaned and buried his face in a pillow. 


What that hadn't explained, was why their Pokemon were all so aggressive, especially to Elio. Primarina and Meowth refused to get anywhere close to the twins, while all of Elio's dark-types, namely Inceneroar and Zoroark, all tried to attack him. "They won't listen to me!" he griped to Lillie, who had video-called them from Kanto on day. "That's weird, I thought they liked you?" He huffed in response to her question, and that's when Selene had jumped in to answer. "It's not just his Pokemon, either. Meowth's running away from him, and my Pokemon also tried to attack him." The twins had debated with Lillie, until Selene suddenly became horrendously dizzy, and had to lay down, which was easier said than done. 


Climbing the ladder had been torture, but it did help to lay down. She came down, only for dinner, and Elio insisted that she take his bunk, since it'd be easier for her. It was nice, sleeping next to her brother, like they did back in Kanto. Helped distract from the sudden itchiness that had sprouted.

Waking up to something tickling her face isn't what she wanted though. Initially, she assumed it was her hair, but then remembered that she was in Elio's bed. She could smell the shampoo he used, so maybe what was tickling her nose was his hair. "Lio..." she groaned, reaching out to alert him, but felt nothing. He wasn't in the bed, as he had woken up before her. Her ears were ringing, and it felt like someone took a sledgehammer to the inside of her skull. 


Sitting up, and rubbing her eyes, Selene shuffled to the bathroom. She turned on the faucet, splashing water over her face. It felt...nice. Very nice. Weird. Not as weird as her reflection in the mirror. Selene was very sure that she didn't get her hair done recently, as she was sporting some blue tips and streaks. While it looked kinda cool, what wasn't cool was the other features. Like the pink nose. Why did she have a pink nose?


While she dealt with that whole mess, Elio had a slightly different mess. Incineroar had backed away from him, growling in a distinctly Meowth-like way, fur raised and back arched. The worst part for him wasn't how afraid his Pokemon were, although that broke his heart. It wasn't the wing-like growths making themselves known on his face, the gleaming crystal under his skin. He was breathing heavily, fingers curled into the soil, leaving small furrows. 


Around him, sat his Z-Crystals, shining in a rainbow of colors, catching the sun. Some of them had blood on them, along with fragments of his teeth. "Roawr," Incineroar growled, clearly at a loss. Elio couldn't take his eyes off of the blood-stained Z-Crystals, as blood continued to fall from his cut mouth and broken teeth. He couldn't believe it, he just wanted to train Incineroar, to try and figure out why the Pokemon was so scared of him, but then he'd gotten...distracted. The Z-Crystals shone so brightly, so enticingly and he was...hungry. Before he knew it, he'd eaten some, slicing open his mouth and cracking his teeth in the process. 


Elio ate his Z-Crystals. And the worst part? They satisfied his hunger. There was only one other who would consume something like this, with the same shimmering crystal and wings. He knew it. 


Great Arceus, he was turning in Necrozma.