Nerdstein [complete!]

[will_be_god]

Characters: Cyrus, Django, Jupiter
Time period: 1000 AD
Location: Millennium Fair
Time of day: Early evening
Content: An empty fair with a robot and a disembodied head. Insert slow music box music and you have any given horror movie ever.
Warnings: Paranoia! Surprisingly unrelated to most of that.

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[g3_jupiter]

The sight of the portal had made Jupiter shiver, for it had immediately reminded her of that fateful moment when the Gods had been summoned...

Still, she reasoned, if the Gods were on the other end, she was going to give them a piece of her mind. And if the portal led to the cramped hideout she called her home, that would have been welcome as well.

Surprisingly, going through the portal felt a lot like using one of those teleport platforms in the Galactic Headquarters. She hadn't registered the feeling the first time, and being reminded of the most glorious days of Team Galactic made her smile pleasedly.

Once past the portal, she blinked.

She had relived her memories before, but they had never been so odd and so realistic at the same time.

[will_be_god]

Cyrus had started to doze off, seated on the steps connecting the flat square to the rest of the festival. It had been a long day, and he'd had far too many of those lately. But a flash of blue brought his focus back. "Django?" he asked. The boy had wandered off, probably through the portal, and he had intended to follow but decided to rest instead.

No answer. He rose, hoping it wasn't one of Bekkler's minions. That sort always had minions, didn't it?

But instead he saw a tall woman staring back at him in disbelief. "...J...Jupiter?"

[g3_jupiter]

"C-Cyrus? ... Sir?" the woman stood rigidly, but there were tears forming in the corners of her eyes, wide with incredulity.

The cave, the town, and now this, had all to be parts of an illusion, a hallucination, the different scenes of a dream illogically linked together. He couldn't be there, standing right in front of her. And in such a surreal place, too... "... Is that really you?" she asked in a weak murmur.

[will_be_god]

He snapped to attention, face retaking its usual grim look. "It is, Commander. Your report."

[g3_jupiter]

"R-right. My report..." she tried her best to get into her old mindset. Her arms fell stiffly along her sides and she cleared her throat.

"I was in Sinnoh, specifically in one of the Underground tunnels, hiding away from the police, when I lost my balance. And when I fell, I found myself outside a strange cave, no longer in Underground, or in Sinnoh. As a result of this mysterious transition, I also appear to have lost all my Pokémon along with all my belongings aside from my uniform... " her voice progressively grew weaker. "... Which I hope you will be pleased to see still on me with the logo still proudly displayed, to which I should add that since your disappearance I haven't even bought any new clothes. In any case, I followed a path, and it led me here."

She gulped audibly, awaiting the man's reaction. She discovered she was feeling an impulse to touch him, to have tangible evidence of the fact that he was real.

[will_be_god]

"The police?" he asked after an almost imperceptable gasp. Not here, not now, not in front of one of my officers... Forcing himself to present as he had, he nodded. "Tell me of the condition of the Team. How long have I been gone?"

[g3_jupiter]

"A month, sir." Jupiter replied promptly.

But after all the walking she had done, and several days of sleep deprivation, Jupiter started feeling like her knees couldn't withstand the weight of the rest of her body anymore, and soon she found that she was no longer standing as straight as she would have liked.

"Sir... What is this place?" she asked in a whisper as she collapsed on her knees. She wanted to pretend it was a simple bow in front of the man she worshipped, but she had fallen so limply, it was perfectly obvious that she was about to pass out.

[will_be_god]

She fell before him and he watched. Exhausted and pained, reminding him all too well of his own condition. "I only arrived in this place a few hours ago, although I have been other places. Commander, I was in a very primitive place...I believe it to either be the dawn or the twilight of humanity. And it is not our world. They know not of pokémon or simple things like that." He paused, waiting for her to soak in the information. "Ought I continue? I see you are weary."

[g3_jupiter]

"I might be... Close to fainting, sir." clearly an understatement, delivered in as lucid a tone as she could muster.

She had placed a little weight on her arms, and even they started wavering now, and her head felt unbearably heavy. "G-goodnight, sir..." she closed her eyes, showing Cyrus a small, blissful smile.

[will_be_god]

"Not here. The stone will not be restful." He knelt down and offered his arm. "There appeared to be a sitting area below. Come with me."

[g3_jupiter]

"I'm sorry, I can't... " the sentence was meant to be continued, but Jupiter's energy failed her entirely.

Jupiter's eyes being closed, she did not see Cyrus' arm extending towards her. The last remnant of her strength was spent making sure she fell forward, in the direction of the man she couldn't live without, before she completely lost consciousness.

[will_be_god]

With a sigh, Cyrus manouvered his arm around her, picking her up and dragging her carefully down the steps to the area by the fountain, in a small tent. "I can't have my commanders in such a state. You will be unable to serve me until you regain your strength."

And the memory of the phantom woman who spoke to him of his goals, only to vanish before his eyes with no trace she had existed, returned to him. Was Jupiter going to befall the same fate?

"...If that happens," he reasoned, "she was not here. I must rest too."

Settling beside her on the thin carpet, he yawned and drifted to sleep without a second thought.

[g3_jupiter]

Jupiter awoke suddenly, sitting up and looking around herself frantically. It had been a dream, hadn't it? She could only meet him in dreams now...

But she was immediately reassured by the presence of Cyrus' sleeping form, so close to her. With a small, content smile on her face, she simply looked at him, feeling she must watch over him. How had he been? Was he hurt? How did he, a lover of technology, end up in such an odd, primitive place? She recalled what he had said to her before she had passed out. Whatever mess they had gotten themselves into, at least they were together now...

[will_be_god]

A short time thereafter, the sun shone through the tent, and Cyrus opened his eyes to a familiar sight. His first waking thought was that he'd been wounded on a mission and lost conciousness, and she had tended to him, but that was impossible. There was a full month between them. The village, the other people, the strange monsters. Yes, they all came back to him, and he blinked a few times before saying anything. "Commander. It's good to see you."

[g3_jupiter]

"I've missed you, sir. I feared you would remain nothing but a memory for the rest of my life." Jupiter made sure the tone her words were delivered in wasn't too emotional, something she had learned to do around Cyrus. "And again, I'm terribly sorry about what happened at the Spear Pillar. Those kids... They were much too strong, even for Mars and I." she balled her fist in anger, anger that, surprisingly, was primarily directed at herself rather than the kids. Mars had blamed their defeat on Jupiter, and while Jupiter hadn't paid much attention to that at first, recently, with both Cyrus and Mars absent, she had begun to think that maybe Mars had been right.

Perhaps Jupiter hadn't given her all in that battle. Perhaps she should at least have stalled for a few more minutes. Perhaps she was the only one to blame for the fall of Team Galactic...

[will_be_god]

"I will never be a memory," he said simply, before standing. "Commander. It was not the children who defeated us; not exclusively. Those damned Lake Spirits shattered the Red Chain before those children could approach me."

He started to walk off, stopping nearer the fountain. The square was still empty. "You did fail. But so did Mars. And--" He fell silent, the rest left for her to understand.