private log with saffronpsychic | WARNING: POTENTIALLY SPOILERY BS

[petaldancer]

It took such an effort to open her eyes.

This seemed like it would be normal for Erika, but this was anything but. When she came to, all she could remember was that she was laying on the ground, dirty and weak, and even though she was hardly aware of anything she just knew she wasn't the only one in this situation.

There were hurried, frantic voices all around her, though sound was still muddled for her and the voices seemed to her as though they may as well be speaking in a foreign language; however, her brain could still make out words.

"Para__ics, quickly! We ___ to get these peo___ medical a___ntion, stat!"

Medical attention? Is someone hurt?

It took her a few moments of mulling that sentence over in her head before she realized.

Oh.

She was.

And there were more, too. She wasn't the only one.

Her mouth went to form the words "I'm fine," but she found her throat to be dry, and the words never made it out. She wasn't, but surely there were others in worse conditions, yes?

She tried to move. She could. That was a start. She could figure out for sure what was going on later, she just knew she needed to move. Maybe she could help ...

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[saffronpsychic]

Sabrina had been one of the survivors. When those beasts from the other world attacked, she'd survived. One of the few people who were left to rebuild after the so-called "Ultra Beasts" had devastated every land and country. But it wasn't because of her own strength.

It was because she'd failed before the fight even started.

When the Ultra Beasts first attacked Kanto, Sabrina had attempted to read their minds. But the sheer alien-ness of them, and the pain they felt at being trapped in our world, it had overloaded Sabrina's mind. She had fallen into a coma, and by the time she awoke...

Everything was in ruins.

Everyone. Everyone had suffered. And many people had died. For the longest time Sabrina had believed Erika to be one of them. She had been in a coma, but she still partially remembered Erika's attempts to reach out to her, to apologize for failing her. But Sabrina could only barely recall it.

The woman she loved's last words were like a half-remembered dream to her.

In the years since, Sabrina had ostracized herself from the packet of survivors. She retreated into herself, becoming like she'd been before her training. When she still feared her powers, and let them rage out of control. She'd begun to regress, and her psychic powers simultaneously became more intense and more dangerous to her state of mind.

In that time, she'd also become a hunter. Seeking the Ultra Beasts that remained. She wanted to make them pay. But each time she barely escaped with her life. Why should she, a mere gym leader, be expected to defeat them, when the region's greatest champions had fallen to them?

Then... then she felt a disturbance. The same hole in dimensions opening as when the beasts first attacked. Sabrina had flown to it, sensing the energy of the Ultra Beasts' world. She thought more had appeared... but instead the energy led her to a hospital. A hospital where she felt a presence that she feared had been permanently lost.

Nothing could stop her as she surged through the hallways, screaming her name, her hair rising and becoming frayed as she sought out Erika. "ERIKA!" she screamed, her psychic powers carrying it out into the building in search of her. "ERIKA! IT'S ME!"

Tears streamed down Sabrina's face, as she sent out a purely psychic scream.

I finally found you!

[petaldancer]

Even despite her insisting she was fine, she was still taken care of relatively quickly. They made sure she was stable, got her into a hospital bed, wrote down a few notes and then went off to attend to other patients in worse conditions than she. She was left alone in a room, attached to monitors and very, very confused. Everything was pretty quiet, despite the rhythmic beeping of the monitors and the faint talking of the busy hospital employees outside.

And then ...

There was a sound that cut through her mind sharply, calling her name out. She let out a scream of her own, a verbal one, and she quickly curled up, her hands over her ears and eyes wide. The scream in her mind had been preceded by both a verbal scream and another odd mind scream, and it was clear that the person responsible was clearly looking for her.

But why?

As the woman appeared in the doorway to her hospital room, she couldn't help but look up at her, wide-eyed. She was a beautiful woman, for sure, but with those powers of hers in full-effect, she looked like something simply otherworldly.

Otherworldly and very, very pained.

"W-Why ... how are you in my head??"

That was the first sign that something was very, very off.

[saffronpsychic]

By the time Sabrina appeared in Erika's doorway, she'd left a trail of people reeling from contact with her psychic powers in her wake. And though Sabrina could still be called beautiful, she must have also looked terrifying standing there, thin from not having eaten well, eyes sunken from so many sleepless nights, and her hair splayed out like terrifying wings as it was lifted by her psychic powers.

For a moment, Sabrina felt happier than she did in years. Erika was alive. Erika was right in front of her.

Then... then Erika had said what she did. And looked at her like a stranger.

Sabrina sank to her knees, and began to sob. "You don't... you don't remember my powers?" she said, as she held her face. Nonono... how could this be happening?

[petaldancer]

Something in her hurt from seeing this woman sob the way she did. Erika looked away, unable to watch this ... she didn't know what she could say or do to make it stop, but she couldn't just pretend that she knew this girl just to make her happy.

"I don't remember anything ... just my name. I'm sorry ... I wish I could say otherwise ..."

She knew getting out of bed in her current condition wasn't a good idea, but at the same time she couldn't just sit there and let this happen. She slowly moved her legs over the side.

This woman clearly knew more about her than she did about herself right now, and even if she couldn't remember anything, it still hurt to see her so upset. She slowly made her way over to her, and fell to her knees only when she was in front of her.

"I don't know if this is okay to ask, but ... ah ..."

Erika looked away again.

"I guess you know who I am?"

That was obvious, but asking her to tell her about herself was probably not the best idea at the moment.

[saffronpsychic]

Sabrina shrunk back like a timid, broken animal when Erika approached her. The years had not been kind to her. She had seen too much. Been hurt too much.

... But despite all that, this was still Erika. And she looked out from behind her olwn shoulder, and nodded, slowly.

"Y-Yes," she said. "Yes... yes I do..."

She swallowed, her throat feeling dry. "I know your name," she said, her voice coming out like a harsh croak.

[petaldancer]

It was obvious just how hurt this girl was, and from her reaction, it was obvious that she had been someone important to her; perhaps even some kind of stability for her. She felt worse than ever. Her heart hurt, knowing how much the woman before her was hurting.

She tried to keep her distance while still being close to her. She could apologize all she wanted, and it still wouldn't ever seem like enough. Aside from that, she didn't know what she would be apologizing for. Clearly it wasn't her fault that she couldn't remember anything, right?

Then why did she feel like it was? Why did she feel so horrible?

"Um ... c-could you ... tell me about myself? And yourself, too? I want to know your name."

And then, quickly, she added: "I-If it would hurt too much, you don't have to! It's just ... you know more about me than I do right now, don't you?"

[saffronpsychic]

Sabrina's heart was in agony, feeling like it might thump out of her chest. She held her hands to it, nodding slowly at Erika... needing something... anything to hold onto, lest she slip into the tempest of her mind.

"I... I want you to know," she said, still sounding hoarse. "Your... your name is Erika. You were the gym leader of Celadon City..."

She sucked in a deep, ragged breath. "You were... you were..."

She clenched her eyes shut. She couldn't tell her the whole truth now. "You were my very important friend..."

Limiting herself like that felt like plunging a dagger into Sabrina's soul, and she couldn't contain it in her own mind - Erika would likely feel a flicker of the same sadness Sabrina was feeling.

[petaldancer]

Talking about this was hurting her more. Slowly, she reached out and attempted to place a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay. Thank you for that. You don't need to say any more if it hurts."

More than anything, she wanted to see that this broken girl before her was taken care of. She clearly needed help.

"Can I call a nurse for you? Is that okay?"

[saffronpsychic]

Even without her memory, this was still Erika. The same kind woman she knew, that she'd grown to love. Even in these extreme circumstances, she was thinking about Sabrina more than herself.

It made Sabrina hurt even more.

"I... I may have disoriented the staff on my way in," Sabrina admitted, unable to look up.

[petaldancer]

"Oh. That ... might be a problem."

She didn't want to leave the girl, but she also wanted to make sure the disoriented staff members were okay. Erika didn't have to wait long, though. One of the nurses who had witnessed the event, but wasn't quite as down and out as a few of the other staff members, suddenly came in to check in on her.

"Miss? Who is this?"

Without missing a beat, Erika smiled at the woman.

"Please do not worry, she is here to see me. I apologize, she was quite excited to see me."

"Excited is one way to put it ..."

The Nurse looked as though she wanted to say something else, but she shook her head. Her colleagues would be fine, and they were being taken care of.

"Visiting hours will be over soon, so you might want to wrap this up sooner than later." Erika nodded in return, and as the Nurse walked away to check in on another patient, she turned her attention back toward Sabrina.

"Should I have asked her to look you over? I-I didn't want to assume ..."

[saffronpsychic]

Sabrina looked almost relieved as the nurse left.

"... There is nothing to look over," Sabrina said, shaking her head. "I have... I have always been this way. My powers have always been like this, and I..."

She grit her teeth. "I have been living alone for a very long time. I have been losing control..."

And not eating well, by all appearances.

[petaldancer]

"I didn't necessarily mean that ..."

Her powers were probably something beyond a Nurse's medical knowledge anyway. No, she meant her sunken eyes and her fairly obvious malnutrition. She wasn't going to call it out, though. Yet.

"What helps you control them? Is there anything that can be done to help?"

[saffronpsychic]

Sabrina let out a whimper as she tried to focus, her jaw clenching painfully as she tried to push through the pain and anguish in her mind.

"Med... meditation... trying to focus on something that gives me peace..."

You were that kind of person is a thought she's unable to keep from leaking out. Sabrina realizes this far too late, and her eyes widen in horror.

[petaldancer]

It wasn't as much of a surprise to hear as it should have been. Erika slowly reached out and took the other girl's hands, holding them gently.

"You can focus on me if you need to. I'll meditate with you."

[saffronpsychic]

Sabrina shakes when Erika takes her hands... and nods, slowly. She starts to calm down a bit, squeezing Erika's hands.

"If... if you're certain. This is all so sudden for you..."