Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shielding her eyes from the ocean sun, Manaveris Dracona stepped cautiously off the boat and onto the pier. Despite growing up in Hoenn, she had never been near the ocean, let alone ridden in a boat before now - she still wasn't used to the rocking. But she was finally here! Zatao, the (relatively to everywhere else) unexplored continent. This bustling port town must be Katarina, the second city established! She paused to marvel at her surroundings and someone bumped into her. "Oh, uh, sorry." She mumbled after them halfheartedly, but they paid her no attention. Blinking, she frowned and clasped a hand around one of the dragon's teeth hanging from her top. "...Jerk." She muttered quietly.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she walked over to what a large sign identified as the General Goods Store. Stepping inside, a disinterested clerk gave her an equally disinterested look before turning back to the magazine in his hands. "Uh, excuse me?" She asked, walking up to the counter.

The clerk sighed and looked back up from his reading. "Yeah, what is it."

"I'm new here," The clerk gave her a dead look - it was clear that he'd heard the same thing countless times. "I was wondering if you had a map of the region for sale?"

He pointed lazily behind her. "Aisle 12, near the back. Anything else?" She shook her head, and he went back to reading. Or tried to, at least, as she returned shortly after with the map in hand. Sighing again, he accepted her money and shooed her away.

A few short hours later, the girl was making good progress through the mountain path. She paused to overlook the city she had left behind - it looked so small from up here. She grinned widely, taking in the sight. This was a view she would never have had stuck in bed back home. Momentarily wishing she'd brought a camera, she instead etched the picture into her memory, and smiled.

Turning from the cliff face, she took a deep breath, and it caught in her throat. Her eyes went wide at the all-too familiar effects of the illness as she coughed, hard. Her lungs burned, but she remained calm, knowing it would pass like usual. Hoping it would. Wouldn't it be ironic if it claimed her now, while her journey had barely begun?

Coughing and hacking, the girl took a step back to steady herself, and met only air. A dull realization hit her as the attack ended - she was standing by a cliff. A very tall cliff. Tears materialized in her eyes as she fell, and she couldn't help but let out a choked laugh at the stupidity of it all. She was going to die, not by the illness that kept her in bed for most of her adult life, but by falling? How stupid was that?

She hit the side of the mountain, hard, and still she kept falling. Jagged rocks and mountainside sliced into her flesh, tearing her clothes, battering her body. Finally, she stopped falling, and she took a ragged breath as she tried to move. Failed. She was barely able to lift her head, seeing the blood pooling around her. Even that took all that was left in her, and her head fell back to the hard earth.

She passed out. She woke up numerous times, vision blurry, but each time she fell back asleep. The last thing she was able to remember was a man, saying he was sorry.

Manaveris woke to the sound of two people talking, but the sound abruptly stopped as she sat up. She was in a bed, that much was clear. Had everything been a dream? She looked around to see faces that were not her parents' staring at her. The man spoke first. "I'm very sorry about what happened." He said, grimacing. She tried to think about what had happened. She remembered having an attack, then falling. Everything after was a blur, and it hurt to think. She put a hand up to her forehead, blinking as she noticed the scars on her arms. She knew those weren't there before the fall.

The black haired man continued speaking. "When we found you, you had already lost a lot of blood - you wouldn't be able to make the trip to a hospital. So we had to use potions. They were the only way to let you live. But potions don't work on humans like they do on pokemon. They seal up the wound, but the pain is unimaginable, and scarring is guaranteed. I'm sorry." At his side, the raven haired woman gave her a hand mirror. A quick glance at it revealed a ton of scars on her face, including one huge X shaped one above and around her nose. Looking down, she saw a jagged scar running across her chest.

None of it seemed real. She had cheated death again? She looked up at the two and gave a small smile. "Thanks. They don't bother me, if that's what you're worried about. I'm just happy to still be alive for now. I don't have that much left, anyway."

Manaveris looked around, her brown eyes scanning the desert before her. Desert? Ah, a dream. She remembered dreaming of exploring the world, finding things she'd never thought of. Compared to those, dreaming of the desert nearby her house was a little lackluster. A little screwed up, even, considering it was her frequent trips to the desert as a child that had confined her to her bed for most of her life. Now she had to dream about it, too.

"Hic... Mama, papa...!"

Hearing a child crying behind her, she turned around to see what was unmistakably herself. Oh, come on. Not only was she dreaming of where she got the illness, she was dreaming of when, too. Her subconscious must be totally screwed up. She momentarily thought about talking to the younger her, but decided that was stupid - it was a dream, and she knew it. Instead, she merely stared at the younger her, crying as she was in the sand.

"Mama, papa! Where are you?"

The child's cries echoed in vain through the desert - her parents didn't even know she was here. Mana had snuck out, against her parent's warnings.

"Hic..." The girl continued to sniffle Manaveris looked on. "Why aren't you helping me, Mana?" With tears in her eyes, the younger Manaveris looked straight towards the older, dreaming one.

Despite herself, Manaveris responded. "You're not real. You're just a dream, an illusion. I can't do anything to change the past."

"But what if you could have? What if you'd just listened to your parents?" The younger Mana's face melted away to be replaced with an older version. The Manaveris before she came to Zatao. "You could have had all the time in the world to explore, but you. Just. Didn't. Listen." The dream-Manaveris stood and stepped closer to the dreaming one. Shoving her face into the other's, the illusory Mana glared. "It's your fault. You did this to us."

Manaveris took a tentative step back from the dream-her, only to bump into something. Whirling around, she saw the younger Manaveris, tears still in her eyes. "Why couldn't you just listen, Mana? It wasn't that hard. The sandstorm was coming, you should have stayed inside like everyone else. But you had to explore, had to be the brave one." A tear streaked down the child's cheek, but devoured the flesh from the younger her's face as it went. Manaveris took another step backwards in shock. "You did this to us. We're dying because of you, Mana. Why didn't you just listen!?" As the younger Mana spoke, chunks of flesh dripped off her face until nothing remained but bone.

Eyes wide, Manaveris took another step back and found nothing but air. She fell.