#(ooc: I was planning a ‘Blake snaps’ arc and the macro cosmos conveniently happened)

[pinkhairandpokemon]

[OFFSCREEN POST]

———

Blake sighed heavily as they ducked into the dojo’s bathroom, preparing to get changed and head back to the gala. They moved rather hurriedly, wanting to leave as soon as possible before they accidentally caused anymore problems.

First, though, they moved over to the sink, cranking the faucet. They let some water pool in their in the palm of their hands, before leaning down to splash it in their face. A sigh of relief escaped them as the icy liquid helped cool off their uncomfortably warm skin.

They then reached for a towel off to the side, running it over their face a few times before setting it back on the counter. Then, they propped their arms on the edge of the sink, groaning tiredly as they ran a hand over their face.

The failure of a training session from a few hours earlier was still fresh in their mind. What was supposed to be a way for them to let out some pent up frustration turned into a disaster after they threw a sparring partner into the dojo wall. The guy was relatively unharmed, but the sight of Blake picking him up effortlessly and slamming him like a rag doll undoubtedly left everyone shaken.

And then afterwards, where Honey moved them to a private training area so they could blow off some steam without breaking anyone’s bones or anything- THAT only resulted in a training dummy getting ripped in half in a fit of sudden, unprompted rage.

“What the fuck is going on with me…?” They cursed under their breath, bringing their eyes up to look at their reflection in the mirror before them. Their skin glistened with sweat, their pink hair was slightly disheveled. There was the slightest hint of dark bags under their eyes. They just looked tired. Exhausted from everything the week had put them through.

Why did they feel so drained? They were back home in Galar, having fun at a party where the only expectation was for them to kick back, relax, and mingle with other League members.

The ordeal with Oleana definitely left them in a sour mood. But it was just a fake out in the end- nothing bad actually happened. And yet, Blake hadn’t been able to catch a wink of sleep since.

It was eating at them, haunting them from the inside- the looming dread of oncoming danger that wasn’t even there. With every distraction, it just fizzled in the back of their mind, constantly reminding Blake of its presence.

It had always been there. It just hadn’t been as noticeable lately. The trip to Paldea, all the time they’d gotten to spend with their friends- it had covered the dreadful feeling up with a blanket of security. False security. The Macro Cosmos scare just felt like the world giving them a harsh reminder that they were never truly safe.

And it drove Blake mad. Never knowing when or where chaos was going to stir up next. The looming fear that one moment everything would be fine, and then the next there’d be some maniac threatening to begin yet another doomsday that would kill everything they ever loved or held dear.

Just thinking about it right now drove Blake up the wall. Their grip on the counter tightened, their glare at their reflection narrowing. Why? Why them? Why couldn’t they just be allowed to fucking rest already?

The simmering anger made them want to break something. Someone. Whoever out there that planned on interrupting their desperate attempt at a peaceful life once again. They didn’t know who that person was going to be, or if it would even come to pass, but if there was someone like that out there in the world- even remotely threatening to disrupt their life in the smallest way, just the thought made Blake want to find them and get rid of them before they could pull any sort of shit.

But they couldn’t, there was no way of knowing when or if something was going to happen again.

It filled them with an insatiable rage.

Their knuckles were white against the counter now, and they grit their teeth, feeling that fury bubbling up inside them, getting ready to explode, one way or another. It burned and crackled like a growing wildfire spreading through their body.

They felt it building, and building, and building, searing underneath their skin-

CRACK!

Their eyes shot open, and they looked down.

Where they’d been gripping the counter, there were now large, visible cracks in the marble surface. Their hands were trembling violently, aching a little from how hard they’d been squeezing.

They pulled their hands away slowly, staring at the damage they’d caused.

Eventually, their gaze flicked back up to their reflection.

What they saw made them stumble back into the wall.

Traveling up the sides of their face were deep, burning vein-like patterns- radiating with a pulsing, supernatural blood-red glow. Their pupils were illuminated by the same color light.

A shaky, unsettled exhale escapes their lips as they reach a hand up to their cheek, tracing over the glowing red lines.

“No…” they whisper out, glowing red eyes starting to widen in horror. “No no no-!”

In a panicked motion, they frantically tugged the glove on their right hand off- revealing a pale, Y-shaped scar stretching across the palm of their hand.

Blake seemed to wait with baited breath for a moment, staring at the scar intensely, waiting for any kind of sensation to travel through it- a burning, a tingling-

-but there’s nothing. And a relieved exhale escapes them once they realize this.

Blake’s eyes trail back up to the mirror- back to their reflection. The ominous red glow on their face still lingers, giving them a haunting and threatening appearance.

“Why…?” they murmur, running their fingers over the red lines once more. “…How? Yveltal’s curse, it… it was broken… so how is this…”

All is silent as they stare on in pure bewilderment, completely at a loss of how to explain any of this.

Slowly, their gaze moves, fixating on a potted plant sitting in the corner of the room. Its thin, green stalk stands tall, and its giant leaves are a vibrant, deep green- showing how healthy and alive it is…

Something bubbles inside Blake. A curiosity. Slowly, they step towards the plant, carefully sliding their scarred hand underneath one of the large leaves. They’re quiet, anticipating something to happen, for the plant to react in some way.

Nothing happens.

Their brows furrow, and they feel something… stir inside them.

Something that feels like… a brand new sense unlocking.

They can feel the plant’s life force. No- they can almost see it- a green, wispy aura radiating around its form.

Seeing this, that strange sense deep inside them grows… hungry.

They gently grip the leaf with their thumb, brows knitting in concentration. The red lines on their face glow brighter, and begin to stretch further down Blake’s skin- down their neck, over their shoulder, crackling along their right arm, all the way down to their hand.

The scar begins to glow. Its shape fills with the same, eerie red energy.

That energy stretches to the tips of Blake’s fingers. The green, lively aura they see around the plant begins to flicker and waver- like it’s weakening. Blake can feel the life force slowly but surely draining from it, getting sapped into their own being.

The plant’s stem slowly morphs into a sickly yellow. Brown rot begins to crawl up each of its leaves. Before long, the plant starts to shrivel, tilting downwards.

The leaves finally start to crumble away, and soon, the once healthy houseplant is nothing but a withered, dead, dried up stalk.

Blake pulls their hand away, feeling… a renewed energy inside them. Like their exhaustion and fatigue from these last few days was drained away. They felt… refreshed. Energized. Like you would after waking up from a nice nap.

However, Blake’s expression tells a different story- it slowly twists into horror at what they’d just done.

Their gaze lingers on the dead plant for a long few seconds, before flicking back to their hand. Now satisfied, the red glow begins to retreat from their scar.

They hold their wrist in their other palm, thumb tracing lightly over the scar.

“This… hasn’t happened since the curse,” they think out loud, the gears beginning to turn rapidly in their head. “But… but this time I… felt in control of it…”

…Their whole body started to tremble. Their legs felt weak, as the implications of all this dawned on them.

Falling to their knees, their breath becomes heavy and ragged as they try- and fail- to stay calm.

They were feeling a million things all at once- the most prominent ones being confusion and terror.

It felt like a monster from their past had come back to haunt them.

———