Chapter 1

Penumbrae

"Like her… Just like her…" The shadows whispered. "And unlike her, I won't ever get bored with you…"

It was all in his own head. Ash Ketchum's eyes calmly flickered open from his dreamless sleep, his vision locked on the ceiling of their small apartment. Only the latest in a multi-year string; if it wasn't a nightmare, it didn't exist. He had once begun to confuse the two, and was now old enough now that he didn't remember the last time he had a 'sweet dream'. Hearing his mother's heavy breathing from across the hall was nothing new. Her muffled whimpers were easily distinguishable from the dead, quiet ambience in their apartment. From blank and expressionless, his face was now marred by a small frown.

"You hear her sobbing, crying…? Mmnn…"

Like a wisp in his ear. It was hardly two seconds later that his feet touched the carpet, and he found himself walking through his relatively empty room towards the open door. The limited amount of artificial light that came in through the window could hardly illuminate the space, so he relied on his subconscious to guide him into his mother's room. The door was cracked, giving way with a push so gentle that it could shame a Hoppip. Soon revealed was his mother, curled into a ball on her bed, hugging her knees.

"Mommy… Mommy…" It mimicked. "Say it."

Ash wouldn't say a word. There was no telling how spooked his mother would be from only hearing his voice. Carefully approaching the bed, he reached out and set a hand on her shoulder. Under his touch, he could feel her seize up, until he sat down on the bed. His weight comforted her. No illusion the shadow could produce could fake that. She glanced back at him with frightened eyes, however, no words were exchanged. Lying behind her, the barest sigh of relief left her and Ash brought her into an embrace, loosening her body. The sniffling began to fade ever so slowly.

"How sweet," The voice mocked. "Why can't I get a hug~?" Giggling reverberated around him. Shallow,cold, heartless. It consumed him.

Suddenly a force grasped at his neck, causing his eyes to widen. It squeezed tighter and tighter. He struggled for air, thrashing around to gain some sort of reprieve, and when it finally became too much to bear, the pressure was released.

"Hmnn… Too bad it's not real," The sing songy teasing was edged with a hint of disappointment.

His heart squeezed. Reality came flooding back with Ash jolting up in a cold sweat, coughing. Heavy gasps filled his room in their wake, and he brought a hand up to his neck, feeling nothing. Looking around, he noted that he was still in his own room. He listened for the sobs of his mother, and heard nothing. As quiet as a graveyard. Ash let out a long breath. Yet another nightmare, and that meant that she wasn't being deprived of sleep. It was focused on him.

"Hah." He heard a light scoff. "Not real… No. None of it. Not yet…" Sadistic joy dripped from the voice.

Not yet. Ash's empty stare met the shadows, which only seemed to gaze back at him. His eyes narrowed. "…Leave Mom alone."

The dry rasp in his voice could be attributed to it being the first time he's spoken in many hours, and it didn't betray how he felt after so many days and nights in their cursed bubble of reality.

Hate was a very strong word, and not the right one. Ash didn't hate this creature despite it's misdeeds. It was far more reserved than that, for him on a personal level. His fear of it had lessened with time; he would no longer cry out in his sleep, double check the darkest parts of his room at night, investigate every little noise with shaky hands and terror gripping his heart, so on. Though, his fear could not be eliminated entirely. He read that it was instinctual for people to be afraid of the dark, and it made sense. However, none of this meant that he would never be worried for his mother.

She was the most affected, and tried her hardest to keep it bottled up through all the rough patches, the thick and thin over the past years of turmoil. Trying to raise him and keep a stable job, a stable sense of reality, even when their lives were collapsing like a house of cards around them. It was getting ever closer to reaching its peak. That was the eventuality that the creature spoke of.

Not yet.

Three years ago, this wouldn't have been a thought in his or his mother's mind. Care free, happy, normal, and among all else, stable; living a joyful and peaceful life in Pallet Town. But at nearly ten years of age, Ash Ketchum had already felt the seedling darkness creep into his heart.

"Mmnn. I'll leave her alone-" A chill brushed the back of his neck. "-When she's dead."

That struck deep, his breathing shuddered. His eyes widened. "You… You wouldn't." Ash whispered, clutching his sheets. "You're not really evil…" Trying to convince himself never worked. Never. He never thought that any Pokemon could do this. It went against his perception of reality, everything he had ever seen, heard, or imagined. However, this creature just served to prove him wrong in the most agonizingly slow way possible.

More cold echoed giggling erupted around him, followed with three simple words. "Count. The. Days." Each was delivered with a pulse of his heart.

Ash Ketchum was truly silent after that.

So was she.

Banette of my Existence

A/N

Haven't written anything in a hot minute. Unsure whether or not I'll continue this. Debated making the one above the title, but it was slightly too punny (That's an actual word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, meaning exactly what you think it does; that was news to me) for the theme of this story.