[Pokémon X&Y] A Comedown of Revolving Doors

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Title: A Comedown of Revolving Doors
Fandom: Pokémon X&Y
Pairing: Professor Augustine Sycamore/Lysandre
Rating: G
Summary: "Are you alright, my friend?"
Notes: Written for Writer's Month, for the prompt: echo. Title from Speed The Collapse by Metric.
AO3 Link: Here.

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They'd taken the train to Shalour City early in the morning. It had been Augustine's idea – more of a whim, really. He wanted to go on a trip through Reflection Cave, citing something about wanting to study the reflective material covering the walls there. Lysandre didn't have any obligations that week, and most of his affairs were in order, so he'd agreed to accompany him, if only because he was also curious about whether or not the mirror-like shimmering walls of the cave had any links with the stones used for mega-evolution.

The professor could walk surprisingly quickly when he was very excited about something, and he was very excited about Reflection Cave. Although his legs were much longer, Lysandre struggled to keep up with him once they'd breached the entrance.

"Look at this!" Augustine exclaimed. He'd already turned around the corner, but his voice echoed through the corridor Lysandre was still in, bouncing off the strange, sparkling mirrors that covered most of the cave's inner surface. "I haven't been here in so long."

So long, the echo repeated as Lysandre finally managed to catch up with him. So long, so long–

Augustine let out a short little laugh. The phenomenon, while expected, seemed to bring him an unfettered amount of joy. And there was something about getting to witness the easy way the professor could find joy in the simplest thing that always filled Lysandre with happiness as well.

He didn't like to linger on it too much, usually, but at that moment, in the ethereal light of Reflection Cave, everything almost felt like a dream. Augustine's face, lit up in blue and green, looked like a vision he might have had in his deepest sleep when he was at his most vulnerable. His eyes shone as bright as the gem-like surfaces that surrounded them, and when he smiled at Lysandre, his head just slightly tilted in his direction, he was left entranced, pinned where he was for a few seconds, only remembering to blink when Augustine's expression faltered slightly.

"Are you alright, my friend?"

My friend, the echo said as if Lysandre's very thoughts had come alive to torment him, my friend, my friend, friend–

"Of course," he said, and managed a smile. "This is quite a fascinating place."

Place, the echo agreed. The professor's smile slid back up his face, though he still appeared a little unsure.

"Come," he murmured, beckoning him forward. "We've barely seen all that it has to offer."

As they made their way deeper into the cave, the sound of their footsteps began to resonate more and more, leaving Lysandre with the unsettling sensation that they were being followed. It was as if dozens of copies of them were moving alongside them, hundreds of Lysandres and Augustine Sycamores, walking side by side in-between rows of glimmering mirrors. Occasionally, a carbink would pop their head out from a crevice they'd been hiding in, undistinguishable from the gems that decorated the walls.

The presence of the pokémons, at least, served to soothe Lysandre's growing unease. He'd thought he would find the quiet, echoing symphony of Reflection Cave to be comforting, but the farther they walked the more he felt compelled to turn back.

They were turning around what seemed like the thousandth corner when he first saw it: Augustine's reflection in the wall behind him was different. It was subtle, at first: the professor was crouching just enough to examine one of the big gems growing out of the ground, his face turned downward – and in the mirror he was looking up, toward the shimmery ceiling. Lysandre blinked, resisting the urge to rub his eyes, but nothing changed. Then Augustine stretched himself back up and everything went back to normal.

Augustine crooked one eyebrow at him. "Are you sure you're alright?"

His low whisper didn't get picked up by the echo, but the noise his soles made as they hit the ground when he resumed walking did, bouncing off the walls as if he was stepping down a flight of stairs.

"It seems I've been overtaken by the ambiance," Lysandre replied evenly. He could feel the sweat on the back of his neck, even though the cave's air was fresh and dry. "Don't mind me."

He'd spoken too loud, or maybe his voice was just too powerful not to be picked up now that they were so deep into the cave. Mind me, the echo said, traitorous. Me, me, me–

Whatever the professor said in response he couldn't register, because when he turned toward the nearest wall to see if he could spot any carbinks snoozing inside, he was met with his own reflection, smiling at him like a sharpedo about to bite. He couldn't help but start, nearly tripping over a rock, and it was only thanks to the professor grabbing him firmly by the shoulder that he didn't sprain his ankle.

"Lysandre," Augustine said. He sounded past concerned now, his eyebrows drawn together, his mouth curving down anxiously. "If you need us to go back..."

"No," Lysandre retorted. He'd turned away from the mirror, to look at his friend instead, and was about to reassure him that everything was fine when his eyes caught Augustine's reflection on the opposite wall.

He was the same man: same dark curls, same pale eyes, same position, turned toward him, looking up at his face – yet he was a different man entirely. The coat he was wearing was red, one of the shades that were among Lysandre's favorites, with black accents that complimented his own outfit. He was grinning, showing off teeth that might as well be fangs, and the grey in his eyes was not the one that made up the quiet surface of an undisturbed pond, but the dark and angry shade of an oncoming storm, ready to wash over him until there was nothing left.

"You look pale," he heard Augustine murmur, and the Augustine in the mirror mouthed the words as well, smirking like a meowth having just caught a very juicy raticate in their claws. "We should go back."

This time, Lysandre couldn't muster the strength to lie. "Yes," he said, his voice barely trickling out. "I think we should."

The Augustine in the mirror, the demon in the red cloak, the nightmarish fantasy he couldn't take his eyes off of, laughed at that, his face flushed with pleasure as if Lysandre's predicament brought him the highest sort of entertainment. Lysandre's heart was beating harder than he'd ever felt it beat before, a terrifying rhythm that made his chest hurt, and yet he couldn't stop staring at the other Augustine, mesmerized by the way he was looking back at him as if he was a piece of meat he was looking forward to devouring strip by strip.

A sudden pressure around his wrist finally snapped him out of it. Augustine – the real Augustine, wearing no red and baring no fangs – blinked at him slowly, in the manner he'd seen him use on spooked pokémons at the lab, and despite himself, Lysandre could feel his body relax, his heartbeat slowing down until he no longer could hear it pounding in his ears.

"Professor," he said, forgetting to speak quietly, and the echo immediately picked up, Professor, Professor, Professor–

He didn't look to see if the other Augustine was looking at him still. Augustine's hand squeezed his, firmer than he'd expected, and he let himself be led back toward the entrance, keeping his face down.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," Augustine said once they were out. Lysandre inhaled deeply, craving the outside air. "There are rumors that Reflection Cave is a beacon for intersecting universes, you know." His cheerfulness sounded forced, but it was exactly what Lysandre needed to stay grounded. They were still holding each other by the hand.

"A beacon," Lysandre echoed. Augustine's fingers felt ludicrously small against his palm. "How peculiar."