"You're in luck then, Rapunzel. A knight in shining armor is here to save you." he chuckled.

The whole thing couldn't have been more cheesy, but that's what he loved. Cliches and cheese worked more often than people realized. All you needed was confidence in your delivery. Of which Ezra had plenty. Too much, according to some, but he ignored those people.

No, underneath the mountain of rubble, hidden by all-encompassing darkness, Xander's face is eerily stoic. This blackness, in the eleven years since Sinnoh, it's haunted him. Left a scar on his soul that affected everything he did, everything he was and ever would be.

There's just enough room for him to bend his working arm and place a hand to his chest.

Thump. Thump.

Beat as fast as you want little heart of his. It doesn't matter in the end. Death will greet him like an old friend. Ready to take him back to the place he shouldn't have left behind when he was ten.

The sweltering rays of the afternoon sun beat down against chocolate skin. Forehead slicked in sweat, Xander released a humid breath, grass crunching underneath his heavy footfalls. Shaded by the underbrush, Taillow chirped a melodic song into the air.

Catchy, he hummed along, the orange-furred canine at Xander's side tilted his head upward. Lycanroc's emerald circles dilated as he whined out a question.

"No idea, Django." The heavy cloud that hung over his head lacked its usually pitch-black hue. Taking on a muted grey color since he'd crawled out of bed at 8 am this morning. "I guess the universe felt like tossing me a bone today." and he wasn't about to tell it no.