Pokemon Magic: A Knight of Nightmares

The cottage was cute. That was the only word in Raven's mind to describe it.

As they followed Fluttershy across a short bridge, having passed a slender tree covered in nests and birdhouses, she found herself trying to take in every detail. It was like something out of a story book. Lush green roof that looked like it was made of grass and bushes, birdhouses on said roof, cute little fence on one side of the path, multi-leveled birdhouse on said fence, patch of colourful flowers...

And more birdhouses. Arceus did Fluttershy have a lot of birdhouses. There were birds in them, too, and most of them were watching Raven and her motley crew warily. As they got closer to the house, she looked at all the cautious eyes peering out of the birdhouse on the fence and asked, "Did you build all of these?"

Fluttershy paused and glanced over. "Oh, well...Not all of them." She brushed her hoof against the ground, and Raven could catch a faint blush on her cheeks. "My bird friends sometimes bring back more friends, and I can't just let them not have a roof over their head..."

She suddenly looked at Lenore where she was sitting on Titan's back. Raven looked too, meeting Lenore's eyes before glancing again at all the birdhouses and noting to herself that her honchkrow could likely pick one up in her talons and fly away with it easily. "Oh, I'm sorry. Y-you can stay inside the cottage if you want, Lenore, until I have one big enough for you..."

Lenore cawed and raised a wing, gesturing casually in the air, then took off to land on an unoccupied branch of a sturdy-looking tree. The bird in a nest on a nearby branch shrank down and eyed her, but relaxed when Lenore just shuffled a bit to make herself comfortable and tucked her head under her wing. Raven's mouth twitched. "She likes the open sky," she explained.

"Oh...alright then." Fluttershy trotted over to the front door of the cottage. "It's not going to rain until the end of the week, so it should be okay for her..."

Raven could hear the faint hum that meant that Titan was preparing to speak, and she gave him a gentle rap with her knuckles as a warning to keep quiet. The last thing she needed was him insulting their host over the certainty of her word choice. He complied, and instead just lowered his legs again so that he was standing on the path and then, when Fluttershy opened the door, gently lifted Raven up off of him with his telekinesis and set her on her feet in front of said door.

It was there that Fluttershy had her second size-related problem of the day and looked between Titan's wide metal body and her narrower doorway. "Oh my, I..."

"There is no need for apologies, Miss Fluttershy. I do not require sleep, nor am I easily capable of physical discomfort. Staying outdoors is not an inconvenience." Titan walked back down the path with his usual chorus of mechanical sounds and then stood motionlessly beside the tree Lenore had chosen for her perch. The bag he'd been carrying with his psychic powers floated over to Belladonna, who lumbered forward and grasped it in her claws.

However, a moment later, as Fluttershy was still looking at Titan and his choice of resting place, Belladonna looked past into the house and let out a happy crooning noise before toddling right into the cottage without permission. "Bella!" Raven scolded, but it didn't even earn a twitched ear.

Angelica took that opportunity to bound inside after her with an excited chirp, and a giggle escaped Fluttershy. "It's okay. You're all welcome here." She trotted inside, and Raven slowly walked inside as well, followed by Julie's nonchalant saunter and Grimm silently slipping through the door at the rear.

What she saw when she stepped inside was an equally cute interior, with a currently-empty bird cage, visible mouse holes far too symmetrical to be anything but deliberately made--a little face was peeking out of one of them, but it darted out of sight when it saw her looking--and a couch that suddenly looked very inviting.

And there was Belladonna, who was that laying on her belly and nose-to-nose with what resembled a cotton ball with paws and long ears. An irritated cotton ball, if Raven was reading its expression right, which instantly made it slightly more interesting to her than all of the other residents of this cottage other than Fluttershy by virtue of not being afraid of them. Though, right now, Raven was more focused on the bag Belladonna had dropped near the door, which she retrieved and opened.

Fluttershy walked over to the cotton ball to give it an affectionate nudge with her snout. "Angel, this is Belladonna, Julie, Angelica, Grimm and Raven. I invited them to stay while Raven recovers from her injuries."

Raven had a feeling that she was being studied at that moment, but she just took one of the shirts she'd had in her pack out, the exact same material and colour as the shredded, bloody garment she'd left back in the forest. She didn't care if people saw what her life had turned her into physically. She wasn't ashamed. Not of the fact that she was visibly underweight with ribs showing in the places not currently bandaged, nor of the myriad of ugly scars from gashes and the places on her arm where her flesh was warped by burns.

Not of the bags under of her eyes and the fact that her hair was a greasy, disheveled mess, either, for that matter. Self-consciousness was a useless thing, and she was aware of the fact that she was the most-dressed person in here even with just her sports bra and bandages being the only covering her torso had

There was one thing, though, and with her back to her host she knew it was plainly visible. Fluttershy had probably already seen it during the dressing of Raven's wounds, though, and what did Raven care if the cotton ball judged her? Still, old habits died hard, and something about being in the civilized environment of a house made it feel like time to cover up, and so she pulled on the shirt, trying to ignore the pain running through her arms and chest as she did so.

Only then did Raven look over, to see that Angel the cotton ball was indeed looking at her, and that he looked no more friendly than he had previously. "Hi," she said flatly.

Julie just strolled over to the nearby couch and curled up in front of it, blatantly ignoring the world, and Grimm floated up to hover in the middle of the ceiling, playing the part of a real chandelier. Angelica was eying a nearby bookshelf curiously, and Belladonna was still giving the best 'please be my best friend' face a nidoqueen could make, which Angel was not paying attention to at all.

Fluttershy frowned and nudged Angel again. "Now now, Angel Bunny, we should try to be good hosts. They're from very far away and they've been through a lot." She looked up at Raven. "You can rest on the couch, if you want. It's very comfortable."

Raven's mouth twitched, and she nodded. "Thanks." She needed to step over Julie, who clearly wouldn't move for anything sort of Raikou itself now that she'd found a desirable sleeping spot, but was soon laying on her back on the couch. The effect was nearly instant, and she relaxed as much as she could in response to being genuinely comfortable, her eyelids drooping.

She glanced over, barely moving her head, as Belladonna walked over and curled up next to Julie. The long spikes on her back slowly folded so that they were laying against her spine rather than sticking out, and she grabbed Julie's thin tail to hug like a teddy bear, which was tolerated. Angelica trotted over to the end of the couch where Raven's head was and gingerly folded her legs under her body before draping her long neck over the edge of the couch and nuzzling Raven's cheek.

Raven smiled and lightly stroked the leaf on Angelica's head a couple of times before she retracted her hand and felt the haze of sleep start to fall over her.

This time, she couldn't fight it off.

***

It'd been ten years to the day since her old life ended.

Four years to the day that what trace of happiness the new one had was lost.

She remembered standing at the top of the lighthouse, contemplating the crashing waves. He liked torturing her more on that day, every year. As the old, bittersweet memories had washed over her, he had enjoyed whispering in her mind and reminding her that those days were over. Every thought of a smile, a laugh, a comfortable silence, he was always there with his cruel commentary, reminding her that she had been powerless to stop its agonizing end, and would forever be powerless.

He had been wanting all these years to see how far he could push her, she knew. He had always wanted to break her, make her numb, shatter her sanity and cast it into the waters below.

She'd refused to give him the satisfaction of her tears. She'd pushed away the taunts and stabbing words like she always did her own self-destructive thoughts. She'd turned away from the water and made her way down the steps to the ground again; it always seemed so effortless physically, and yet the descent still felt like part of the yearly torture.

Now, don't blame me. I'm not the one who keeps making you go back to that lighthouse, my Raven...

***

"You know what I'd do if I could make my mane look like a hat? I'd turn it into one of those propeller beanie type hats! Then I could spin the propeller and fly around! Wouldn't that be so much fun?"

Twilight Sparkle let out a slow, frustrated sigh as she found herself again trotting down the path to Fluttershy's cottage, this time with a motor-mouthed, pink earth pony and a grumbling, rainbow-maned pegasus in tow. It had turned out that Pinkie Pie didn't know at all what the strange bird was, but now that she'd been given the description she was determined to see it for herself.

And throw it a welcome party. Rainbow Dash had, obviously, not been fond of this idea and had decided to vocalize this fact. Repeatedly. This had eventually faded into half-coherent grumbling, largely drowned out by Pinkie Pie's excited rambling as they both followed Twilight out of Ponyville.

When they got close enough that the end of the path, however, they saw something clearly amiss. Twilight saw it first due to being in front, but it was Pinkie Pie who reacted first, letting out an excited, "Look at that!" before bolting across the bridge in a pink blur.

The other two quickly followed, staring bewildered at the giant, four-legged object that appeared to be made of blue metal standing motionlessly next to one of the trees as Pinkie Pie bounded around it. Her stream of babble hadn't ceased, either. "It's a robot! Isn't this amazing? A real-life robo...thing. I don't know what it's a robot of, but it's a robot!" She pressed her face against the front of it, staring right into the black and red markings that resembled eyes. "Hi, Mr. Robot! I'm Pinkie Pie!"

Twilight gave a small snort. "Pinkie, that's n--"

That was when the 'markings' started to glow and Pinkie Pie hopped back to allow the robot to shift its clawed limbs to turn its body left and right to take in the three of them, and Twilight realized they really were eyes. "Hello," came a deep, unnatural-sounding voice from the metal creature, despite no visible mouth. "My name is Titan. Are you here to visit Miss Fluttershy?"

Twilight was pretty sure she heard a tiny, "Awesome..." behind her. However, before anyone could answer Titan properly, Rainbow Dash suddenly shot straight up in the air and hovered in front of a branch. "Hey, it's that weird bird!"

Twilight looked up and, indeed, there was the large black bird with the fedora-shaped crest, who let out a loud squawk and fluttered down to perch on top of Titan. The bird ruffled its feathers and shot Rainbow Dash a heated glare.

Titan spoke up again, a faint hum before it that Twilight had not noticed the first time. "Her name is Lenore, and she would like it to be stated that she does not appreciate being woken up in that manner."

Rainbow Dash's angry expression momentarily wavered as she blinked. "That's a girl bird?"

"Yes."

There was another glare shot in her direction, but Pinkie Pie leaped back into the centre of attention by hopping up onto Titan's back as well. "Hi Lenore! Welcome to Ponyville! Well, technically Ponyville's over there down the path, but still, welcome! Want to be friends? I'm friends with everypony in Ponyville. We can throw you and Titan a big super-fun party!"

Titan didn't so much as twitch at the energetic pony prancing on top of him. "We would require permission to attend any form of gathering."

That immediately caught Twilight's attention. "From Fluttershy?" she asked.

Titan turned his glowing-eyed gaze on her. "No. From our master, Raven. Fluttershy has permitted all of us to remain at her residence as Raven recovers."

Finally, the mystery was unraveling, and even Pinkie Pie seemed to know not to interrupt as Twilight let the next questions tumble from her. "Recovers from what? Where is she?"

"We were attacked by creatures Miss Fluttershy refers to as 'timberwolves.' She is inside of the cottage, along with the rest of our team."

"There's more of you guys?" Rainbow Dash cut in, finally swooping down and landing on the ground again. Pinkie Pie got off of Titan and returned to the ground as well, appearing sobered by the mention of timberwolves and the fact that one of her potential new friends was hurt.

"Yes."

Twilight Sparkle paused to consider this. Strange creatures she had never seen before, clearly capable of magic to some degree, with some sort of 'master.' What kind of pony would have such an entourage? They were either very powerful, very important, or both. Twilight had never even heard of this kind of magic.

And yet, this 'Raven' had been harmed by timberwolves and was now in Fluttershy's care. She wasn't sure how that added up. Yet. "Are we allowed inside?"

Titan hummed again. "Raven has not ordered me to stop anyone, nor has Miss Fluttershy stated a lack of desiring visitors." He was motionless as Twilight looked at her two friends.

"Alright then. Come on, girls." They continued to the cottage's door, though Pinkie Pie paused to wave goodbye to Titan and Lenore with both forelegs. Twilight carefully rapped on the door with her hoof, trying to mentally prepare for what they would see when it opened.

What they saw was Fluttershy, balancing a cup of tea on an outstretched wing. She perked up at the sight of her friends. "Oh, hello everyone. What brings you here?" Before anyone could answer, she added. "Oh! Are you here for the book I borrowed? I'm sorry, I'd forgotten. It's been a busy day..."

"Actually, Fluttershy, that's sort of what I wanted to talk to you about," Twilight told her. "We heard you were taking care of somepony named Raven? Could we talk to her?"

"Weird name for a pony," came a bit of commentary from Rainbow Dash, "Who names their foal after a kind of bird?"

Twilight was sure she could think of a few ponies named after birds if given the time to do so, but Fluttershy spoke up then. "Well, actually, she's not a pony. And, well, I-I don't think talking to her right now is a good idea. She fell asleep an hour or so ago, and the poor dear looked very tried when I found--"

A high-pitched shriek erupted from inside the cottage, and Fluttershy bolted back inside of her home, the tea cup she'd been carrying clattering to the floor and spilling its contents. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie didn't hesitate running in the still-open door after her.

***

Ten years of sleeping torture.

There was no sense of self in the nightmares, no lucidity, no true thought. If someone were to try to see images or hear sounds from her dreams, what they would find was disjointed and unnatural, ever-twisting in a way that simply seemed alien to the mortal mind, as if something so wholly removed from her comprehension were being forced into her skull with as little finesse as possible.

Mostly, it was fear and pain, poured into her very being, unfiltered through the senses of a mortal body or mind. Both in their purest, untainted form, the very concepts of them burning themselves into her soul.

Through it all, there was also a feeling of being possessed. There were no words, as words were too distinct, made too much sense, had too much identity. Just a feeling, a concept, the simple untainted truth branded into her that the nightmare owned her, that there was no escape. That escape, as a concept, did not exist.

That one night, ten years to the day, something had cut through it. White claws, something real and solid, had been held out. Her name had been called, and for the first time in the midst of the torture she'd remembered that she had a name.

This time, there was nothing.

***

Raven woke up like she always did, with screams. She snapped into awareness clawing at the air, disoriented and still feeling the echoes of the pain and terror. She couldn't recognize what she was seeing, the warped, alien world of the nightmare having replaced her perception of what was 'real.'

Her pulse was racing and, for the barest of moments, her bright red irises were glowing.

As the disorientation ended and said glow faded, reality flooding her senses and shoving the nightmare away, she hugged herself and started shaking, only now realizing that she'd sat bolt upright upon waking.

No...I'm free now...You can't...You can't hurt me here...

"Raven?"

The timid voice pulled her out of it and forced her to really look around and remember where she was. Angelica, Julie, and Belladonna were all awake and standing away from the couch, as they knew to do when she had her fits upon waking, but Fluttershy was standing with them, eyes shining with concern.

And behind her? More equines. That Raven didn't recognize. She straightened out her back and gave all of them a hard, studying stare. One had wings like Fluttershy did, but had a blue pelt and feathers and a rainbow-coloured mane. Another was purple with a horn spiraling from her forehead that reminded Raven of a rapidash. The third had neither wings nor a horn and was a very bright pink with a very poofy mane.

Julie, Belladonna, and Angelica all turned, regarding the strangers as well. The rainbow-maned one's eyes narrowed, and the purple one shifted her weight slightly in clear unease. Fluttershy looked between them and Raven helplessly.

Then the pink one suddenly bolted straight past Raven's three pokemon, ignoring Julie's warning snarl, and put her forelegs up on the couch. "Hi! You're Raven, right? I'm Pinkie Pie!"

Raven blinked slowly, meeting the bright blue eyes of the pink pony. Pinkie Pie? That sounded like what someone would name a pet jigglypuff. She shifted away, bending her knees to pull her legs in protectively, and was very tempted to try shoving that grinning face away from her. The sensations of her dream were still too fresh in her mind for her to allow a complete stranger that close.

Raven glanced at Fluttershy, who still looked very concerned, then looked back at Pinkie Pie. She managed a small, "...Hello." She conjured the most flat tone she could, but she could still hear her own voice wavering slightly.

Pinkie Pie frowned, those big eyes widening slightly. "Are you okay? Did I say something bad? If I did, I'm sorry. I just wanna be friends."

"I think she just doesn't like you so close," Fluttershy finally spoke up gently.

"Oh. Okey-dokey-lokey." Pinkie Pie immediately put her front hooves back on the ground and then bolted out the cottage door, somehow managing to do so backward. "Is this better?" she called from outside.

Raven technically knew the 'right' answer was something like 'you don't have to move that far.' However, what she said instead after a slow, relieved sigh was, "Much." She caught sight of the rainbow-maned pegasus's eyes narrowing further.

However, it was the purple one with the horn who carefully took a few steps closer, but didn't try to breach the protective circle formed by Raven's three pokemon like Pinkie had. "Maybe we should all properly introduce ourselves. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is Rainbow Dash. We don't mean you any harm."

"You don't have to mean harm to cause it," Raven stated, bluntly, and she watched Twilight Sparkle take a step back, looking like she had no idea how to take what had just been said.

The next moment, there was a blur of colour as she suddenly had a very angry-looking Rainbow Dash hovering in front of her nose. "Hey, where do you get off talking to my friend like tha--" Her rant broke off with a yelp as Belladonna grabbed the end of her tail in her claws and yanked her backward and down toward the ground. She then planted her foot down on said tail to keep her in place.

Rainbow Dash looked at her trapped tail and then up at the growling nidoqueen holding it. "What's the big idea? Let me go!"

Belladonna's growl deepened, but Raven just sighed and shook her head. "Just let her go, Bella." She obeyed, and Rainbow Dash quickly darted away and hovered in the air, glaring at Raven from a slightly safer distance, which was met with an only mildly irritated stare in return. "The big idea is that my friends don't like it when other people try to get in my face."

Rainbow Dash gave an angry snort. "Oh yeah? Well, I caught one of your 'friends' stealing from my friend's apple orchard earlier today!"

Raven paused. "That apple came from an orchard?" She shrugged. "Then, tell your friend that when I have some actual currency, I'll pay for it."

Rainbow Dash did not look appeased. "Not even an 'I'm sorry?'"

Raven shifted, then pushed herself off the couch. She straightened her back and widened her stance, drawing herself up to her full height and putting her hands on both her hips. She'd always been tall, if also lanky, and she hoped that would be to her advantage as she towered over the four-legged beings alongside her pokemon.

"I asked Lenore to find food. She found it. We didn't even know if there were people around here to claim ownership of anything until Fluttershy showed up. I do not apologize for asking my friend to do what I considered necessary to survive. If you don't like that..." Her voice took on an icy edge as she trailed off.

"Is that a threat?" Rainbow Dash shifted to a two-legged stance and threw a couple of mock punches in the air with her front hooves. "Just try it. I could kick all your flanks any day of the--"

"Oh, please don't," came a quiet request from Fluttershy.

"Yeah! We shouldn't fight," was the enthusiastic addition from Pinkie Pie, who appeared in the doorway again with an audible zip. "Unless it's a pillow fight. Those are fun!"

Raven looked at them, then at Rainbow Dash, and after a tense moment of locked gazes Raven calmly stepped back and sat on the couch; Rainbow Dash got out of her fighting stance as well, but she was still glaring daggers.

"Let's start over, then. You already know that I'm Raven. This is Angelica, Julie, Belladonna..." She gestured to each pokemon in turn, then pointed up at the purple chandelier who had been silently hovering by the ceiling the whole time. "...And Grimm."

Grimm cackled, and Twilight Sparkle ducked down a little for a second as she looked up at him. "Charmed." She aimed her attention back on Raven. "We met your other friends outside. Titan said you were their 'master.'"

Raven rolled her eyes and leaned back a little, once she was certain no more equines were going to invade her personal space. "More or less. That's what he calls it, anyway. I've stopped asking him not to."

"If you aren't their 'master,' then what are you?" It seemed even with the fight avoided, the little spitfire of a pegasus wasn't going to keep her mouth shut.

Raven didn't even look at her this time, focused on Twilight Sparkle instead. "In a lot of pain, grateful to be alive, and very tired." She shifted and flopped down into a laying-down position on the couch for emphasis, an action she instantly regretted as the pain jolted through her body, pain that easily leaked into her tone as she added, "Any other questions?"

Twilight Sparkle shook her head. "You obviously need your rest. We'll just be going...Fluttershy, could I get back that book?"

Raven thought she heard Fluttershy reply to that, but she'd shut her eyes and tuned out the conversation by that point, only vaguely hearing whatever babble was going on. Eldrich images from her nightmare danced behind her eyelids and she opened them again as she heard the door shut.

"That...that was a bit rude, you know..." Raven blinked and glanced over to see Fluttershy looking at her. There was a bit of disappointment in her gaze that was easy to pick up on, but there was still a great deal of concern mixed in.

"So's crowding around me and acting like I'm a sideshow freak," she pointed out, staring up at the ceiling again. There was silence, but the lack of hoof beats told Raven that Fluttershy was still standing there.

"You're scared of them."

Raven frowned. She didn't reply.

"It's okay to be scared. I'm scared of lots of things. But they won't hurt you, really. They're my friends."

Still frowning. Still silent.

Finally, she heard the sound of hooves on the floor. "I'm going to get some more tea. Would you like some?"

Raven wanted to keep up being quiet, but her parched throat decided otherwise. "Yes, please."

***

"I am a metagross. Classified as the 'armoured leg' pokemon, primary designation steel type, secondary designation psychic type. Third stage in the evolutionary chain of beldum. By standard calendar, I am two years and fourty-four days old. Acquired by Raven in beldum stage via trade in Slateport City, Hoenn. Original trainer name: Celeste Bryne. I am in possession of the TM moves Telekinesis and Protect."

Well, Titan was certainly eager to share information, though whether that was because they'd recently met with his master--as hostile as said meeting had been--or simply because he enjoyed answering questions, it wasn't clear.

Too bad none of it made any sense. But with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie having gone off to hang out, Twilight Sparkle had all the time in the world to figure it out. She wasn't going to let a wealth of information about a bunch of previously-unknown species slip through her hooves. Best to start at the top. "What is a 'pokemon?'"

"Pokemon is a shortening of the term 'Pocket Monster,' a commonly-accepted name for numerous species that share the following characteristics: Instinctive access to physical and elemental techniques known as 'attacks,' or 'moves,' an extremely accelerated healing rate compared to other life forms, the capability to increase in strength and knowledge via combat, and compatibility with various technologies that allow for analysis, enhancement, further accelerating healing, and storage."

Okay, that made a certain amount of sense, but it raised a lot more questions. "How many species?"

"Standard pokedex information from regions Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova combine to form a count of 649 species of varying designation and population levels, including one-of-a-kind species known as 'Legendary' pokemon."

Twilight blinked at the number, attempting to process the idea of over six-hundred varieties of these powerful magical beasts. It was both fascinating and terrifying. "What is a 'type?'"

"Type is the accepted term for a pokemon's or attack's elemental inclination. Pokemon may have a single type, or both a primary type and a secondary type. Attacks performed of a type that is the same as its user's type are more powerful, and some types have an advantage or disadvantage over others. Known types are as follows: Normal, Fire, Water, Electric, Grass, Ice..."

***

Raven sat quietly, sipping her tea. She hadn't questioned what kind it was, and she still didn't care, not even really tasting it. It was warm, it quenched it her thirst, and that was all that was required of it. She'd declined sugar, but had taken the offered cookie if only because of the insistent expression on Fluttershy's face at the time.

She still hadn't actually eaten it, though. With Fluttershy now out in her back yard taking care of the animals out there, she was left with her four pokemon, who had gone back to dozing.

Slowly, a little, grey face peeked out of the nearby mouse hole and scurried into the open. Raven's flicked her eyes in the direction of the movement, and the little mouse froze. She glanced at each of the three monsters laying around the couch and raised an eyebrow. Seriously? I'm the one you're afraid of? she thought, though she noted that the mouse could be thinking she'd alert the bigger, toothier creatures.

She looked down at the cookie, then carefully set down her teacup and picked it up. She broke off a piece. "You want some?" she asked, and gently tossed the bit of cookie past her trio of guard pokemon to land on the floor nearby; Julie twitched an ear slightly, but no one moved.

The mouse looked shocked for half a second, then gave a little, overjoyed-sounding squeak and darted over to grab the morsel. He disappeared back into the hole without so much as looking back at her.

Raven snorted slightly at the sight and looked at what was left of the sweet treat, then she snapped off a little bit to nibble lightly at. Some things really don't change, no matter where you are. If you give a mouse a cookie...

Her thought was cut short when the little grey mouse scurried into the open again and, this time, bravely raced right past Julie's large, dark paws and climbed up on to the couch. He then scurried up her shoulder and, to her shock, gave her cheek an affectionate nuzzle before racing off again for his mouse hole.

Raven blinked slowly, then felt a smile tug at her mouth. "Heh..." The sound was little more than a shallow exhale, and the whispered words afterward were no louder. "You're welcome."