Sunset and Stars

I found myself sitting outside again, like I had many times during the past few months. I'd been thinking a lot, about events past, about my friends – current and gone – and... Blaze. He was too special to be just classed as a friend. He was my best friend, and the only reason I am here now.

I can still remember the day we became Team Star, the day we became friends. I was zonked out on the beach, and Blaze had seen me after coming to the beach to calm after another failed attempt at entering the guild.

"What happened? Are you OK?" I'd heard. Groaning I opened my eyes. "Oh thank god, you're alive."

The first thing I saw when I woke up was his face smiling down at me, for the first couple of seconds what I was seeing didn't really register in my brain, but then I'd jumped up in shock, head butting him and knocking him onto his backside.

"Wah! A talking Chimchar!" I exclaimed, leaping back a step. I was immediately aware I could only see out of one eye due to something covering the other.

The Chimchar rubbed his head and stood back up. "Of course I can talk, have you hit your head?"

"No! Pokémon don't talk! I must be delusional... yeah, maybe I did hit my head and this is all a dream and I'll wake up!" I shut my eyes and opened them again, still seeing the same Chimchar looking at me with an amused smile on his face. "This is sooo weird..."

"Well, Eevee, I don't know what-..." He started.

"EEVEE! What the heck are you talking about? I'm Human!" I yelled, making the Chimchar jump back.

"You sure look like an n-... an Eevee to me." I didn't fail to notice the fact he cut the word 'normal' from the sentence. "Look in the water if you don't believe me."

I did so, looking into the ocean and then yelping. There, in the reflection, was an Eevee with a piece of pale fur covering one eye. "I'M AN EEVEE! I'M A TALKING EEVEE!" I jumped back, as if the reflection were tricking me and then looked at myself. This only confirmed it. "This is making no sense..."

"Do you know how you ended up zonked out on the beach, Eevee?" the Chimchar asked. I turned back to him.

"No." I replied simply. "I don't remember anything really."

"You don't? Do you remember a name?" Chimchar asked. I searched my empty head.

"Gemma. I think..." I said unsurely.

"Nice to meet you Gemma, I'm Blaze." He greeted with a friendly smile.

He was such a happy little Chimchar, and still is. Though back then he was a lot more nervous and jumpy, he's come a long way. Before the... incident, he was even happier than he is now. Going on adventures and saving the world, all in a day's work back then, and then it happened. He's been so much more jumpy again, so much more cautious when we go into dungeons. He won't let me take the slightest attack, getting himself hurt badly on more than one occasion.

So, I've found myself with a lot of time to think. I sit up here, watching the sunset some nights, and always the sunrise. Something Grovyle and Celebi would find one of the most amazing things in the world. Ah, them. I try not to think about them, they probably weren't as lucky as me, to be brought back was a blessing. One both I and Blaze are grateful of. If Blaze had gotten over my loss, forgotten me, I'd still be wherever I was. Blaze means the world to me, and... According to him, he feels the same.

I quickly found myself blushing when I thought this, shaking my head furiously as if the blush would fly off like an annoying bug. The pale fur over my eye shook with my head; tickling my nose and making me sneeze loudly.

"Bless you." I heard. I didn't need to turn my head to know who was there. "Can't sleep?"

"Nah, just thinking." I replied. Blaze's feet moved along the grass and soon I felt him sit beside me.

"What about?" He asked. I shrugged.

"Stuff." I replied. He laughed. "What's the joke?"

"Nothing, Gemma. You've always been a thoughtful Pokémon; I should know not to expect you to know exactly what you're thinking of."

"And what is that supposed to mean exactly?" I said, trying to stop my smile. Blaze just laughed, and I soon found a smile spread across my face. After a few minutes Blaze's laughter finally died down and all that was left was a small smile on his lips. "What brings you up here?"

"You weren't in your bed, I was panicked for a moment before I realised you must have come up here, you left your scarf. You'd never leave it if you were running off." The Chimchar said, my smile dropped immediately.

"Running off? Blaze, whatever put that idea into your head?" I asked. Blaze looked down. "Are you OK? You haven't been yourself recently." I added. I recognised the look on Blaze's face then, it was his 'Oh crap is it really that obvious?' face.

"Is it really that obvious?" He said, I saw his hand fiddling with a small daisy in the grass. He seemed to be picking the petals off one by one.

"Blaze, you've been all jumpy again, all cautious. You won't even let me take an attack like tackle for Arceus's sake! It's pretty damn obvious." I replied. I saw his face fall. "Blaze..."

"I don't like letting there be any chance I could lose you again, Gemma." He said, his hand stopped picking the petals and sat still. "When... when you disappeared... I wasn't sure how to go on... I barely did... I couldn't let that happen again... and with the whole scare with Darkrai it just made the possibility all the more real..."

I frowned, thinking back to the moment I myself found out my fate.

"Is this... what you really want?" Dusknoir said. I looked at him, confused.

"What?" I said. Dusknoir smirked.

"He hasn't told you? Once the future is changed and the dark future ceases to exist then all the Pokémon of the future will also cease to exist." Dusknoir explained. I looked to Grovyle.

"Is... is this true, Grovyle?" I asked the green lizard like Pokémon.

"Yes." He said simply. "Once the future is changed, we'll all disappear. We'll have never been born." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"And... and y-...we always knew this?" I said. Grovyle nodded.

"We all knew of our fate, but then... we had nothing to go back to after this. But Gemma... this changed when you became a Pokémon... You found a friend and partner in Blaze. If your partner found out that you might disappear... I'm sure Blaze would be crushed. Blaze has a good spirit... but... if the future is altered and you disappear... your partner will... Blaze will be... left all alone."

Blaze... Blaze will be alone... I... I'll disappear and Blaze... will remain. "I-I can't leave him... not alone... not like this... he's... he's my best friend." I gasped out. Grovyle looked guilty and hurt at the same time, whilst Dusknoir seemed pretty happy with himself. I soon realised why Grovyle looked hurt. "Grovyle..."

"Its fine, you don't remember me. Besides, Blaze has done a better job looking after you the past few months..." Grovyle said. "I'm sorry... that you have to leave him." I saw Dusknoir's smirk grow bigger and that was the last straw for me.

"You jerk! Take that damn smirk off your face!" I yelled, about ready to beat the crap out of him, Grovyle only just held me back.

"Blaze..." I said aloud, breaking out from my thoughts. Blaze had tears forming in his eyes now, I couldn't bear it. "Please... don't make me see you cry again... it was hard enough the first time..." I said, putting my paw over his hand. I saw him turn his head to look away, so I couldn't see his face, but could feel the sobs shaking him. "Blaze, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

"But what if something happens neither of us can control?" Blaze asked.

"Then... we can't control it. Please Blaze, stop crying." I said, sounding almost pleading now. "Please... I promise. I won't leave you if you don't cry or leave me." His other hand wiped away his tears, and he turned back to me with the best smile I think he could muster. "You're my best friend ever and you are my world." I swear I could see a blush on his cheeks. "I don't like seeing you cry, it reminds me too much... of... it." Blaze frowned.

"Is that what you were thinking about?" He asked. I shook my head.

"I was mainly just thinking about our adventures in general really. Don't worry, I hate thinking about that as much as you." I said. I turned when I saw the sun's light seeping out from the horizon. "Look! The Sunrise!" I said, pointing at the sun as it rose above the sea, seemingly from the water itself. The sky started to light up, the sun's rays now making it a lot easier to see. Blaze looked at it, grin lighting up his face even more than the sun did.

"You ready for another day's work? Gotta reach that Master Rank." The Chimchar grinned, standing up and running inside. A moment later he emerged with our treasure bag and badges. I grabbed my badge, giving him one of my own grins. He held out his fist and I bumped by nose against it. "Let's go, Team Star to the rescue!" He cheered, running off.

"Slow down!" I yelled after him.

That night...

I was back up there again tonight, the stars were already out by the time I climbed up the stairs and sat at the edge of Sharpedo Bluff. They looked like silver buttons on black silk that night, a clear sky wasn't the rarest thing around here, but a sky so alight with stars was probably the closest thing to impossible these days. Then again… many impossible things have been proven possible too.

As I sat there, I couldn't help but remember Blaze's response to my worry the previous night. He had cried, he was so worried I might leave again that he won't take any chances… I felt myself blush again. I reached up and untied the red scarf from around my ear, holding it in my paw and smiling. Blaze had brought me this the day we made Team Star. It was probably my most prized possession and I was glad it was the only item I had that was never taken in a dungeon. It so battered and torn that it was no wonder none of the Pokémon in them took it from me when we were knocked out.

It was most definitely not in the condition it used to be, so many fights and so many landings from that damn Passage of Time and Dimensional Tunnel as well as causing myself injury with my clumsy and strange nature has taken its toll on the red material, its torn in several places, covered in some marks that never came off when I washed it and probably not very nice to look at anymore. But it was not going anywhere anytime soon. I planned to give Blaze something similar to wear too, but his birthday isn't for a couple more months yet.

Ah, birthdays. I laughed aloud. Birthdays were entertaining in the guild, especially if Wigglytuff joined in the games. We all agreed that my birthday would be the day I was found and my 'base age' would be the same as Blaze… I still don't know to this day what that 'base age' is. I think I was around thirteen or fourteen when human… then again Pokémon may age differently to humans. I'm not sure… I've always been a weird little Eevee and Blaze makes it a daily thing to remind me of my little quirks. He means well, and to be honest it has become part of my daily routine and I wouldn't swap it for the world.

"Up here again?" I heard. This time I did turn around, Blaze was standing there smiling at me. He looked tired. No wonder, he took quite a number of hits today.

"You should be asleep, Chimecho said so." I reminded, Blaze shrugged and walked over. "Can't sleep?"

"Yup, I was trying to get back to sleep… then I heard you laugh and couldn't stop my nosiness from coming into play." He grinned, sitting beside me much like the previous night. "You were thinking again?"

"Yep. Sure was." I replied, laying my head on my front two paws and looking out over the ocean.

"Do you know what about tonight?" Blaze teased, making me giggle slightly before I replied.

"About us." I said. It went silent for a moment and I immediately realised what the sentence could have sounded like. I leapt up, and saw a shocked and blushing Blaze looking at me. "WAH! T-that's not what I meant! Oh Arceus that sentence was not supposed to sound like that!"

"I-it's OK…" Blaze said, the blush burning brighter than the flame for his tail. I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down and plopped back onto my backside.

"Sorry still… I wasn't implying anything… I just meant thinking about how far we've come as friends, we hit off pretty quickly didn't we?"

"Yeah, you agreed – even though you thought you'd hit your head and were dreaming might I add – to help a talking Chimchar to get back a treasure from two mean Pokémon and then joined a team with him without even knowing him." Blaze chuckled, the blush from his cheeks fading now the subject was changed. I smiled.

"And you asked a strange Eevee who thought she was human to – even though you were scared I might add – to help you beat two mean but idiotic Pokémon and then to join a guild with you even though you knew there could be bad Pokémon around." I added, grinning at my partner. Blaze scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. I giggled.

"We're one weird pair, aren't we Gemma?" He said. I nodded.

"We sure are Blaze, saving the world is a daily thing for us. I think we should be used to it by now." I said. Blaze looked out to the sea. I saw his look turn from amused to calm.

"It's a very beautiful view, isn't it? When I found that little place under the bluff I was really happy that I'd found somewhere so nice to live." He said. I always wondered about Blaze's past… he never said anything about a family and I was sure he was still pretty young, even if Pokémon aging was different. I wondered why he was alone a lot when I first met him… but after a lot of activity and problems going on I never found time to ask and soon forgot about it all together.

"Blaze?" I said. He looked at me. "Why… why did you live alone before you met me and we joined the guild? Didn't you have a family to live with?" I immediately regretted asking when his calm look faded into an upset one, and I was sure his eyes were watering. "Blaze?"

"S-sorry… it… just brought up memories…" He said. Blaze took a couple of deep breaths and then looked at me. "M-My parents died a while before I met you… some bad Pokémon attacked them in a dungeon and… and.. they couldn't be saved. M-My little sister… she went to live with my Aunt… I decided to join the guild so I could save people like my parents…"

I really regretted asking.

"Blaze… Sorry… I-I shouldn't have asked… t-that's…" I bit my lip so I didn't start blabbing. Blaze nodded. "N-Need a hug, pal?" I asked. Blaze nodded, so I moved closer to him and wrapped my front paws around his shoulders, hugging him. "Aw Blaze…"

"I'm a wuss…" He muttered. I shook my head.

"No, you're not a wuss. That a really sad story… It's understandable you'd be upset…" I said. I could feel Blaze's cheeks flare up. "Too close? Sorry..." I said, about to pull back when he pulled me closer. I felt my own cheeks burn, my stomach felt like there were flippin' Ludicolo dancing around inside it... what the heck? I should not be having this reaction to hugging Blaze! I tried to ignore the weird feeling. "You gonna be OK, Blaze?"

"I'll be fine... I just need a minute." He replied. A minute... long enough to push this damn feeling from my head. Why the hell am I feeling like this now? I've hugged Blaze before, heck, I've held his hand before! These are friendly gestures between... friends! I shouldn't be getting Beautifly in my stomach like this, I shouldn't be blushing, and I shouldn't even have to have this internal war with myself! "I'm OK now, Gemma." I nodded, pushing away and looking down at my feet. I was glad the strange fur over my one eye covered one blushing cheek, but the other would still be shown if I looked up.

"I'm sorry about bringing that up, Blaze." I apologised.

"Its fine, Gemma. You weren't to know... seems like we both lost important people at some point in our lives." Blaze replied. I looked up now, not completely sure if the blush was gone but confused enough to need to look at my partner.

"Huh?"

"Grovyle? You lost him and you two used to be pretty close, right?" He said. I nodded, but shook my head soon after.

"I guess... but I didn't remember him. And as much as I think a part of me is really upset about his loss, and Celebi's, the loss didn't hit me as hard as you'd expect." I replied, shrugging slightly and sitting back down, laying my head onto my front paws again. I could see the moon's reflection in the ocean, it was a full moon tonight.

"Gemma?"

"Yeah Blaze?" I asked without looking back at him. It was silent for a few seconds. "Blaze?"

"Never mind." He said quickly. I lifted my head and turned it to look at him.

"Blaze, tell me what you were gonna tell me. You're not hiding something from me are you?" I said, frowning slightly. Blaze was fidgeting, his hands messing with another daisy. "Blaze? C'mon, tell me."

"It doesn't matter." Blaze said, discarding the now petal-less daisy to the floor. I frowned more.

"Blaze, it obviously does or you wouldn't have wanted to tell me in the first place, are you worried about something?" I asked. "You can tell me anything, you know that."

"O-Ok... uh... I-I can't do it!" Blaze exclaimed. I stood up again, moving to stand right in front of him.

"Blaze, c'mon. You can beat legendaries but you can't tell me something?" I joked. The fire type didn't look any better. "Blaze... how bad can it be?"

"I dunno... that's the problem." He said, jittering even more now. "Please... don't laugh."

"Why would I, Blaze? If this is something important you wanna tell me then why would I laugh?" I said, patting his hand with my paw. "I won't laugh."

"O-Okay... Gemma... I... I..." He paused, looking into my eye for a moment. I patted his hand with my paw again, this time gripping his hand with it afterwards. Wait... god dammit let go of his hand you strange Eevee! Move your paw away and act like that bit never happened... WAH!

Blaze's hand was now gripping my paw.

"I... W-What would... you say... if, if I said... that I... liked you more than a friend?" Blaze said. I froze. "If I... said that, I loved you?"

My heart started beating very fast, very, very fast. I'm pretty sure Blaze could hear the beats, it sounded very loud to me. The beats rung in my ears each time my heart pounded, if Blaze was speaking still I couldn't hear him.

Blaze, my best friend, just admitted to being in love with me... can this world throw anything else at me? I'm pretty sure I've been through almost anything you'd think impossible by now. There was one problem with this though, give me Dialga and Palkia any day, but trying to figure out if I love my best friend and then if I don't trying not to break his heart? That is way out of my league.

I thought it through. The way I reacted a moment ago was the first thing I remembered... Beautifly in my stomach, blushing as red as a tomato berry, not understanding why I was feeling like that. And then how I always worried about him just that little bit too much, how I hated seeing him cry. How I would always be there for him, and him me. How I depended on him in a lot of situations I couldn't handle, even if he didn't realise it. How he made me laugh, made me smile, kept my spirits high when I needed it.

And... Blaze does mean everything to me... maybe, maybe I do love him.

But I didn't realise that since I had been thinking so hard about this that I had forgotten to answer a very nervous Blaze. I only began to come to my senses when I felt Blaze's hand loosen around my paw.

"G-Gemma? Gemma?" He stuttered out nervously. I was still stunned. "I-I get it... You don't feel the s-same..." I felt my paw drop to the ground as his hand let go.

Crap.

"I-I'll go back inside... sorry..." Blaze said, standing up and starting to walk away.

Double Crap... no, stuff that, triple crap.

I finally snapped out of it and took a few steps after him. "Wait!" I called, Blaze stopped. "You didn't even let me answer!"

"B-Because I k-know the answer..." He said. I could almost see his face, he sounded like he was crying. I smiled sadly.

"If you know my answer then why are you walking away from me?" I said. Blaze's head turned slightly. "Because I'm pretty sure you'd only walk away if I were saying no."

"Y-you..." Blaze started, slowly turning around, I could see that even though he still had tears in his eyes he was smiling at me. "You d-do feel the same?"

God I hope my self-diagnosis of my feelings was right.

"Yes, I do. I love you Blaze." I said, taking a tentative step closer. Before I knew it I found myself in Blaze's arms, him hugging me close.

"You haven't got a clue how happy that makes me." Blaze said into my ear, earning another blush from me. I wrapped my arms around him.

After a minute or two I moved back far enough to see his face, his eyes bright and smile happy. My heart started to beat quicker, and I soon realised why. Blaze and I were both subconsciously leaning closer. I saw he realised too when his cheeks started to go red and his movement stopped.

"Did I say you needed to stop?" I said, sounding shyer than I'm sure I ever have before. Blaze's blush got deeper at my words, and he began moving in again.

I really, really hope I'm right.

I moved the distance left quickly, shocking the Chimchar as my lips pressed against his. I silently fumed at the annoying fur over my eye.

All worries about me being wrong faded as Blaze and I kissed. I felt his hand brush against the fur around my neck before he held me closer again. My blush must be as red as a tomato berry by now, and I'm pretty sure Blaze is in the same state.

I loved Blaze. My partner and my best friend, and I was in love with him. Was that normal?

Blaze pulled back and smiled at me, his face most definitely was as red – if not redder – than I suspected. It couldn't be normal to love your best friend like this.

"I love you Gemma."

"I love you too, Blaze."

Then again, I always was a strange little Eevee.

~X~X~X~

How wazzat? I've been so obsessed with PMD2/3 recently I couldn't not write a Friendshipping fic. :) R&R!