Chapter 7

family reunion

"David?" My sister said, just as shocked as I was.

"Sis? What are you doing here?" I asked curiously.

"To escape the hellhole upstairs, what about you?" She asked me.

"The same." I said as I ran up to her and hugged her.

I'm ten years younger than her so she is 31, and fully grown, which felt odd because I didn't know what happened to her since I turned 18. She just left.

"Who are these ladies?" She asked with a smirk as she looked at the typhlosion and the luxray standing a few feet away.

"Oh Tia! Nice to see you keeping my little brother from causing any trouble." She said as she walked over to Tia and hugged her.

"I didn't know you were David's sister!" Tia said as she happily hugged her back.

Something on my sis' finger caught my eye, something round and metallic.

"You got married?" I asked anxiously.

"Mhm. Oh there he is now, sweetie over here!" My sister said as she waved at someone behind me.

I turned around to fins my self face to face with a lucario, he stared at me with an intense glare, like I had did something he did not like.

"Honey that's my little brother." My sister told him and he instantly loosened up.

"Wait, you're married to him?" I asked as the lucario silently walked past me and stood beside her.

"Yep!" She said happily as she wrapped her arm around him.

"Did not suspect that, is that the main reason you left home?" I asked her, which she sadly nodded.

"Also because dad was being the largest prick on the continent." She added.

"Why did you leave me when I was 18?" I asked her.

"Well it wasn't safe living there anymore, so when I thought you could handle yourself, I left. I didn't bring you with me because I didn't want to run the risk of you getting in trouble if we got caught." she told me.

"You're David, correct?" The lucario asked briefly.

"Correct."

"You aren't like I suspected you to look like."

"What did you expect me to look like?"

"Skinny and weak."

"Oh don't mind him! He's a bit judgmental at times but he's sweet." Sis told me as she slightly elbowed him.

"Hey, where's Max?" She asked him curiously.

"Max?" I wondered curiously.

The lucario merely pointed down at his legs, where a small riolu timidly hid behind them.

"Max, don't be like that, that's your uncle." Sis told it as she bent down and scooped him up into her arms.

He merely hid his face in her shirt.

"He's a bit shy is all, he will get used to you." She told me, noticing my shocked expression.

"What?"

"THAT'S YOUR KID?"

"Yeah." She said nonchalantly.

"What, is there a problem David?" She asked seriously.

"No! I was just surprised is all, I'm just a bit shocked that I'm an uncle." I told her, which made her lighten up.

"Yep! You're an uncle." She said as she held the riolu in her arms, who was now poking his head out to look at me.

He looked at me and tugged on her shirt, so she could put him down. He walked over to me slowly and tugged at my pants leg. I bent down as far as I could, considering he was really short and I'm considerably tall.

"Hi Max, I'm David." I told him as I patted his head, at first he looked at me with a curious look but then smiled.

"David!" He said happily, repeating it a couple times as he ran around me.

"Not so shy now huh." I thought to myself, looking up at my sister, who was on the verge of laughing.

"He's never acted like that, even around us." She said happily as she picked Max up, who struggled to get free and run around more.

"Well David, I'll see you later, we need to go pick up food." Sis told me as she waved at me and walked away, Max looking over her shoulder and waving at me too.

"David?" I heard Lia say.

"Can we go back? My legs are killing me." Lia begged with her begging face, which I have to say is my cryptonite.

"Fine, let's go." I told the luxray and typhlosion as I began the long, annoying trek back to my room.

As we walked back, I noticed that there was a bar near the main plaza, somewhere I would eventually return to. When we got back to my room, Lia was quick to claim the couch, and Tia was tired too so she asked to nap in my bedroom. I needed to cook dinner, so I just allowed them to do as they pleased. Cooking would be a lot more difficult down here if it wasn't for all the stuff taken from the surface, apparently when families moved in, they brought what they could with them. Which ranged from canned food like corn to microwavable pancakes. There eventually became such a surplus that it was spread out between everyone in Haven, every once and a while, there would be supply runs to the surface. I didn't know how they accomplished massing all that food inconspicuously, but they somehow did, and I didn't question it. As long as I was able to feed myself and the two others, I was good.

Tonight's food consisted of soup with a bit of meat on the side. I had always, always questioned if the meat was from pokemon. Everyone told me the meat was artificial, kinda like soy, I was just glad I wasn't eating another sentient being. I didn't question anything but if it was from pokemon, if it wasn't, then I was fine and did not need an explanation of what it was from. Same thing with eggs.

"Dinner is ready you two." I yelled to the sleeping pokemon, who lazily entered the kitchen to come eat their meal.

"It smells good, what is it?" Lia asked me as she sat down and groomed herself.

"Soup, with a bit of meat." I told her, her glancing at me fearfully.

"IT'S NOT FROM A POKEMON I SWEAR ON MY LIFE." I told her quickly, which made her calm down.

Her and Tia ate, I finished mine before the both of them so I could go shower. When I had got out, I got dressed and laid down in bed.

"David?" I heard someone say, I turned to find Lia beside the bed.

"Yeah?" I asked her, she jumped up on the bed and laid down beside me.

"What do you think about relationships like your sister had?" She asked me, I was guessing it was out of curiosity.

"I think it's normal and okay." I told her honestly.

"Oh... David, do you mind if I lived with you?" She asked me shyly, stuttering a couple times.

"Not at all, stay with me as long as you want." I told her as I patted her head.

"Thanks David." She said happily as she nuzzled into my side.

Eventually she fell asleep and I did too. I woke up in the middle of the night when I heard crying.

She was the one crying.

"Lia?" I said as I shook her lightly, she woke up and scrambled off the bed, falling off the side and landing on the floor.

"Lia!" I said frantically as I dove off the side and went to her.

"David!" She said as she cried into my shirt, I gently held her there to comfort her.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I had a nightmare where I was all alone again." She told me as she continued to cry.

"Lia, I wont leave you." I told her as I held her there.

"Promise?" She asked with a snivel.

"I promise, I'll never leave you, I understand how it feels to be alone, and I won't put you through that pain ever again." I told her as I held her in my arms.

She got emotional and continued to cry, so I held her there until she eventually fell asleep again. Even then, I didn't move, I held the luxray in my arms because I felt that me holding her was what was keeping her from having nightmares. Eventually morning came and Tia woke up and checked on us.

"I heard her yell last night. I didn't intrude because I thought I would be intruding on something." She said with a smirk.

"She had a nightmare." I said flatly as I glared at her, her walking out while giggling to herself.

I looked down to find that Lia was awake, and blushing so much her face look like a tomato under her blue skin.

"Did she think we were doing... that?" She asked me, clearly embarrassed.

"Yeah." I told her as I let go of her.

She backed away and tried to hid her blushing by sitting in the opposite direction of me.

"We aren't even a thing... Even if I had feelings for you, I doubt that you would feel the same." She told me, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"It was just a joke Lia."

"I know..." She said as she got up and walked out.

I sighed and followed her out. She seemed depressed after her nightmare, so I tried my best to comfort her. She wouldn't eat breakfast, she just sat there and stared at it. I motioned Tia to give us a moment and she walked out.

"Lia." I tried to say sweetly as I sat down on the floor next to her.

"Yeah?" She asked sadly, continuing to stare at the floor.

"It hurts me seeing you sad like this."

"..."

"Why are you so sad?"

"No one loves me."

"That's not true, I love you, Tia loves you, Zenith, Syra, and Serene love you." I told her as I ruffled her mane a bit.

"..."

"Do you think I would take you in if I didn't care for you?"

"Yes, because you're the type who wants to help everyone."

"That hurts, are you telling me I took you in because I pitied you?"

"Yes."

"I don't pity you, I treat you with the same amount of respect I would treat any other living being."

"So... I'm not special or important?"

"No! You're extremely special, remember what I told you before Morgan trained us? That I want you to get strong for your own sake, and that when I get strong too, I'll protect you."

"Yeah."

"You mean a lot to me Lia, If you hate me for not letting you mope, so be it. I just want to see you happy, because I feel a pain in my heart when I see you sad." I told her as I rubbed her cheek, I pulled her close and embraced her.

"Just remember Lia, I do love you, whether you like it or not." I said as I held her in my arms.

"David... I love you too!" She said as she began to cry into my shirt.

She had her times where she was sad but I didn't mind that over her usual playful and sweet self, I truly hurts me to see her sad. The next two weeks until our mission is going to feel longer than it should.