A/N: It can't be. Can it? It is. The Light in the Darkness has officially returned to the fan fiction world. Let the celebrations begin...or not.

Anyway, I want to apologize for such a long wait for this chapter. I've been extremely busy these past few months, between school, college visits and applications, a One-Shot Contest on another site, taking part in the high school play, preparing and working on my Eagle Scout project, and numerous other things that I probably have forgotten about now, but prevented me from finishing this chapter as quickly as I wanted to. But now, I'm back. Hopefully, I'll have the next chapter out in a much shorter time period. I'm already taking time away from my Eagle Scout project write-up, which has to be handed in before the 29th.

Perhaps I should just stop talking and let you go ahead and read the new chapter. Besides, I expect that most of you have already gone ahead and skipped this anyways. So enjoy. And be sure to review.

Chapter 9: Repairing the Bonds

Kirk and Michelle broke up. I don't know if the events of that night factored into the final decision to end it, but I'm sure that it didn't help matters. To say that I was relieved that it was over would be a gross understatement. No more Kirk dressing up fancy in the evenings. No more having to watch Michelle fawning over Amber. But best of all, no more of that slut, Lilith.

But things were far from perfect in the apartment. Amber hated me. She refused to speak to me at all. Heck, she wouldn't even stay in the same room as me. The moment I would set foot in a room, she would get up and walk out. Initially, I didn't think that it would last too long, especially after the news of Kirk's break-up. However, a week passed and Amber still held that vendetta against me.

That's not to say I didn't try to apologize to her. Indeed, I approached her few times, pleading my case to her, as I had done that night. However, she absolutely refused to listen to what I had to say. Without saying a thing, she would get up and walk out of the room. And as she walked out, she would shoot me a sad, betrayed look that never failed to affect me.

I just felt terrible. What I had said really hurt her. And now, I couldn't even let her know how sorry I was. Desperately, I tried to think of some sort of solution to the matter. But much to my dismay, nothing came forward. It was like all hopes of reconciling with her were slowly dying away.

Eventually, I relegated myself to Kirk's bedroom. I found myself looking out the window. It was far different from the last time I looked out of it. I mean, all the buildings were the same. But just the whole atmosphere had changed. It was rainy and gloomy, unusual for August in the city. The skyscrapers in the distance were dull pillars of steel and glass reaching skyward. Even the park, which normally stands out amongst the buildings, seemed less alive. And amongst it was my reflection, just sitting there like a watermark in a book.

I had to take my gaze away. I couldn't stand looking out there. Before when I looked out with Amber, the city seemed bright and welcome to opportunities. But now, it was stark portrait, one of mourning. And I was the centerpiece.

The door creaked behind me. "Soru?"

I perked up a little bit. Could it…? I turned around, my hopes high. But they were almost instantly. "Oh, hello Paco."

The Lombre stood near the door. "What's the matter, hombre?" he asked, walking over to the bed. "What's messing with your cabeza?"

I sighed, turning away from him. Paco was the last Pokemon that I wanted to talk to at the time. He didn't strike me as the kind that would be serious in this sort of situation. That last thing I needed was for him to pry at me.

"Just leave me alone, Paco," I said. "I'm not in the mood."

For a moment, things were quiet. I thought that he had left. But then, I felt the bed shift under me as he jumped onto it. I turned back to window, hoping that he would get the message that I didn't want to talk. However, it didn't work.

"Come on, Soru," he implored, standing next to me. "You look more depressed than usual."

I thought about slugging him at the time.

Reluctantly, I gave in, knowing that nothing was going to stop Paco from interrogating me. "It's Amber," I said quietly. "She…she's refusing to talk to me."

"Wow, what happened to cause that?"

I hesitated, not wishing to disclose what happened to him. However, I thought about when I told him about my early feelings toward Amber. He had never exposed them to anyone else, at least as far as I knew. Perhaps I could trust him now as well.

So, I told him about everything that happened. Much to my surprise, he didn't interrupt. He just listened.

When I finished, Paco shook his head. "You really fucked up, hombre."

"Tell me something I don't know," I replied back, my frustration beginning to show. "What am I supposed to do?"

Paco contemplated for a moment. "Well, what did you say exactly when you tried to apologize esta noche?"

Although I didn't quite understand the last two things he said, I figured out what he was talking about. "I told her that I was sorry…and that it wasn't my fault. I told her that I was being controlled and I didn't have any control over what I was saying and…what?"

Paco was shaking his head. "There's your problem right there," he said.

"What is?"

"You were trying to shift the blame away from yourself here," he explained. "And while you didn't mean to say it, you did say it."

I opened my mouth to argue, but I quickly shut it once the realization hit me. He was right. I wasn't thinking about it from her view. She may have known that Lilith was doing something to me. After all, she did confront her that night. She was trying to help me, to save me from my own error.

But in the end, I was the one that let myself be controlled, even though I knew better. I was the one that became corrupted by a satanic creature. And I was the one that said those slanderous things to Amber.

All of it…was my fault.

I bowed my head in shame. I felt even lower than before. "What have I done?" I asked out loud. "Why did I let myself do that?" Tears rolled down my cheeks again.

Paco placed one of his webbed hands on my shoulder, trying to find a way to comfort me in some way. He said nothing, but his actions provided me a comfort that nothing could have done.

I looked over to Paco. "What can I do?" I asked, wiping away my tears. "How can I ever let her know how I really feel?"

"The only thing I can think of is to wait," he said shaking his head. "She'll come around eventually."

"Isn't there any other way?"

Again, Paco shook his head. "It's better to wait for her to let you apologize."

I sighed. Even though I really didn't want to, waiting seemed like the only option. The fact was that only she could accept my apology. And at that time, it didn't seem like she was ready yet. I didn't know if it would be a few hours or a few weeks, but no matter how long it took, I would wait for her.

"Thanks for the advice, Paco," I said, somewhat impressed by his wisdom. "You know, you're smarter than lead on at times."

Paco smiled, getting up to leave. "Well, I try, hombre. I just—"

He was cut off as he accidentally walked off the bed, landing face first into the ground. I sat there, feeling embarrassed for him.

"Yeah, forget what I just said," I said, retracting my previous observation. I guess it didn't matter if he was smart. He was still the same, mixed-up Lombre. And frankly, it was nice to have someone who could be friendly with me, even if they were just a bit abnormal.

I sat outside Kirk's bedroom, listening to Soru and Paco talk. I don't recall what exactly compelled me to do so. Perhaps I had wanted to see if Soru would give me another reason for me to antagonize him after what he had done. Or it could've been that I was bored. But whatever intentions, malicious or not, I may have had when I began to eavesdrop weren't there by the end. Silently, trying not to alert them to my presence, I walked back out to the living room, my mind still buzzing over what I heard.

Once I was back in the living room, I went and sat down on my bed. There wasn't much else for me to do. I'd endured that boredom for most of the week, the only fun coming when Kirk would give me pets or something. And even then, it wasn't much. It wasn't anything like talking to Soru, which I hadn't done since that night.

Those words still stung me immensely. He was the only creature that seemed to be on my side and then he went and demeaned me like that. It was painful. If that weren't enough, he tried to shift all the blame onto Lilith. Yes, I knew that she was manipulating him, but that didn't excuse his actions.

I couldn't stand to be near him. Every time I would, he would approach me and insist that it wasn't his fault. I considered smacking him again, but felt that it would be redundant. He still didn't seem to get it and I doubt more violence would persuade him otherwise. So I did the next best thing: ignore him. To be honest, I was willing to accept an apology from him, if he showed to me that he regretted his actions.

But now that he had, even though he didn't express it directly toward me, I felt guilty. The way he reacted when he finally realized what he did wrong was totally against his character. I had never seen him show his emotions so outwardly. I thought about it some. Maybe I was being hard on him. Maybe he didn't have the self-control that I thought he did. The way he just reacted seemed to suggest that.

At this point, Soru walked into the room, followed closely behind by Paco. I shifted myself in my bed, so I wasn't making eye contact with him. Still, I was curious. So I glanced toward him out of the corner of my eye.

Now that he was closer, I could see how downtrodden he was. He seemed to walk heavily as he passed by. I'm sure he'd been like that all week, but this was the first time that I really paid attention to it.

He turned so now I got a frontal view of his face. I could see many emotions reflected in his face, but there was one common theme amongst them: self-hatred. It made me so guilty to see that, knowing that he probably wouldn't be feeling that way if I had forgave him to begin with. For a moment, it looked as though he would approach me to apologize. But he remembered the advice that was given to him, and he walked away, leaving me alone again.

I lay there in bed, trying to come up with some way to catalyze some sort of apology. I thought about the advice that Paco had given Soru. If I recalled correctly, I had to approach Soru myself. That was a given. However, it came down to when to do so. Frankly, I wanted to go up to him right then and there and encourage him to apologize. But that might not have been the best course of action. It would seem like I was forcing him to apologize. Not to mention that Paco would probably be around. I don't know why, but I really wanted any apology to me to be personal.

Instead, I elected to wait until Soru and I were completely alone. That meant having to wait for Paco to leave. I looked up at the clock in the kitchen. It was only two in the afternoon. Alex and Paco probably wouldn't leave until it got dark. I groaned out of frustration, burying my head into the bed. It was going to be a long few hours. But I had to endure it.

As I waited for the opportunity to arise, I found myself thinking about Soru. But unlike most of the week before then, I was thinking of him in a much more positive light. I knew that once I talked to him, he was going to give me the apology that I had been long awaiting.

Not that I wasn't expecting him to do so before. I felt that he would've eventually apologized to me in a way that I would believe him. I knew he wouldn't have given up until I accepted. He was that persistent and stubborn. I actually kind of admired it, even when I was mad at him.

Finally, after seemingly endless hours, Alex and Paco left. Right before he left, Paco was whispering something to Soru. I wasn't sure, but I guessed that he was still talking about me, considering the not-so-subtle gestures he made toward my bed or me.

I had already planned to approach Soru during dinner to see if he would be willing to apologize. I went out to the kitchen, just as Kirk was pouring bowls of food for Soru and I. He set my bowl on the floor in front of me, giving me a pet on the head before returning to the counter to prepare his own dinner.

I hesitated to eat right away. Instead, I watched the doorway, waiting for Soru to enter the room. It shouldn't have taken long. He had to have heard Kirk pouring the food into the bowl. But he didn't come. I don't know how long I was there, waiting for Soru to appear.

Perhaps he's not hungry, I thought to myself, trying to reason why he wasn't there. Even during that week, he would enter the kitchen and eat dinner while I was eating. I was the one that usually stood him up and left the room. Was he giving me a taste of my own medicine?

Even though I was hungry, I was more curious about Soru. So, ignoring the pangs of my stomach demanding nourishment, I went out to the living room. Sure enough, there he was, lying in bed. I approached his bed, only to have him turn over and see me.

He looked up at me with a mixture of confusion and surprise. "Amber?" he asked in obvious disbelief.

For a moment, I wanted to leave. But if I was going to let Soru apologize, I supposed that there would be no better time than then. So I sat down beside the bed, not saying a single word. I was going to let him figure it out for himself.

At first, I don't think he understood. He just looked even more confused. But he quickly caught on. He sat up, but even still, he was almost submissive in his demeanor.

"Amber, I want to tell you that I'm sorry about what I said to you," he said, averting his gaze like he wasn't worthy to look at me. "It was my fault. Everything I did and said I could've prevented, but I didn't. Instead I let things get worse.

"But what I'm most sorry about is that I hurt you, Amber. I…I don't know if you know. The truth is that you…you're one of the few real friends that I've ever had. Even then, I don't think any of them looked at me in the same way as you do. And I certainly never looked at them in that way either. Seeing you hurt, and knowing that I was the cause of your pain, I…it…" His voice dropped off and he was at a complete loss for words. "Amber, please. I'm sorry."

I was thoroughly touched by his words. He seemed so sincere in his apology; I wanted to hug him right then and there. But I held myself back. I don't recall why, perhaps I just didn't think that the time was right.

Soru was expecting a response. I know he was. He had given me the apology that I'd been waiting for, yet I was as silent as I had been all week. He looked devastated as he lay back down, not looking in my direction at all.

I smiled, a mixture of relief and happiness, and walked over to a spot on the floor right behind his head. He didn't seem to realize that I was there, which was just as well.

I leaned over to the side of his head. "Soru, I forgive you," I whispered.

That was all that I intended to do. Say those words and end the whole stalemate so we could move on with our lives. But I did something else. I leaned over even further and kissed him on the cheek, in the same spot that I had hit him a week before.

Needless to say, Soru was surprised. He flipped over so fast that I had no time to prepare for it. I was thrown into the side of the loveseat. Luckily, the sides were cushioned. I literally bounced off the side and landed across Soru's chest.

I groaned, looking up at him. He was very concerned. "Amber, are you okay?" he asked.

I chuckled a little. "Don't worry, I'm fine," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "I didn't expect you to react so suddenly."

Meanwhile, Soru was feeling his cheek. "D-Did you just kiss me?" he asked.

I blushed a little. "Yes, I guess I did," I confessed, feeling embarrassed yet again. "I…well, I guess I was a little excited."

He chuckled nervously, obviously not what to really think. "You…you actually forgive me, Amber?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry that I took so long," I said. "I didn't know how honest you were. But after hearing you and Paco talking this afternoon…"

"Wait, you were listening to us?"

"Yes, I was. When I saw you sitting there and heard what you told Paco, I realized you were being honest."

He gave a sigh of relief, causing me to rise and fall with his chest. He noticed the surprised look on my face. I laughed it off before sliding off his chest back to the floor. He had a smile on his face as he got to his feet.

I was somewhat enamored as I watched as Soru stood up and stretched out his long, powerful limbs. Even under his thick coat, I could see much of the muscle in his frame. For a moment, I found myself thinking about how soft his fur was, having felt it for the first time up against my face…

Whoa, back up, Amber, I thought to myself. It was back. It was the same sort of thing that happened when I first saw Lilith hitting on Soru. That…feeling. Where was it coming from?

"Amber, are you okay?"

I looked up. Soru was walking over toward the kitchen, but he had stopped. He was obviously waiting for me.

"Sure," I answered, walking up next to him. "Soru?"

He stopped yet again and turned to me. "Yes, Amber?"

"What you were saying earlier…about me being one of the few real friends that you've ever had. Is that true?"

Soru nodded. "It is. Actually, you are probably the best friend that I've ever had. Amber, I—"

But before he could say anything else, my stomach decided to make itself known, grumbling audibly. We looked at each other for a moment before I gave an embarrassed chuckle. Soru didn't laugh, but he did smile a bit.

"I guess that we should get something to eat," I suggested, now beginning to feel the effects of hunger.

Soru grunted in agreement. With that, we headed into the kitchen to get dinner, once again as friends. At least, that's what I thought.