Chapter Seven - Taking the Time
The next morning, Serena awoke to the sound of the bedroom door opening and then closing. Roused from sleep, she opened her eyes and saw Aria already fully dressed, carrying a tray toward her bed. Surprised, Serena squinted, the thin rays of morning light peeking through the shut curtains proving to be too much for her bleary eyes.
"Oh," Aria said, stopping halfway across the room. "I didn't mean to wake you. My apologies."
"It's okay," Serena said, pushing herself halfway upright and rubbing her eyes. When the stars and colors faded from sight and her vision returned, she saw Aria looking off to the side rather bashfully.
"This was meant to be a surprise for when you woke up," said Aria. She looked around as if searching for something. A moment later, she found a suitably clear space atop a box near Serena's bed and set the tray down there.
Serena looked at the tray. Her tired eyes narrowed as she struggled to understand what she saw. The tray was neatly set, with silverware aligned on both sides of the plate. The plate contained a medley of sliced fruit and a steaming bun with a half-melted pat of butter atop it. Beside the plate was a cup of tea.
And leaning against the teacup, a small envelope.
"This is still a surprise," said Serena. She sat fully upright. She took another glance at the tray, then turned to Aria. Aria was already on her way out of the room. "What is this?"
"Oh! You'll see," said Aria. Her typical poise was absent from her words. Instead, her voice was meek, overflowing with nerves.
Before Serena could reply, Aria was on her way out the door.
"I'll leave you to it," said Aria. A moment later, she slipped out the door and shut it behind her.
Alone, Serena listened to Aria's footsteps fade away down the hallway. She pushed away the sheets and swung her legs over the side of the bed, resting her feet on the floor. In stunned silence, she stared at the tray.
It looked too perfect to touch, like something out of a magazine or a cooking show on TV. Still, Serena felt compelled to reach out toward it, the envelope luring her eyes, pulling her in like a magnet.
Leaving everything else in its place, she took the envelope from the tray. Her heart and her stomach jittered. She turned it over in her hands, examining it. There was no name written on it, not even an initial. It was not even sealed. She supposed there was no need. There was no question who the recipient was meant to be, nor who the sender was. The only question was why.
Gently, Serena opened the flap of the envelope and pulled out a folded piece of paper from inside. She set the envelope aside and carefully unfolded the paper. The folds were crisp and deliberate. The feeling of the paper on her fingertips was familiar, the heavy sort of paper that gave whatever was written on it a sense of importance.
Serena smoothed out the unfolded paper over her knee. It was a note, written in neat, loopy cursive she had seen many times before.
Serena,
I want to thank you for yesterday. I know it may not have seemed like much to you, but what you did for me last night meant the world to me. I needed that kind of comfort more than mere words can express. That's why I've prepared this breakfast for you, as a more tangible way to show my appreciation.
I also want to apologize once again, this time sincerely, for what I said about your relationship with Ash. It was inappropriate of me and unfair to you both. Doubly so, I want to apologize for all the trouble I have caused in your relationship with him. Although it may be impossible to untangle cause from effect in the chain of events that has happened, the truth remains that with greater courage and better judgment, I could have taken actions that resulted in much less grief for everyone involved. I recognize the mistakes I have made and aspire to learn from them, perhaps for your sake more than anything else. You deserve better from me.
On that note, as strange as this may sound, I would like to turn over a new leaf with you, if such a thing is even possible. Our history has been so complicated, but what I said to you last night was all true. Regardless of whether or not you agree, I feel like I need you. I need a friend. I need your friendship more than I need anything else. Regardless of the circumstances behind how we came to know each other, your friendship has been by far the brightest spot in my life in a long time. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, this is a dark time for me, and I need your light.
So, while I am sure that this makes me sound like a naïve, socially awkward child, I want to say this - I hope we can be friends again. If you can accept my apology, I would love to spend some more time with you - and with everyone else, if they allow it - just being friends. I don't know what is to come, and I don't know how much time I will have here, but I want to make the most of it.
Your friend, hopefully,
Aria
Serena read the note twice. Her heart swelled. As if driven by a motor, she folded the note back up again, placed it back inside the envelope, and exited the bedroom with it in hand. Barefoot and still in her pajamas, she hurried down the stairs. The kitchen was empty, but the dim light from a lamp drew her toward the living room.
Aria sat in a chair with her legs crossed, her face hidden behind a book. She jumped when Serena entered the room, then struggled to regain her composure. She pressed the book to her face, hiding everything except her eyes.
Serena held up the envelope. Aria shrank in her seat. Serena smiled.
"Apology accepted."
The weekend came and went like a whirlwind. Fittingly, it matched the weather outside. A nasty, cold autumn storm kept everyone inside all weekend. Despite the inclement conditions, it seemed there was no shortage of things to do. The two days passed in a frenzy of activity as the reinforced pillow fort rose again. Games were played. Movies were marathoned. Cookies were baked.
By the time Monday morning came, Serena felt as though she needed another two days off to recover from the weekend. As she rose from her bed and went through her morning routine, her stomach loudly protested from days of nonstop junk. All the while, despite the discomfort, she could not help but feel content about everything that had happened. She had a great time, but perhaps more importantly, she knew Aria had as well.
Serena wondered if anyone else had felt the difference. She wasn't sure that anything had looked different from an external point of view. Something had changed beneath the surface, though. Everything felt more natural. Things felt right. Nothing was forced. Nothing was strained.
As she walked to work, and all throughout the day, Serena kept quiet, smiling to herself. Whether or not Aria realized it, she was making friends.
Serena's otherwise uneventful day continued entirely as normal well into the afternoon, or so it seemed. For hours, Delphox had idly helped her sort parts, levitating heavy and out-of-reach boxes using her wand. Having refined their process until it had reached a level of automation resembling an assembly line, Serena was shaken from a daydream when she realized that Delphox had not passed her another part.
She looked up and saw Delphox with her gaze fixed on a spot toward the rear of the building.
"Delphox?"
Delphox went very still. For just a moment, Serena felt an indescribable yet undeniable feeling of pressure emanating from Delphox. A moment later, Delphox rose into the air. The hairs on Serena's arms and the back of her neck stood on end.
"What's going on?"
Gliding eerily through the air to the far side of the room, Delphox gave Serena no acknowledgment at all, not a single sound nor sign. Serena scrambled to her feet, narrowly avoiding tripping over a tangled mess of wires as she ran after Delphox.
When Delphox stopped, Serena came up beside her. Delphox hovered over a cluttered workbench. Serena was left with more questions than answers.
"Huh?"
Serena tilted her head. The only object of note atop the desk was a single Poké Ball, one she assumed belonged to Ampharos. It was no surprise to see it sitting out unattended. Ampharos rarely used it.
As if to demonstrate her point, Ampharos came around the corner a few seconds later. After a brief standoff, he reached up onto the workbench, took the Poké Ball, gave Delphox a hardened look, and walked away. Delphox's eyes narrowed as he disappeared into the next room.
Bewildered, Serena stuck her head around the corner. In the next room, Meyer hummed while he stood hunched over a circuit board, a magnifying glass on a stand in between his eyes and the chip he was soldering. Unaware of everything, he remained glued to his work as Ampharos shuffled up behind him and placed the Poké Ball on a shelf.
Delphox lowered herself back to the ground. When they resumed their work a few minutes later, it was as if nothing had happened at all. The only thing different was that Serena's head hurt.
Lost in thought for the rest of the day, Serena's train of thought was interrupted upon arriving home that afternoon. She heard something of a commotion while she ascended the steps to the second floor. When she reached the top of the stairs, Bonnie came running out of Clemont's room into the hall.
"Serena! You've got to see this!" Bonnie said, pointing into Clemont's room. "Hurry!"
As soon as she had appeared, Bonnie disappeared back into Clemont's room. Alarmed, Serena stood there in the hall for a moment before chasing after Bonnie.
"What's going on?"
Serena's words received no response as she ran into Clemont's room. Clemont sat at his computer, with Bonnie standing on the tips of her toes beside him and peeking over the desk. Korrina and Aria both stood behind Clemont's chair. Everyone's eyes were glued to the screen.
Bonnie took notice of Serena's entrance, then nudged Clemont in the arm.
"Go back up!" said Bonnie. "Back to the top!"
Several pairs of eyes turned and noticed Serena, some lingering longer than others.
"Just a moment," said Clemont.
Korrina smiled at Serena. Aria remained taciturn.
"Hey, there you are!" said Korrina. "Finally!"
"What's happening?" said Serena, becoming more concerned by the moment.
"See for yourself!" said Korrina. She pointed at the screen.
Clemont pressed a button on his keyboard, and a wall of images and words zoomed past on the screen, stopping when the top of the page had been reached. It was a news article.
Serena read the headline, then saw the image beneath it. Her eyes shot wide open. Her jaw dropped, and she covered her mouth with both hands.
On the screen, she saw Ash riding on the back of an exotic, unknown Pokémon, flying above what looked like the ruins of some ancient civilization. Right behind him, with her arms wrapped around his waist, was Lillie.
Kanto Trainer Busts Foundation, Saves Alola
HAU'OLI CITY - Stunning revelations shook Alola today as news broke of a massive conspiracy and cover-up perpetrated by the Aether Foundation and ultimately foiled from within with the help of a trainer from Kanto. Assisted by the children of Aether Foundation president Lusamine and the grandson of a local kahuna, Kanto native Ash Ketchum infiltrated the Aether Foundation's private artificial island and unraveled a plot involving extra-dimensional travel, extraterrestrial Pokémon, and the efforts of the Aether Foundation to hide their illicit activities.
Ash Ketchum (pictured riding a Pokémon believed to be the legendary Lunala with Lillie, daughter of Lusamine), 16, hails from tiny, remote Pallet Town in southwest Kanto, a locale best known as where renowned Pokémon researcher Professor Samuel Oak settled and constructed his expansive laboratory and ranch. Ash, who has traveled across the world on foot for the last several years, already enjoys modest fame from a number of strong finishes in regional Pokémon League tournaments and a strange propensity for finding himself at the center of disasters involving legendary Pokémon. Ash most recently made headlines in Kalos following his runner-up finish at the Kalos Pokémon League tournament, followed only days later by foiling the attempts of Kalos criminal organization Team Flare to activate an ancient doomsday weapon. He then drew media attention again less than a month later when he and his Greninja performed a move on the beach in Monego City which generated a tsunami-like wave, narrowly avoiding the destruction of the city in the process. Days later, he defeated Kalos Elite Four member Siebold in an open challenge which was televised to the public.
Now, Ash finds himself at the center of the greatest scandal Alola has ever experienced. Ash's involvement began four months ago after accepting an invitation to work with Professor Kukui at his private laboratory on the southern coast of Melemele Island. Upon arriving, Ash met Lillie, daughter of the now-former president of the Aether Foundation, Lusamine. Lillie, who had not been seen in public on the mainland in nearly a decade, had recently taken up residence at Professor Kukui's laboratory, working as his live-in assistant. Lillie's employment was surreptitious and kept hidden from the general public, a part of the protection afforded to her after her flight from the Aether Foundation.
Effectively a fugitive for the last several months, Lillie's near decade-long plight is among the most disturbing details to surface from the scandal. Over a period of several years, Lillie and her brother Gladion watched their mother, known to most as a dedicated scientist and philanthropist, change from a caring, passionate parent to a cruel, dictatorial figure obsessed with ideals of beauty and willing to go to any lengths to advance her research.
As stated in a press conference by Gladion, now serving as the acting president of the Aether Foundation, "[Lusamine] created the Aether Foundation with noble goals, but after we lost our father, she slipped deeper and deeper into obsession with her work. She used the benevolent-looking exterior of the foundation to hide what she and her team of scientists were actually researching - how to capture Pokémon from other dimensions."
According to Gladion and several other high-ranking members within the foundation, Lusamine became obsessed with an exotic Pokémon she encountered during an experiment in which she attempted to open a wormhole to another dimension. The particular dimension Lusamine repeatedly attempted - and eventually succeeded - to access has been studied by various other researchers for years, most notably Professor Burnet of Akala Island's Dimensional Research Laboratory. Dubbed "Ultra Space" by the scientific community, this dimension is known for its particular ease of access from Alola, at least on a microscopic level. Macroscopic dimensional breaches, achieved through phenomena known as "ultra wormholes," are a rare but well-documented natural occurrence throughout Alolan history. Typically lasting no longer than a second or two, these wormholes have historically been considered to be random, uncontrollable occurrences, and have been speculated by many to have played a role in the creation of the Alola region, if not the origin of life itself.
Lusamine's achievements, kept secret for years, appear to lend credence to the classic creation myths, if not outright confirm them. Among the staggering revelations coming from the Aether Foundation is not only Lusamine's success at creating a relatively stable macroscopic wormhole between our dimension and Ultra Space, but the confirmation of life in Ultra Space. According to Gladion and others close to the situation, Lusamine's obsession began upon seeing the ghostly figure of an extraterrestrial Pokémon which scientists at the foundation named "Nihilego." Stated by those familiar with it to have an unnerving presence that can alter one's state of mind, Lusamine was "never the same again" after her first encounter with Nihilego, according to Gladion. Over the course of the next ten years, Lusamine set about a maddening and increasingly compulsive effort not merely to see Nihilego again, but to capture it and bring it to our dimension.
Faced with many setbacks in her pursuit of Nihilego, Lusamine and her team of scientists undertook several projects to overcome the difficulties in capturing an extraterrestrial Pokémon, ranging from the benign to the blatantly unethical. Among these projects is the development of a special type of Poké Ball for capturing Pokémon in Ultra Space, spurred by the discovery that traditional Poké Balls are non-functional in Ultra Space. This development allowed Lusamine to eventually succeed in her quest, if only briefly.
More alarmingly, however, Lusamine and her team engaged in experimentation with Pokémon, of both earthly and otherworldly origin, that clearly violated all accepted ethical conventions of Pokémon research. Upon the discovery that Nihilego and several other extraterrestrial Pokémon species were too powerful for most earthly Pokémon to fight, the Aether Foundation conducted a years-long genetic engineering project to create a unique Pokémon designed to be a "beast killer." The discovery of this genetic engineering effort, which produced a staggering number of grotesque failures before its eventual partial success, led to Gladion's escape from the foundation two years ago with the genetically engineered Pokémon in his possession.
The "beast killer" created by the Aether Foundation, originally codenamed "Type: Full," was intended to be a Pokémon that possessed traits of all known Pokémon types. While the foundation's scientists succeeded in creating an artificial Pokémon of great strength, the experiment was considered a failure internally as the Pokémon produced had the opposite of the intended traits - that is, it had no type at all. Renamed "Type: Null," the foundation planned to perform experiments on it until its death. Gladion, upon discovering this, fled from the foundation with Type: Null in his possession.
Following Gladion's escape, another experiment performed by the foundation yielded an unexpected windfall as they acquired a small, gaseous Pokémon which originated from Ultra Space. This Pokémon, given the name "Cosmog," appeared powerless at a glance but in actuality possessed the power to jump between dimensions. Intending to exploit this ability to create a larger, more stable wormhole between our dimension and Ultra Space, Lusamine ordered her team of scientists to place Cosmog under permanent solitary confinement and subject it to duress until it used its powers out of desperation.
Upon learning that her mother intended to torture Cosmog to death if necessary, Lillie followed in her brother's footsteps and escaped from the Aether Foundation with the help of Wicke, one of the foundation's highest-ranking administrators. Wicke, who conducted her sabotage of Lusamine's plans in secret for years, was the only ally Lillie and Gladion had behind the walls of the remote, isolated artificial island the foundation called home.
"They were imprisoned by their mother," Wicke said of Lillie and Gladion. "For nearly ten years, [Lusamine] kept them captive on this island and subjected them to verbal and mental abuse that no child should ever have to experience. I did everything I could to protect them from her."
Operating in secret directly beneath Lusamine's observation, Wicke orchestrated Lillie's escape with Cosmog and planned a rendezvous with Professor Burnet on Akala Island. Burnet then escorted Lillie to her husband's laboratory on Melemele Island, where she was placed under Kukui's protection as his apparent assistant, afforded relative anonymity due to the laboratory's isolated, rural location.
When Ash entered the picture, Lillie's mission changed. Her hopes of being able to return Cosmog to its homeworld had previously been nothing more than a dream, her own role relegated to merely hiding with Cosmog in rural obscurity. With Ash's help, however, her dream became possible. Over the course of the next three months, the two of them traveled around Alola with Hau, grandson of kahuna Hala. While Ash and Hau both steadily completed several trials of the island challenge and served as Lillie's bodyguards, Lillie searched for clues for how to return Cosmog to Ultra Space.
Their relatively stable arrangement fell apart a few weeks ago when Lillie was kidnapped by members of the notorious criminal gang Team Skull while traveling on Ula'ula Island. Gladion, who worked for some time as an independent agent for Team Skull, knew of the organization's ties to the Aether Foundation and joined forces with Ash and Hau to infiltrate the foundation's headquarters.
Aided by Wicke, who granted them access to restricted areas, Ash, Hau, and Gladion broke into the Aether Foundation and fought their way to Lusamine's private chambers, during the course of which the details of the plot were exposed. Upon confronting Lusamine, they found Lillie being held prisoner and, perhaps most shockingly, Team Skull leader Guzma working in cooperation with Lusamine. Using a device designed to compress Cosmog, Lusamine forced Cosmog to create a wormhole to Ultra Space, which both she and Guzma entered before dissipating.
Determined to retrieve her mother from Ultra Space, Lillie traveled with Ash to Poni Island and took Cosmog, now reduced to a tiny, embryonic form, to the Altar of the Moone. Upon moonrise, Cosmog underwent a drastic transformation into what is believed to be Lunala, a Pokémon known only from its role in the legends of Alola's creation. Lunala then transported Ash and Lillie to Ultra Space, where the two of them found Guzma in hiding and Lusamine under Nihilego's control.
Nihilego, a Pokémon which seems to be parasitic in nature, had undergone a bizarre sort of fusion or coupling with Lusamine and assumed control of her mind. Possessed, Lusamine engaged Ash in battle. Though Ash defeated her, Lusamine then attempted to attack Ash and Lillie directly, at which point Lunala intervened and swiftly defeated Nihilego, ejecting it from Lusamine's body and releasing its hold on her mind, albeit at a great physical toll to Lusamine. At this time of writing, Lusamine remains in critical condition after hovering near death on the night of her return from Ultra Space.
After the conclusion of the battle, Lunala retrieved Ash, Lillie, Lusamine, and Guzma and returned to our dimension, then departed for parts unknown, leaving those involved, and the entire world, to sort through the fallout of the bizarre chain of events it brought to an end.
Serena lay on her bed, staring vacantly at the ceiling. Her heart throbbed with every single beat. She had no way to describe what she felt. It was an indecipherable amalgamation of contradictory emotions, too many feelings at once to explain. It was a maelstrom of shock, excitement, relief, jealousy, happiness, sadness, pride, regret, hope, fear, and so many other things all at once. It paralyzed her.
There was too much to process. Too many words. Too many images. Too much new information. As the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, Serena found that the puzzle was larger than she ever imagined. Every answer led to another question.
She knew now why Ash had not written in so long, nor ever written her back. He had been fighting for Lillie's life and the world's safety for weeks without end, first out at sea and then in the remote wilderness. But would she hear from him again now? Did he ever get her letter at all? If he did write, where would he send the letter? Would he call? Would he do anything at all?
And most of all, when was he coming back?
Was his mission over now? Surely he would complete the island challenge, wouldn't he? How long would that take? He was on an incredible pace before, but would he continue it now? With Alola safe, what was the rush? Would he rush back to her?
Despite all the questions that lingered on Serena's mind, there was one thing in particular that stuck in her head, something she wished she hadn't seen.
Lillie, riding on Lunala with Ash.
She looked different. Her hat and her dress were gone. Her hair was drawn back in a ponytail. Serena recognized the clothes Lillie wore. She had been there when Lillie tried them on and purchased them. Lillie had been so reticent then, so frightened to try anything different. She did not look frightened now. Serena had never seen her look so happy.
And the way Lillie had her arms wrapped around Ash, the way she leaned into him for support, the way she pulled herself so close to him… it haunted her. It didn't matter what Lillie had told her. It didn't matter that the situation obviously warranted holding onto him like that. The image was burned into her mind. Like a permanent stain to her vision, it seemed to linger there even when she closed her eyes.
Serena rolled onto her side and pulled the bedsheets all the way over her head. She knew, now more than ever, that this was the price she paid for her actions. To feel all the shame and regret, to contemplate the hypotheticals and yearn for things which never came to pass, this was her penance.
She had done it to herself.
Time passed. She remained alone. When she heard the bedroom door open, she played dead beneath the sheets, hoping to fool whoever entered into believing she had had a good cry and fallen asleep. She especially wanted to fool Aria.
Naturally, it didn't work.
"Hey."
A hand settled on Serena's arm, the sheet separating them. It was Aria's voice. Serena neither responded nor moved.
"I know you're awake," said Aria. "Nobody sleeps like that."
Serena let out a puff of air through her nose. She cut right to the chase.
"Do you really want to talk to me about this?"
"Honestly, no, I don't," said Aria. "But I care about you. That matters more than what I want."
"You've suffered enough already because of me," said Serena. "Why put yourself through this?"
"You know, I could say the exact same thing to you."
"Could you not?"
"No promises. I already said it, in a sense."
Serena groaned. She gripped a fistful of the sheet and pulled, uncovering her head. She gave Aria a sour look. Aria bore her classic enigmatic smile. It frustrated Serena to no end.
"Just tell me whatever wisdom you have for me," said Serena. "I don't want to play our guessing game again."
"I don't want to give you wisdom. I don't have any."
"Then what is this? Sympathy?"
"If you'll let it be, yes."
"Do you really want to sympathize with me about my self-inflicted problems with my boyfriend?"
"Not really, but I do want to help you feel better in whatever way I can."
"You can't help me. Nobody can. I did this to myself."
"That doesn't mean you have to face it alone."
"I did this to myself because I deserve it," said Serena.
She turned her head away from Aria and buried her head in the pillow.
"I just didn't realize it would hurt this much," said Serena. "You know, seeing him. Seeing them. I could have been there, too. But I messed it all up. It's all my fault."
Serena heard a shuffling noise. She turned over and saw Aria take a seat on top of a box.
"Do you wish you were with them?" Aria asked.
"Of course I do," said Serena. "I wish that every day. I just… really wish it right now, more than ever."
"It must be tough, seeing them after all this time."
"Yeah, but-"
Serena paused and shook her head.
"It couldn't have happened any other way. I wouldn't have been able to stand the pressure. I was too insecure. I would have cracked. I pretty much lost my mind in just the short time I was there with them."
Aria crossed her legs.
"Well, I'm glad you found your mind again," she said.
"I'm not so sure I did," said Serena.
"If you hadn't, you wouldn't question it."
Serena looked at the floor for a while before she spoke again.
"I never apologized to Lillie. I really wish I had."
"It's not too late, you know."
"I know, but I can't do it yet, and that's the worst part. She's with Ash. I can't get in touch with either of them. I have to wait for both of them."
"You don't have to wait."
"What else am I supposed to do?"
Aria still wore her enigmatic smile as she shrugged.
"I don't know," said Aria. "You don't have to sit around waiting for life to happen to you, though."
"So, what, then?" said Serena. "Do you think I should go to Alola and search for them?"
"That sounds like a terrible idea."
Serena flopped onto her back and sighed.
"Yeah, it is," she said. "I wouldn't even know what to do if I saw Lillie. How am I supposed to interact with someone I hurt so badly?"
"I ask myself the same question every day."
Serena looked at Aria again and found that Aria's smile had been replaced with a much flatter, more earnest expression. Silence followed, long enough for Serena to look away and back again without any exchange of words.
"You're not alone," said Aria.
Serena still did not speak. She looked at her own feet.
"There's that old saying, misery loves company," said Aria. "It's a cliché, but clichés become clichés for a reason."
Serena sat up. She met eyes with Aria.
"You don't want to be alone, do you?" said Serena.
"No," said Aria. "You don't want to be alone either, do you?"
"I feel like I should be."
"But what do you want?"
"I want Ash to come back to me, and to make things up with Lillie, and for everything to be okay again."
"None of that involves you suffering by yourself, does it?"
"...no."
"Then… can you let me in?"
Aria's face rendered Serena silent for a moment. Her poise absent once again, Serena saw genuine vulnerability in Aria's eyes.
"I want to," said Serena.
"Are you afraid?" said Aria.
"I'm afraid of everything," said Serena. "You saw Lillie in that article. She's harmless. I'm even afraid of her."
Aria looked away and tilted her head to the side.
"She's a real cutie, though," said Aria.
"Yeah, she is," said Serena.
Aria's eyes snapped back to meet Serena's.
"Don't take that the wrong way!" said Serena, defensively holding up her hands. "She's super pretty. Of course I would feel weird about Ash being alone with her!"
Aria's eyebrows raised ever so slightly.
"If you say so," said Aria.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I'm trying to take your words at face value against my better judgment."
Serena did not respond for a while. Instead, she looked away and thought. When she spoke again, she saw Aria doing the same.
"So yeah," said Serena. "I want everything to be okay again. Between me and everyone. And I don't want to be afraid anymore."
Without looking at her, Aria nodded.
"That does sound nice," she said.
"What about you, though?" said Serena. "What do you want?"
Aria considered the question for a while, tight-lipped.
"I also don't want to be afraid anymore," she said. "I want to be able to have all the things regular people take for granted. I want to be able to go wherever I want without hiding who I am. I want to be able to leave this house without worrying about being abducted. I want… I want to be a normal girl."
Unsure what to say, Serena only nodded.
Aria looked at the curtain, drawn tight over the window. She grimaced.
"And I want to go out," she said.
"It must be hard being stuck-"
"...with you."
"I understand why you want to do this, but I cannot advise it," said Clemont. "This is dangerous. There is simply too much risk involved."
Serena stared flatly back at him.
"Something explodes in your room every day, but that doesn't stop you," she said.
"That's completely different!" said Clemont. "This is a very serious situation and we cannot afford to jeopardize her safety."
Seated on the floor next to Clemont's desk chair, Korrina looked up at him.
"Oh, come on! Lighten up!" she said. "If Aria is really as good at disguising herself as Serena says, and we have our Pokémon keeping watch, what's the big deal? What could go wrong?"
Clemont grasped at the air, searching for words.
"There are so many problems with that logic that I don't know where to begin my rebuttal," he said.
"Oh, forget it," said Korrina, waving him off. She looked at Serena. "Look, I think it's a great idea. If we're gonna vote, my vote cancels out his."
"Well, thank you," said Serena. She looked at Clemont again. "But Clemont, I need your support. We can't do this without your help. We've got to do it as a team."
"I continue to think this is ill-advised," said Clemont. "No appeal to emotion will convince me otherwise."
"We have almost two weeks to plan this," said Serena. "We can make it work!"
Clemont crossed his arms.
"No matter how long she's been here and no matter how much she wants to, I remain convinced that it is too dangerous for Aria to leave."
"Oh yeah?" said Korrina, glaring up at him. "How about I never kiss you again? Would that change your mind?"
Serena's eyes widened. Clemont waved his hands, urging Korrina to stop.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, now!" he stammered, rapidly turning red. "Let's work through this rationally!"
"Okay then," said Korrina. "Since you're so worried about it, tell us. What's the worst that could happen? Palermo finds out we're hiding Aria and tries to get her back?"
"No," said Clemont. "The worst possible outcome is something far worse, and I know you understand that."
Korrina went silent for a bit and chewed on Clemont's words, then looked at Serena.
"And what's the best that could happen?" she asked.
"Aria has the best day of her life," said Serena.
As the next two weeks passed, Serena was convinced that Aria would discover what was being planned right beneath her nose. After all, Serena knew she had a way of sleuthing every other possible bit of information out of her. It was like Aria had Luxray's vision, but for her brain. Keeping a secret for so long should have been impossible.
Somehow, it wasn't. The real challenge was the increasingly difficult task of figuring out where to hide everything, as the spare bedroom became more and more organized by the day. Every afternoon when Serena returned home, there was less clutter and more floor visible than ever before.
But the day came. And when it did, Serena could not stop smiling as she found herself standing beside Aria's bed first thing in the morning. For a few moments, she savored the irony of the role reversal that was about to take place.
And then, she woke Aria.
Serena placed a hand on Aria's shoulder and jostled her, first gently, then harder. Aria's eyes opened, and for a moment she looked stupefied, unable to understand anything that was happening. Her unfocused eyes landed on Serena, and she blinked heavily a few times, her eyelids weighed down with sleep.
"Good morning!" said Serena, grinning with both hands behind her back.
"Good morning…?" Aria replied.
"Wake up, sleepyhead!" said Serena. "It's a big day!"
"Huh?"
"You know what day it is," said Serena.
Aria blinked heavily again, looking either uncertain or disbelieving. She pushed herself upright.
"What are you talking about?" she said.
Aria's eyes moved from Serena's beaming face down to where her hands were hidden behind her back.
"And what are you hiding?" said Aria. "What's going on?"
Serena revealed her hands. In them, she held a large, black shopping bag, with tissue paper covering the opening at the top. Almost giddy, she held it out to Aria.
"Happy birthday!" said Serena.
Aria's eyes widened, and she backed away from the bag ever so slightly, her lips parted in disbelief. She stared at the bag for a moment, and then Serena.
"Is this… for me?" said Aria. She pointed at the bag.
Serena gave her an enthusiastic nod.
"Of course it is!" said Serena.
"I…"
Aria moved as if to reach out and take the gift bag, but she froze as soon as she began to move. Stunned, she sat there staring at the bag. After several seconds passed, she shook her head.
"Thank you," she said. She looked up at Serena, astonished. "I… don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything," said Serena. She placed the package in Aria's unexpecting arms. "Just open it!"
Wonder in her eyes, Aria reached for the tissue paper covering the contents of the gift bag. Carefully, she pulled it away, then reached inside.
"Wh-"
Surprise registered on Aria's face. She pulled a box out of the bag. It was wrapped only in the plastic which covered it on store shelves. It was fairly large and was covered with the faces of impossibly perfect-looking women and glamorous font. Aria turned the box over in her hands. A diagram on the back displayed a variety of skin-tone colors and their complements.
It was a makeup kit. Agape, Aria looked up at Serena.
"You got this for me?" said Aria.
"Mhmm!" Serena replied, nodding while grinning ear to ear.
"But… why?"
"There's something else in there," said Serena. "And also some things that wouldn't fit in the bag. Take a look!"
Aria looked inside the bag again. She reached in and pulled out an envelope. Her name was written on the front.
Tentative, she flipped it over, slid her finger under the flap, and opened it. There was a card inside, with an image of a cake on the front. Aria opened it. There was a handwritten message inside. With her hands folded, Serena tried to remain still and wait patiently while Aria read.
Aria,
Happy birthday!
I wanted to get you something special for your birthday, so I worked together with everyone else to plan a big surprise for you!
I'm sure you're wondering about the makeup kit. It's only one part of the surprise, and it was the only part that could fit in the gift bag I got you! There was no way I could fit so much clothing in one bag. Besides, it's way more fun to keep you in suspense for a little while longer. Now I see why you do it to me!
So, makeup, clothes, what's all this for? We're going out! All of us, together. After being stuck here for so long, you deserve a day to celebrate. We've got to disguise you first, though. As sad as that is, I figured that maybe it could be an opportunity to have some fun. So, I got you this makeup kit with all sorts of different shades and a big selection of clothes you can mix and match! You can dress up any way you like!
I hope you like all the things I got for you. We're going to have a really fun day!
-Serena
As Aria read the card, she placed one hand over her open mouth to cover it and then held it there. Even when she finished reading the card, she simply placed it down on her bed and continued to sit there in stunned silence with her hand over her mouth.
A bit uncertain about Aria's reaction, Serena inched toward the door.
"Let me go get something," said Serena. "I'll be right back."
Aria nodded, and Serena stepped out of the room. She quickly went down the hall to Bonnie's room, where Bonnie and Korrina were both still asleep. She tiptoed into the room, opened the closet, and pulled out a large stack of garments. Then, she hurried back down the hall.
When Serena reentered the bedroom, she found Aria reading the card again. Her mouth uncovered, her lips were tight. She was very red in the face. It looked like she was trying to restrain herself from smiling, and failing. Serena set the stack of clothes down on the bed, and Aria set down the card. Wide-eyed, she stared at the pile. It was more than a foot tall. She covered her mouth again.
"These are all yours," said Serena. "Have fun!"
A few hours later, Aria descended the stairs, transformed. Her perpetual ensemble of black and white was gone. She wore a baggy red sweater, the neckline and lower hem of which were all that was visible beneath a sleek gray peacoat. She wore light blue jeans, and boots of a color similar to her coat. She had drawn her hair back into a single, long braid. Her makeup made her look paler than she truly was, with flatter features and heavier eyelids. She looked nothing like Aria.
Serena wasn't sure why she was so astonished. It was far from the first time she had seen Aria completely change her appearance on a whim. Perhaps it was that Aria had found a combination of all the new clothes that had never occurred to Serena. Perhaps it was the disarming way her eyes looked so familiar yet so unfamiliar at the same time. Or perhaps it was the gigantic smile on her face.
Aria held out her arms and made a dramatic pose.
"Ta-da!" she said.
Serena felt incapable of speech. She did not have to. Everyone else filled in for her.
"Whoa!" said Korrina. "What a change!"
"Indeed!" said Clemont. "If I did not know better, I would have no idea it was you. A remarkable transformation."
"How did you do that so fast?" said Bonnie. "You look so different!"
One thing in particular that made Aria look different was how bashful she seemed.
"Oh, you learn some tricks when you have people fussing over your makeup on a daily basis for years," she said. "It's not as difficult as it looks."
"Are you kidding?" said Korrina. "I'd look like a clown if I tried to do that myself."
"You detest wearing makeup, though," said Clemont. "I've heard your diatribe about it several times."
"Do you know how much that stuff hurts when you sweat and it gets in your eyes?" said Korrina.
Aria furtively raised a hand.
"I sure do," she said.
"You've elaborated on the subject before," Clemont said to Korrina. "You made the experience sound extraordinarily unpleasant."
"It is, actually," said Aria.
"What can I say? It's just not for me," Korrina said with a shrug. She turned her attention to Aria again. "You look great, though!"
"Thank you," said Aria, bowing her head. She stuffed her hands into the front pockets of her coat.
"How are you always so pretty?" Bonnie said, looking up at Aria with stars in her eyes.
"You flatter me, really," said Aria. She shook her head. "It's experience, that's all."
When Aria finished speaking, she was quick to make eye contact with Serena. Serena's heart jumped.
"So, what's next?" said Aria. She sounded eager to change the subject.
When they left the house a few minutes later, Serena was convinced for a moment that they would be jumped by thugs as soon as they were outside. The process of exiting the front door was like something out of an action movie. First, Luxray scanned the whole area with his x-ray vision. Then, Lucario and Serena's Delphox stepped out the door together. Lucario jumped up to the roof and surveyed the whole area again, and Delphox signaled with the flame on her wand that all was clear.
While they stood on the front stoop and Clemont locked the door, Serena kept both hands firmly on her bag, ready to pull out a Poké Ball and fight at any moment. The moment never came. Instead, Lucario hopped down from the roof, Delphox met them at the bottom of the front steps, and Luxray checked both ways up and down the block before proceeding out to the sidewalk.
It was a crisp, bright autumn day. Many of the trees along the lane were shedding their leaves, already half bare. Leaves swirled about in the breeze. There was a taste of the coming winter in the air. Aria held a hand to her forehead above her eyes, shielding them from the sunlight. She squinted in apparent discomfort.
"Are you okay?" said Serena.
"It's been a while since I've been out in the sun," said Aria. "I need some time for my eyes to adjust, that's all."
"I should have thought to get you a pair of sunglasses," Serena said as they all descended the steps onto the sidewalk.
"It's alright," said Aria. "I'd rather not wear them. They make it kind of obvious that I'm trying to hide something. I'd much rather hide in plain sight."
Serena figured that it was already obvious that they were hiding something. Luxray led the way, and both Lucario and Delphox kept watch in the rear. Whether it was intentional or not, the group constantly seemed to form a defensive perimeter around Aria. Serena was certain it had to have been obvious that they were guarding her, but nobody they passed on the street seemed to take any notice at all.
A short while later, they arrived at their first destination. Aria peered at the sign on the building, confused.
Jailbreak
"What is this?" she said.
"An escape room!" said Bonnie.
"A what?" said Aria.
"It's like a video game, except in real life," said Korrina. "We get locked in a room, and there are a bunch of puzzles in it, and we've got to solve all the puzzles and find our way out before our time runs out. It's super fun!"
Aria did not appear convinced. She looked at Serena, but Clemont spoke.
"We understand that you're undoubtedly very tired of being locked inside places, but we thought that perhaps it might be a cathartic experience for you to have the chance to break out of jail, more or less literally."
Aria raised an eyebrow at the sign. The corner of her mouth turned upward.
"Huh," she said, sounding uncertain but intrigued. "Okay, then. Let's do it."
After an unnecessary amount of sign-in paperwork and an explanation of the rules, all of which was administered by a man both dressed as and roleplaying as a prison guard, the five of them left their Pokémon at the front desk and were led into a room containing four separate jail cells, a private office with WARDEN embossed on the frosted glass window, and a variety of random objects hanging from the walls and placed in each of the cells. Bonnie went into the same cell as Korrina, and Serena, Aria, and Clemont each occupied the other three cells. The guard locked them all inside their cells, started a one-hour countdown timer beside the door, then exited the room and locked the door behind him.
A fabulous disaster ensued.
The first challenge they faced was the realization that the keys to each cell were contained in another cell. They all had to solve a puzzle in their own cell and then use the various objects their cell contained to pass the keys to the other cells. This went well until they discovered that Clemont would have to start the chain of unlocking everyone by passing the key inside his cell across the hall to Bonnie and Korrina by dangling it from a broomstick.
Serena didn't watch. She knew what would happen. The clinking of metal on concrete confirmed it.
With the key stranded in the middle of the hall, the guard came over the intercom and said, remaining in-character, that he could pretend he didn't see anything and give them a hand. Clemont refused, stating that it was in violation of the rules of the game, and that they would have to find another way to get the keys across the hall.
Thus, twenty minutes later, after much theorycrafting and experimentation, a large pile of objects sat in the middle of the corridor between the cells, each one having nudged the key a little bit closer. At last, Korrina was able to reach through the bars, take the key, and quickly unlock everyone else.
Then came the lock on the door to the warden's office. It was secured by an elaborate combination lock, with letters instead of numbers. Clues scattered around the cells and the corridor all hinted to an elaborate cipher that obscured the combination. Once again, Clemont pontificated at great length about algorithms that could be used to bypass the cipher, assuming a certain maximum number of bits of entropy. While Aria appeared to do her best to listen to him, Serena quickly lost track of the lecture. Bonnie and Korrina completely ignored him, trying random combinations on the lock.
After several minutes of attempts, Korrina held the lock up to her ear and slowly turned each dial, listening for a click. Just as Clemont paused his speech and asked her what she was doing, the lock opened.
Even more puzzles awaited them inside the warden's office. There were three safes embedded in the walls, each of which with its own combination to be determined. An open briefcase containing several documents sat on the desk. The group split into three to open the three safes. Bonnie and Korrina once again attempted to crack the lock on theirs, Bonnie slowly turning the dial and Korrina listening with her ear pressed to the door. Serena and Aria sifted through an envelope full of documents like mad, the snippets of some kind of plot of corruption and abuse unfolding at their fingertips as they scoured the papers for anything that could conceal the combination. Clemont, meanwhile, talked to himself while he held his chin and stared at the door of his safe, doing math in his head.
Serena and Aria opened their safe first, which itself contained a vital clue for opening Bonnie and Korrina's safe. Likewise, theirs contained a clue for opening Clemont's safe. When they presented the clue to Clemont, he appeared as though his reality had been shattered, and he complained that he would have to re-seed the starting point for the calculations he had been doing and start from scratch.
And then their time expired.
Everyone was quiet when they left the building and emerged onto the street again. Bonnie walked with her arms folded tight and a pout on her face, casting occasional glances at Clemont. Clemont kept his hands in his pockets and his head down. Serena and Aria walked behind the others. As before, they were guarded on all sides by Luxray, Lucario, and Delphox.
"I'm really sorry, everyone," Clemont said after a few minutes had passed. "That was entirely my fault."
His comment drew another meaningful glare from Bonnie.
"Why'd you have to say no to that guy's help?" said Bonnie. "And why'd you have to try to use science to get us out? It was a game!"
"I think I got too immersed," said Clemont. He laughed nervously and scratched his cheek. "I let it deceive me into thinking it was like real life. A foolish mistake, I admit. I'm embarrassed, to tell the truth."
Bonnie humphed and looked away.
"I can't speak for anyone else, but I had fun," said Aria.
Heads turned to face her. Momentary surprise crossed her face.
"I did!" said Aria. "I've never done anything like that before. Yes, it would have been nice if we had actually escaped, but it was still a good time. Plus, it will make for a funny story, one day."
There was a round of general agreement that if Aria enjoyed it, that was all that mattered. Once the moment had passed, and the mood had lightened a bit, it occurred to Serena that once again Korrina was leading them to somewhere unknown.
Serena asked, and Korrina answered. They were going to the roller rink.
It was not until Serena attempted to stand up with roller skates on her feet that she felt at all intimidated by the idea of skating for the first time. It seemed so easy, or at least easier than ice skating. After all, with four wheels on each foot, how hard could it be?
She soon discovered that the answer was very.
As soon as she placed her full weight on her feet, she began to slide away, toward the waist-high wall that surrounded the rink. Her knees locked up and she stuck her arms out for balance, slowly rolling toward the wall. She yelped as she bumped into it, then grabbed onto it with both hands. She focused on keeping her feet completely still, convinced that they would both fly out from underneath her at the slightest twitch.
Meanwhile, she watched as a group of kids effortlessly raced around the rink, chasing each other at a dizzying speed. Just as she was beginning to feel particularly incompetent, she saw Bonnie enter the rink. Bonnie did not move easily or naturally, but at least she was upright without holding onto anything. She pulled up in front of Serena on the other side of the wall.
"Is this your first time skating?" said Serena.
"Nope!" Bonnie said, grinning. "Korrina's been teaching me and Clemont. I'm a lot better than him, though!"
Bonnie stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth. Serena followed Bonnie's eyes and saw Korrina slowly backing her way onto the rink, leading Clemont with both hands. Clemont appeared to be equally terrified and embarrassed, visibly trembling and red in the face.
Aria rolled up next to Serena, coming to an easy stop in front of the wall. She had a smile on her face.
"This should be fun," she said. "Ready to give it a shot?"
"I hope so," said Serena.
"First time?" said Aria.
"Yes."
"Me too," said Aria.
"What?"
Serena eyed Aria up and down in disbelief. Nothing about her body language communicated that this was her first time on skates. She appeared loose, natural, comfortable, all things which Serena was not.
"It doesn't seem so hard," said Aria. "As long as you keep your balance and think about how you want to move, it should be easy."
The only thing Serena could think about was not falling.
Aria rolled toward the entrance to the rink. She beckoned for Serena to follow. Serena eased her way toward the entrance, pulling herself along the wall, rigid as a statue.
When she reached the entrance, she stopped, horrified to see that there was a short ramp that descended onto the rink. Aria stood in front of it, a short distance away on the floor, looking very amused. Behind Aria, Serena saw Korrina and Clemont pass by, Korrina still going backward as she led Clemont with both hands at a glacial pace.
"What's the matter?" said Aria. "It's just a little slope. It's no big deal.
"How did you stop?" said Serena.
"These things have brakes, you know," said Aria. She pointed toward her heels. Serena looked at her own feet and saw the brake pads there.
While she contemplated, she was embarrassed to hear someone behind her clear their throat. She hurried to move out of the way as a group of kids passed her and entered the rink.
Meanwhile, Aria stood there with her hands in her back pockets.
"Come on, you can do this!" she said.
As if on cue, Clemont fell down on the far side of the rink. Korrina struggled to pull him to his feet as his legs flailed about beneath him.
"I'll be right here if anything goes wrong," said Aria.
"But you don't know what you're doing, either, do you?" said Serena.
"Not really," said Aria. "What's the worst that could happen? We both fall down and have to get back on our feet? No big deal."
"But… in front of all these people?"
"You're really not cut out for life on the stage, are you?" said Aria.
"No," said Serena. "I don't want to mess up in front of everyone! It hurt so bad to fail with all eyes on me that I cut my hair off and threw it into the sea the next morning!"
"Are you going to do that if you fall down now?"
"No."
"Good!" said Aria. "I think we can both agree that would be an overreaction. And besides, you're prettier with longer hair anyway."
Serena's eyes shot wide open.
"Now, come on!" said Aria. She removed her hands from her pockets and beckoned Serena toward her. "I'm waiting for you!"
Flustered, Serena looked at the ground. She was convinced that she would lose her balance the second she began rolling down the ramp.
She had no time to contemplate it, though, because someone bumped her from behind. She went rolling, a hurried apology from a stranger following her but going unheard. Before she could comprehend it all, she was rolling toward Aria at a speed far too great for her comfort. She had no idea what to do.
"Watch out!" she said.
Aria did not watch out. Instead, she opened her arms and braced herself. Serena shut her eyes and winced, preparing for the inevitable impact. It was sure to be a disaster.
They collided. Serena expected them both to go toppling over, falling to the ground in a tangled, messy heap. Instead, she felt Aria's hands grip her arms. Her momentum transferred, the two of them went rolling together, slower. Serena opened her eyes and found Aria holding onto her at arm's length, a smile on her face.
"I told you," said Aria. "I've got you."
They drifted further toward the center of the rink. Serena bit the inside of her lip, yearning for the security of the short wall. All around the rink, she saw people walking along it, finding their balance.
Aria let go. Immediately, Serena stiffened like a board.
"Please don't let go!" she hurried to say. Just as quickly, Aria took hold again. Serena bowed her head, feeling heat rushing to her face. "I… need something to hold onto."
"Here," said Aria. Her grip moved from Serena's arms to her hands. She began to move away, and Serena moved with her. "Let's go back to the wall. You can practice there."
Serena was as unable to say no as she was to resist Aria's pull. Aria pulled her back to the wall. With one hand on it for guidance and the other held out for balance, Serena followed Aria as they made their way around the perimeter of the rink.
One lap turned into several. Serena kept quiet, focusing on her balance. It felt easier minute by minute. As she and Aria looped around the rink, she saw Korrina continuing to lead Clemont, with Bonnie skating around them, passing them by, and coming back again and again.
She could see Korrina and Clemont talking, though she could never hear the words. All the while, the redness in Clemont's face never went away, and Korrina never stopped smiling. Serena could only imagine what they were talking about. Her thoughts lingered there until Aria turned around in front of her and let go of the wall.
"How do you feel now?" said Aria. "Do you think you're ready to try it without holding onto the wall?"
Serena lifted her hand up from the wall and rolled for a few seconds without support. Nerves overtook her, and she grabbed onto the wall again.
"Maybe," she said.
"We can stay close to the wall," said Aria. She pulled up beside Serena. "Give it a try. It's not as hard as you think."
Once again, Serena lifted her hand. She moved without touching the wall for several seconds this time before reaching for it again. She slowed down, and Aria passed her. She pursed her lips.
"Is this really your first time doing this?" said Serena.
Aria stopped and turned around. She nodded.
"How do you make this look so easy?" said Serena. "What do you have that I don't?"
"Years of professional dance experience," said Aria. "I'm not an expert by any means, but I think it's a safe guess that spending most of my life in dance school has really helped me with my balance."
Serena frowned.
"I guess farm work hasn't been very helpful with that," she said. "I could probably stay on a Rhyhorn's back for longer than you, though."
"Probably," said Aria. "Have you ever been thrown off a Rhyhorn?"
"More times than I can count," said Serena.
"Why are you so afraid of falling here, then?"
Serena looked away.
"Because I don't want you to have to pick me up," she said. "This was supposed to all be for you. I don't want you to have to spend all your time looking after me. This was supposed to be a day of freedom for you."
"I'm having a great time," said Aria.
"Is this what you want to be doing?"
"I said I wanted to do this with you. Remember?"
"Yes, but-"
Serena stopped mid-sentence as Aria took her by the hand.
"Come on," said Aria. "You can do this. There's nothing to fear. I'm right here with you."
Unable to resist, the safety of the wall slipped away as Aria led Serena by the hand. They moved toward the center of the rink, making laps at a leisurely pace, saying little. They passed by Clemont and Korrina time and time again, Korrina encouraging him to take a few steps without her assistance, and Clemont inevitably needing her support again.
Things continued that way for a while. It was only when Serena saw Bonnie stop up ahead and stare at them that she realized she had been holding hands with Aria the entire time. Bonnie smirked, and Serena hurried to pull her hand away from Aria.
She saw Aria look at her. She expected to see hurt on Aria's face. Instead, she once again saw that enigmatic, unreadable smile. Separated, the two of them continued to roll until they approached a large group of kids crossing the rink. In unison, they stopped.
"See?" said Aria. "You don't need me."
After departing the rink, a debate ensued about where to go next. The original plan had been to get dinner first, but when Aria showed interest in some of the stores they passed, the group made a detour into a shopping district. Over the course of the next hour, Serena and the others followed while Aria led the way, wandering from store to store, perusing the shelves and racks of clothing.
Aria purchased nothing. She didn't even try on anything. She just looked. All the while, Serena stayed a few steps away from her, silently aware of exactly why Aria left every store empty-handed. Part of her wanted to offer to pay for Aria, but another part of her reminded her that the gesture was spoiled from the very beginning due to the money in question having come from her attempt to extort Aria. Rather than try to approach that difficult subject, Serena preferred to stand back and watch.
At the very least, Aria appeared to be enjoying herself. Serena was concerned that the others would be bored, but every time she looked around for them, she instead found Clemont and Korrina off on their own, hand in hand, lost in conversation. For a while, Serena lost track of Bonnie and wondered if she had disappeared, but she assumed that Clemont was paying attention and that there was no need to worry if he wasn't worried.
Instead, a different sort of worry came to her when she caught sight of Bonnie again. From the corner of her eye, she saw Bonnie peeking around the corner of a nearby shelf, a mischievous grin on her face. After sneaking a glance in Serena and Aria's direction, Bonnie scribbled something in a notebook. Before Serena could interrupt, Bonnie briefly met her eyes and grinned, then shoved the notebook back into her bag and disappeared again.
Serena was left as confused as ever.
When Aria eventually had her fill of window shopping, the debate over dinner resumed. While Clemont suggested that they should go somewhere upscale in honor of Aria's birthday, Aria insisted that she had eaten enough high-class meals for a lifetime and that she wanted something simpler. As such, their dinner instead came from a food truck near Prism Tower which Korrina recommended. It was sloppy, greasy, and absolutely delicious. Aria smiled all the way through it, even though she said she was certain she would regret her decision by the next morning.
Sunset approached. As the light in the sky dimmed, so did Aria's spirits. The day out was coming to an end. The inevitable return to Clemont's house awaited. Aria sighed, and she stood up from the bench on which they sat.
"I suppose we should get going, shouldn't we?" she said.
"Well, we don't have anything else planned, but we don't have to go yet," said Serena. "Not if you don't want to."
"Actually, I think it would be for the best if the three of us returned home," said Clemont, pointing to himself, Bonnie, and Korrina. "If you two would like to stay out a while longer, that's no trouble for us."
Aria made a pained face.
"I would like to, but I know I shouldn't," said Aria. "It's too risky."
"On the contrary," said Clemont, "we haven't seen even one single sign of surveillance all day, have we?"
Clemont looked at Luxray. Luxray gave a brief, gruff reply of agreement. Aria gave Clemont a confused look.
"Weren't you the one who didn't want to do this because of all the risk involved?" she said.
"Yes," said Clemont, "but I think if there is any lesson I should take from today, it is that the rules of logic are not applicable in all situations."
"Let's see how long it takes you to forget that," said Korrina. "My bet is on tomorrow."
"Ooh! Can I bet on tonight?" said Bonnie.
"Are you gonna pay up this time if you lose?" said Korrina.
"Have you two seriously been wagering with each other about me?!" said Clemont.
"Don't worry about it," said Korrina, dismissing him with a wave of the hand. "It's no big deal. Just a friendly bet here and there."
"It most definitely is a big deal if you have introduced Bonnie to gambling!"
Serena recalled Bonnie sneaking into the casino when they first entered the Grand Monego Hotel, and she snickered. If anything, it was probably Bonnie who started it, she figured. She wondered if Bonnie's notebook was meant for recording wagers.
A brief argument followed, one which ended with Clemont, Bonnie, and Korrina heading for home, leaving Serena and Aria by themselves. As they left, Bonnie winked at Serena. It made Serena's stomach jump.
Aria spoke first.
"That was a surprising turn," she said. "I assumed they were going to keep me guarded the whole day."
"It took a lot of work to convince Clemont to do this," said Serena. "Korrina kind of had to force him to do it."
"I understand why he was concerned," said Aria.
"Me too," said Serena. "That was part of what made this so hard to set up. Trying to convince Clemont of something that you think may not be a good idea is really, really hard."
Aria pursed her lips and bowed her head as she stood beside Serena.
"I'm touched that you did this for me," said Aria. "I struggle to believe that you all went to this much effort for me. It still doesn't feel real."
"We're your friends," said Serena. "Maybe you wouldn't know, but this is what friends do."
"You're right that I wouldn't," said Aria. "I'm accustomed to any outward gesture of generosity toward me being accompanied with the expectation of me doing something for that person in return. Favors, deals, negotiations under the table… But what can I possibly do for you? For any of your friends?"
"They're your friends, too, you know."
"It still doesn't feel like it to me," said Aria. "Perhaps I simply don't know how that's supposed to feel. I don't know what to expect."
"It doesn't feel like anything," said Serena. "It's something that just is."
Aria raised an eyebrow.
"You sound like me," she said.
"It's true, though!" said Serena. "Friendship isn't an emotion. It's just something that happens when people who like each other spend time together."
Aria appeared to think for a while. When she spoke, she changed the subject.
"What should we do now?" she said.
"I don't know," said Serena. "This wasn't the plan."
"Well, if there never was a plan and we were simply out here under normal circumstances, what would you suggest we do next?"
"Take a walk in the park?" Serena said with a shrug.
"That sounds delightful to me," said Aria.
With Delphox keeping guard behind them, they crossed a couple of nearby blocks and came upon a park, one with winding paths and a wrought iron fence surrounding it. They passed through the gate. The street lamps were already on inside.
"If I'm not mistaken, you were on your way out of this very same park when you finally found me," said Aria.
"I thought I saw you in the crowd at the festival that day. I tried to follow you, but I lost track of you. I thought you came through here."
"It was a stroke of luck that you found me, then, because I never entered this park that day," said Aria. "I went all the way around it, hoping to lose you. I ended up in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong time. Or perhaps the right place at the right time, depending on your point of view."
"I like the second one better," said Serena.
"It's funny," said Aria. "I was furious with you at the time. I was certain you were going to blow my cover. Now look at us!"
As if to accentuate her statement, Aria reached into her coat pocket, pulled out a Poké Ball, and threw it into the air. Her Delphox appeared alongside Serena's.
"Isn't Palermo still after you?" said Serena. "Don't we still need to be careful?"
"Do you want the simple answer or the complete answer?" said Aria.
"Both."
"If you say so," said Aria. "The simple answer is probably yes. The complete answer is that while she undoubtedly is still conspiring against me, we have no way of knowing what she is planning. For all we know, she could have abandoned trying to hunt me down a while ago. If I know her at all, she's probably planning some other indirect method of attack."
"Like what?" said Serena.
"Who knows?" said Aria. "She's very shrewd. That's the thing about Palermo - everything she does has an ulterior motive. She never does anything unless it's going to benefit her in some way. I'm willing to bet that once she realized you and your friends were guarding me, she decided that taking me directly was going to be too messy to be worth it and she began plotting something else."
"But what could she do?"
"She could do anything. It just depends on how much she wants it."
"What do you think she's going to do?"
"Probably some underhanded smear campaign against me in the media," said Aria. "She's already laid the foundation for that. That could have been a diversion, though. There's no way to predict her."
"How are you so… calm about all this?" said Serena. "It would really make me worried! Honestly, I'm already feeling more worried!"
Aria shook her head.
"I wish you wouldn't worry, but I understand," she said. "Honestly, it worries me, too. It worries me sick. You all aren't around for any of this, but when I'm alone in the house during the day, I fear that every sound I hear, every creaking floorboard and rattling pipe, is someone breaking in to take me."
"Aria…"
"But my point is that worrying accomplishes nothing!" said Aria. "I know it's so much easier said than done, but I tell myself all the time to stop worrying because I'm already doing everything I can to prevent it. There's nothing more I can do. Why worry about it, then? Why let Palermo control me in that way?"
"Why worry?" said Serena. "She wants to kidnap you and use you to make money!"
"True as that may be, what would be far worse is if I spent my entire time away from her tyranny living in fear. If I do that, then she truly has beaten me."
Both of them went quiet for a while. Behind them, their Delphox chatted with each other about some unknown subject, their differences in personality as glaring as ever. Aria's Delphox spoke in an excited tone, driving the conversation. Serena's Delphox was calm in return, even terse at times.
Lost in thought, Serena was startled when Aria asked her a question.
"When is your birthday?"
"It's in August," said Serena.
"Oh," said Aria. She looked away. "We missed it, then."
"August 15th," said Serena.
"Exactly three months before mine," said Aria. "Nine months away now."
"Why do you ask?" said Serena.
"Just curious," said Aria. "And… hoping that we could do this again on your birthday, which was hopefully soon. Which it isn't."
"I hope we get to do this again before then," said Serena.
Aria hesitated for a moment.
"Me too."
"Even a walk in the park would have been better than my last birthday," said Serena. "I was still at home then, hiding from everyone. My mom made a cake. That was it."
"I hope we can do better than that for your next one," said Aria.
"As long as I'm with you, it's already better."
There was a hitch in Aria's breath, followed by a sharp exhalation. She stopped.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to hear you say things like that when I know that you can't ever give me what I want?"
Serena also stopped. She bit down on her lip quite hard and looked away. Her heart raced. As thoughts and words came to her mind, she instantly felt her temperature begin to rise. There was so much to say, too much, simply an impossible amount of contradictory feelings to explain and no way to do it.
"I-"
Serena wasn't able to say much of anything before Aria spoke again.
"Serena, I'm still really attracted to you. Honestly, I feel that way more now than I ever have before. We keep getting closer and closer, and I can't help but think that this is something more than just a friendship, but I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never had anything like this before with anyone. I don't know what we are. I know what I want it to be, though, but I know that even if what we have looks and feels like that, you can't give that to me. I can't stop myself, though! I can't just ignore my feelings or make them go away! How could I? Getting to spend all this time with you is the best thing that has ever happened to me! I don't want this to stop, but I know that you just can't return my feelings no matter what, and the longer it continues, the more it hurts! It's driving me crazy and I don't know what to do!"
Aria's words hung heavy in the air. She folded her arms and turned away. Strained silence followed.
"I don't know what to do, either," said Serena. "I'm doing the best I can."
Aria covered her face with one hand and sighed.
"I know you are," she said. "I mean, look at what you've done for me today. You've given me an amazing day. You've done all this, and I respond by dumping my frustrations on you. It's not fair to you at all."
"I'm not mad at you," said Serena.
"I would understand if you were. I'm not very good at showing gratitude. It's no excuse, but you get numb to it after a while when everyone treats you like royalty."
"I'm… really happy with you, actually."
Aria turned her head to face Serena again.
"Huh?"
Serena folded her hands. She found it impossible to look Aria in the eye.
"Things have always been complicated between us, but… you make me really happy," said Serena.
"Serena…"
"I don't know what to do," said Serena. "I know you don't like it, but I can't just give up on Ash. But… I don't want to stop doing what we're doing. I really like being so close to you. I don't want to stop that."
Aria's lips parted, but no words came out. She closed them again, and also her eyes.
"Please," she began. "Please don't tell me that you would be with me if it weren't for Ash. Or if I were a boy. I can't take it. I can't. Please."
"I wasn't going to say any of that," said Serena.
Aria opened her eyes again.
"Then what were you going to say?"
"That I need more time to figure out what I want."
Aria sighed. She took one step forward, and then another. Serena followed her.
"I wish I could tell you in good faith that you can take all the time you need," said Aria. "I can't, though."
"Why not?"
"Because our time is running out."
"What?"
Serena stopped. Aria stopped with her. Serena spoke again.
"What are you talking about? Do you know something I don't?"
"For once, no," said Aria. "I have no idea what the future holds. What I do know is that nothing is certain in life."
Serena shifted her stance awkwardly. Instinctively, she folded her arms tight against her body. A moment later, she shivered.
"Are you cold?" said Aria.
"Not really," said Serena. "Well, kind of."
There was silence for a while. Aria seemed to be on the verge of making some kind of gesture, but seemed to think better of it and stopped herself. Serena thought for some time before she spoke. Even when she did, she didn't feel like she had anything insightful to say.
"The future is... scary," she said.
"It can be," said Aria.
"It wasn't always scary."
"The future always seems so bright when we're young, doesn't it?" said Aria. "It's only when we begin to grow up that we realize there were black clouds on the horizon all along."
"It's not that," said Serena.
"Oh?"
"Well, not exactly. It's that... well, for almost as far back as I can remember, there was only one thing I ever wanted to do with my future."
Serena took a momentary glance at Aria, then bit her lip and looked away.
"All I ever wanted to do was be with Ash," she said.
Aria was silent for a few seconds.
"Has that changed?"
"I... I don't know," Serena said, shaking her head. She rubbed her forehead. "Being with him was the only thing I ever dreamed of, but now, after everything that's happened, I just... I just don't know anymore."
Aria tucked her hands into her pockets.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out in time."
A while later, the two of them rounded one last corner. Clemont's house awaited them at the end of the block. Despite both of their spirits lifting after the conclusion of their walk in the park, Serena knew immediately that Aria was not excited to be back.
"I had almost forgotten what it was like to be outside," said Aria.
"It won't be as long before the next time you're out here, hopefully," said Serena.
"Hopefully, yes," said Aria. She walked with her hands in her coat pockets, tight-lipped.
"I don't want to speak too soon, but unless there's a last-second surprise, you made it the whole day without being caught or noticed by anyone," said Serena.
"I guess that bodes well, doesn't it?" said Aria.
They stopped at the front steps. Serena's Delphox checked their surroundings, raising her wand high to illuminate the area. Aria's Delphox had long since been returned to her ball.
Serena looked at Aria. They both hesitated.
"Well?" said Serena.
Aria lifted her head high and took a deep breath with her eyes shut. She shook her head as she let it all out.
"I don't want to do this," she said.
"I know," said Serena. "But… you don't have to do it alone."
"I-"
Aria began to say something, but she stopped immediately when she opened her eyes. Serena was holding a hand out to her.
"We can do it together," said Serena.
Cautious, almost disbelieving, Aria pulled her hand from her coat pocket and placed it in Serena's. Their fingers locked together. Serena took a step up toward the door.
"Ready?" she asked.
Aria took one last look around the block, then gave Serena a grim, bittersweet nod.
Serena's heart raced as she climbed the steps, Aria in tow behind her. She knew that there was one more surprise waiting on the other side of the door, one more grand lie to be exposed.
There was one more part to the plan. Their late arrival had been part of the plan all along.
Serena opened the door. With a firm grip on Aria's hand, she pulled her into the dark foyer. There were no lights on.
"Are we that late?" said Aria. "Is everyone already in bed?"
"No, I don't think so," said Serena. She let go of Aria's hand and shut the door behind them.
As soon as she turned the lock, everything happened at once. Lights switched on. Voices cheered. Aria yelped in surprise and covered her mouth in shock.
Clemont, Bonnie, Korrina, and Meyer all stood in view at the kitchen table, smiles on their faces. In front of them sat a cake.
"Happy birthday!"
Again, Serena took Aria by the hand. She led Aria into the kitchen. Aria said something incoherent. Meyer lit the candles on the cake, seventeen in all. Adorning the cake were words written in red icing.
Happy Birthday Aria
It took Aria so long to stop crying that they had to re-light the candles for her to blow them out.
