Note: This nature of their relationship is platonic. I am also aware that a lot of this may need context, which I will be happy to give in another story, enjoy.
February of 2010.
The semester of his senior year at Sinnoh State University had already begun. It was going to be tough, keeping up with his Team Galactic duties, while maintaining his GPA, but with Master Cyrus gone, all assets concerning the company were given to Saturn by default and he had no choice but to step up. On the bright side, however, it was a lot easier to know how Team Galactic looked to the public when he was a regular student, listening in on what the world really thought of them.
Most of Saturn's work for the past year was just him cleaning up after Master Cyrus. It took a lot of money and retraining of grunts to rebrand as Galactic Energy. New policies, new training, actively making amends to the public. He was getting gray hairs just thinking about it.
"Venus, I'm leaving you in charge of training and PR related activities until spring break. I have a lot I need to attend to. If there's an emergency, contact me, but please don't have any emergencies."
She was newly promoted from an admin trainee, to actual admin. After Mars and Jupiter left, he did try to get in touch with them, to see if they were interested in rebranding, but understandably, they voiced their desires to live out normal lives. And he was honestly tempted, too. But there was too much to be done here, and he had to hire new admins, fast.
"Oooh, are you going on an adventurous, romantic getaway or something? She must be something to pull you away from work."
Venus was a pretty little thing. And though competent, intelligent, and skilled- she was way too curious to a fault.
"Do not breach our confidentiality contract, Venus. Admins are not to bring up their personal lives in the workplace, so please do not test me. I need to go."
Without waiting another second, Saturn took off in black car with tinted windows, heading to the university for class. His phone buzzed in his pocket- it was a text from his mother.
I know today is your first day of your last semester, and I wanted to wish you good luck. Dad also wanted to let you know how much we appreciate the money you sent us last week. Please come home soon, we miss you. Have a good day at school! I love you, Daichi.
There was a pinch in his chest when his eyes met his reflection in the rearview mirror. His mother had no clue what he'd been really up to, after all this time. Saturn always told his parents he was too busy to talk, or visit because of school, and this great job he got. But he had no idea how long he'd be able to keep this up. Even after graduation, what was the plan from there? His only hope would be to keep working on rebranding Team Galactic, but it wouldn't change the fact that he was still their Commander during Master Cyrus's reign.
He took a deep breath, and ultimately decided to just push through, and keep focusing on school. It was the only thing he could do. His accolades at Sinnoh State were the only genuine thing about his life anymore.
When he arrived at school, he arrived as Daichi Yasuda, with glasses and his hair down. It was a relief to be able to be himself, even if it was only going to be for the rest of the semester. His eyes relaxed at the wide and beautiful scenery of the campus, the grass was a healthy green, the flowers flourished with life.
After class, Daichi headed on over to the front of the campus, he could see the last batch of teenagers getting off of one of the tour buses. Today, the school had asked him to lead the college campus tour for the highschoolers, to which he was happy to oblige.
Until he saw who was the last person to get off the bus.
It was the girl who brought down Master Cyrus. The girl who brought down Team Galactic. It was-
"Dawn Berlitz!"
People began to surround her, only for a bodyguard to step in for her protection. Daichi felt way too sick in his stomach to internalize the scene fully. The last he heard from her was at Galactic HQ, she was erratic, emotional, and begged him to give her Master Cyrus's failsafe plans for the Azure Flute. That happened last fall, and he hadn't seen her since then, she fell off the face of the earth completely, and now she had popped up at his university, colliding with his personal life.
And why in the hell was Dawn interested in attending a university that Cyrus was an alumni at?
He knew it was unreasonable to feel this way. It was unfair to her. But he couldn't help it. Even though he didn't hate Dawn, she highlighted the guilt he felt towards his own family about Team Galactic. He wanted the people he encountered as Saturn to stay there, in Saturn's life. Of course he knew Dawn had little control over that, but there was a lump in his chest that just wouldn't go down.
"Hello, my name's Daichi…"
Words were leaving his mouth, but he couldn't hear himself.
"...And I'm here to…"
He wanted so badly to just ditch the tour, and pass the job onto someone else, but the school was counting on him, and he always looked good to them. He had already decided today that he had to push through, no matter what.
"So if you guys have any questions about Sinnoh State University…"
If Dawn was no longer the enemy in his life as Saturn, then she surely wasn't as Daichi.
"...Follow me."
It was a drag, but he still managed to smile through it. He felt like Dawn's eyes were following him a little too intently during the tour, but he knew that was only because of his paranoia. In reality, it seemed like she was a little too busy being enamoured with the wonders of Sinnoh State University. And why wouldn't she be? He couldn't blame her for that, and by the time she were to even attend this school, he'd already be an alumni.
And he held onto that piece of comfort, all the way to the end.
The last stop was at the auditorium, where the music and theater majors all put on their shows. Daichi pressed forward on stage, and spent the rest of the tour answering questions. Most of it was a blur, but he knew he got through it well.
And when it was finally over, he allowed himself a breath of relief, and a moment to turn around and clean his glasses as everyone left.
"Excuse me, Daichi?" A voice called to him, it was Dawn's.
He panicked, quickly shoving on his glasses before whirling around, finding Dawn at the steps of the stage.
"Um, yes Dawn?"
Her eyes widened, as if taken aback by the way he said her name casually, even though she hadn't asked him a single question the whole tour.
"You know my name?" She asked, there was caution in her voice.
The drawbacks of a double life. The burden of having to pretend to be more ignorant than you really are. Which is why it was so lucky that he was smart.
"Well, you're the Champion, aren't you? I'd have to be living under a rock to not know who you are." Daichi tried to sound as friendly as possible, "What can I do for you?"
Dawn seemed disappointed in his response, like a part of her world was crumbling down. He probably should've used his words more carefully, but how could've he anticipated this?
"Oh, I had a question, but I was too embarrassed to ask in front of everyone else." She said, like it should be so easy to believe that she was capable of being embarrassed, "Do you think it's… wrong for me to be here?"
This. This was a surprise. The girl who was loud-mouthed and aggressive towards Team Galactic, had numerous violent altercations with the paparazzi, the same girl who barged into his headquarters and demanded the blueprints of Cyrus's failsafe plans- she was right here, allowing herself to ask an insecure question in front of a stranger. But he was at least glad to know that if Dawn had made an attempt to summon Arceus with the Azure Flute, it didn't take away her emotions.
And now he was curious about what brought her here, in his orbit.
"Come with me, let's talk over here." He gestured to the edge of the stage.
She followed his lead, and they made themselves comfortable, their legs dangling from the edge.
"Why would you ask something like that?"
"I just… I just get this feeling that people will think I don't deserve to be here, is all. Like, it's already super hard to get into this school right? And I'm not stupid, I know I'll be able to go here because of… well, you know, special privileges. What if I'm taking the opportunity away from someone who wants it more than me?"
It wasn't just a feeling. She knows it for a fact, because she's an empath, so she can sense what the others felt around her. But he knows she's choosing her words carefully because if she speaks like her words are true, she thinks she might look crazy in front of him, someone who's supposedly out of the loop on her little gift.
"Well, why do you want to go to this school?" He decided that this was the best way to tackle the issue. And, well, he actually did want to know why.
"Because… I went through a lot during my journey, and there was a point where things got so dark, I thought I couldn't come back from it." She said with a heavy heart, "But I did, and I see things differently now. I feel like I have the hope that I can follow my dreams again, I want to be a performer. I want to learn from the best. And I know this school has the best performing arts program in Sinnoh."
And finally, he truly got an understanding of what placed the two here at this exact moment.
"I know what you mean, that's how I felt four years ago, before I even enrolled here." He smiled, recalling the years before Team Galactic came into the picture, "I come from a family of farmers, so living out in the countryside, I didn't have much except for the stars and a really big imagination. It felt hopeless at first, like I was never going to get out of that small town. But I wanted so badly to see the world, that I made sure to study hard so that I could get the best education, and that sent me out here."
He didn't know why he felt compelled to tell her this, but it's not like she could connect it to Saturn, so he was safe.
"Well, I don't know anything about the you from the past, but it seems like you've come a very long way." She said to him, "Did it pay off? Was it everything you wanted?"
"It paid off for sure. It was almost everything, save for a few mistakes while I was here," Mistakes like getting caught up in Cyrus Akagi's cult called Team Galactic. "But you are right, I'm miles away from where I was before, and you can be too." He instinctively encouraged her.
"I can?" Dawn looked at him, as if it was crazy for him to be putting that much faith in her.
"Everyone deserves to have that one thing that helps them escape from hell. And for you, that's performing, right?" He asked.
"Yeah… it is." The corners of her mouth slowly lifted into a smile, "Singing, dancing, writing songs, making music… that's how I express myself when I feel like the entire world is against me. I've loved the performing arts my entire life."
When she spoke about her dreams, her voice got lighter. And he knew, because his parents used to tell him all the time, that's how he would sound when he talked about how he was going to become a rich business man and help move his family out of Solaceon Town. To him, it didn't matter who else wanted it more, all that mattered was the stars, and he never stopped trying to reach for them.
"So you would give up your dream to become a performer, if someone else wanted it more than you?"
"What?"
"You heard me." He said bluntly, "If you somehow knew there was someone who wanted to be here more than you, are you going to walk away from that dream? The one thing you were excited to pursue after what you've been through?"
"No, I wouldn't." Dawn says with zero hesitation, and more clarity.
"Then listen to me, you could have much worse reasons for wanting to be here, but you don't. Your dreams don't matter less than anyone else's. If you came back from the darkness, you came back for a reason, and it led you here. So you have to make it count, it's the only way you'll move forward. And you deserve to be able to do that in the best way you see fit." He looked at her, speaking with a burning intensity, he was even surprised at himself for it.
"Oh my god." She gaped at him with wide eyes, as if she'd just realized something.
And he was a little afraid, because although she could feel what he's feeling, he had absolutely no way to know what she was thinking, which was frightening. So he repressed his mind from thinking any thoughts, hoping that he didn't give himself away.
"You genuinely mean that." Dawn said, bursting into a smile, "Thank you!"
So she didn't catch him in a lie, she just felt the honesty in his words.
And unexpectedly, he found himself in her embrace. She'd thrown her arms around him so fast, he didn't have time to process it.
"Sorry," Dawn said, pulling away, "it's just a relief to receive real kindness from people. I know that sounds crazy but, I can just tell when… when someone's words are fake."
Maybe he didn't need empath powers to read Dawn Berlitz. She was painfully, and unashamedly frank with her emotions, regardless of its presentation. And Saturn could learn a thing or two from that.
"It's not crazy." He said simply, straightening his jacket, "You're just unafraid of vulnerability, and refuse to take someone's bullshit. Arceus knows the world needs that kind of honesty."
"You just saved me two years worth of overthinking." She laughs, and it's contagious.
So for now, he allows himself to rejoice in a moment where he isn't punishing himself. They talk, and the guilt washes away. He gets to know things about her that he would never be privy to as Saturn, but that's okay, he has a feeling it was meant to be like this.
At some point, they do get off from the stage, but before they part ways, he leaves her with these final words:
"You reach for the stars, Dawn. And don't stop until you're standing among them."
April of 2010.
Spring Break arrives, and Saturn returns to Galactic Energy Headquarters, already up to date with everything going on, as if he'd never left.
"Venus, I'll allow you to be relieved of your duties for the rest of this week. I'll take it from here." He announces in his office.
"Well thank you, Commander Saturn, oh- just one more thing before I go, you have a scheduled appointment right now." Venus says rather quickly, ready to leave.
"What? I wasn't aware of that, with who?" Saturn pressed, but wasn't too alarmed.
"Dawn Berlitz. She's waiting out in the front." Venus motions to skip off, with her bag in hand, "Okay, bye!"
And just like that, she was gone in an instant. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to hire college sophomores as Galactic Admins, Cyrus already made that mistake before.
"Hi, Saturn." At his office doors was Dawn, coming in as soon as Venus left, "I wanted to give these back to you."
Placed in his hands, were Cyrus's failsafe plans. It was all here. The blueprints, the clues to where the Azure Flute was located, the music sheets, and the drawings. Months ago, Dawn had grilled Saturn over these. She was determined to summon God to get rid of her empathy. And here she was now, seemingly ready to let go of it all.
"You could've just given this to Venus, she would've left it at my desk." Saturn said, rolling the failsafe plans in his hands.
"I know, but I wanted to talk to you." She let out a breath, "I want to apologize for my outburst from when we last talked."
"Why?" His eyes raised with half confusion, half curiosity, "You weren't wrong, after everything that happened, I at least owed you the chance to fix what had gone wrong with your life."
"Yes, and I appreciate that, but there were some things I said to you that… just wasn't fair." Dawn sighed, "Like when I accused you of trying to revive Cyrus's original plan, and use the failsafe for that. I knew all along why you didn't want to give them to me, I could feel it, I just said it because I was angry, and even when I said it, I knew it wasn't right. So, I'm really sorry."
"There's no need for you to be sorry. If the rest of the world didn't trust Team Galactic right away, why would I expect you of all people to?" He offered her a half-smile.
She looked vastly different from the last time he saw her as Saturn, still strikingly honest, but calmer. Her eyes weren't shooting daggers at him, like he was the enemy. A barrier had been let down.
"Were you successful in finding the flute?" Saturn finally asked, setting the papers aside..
"I did find the flute, I did summon Arceus… but I'm still an empath." Her voice, it was like she was speaking on her last stage of grief, "But, no need to worry, I'm no longer trying to rid myself of it. I left for Unova after encountering Arceus, and learned how to control my abilities. Now, I'm back, and I've found other ways to move forward."
"Really, now?" There was a lift in Saturn's voice, filled with curiosity.
"Not that it's any of your business, but I have two years before I can go to college, and I've set my sights on Sinnoh State University." She said, bold and proud.
"There is a bit of a poetic irony to you attending the university Cyrus graduated from." Saturn chuckled, "But I'm glad you found your way. The alternative you had before… It was extreme. And extremism is never the solution."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you're right." Dawn rolled her eyes, but she wasn't brushing off his words, "I was there, remember?"
"Right." He let out a small laugh, "Well, I wish you luck with whatever you decide to pursue."
"Thank you, Saturn!" She flashes a smile at him, "I'm going to keep chasing my dreams, and I won't stop until I'm standing among the stars!"
Saturn paused, but not in a panicked way, no- he's beaming. Maybe there really is a future where they don't have to be at odds. He couldn't promise friendship, but he had a feeling she understood that.
"Beautifully said, Dawn." He allows himself to say out loud.
"Learned it from a new friend I made." Dawn shrugged her shoulders into the strap of her bag, ready to turn on her heel, "Good luck with Galactic Energy, you're going to need LOTS of it. But if anyone can turn Cyrus's evil cult into an Empire, it's you."
It was strangely reassuring, the kind of faith that little girl was willing to put on a former enemy. And if the girl who brought down Team Galactic could forgive him, maybe his parents could too.
As soon as Dawn was out of sight, he pulled out his phone, immediately pressing the call button on a favorite contact.
"Hey, mom?"
…
"Yes, it's really me."
...
"I'm coming home tonight."