Alright here we go chapter 64. Things continue from where things left off. Thanks again to genericgamer207 for editing.

Chapter 64: Confession

Point of View Black

For now, everything was calming down. Kana, Ebony and I all waited in the pokecenter lobby. Surprisingly, that shape shifter took me to the same pokecenter that everyone else was at. Gray, Hesh, Flare, and Nia were all being helped with their injuries. Aiden on the other hand disappeared off the face of the planet.

Silence filled the lobby as we all waited for the status of our friends. I was exhausted, but I didn't want to sleep, not after what just happened. I stared out the window keeping watch for anyone suspicious. Every few minutes I found my eyes closing on their own, and I had to snap myself out of it. I gave a quick glance at Ebony who was curled up in a ball sleeping in a corner. I envied her currently for being able to sleep after what just happened.

"If you want to sleep, I'll keep watch," Kana offered as she sat down next to me.

"I'll be fine, I'm just a little tired," I responded. Even though I wanted to sleep, I just couldn't sleep soundly with danger lurking through the night.

"Listen, you just fought, and almost died multiple times. Everyone fought tonight, and I didn't."

"It's not like you could've helped it. You were drugged, everything turned out fine in the end," I said even though it was an obvious lie, everything didn't really turn out that well, but in no way was it her fault.

"Flare is in really bad shape, he could have died, I should have been there to help him," Kana said.

"He didn't though, he'll be fine. He won't blame you for anything, Flare's just not that type of guy," I said truthfully. If Flare could tolerate me almost getting everyone killed frequently, then I'm sure he wouldn't hold anything against Kana. Although the origin of this problem is based off me; I was the one who got them dragged into this…

"I know he's not that type of person, but I still can't help but feel this way," Kana said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Guilt is a normal response," I said as I let out a long yawn and felt myself slowly phasing out.

"Go get some rest, I'll keep watch. If anything suspicious happens, you'll be the first to know," Kana said.

"You sure you got this?" I asked her. Kana responded with a nod. "Alright, don't hesitate to wake me if any news on Flare or Nia comes in," I said. After our talk, I crawled under a bench in the shadows. This was one of the only spots with a shadow in the lobby, or in other words, the nocturnal creature oasis of the pokecenter. My eyes closed, and I gave into the heavenly feeling of sleeping after a very long night.

After a long peaceful power nap, my eyes eventually opened back up. Light beamed through the windows of the pokecenter, and my nocturnal eyes were instantly blinded. I cautiously crawled out from under the bench and stood up. I let out a tired yawn as I stretched out my muscles. The sun finally rising was reassuring; it felt like that night was never going to end.

I looked over into the corner of the room, and was surprised at what I saw. I saw Alex hunched over on a bench with his arms in his lap and his hands clasped together as if he was praying. Along with that, he just kept staring at the floor, not looking up at all. Lying down next to him in a deep sleep was Kana. I had to really wonder how long he was here, or better yet where the hell was he last night.

"Alex?" I said to my trainer who stared at the ground. Alex didn't even notice me. It appeared that he was deep in his own thoughts. "Hey, Alex," I said even louder in order to get his attention. Alex looked up slowly as if he was a zombie version of himself. Once I made eye contact, I noticed that the white part of his eye was a pinkish color along with his eyelids, a strong indication that he'd been crying.

"Oh. Hey Black, you're not hurt are you?" Alex asked in a quiet voice.

"No, I'm perfectly fine," I responded.

"I'm glad you are alright," Alex said fully understanding what I said. An awkward silence filled the room which only made things feel worse than it was. Sensing that Alex really needed a friend right now, I jumped up on the bench, and sat right next to him.

"I really wish I could have been there last night to help in some way," Alex said out loud as he looked towards the ground.

"It's not your fault, at least everyone is alive," I responded to my trainer. Alex didn't know what I said, but the kid was smrt enough to get the gist of my tone. Alex then reached out his hand and stroked the fur on my back repeatedly. The feeling sent shivers down my spine. I never let humans touch me, let alone pet me like a house pet. Although out of all the naïve stupid humans in this world, Alex has earned my trust, so if it made him feel a little better in his time of need, I'd put up with it, just this one time.

For the longest time, Alex and I sat silently. Eventually a male doctor walked into the lobby. The doctor was middle aged, yet he was already bald. "Mister Hayter, it's okay for you to see your fennekin now," the doctor spoke. Alex's eyes lit up as he stood up almost instantly.

"What about Gray, and Hesh?" Alex asked.

"The pikachu and absol are both completely fine. I just want to talk to you about something regarding your fennekin. Alex looked back at Kana and Ebony who were both asleep, then he looked down at me.

"Is it fine if my umbreon comes along?"

"That's fine, now come along," the doctor said as he guided the both of us to Flare. I kind of felt bad for Kana since she was asleep, and I knew her and Flare were a lot closer than me and him. After a few minutes of walking down empty hallways Alex and I finally made it to Flares room.

Before we entered the doctor stood in front of us "Your fennekin is still asleep, please don't disturb him," the doctor spoke as he opened the door for us. Alex and I both quietly entered the room. There we saw Flare sleeping on a bed. It was actually kind of hard seeing Flare wrapped up in bandages all over his torso, and other spots around his body.

"Your fennekin suffered a lot of injuries last night, he has been given medicine to help him cope with the pain, but he's also going to be out for a while," the doctor warned us.

"He's okay right, like no permanent damage?" Alex asked the doctor.

"It appears your fennekin is fine, just in really rough shape. His lower ribs are broken, and he has a concussion, and along with all of that we believe he has an injured back. Hopefully that will heal up; it may hurt him for a very long time though. I'd recommend keeping him away from any physical activity for a bit,"

Alex let out a long sigh "Well, it could have been worse." Alex walked over to Flare and looked down at the injured fennekin. "I just have one more question," Alex asked.

"And what would that be?"

"What happened to the pokemon that did this?"

"As you know, your pokemon defeated them. They are being kept under watch in this exact pokecenter, they're both too injured to do anything at the moment, but police are watching them very closely," the doctor answered.

"And why are those pokemon allowed to be in the same pokecenter as my pokemon? They almost killed them, I wouldn't even want them in the same city after this," Alex complained.

"It's just how things are currently; after they heal up they will be out of here. They'll probably be questioned, and then put down."

"Still, it bothers me," Alex added on.

"Anyways, onto a new topic, your absol is fine to leave now. His injuries were very… strange," the doctor said with a peculiar voice. "Follow me and you can fill out the papers and take him home," the doctor said as he led us out of the Flare's room. As I walked out, I looked back at Flare really quick, but my sight of him was cut off as the doctor shut the door.

The doctor led us a few rooms down the hall until we reached Gray's room. The doctor unlocked the door, and he let us in. As I walked into the room, I noticed Gray sitting up on the bed alive and well. Gray had a bandage covering the right side of his chest where he was stabbed, and there was also a bandage on his back where the sword exited his back. Despite past feuds, it was still nice to see him alive. Things kind of felt odd around him after I thought he died. It's strange since I always envisioned him dead for his horrible personality, but in no way was things patched up between the two of us.

The doctor walked up to Gray, and examined him, "We examined your Absol very carefully, but oddly he is perfectly fine. His wound was cauterized but he still didn't have any problems with internal bleeding. He is perfectly healthy at the moment. We want to prescribe him anti-biotics to prevent him from getting an infection where his wounds were cauterized. Other than a big scar on his back and his chest, he will recover just fine," the doctor optimistically said as he picked some papers up off a table. "Just fill this out and you can take him home. We will send you a bill in the mail, or you can get one at the front desk."

"Alright," Alex responded as he filled out the papers without even reading it. After a small chat between the doc and Alex, we were ready to leave the room finally. The doctor guided us back to the lobby. In the lobby, I found Kana and Ebony finally awake, although I found that they weren't too talkative after such a rough night.

"What about Hesh," Alex asked in concern for the prankster pikachu.

"He's fine, his muscles are just strained. It's best that he just doesn't move for a bit. I'll take you to see him when there is more time. For now, I have got to tend to other patients."

"Alright, thanks," Alex responded as we joined Kana and Ebony.

"Oh, Sir just one last thing," the doctor said, regaining Alex's attention. "The other umbreon, she'll be fine as well, she just needs time to recover from her injuries," the doctor said.

Alex didn't respond for a few seconds as he processed what he just heard "I... don't have another umbreon…"

"My apologies. She must belong to someone else," the doctor said as he walked away. There was no doubt in my mind that he was referring to Nia. I could only hope that her wounds would healed over well, she was really messed up last time I saw her.

Silence filled the room for quite some time. Alex's mood improved though, and he was no longer moping around. I still remembered how he stuck by my side in Ambrette when I was having my mental breakdown from all the stress. I knew I didn't show it, but ever since then, I did view him as a friend, even if we couldn't talk.

"Black, can we talk outside for a moment," Gray asked me out of nowhere. The idea of Gray asking me to go somewhere alone with him sent chills down my spine. Gray and I may have had a 'moment' where we were good partners, but that did not clear up any suspicions I had on him with his hatred towards my kind.

"Why?" I asked nervously as I inched away from him.

"I'd like to talk about a few things privately, that's all," Gray answered. His voice lacked the hostile tone he usually attacked me with. I'd even say he almost sounded like he was being nice… if that was possible.

"Okay, sure." I stood up off the ground and walked towards the exit of the pokecenter in good faith that Gray wouldn't start something at a time like this. Once we were outside Gray looked in every direction as if he was hiding from something.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked nervously as I stayed out of arms reach from him.

Gray remained silent for a second as he avoided my eyes. Gray muttered something under his breath, but I couldn't hear it.

"You got to speak up," I told Gray.

The absol let out a long grunting noise as if he was fighting himself "I said I'm… I'm sorry," Gray spoke really fast. My jaw dropped and refused to rise back up. "I know I've been… cold to you, and I just wanted to apologize for it."

I repeated what he said mentally a thousand times before I could even fully comprehend what was going on. I then just remembered that the shape shifting creature said he talked to Gray. I really wanted to know what the hell he told him back there because obviously it took effect immediately.

"You're… apologizing?" I asked him. Gray responded with a slow nod. "Yeah-no…" I said snidely. "Do you have any concept of how you made me feel, you have mentally and physically attacked me. Do you have the slightest idea of how you made me feel?"

"Yeah, I don't really expect you to just forget what happened… but I just want-" Gray started to say before I cut him off.

"You're damn right I'm not going to forget what happened. You assaulted me! You constantly reminded me of things I couldn't help. Because I'm an umbreon my family paid for it, do you know what it is like being reminded that your family died because of what you are?!" I shouted out loud. "Every racist thing you said about my kind being monsters reminded me of what happened!" I yelled at Gray.

Point of View Gray

I stood frozen without a single clue on how to respond. My past racism was always meant to hurt Black… I will never deny that, but I had no clue of what I was reminding him of. Thinking back to it now, me viewing every umbreon like Eclipse really got out of hand, just the idea of how I acted made me want to cringe.

"I know… I screwed up so bad, I said things without even knowing you. The truth is, I was afraid of you," I truthfully said.

"You were afraid of me?" Black repeated back.

"Long-long ago I had friends that were practically my family. One of them was named Eclipse; he was an umbreon just like you. I'd even say he looked like you, just not a shiny," I said with a hesitant pause. I never told anyone this before. I never thought I'd be telling Black of all pokemon first. "I trusted Eclipse; he was like a brother to me. One day Eclipse backstabbed us. The end result was the death of every friend I cherished."

"So why'd he backstab you," Black curiously asked me with a calmer voice than before.

"Back in the day I worked with a group that devoted to helping the world. Well, people hated what we did, so they hunted us down and killed our members. I guess they found Eclipse and cut him a deal. He led us all into a trap and he walked away with his life." I said.

"So because one umbreon did something bad, you assume were all bad?" Black snidely replied back.

"Two umbreon's ruined my life, one of the mercenaries was an umbreon as well," I corrected him. "Every time I looked at you I saw Eclipse. I remembered what he did. I couldn't get the images out of my head. I could never understand how someone so close, someone I trusted with my life, could do something so self-centered. I was afraid that things would repeat." After my small anecdote, Black remained silent as he processed my story. I didn't expect his forgiveness; I just wanted him to at least understand why I was so cruel towards him.

"Listen, I don't know if I forgive you. I have mixed emotions currently, but I'd be willing to try and get along and maybe, just maybe we could one day actually be friends," Black said with a more than reasonable proposal.

"Thanks, I know you don't owe me any form of cooperation."

"Anyway, I'm going back inside. Hopefully things really can be different from now on," Black said as he made his way towards the door.

"I hope so too," I said as he walked away. That conversation took a few turns I didn't expect, but in the end, I felt that it went the way it was supposed to.

Chapter End

Author Note: Ever had someone apologize to you, and your just like screw you! I have lol. Even though Gray is apologizing Black is pretty cold about it, if I was him I'd be pretty angry even if he apologized. But now Gray has a scar on his chest/back, I guess that makes Black and Gray scar buddies... no not funny? okay I'll shut up now...

Is it really worth thanking everyone for reviewing this chapter? I've like written it down on every chapter. I need new ways to thank my reviewers/followers. For a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone skips over this thank you I put in every chapter XD. So here I'm just going to write a fun fact fact about the story, hopefully something that'll catch everyone's interest. I'll try and come up with one every chapter or so that doesn't spoil anything.

Fun fact about Black Dawn: Would you believe that when I was still brainstorming for this story I actually considered having Black and Gray being female characters. Obviously they both wouldn't have both been female if I choose that route, and their names would have changed. But imagine that, Black, and Gray as female characters.