Serena crept out of the room in the Pokemon Center that she and her friends had gotten, trying not to wake any of her friends. However, one bed was noticeably bare, sans the Pikachu resting on it. Serena hoped nothing happened to the occupant. Maybe he just couldn't sleep, like her.
She walked down the stairs and entered the cafeteria. Her eyes scanned the room, and she gassed when she saw the boy, her friend. Gone was the optimistic, boisterous, and energetic boy she was so used to. Instead, there was a boy, haunted by his past, with a broken look in his eyes that was absolutely heart-wrenching. He didn't even bother to wipe the tears of his face, instead choosing to let them lay on his face in tracks, glistening in the darkness.
Abruptly, he left his seat, not even bothering to quiet his movements. He headed out the door, not noticing Serena trailing behind him. He walked towards the outer edge of the battlefield, eyes starting once to the bench, where a navy-haired girl sat, playing with her hair.
Her eyes followed the boy as he walked to a tree. Suddenly, without any warning, surprising both watching girls, neither taking notice of the other, the boy slammed his fist into the tree.
Boom! Slam! Boom! Slam! This continued, with the boy not caring about the pain in his wrist, instead choosing to deal with that pain over the phantom pain that existed only in his memories. Boom! Slam! Another punch, another memory, another scream that not only left his lips, but the mouths of his friends in the past, another tear that trickled down his face. He raised his arm to punch once more, but faltered, arm trembling.
Knowing what was about to happen before the actual occurrence, that girl on the bench rushed to her friend, somehow managing to catch her fallen friend as he crumbled to the ground, tears coming out in rivers now, with the weight of the word crushing him. Breaking him, into pieces. That floated off into the wind. Never coming back.
But someone did come back. That someone, whose arms wrapped around him in a steady embrace, that someone, who let him wet her shirt with his tears, that someone, who rubbed his back, that someone, that friend, that he needed, was right here, and Arceus be damned if he wasn't so, so happy it was her, the one person who could understand him, who could help him, strategize with him, encourage him, his closest friend was here right here, and oh, how he needed this!
Dry sobbing now, he clenched tightly to her, to the only thing that kept him going, to that feeling he never wanted to let go. Rubbing his back and murmuring sweet nothings to him, she let him. She encouraged him, strategized with him, she did everything she could with him. And Arceus be damned if she wasn't going to let her closest friend pour his heart out, no matter how much her own was breaking. With each sob, each drop of blood falling onto her skirt, she just kept holding him tighter, and kept soothing him, like a mother to a child. Neither noticing a certain honey-haired girl creeping away, doing everything in her power not to disturb them.
And that was how his friends found him, asleep, with that someone smiling gently at him as he slept, still rubbing circles into his back. Oh, how precious this was, being here, with the only one they needed, that someone, right there, now, and forever.