After a very strange dream, Blake awakens to a new morning with a new mindset. It's Valentine's Day! What will our heroes have to deal with? We've had some very dramatic arcs these last few chapters, now let's settle back into some slice of life and relationship stuff! Because that's always so much less tense, right?

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile!

The votes for the Elimination Round have begun to pick up, that's pretty good! Hope we can start getting them to role in! I've been very surprised by the results of this poll so far, some people are leading that I never would have expected, and some people are trailing behind who I thought would be frontrunners. Just goes to show how much things have changed since last year!

Nominated: Alcea, Ayame, Carrie, Caelia, Cynthia, Dakota, Darla, Elaina, Elizabeth, Julia, Kate, Kitty, Lila, Maddi, Marion, Nikita, Olivia, Sango, Sylvia

Rosealine gold: There will definitely be some follow-ups.

Pokemonking0924: Blake's subconscious is kind of a dick.

KedharS: I'm not laughing.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: You definitely picked up on a lot of interesting details. There are still more secrets hidden within. Keep in mind, dreams don't just tell us about the past, sometimes they can predict events in the future!

JoshGamerV: Good night, enjoy theorizing!

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 651

Blake woke up to the sunlight streaming down through his window. For a moment, he forgot where he was. But the warmth of the dawn's early light and Aya's arms wrapped around him assuaged his fears. He was home. He wasn't trapped in that awful place anymore.

He let out a sigh of relief and was tempted to slip back into sleep. But he knew that he couldn't do that even though he wanted to. Today was too important of a day, it was Valentine's Day. He had been away from Aya for two whole weeks, and that was far too long. He absolutely needed to be there for her today of all days.

He managed to slip out of her arms and sit up. Aya made a face of discomfort in her sleep, reaching for him as she squirmed on the bed. He suppressed a giggle at how frantically she seemed to be searching for him, it was adorable. He reached down and ran his finger along her cheek, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. Her lips curled up into a smile and she squirmed in bed for a little, giggling to herself. It was just one adorable thing after another.

"Morning," Blake whispered, leaning in and kissing her on the forehead.

"Ugh, lame," Cynthia griped. Blake turned and shot her a look. She was standing behind him, looking down at him in bed with a look of exasperation on her face. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and rolled her eyes.

Blake lifted his finger to his lips and narrowed his eyes.

"If you want to be quiet, then let's go somewhere else to talk," Cynthia whispered. Blake glanced down at Aya, still sleeping with a dopey smile on her face, hair loose and strewn over her face. He didn't want to leave her, but he also wanted to let her sleep in peace.

It was one of the most difficult decisions he'd made since he came back. But what finally made his decision was something completely unrelated.

"Let me get changed," Blake whispered, climbing out of bed and walking over to his dresser. He was happy to see that all of his stuff was still right where he had left it. "I've been walking around in these clothes for over two years, you know."

"Ooh, stripping in front of me?" Cynthia purred silently, wiggling her eyebrows and sidling over to him. "That works well for-"

Blake shifted his stack of clothes into one hand and used his other to give her a warning flick on the forehead. She pouted.

"Come on, Blake," Cynthia scowled, following him out of the room as he walked towards the bathroom, tugging on sleeve. "I was just playing around! It's Valentine's Day, after all, isn't it okay if I have a little bit of fun with the guy I like?"

Blake stopped outside of the bathroom and turned to her. The expression on his face did not look amused. Cynthia gulped, a more contrite look crossing over her face as she pulled her hand back, standing demurely in front of him.

Blake's face softened, and he sighed.

"Look, Cynthia, I know that the last two weeks haven't been very easy on you," Blake said. His face was pleading with her."You like me, and thinking that I was gone that must have been difficult. But remember our agreement? You respect my relationship with Aya. Don't cross that line, and you and I can be friends. I want us to be friends, and that's why I gave you some leeway last night, when you were trying to sleep in bed with me and Aya. Considering the circumstances, I knew you were trying to be rather clingy. But today is the day for Aya and I. Cynthia, you were one of the people who I wanted to come back to, so don't ruin it, please. Just give us some space?"

Cynthia gave him a solemn smile. She couldn't deny that it still stung to hear that from him, but she was a big girl and wasn't going to let her big girl feelings get hurt by the boy she liked wanting to spend time with his girlfriend.

"I'm sorry, I was being just a little clingy," she admitted sheepishly. "I was feeling a little romantic, you know. Even if we can't be together, I can't change the fact that I love you, Blake."

"Please don't say that," Blake whispered, glancing away from her. "Cynthia, you're my friend. That's all we are. Friends."

"I know that," Cynthia said. "But I still love you." She sighed, her face turning red. "Blake, I won't cross any lines. I won't try to mess up your relationship. But that doesn't change the fact that it's Valentine's Day, and I love you. If just the notion of that is too much for you to bear, then… I don't think we're really friends, do you?"

Blake stared at her silently. He didn't have the words to address her question. They were friends. He cared about her. But he loved Aya, not her. He didn't want to hurt Aya, and he didn't want Cynthia to make Aya feel uncomfortable about his friendship with her. But he didn't want to hurt Cynthia, either. This would be so much easier if Cynthia would just get over her crush on him, but she adamantly refused to do that.

Cynthia stared silently back at him.

"Go get changed," she murmured. "I'll wait out here and think about things."

Blake looked at her worriedly. The look on her face was somewhat concerning for him. He wasn't sure what she was thinking about, but he did need to change his clothes, so he headed into the bathroom and changed, trying to get his mind off the issue.

He didn't succeed very well. Cynthia still stuck with him. Valentine's Day was making him uncomfortably aware of Cynthia's feelings for him in a way that he didn't want to deal with. This day was about Aya, and the promise he had made to her. He had promised to go fishing with her, and he had spent two years trying to get back to her, trying to fulfill that promise. And there was no way, having miraculously gotten back to her just in time, that he was going to disrespect her by breaking it. He put his clothes on and swallowed, resolving to go settle things with Cynthia so that he could focus his attention on Aya when she woke up.

When he stepped out of the bathroom he came upon a sight that made the situation even more uncomfortable. Cynthia was sitting down now and leaning back against the wall of the hallway, head down. She looked up towards him as he stepped out of the room, and to his dismay he saw that her eyes were red.

She had been crying.

Blake opened his mouth, not sure what to say to her. What was the right thing to say in this situation? Hell, what even could he say? This wasn't like the times when he had made Aya cry, because he hadn't been able to accept that he had feelings for her, and it wasn't like the time that he had broken Kate's heart, either, when he told her that he didn't love her.

Cynthia was different. She was his friend, a very dear friend. He considered her to be his best friend, actually, since Sango had started to distance herself from him. And he had Aya's feelings to consider. To see that he had broken his friend's heart stung, and he wasn't sure how to make it better. Did he even have the right to try and make it better?

"Oh… sorry," Cynthia said, reaching her hand up and brushing the tears from her eyes. She rose to her feet and pushed a smile onto her face. "I thought you would be taking a little longer, I didn't mean to let you… see me like this."

"No, it's… it's okay," Blake said, shaking his head. But it was pretty clear that it wasn't okay at all. He couldn't even look her in the eye. He stared at the ground, guilt flooding into his heart as he thought about the fact that he'd made his closest friend cry.

"Blake… can I ask you something?" Cynthia asked quietly, staring at him. "We are… best friends, aren't we?"

"Of course we are," Blake said, nodding.

"Then… is there a reason why you're so defensive around me now?" She asked, tucking a lock of scarlet hair behind her ear. "Is this wall you're putting up, aggressively shutting me down like this, is that really because you care about Ayame?"

"What?" Blake growled, narrowing his eyes. She shook her head frantically.

"No, no, don't get me wrong, I know full well that you love Ayame!" Cynthia clarified. "No, what I mean, is are you sure that your feelings for her, and not wanting to make her uncomfortable about my feelings, are the only reasons why you behave so defensively around me?" Cynthia asked.

"Yes, what other reasons would there be?" Blake asked.

Cynthia took a deep breath, building up her confidence. This was a tricky question to ask, because it had a high likelihood of blowing up in her face.

"Alright, think about this," Cynthia said, letting out a long sigh. The serious look in her eyes made Blake worried. "Are you sure that the reason you keep putting up a distance between you and me isn't, at least partially, because you don't fully trust yourself?"

Blake blinked. "What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Kate had feelings for you, didn't she?" Cynthia asked. "But I don't remember you treating her like this, keeping her at a distance. At least not as aggressively as you are with me."

"Kate's own personality puts others at a distance," Blake replied. "And what, you think that the reason that I'm trying to push you away is because I actually like you back, or something? Seriously? Wow, the arrogance with you-"

"It's a possibility!" Cynthia snapped. "Yes, I totally understand, you don't want Ayame to be uncomfortable or not trust you. I know that's part of it. But I'm saying that there might be more to it. You don't want Ayame to not trust you, but do you trust yourself? Or are you insecure that if I keep flirting with you, you might give in and do something you regret?"

Blake glared at her. As much as he cared for Cynthia, she was really pissing him off right now. This was a line that was way too far.

"Cynthia… stop it," he warned. "I've already told you that I'm not comfortable with this! I don't want you to keep making moves on me! I'm not going to fall for you, so just stop!"

"This isn't about that!" Cynthia snapped, stomping her foot in frustration. "I'm not asking you this in order to try and get you to like me! This is important for our friendship! Blake, if you can't trust yourself around me, this is something that we need to work out so that we can still be friends, do you understand that?!"

Blake opened his mouth, but as he prepared to respond to her is brain shut off. He couldn't think of what to say.

"That's…" Blake finally managed to squeak out a word, but it was meaningless. Did he actually, deep down, not trust himself around Cynthia? Was that why he was so adamant about this whole thing? No, that couldn't be true, right? He didn't think about her that way, he was just bothered by her advances for Aya's sake. It had nothing to do with him.

"Tell me," Cynthia pleaded. Tears started to well up in her eyes. "Is that why you want me to stop? Because you can't trust yourself to be my friend around me? Because I know where the line is, and I don't want to cross it. But if you're telling me that it's too difficult for you to be my friend at all when I'm like this, then…"

"Wait, Cynthia, that's not what I'm trying to say," Blake clarified, shaking his head. He wasn't sure what he was trying to say, but it definitely wasn't that.

"I just got you back, Blake, I don't want to lose you again," Cynthia pleaded. She was trying very hard not to cry. "But… I can't just change myself for you, either."

"I don't want that," Blake said, his heart aching in his chest. "Cynthia, I want to be your friend, I just-"

"You just don't trust yourself to be my friend?" Cynthia demanded, her sorrow disappearing and frustration taking its place. "You don't think that you can be my friend while I act the way I do, is that it?"

"No, that's not what I said!" Blake exclaimed. "Yes, the way you sometimes perv on me does bother me! I'm not going to pretend that it doesn't! But that doesn't mean I don't want to be your friend! That's not nearly enough to get me to stop caring about you!"

"Can you tell me that my flirting and teasing isn't putting our friendship in jeopardy?" Cynthia asked sharply, narrowing her eyes.

Blake swallowed, and lowered his head.

He couldn't say that. He wanted to, but he honestly couldn't. Because it was. If he had to choose between Cynthia and Ayame (and he absolutely DID NOT want to choose one over the other if he could) then the answer would be Cynthia.

He took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly.

"Like I said before, if your behavior causes a rift to form between Aya and I, or makes her uncomfortable, then I'm sorry to say, but yes. That could end up putting our friendship in jeopardy," he admitted.

Cynthia wasn't satisfied with that answer. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and straightened up, narrowing her eyes into a glare.

"…Okay, and if it doesn't? If it's just about you and me?" Cynthia pressed. "If Ayame is okay with what I'm doing for whatever reason, and it doesn't make her uncomfortable, will that put our friendship in jeopardy?"

That… was a question that Blake didn't even know how to begin to answer. He stared dumbly at Cynthia, trying to figure out what she was asking.

"Okay, but that's not going to-"

"Hypothetically speaking," Cynthia clarified. "If, hypothetically speaking, Ayame was okay with it, would you, personally, be bothered by what I was doing?"

"…Can you give me some time to think about it?" Blake asked. He really wasn't sure if he could properly answer this question. He looked over Cynthia's shoulder at the door to his room, still closed. He definitely didn't think he could answer with his girlfriend asleep in his bed on Valentine's Day, before their date.

"I don't want you to think," Cynthia said. "I want you to feel. Do you feel that this is an issue that you have with me, personally, or is it an issue because you don't want to make your girlfriend uncomfortable?"

She sighed.

"Okay, think about it like this," she said, taking a step closer to him. Blake shifted back uncomfortably, trying to keep the safe distance between the two of them. But when he saw the hurt look in Cynthia's eyes, he reluctantly let her get a little closer.

Cynthia placed her hand over his chest, right above his heart. She stared up at him with her big blue eyes, still raw from crying.

"If you had never fallen for Ayame," she whispered, "would you still be bothered by me doing something like this? Would who I am still make you uncomfortable, if you didn't have a girlfriend to be considerate of?"

She leaned forward and rested her head against his chest.

"I'm not asking you if you would have fallen for me if she wasn't here," she clarified. "I just want to know if my feelings for you are really such a bother… and if it's because of me, and how I approach you, that make you uncomfortable. That's all."

Blake felt that the right thing to do in this situation was to hug his friend. But his arm froze halfway there out of consideration for Aya. How would she feel if he did that? If she walked out right now and saw him comforting another girl on Valentine's Day, that would make her feel…

That was how Blake finally figured it out.

"Cynthia…"

Cynthia pulled back to look up at him. She could hear the caring tone of his voice, and was afraid of what he was about to say. But it was something that she knew she needed to look him in the eye for, so she glanced up to see what he would tell her.

His eyes were warm, and that made her heart relax.

"Yes?" She asked hopefully.

"Right now… I want to hug you," he admitted. "Because you're sad. But I can't. I'm too afraid that if I do, then it will affect my relationship with Aya. And I know that's not fair. You're my friend. I should feel like I can hug you without having there be anything wrong."

Cynthia's heart sunk. That didn't sound like a good sign.

"But," Blake continued, causing her face to brighten and her chest to lighten.

"But?" She asked hopefully. If she had a tail she would be wagging it.

"It doesn't change the fact that I do want to hug you. Because you're my friend. Anything past that… I don't think it matters. In my eyes, you're just a friend. I never thought of you romantically even before I started going out with Aya, I'm sorry. So if you ask me if I would be bothered by your advances if she wasn't a factor… I don't think I would have been."

"Really?" Cynthia sniffled.

"I mean, you were putting moves on me and other people from basically the moment we met, and it didn't bother me then," Blake said. "So yeah. The only reason I'm distant from you right now is because I'm worried about Aya's feelings. Not because I'm trying to personally distance myself from you, or because I'm afraid of messing up our friendship. Okay?"

Cynthia smiled. "Okay," she agreed, hugging Blake tightly. Blake kind of froze up.

"Cynthia…"

"Tell me, Blake, does this feel wrong too?" She grumbled, glancing up at him with a scowl on her face. "Is it really wrong for you to be hugging your best friend after comforting her?"

Blake paused. "Well, I mean…"

"Blake…?" Cynthia pouted. "Come on, it's a hug. It doesn't mean anything. Forget about Ayame, forget it's Valentine's Day, just hug your best friend after reassuring her that you're still friends with her, okay? Because Ayame wasn't the only one who missed you. We all did. And I'm just happy I get to have my best friend back."

Blake couldn't really object to that. And honestly, it was nice to have Cynthia around again. Aya hadn't been the only person he'd missed. So he smiled, and hugged her back.

Then his blood went cold, because Ayame walked out of his room, still in her uniform with her hair messed up, looking around for him. Her eyes landed on him before he could pull away from Cynthia, and she saw the two of them hugging in the hall.

Oh crap. Blake dodged a bullet, but he did it by jumping in front of a moving train. What's Valentine's Day without some relationship drama, huh?