The air was a lot colder in Violet City than in Ecruteak, likely due to the absence of the plethora of fire lanterns. Morty shivered as he began to jog back home, trying to keep his blood pumping and his feet warm. He found himself hoping that Jasper wasn't going to catch a cold from the evening spent outdoors - but the little boy had seemed happy enough when Morty dropped him at his own parents' house.

"You were quick," Rose remarked, looking up as she heard Morty enter their cottage.

"I ran back; it's pretty cold out."

"How did Jasper enjoy it?" Rose asked with a smile.

"He loved it!" Morty exclaimed, "you should have seen his little face – his eyes were almost popping out of his head."

"Aww," Rose laughed, as she dried the last of the dinner plates, "was he all right being left with your parents?"

"Yeah, absolutely fine," Morty grinned, "so…you ready?"

"Ready?" Rose repeated blankly.

"It's your turn to visit the festival," he said, his violet eyes dancing.

"Don't be stupid," Rose said, "we can't go out!"

"And why not?"

"We're supposed to be sanding the floor in the living room! What would your parents think if they knew we'd asked them to take Jasper and then went off…" she paused of think of a word incriminating enough "…gallivanting?!"

Rose's hands were on her hips, and she glared reprovingly up at her husband.

"Relax," he laughed, "my Ma and Dad know you've never been to the Festival of Firelight; they offered to take Jasper for that very reason."

Rose raised her eyebrows, and Morty prepared himself for further arguing. However –

"All right then," she said suddenly, her face impassive but her brown eyes glittering, "I'm expecting you to show me a good time…Ecrutetian."

Morty laughed loudly again, before grabbing her by the hand and eagerly dragging her to the front door.

-o-

The atmosphere of the festival had changed somewhat since the early evening. Now that the traditions had been observed, the celebrations were in full swing. Rose had been unaware that Ecruteak City was home to so many young people. The odd child was still present, but they were either wild-eyed from sugar or clinging sleepily around their parents' necks.

Rose and Morty hadn't gotten much further than the first pop-up bar they had come across: they were now on their third 'Firelight' each, and were feeling very merry indeed.

"It's burning my throat!" Rose gasped as tears sprang to her eyes. The cocktail's combination of firewater, ginger beer, and cranberry juice became significantly drier and hotter in the throat the more that were consumed.

Morty laughed at her as he downed his fourth.

"You're such a fur…a foreigner," he slurred, running his hand clumsily through his hair (the cocktails were very strong), "this is Ecruteak's signature drink! Your son is an Ecrutetian!"

But Rose was not listening. Three teenage girls of about fifteen were staring at Morty hopefully from a few metres away. One was holding a notebook and a pen – they were clearly looking for an autograph…or maybe just an excuse to talk to him; it wasn't common to see Morty so uninhibited, and the girls' stares, Rose noted, had an almost hungry quality to them. The girls themselves couldn't help but note the death stare that they were receiving from the young woman sitting beside the Gym Leader. Their eyes, that had been wide with excitement, turned even wider with fear. Rose stood abruptly from her stool at the pop-up bar, and the girls scarpered. Satisfied, Rose turned back to Morty, a most evil grin on her face.

"Oi!" Morty joked, "don't scare away the fans!"

"They're far too young for you, old man," she said, pretending to scoff.

"Old man?! I'm twenty-seven!" he spluttered.

"You're not far off twenty-eight…and I'm only a tender twenty-three," Rose said with a mock sigh, before feigning to scan the crowds, "maybe I should be on the lookout for a younger model…"

She turned around when Morty took hold of her arm, and couldn't hold back the grin that mirrored his.

"You wouldn't change a thing about me," Morty winked.

"I probably wouldn't," Rose returned honestly, rolling her eyes nonetheless at his drunken self-confidence. But she could see why the teenagers had been staring at him. There was just something about Morty, despite his faded, paint-spattered jeans, his scuffed boots, and his old leather jacket, that was…compelling. Rose's eyes lingered over his long, dark blond hair, the small silver hoop he had always worn in one ear, and the startling shade of his violet eyes…

"What?" Morty asked, feeling slightly nervous under her intense scrutiny.

"Nothing," Rose returned swiftly, "you're just really very attractive," she grinned.

Their evening continued in this vein, both drinking rather more than they should, and laughing more than they were used to. Morty, although he did not realise it, received many strange looks from Ecruteak's citizens; it was rare to see their stoic and reserved Gym Leader letting his hair down quite so thoroughly.

-o-

Eevee could feel her eyes drooping heavily. The bedroom in Violet City was very snug and comfortable and, as usual, being curled up against Jasper's warm body made the Pokémon feel very relaxed and sleepy. Jasper, on the other hand, began to toss and turn, and Eevee was unceremoniously shunted sideways, nearly falling off the bed.

"Eevee!" she squeaked tiredly. But Jasper did not respond. Eevee thought she could feel the child's legs trembling slightly, and she gradually began to wake up properly, blinking the drowsiness from her eyes. Not only were Jasper's legs trembling, his teeth were chattering too. Eevee clambered up onto the child's chest, and bumped her small black nose gently against Jasper's.

"D-don't do that Eevee," Jasper pleaded. He sounded as though he was trying to hold back tears, and Eevee began to worry. Instinctively, the small fox-like Pokémon used her heightened senses to see if anything was amiss; but the dark pulsing that she sometimes detected emanating from the child was absent. What, then, was wrong with Jasper?

"I w-want to go home," Jasper whispered, a large tear falling from his eye and rolling steadily down his cheek.

"Eevee!" his Pokémon replied.

"But I want my daddy," Jasper mumbled, his lower lip trembling.

Eevee continued to attempt to console the child, but neither her friendly nose nudges nor her 'words' of comfort were having any affect. Eevee did not understand – if the darkness wasn't present, then what was Jasper afraid of? The darkness, powerful though it could be, was no match against Eevee's own powers – but whatever was upsetting Jasper now, Eevee could neither sense, nor get rid of.

"I know there's nothing in here," Jasper argued woefully, "and I'm not scared that anything's watching me!"

More tears continued to spill down the child's pale cheeks, and Eevee gently licked them off with her small, pink tongue.

"Eevee?" the Pokémon implored.

"I don't know," Jasper answered, "I just…I want my daddy."

He began to cry bitterly, his small hands covering his face.

From downstairs, Eevee's chirping and Jasper's muffled tears alerted Isadora. She abandoned her book and made her way upstairs to the child's bedroom, her heart hammering. She did not like to hear the little boy crying, and she was also very worried as to what could have upset him so. The sound of his sobbing intensified as she opened his bedroom door gently. Jasper looked up suddenly from his hands and, upon seeing his grandmother, he leapt from the bed and into her arms, a fresh course of tears pouring down his cheeks.

"Jasper, little one, what's the matter?" Isadora murmured soothingly. She sat down on the bed with the child curled up in her lap, and rubbed soothing circles on his small back. He seemed to be trembling.

Jasper merely shook his head in response, and continued to weep against her shoulder.

"Are you missing your mummy and daddy?"

Jasper considered for a moment, but he shook his head. Now that his Grandma was here, he found he didn't need his daddy or his mummy anymore – he had just wanted someone - anyone. He cuddled in closer, his crying subsiding a little.

"What is it then?" Isadora asked kindly, as she stroked the golden-blond hair back from his face. She smiled to herself; she really did feel as though she had a young Morty back again.

Jasper looked up into his Grandma's eyes, the exact same shade as his daddy's, and he felt his lower lip begin to wobble again.

"I-I just…I don't want…I didn't like –" he hiccoughed.

Isadora remembered that he had been to the festival for the very first time; Morty had been frightened of the floats when he was this small.

"Was it the floats? Of the legendary Pokémon?"

The large brown eyes met the violet, and Jasper nodded, seemingly relived that he didn't have to say it himself.

"Well there's nothing to be scared of there," Isadora smiled, "they're nothing more than big puppets!"

"I-I know," Jasper said, frowning as he tried to puzzle through it in his head, "but…but Grandma they are real."

"Well, they may be real, but I'd like to see a great legendary Pokémon like that fit in this little bedroom!"

Jasper laughed at the thought, but his little face soon returned to its worried state.

"Darling," Isadora whispered, "there's nothing to be scared of…and," she said, lowering her voice even further, "Chaos is the only one that's really scary, and he's gone."

"I know," the child sighed, "my daddy told me."

"There we are then - so you of all people have nothing to fear," the older woman smiled.

Jasper looked up at her again with a quizzical frown.

"Why me?"

Isadora blinked, certain she had missed something.

"Well – because your daddy was the one that helped to defeat Chaos, wasn't he? So he'd never let anything bad happen to you!"

Jasper's mouth fell open in surprise.

"Daddy? He helped to beat Chaos?!"

Isadora frowned. Had Morty not told the child when he told him that the Chaos Pokémon was gone for good? Evidently not.

"Yes; your daddy and your mummy had a big role to play, and that's why Chaos is gone. They helped Ho-Oh to defeat him."

"What did my mummy do?" Jasper whispered in awe, his brown eyes huge.

Isadora found herself wishing to backtrack. It was clear now why Morty hadn't given the child any insight – how on earth was she supposed to answer his questions without scaring him further?

"Well – your daddy was the one that fought against the Chaos Pokémon," she stammered, desperately trying to find a way to word it, "and your mummy helped him when he got hurt."

"He was hurt?"

"N-Not badly hurt," Isadora stammered; the memories from that awful day still caused her heart to skip in her chest when she thought about it.

"But mummy fixed him – because she's a doctor?" Jasper asked.

"That's right," Isadora agreed, pleased that Jasper seemed to be accepting her weak explanation. She decided now was the time to change the subject.

"Did you want a glass of -?"

"So that means my daddy's a hero then," the child whispered, "if he helped to beat a Dragon Pokémon like Chaos…just like in the stories Grandpa reads me!"

A half smile appeared on his enthralled little face. Isadora's heart swelled with pride and love for her little family.

"Yes, he is," she said softly, "now come on; it's very, very late for you, little one!"

Once Jasper was tucked into bed again, with Eevee curled up against his shoulder, he had no trouble falling asleep at all. He felt inexplicably comforted. Not only was the Chaos Pokémon gone, and could therefore never get him, but his daddy had been the one to make it happen.

-o-

When Rose awoke the following morning, many things seemed to run through her mind simultaneously: her head was extremely sore, and she clutched at it as a reflex; her tongue was stuck to the roof of her very dry mouth – which felt repulsive - why had she drunk so much last night? Rose frowned then, when she realised that she and Morty were lying on the unyielding kitchen floor, and that he was, for some absurd reason, wearing the rainbow feather headdress that had belonged to the rainbow speaker who opened the festival.

"Eugh," she groaned, as she raised herself up from the wooden kitchen floor, muscles screaming.

Morty cracked open a bleary eye, before shielding his face from the morning light streaming through the – wide open – kitchen window.

"What the hell are we doing down here?" he croaked, wincing as he sat up, the feather headdress falling to the floor. Morty surveyed it with mild surprise for a moment, before he began to poke at his forehead tenderly with a frown.

"What on earth happened to you?!" Rose exclaimed, her hand flying to her mouth as she noticed the enormous purple bruise, and lump, on her husband's forehead.

Morty had a vague recollection of them realising, upon finally stumbling home at three in the morning, that they had both left the house without a front door key. At the time they decided that the only thing to do was get into the house via the kitchen window. Morty had climbed through first and –

"I think I slipped when I stood on the draining board…"

It came back to Rose at that moment, and she couldn't help but let out a giggle.

"You're right, you did! I think you fell headfirst from the kitchen counter onto the floor…"

"Thanks for your sympathy," Morty said sourly, but Rose could see his lips twitching.

"But why didn't we go to bed?"

"God knows," Morty replied, "I can't remember the last time I got that pissed…"

Rose laughed loudly, before clutching at her throbbing head.

"That's what you get for laughing at your beloved," Morty said smugly, sticking out his tongue at her.

-o-

Jasper sat eating his porridge very happily the following morning. Isadora watched him warily, just waiting for him to begin questioning her on Chaos's defeat and his parents' role in it…but Jasper appeared to have nothing more pressing on his mind than breakfast. Once he had finished his porridge and let the spoon fall into the empty bowl with a clatter, he picked up his cup of chocolate milk and began to drink it with gusto. Isadora absentmindedly lifted Eevee from the kitchen table where she was desperately trying to get at the remnants in Jasper's cereal bowl.

Despite the child's clear lack of concern, and apparent disinterest, regarding Chaos and his defeat, Isadora could not eliminate the hot, squirmy feeling that she had done something very, very silly in telling Jasper what she had. The fact that he had not been aware of it must have meant that Morty and Rose had deliberately not told him. Nevertheless, Isadora was still undecided as to whether she should own up. It wasn't as though it was playing on Jasper's mind…the child had gone to sleep easily after her weak explanation…but still. What if the child did bring it up to his parents? Surely it was better that they heard it from her, Isadora, than from Jasper himself…

She had almost fully decided that she was going to tell them what she had done, when Morty walked into the kitchen: she could tell that her son was not feeling his best, and her resolve weakened considerably.

"Morning everyone," Morty said with a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"Daddy!" Jasper exclaimed in excitement. He jumped up from his chair, before stopping dead as he got a good look at his father, "Daddy – what happened to your head?"

Isadora too had been gaping at the enormous purple swelling on her son's forehead.

"Good grief, darling," she said when she finally found her voice, "were you mugged?!"

"No, no," Morty said, in an attempt to sound breezily unconcerned, "Rose and I, er – we forgot the house key when we went out last night and…well, it was my genius idea to try climbing through the kitchen window…"

Isadora's lips twitched as realised just how pale Morty was, and how he winced when Jasper's loud, shrill voice started up again. He had clearly overindulged on the Firelights the previous night.

"Daddy look!" the child was tugging at Morty's hand and trying to drag him from the kitchen to the living room, "look what Grandpa and I trained Eevee to do!"

Isadora tried to stifle her laugh, for Morty looked as though he wanted nothing more than to fall into a nice, warm bed and not resurface for many, many hours. She decided that there was no need to tell him what she had told Jasper…he looked an awful state…and she doubted it would come up in conversation anyway – why would Jasper think to mention it if he was no longer frightened?

-o-

About an hour later, Isadora was wiping down the kitchen surfaces when the front door slammed with an almighty crash, causing her to jump horribly. The door had slammed so forcefully she found herself wondering if any of the glass panes were still intact.

"Hector?" she called shakily, her hand over her heart. Heavy footfalls sounded in the hall, making their way through to the kitchen, and Isadora wondered what on earth her husband was doing.

"Hector?" she called again, "What're you – oh, Morty!" she exclaimed as her son appeared in the kitchen doorway, "did you forget something?"

She automatically scanned the kitchen, but did a double-take when she saw the chilling fury in her son's violet eyes.

"Morty what's –?"

"What the fuck, Ma?" he asked coldly, as he took one step further into the kitchen.

Isadora stared blankly at him, her mouth falling open.

"M-Morty –what's happ-?"

"I'm sure you know very well why I've come back here!" he spat.

Isadora had never seen him so furious. Although she knew he would never strike her, or hurt her in any way, she couldn't deny that his attitude was scaring her.

"N-no –"

"So it's news to you is it?" he continued sarcastically, "that I'm suddenly Jasper's 'hero'?"

Isadora's violet eyes widened in realisation, and Morty, seeing this, turned away from his mother, swearing under his breath.

"Now look here –" Isadora began, stepping towards her son, pleased that she finally knew what was going on.

"No, you look here!" he thundered, "what possible fucking reason can you have for telling him that shit, Ma?! What five year-old needs that sort of detail?!"

"I didn't mean to –"

Morty actually roared in frustration, pulling at his long, dark blond hair.

"You know what he's like! You know about his nightmares! And you know he's only just started being able to sleep alone again! I just don't see why the hell you would tell him that! It's not fair on him for a start!"

"I-I know darling," Isadora said shakily, "if you'd just let me explain –"

"I don't need you to explain! It's not rocket science! UnfortunatelyI took it for granted that it also wasn't fucking rocket science not to let Jasper in on the details of how I got killed by the thing that scares him most!"

His continued sarcasm cut through her viciously.

"Morty –"

"No, Ma! He's my son! I'm the one he comes crying to at night when everything starts going on in his little head! Me and Rose! We have to deal with it…he was just getting better…" Morty had stopped shouting, but the defeat in his voice made Isadora feel, if possible, even worse. Tears began to collect at the corner of her violet eyes, and fell earnestly down her pale cheeks as she considered the detrimental affect her little chat with Jasper might have on his well-being.

"Morty, I'm sorry," she croaked, "I never meant to cause any harm, he…last night – after the festival, he was terrified –"

"I just don't understand," Morty interrupted through gritted teeth, "why you tell a terrified child that the thing they're terrified of is not only real, but that his own parents have experienced it first-hand! How does that help anything?! I don't want him to think it's likely that any legendary monsters could have an effect on his life!"

"He was scared! He was shaking like a leaf because of those floats! I told him there was no need to be scared – that Chaos had gone for good – and he said he knew! That you'd already told him…what was I supposed to think?!"

"Maybe if you'd thought at all we wouldn't be in this situation!" Morty snapped.

"I'm sorry – all right?" she whispered, "h-he was scared and I was trying to make him feel better…does it matter that he thinks of you as his hero? You're his father…it's not as if I gave him any real detail…"

"He asked me what it had been like – fighting Chaos – and his face…his little face was transported like…like it was something great! Something fucking exciting! What the hell was I supposed to tell him, Ma? That it was one of the worst experiences of my life? That I could fucking feel the life draining from my body no matter how hard I tried to hold on?! And then Rose –"

Morty stopped himself here – for Isadora did not know what had befallen Rose.

"Morty – I-I said I'm sorry –"

"HE'S TOO YOUNG!" Morty shouted, and Isadora realised, to her horror, that Morty's eyes were filled with tears, "he's too young to be concerned with all that light and dark bullshit, and being a 'hero' – for fuck's sake!" his voice cracked, "there was nothing heroic about it! I just…I don't want it glorified in his head…it wasn't glorious…it was shit."

"Morty –" Isadora tried again, not bothering to wipe away her own tears that still poured down her cheeks.

"Just forget it, Ma," Morty finally said, his voice hollow. His head was still pounding, and his stomach was churning horribly – he could have really done without this on top of his hangover.

Isadora could only nod. She could think of many more reasons to defend her actions, but she didn't want to fight with her only son.