If it weren't for the scrap of paper where she had scrawled down her family's new address all those years ago, Burgundy knew she wouldn't have found her parents' residence. She barely recognized the house she had only lived in for two weeks. The pale orange walls were just as unfamiliar to her as the rest of the city, and that knowledge alone was enough to cause a tear in her heart.
Burgundy swallowed nervously. Inés had lightly urged her to try and close the rift in her family, and Burgundy figured it would be remiss for her to return to Unova without seeing her parents even once. Yet she had no idea what she would say to them. She had her own reasons for deliberately missing their calls and forgetting to return them, but with her newfound maturity she recognized how much hurt and worry she must've caused her family. Would they even want to see her now? She doubted it. But running further from them was not an option. Or rather, it was an option she would never forgive herself for taking. She missed Winslow. She missed Ruby. She missed her parents. And she knew she would never feel quite right if she didn't at least try to patch things up with them.
She could do without the rest of her extended family. At only two meetings within the span of her memory, she really had no particularly meaningful memories of them, even if she held fondness for them on principle. But her parents and siblings deserved more than that.
Admittedly, part of her wanted to show her new skills to her parents, to show off her four Kalos gym badges—she now had a complete set altogether, in terms of plain numbers, even though she'd never be able to use them to compete in a League conference—and to show off her skills as a conaisseuse. She selfishly wanted them to be proud of her. But really, what part of this wasn't selfish? For all she knew, her parents had resigned themselves to having just two children. For all she knew, they didn't want to hear from her again. She couldn't blame them.
With a steeling breath, Burgundy rang the doorbell of her parents' home, realizing only afterwards that she had no idea if anyone was home. The door swung open, however, and Burgundy found herself face to face with Ruby. Ruby's lilac eyes-identical to her own, and the main reason Burgundy even recognized her younger sister-scrutinized Burgundy for a moment, and then she turned back.
"Maman, there's someone at the door!" she called in perfect Kalosian. Burgundy's heart sank. "Please wait one second, mademoiselle. Maman says not to let in strangers."
"She's quite right," Burgundy replied with a forced smile. "Your mother's taught you very well."
"Ruby?" While Burgundy's sister was barely recognizable, her mother sounded—and looked—almost exactly the same. Burgundy's mother, upon seeing who was at the door, took on a shocked and angry expression. Ignoring Ruby's concerned questioning, she marched right up to Burgundy, who half-expected to be slapped. "You think it's acceptable to show up out of the blue after six years of no contact?" her maman demanded. Burgundy lowered her head in shame.
"I'm sorry." The simple apology felt weak, but Burgundy couldn't think of anything else to say. Besides, any attempt at couching her apology in lengthy statements of remorse would only serve to anger her maman. It certainly would anger Burgundy herself. "Please forgive me."
The door swung open further, and Burgundy's mother stood to the side, letting her in. Burgundy stepped over the threshold slowly, breathing in the scent of her parents' home. It smelled just the same as their house in Luxuria.
"Ruby, this is your older sister," her maman explained to a bewildered Ruby, whose eyes widened in excitement. "I'll go get your father." Burgundy smiled awkwardly at Ruby, who stared at her with unabashed curiosity.
"You've grown," Burgundy said, laughing inwardly at the irony. How she hated it when anyone else said that to her! "You're ten now, right?" Ruby nodded.
"I'm going to go on a Pokémon journey next month!" she announced proudly. "Just like you." Burgundy smiled weakly.
"Oui. Just like me." She settled her hands onto Ruby's shoulders. "But don't follow my example, understand?" Ruby nodded solemnly, and Burgundy straightened up again as her mother returned with her father in tow. "Bonjour, papa," she greeted. "I'm home." How strange it felt, to call Laverre home. But she would make it home. She would make the adjustments she should have made six years ago, when her parents first came to live here.
She knew it would take a lot of work. She already anticipated the long conversations that would likely stretch late into the night, the apologies, the explanations, the amends, the promises she would have to make.
How ironic. At an age when most children declared further independence from their parents, she would spend her time growing close to them once more.