"Wake up, Wallace," Winona whispered.
"Don' wanna."
He looked cozy in his baggy clothes and under the blanket. Sure, he still had those dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was still the sickly gray of a cloudy sky, but for once, he looked cozy. He looked safe.
Winona playfully nudged Wallace's arm and sat up. "Come on, Komala Kid."
Wallace turned over and nuzzled against Winona's legs. "No." A smile crept into the corners of his lips. It was good to see him smile again. That thought came to her every morning she woke up to his smile.
-
"This is the one."
Wallace held out a red book with gold trim: "Woodblock Prints of Fortree". Winona could feel the joy the book had given over the years, in the musty smell, in the soft edges of the cover, in the countless sticky notes scattered throughout.
"The purple ones mark the bird prints," Wallace explained. "Everytime I pick it up, I think of you."
"How long have you been thinking of me, two hundred years or so?" Winona teased.
Wallace chuckled. "It was my mother's, then my sister's, then mine, and now… now I want it to be yours."
-
"Maybe Megalos will let us be together now."
Winona's throat tightened up. She swallowed. "What do you mean?"
Wallace leaned against Winona's shoulder. "Well, you've proven yourself to be one of the strongest Gym Leaders in the Hoenn region." He chuckled. "And if he saw how kind you were to me through… everything, I think he would have a change of heart. If… Sootopolis can't live without me, it can't live without you."
He smiled. "Megalos loves me. It's… tough love, but maybe he just needs to hear what Steven told me: live for yourself."
"I… sure, Wallace. Sure."
-
"Where are you going?"
Wallace turned his head to Winona, eyes glowing from the street lights outside, hand gripping his wallet.
"I have… sexual urges. 'I need to fuck ten people right now or I'll die' urges. I can't put the burden of that on you."
"That's one way to say 'I'm very horny'."
Wallace looked even more distressed.
"It's different. I feel like the most fucked up, worthless piece of shit, and if I don't go to the district and get fucked by ten businessman, then I'll die a worthless piece of shit."
"How about we… talk through it instead?"
-
It was sometimes exhausting for Winona to care for Wallace, but it was downright miserable to spend the weekend at her mother's house. But she had to put up with it. Mom was family, no matter how miserable being around her was.
"Why do you stick around Wallace?" Mom mumbled.
"Because I love him. It's basic human decency."
"Rina, please," Dad sighed. "Not now."
"I don't think our daughter should be marrying a man who's too weak to keep a woman off of him."
Winona stared at her mother from across the kitchen table.
"Go fuck yourself," Winona replied calmly.
-
"Where did you get those bruises from?" Steven demanded.
"I fell."
"Winona, is Wallace—"
"It's mom." How dare Steven insinuate that Wallace was abusing her?!
Steven sighed, holding up his hands. "What did I say about taking breaks?"
"Whenever I do, my mom spouts out bullshit, and I get a slap on the face for telling her to stop."
"I mean from your family."
Winona thought about that proposition for a moment, but Steven spoke before she did:
"How about… How about you and Aurora have a little… girls' day? Bring Lisia along, too. I can stay with Wallace."
-
"Winona? Miss Winona? You have a challenger… Well, you've had a challenger for fifteen minutes… Winona? Whatcha staring at? Everything okay?"
Winona wasn't paying attention to Bran. She was paying attention to the spinning windmills, the late spring breeze, the smell of the woods, the world. The physical. The present. Breathing away the "what if" and "why can't". Breathing in the moment. Being in the moment. Trying to stay in her body and out of her mind. Today, here, and now. That was all she knew and would know for now.
She would be okay, for even just one moment.
-
Winona woke up in the middle of the night, and the first thing she saw was Wallace sitting up in bed, staring at nothing.
"Wallace? Is everything okay?"
"Why didn't Megalos visit me in the hospital?" There was pain in his voice. Confusion. Betrayal. "Nicole visited me. Steven visited me. Juan visited me. You visited me. Why didn't Megalos?"
"Wallace, Megalos… hurt you. So, so much."
"But he didn't. He struck me and all that because he loved me. He did everything out of a love for Sootopolis City, a love for me. He loves me, Winona."
He hated you.
-
Lisia and Ali were fast kids. Winona had to thank herself for starting track back in high school.
The two ran (or flew) in short bursts, running halfway across Lilycove City before wanting to stop to buy ice cream or Hi Kitty and Papimocchi plushies. And just when Winona thought they needed to go home to take a nap, they were back on their feet, just as excited as ever. She and Aurora could barely keep up. Lisia and Ali were smiling the whole day.
And for the first time in the tumultuous year, Winona was happy. Unconditionally, indescribably happy.
-
"How's Wallace doing?" Cruzita asked.
"He's doing… well," Winona said. "Maybe he'll be able to go back to the Gym soon."
"Cockburn's bugging me about how Juan will have to replace Wallace if they're not back by the end of the month, and he 'means it this time'." She rolled her eyes. "Who's got the notorious Xatu, buddy?"
Winona laughed at that. "You're not going to challenge him to a battle, are you?"
"Well, Xaxa wouldn't mind skipping the middle mon and pecking at him."
Winona gulped. "Oh… Well, I think therapy's going good. Wallace is… good. Everything is good."
-
"How was therapy today?" Winona asked.
Wallace shrugged. "We talked about how Megalos is abusive. My therapist thinks he was a business authority or something, but he was more than that. He was family."
"Domestic abuse is a thing."
"It's like spanking a child. It's not how I would discipline a child, but it's how Megalos does."
"If we're going with this parent bullshit, then it was rape and incest."
"It's not! I don't remember shit from the 'sexual abuse'. Who's to say I didn't enjoy it?"
"You were drugged, Wallace."
"Megalos can change! Megalos can learn!"
"Megalos is dead."
The kitchen went quiet. Winona's words weighed the two down, deeper and deeper and deeper.
And then Wallace screamed.
Winona ran to him, trying to talk over his incoherent wailings. Her voice got louder and louder as she tried to reach him somehow. More people came into the room. More voices. Louder and louder and louder and louder too much too much too much.
She was on the floor, cradling Wallace as he sobbed. The room had finally quieted down.
"I killed him!" he screamed. "I killed him I killed him I killed him…"
"Sh… No you didn't. No you didn't."
"I deserved it. I deserved to be hurt. I deserved to be raped. I deserved it I deserved it I deserved it…" His voice got weaker and weaker as he repeated those words over and over.