An unplanned four month hiatus, working on anything but this, and, now, forward it will go. I was busy with other stuff, like drawings (mostly) and other things I don't feel like saying. I can't say that chapters will be posted frequently, but this story will keep going. I don't plan to cancel and bail out from the story and I never will, as I plan to give an actual end to it than to just give a "cancelling" ending. I can say now that at this point, the story is somewhere in the middle of its time. For now, just enjoy what I have to offer and decide to wait for another chapter or just bail out.
–K9P
It's only been a few days since the incident, the incident that broke Luke's heart. The thought hasn't left his mind, his grief visible for all to see during the time. His grief showing the most: the funeral.
The day of the funeral was not under an ominous sky, raining and cloudy, but under a blue, bright sky. It hasn't been cloudy since the day of the incident. Only a few Pokémon came, including Luke and his friends. It had just ended; her burial in the graveyard, between her deceased cousin and some other random Pokémon. Glaceon, Leaf, and Ivan just left without a word from their mouths. Tracey and Alex left after they left, Sorrel under Tracey's paws. Alex, after walking for a while, stopped and looked around.
"Hold on," Alex said, slightly raising an arm to Tracey. Tracey looked at Alex, then at the direction he's looking at. Luke was still there, looking at the grave. Not surprising… Alex thought. He looked to Luke's left, seeing Luxray staring at Luke at a distance.
Absol was beside Luxray, about to leave. She walked a few steps away, noticing Alex and Tracey left long before. She looked back at Luxray, seeing that he's still looking at Luke.
"Ray!" Absol yelled out. Luxray looked back.
"Oh, what?" Luxray asked, looking around Absol. "Sorry…" He walks over to Absol, his head down. Once he reached Absol, they both walked on forward in silence, leaving Luke alone. After a while walking, Absol broke the silence.
"How long will Luke be there?" she asked.
"I don't know," responded Luxray, "but he'll be back before the day ends. Just give him a little more time." They both walked on in silence again, halfway to Luke's house, knowing all of those who were at the funeral earlier would be there. She broke the silence again.
"Tell me," she started. Luxray looked over to Absol, both still walking. She looked around, trying to get the words together. After thinking straight, she had her thought. "Would you do the same?"
Luxray didn't understand, "What? Well, I mean, what do you mean?"
"Would you do the same like what Jessica did? What she did to save his life." Both stopped walking, Luxray looking down at the ground, blushing a little bit, Absol looking at him. "Would you sacrifice your life for mine?"
Luxray closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, his blush going away. "If there was no other option," he started, "then I guess that would be my only resort." He walked on, leaving Absol standing. She looked at him, seeing his walk off and his head down. She tried to walk at Luxray's pace, not being behind him.
Several minutes later…
All were outside, in 3 groups. Absol and Luxray were beside the tree; Glaceon, Ivan, and Leaf on the other side of the tree; Alex, Tracey, and Sorrel, still under Tracey's hands, in front of the tree. Sorrel didn't understand what was going on, but understood all of their sorrow and pain.
"Who would do this?" asked Glaceon. "Why on us? The hell did we do?"
"I don't know," Alex responded, "no one knows, really. We'll only find out when we get to know more of this…" He put his hands over his face, stressed out. He took out his hands from his face after a while, looking to one side. "'We won't let you put the fire out.' Heh, wo—"
"Wait, what?" Ivan asked. Alex looked at him.
"What?" Alex asked him.
"What did you say earlier?" He took off his hat and cleaned off the lint, putting it back on.
"'We won't let you put the fire out'?" Ivan looked away from Alex.
"…That phrase…" he said. "…I heard it somewhere before." He scratched his head, then his furry collar. "I don't know where, but I remember hearing of it."
"Really?" Alex asked. "So I'm not the only one who heard of it?"
"Yeah, I guessing so," Ivan responded. "I'll try to remember where I heard of it and when, okay?"
Alex simply put a hand up, "Alright. Just try to remember quickly. I don't think we want this to happen to anyone else." Sorrel looked around, seeing what he meant from his words. She looked up at him.
"Hm?" she mumbled out. Alex looked at her.
"I'm sorry Sorrel," Alex started, "but you're too young to understand. Once you're old enough, we'll tell you about this incident." Sorrel looked down from him, still trying to understand the whole incident.
Suddenly, a noise went off in the house: a phone. Everyone didn't know what the noise was then.
"Oh," Glaceon said, "Phone. Be right back." He ran off to the house, leaving everyone else outside. A sudden silent came about; Glaceon's conversation didn't reach outside. After a few minutes, they could hear Glaceon say, "Alright, see you there then." He then jumped from his window to the group, back near Leaf and Ivan. "Sorry about that—"
"Don't worry about it," Alex interrupted.
"Hold on," Glaceon said, "Lenard's gonna come by for a bit."
"Who's Lenard?" Alex asked, barely turning his head.
"A relative," Glaceon answered. "he's coming over for a bit, see what's been going on."
"How far does he live?" Tracey asked.
"Like about five miles."
"Five miles?" Alex asked. "How the hell do we not see him along the way when we go to places?"
"He…goes to places most of the day."
Not gonna ask… Alex closed his eyes. "Well, how long will it take him to get here?"
"Really," Glaceon started, "I don't—" His ear flickered, looking around to what was near. "…Never mind, he's here."
"Are you serious?" Alex asked. Glaceon pointed at a direction, seeing a black shadow. They see it as it comes closer to them, seeing the body form of the Pokémon. They watch as they see an Umbreon come closer to them, his golden eyes open to them.