You guys might hate me with the new character. Name pronunciations: Yara (Yah Rah) Zaki (Zah key)
Cynthia wasn't sure if Angel's obsession with sleeping was natural for a six year old, for she found herself carrying the napping child around habitually. The blonde loved to hold her child, but carrying her was about a twenty pound difference to having Angel on her lap. She grunts as she stands up and walks down the metal staircase from the League's private jet; the pilot kindly brings their travel bags to the waiting cab and helps Cynthia shuffle in with her sleeping cargo before giving a tip of his hat and leaving.
Angel wakes long enough to scowl at her mother and help carry their traveling bags up to their room at Hotel Richissime.
"Stop that," Cynthia chided as they placed their bags on the beds inside the posh suite.
"You know I hate fancy hotels! It's weird! Like they know I'm some street rat." Angel complains as she crosses her arms in annoyance.
Cynthia leans down and draws her pouting child into her arms. She places a kiss on Angel's forehead and looks the platinum in her violet eyes.
"You don't have to worry about snobby rich people. If they bug you I'll deal with them, alright Love? Smile please? I'll get you ice cream after we leave the Lab." The champion bribes.
The offer elicit a subtle eye roll and a small smile, "You realize giving children whatever they want is called spoiling and that's a bad thing right?"
"Why are you complaining? You know the ice cream is more for me anyway." The adult jokes as she grasps the child to swing her around and airplanes her onto the bed.
Angel lets out a giggle and starts bouncing on the bed, bobbing on the mattress like a rubber ducklet in water.
"Why did you book a room anyway? We're just here to tell Sycamore that he's not stuck with me." She asks as she leans onto all fours to stabilize her balance.
"He wouldn't think of it that way. Besides we're delivering good news," Cynthia states as she opens a bottle of water from the mini fridge in the corner.
"That you love me and have decided to deal with me even though I made everyone think I turned evil?" Angel flippantly asks as Cynthia sits beside her on the bed, causing the mother to slightly choke and slosh her water onto her hand.
The slate gray eyes catch her Angel looking at her expectantly. Her eyes glowing with insecurity as she waits for the surrogate mother to respond. Cynthia smiles, wraps an arm around the child, and pulls her in for another hug.
"I knew that Mercury was never my Angel."
"Being Mercury made it easier to do what I didn't want to. In all honesty, I'm surprised you aren't sending me back."
Cynthia pulls her baby onto her lap and shifts her so they faced each other, "Don't worry about that Angel. I promise that I'll never send you away." She holds up a pinkie to seal the contract.
Angel scoffs, "I'm way to old for that…"
She hooks her pinky with Cynthia regardless.
…
Angel pulls her mother through Sycamore's gates with an excited fever. She barges through the front doors and drops her backpack on the floor. Cynthia reaches out swiftly and wraps an arm around the child's waist to keep her from attempting to barrel through the metal door to one of the laboratory rooms.
"Hey!" Angel yelps out in annoyance as she's flipped to face her mother, her fingers grasp Cynthia's jacket to stay upright.
"What the? Angel?" Sycamore and Sophie poke their heads out the door before crossing the threshold.
"Hi Sycamore!" Angel chirps.
"Good evening Professor. I hope you're well." Cynthia greets as she places the wriggling child onto the ground.
"Er, good evening?" The professor casts a side glance at Sophie before looking back at the champion. "You're here to drop off Angel?"
The blonde furrows her eyebrows in slight confusion before it clears and she raises a hand to muffle a laugh, "Right, we never told you. No, Angel's staying right next to me. Right, Love?" Cynthia places a hand on Angel's head as the little girl wraps two arms around the champion's legs in an act of affection.
"Marevelous!" Sycamore cries out happily.
"Yes, indeed. But, I am curious…" Sophie trails off.
"Ah, yes. Go have fun Angel. I'll deal with this." Cynthia hands her daughter a few bills, "Go buy something sweet. And eat it yourself. Don't give it to your pokemon."
Angel yields to the light push and scampers out the doors; her luxury ball breaking open as Calamity released herself to run alongside her trainer.
"So, I have a story to tell, but after I have a favor to ask."
…
Angel slides one galette into her bag for Cynthia and splits the other with Calamity. The absol jumps to grab the propelling desert and her teeth tear into the treat. She turns when Calamity looks up and they watch the incoming figures.
"Mama!" She screeches before blushing when a good amount of people turn to stare at her. She slinks towards her mother to hide in the adult's jacket.
"Hello Love. We were going to head over to one of the restaurants to eat."
"Okay…" Angel trails off hesitantly, "Can we make a detour?"
"Sure. To where?" Cynthia asks.
"My Daddy's old apartment?"
Calamity has to force the lock with a Mega Horn and when the door swings open all four coughs up a storm from the dust cloud the opening door created. Angel stares at her old living room before taking a slow step forward. Cynthia follows Angel inside and catches a glimpse at the sun bleached picture of a even smaller Angel being held up by a man sporting platinum hair and blue eyes.
Said child notices and turns, "Apparently, the only thing I got from Daddy was my hair. He told me that I got the rest from my birth mother."
Angel searches around and pulls a book off the wall. She dusts it off before she runs over to Cynthia and pushes the photo album into her face. The blonde takes the old book gingerly and watches her go over to a desk, pull a keyout of its hiding spot in the chair, and unlocks the drawer.
"What are you looking for?" Cynthia asks as she places the book under her arm.
"My dad's journal… He never let me touch it, but I know he kept it here." Angel shoves through a couple of old papers and digs deeper into the compartment. Her fingers latch onto a leather bound journal and drags it out of hiding.
She fingers through the yellowing pages and a piece of tattered paper slips onto the ground. She looks at the picture, a scene from a beach, and flips it to read the postcard hailing from Johto.
I'm sorry. I'm not coming back.
Take care of Arella the way I know I can't.
Yara
Angel stares at the note in shock. Yara, so that was her birth mother's name.
"What is it?" Cynthia's voice breaks through Angel's little bubble and the child hastily shoves the card back into the journal.
"Nothing. Uh, let's go okay. I'm hungry." Angel pivots and zooms out the door, only to ram into something and have feminine arms wrap around her.
The platinum squirms to be released. Only Cynthia is allowed to hold her.
"Hey, hey. Calm down," The stranger tries to soothe.
"Angel, what's going on?" Cynthia's voice filters through doorway as she, Sycamore, and Sophie cross the threshold.
The child breaks free from the loosened arms and sprints to her foster mother. Cynthia catches her baby in her arms and brings her up onto her hip to stare at the woman before them.
She had pale skin and a short frame, much like Angel. She sported Angel's petite nose and round face, although she lacked Angel's baby face chub. Cynthia wraps her arms around Angel tighter as her brain clicks the information into place.
The foreigner looks behind her and her brown eyes darken, "What were you doing in there?" She hisses. "That's my boyfriend's apartment."
"My daddy's been dead for three years," Angel states firmly from her spot and stares at the person with growing distaste.
"Your da…" The woman trails off before asking hesitantly, "Arella?"
"Don't call me that! That was Daddy's name for me. You don't get to use it. No one gets to use it."
"I-I'm sorry," The anxious woman stutters.
"Angel, love, calm down." Cynthia tries to soothe the child and looks at the opposing woman. "I'm sorry. I'm Cynthia."
"Yara. I-I'm Ar-Angel's mother."
The champion feels the little fist tighten on her jacket and the negative pulse that Angel radiates.
"Can we invite you to dinner?"
"Put me down Mama," Angel demands and Cynthia concedes. Calamity takes her place in Angel's arms and casts judging eyes on Yara.
Yara shifts uncomfortably under the absol's gaze and looks at Cynthia. "I don't mean to intrude and as rude as this is, I have an appointment. But, I'm free tomorrow. We can meet at a café, Lysandre's Café."
"Do you know Lysandre?" Sycamore asks and continues when Yara nods. "You know what happened to him, correct?"
"Yes, I heard that he and his creation, Team Flare, almost wiped out the region. My apologies. I had returned to Kalos to try to reconcile with Xavier. I had assumed he'd taken over the businesses since his brother's questionable fate, but..." Yara turns her attention back to Cynthia. "So, tomorrow."
"We'll be there."
I know that the names are weird (really just Yara) but I wanted them to be a X and a Y. BTW you guys should look up what Arella means.