A/N: Welcome to the latest interlude. Its title comes from I Scare Myself by Beth Crowley on YouTube. I'm asking you guys to give this one a listen. Thanks as always to my dad for helping make this the best story it can be.

Some nights, like tonight, Lusamine almost remembers loving her children. She'll vaguely remember being proud of Lillie's dedication to learning and patting her daughter on the head. Or fading wisps of memories of hugging her sobbing children after Mohn had disappeared. But… that can't be right, can it? Her children are wretches who stole from her and spurned her after she'd done nothing but love them. But when these memories surface her heart stirs as if she may love them still. After everything they've done. Does she? Could her children love her still? Did they never stop in the first place? Thinking about these things makes her head feel like it's splitting in two. Did… Did they leave Aether Paradise because of her? Did she push them away?

Usually, Faba will give her something to help her calm herself and think clearly again, but tonight… Faba isn't there tonight, and hasn't been for the past several. Lusamine is alone with her heartache. She doesn't like it. She doesn't like wondering if people left because she did something wrong. Her head feels like it's splitting in half, like another Lusamine is trying to force herself to the surface. It hurts. It hurts. IT HURTS! Can't someone help her? Her sweet beasts, Faba, her children, Mohn… All of them are gone. They've left her alone with this pain. Lusamine starts to cry. Maybe… Maybe it really was all her fault. Half in a daze, she starts to feel like she's forgotten something important.

It hurts, reaching for the memory, but her headache is stabilizing and she's starting to feel like herself again. If this pain helps her handle the rest, then it's worth it. She… She remembers now. She remembers what she saw that day!

Not long after Mohn had disappeared she'd been going over the video feed to see what had gone wrong with his experiment. Even if it turned out there was nothing she'd be able to do to reclaim her husband, she could at least make sure such things didn't go wrong in the future. She couldn't bear to leave her dear children orphans, after all. So, she'd be even more careful with her Ultra Wormhole experiments as she looked for a way to recover Mohn. That's what she'd decided.

Faba had been in the room with her. As the sole witness to Mohn's loss and also his lab assistant, he was uniquely suited to helping her resolve the flaws with Mohn's initial experiment. The video had started to play and-

"Hypno… Hypno…" Faba's lead Hypno said, Teleporting into her room out of nowhere and waving its coin in front of her. She can't let it put her to sleep! She can't let it make her forget again!

Lusamine closes her eyes tightly and says, "I won't let you make me forget. I remember what I saw that night. I remember what Faba did!" She reaches to her waist for a pokéball but finds nothing there. That's odd, she can't remember a time she would willingly let her darling pokémon leave her side. And come to think of it, where is Clefable? Her lifelong partner is nearly always out of her pokéball and sticking to her like glue.

"No, no," mocks Faba's Hypno as it advances on her. Icy-cold terror grips Lusamine's heart. This is just like that day.

Lusamine feels her body lift into the air and then press up against the wall. It's getting harder and harder to keep her eyes closed. But if she opens them, Hypno will make her forget again. Just like it has for the past four years. And, just like when it's happened before, she'll be dosed on enough Nihilego venom to stay crazed and compliant. As her eyes finally snap open and Lusamine is once again subjected to a psychic assault by Faba's most menacing Hypno the poor woman's last thoughts are of her children. Gladion… Lillie… I'm sorry… she thinks as her mind starts to rapidly unravel again. I love… you both… so much…

Lillie lays in bed, thinking of the boy in the bunk bed across from her. Or more specifically of kissing him again. It had felt good holding Sun close like that, having his lips on hers. It had hardly been the first time they'd hugged, but something had been different. She'd been holding Sun just a little closer, the desire he made her feel had been just a little stronger.

Even now, she feels great warmth filling her heart at the memory. Warmth that is equal and opposite to the cold that had clogged her heart when Faba had assaulted her Sun. She looks over at her boyfriend who appears to be asleep at last. It's a relief to see after how shaken up he'd been earlier. Her boy has been through a lot, she knows, and things probably aren't going to get any easier for a while. Between the coming threats they'd been warned about, his Island Trial, and the attacks Faba keeps sending their way… At that last thought, Lillie scowls. Team Rocket and Cipher were threats, and she was fully confident that their Team could handle them when the time came, but those threats weren't personal. By all reports, Faba's attacks on them had been targeted and they were all in his sights.

Lillie could feel her heart growing cold at that thought. First her Sun… Then her brother… And she had no guarantees that it wouldn't happen again. Not as long as Faba was free to act against them. She can't let him touch the people she loves. He won't. She'll rip the bastard in half before she lets him take anyone or anything from her. The coldness in her heart feels like it's spreading, filling her entire body. It feels like standing in the cryogenic chamber Nebby was kept in back on Aether Paradise. Not a good feeling, or a good memory.

Lillie lightly slaps her cheeks, trying to push the cold and dark thoughts off. That isn't how she should be thinking. Don't focus on Faba, Lillie chides herself. Gladion's okay. Sun is okay. Focus on that. Don't think about the cold. Think about what's warm.

And that, of course, inevitably makes her think of Sun once more. Her boyfriend is warm. Warm hugs, warm smiles… Making her heart feel warm when they kissed.

Oh, Lillie knows Sun's warmth isn't just for her. He's given it to so many others on their journey already. He'd radiated light and warmth in his Grand Trial with Hau as they battled Kahuna Hala. He gives it to his pokémon, and the pokémon of others every day. He is much like his namesake, giving warmth and light to everyone who comes into contact with him.

But some of Sun's warmth is Lillie's alone. She gets a warmth that no one else ever has, and she lets herself selfishly hope, that no one else ever will.

She wishes she could have a little more right now, though. Last night when they'd shared the bed at Tide Song Hotel, having fallen asleep after watching tv, it had been an accident, and Sun had been roused from his sleep by his cousin's call, but she wishes they were sharing a bed now. She could use that closeness to make her feel safe. It would help her be sure that Sun wouldn't be snatched away in the middle of the night.

If they had their own room, she might've asked, but Hau is sleeping in the bunk below hers. She is not blind to the growing attraction between her brother and her friend, and she is entirely certain that if Hau sees her sharing a bed with Sun her brother will know with it within the hour.

Lillie isn't exactly worried about what her brother thinks about her relationship with Sun, but right now she doesn't want to deal with what she's sure would be at best an awkward situation she doesn't want to deal with how awkward that conversation would be. And she doesn't want Sun to have to deal with it either. It's not that she expects anything intimate to happen between her and Sun, the public sleeping quarters of a pokémon center are hardly ideal for romance after all, but Gladion tried to pull the over-protective big brother routine immediately after learning they were together. He'd most certainly try again if he learns they're sharing a bed, even innocently. Plus, both of them have surrounded themselves with their pokémon tonight. The bunk beds might have had enough room for two people, but they definitely didn't have the room for two people and nine pokémon.

For all of Gladion, Hau, or pokémon however, it didn't change the way she felt inside. Excuses aside Lillie yearned to be near her boyfriend and feel his warmth. Being with Sun made her happy in a way she hadn't in a long time. Having felt that way again only made her crave it more.

Perhaps… if Sun had been more awake when they'd stumbled back to the pokémon center, or if his pokémon hadn't been asleep, or even if her brother or Hau weren't around. If… If… IF… Maybe, just maybe, they could've swapped places? Her pokémon could've spent the night cuddling with Sun's team, and she could've spent the night cuddling with Sun?

Lillie closes her eyes and imagines having Sun close. Of hearing his heartbeat as she drifts to sleep… Blue light leaks beneath her eyelids, and she opens them slightly to find her pokémon gone, and her boyfriend sleeping peacefully beside her.

While this would normally startle her, Lillie has been around Nebby long enough to recognize the Cosmog's Teleport for what it is. The littlest member of Sun's team had clearly swapped her pokémon for Sun, just as she'd been fantasizing about. Sun must've been pretty tired, because even the flash of light that came with the Teleport didn't cause him to stir.

Lillie snuggles against him as best she can and rests her head against him listening to his heartbeat. She feels warm and happy and safe. And her Sun is safe too. No mad scientists or their pokémon will be snatching him from her in the dark of the night. Wrapped in those feelings Lillie whispers, "Sun, I love you," before finally falling asleep.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed. If this was an anime, this would be the midseason. Lillie and Sun's relationship has grown deeper, Sun has begun to grow into who he needs to be, Lillie's similarities to her mother are beginning to surface, Team Sun is on the rise, and Faba's machinations are coming to light. Things are only going to get crazier from here.