While shifting her weight from one foot to the other, almost as if on tiptoes, she waived shyly at Magnus.

"Thanks for coming", Cynthia said and tried her best at an ill-fated attempt to crack a smile.

Unsure what to answer, he just nodded. He looked at her for a second, but forced himself to avert his eyes from hers and instead stared on the ground. The fear in her gaze made him uncomfortable. His heart started to race. He didn't want to see that.

"What's the matter?" he finally asked after a painfully long silence. What could the Champion be so afraid of? He gulped. Had Team Galactic returned? He remembered having heard rumours about them at Stark Mountain, but didn't pay much attention to that kind of hearsay back then. That may have been a mistake. Maybe he should have been more cautious.

"Let's go to the hotel", she said, "You must be tired after coming all the way from Hoenn, right?"

He felt like it wasn't the right moment to mention that he had already been in Sinnoh for a few days, so he just nodded and followed her. As they walked across the boulevards of Jubilife, Magnus felt the heat of the afternoon sun burning on his skin. She stopped at a building that looked just like any large residential building, but hidden inside was a reception desk surrounded by a luxurious lobby. Magnus's eyes darted around. So that's where the Champions and Elite Four stayed if they don't want to be noticed by the public? He followed her to the elevator and into her suite in the top floor.

"It's large enough for two", she said and her hand gesture told him to just leave his bag somewhere, "There's a second bedroom you can use."

He let his bag slide down from his shoulder and drop onto the ground.

"Cynthia", he said and she was taken aback by the stern look in his eyes, "What's the matter?"

She needed a second to recollect herself.

"Am I that much of an open book to you?"

"Let's just say it's good you decided to become a Pokémon trainer and not an actress", he replied and for the first time today she showed a genuine smile.

"But seriously", he continued with a slightly softer tone than before, "Something is wrong, isn't it?"

"Yes." She practically had to force that word out of her mouth.

"Stark Mountain?"

He shook his head and didn't notice that she looked at him with an utterly puzzled expression.

"I knew it", he continued in a ramble, "I heard those rumours, but I wouldn't have thought that Team Galactic actually would–"

"No, no", she interrupted him, "nothing about them."

He raised an eyebrow.

"What is it then?"

She let herself sink onto her couch, closed her eyes and sighed.

"It's my grandmother."

Those words hurt. She needed a moment of silence. Magnus sat down next to her. When she opened her eyes again, she just stared at the wall across the room. Magnus ever so slightly turned his head towards her to let his eyes skim over her face. Her fear seemed to have, at least to some extend, been replaced by a clueless feeling of resignation.

"What happened?" he eventually mustered the courage to ask.

"Surgery", she now looked down on her hands folded on her lap. The fingers of her right hand nervously moved over her left.

"It was scheduled for today months ago. The doctors told me that it might be... difficult. It will last the whole day and they don't know–" She didn't continue.

"I'm sorry", Magnus said after a brief pause.

"I'm supposed to meet the doctors during the evening. To find out how the surgery went."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

She nodded in silence, still staring at the empty space in front of her.

# # # # #

When they walked to the hospital, dusk had set in and helped to hide the Champion from the public. The last she needed now was some fans from Trainers' School to ask her for an autograph. As they entered the hospital, her eyes started to hurt from the clinically white light on its hallways. They sat down on two grey plastic chairs in front of room 108 and waited for someone from the hospital staff to approach them. Even the floor was polished so cleanly that it reflected the lamps. She let out a sigh. Everything here seemed to just give her a headache.

Magnus looked at her sideways. Her elbows were planted on her knees, her chin was placed on her folded hands and her eyes just stared into the nothingness between floor and wall. Her black coat was a relieving contrast to the brightness of these hallways for his eyes. His gaze rested on her profile. Behind the curtain of blonde hair, he could see that she no longer tried to hide her worries. Should he say something? Not that he had any idea what to say in this situation. Nor was his mind able to think about anything like that. The only thought in his head was this image of her, the dark-veiled silhouette shrouded in artificial light, crouched over. He didn't like to admit it, but there was a certain beauty in this image.

"Thank you", Cynthia said while still staring in front of her, "for waiting here with me."

"N-no problem", he stuttered.

Then, a doctor came out of room 108. Cynthia jumped to her feet. Her whole body was tense. Magnus felt his heart start to race.

"Is the surgery over?" she asked and Magnus could feel the unease cracking through her voice.

"Good evening, Miss", said the middle-aged doctor. That formal tone could only mean bad news.

"Yes, the surgery is over."

"And?" she asked with a desperation that Magnus had never heard in her voice.

"Her status is critical", answered the doctor and Magnus could see from the corner of his eye that Cynthia's body loosened up, almost like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Her knees became weak and her upper body slightly crouched forward.

"We had to put her in an artificial coma. We will try to wake her up in two days during the morning hours", he continued and her eyes widened in disbelief, "But there is no guarantee that she will survive this."

A jolt went through her body and she covered her face with her hands. Her grey eyes stared through her fingers. Magnus made a step towards her and placed his left arm on her shoulder. As soon as he touched her, she instinctively turned towards him and curled up against his body. Feeling her weight leaning against him, he wrapped his other arm around her waist.

It was surreal. The strongest person he had ever known was hiding her tears in his chest. He felt her body shiver during every sob. First, he was startled, but then started to gently stroke her back. Making eye contact with the doctor, he gave him a silent gesture to leave for now. The doctor nodded and returned to room 108. They were alone again and he pulled her tighter.

# # # # #

On the next morning, he tiptoed across the suite and peeked into her room. She was still asleep and, at least from his perspective, seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He hadn't slept particularly well, but it must have been a horrific night for her. The least he could do was not to wake her up. As silently as he could, he hushed out of the hotel suite to go to the nearest groceries store. When he returned, he placed a little note on the stack of books on her table – "Royal Brothers", "Truth, Ideals and the Possibility between Them" and "The People of Relic Castle" – and wrote "I put some ice cream in the freezer" before going to bed again. His head still felt slightly dizzy and a short nap might help.

# # # # #

After waking up, Cynthia was sitting on the couch in the main room of the suite, her Garchomp laying on the ground next to her feet. Magnus was as silent as possible and they therefore hadn't noticed him. She was crouched forward and writing something on a sheet of paper. Then, she put her elegant pen away, carefully folded the paper and straightened up. Magnus held his breath, feeling that he was watching something intimate, something he wasn't allowed to watch. If she hadn't kept her eyes closed, she would have looked straight at him. Was he supposed to be here right now? She then held the paper up and her Garchomp exhaled a small flame, surrounding the paper in an orange glimmer for a second before it withered away into ash and smoke. A shiver went down his spine and he was so mesmerised by the sight that he didn't even notice that she had finally opened her eyes.

"Thank you", she said with a smile and pointed at the ice cream maxi package on the table. Evidently, she had already tested all of the flavours.

"Not for that", he slightly blushed, "I didn't know which flavour to choose so I just bought them all at once."

His stomach growled. It must have been way past noon and he hadn't had any breakfast.

"Just take another spoon", Cynthia said and patted on the empty cushion next to her. When Magnus sat down, he made sure to leave some respectful space between the two of them. Without raising her body from the ground, her Garchomp lifted her massive head and laid it on her trainer's lap, carefully observing Magnus with her yellow eyes while getting her chin massaged by Cynthia. Between two spoons of ice cream, she shifted her body a bit such that their thighs lightly touched each other.

"I'm not good at saying things like this", Magnus started,

"Just try."

"So I'm just going to be a bit blunt. I'm sure your grandmother will be alright. She looked so healthy when we met, almost youthful. She'll surely get through this."

She paused for a moment and looked at the table.

"Thank you", she sighed, "but looks can be deceiving. She doesn't look like that, but she's already over a century old."

He gulped and just managed to suppress saying "Oh shit". She looked at him with silvery grey eyes.

"At that age... I guess you can see why I'm worried."

He nodded. There was a minute of silence during which the only thing they heard was the slow rhythm of Garchomp's deep breaths.

"Did your grandma spark your interest in myths?"

"It's hard not to get interested in them when you grow up in Celestic Town", she replied with a smile, "but she definitely played a big role in that. Reading us stories from the old times. Guiding us through the Celestic Ruins. It's hard to imagine", she had to giggle a bit, "but as a little girl, I didn't dare to go into those ruins. It was just too dark and scary in that cave. So one day, grandma just took me by her hand and without saying a word, she marched straight into the cave. I tried to resist her, but she was just too stubborn."

She paused for a moment.

"And when I saw those etchings and paintings in the cave walls, I understood that this had been worth it."

He nodded at her with a smile.

"My grandpa also led me into the coal mines when I was a kid. You know, to show his grandson where he's working all day. When the elevator was descending into their dark mine, I was really glad that I could grab his hand. And afterwards, I had a lot of respect for his hard work."

They each grabbed another spoon of ice cream.

"As a teenager, I actually had a lot of arguments with her", she continued, "because I was determined to explore the world as a Pokémon trainer. She rather wanted me to stay at home, like my sister, and focus on the traditions of Celestic Town. Why roam around when we have all the beauty of the world right next door?, she used to say", she paused for a moment, "but I think it was rather because I reminded her a bit too much of my grandfather..."

Under Garchomp's watchful eyes, he softly placed his hand onto her arm.

"Eventually, she fully understood that I wasn't him. Even though it took a while. And afterwards, she actually became my greatest supporter."

He folded both hands in his lap and thought for a moment.

"Your sister... Hasn't she come with you to Jubilife?"

"Someone had to stay in Celestic Town and take care of the shrine. The ceremonial calender must be adhered to. But I've of course kept her updated about... everything."

"I see...", he replied and continued to think about the question that actually was on his mind.

"What I still don't really understand", he asked, "why did you ask me to come with you?"

From the corner of his eye, he could see her moving her body a bit and felt the weight of her shoulder leaning against his.

"When you visited us in Celestic Town", she said softly, her voice weakening to almost a whisper, "you revealed your sorrows and your deepest fears to me. That means I can trust you with mine."

In that moment, she was not the child prodigy, mythologist or Champion, but only Cynthia.

# # # # #

In the cold morning air, they walked to the hospital on the next day. The streets were still silent and neither did they exchange any words. They again had to wait in front of the dreaded room 108, but at least today, real sunlight shone through the windows into the hallway. While Cynthia had done her best to calm herself down, Magnus noted the little nervous twitches on her hands and face, telling him that she was exactly as tense as he had expected. Eventually, the same doctor as before approached them. His face was as professionally stoic as ever.

"Congratulations", he said and the way Cynthia's face explosively widened into a big smile made Magnus's whole body feel warm. She didn't even listen when the doctor continued talking.

"When can we meet her?" she interrupted him and he, slightly puzzled, skimmed over his notepad.

"Uhm... Essentially right now, there's no reason–" and she took Magnus's hand and would have stormed past the doctor if Magnus hadn't been too surprised by her quick thinking.

"But it's only allowed for close family members! Like grandchildren and their spouses!" the doctor had regained his composure and sternly looked at Magnus.

"Or are you", his eyes darted between Magnus and Cynthia, "her husband?"

"Of course he is!" Cynthia exclaimed with a fake smile and grabbed Magnus's arm, pulling him behind her.

~~~~ Author's Notes ~~~~

A chapter without many Pokémon, but the emotions hopefully make up for it. Cynthia herself might be invulnerable, but the ones close to her aren't. Just one more chapter remaining to conclude Magnus's story.