NSO: Chapter 39
I don't own Pokemon.
Zoey's sensitive ears perked up at the sound of stomping pawsteps echoing up the staircase, followed by a loud slam of a door. With all the noise outside, the rest of Zoey's senses were forced awake despite her body's feeble protests to continue sleeping. Rubbing her bleary eyes, she decided to check out what was going on. As she sat up, letting her legs dangle off the side, she smiled at Julley, all snuggled up in warm blankets next to her. He was sound asleep, worn out from the night-to-day shift that they had just been through a few hours ago. The Lucario's sleeping face seemed so calm, showing no signs of anger, irritation or stress that had been especially prevalent throughout work. Giving Julley a small peck on the cheek, she was careful not to wake him up as she opened her door slightly to sneak a peek.
Janice was pacing outside of Cleo's closed door. The Flareon's movements were oddly reminiscent of her own actions a few days ago, when Sylvie had first manipulated Zenith into leaving Cleo. Something had definitely happened between the two of them, and it was more than likely that it regarded the Umbreon. Quietly closing the door behind her, Zoey stretched out her tired limbs, walking over to her mother.
"Hey mom. What's wrong?"
"Oh, hey, Zoey. Hope you slept well. I… just need to think for a while about how to talk to Cleo."
"Yeah, I've been there too. What's it about?"
"It's about that… incident that happened at that beach resort. Something happened there that landed Cleo in the hospital. I-"
"Wait, Cleo was sent to the hospital?"
"Yes, but she's fine now. I got her discharged. But…I may have acted rashly when talking about Zenith. I don't know what happened yet, and I'm still completely in the dark about everything…" Zoey had a sickening feeling in her stomach, her mother's words fading away into the background as her mind whirred into action. Her plan to ambush Sylvie must have gone wrong at some point, and Cleo must have lost to the Sylveon in the end. This, and all that resulted from it, was her fault. But if Cleo had gotten upset over her mom just talking about Zenith, that might have meant that… no.
"…I'm afraid that something bad happened, and I want to know what did so I can help Cleo. Both the school and news are saying nothing, and I don't think Cleo would want to recount the experience again."
"We could always ask."
Cleo didn't even bother looking up when she heard a knock on her door. She had been staring blankly at nothing ever since she came home, curled up in that same ball position in her bed. Her mind was trying to grasp onto a single thought as many entered and exited her mind, but all were too fast, too incomprehensible to be coherent. Her senses felt dampened, barely able to make out the sound of someone jiggling her locked door handle.
"Cleo?" The voice seemed even more muffled than usual, not only because of the door, but distant, as if someone were calling out her name from a place far, far away from her.
"We… we just want to talk." Another knock accompanied her mom's voice. As soft as it was, Cleo could hear the genuine concern in the statement. The Vaporeon knew that the proper thing to do was to unlock her door, share what she had gone through with her mom so that they could both work out a plan to help her push forward in the future. However, Cleo felt physically weak, and she doubted if she would even be able to lift a paw, let alone open a door to face her mother again.
Face… someone… again?
"Cleo, please open up. I just want to help you."
This time, inexplicable infuriation overwhelmed the Vaporeon upon hearing those words. She had never realised she was so pent up with that many unresolved emotions, and that sentence seemed to be the tipping point for her. With anger as the only available outlet she could find, Cleo's mind started to bring up memories, especially the ones during the car ride home, to try and justify herself and her state.
"Help me? Help me how? By deciding that I should never see Ze- him again?"
"Look, raindrop. I acted rashly then. I didn't know-"
"And you still don't know anything that happened! You just force your own ideas on me, thinking it'll solve EVERYTHING! You don't even understand anything I've been through, so why don't you just leave me alone!"
Zoey could tell that those words struck a nerve for her mom, shock clear on the Flareon's face as she flinched at those harsh comments, spluttering to reply.
"I- you- I didn't- I just wanted-"
"Cleo. It's Zoey. I think we all just need to calm down."
"I think! I think! You know what I think, Zoey?" The shouting from the other side of the door took on a more hostile, accusing tone. "I think you're a horrible sister. In fact, if it weren't for you, none of us would have gotten into this mess! If it weren't for you, Ze- Zeni-"
Voice straining to properly pronounce his name, the shouts cut off abruptly, descending into subdued sobbing.
Janice looked over at Zoey in confusion for a moment but shook her head, as if to dismiss any other thoughts regarding the Glaceon. She started to knock harder on the sky-blue wood, her voice now sounding more authoritative.
"Cleo Torrent, you open this door right now or-"
The Flareon's paw was stopped mid-slam by a dark blue one, mother looking to see daughter staring at her with pleading eyes.
"Mom."
The Flareon hesitated for a second, before letting her paw drop back into the floor again. There was no sound coming from Cleo's room, which Zoey seemed to be staring very intently at, trying her best to avoid her mother's gaze. Cleo's harsh words drove the guilt in further, the feeling writhing uncomfortably in the pits of the Ice-type's stomach.
"So, it looks like both my daughters are hiding things from me."
"I-I'll tell you everything I know. But can we do this in the kitchen? I think it's best to give Cleo some space, let her calm down first until an actual report comes out. We can figure out what to do then."
"… fine. You have a lot of explaining to do."
Cleo's chest rose and fell erratically with each ragged breath that she took in. Hiccups and sniffles were wracking her throat as she choked on her sobs, her paws pounding weakly on her bed, sheets soaked with tears. They weren't tears of regret from lashing out, rather tears of anger. Anger at the world, everyone around her, even herself. It was all due to their, her incompetence that had led things to turn out the way that they were. It was still raining outside, but the strong, chilling winds that blew into the room couldn't cool the Vaporeon's flaring temper. If anything, the tapping of raindrops on her half-opened window seemed to make her more enraged. Growling in annoyance at the persistent sound, a water tendril slammed the window shut, the Vaporeon covering both of her ears with a pillow to block out the rest of the noises.
The pillow proved to be an effective dampener on the interfering sounds of the outside world, and when Cleo closed her eyes, she could finally be alone with her thoughts again. She was facing a whirlwind of jumbled emotions, where the most prevalent one seemed to be anger. Only now, when Cleo was surrounded by peace and quiet, the burning feeling crashing down on her mind seemed to make the most sense. It was right for her to be mad. It was right for her to be angry, to blame others for Zenith's death. Anger towards Sylvie, for starting and ending off everything. Anger at how Zoey's plan failed, and how Gayle and Apollo stayed out of most of the fight, barely contributing at all, leaving her to do most of the heavy lifting. Anger towards herself for failing to save, to protect Zenith. But as angry at them as she was, that tiny bit of rational thought was still there. It shouted into the ever-growing rage, its small voice trying to reason with her, to remind her that none of this was her, her family or friends' fault. They tried their best, didn't they? It wasn't like any of them had known beforehand about how any of this was going to turn out… wait.
Cleo's gaze hardened with determination and hatred as realisation dawned upon her.
She was going to have a little chat with a certain Espeon.
…
"Wait… You're saying that everything was your idea?"
Zoey took a little sip of coffee from her mug before replying, trying to prolong the time she had before she had to answer the question. The taste of ground-up beans hit differently than usual, her insides continuing to squirm with something other than the drink's bitter aftertaste. She tried to, but still couldn't meet her mom's gaze.
"Yeah. I guess… things just didn't turn out the way I imagined."
"Zoey, I…" Janice pinched the bridge of her snout. "Do… Do you have any idea what you may have landed yourself into? For you and Cleo?"
"I have an idea." The Glaceon thought back to her college classes, smiling internally as she appreciated the grim irony of the situation. Studying to become a policemon in the future and here she was, possibly—no, most likely breaking the law. Even if the punishment she recieved wasn't as harsh, the permanent stain on her record would dash any hopes of getting into law enforcement.
But Cleo. Cleo, Gayle and Apollo. What kind of impact would this have on them? Zoey knew that since they were 'underage', they would mostly be dealt with by their school rather than the police. The potential penalties wouldn't be as severe as hers, but the Ice-type couldn't help but worry about the worse, psychological torture Cleo would have to suffer through.
Speaking of That Vaporeon… Zoey hadn't heard anything from her in a while. No noise had been heard from the closed room in the thirty minutes Zoey was talking to her mother. She was starting to get uneasy about what might be going on in that blue room, and the probably rash actions that Cleo might do in her outbursts of anger… or grief. She knew that in her sister's eyes, she was mainly to blame, but she had to check up on her, even if it meant getting yelled at. She would gladly take anything coming to her, as long as it ensured that Cleo would be okay.
Janice's lips had been moving the entire time, but Zoey didn't register a word her mom had said, too caught up in her thoughts.
"...so you even know the penalty for masterminding an assault is? And what about-"
"Mom. We have to check on Cleo. Now."
Janice grumbled to herself in annoyance as she recognised that faraway look in her eyes. What did it even take to get some respect in this household? But as rude as her own daughter was being to her, she realised that there might be a shred of logic in those concerned words. Even when Cleo had isolated herself in her room before, sobs, snores, or at least the shuffling of paws could be heard through the thin closed door. The fact that not one peep had come from Cleo's room in such a long period of time was… unsettling.
"Fine. I'll get the keys."
Nothing impeded the door's movement as it was unlocked with a 'click'. It swung forward, creaking under loose hinges to reveal Cleo's room. For a moment, Zoey envisioned the view before her: wrinkled bed sheets soaked with tears, books strewn and furniture overturned on the floor. Scraps of pages floated in the air as the romance novels they belonged to lay abandoned, decimated all around the room. Cleo, her back towards the both of them her frilled head turned slowly to stare at the intruders at her doorway. Her black-blue eyes burned with hatred, and her fangs were bared in a snarl, ready to-
Zoey blinked, and her visions of emotion-filled destruction vanished before her eyes, to be replaced by reality. Nothing had been destroyed at all, in fact the room seemed to look tidier than before. Dry blankets folded and placed in a corner of the bed, stationery sorted and collected neatly in respective containers on the table, and all books were arranged in alphabetical-author order on her bookshelf. Nothing had left its position in the room.
Nothing except for its occupant.
The Vaporeon was nowhere to be seen. The only clue to her disappearance seemed to be the side window in the room. It was wide open, the storm raging on outside blowing raindrops onto the blue carpeted floor, which was becoming darker and damper by the second, much like Zoey's spirits. While Janice started to freak out beside her, Zoey spotted a small piece of paper, resting on top of a head pillow. Cleo's phone was placed on it, the slip's black colour standing out from its surroundings easily. Words had been written on them in silvery ink, printed in Cleo's familiar pawwriting.
Gone out to think.
Trying to get answers to some questions I have.
I won't venture out of town, I'll be safe.
No need to come look for me.
Back by midnight—latest.
Zoey passed the note to her mom. As she read it, Janice looked up to meet her daughter's gaze, and the Glaceon knew that they were both thinking the same thing.
Oh, Cleo. Please don't do anything you'll regret.
Gayle sat at the dining room table, reading a book while listening to the never ending sound of raindrops hammering on the window. She decided to take a small break, looking away from the yellowed pages for a moment to stare at the scenery outside. Or at least she tried to. It had been raining the entire day, the storm so heavy that the downpour of rain was more like a curtain, hindering everyone's vision. Gayle could barely see the houses across the street, save for the occasional car speeding by, its bright headlights briefly cutting through the shadows, illuminating the surroundings before driving past, leaving the neighbourhood back in near pitch-black darkness.
Gayle turned her attention back to the book. She found that she had to focus on something, to immerse herself so deeply in the task she was carrying out. If not…
"I hear them again."
"Don't you think you should seek help about this?"
"That's… why you're here."
"Like, professional help."
"I'm sure they'll go away with time. After all, they can't be that bad if I can block them out just by focusing. As long as no one breaks my concentra-"
Gayle broke off as she heard the doorbell, faint in the pounding of the rain.
…
The door clicked open as it was unlocked. Gayle opened it slightly, to prevent the rain from getting in, but wide enough to see the Pokemon on her doorstep, the newcomer dripping water all over the wooden porch.
"Hey, Cleo. What brings you here in this weather?"
The Vaporeon pushed down her annoyance and impatience, forcing the tips of her mouth to curl upwards in an attempt to smile. Why had Gayle taken so long to open the door? Why had the Vibrava's green eye lingered in the peephole of the door, watching her the entire time? There were questions she wanted answered, but now was not the time. She had more pressing issues on her mind at the moment. Gayle was not the one she wanted to find. But as disinterested as she was, Cleo couldn't help but notice the dark eye bags underneath the Vibrava's eyes. They weren't there before when she left the resort.
"Didn't sleep well, huh?"
Gayle gave a loud yawn, stretching out her limbs as she did so. "Yeah. Sleeping's… difficult now since the… incident." Words trailed off into awkward silence as both Pokemon avoided each other's gaze. None were comfortable yet in bringing up such a touchy subject.
"So… is your mom at home?"
"Mom? Oh yeah, Kelli. No, she's not here. I think she's still at work…" Gayle's words trailed off again, thus time in speechless surprise as Cleo turned tail and walked away, her silhouette slowly disappearing into the storm raging around th.
"I think I should go warn Kell...mom."
Cleo was glad that it was raining. If it wasn't, there would be nothing cooling down the seething fury that boiled beneath her skin, keeping her from exploding outwards in a rampage of public and private damage. The raindrops weren't even touching her now, any falling near her all being gathered into a ball above her head. With the amount of rainfall being dumped on the town, that ball was increasing in size quickly, and she could feel the strain on her mind to hold everything together. Her pawsteps started to slow, the Vaporeon trudging along as she dragged along the weight that just kept growing heavier. With a scream, she hurled the ball of rain as hard as she could, seeing it fly out of the range of her hydrokinetic powers. It burst in a shower of droplets, each scattering wildly in different directions, soon unidentifiable from the rest of the rain. Panting slightly from the exhaustion, her lighter footsteps sped up from a brisk jog into a run, until the Vaporeon was sprinting down the pavement, twisting and turning sharply as she narrowly rounded corners hidden by the rain. All she could hear was the sound of her paws drumming against the concrete floor, perfectly in sync with her rapid heartbeat. Thanks to her Ability, the rain allowed Cleo keep sprinting continuously, revitalising her energy with every drop.
She ran and ran, stopping momentarily to glance at green signs mounted on tall posts to confirm her location. The rain was still relentlessly pouring down, hiding the world and its surroundings from her. There was nothing else to look at, nothing else to focus on, leaving Cleo alone with her thoughts again. Thoughts, all with question marks at their ends, clamouring around in her mind, begging to be answered. She knew that the Pokemon she was looking for held the answers in her paw. She knew that would never be able to come up with those answers on her own, but the more she tried to, the more illogical, irrational the explanations became. Her anger at her incognizance blazed like an open bonfire, spurring her onwards.
The remaining rays of sunlight peeking through the thick cover of the storm clouds slowly began fading away. Lampposts began to be activated, their glowing round heads providing little, but enough illumination for Cleo to see her route as the sky got darker and darker. She picked up her pace, lampposts glowing streaks as she ran past them, the scenery they revealed a barely recognisable blur.
The rain had lightened significantly, reduced to a small drizzle with the occasional cool breeze. Night had finally befallen the town, with stars twinkling faintly in the dark sky. A lone lamppost shone its light down on a metal bench. Cleo stepped into the bright beam, appreciating the vision it gave her. The last few hundred metres had been barely visible, with the town deciding to cut down on light pollution in more rural areas. And besides, who needed to station that many lamp posts at the very edge of this small town anyway? She stepped past the bench, preferring to fixate her gaze on the single-storey building that lay ahead. A Servine Elevens, almost identical to all the others scattered around the entire town. Brightly lit, with various posters plastered over the three opaque exterior walls. Cleo hovered around the side of the store, making sure not to reveal herself to anyone through the double glass doors. Now that she was actually here, her thoughts slowing with her pawsteps, the Vaporeon was starting to have a few doubts. After all, a sprint halfway across town still took some time, and through the jumbled mess of uncountable thoughts, some of them were starting to actually make sense.
Would feeling angry at Kelli do any good? Was it just an excuse to point the blame at someone else? An outlet to take her annoyance out on, the guilt that she felt she deserved for her own incompetence at battling, allowing Sylvie to get to Zenith that easily? Or if she had refused to attack the both of them, he would still be alive? Sure, Kelli may have been able to have seen the future that night, but it wasn't like she could have trained Cleo up in the span of a few hours. And if Kelli did warn Cleo, what good would that have done? It would have just made her feel discouraged at Zenith's possibly inevitable death, without even trying her hardest to change the outcome.
The fog of doubt had almost smothered her bonfire of anger, the flame of her enraged emotions now a weak, wavering candle in the wind. What exactly did she want to do? Storm tight through those doors and demand answers? It was the plan she had come up with on her way here, but now she was finding so many claws in it. What if Kelli had already left? What if it was another Pokemon behind the counter? What if other customers were also in the store at the same time and she caused an unnecessary scene? What if-
"Hello there, Cleo. Who would've guessed I'd meet you here today?"
Cleo jumped at the voice, whipping her head around to meet the unexpected visitor. In the dim light, the Vaporeon realised how much Zenith took after his mother, behaviour-wise. She could only see the Espeon's silhouette outlined in the low lighting of this place, a backpack slung over her back. Despite the tufts of fur, forked tail and other minute details that separated her appearance from her son, in the darkness, the resemblance was almost uncanny. The way she stood, paws shifting her body weight from side to side restlessly as she waited patiently for an answer, the tiny flick of the ears, the twitch of the tail. It was as if Zenith was standing in front of her, every single movement of his so familiar to her mirrored in her mother. To see something so similar to the Umbreon right before her, yet to be hit again with the hard truth that he was gone forever…
Kelli watched as Cleo broke down, stamping a paw on the wet floor. The last of the red-hot anger within her was gone, released through warm tears that rolled down her cheeks, quickly washed away by the ongoing downpour that pelted her face and body. Her infuriated stomps grew weaker with each pound against the pavement, and with a final splash of dirty puddled water, Cleo hung her head, looking to one side to avoid the Espeon's gaze. With no emotions driving her rash actions forward, she was starting to feel pretty ashamed of herself. What had she been thinking? Or rather, why hadn't she been thinking? This whole plan had been a disaster from the start. Maybe like the previous plan, it was time to accept another failure and head home. Maybe Kelli would forget about her being here if she asked nicely-
Cleo tensed up as she felt dry fur brush against her soaked skin. The raindrops, relentlessly stinging her the Vaporeon, suddenly ceased their assault, pitter-pattering on something above her instead. Glancing around, Cleo noticed a translucent purple dome surrounding her and two pairs of purple paws. She still refused to look up, her confidence completely replaced with remorse at the rude things she had planned to do to the Pokemon now helping her. She continued to stand there, cheeks burning, staring intently at the stone path, her peripheral vision watching paws padding closer. As the paws tucked themselves together in a sitting position beside her, a thin, pronged tail entered her field of view, curling around her chin to slowly lift her head upwards. Cleo didn't resist, and looked up to meet Kelli's face, expecting the worst.
The sides of the Espeon's mouth were curled upwards slightly in a small, sad smile. Her eyes, despite radiating with purple psychic power, were filled with compassion and empathy. Kelli pointed in a direction, and the Vaporeon followed her paw until her eyes landed on the bench she had passed earlier, still brightly lit by the lamppost behind it.
"Would you like to sit and talk for a while?"
"I… I have a curfew…"
"Don't worry. I'll ensure you get home before midnight."
With how much she had screwed up earlier, Cleo figured that she might as well get what she had originally come here for.
"I- I guess."
The seat of the bench was still wet with rain, but Kelli didn't seem to mind. The dome still covered the two of them, preventing any further drenchings. Now that she had calmed down, and given herself enough time to survey her surroundings, the bench was actually in a small unfinished park, small shrubs and tall thickets all around her, with a small stone path carving a way through it all.
"So… why? Why didn't you warn Gayle, or at least try to stop Sylvie yourself? He's your son! His life should be more important than work!"
The Espeon seemed to hesitate for a moment, blinking one too many times before answering.
"There's something you need to know about time, Cleo. Future Sight only shows the user the future without any additional interference from the user. A future that happens when no one knows about it. To try to change, to prevent the original, intended outcome… many Psychic-types have tried, and almost all have failed, with each event growing even more disastrous than they had foreseen. I, too, have made the same mistake before…'
A momentary glimpse of regret in those purple eyes, blinked away quickly.
"...If I tried to stop it myself, or told you what was going on, things could have turned out much worse."
"Much worse than death?"
"Much worse than his death. Yours. Gayle's. Other innocent Pokemon's. Sylvie might've made it out alive while the both of you died. All these could be much worse situations than the one that happened."
"So… Zenith and Sylvie dying was the best possible scenario."
"It wasn't the best option, and it's definitely not the worst. Time is tricky, Cleo. Especially the future. You won't know if a situation's worse or better than what you foresee until it actually happens. The slightest factor or action may change the future drastically. All this was why I didn't tell you anything, only tried to soften the blow for you."
Whatever happened to Zenith, it had to happen.
"I really want to punch Dialga in the face."
"I'd advise against doing that. We can only hope that time's as good as healing as it is at hurting."
"You're really bad at providing encouragement, huh?'
"...yeah. To be honest, I-" Kelli stopped abruptly, her large ears twitching, swiveling to hear a noise that Cleo couldn't detect. There was a rustling in the bush behind the bench as leaves and branches were pushed out of the way, revealing a small Leafeon staring back at the two of them. He looked sleepy, probably cut off too long from the sunlight that normally supplied most of his energy.
"Leaf!" Cleo reached her paws out to catch her brother, who had been lifted into the air by a purple glow to be set on the Vaporeon's lap. "What are you doing here, especially this late? Mom and Zoey must be worried sic-" Cleo paused in the middle of her rant, her own words hitting home. Just leaving through her window without informing anyone, placing a small note that no one might notice? Her mom and sister must be feeling the same as she did right now.
Cliff blinked at Cleo through heavy eyelids, his words slightly slurred by the sweet temptation of sleep.
"You… so mad… wanted… make sure… don't turn to the Dark side!" The Leafeon gripped tighter on Cleo's paws as he spoke, as if afraid that she would leave again.
"It's fine, Leaf. I won't turn to the Dark side. Now sleep, little bro. It's been a long day." Stroking the fur on his flank, Cleo smiled for the first time today as Cliff yawned, quickly falling asleep in her arms. She turned back to Kelli, but the Espeon was currently engaged in a phone call.
"...I'll ensure the both of them get back home safely before 12. I just need a few minutes to talk to Cleo if that's okay with you… Alright, thanks. See you later."
Hanging up, Kelli faced a concerned Cleo.
"Don't worry. I've informed your mom of you and your brother's whereabouts."
"Thanks. What were you saying before?"
"I… I never really had to comfort Zenith before. So I'm not really the most qualified to talk about your feelings, but we can still talk if you want."
"That would be nice." While all her anger had gone, uncertainty and questions still remained. Looking back, she realised that she had spent very little time today to consider herself, spending most of her energy and emotions to lash out at others and blame them instead. Perhaps sharing her problems with someone unrelated might relieve some of them.
"So, what are you going to do now, Cleo?" There was a pause as she thought in silence. After all, this was the question she had been dreading the most. All this time, she had been distracting herself with outbursts and poor decisions, bringing up the past to avoid thinking about the future.
"I don't know… with Zenith gone, I feel lost. Directionless. Like he was holding a map to the maze of life and now, it's gone. Does that make any sense to you?"
"Too much. Although his loss might affect us greatly, we all will have to accept it sooner or later, try our best to move on, no matter how painful it may be."
"Are you going to have a funeral?"
"Probably not. Even if I chose to, his body hasn't been recovered yet. There's nothing to cremate or bury, and a hollow grave is as good as an empty memory. As much as I mourn for him, I feel that it would just be unauthentic, probably insulting. The body might be gone, but our mind's aren't, and we should cherish the memories, slowly easing their weight and pain before you can finally tuck them aside."
"It's probably what Zenith would have wanted."
"I don't know about what Zenith wants, but I'll ask you this, Cleo. What do you want to do? He's gone."
"Zenith isn't de-... you're right. He's gone." An instinctive outburst was silenced when she realised her mistake. Here she was, having seen Zenith die with her own two eyes, yet she still denied his passing. It looked like moving on might be harder than she originally thought. The Vaporeon looked down at Cliff, a smile on his peaceful features. How she yearned to return to the blessed ignorance of a younger child, too young to comprehend the concept of loss, much less let it affect her.
Kelli patted the dejected Vaporeon on her hunched back with shared sympathy.
"It's going to be a tough time for you, Cleo. As much as we all hate it, it's time to walk down a new path, one without him."
"I'm afraid I don't know how to."
"That's why you have to seek other help. I won't be able to solve everything for you. Consult your mom, sister. A therapist. School counselors. Help is all around you. You just have to seek it out first. But make sure that they're the right people that can help."
"Wow. That's… somewhat good advice."
"I'm just as surprised as you are."
The both of them sat in silence for a while, passing the time by listening to Cliff's cute snores as he curled up tighter in his slumber.
"I may not be that sure about what I want to do yet… but I think I'm going to keep using his moral compass as guidance. It'll be a nice part of him to remember."
"That's true. I still don't know how he managed to turn out into a Pokemon I'm proud to call my son."
"Must be good parenting."
"You flatter me." Seeing that the Vaporeon was now more at ease than when they had first encountered each other , Kelli slowly inched her way off the bench, gesturing for Cleo to follow her. She may not have solved all of the countless problems that Cleo was facing, but at least she had managed to help her out in some way. The rest would be left up to her to resolve, and who she would find to help her out. In the meantime, Kelli saw her try and fail to stifle a yawn, jaws opening wide at the late hour.
"Come on, Cleo. it's time to go home. " There was no need for the dome anymore, the rain had finally stopped. Lifting a still-sleeping Cliff through the air using Psychic, both Eeveelutions made sure not to disturb the Leafeon as they began the slow trek home.
Kelli said nothing the entire trip back, which gave Cleo plenty of time to think some more, to reflect back on the day's events with a clearer, anger-free perspective.
Before, when she had visited Gayle. She remembered that when looking past the Vibrava into her living room, she could see the dining table casting two shadows at different angles, when the only light source noticeable was the one hanging from the ceiling. However, the other light source was emanating an orange-yellow glow from an unusual spot in the living room, hidden from Cleo's line of sight. It moved and flickered wildly, the characteristics of an open flame rather than an artificial light. She didn't realise it back then, too distracted by how nonchalant Gayle looked, pushing her anger down to keep herself from shouting at the Vibrava for acting like Zenith was still with them. How foolish she had been. All that time she had spent before opening the door, Gayle must have been trying her hardest to hide Apollo from her, to try and spare her feelings. She must have guessed correctly that Cleo was still bitter about seeing couples. Gayle also seemed in the same boat, facing her own inner struggles left behind from the battle. Despite all that, to carry out a gesture of kindness like that that the Vaporeon was now only starting to appreciate. And for Gayle to now properly address Kelli as 'mom'...
Cleo snuck a peek over at the Espeon, catching her at the right moment as kelli stopped in her tracks, pulling something out of a small pocket in her bag. She smiled at Cleo, gesturing for her to go on first, that she would catch up soon. Even though she tried to hide the object in her paw, a glint of moonlight was reflected through the curved surface, escaping the gaps between Kelli's paws. Cleo continued to work, feigning obliviousness. After a while, she could hear soft pawsteps catch up to her side.
The ring. It wasn't there during their chat. With Kelli knowing her position outside the store without Cleo revealing herself… she must have already expected Cleo to find her, and removed anything on her related to relationships or Zenith, although their resemblance was an inadvertent oversight.. Even though Kelli did most of the talking that night, she tried her best to answer any questions Cleo had, to empathise with and console her. She could have just ignored Cleo and went on her way, but she stayed with the Vaporeon until she had calmed down, providing advice in a way that she had found the reasoning in and accepted. Not to mention that she had found Cliff, too.
Kelli was right. Help was around her. If she was going to make it through with her well-being mostly intact, she would need a lot of help. Starting with…
"We're here."
The porch lights were off, the entire house cast into shadow. Light spilled out from the main entrance of the house, where three silhouetted figures stood at the doorway, ears perking in their direction when the three Eeveelutions arrived at the gate of the fence lining the perimeter of the lawn. The lampposts lining the sidewalks illuminated Cleo's face as she stepped closer, and she could see the heads at the door turn to meet her approach. A spiked paw pointed in her direction, and three sets of paws pounded on concrete as Pokemon raced towards each other, family members embracing each other in the middle of the lawn. Kelli slowly walked up to the reunion, a floating Cliff behind her. Julley hung back, preferring to stay at the door and let the others have their moment. With his chest spike, hugging in groups was not his thing.
Cleo didn't want to let go. One side of her body was warm and the other was cold from the two bodies she tightened her grip on, burying her face into whatever fur she could find. She wanted to hide her face, to avoid looking back into the eyes of those that loved her the most, to meet their anxious gazes and know that she had hurt them with her actions. Listening to them now made the knot of guilt twist harder in her stomach, stirring up an even deer feeling of discomfort.
"Cleo! We're so glad you're back! We were so worried—where did you go? And Cliff—where's Cliff?"
"Here he is." Kelli gently placed the sleepy Leafeon on Zoey's back, Julley stepping forward to help the Glaceon slowly and steadily bring her little brother back to his room. Janice broke away from the hug, leaving Cleo with an odd sense of déjà vu as the Flareon started to talk to Kelli in hushed tones. She was unable to pick up on the topics that the adults were discussing, staring awkwardly at the grass while she waited.
"Thank you… Kelli, was it?"
"Yeah. I'm Zenith's mom."
"Uh…" Janice flashed back to all those things she had said about Zenith to Cleo earlier that day. Dangerous to be around. Even though she had given consent to Zenith to date her , it was because Cleo always looked so happy around him. But to her, he always had that vibe around him, that he seemed more trouble that he was worth. Ever since he had started to hang out with her everyday, she had that feeling that the vibe was starting to intensify.
"Thanks again for everything you've done my Cleo and Cliff, bringing them back and all."
"It's nothing. Just being a good neighbour."
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but do you know where Zenith is? I haven't seen him at all today. Cleo also got… upset when I mentioned his name, so I think I'd like to ask him a few questions."
"Oh. I'm afraid none of us can talk to him anymore. He's dead." The Espeon didn't miss a beat, so nonchalantly delivering her answer that it took a while before the words started to sink into Janice's head.
"Oh my goodness—I didn't mean—I'm sorry to hear-"
"It's fine. I can cope on my own. Your daughter, on the other paw, can't. I've talked to her about this and she's opened up to the idea of receiving more help to get her through this difficult time. Especially yours." With that sentence, Kelli's eyes started to glow a bright purple, averting her gaze to avoid blinding the Flareon.
"And a message to you. Pass it on to Cleo too, if you want. Keep an eye out. In fact, we all should be on high alert, at least for the next few months. Also, tell Cleo that I'm willing to train Cleo in combat if she wants. Now if you'd excuse me, I have to go find Gayle." The Espeon bounded out of the lawn, checking the traffic before crossing the empty road to reach her home.
Janice turned back to Cleo, the Vaporeon still staring at the ground. Now that she had finally known the truth, everything was starting to click together. Mentally, she tried to justify herself, to claim that in her defense, Cleo had refused to talk about the 'incident' in the hospital, which had led to her angering Cleo by bringing up Zenith. But gaslighting was not the right thing to do in any situation. Her child was upset because of her, and she felt the innate sense of maternal instinct tugging her forward, pulling on her pawsteps to stand next to her daughter, ready to accompany her through anything , in order to ensure that by the end of the day, she would be alright. After all, she'd been through a similar situation before, and the experience was unbearable to go through alone. To have the same torment inflicted on a Pokemon that young… she wasn't going to let it happen.
Cleo felt her mom's bushy tail drape over her back, brushing it with familiar, rhythmic strokes. Night had long fallen, and Cleo didn't realise how cold she actually was until she was surrounded by warmth. She tilted her head upwards slowly, and saw the same gaze she had seen in Kelli: those eyes, brimming with compassion, the feeling that to the Flareon, nothing else mattered in the world except for her. Cleo could feel tears choking her up again as she spoke in strained words, trying to push a coherent sentence through the tears.
"Mom… I-I'm sorry. I-I-I sh-should've-" Cleo's sniffles broke off as she felt a warm paw brush her cheek, wiping the streams of tears away. She let her mother slowly bring her in for another hug, her sobs muffled by the chest floof she had stuffed her face into, letting the rest of stored emotions out.
"It's okay, raindrop. You had your reasons. I'm sorry too, for not being patient with you, for not taking your feelings into account. I promise, I'll be a better mom from now on."
"I'm sorry." The voice was soft, the sobs subsiding.
"It's okay, Cleo. Let's get you home and into bed. It's been a busy day."
"But what about-"
"We can talk about anything you want tomorrow. Now, it's late and you need the rest."
Cleo let her mom guide her through the house, where Zoey was holding the door open for them. Sure enough she felt exhausted once she stepped onto the familiar bamboo floor, the weight of the events today crashing down on her. Her mom was right. She would need a good night's sleep, to tide everything over for now. And tomorrow morning, that same Flareon would be by her side to help. But until then…
"Thanks, mom."
Tucking a snoring Cleo into bed, Janice gave her daughter a loving kiss on the cheek, turning the lights off as she exited the room, closing the door behind her on the way out.
"Sweet dreams, raindrop."