Author's note: Heya, peeps!
Well, it turns out that this update landed on the fic's two-year anniversary! Huzzah!
Now, normally, I don't bother with anniversary stuff, coz I don't... honestly like reminding myself of how long it took to write a fic... but, since Yaboi Gengarboi pointed it out (and this chapter just happened to be next, lucky me), consider it an anniversary gift, I guess! XD I mean, you would've gotten it anyway, but now it's, like, extra special! Or something!
I know it's shorter than usual, but it just felt like the correct place to end it. So... prease undastand. *bows politely*
Regardless, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Because I certainly enjoyed writing it!
Chapter Twenty-three: Pieces
The next morning, Pikachu's head felt heavy. His eyes stung and his whole face felt like it was dragging across the floor.
"(... Are you okay?)" Buneary asked, a paw placed worriedly over her mouth.
"(Y...)" Pikachu began, but decided against lying. He heaved a sigh. "(No. I... didn't sleep well...)"
She gave him a sympathetic look. "(Oh... you poor thing...)" She paused for thought. "(Well... maybe you can... take a nap on Ash's shoulder, or something.)"
"(Yeah... maybe...)"
In all honesty, he felt like trash. Absolute, utter trash. His rendezvous with Eevee the previous night had left him in such a state that he simply hadn't been able to sleep. Every time he'd closed his eyes, her face would be there, in the darkness behind his eyelids, smiling back at him. Taunting him. Tempting him.
He felt horrible.
As the humans continued on their journey, Pikachu lay slumped across Ash's shoulder. Just what was he going to do now? He'd been a terrible boyfriend. The worst boyfriend. He didn't even know the boyfriend code, but he was sure he'd broken every rule of it.
He slid down onto Ash's backpack and carefully turned himself around. Laying his head against the back of Ash's neck, he stared up at the sky.
He kept on staring, focusing on a single cloud formation. The gentle wind slowly pushed it at the top one way, then at the bottom another way. It continued this, until the cloud formed a shape.
... It looked kind of like an eevee.
Pikachu looked at it in despair.
After a while of walking, Pikachu had decided to rest his eyes a bit. He drifted on the edge on consciousness, shapes and voices around him that he wasn't sure were real or not.
Some spoke to him, but he chose not to respond, just in case.
"How about we stop here for lunch?" Brock asked.
"Sounds good!" Ash replied. The bed that Pikachu was lying on suddenly moved. "Hey, Pikachu, you doing okay, buddy?"
Pikachu blinked. He blinked again. His eyes were heavy and the light was so bright. He clenched his eyes shut again.
"Looks like you woke him up, Ash," Dawn scolded lightly.
Ash chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, buddy."
"(S'okay...)" Pikachu mumbled in response.
Pikachu had been left to rest against a rock, while everyone else prepared dinner. He would've helped, but he was still far too tired.
While he was mid-yawn, he caught sight of Buneary, who was helping to place out the food bowls. She looked up, catching his gaze, and offered a comforting smile and wave.
She was telling him to get better soon, wasn't she?
Something painful twisted in his stomach. Forcing on a smile, he waved back.
"(Are you feeling better, Pikachu?)" Buneary asked before biting into a pellet.
"(Y-Yeah!)" he replied, forcing on a smile. "(Yeah... I'm...)" He stared down at his own pellet, his appetite failing him.
"(... Pikachu?)"
Even staring at this pellet in his paws was reminding him of Eevee. Reminding him of his sin.
He looked up into the concerned eyes of his girlfriend. Those beautiful brown eyes. Then he envisioned someone else with her brown fur. Her cream fluff. With purple eyes, instead of brown.
... He couldn't take it anymore.
"(H-Hey... Buneary?)"
She blinked. "(Hmm?)"
"(C-Can I... talk to you for a minute?)"
"(Sure. What is it?)"
"(N-No, not... well, I meant... you know...)" He glanced elsewhere, then back at her.
She blinked a few times. "(Um... do you want...)" She frowned in concentration. "(To talk to me somewhere else?)"
He smiled lightly. Wow, she was actually starting to understand him now. That was honestly rather bittersweet.
"(Y-Yeah. That's what I meant.)"
She smiled brighter. "(Oh, okay! Yeah, sure. We can talk in private. After I eat, okay?)"
"(Yeah. Sure.)"
She nibbled on her pellet. He tried to nibble on his own, but his stomach disagreed with it. Pulling a face, he put it back in the bowl.
She stopped eating to look up at him. "(... Not hungry?)"
He heaved a sigh. "(... Not really.)"
She looked concerned. "(Aww...)" She paused a moment. "(Well, I'll only be a minute, okay?)"
"(Sure, take your time.)"
After Buneary had finished eating, Pikachu - abandoning his own meal - took her to a secluded area away from the campsite. They were surrounded by bushes and it was fairly quiet.
"(So,)" Buneary asked, giving him a small smile, "(what's up?)"
He was tired. So tired. The lack of sleep had him fatigued, his head pounding and his heart aching. His ears dipped as tears began to cloud his vision.
"(Pikachu?!)" she cried, her eyes wide in shock.
"(... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...)" He put his paws over his eyes. He was so sick of it all. All the hurt, all the fear. "(Sorry for... everything...)"
"(... Huh?)" He heard her shuffle closer and felt a paw touch his shoulder. "(... What do you mean?)"
He lowered his paws slightly, but couldn't look her in the eyes. "(I... can't take it back... I can't take any of it back...)"
"(Take what back?)"
The tears pooled ever faster in his eyes. He tried to respond, but his throat locked up on him.
"(... Pikachu?)"
"(I...)" He looked up at her. "(I...)" His voice cracked upon seeing her face. His whole heart felt like it was tearing itself apart. The tears spilled from his eyes and down his cheeks. "(... I cheated on you!)"
Buneary froze.
There was a long moment of silence.
Very slowly, she drew her paw away. Then, with a voice that was unnaturally quiet, she asked him a question.
"(... What?)"
He couldn't look at her anymore, so he covered his face again. "(I'm so sorry! I... I didn't mean to! I just... it just sort of happened and then...)"
He heard her taking slow footsteps away from him. "(You...)"
His heart broke even further. "(I never wanted to! But... but... ohh, I never even thought about you when we... we...)"
"(How... how could you?)" Her voice cracked.
"(I don't know! That's the thing, I... don't know!)"
"(Wh...)" Her voice suddenly rose in a frantic pitch. "(What do you mean you don't know?!)"
"(I don't know! It just happened and I... I didn't stop it... I couldn't stop it!)"
There was a long, agonising silence.
With a wavering voice, Buneary finally spoke. "(Wh... When did this happen?)"
Oh no. Oh legends, no. She was crying, too, wasn't she?
He wasn't just the worst boyfriend. He was the scum of the earth.
"(W... Well...)"
"(And... wh... who was it?)" She paused to sniffle. He still couldn't bear to look at her. "(S... Someone on the t-team?)" She paused again. "(But wait, they're... mostly...)"
Male. Yeah. "(No.)"
"(... No?)"
"(No.)"
"(Th-Then who was it?)"
He paused a long moment, steeling himself to respond.
"(... Pikachu?)"
His voice cracked. "(... Eevee.)"
"(Huh?!)"
"(... It was Eevee! Okay?! It was... Eevee...)"
The tears began running down his face anew. His shaking legs no longer able to hold him, he chose to sit on the grass, his face still buried in his paws.
"(E... Eevee... Y-You mean-?!)"
"(Yeah... Yeah...)"
"(So...)" Her voice cracked horribly, tearing another hole in his heart. "(So yesterday, you...)"
"(Yeah...)"
"(And... and it just... happened?!)"
He closed his fingernails around his face. "(Yeah...)"
"(But... but why?!)"
"(I dunno! I... I dunno! It's been going on for... for weeks now, but-!)"
"(Wait, weeks?!)"
"(Yeah... weeks...)" He sobbed lightly.
"(But... I thought...)" She paused a long moment. "(So she's been...?)"
"(Yeah...)"
There was a long, awkward silence between them. The only sound was her sniffling and his light sobbing.
Eventually, she cleared her throat. Through a wavering voice, she spoke to him. "(I...)" She paused and tried again. "(... M... Maybe this isn't... working out, after all...)"
His paws flew away from his eyes in shock. He immediately regretted it when he saw her face. Her eyes were pained and her cheeks stained with tears.
He lowered his voice to a horrified whisper. "(... What?)"
She turned away, biting her lip as fresh tears spilled from her eyes. Her voice was a higher pitch than normal. "(I don't think this is working out...)"
He felt the inside of his chest go stone cold. "(No... n-no...)"
She completely turned her back to him. "(... M... Maybe it's best if we...)" She paused a long moment. "(Well, you know...)"
"(No, ple-)"
He suddenly realised that he had no right to beg. No right to plead. He deserved this. All of it.
He clamped his mouth shut.
"(... Th... Thanks for everything, though... Pikachu...)" She paused, as if to say something else, but decided against it.
Instead, she turned and headed off in a direction that wasn't towards camp.
He watched her as she left. Every agonising step. Eventually, she disappeared from sight.
Looking down at the grass, he placed his paws to his face, fresh tears threatening to fall.
What had he done...?