Cilan's room was typically a calm place. The plants littered around the room—some on the walls, a few in pots on the windowsill, and one or two by his bed—relaxed him, and the whole place exuded a peace that was hard to find elsewhere in the Striaton house.

And yet, Cilan still couldn't sleep.

A chaotic mix of thoughts swirled around in his head as he tried to focus on one of his books to calm his mind. Now that he and Cress and Chili were fifteen—their birthday had been the day before—they were expected to take over the Gym. The Gym was the Striaton family's legacy, and the three had always known they would be its next Gym Leaders. There had been a lot of preparation for that day, even before they'd gotten their first Pokémon. Fifteen years' worth of prep work…

And somehow Cilan still felt unprepared.

How was he supposed to do this? How were any of them supposed to do this? They were fifteen! Cilan was mostly sure about running the Gym, but running the restaurant attached to it was a whole other matter, and he just wasn't sure if—

Cilan's door creaked open.

As he looked towards the sound, a familiar little girl peeked around the corner, her long pink hair falling down her shoulders. Clove opened the door quietly, though the creak was still audible. Upon determining that her big brother was, in fact, there, Clove ran up and jumped, climbing up on the bed like she'd done so many times before.

Cilan smiled softly. He had a feeling he knew what she was in here for; it happened pretty often.

"Bad dream?" he asked, setting his book down to give his baby sister his undivided attention.

"Yeah…" Clove whimpered, crawling into Cilan's lap. Cilan sighed and hugged her; she always came to him whenever she had nightmares, mainly because he and his brothers did most of the parenting anyway. Though still kids themselves, they all knew Coriander wasn't going to do it. He only cared if one of them did something to "ruin the family's image." He didn't really care about his kids, not the way most parents did (or should); he seemed to prefer his work and planning for his retirement as Gym Leader.

Clove whimpered again, and she buried her face in Cilan's shirt. Cilan just held her close and gently rubbed her back. That usually calmed her down.
"Daddy said you and Cress and Chili were going away…" Clove said in a broken voice, and Cilan cursed the man in his head. There were many reasons to dislike Coriander. The man was an intolerant bastard who had, as far as Cilan could tell, no redeeming qualities to speak of. But his worst? He had six kids, and he couldn't give a damn about any of them.

"No… no, we're not going away." Cilan gently brushed some tears off of Clove's cheek as she looked up with that about-to-cry expression she usually had in times like this. "Yeah, we won't be in the same house anymore, but we'll still be in the city. And we'll visit you and Carolina and Cinna all the time, okay?"

"Why can't we stay with you guys?" Clove asked, sniffling and rubbing at her eye with her little fist. "Why do we have to stay here?"

Damn it. Part of Cilan was tempted to lie to her—to tell her there was nothing stopping them, and they could all leave right now and be happy for the rest of their lives. But he knew that wasn't true, and it wouldn't be right to give his baby sister false hope. Still, she was only four…

"Because Father wouldn't let us." Cilan shook his head. "He wants you three to stay here."

"But Daddy's mean and I don't like him…" Clove crossed her arms, a displeased expression on her face.

"I know. I don't like him either." Cilan ruffled her hair gently. "But it's just how things have to be, okay? I don't think it would be a very good idea, anyway. We would be busy all the time, and we wouldn't have much time for you three… but I promise, once things are more settled with the Gym and everything, we'll talk to Father about it. Okay?"

"Promise?" Clove held up her hand, curled in a fist with her pinky finger extended.

Cilan smiled, his expression a little sad. "I promise." He gently curled his own pinky around his sister's, holding it for a moment before letting go and looking at the clock on his nightstand. It was late, much too late for Clove to be awake.

As if on cue, Clove yawned, leaning forward and resting her head on Cilan's chest. Her pink eyes started to drift closed, and she rubbed at one eye with her fist.

"Come on." Cilan picked the little girl up and shifted her in his arms. "Let's get you to bed."

"Night-night…" Clove mumbled as they left the room and walked down the hallway. "Love you…"

"I love you too." Cilan made his way down the hall to her room, tucking her into bed and putting her little stuffed Cottonee next to her. Clove clung to the toy with one hand and gently touched Cilan's arm with the other.

"Check for Zor'ark…?" she asked, the question a drowsy mumble.

Cilan just smiled; ever since Chili had told the girls that story about Little Red Riding Hood and the big bad Zoroark, Clove especially had been very concerned about the Dark-type Pokémon making its way into her room. Still, it did no harm to humor her. Cilan checked under her bed and in her small closet and, finding nothing, patted Clove's head. "No Zoroark here. Goodnight, Clove. Sweet dreams."

"Night-night…"

As Clove drifted off to sleep, her breathing evening out as she clutched her small stuffed Cottonee, Cilan stood there for a moment.

It would be so painful to leave them.

Even so, there was nothing Cilan could do. There was nothing any of them could do; as much as they all wanted to take their sisters with them, Coriander would never allow it. Besides, from what he'd seen of the small apartment above the Gym he and his brothers would be sharing, there wouldn't be space for them anyway. There wouldn't be time, either. There was still so much to do. Running a Gym wasn't easy.

Still…

Cilan shook his head. There was no use in thinking about that right now. It would just make an already-bittersweet occasion even more so, and that wouldn't help anyone.

Cilan kissed his little sister gently on the forehead, just like always, and left the room, closing the door behind him. The sound had never hurt so much.

A/N: If you got deja vu reading that, that's no mistake. The prologue is a remaster of a oneshot that I posted a while ago, Leaving You, that was meant to be a test concept for the idea. I put it here to set up some important information, plus I just thought it would be a neat idea :)