A/N: Y'all do not KNOW how long I've been waiting to post this specific chapter I'm so excited

To all the Cress enjoyers: I am so sorry for what I'm about to do

Cress knew out of the three brothers, he was the slowest one to adjust to the situation. He didn't like how he was reacting to things; he wasn't like this. None of them were supposed to be like this. They were all supposed to be happy. Cilan wasn't supposed to be exhausted and Chili wasn't supposed to be snappy with everyone (and Cress thought he'd seen his brother sneaking drinks from the basement more often lately). And the girls… well, things had slowly been getting better, Cress mentally added. They were better than they were before, anyway. Things had slowly been getting better.

There was a noticeable lightness in the air after Cress and Cinna's conversation the day before. She had stopped hiding from everyone, at least; rather than hiding away in her room, she could usually be found in the library or the living room, searching for a new book or playing with whatever scrap metal she could find from around the house. (Cress wasn't entirely sure where Cinna was finding the stuff, but he would rather not think too hard about it. It was a question for another time.) First Clove and now Cinna. Cress could only hope things improved with Carolina in due time.

Ah… Carolina.

Cress wasn't sure what it was about Carolina, but something about her just made him annoyed thinking about her. It was far worse than normal sibling conflict, Cress knew that much. They'd been at each other's throats since they'd come here, and Cress knew it wasn't good for anyone. He'd seen Clove crying after every overheard argument, or Cinna discreetly listening in every time she heard even the beginnings of one. Carolina had been getting more intense lately, a much more bitter flavor to her than Cress knew how to deal with. She was angrier, meaner, harsher even to her sisters, and no one knew what to do.

Cilan had tried to talk to her. She'd slammed her door on him and refused to come out for the rest of the day, not even for dinner. She'd come back covered in dirt and mud and other things that suggested she'd been outside to blow off steam. Carolina and Chili certainly weren't to be left alone together, the whole house knew that. Two explosive, hair-trigger tempers in conflict… Cress hated even to think about the outcome of that. Not that he didn't trust Chili to not lose it and do something he'd regret… but Carolina certainly knew how to push people's buttons.

Cress shook his head and turned his attention back to the Persim berries that were supposed to be part of that night's dinner. It wouldn't do anyone any good to think about things like that. They just had to hope things got better soon, that was what Cilan always said. Even so, Cress could see his brother's optimism waning… but that was a worry for another day.

"Can you give me those when you're done?" Cilan asked, snapping Cress out of his thoughts. He handed over the sliced Persim berries, and Cilan dumped them into the bowl with the Razz and Oran berry slices. Cress could hear the tiredness in his voice. Even Chili was uncharacteristically serious as he popped a berry slice into his mouth with a worried frown.

"If you want to skip dinner tonight…" Cress said quietly, but Cilan shook his head.

"No, it'll be fine. It can't get any worse, I'm sure."

Cress frowned. Cilan had always been the optimist among them, and even now Cress could hear the attempt at it in his voice. He was trying to believe the best. They were all trying, but it just wasn't working. Carolina was wearing on all of them, and no one knew how to handle it.

They weren't supposed to handle this, Cress thought sadly. This wasn't supposed to be their burden to bear. Their mother should have survived, she should have been there for her sons and her daughters, she should have at least gotten a chance to meet her girls before…

Cress stopped himself there. That wouldn't help, he told himself. As terrible as the situation was, it was what it was. There was nothing any of them could do to fix it or bring Clara back. All they could do was hope things got better sooner rather than later.

Even if Cress felt like an out-of-control Spinda.

The brothers finished dinner soon after, a lovely combination of Slowpoke tail and some sliced berries in a kind of salad. Chili called the girls down for dinner, and Cinna and Clove came trailing into the kitchen. Cinna's Rotom floated at her side, as always, and Clove's Cottonee was nestled on her head. As everyone took their usual places at the kitchen table, Cress noticed someone was conspicuously absent. He sighed and stood up, heading for the living room.

"Cress," Cilan called with a frown before Cress could get there. "You don't have to do that, I can go get her, I'm sure she's not that far."

"No, I'll do it." Cress sighed. Carolina didn't respond well to him, and maybe she had her reasons for that, but he was the only one who could get her inside peacefully. She knew by now Cilan wouldn't make her, and she and Chili would probably kill each other. Someone had to establish order, and that responsibility seemed to fall to Cress.

He sighed as he walked through the back door, sliding it open and closed behind him as he stepped out into the back garden. Cress walked through the grass, glancing at the rows of flowers. The last ones their mother had planted before…

He stopped himself there, but the thought led to a new one, like a river leading into another until they merged. Cress put his hands in his pockets as he kept walking. He thought over the way he'd been acting the last few days, the things he'd said to Carolina. Had he gone too far, saying she lived like a feral Pokemon? Yes, Cress had to establish order, but that didn't mean he had to be needlessly cruel.

It was like something Coriander would say.

The thought made a shiver go down Cress' spine. Arceus, he wasn't really that bad, was he? Yes, Coriander had been insistent on order and appearances and all that, but… no, Cress wasn't that bad. He wasn't anything like Coriander, not really. At least he loved his sisters; that was something Coriander certainly couldn't say. At least Cress was trying to make sure they were all on the right path… at least he cared enough to do that. Yes, Carolina might hate him, but he was just trying to do what he knew to do.

Why didn't anyone see that?

The question came to Cress' mind unbidden, and as much as he tried to shake it off, it wouldn't go away. He was trying to be reasonable. He'd tried to take Cilan's advice, but he couldn't help the worry that all the girls saw was an unreasonable, insufferable buzzkill who only wanted to make them miserable. That all they saw was Coriander.

Cress shook his head. No, that wasn't true. Clove liked him well enough; she'd sometimes sit in the living room with him. Sometimes she would talk about whatever came to mind (mainly her classmates or school or whatever else), and sometimes she would just sit and brush out Cottonee's fluff or something. Either way, she didn't hate him. And Cinna didn't, either. Things were at least somewhat normal between them, at least Cress liked to think so.

No, he wasn't anything like Coriander. Thank Arceus.

It was a few more seconds before Cress heard anything, but soon the sound of Carolina's laughter rang out through the trees. A small thud came from above Cress, and he ducked on instinct before looking up to see Carolina balancing on the tree branch. She took a second to gain her balance again before looking down, and her eyes landed on Cress. Any hint of happiness disappeared from her face, and her expression twisted into a harsh scowl. Just like always.

"I'm not coming in," Carolina said as she sat down on the tree branch. Cress was briefly tempted to tell her to come down from the tree or at least be careful, but he knew well enough that would only make things worse.

"You have to eat sometime." Cress crossed his arms, fixing Carolina with a warning look. "Besides, you've been out all day without a word to anyone. We'd like to see you sometime." He wasn't sure what it was about Carolina that always put him in such a bad mood, but he was trying to keep it out of his tone. Yes, she was annoying, and yes, she was the most stubborn child he'd ever seen, but Cress refused to deal with it the way Coriander would.

"No." Her scowl deepened.

"Carolina."

The girl just glared at Cress, and they stood there like that for a moment. Neither of them wanted to budge. It seemed they would be here for a while.

Before Cress could think of anything else to say, Carolina reluctantly jumped down from the tree branch. She stood there, just glaring at Cress, but much to his relief she made no move to run away.

"Thank you." Cress sighed in something like relief as he started the walk back to the house. Carolina followed after, Scraggy at her heels. If looks could kill, Cress would be six feet under by now, but he didn't care. She could hate him all she wanted, as long as she understood.

The walk back to the house was longer than Cress remembered, but they soon made their way back. Carolina stormed into the house, disappearing into the kitchen before Cress could tell her not to track mud into the house. He noted with some displeasure the traces of it on the carpet, though he knew well enough by now not to say anything about it.

Everyone was still at the table when Cress came back into the kitchen, and Carolina was glaring daggers into her plate. Clove was looking at her sister like a nervous Deerling, Cinna appeared to be tuning the situation out, Cilan was quiet as always, and Cress could tell Chili really wanted to say something but had the decency not to. Good, he thought with some relief as he sat back down.

Dinner was less tense than it used to be, Cress noted with a little bit of relief. Clove was chattering away about the Trainers' School and her classmates, detailing her battling class and how her Cottonee had beaten Joey Tucker's Purrloin. Cinna didn't say much—she usually didn't; even though she'd started talking, she still didn't do it very often. Not that anyone minded. It was usually easy enough to tell what she wanted to say either through her face or by having her write in her notebook.

Carolina, in her usual fashion, was scowling at her plate in an expression Cress could only describe as hatred. Her eyes burned, their orange color making them look like little embers burning in her skull. Her teeth were clenched, and even her Scraggy seemed like it was trying to stop her.

Cress didn't know what possessed him to say anything, even after he'd said it. "Carolina?" The word was laced with concern, and yet the way Carolina looked up it might as well have been hatred.

She scowled at him for a second, Scraggy looking between the two as if debating what to do.

Cress sighed, gathering his courage. "Carolina, I—"

"I'm eating, aren't I?" Carolina snapped, her hands full of berry slices despite the fork sitting next to the plate. "You never said it had to be a certain way."

Cress bristled. Did she really think he was that particular? Yes, he had said something about it on the first night, but really?

"I wasn't going to say that."

"Yes you were, that's all you ever say!"

"Carolina…" Cress was trying to defuse the situation, he really was, but something about Carolina grated on him. There was warning in his tone. "I wasn't going to—"

"It was about me, though, wasn't it?" The words carried an accusatory tone, and before Cress could answer, Carolina kept going. "It was."

Cress looked up, debating his next move. "I never said that."

"It was!" She stood up, and Cress could feel the others' eyes on him and Carolina. Carolina was glaring at him in some kind of blind rage. "It was about me! You just don't wanna say it!"

This was going too far, Cress knew. He had to stop this before it got worse, before Carolina did or said something she'd regret. He said his next words with as much patience as he could. "Carolina—"

"Stop doing that!" the girl snapped, and there was something in her voice Cress couldn't quite name. "You've been nitpicking at me since we got here! Every little thing, every day, what do you want!"

The question made Cress stop for a moment. He had to think out his next words very carefully. There was something in Carolina's face, something besides anger, something that looked like desperation.

"Carolina, I just—"

"I'm right, aren't I?!"

Cress didn't know what made him say it. Maybe it was the tension in the house, maybe it was the deteriorating patience of all of them. Maybe it was the accusation in Carolina's voice. Either way, the words left his mouth before he could stop them, harsh and unforgiving and much louder than he'd intended.

"Maybe if you didn't act like such a feral little hellion I wouldn't do that all the time!"

Cress knew they were a mistake as soon as he said them. Cilan had his hand pressed to his mouth, watching the situation with wide eyes. Clove was on the verge of tears, and Cinna and Rotom were already preparing to leave for Cinna's room. Chili's eyes were wide, and for once even he didn't seem to know what to say.

But all Cress could look at was Carolina.

She was staring right back at him, orange eyes wide with surprise. For once, Carolina was quiet, still, and it looked like she was fighting with herself on what to do. There was something in her face that Cress couldn't name, but it was something he'd never intended to put there.

Before Cress could gather himself enough to apologize, Carolina finally moved, running to the staircase and all the way to the second floor. The sound of her bedroom door slamming behind her seemed to finally break the spell over all of them.

"Holy shit," Chili muttered, even as Cilan gave him a chastising look. Clove dissolved into tears, her quiet sobs seeming to echo around the room. As Cinna walked out of the living room, she turned back to look at Cress. Her expression was unreadable.

Cilan looked past Cress towards the hallway, and it looked like he was debating getting up to talk to Carolina. He seemed to decide against it, going to comfort Clove instead. As he did, something twisted in Cress' stomach. This was his fault. This was all his fault. If he hadn't said those things, if he hadn't been such a control freak over such little things, if he hadn't…

If he'd handled it differently, maybe everything would be okay.

The thought hit him like a Hydro Pump, and it nearly made Cress flinch. He had to fix this, and he had to do it now.

With some choked-out words about going to talk to her, Cress started for the stairs.

Carolina grumbled under her breath as she put her backpack on her bed. Hmph. Stupid Cress. He always had something to say, didn't he? She'd just wanted to have fun, maybe decompress a little. This was hard on her too, didn't anyone see that? This was just as hard on her as it was on everyone else, and just because she liked to blow off that steam by being outside, everyone nagged at her for it. They wanted to, at least, even if Cress was the only one who actually said anything.

"Scrag?" her partner asked from his position sitting on her pillow. Carolina looked over at her beloved Pokémon, letting her scowl drop.

"Sorry, Scraggy," she muttered, throwing some of her clothes into the backpack. "Sorry you had to see me like that."

Someone knocked on the door, and Carolina jumped. She froze, staring at the door and waiting to see what would happen.

"Carolina?" Cress called from the other side of the door. "It's me, we need to talk."

Hmph. Carolina scowled at the door as if she could burn holes in it. No amount of canned apologies would make this any better, she knew that much. Any apology would just be to conserve whatever peace was left in the house, and Carolina wasn't about to give up her freedom just so everyone else could feel better. She wasn't about to give up the one thing she had, the one thing that made her happy, just because they didn't like it. If they didn't like it, they could all screw off and she'd go live in Pinwheel Forest by herself.

The more Carolina thought about it, the more appealing it sounded. If they really thought she was so feral, surely it fit. Besides, Carolina liked spending time in the woods. It was fun, and she could just eat from the berry trees whenever she got hungry.

Cress kept knocking on the door, but Carolina didn't pay it any mind. Yep. It was decided. She would set out for Pinwheel Forest once everyone went to bed tonight, and she'd never have to deal with Cress spoiling her fun ever again. It was perfect.

"Scraggy, help me stuff as much as you can into the bag," Carolina muttered as she finally heard Cress walking away. "We're leaving tonight."

A/N: The way I was giggling and kicking my feet while I was writing that final argument

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