Pathos「Pokemon Fanfiction」

Six

       

Chapter Six: A Wounded Puppet

They walked in silence for a long while.

In all honesty, they would have been back at the base—but Lillian had suggested taking the longer route back to the village, and he was too tired to argue with her. Perhaps he needed the time and space even more than she did.

He appreciated the scenery. It wasn't anything special—just overgrown trees and flowers that seemed to be dimmed through the early-morning light—but it had the right amount of detail to distract him from everything that had happened.

After all, he had always liked to observe things. The world was a tiring place, and learning to soak in every small bit of his surroundings helped him relieve his boredom from the shadows.

Learning how different people functioned was another part of it, but he preferred not to think about it.

Avis wondered if Lillian was doing it for him. It was unlike her to hide things from him like that normally; with all her sneaky ways, her candidness had been surprising to him. But this—everything—couldn't be considered normal anymore.

Hell, he was starting to ponder if everything had been "normal" in the first place.

He couldn't pinpoint what he was angry at. Was he angry at himself for not having broken out earlier? For having to rely on a technique that wasn't even his? Was he angry at Takeo for having been too obsessed with his brother? Was he mad a t Xerneas and Yveltal for everything they were doing?

It hurt to even think about it. He didn't have the strength to pay much thought to it, so he remained quiet and let his anger seep out in an undirected way.

All he knew was that he didn't want any of it anymore. Part of him almost yearned for six days to pass so that he could hurry up and die, but the other half of him was conflicted about it.

"Avis."

Lillian's voice broke the silence between them, and he pretended not to be startled. His nerves had been put on edge, after all; he was jumping at the most nonsensical things.

"Don't say anything," he muttered back, hoping that she would get the message. He didn't need any of her pity. "Just shut up."

He didn't want to admit that he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell someone about the entire situation—how everything had been so screwed up from the beginning, how he was going to die soon enough, but he couldn't.

It was like suffocating. Avis wondered if the secrets she'd kept had felt that way to her too.

"Right." Lillian averted her glance, chewing on the inside of the lip as she continued walking. The I'm sorry about this went unsaid, but he could feel it at the tip of her throat.

The conversation dipped for all of three seconds before she spoke again, her golden eyes unreadable as she looked at him in a mixture of pity and concern.

"Don't go back to your house today," she mumbled. "Stay at an inn, or at Yan's herb shop, or—something; I don't know. I have a guest room in my house. Just...I don't think it would help anyone if you were to stay there tonight."

He could feel her voice waver for a moment, and he interrupted her before she could speak any more. "Stop saying you're sorry."

She blinked in surprise. "I'll try."

"It feels weird coming from you of all people," he huffed. "Your apologising won't help a shitty situation. Just give up already, won't you?"