In Tune

Confession

Charlie woke up to the sound of a hard knock on her hotel door. She pulled herself out of bed and found herself fully dressed in the clothes she was wearing yesterday. 
Wait, was she- okay good, she hadn't gone to bed in her shoes. Charlie yawned and reached for her glasses, they weren't on her bedside table, however, and were for some reason instead on her main desk. She slipped them on and tied her hair up. 
The knock sounded again and Charlie, drowsily, walked over to the door and opened it. 

Kafu was standing at the door. 
Immediately, Charlie's memory came rushing back. The woman, the summoning, the meltdown...the kiss. 
"Kafu?" she whispered and let him in, "how did you get me here?" 

Kafu shrugged, 
"I carried you here. Your lock was busted, so I brought you inside and you were passed out from exhaustion, so I put you in bed," he told her and sat down by her desk. Charlie blinked and bit her lip. 
"I'm really sorry, Kafu. Before, I was all over the place, but I want to say sorry for real," she sat down in front of Kafu on the edge of her bed, "really, I'm extremely sorry." 
Kafu smiled, 

"It's okay. I forgive you," he whispered. Charlie looked up at him, 
"You're not mad at me? Even after I admitted all of those things to you?" she asked. Kafu shook his head, 
"Well, are you still pretending to be my friend? Are you still stealing from me? Are you still 'stringing me along'?" he asked and looked straight at her with an expectant face. Charlie bit down on her lip.

"No. I don't think I hate you anymore," she whispered and looked down. Kafu blinked and lifted her face up back to meet his gaze, 
"But are we friends?" he asked her. Charlie smiled, 
"I want to be friends," she told him. Kafu smiled along with her. 

"Me too," he whispered, "anything else?" 
Charlie bit her lip and grinned slightly. 
"Do you work out? Sorry, it's just that how were you able to carry me with one arm? I'm not that light, am I?" she asked and stifled a laugh. Kafu started to sweat and scratched the back of his neck with an awkward laugh. 

"Well, a year ago I had to do some pretty crazy stuff for my research and almost died, so I decided I needed to bulk up a little to...not die, I guess?" he explained with a laugh. Charlie shrugged and giggled to herself a bit. 
"Wow, I'm impressed," she laughed. Kafu smiled, 
"Hey, this is a bad time to ask, but do you wanna get a coffee in the hotel cafe? We can inspect the substance I gathered from when we summoned an ultra wormhole," he asked and pulled a petri dish filled with swirling, purple mist out from his pocket. 

Charlie brightened up just at the sight of it, 
"I'm so in!" she squealed and closely examined the mist, "I'll meet you there in ten minutes, just let me get changed," she ushered Kafu out the door with a beaming smile on her face. Kafu nodded and left her room, closing the door behind him.
Sooli jumped out from behind his favourite potted plant and squealed in happiness. Charlie gave Sooli a hug- well, tried to- and smiled. 

"I've got a coffee date with Kafu!" she squealed and slowed down, wait, what? Was that actually the first thing she thought of? How did she change so much? 
For some reason, it didn't upset her. 

She began getting ready, brushing her hair, showering and getting changed into some nice clothing. She found the only non-team-rocket outfit out, (a crop jumper and shorts with some brown boots she got from her time in Unova) and grabbed a notebook and pen. 
"Come on, Sooli!" she called and jogged out the door, bag almost flying off of her shoulder. She arrived at the cafe and got herself a latte before spotting Kafu in the corner with his Cinccino. 

"Hey!" she greeted and sat down opposite Kafu. 
"Wow. You actually put in the effort! Way different than when we were researching and you were in your pyjamas," he joked and took a sip of his iced tea. Charlie blushed in embarrassment but giggled along with him. 
"Right, sorry about that," she laughed and sipped at her coffee whilst Sooli munched down her complimentary biscuit. Kafu reached down into his pocket and pulled out the petri dish, purple mist stills swirling in a whirlwind inside. 

Charlie leaned her hand oh her arm and looked at it closely, 
"I don't understand how it's still able to swirl that much, being on its own without the aid of everything around it. Maybe we could run some tests and see what kind of energy is inside it," she theorised and pulled out her book, writing all of her ideas down. Kafu looked at it, 
"It's got to be some pretty powerful stuff in order to keep swirling like that. But that just makes me worry- if all we know about it is that is has to be extremely strong at the very sight of it, I wonder how powerful it will look when we finish running tests on it. And what that lady will do with something of this strength, a whole bottle full of it."

~

"Enter," a loud and booming voice called from the other end of the door. Abbie walked in past the large bodyguard, wine bottle filled with this swirling dust that never stopped moving, into the dark room. She looked up at a tall, shadowy man, his feet propped up onto his desk and back leaned against his leather chair's armrest, spinning a gun in his hand. Abbie took a deep breath and stepped toward him,

"Hi, dad!" she said as enthusiastically as possible, while inside she was extremely nervous. Her dad was way more intimidating in person than over the telephone. He didn't look at her, 
"I told you, Abbie, not to come back until you finish your jobs," he said calmly, not looking at her. His Krookodile woke up from sleeping behind his chair and eyed up Abbie. Abbie started to sweat,

"Yeah, I know but look! I got some magic Ultra Dust that summons Ultra Wormholes! And some giant Ultra pokemon along with it!" she placed the wine bottle down on her dad's desk, he peered at it, almost getting entranced in the dancing mist.
"Good job, kid," he said and turned back away from her, "you can go now. Antony will tell you what your next gig is. Don't screw it up." He waved his daughter away with the flick of his hand. Abbie's smile faded into a frown and a flicker of hurt beat her chest, 

"But- actually I was maybe thinking, if you wanna, we could, uhm- hang out a bit while I'm in Kalos? Actually I turned twenty last week and was hoping we could, you know, hang together?" she stuttered, her dad turned and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "I mean, only if you want to, I totally understand if you're busy and the fact that we're wanted people, but we could hang out here? Maybe chat a little, uh- because a ton of stuff has been happening lately and I haven't really gotten the chance to chill with you, dad, so..."

Abbie's voice trailed off at the harsh stare of her father, looking at her with a raised eyebrow- moments away from scowling. 
"Antony will tell you what your next gig is," he repeated, voice firmer, "don't screw it up, kid. Now leave."
Abbie looked down and nodded, 
"Yeah dad," she turned and began walking out the door, "you know I never." 

The bodyguard slammed the door shut, yet again cutting her off from her father. 
When will he be proud of me? she asked herself, tears welling up in her eyes, when will he love me back?

She pulled her scarf over her mouth and nose and began walking to the window, 
"Where are you going, Miss Méchant?" the bodyguard asked her as she swung the window open and revealed the pouring rain before climbing onto the windowsill. 

"I'm going to raid someplace. Get my energy out. And call me Miss Meurtrier," she snapped and leapt out of the window into the alleyways of Kalos, her tears began pouring out now.
"I don't deserve his surname," she whispered and pulled her gun out, "not until I make him proud of me."