Pokémon Fool's Gold | Orre & Galar Fanfiction

Chapter 98: Greatest Performance

'Yet it was only this year you let Gretchen help you... and proclaimed "Cipher lives" as you escaped, apparently.'

'I know! I know, I know, I know. I was desperate to get out. To come home. I don't care about Cipher. I don't know why I ever cared about Cipher. But in that moment it represented freedom. And it was all I had. I knew you already hated me. I knew Trip wouldn't want to know me. I knew no-one cared about me, because no-one ever–'

'I don't hate you.'

Alfie was startled. He stopped walking. Lyndon stared blankly at him.

'I never said I hated you.'

'You have every right to hate me.'

'Doesn't mean I do.'

Trip, too, looked down at Camden and his plush. 'And I'm here... for better or worse.'

'I know. You're here for Camden. And I appreciate that, Trip. I really, really do. But I don't know if I even deserve...'

'That's for Camden to decide.'

A Pokémon's cry resounded in a purple blur. Lyndon released Alfie's Crobat.

'Look, dad... if you're for real... and I think you are, for once... I almost lost my son. Maybe you aren't... you weren't... the dad I wanted or needed. But I wasn't the dad Trip wanted or needed. It wasn't my fault, but I wasn't. And I'm lucky. Very, very lucky that my son wants me in his life. I don't know if it was really your fault, or your dad's, or the industry... but... I've been thinking the whole time you've been talking too much... if you really did love me and Trip... and Abbey... you've paid for what you've done. Not by spending 17 years in jail with Ardos... but by what you did to yourself.'

'You don't have to make excuses for me. I can't ever really pay for what I've done. Leon will never be the same again. His kids will never know him as he was and... I don't know if I've really matured enough to care about him, personally, but I've matured enough to care about him by extension of Abbey. And my actions... my actions robbed her of the life she deserves to live with someone who treats her as she deserves.'

'Then you've matured enough for me to admit... this has been really hard... discovering what I've really done... to myself... to the innocent people in Cipher... being told I have to stay on this medication my whole life if I want to hear silence in my own head again... and...'

Lyndon's voice cracked. 'I want my dad... I just want my dad.'

'Then I'm here.'

Alfie tried to blink back tears, but he couldn't. He hesitantly held out his arms. Lyndon stepped, equally hesitantly, forward. Alfie pulled him close. At first, he stood awkwardly, but he let his head fall onto his dad's shoulder.

'In every way I possibly can be from jail... dad's here, Don. I promise.'

'Mom is a better person than you'll ever be... but...'

'I know. My mom is a better person than my dad could even have dreamed of being. But there were still times... I wished, more than anything, I had a decent dad. So I tried... I tried to think better of him, again and again... but I only ever got a black eye for it. I never want to be like him. Ever. So please... if you need your dad's shoulder to cry on... I'll never pretend to be perfect... but please know I love you and I want to be here for you.'

Even Trip was choked up. He saw himself in his father. He was happy for him... happy that even if it could never be as he wanted, the love he longed for was real. They stood in silence until Lyndon pushed his dad away.