Ailsa had been Charlus's first stop.
She was in the Conference room as always, except this time, she wasn't leaning over a table reading the plans. She was lounged in her chair, pressing the heels of her palm against her eyes.
"You... BITCH!" Charlus slammed the doors of the room shut.
Ailsa was shaken awake, "What now?"
"You... you're a lying manipulative—"
"Bitch, I know, get to the point."
Charlus growled in anger, he buried his fist in the wall nearest to him in a fit of anger.
"You... what... what gave you the permission to... ruin my life?!"
Ailsa couldn't help but frown at her mess of a son, "Like what?"
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!"
The pain in his eyes seemed to scream the truth.
"Oh," Ailsa sat down, "you know?"
"Of course I know!" He screamed, "you... you kept my daughter away from me! What... type of monster does that?!"
"You left your son, do you really wanna compare?"
The brunet's throat was clogged with emotions and his eyes were watering down like a hose. He'd barely gathered enough courage to walk up to his bitch of a mother, he didn't have enough strength in him to step up to her.
"But she was my daughter!"
"And he was your son," Ailsa said, "with Bethany, your wife. Did you really wanna leave that all for a one night stand with a Van Black?"
His nostrils fumed in anger, "So you gave my daughter to... Mark? My nemesis?"
"No," she shook her head, "what happened with Mark was an accident, it... it wasn't planned."
"But... why the fuck didn't you tell me after Bethany died?!"
Ailsa stayed silent for quite some time.
"You left," she said, "stop feeling sorry for yourself for your past mistakes... make up for them."
When Dawn didn't arrive for another hour or so, they decided to call it a night.
"Why night?" Yawned the brunet, "it's already two in the morning."
By the time Ash came up with a witty remark, Gary had disappeared. The raven haired looked around for the brunet who'd suddenly vanished like a Gengar.
"What are you looking for?" Asked Serena with a smile.
A sigh escaped his lips as he swung his arm around her, "Never mind, let's go."
Gary had searched almost every floor on Hald Fest, but there was no sign of his father. So far, he'd run into his grandmother, a few doctors, surprisingly a Pokemon wing where he dropped in to see the smuggled Pokemon's they'd rescued.
They were doing very well.
He'd knocked on almost every door, in the accommodation wing, accepted a few curses from people who had been sleeping while he went through an entire verse of 'Gotta catch 'em all' on their doors.
In the end, just when he was about to give up, a memory popped in his head. Back when they were still in Chewa Island.
"The cliff," he ran towards the destination.
True to his assumption, Charlus was at the cliff. Sitting silently, drowning himself in the sorrow and regret, which was his life.
His fingers curled into a fist as he approached his father, his shoulders felt heavy with burden.
"Hey," he said subtly.
Charlus stood up after seeing Gary, his face was raised in alarm. "Gary, what are... it's four in the morning, what are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same of you."
"Well, I couldn't sleep." A sigh escaped his lips, "come on, the sun is about to rise, you can sit here."
The brunet looked down towards the ground. He subconsciously found himself burying his sneaker down in the Earth out of the hollow felling which was spread like a wildfire throughout his body.
"Nah, it won't be necessary," He smiled, "I just have to... ask or maybe tell you something."
"Oh... okay."
Rip off the bandage, Oak, He told himself, off with it.
But the words couldn't escape his lips, they were dangling off the cliff just like his relationship with his father was.
"When I was..." his voice broke, "when I was in Basil city, I entered an Unown's dimension along with Dawn, I... I saw many things, things that had happened and some that had not happened yet. They where disturbing and horrific. But out of those disturbing and horrific things, there was one in particular which I... I just couldn't digest."
Charlus was still clueless where the conversation was heading. The brunet, however, had a faint feeling it wasn't going to end well.
"What are you trying to say, Gary?" Asked Charlus, "you can tell me."
"Of course I can," sighed the brunet, "you owe it to me, don't you?"
"What are you—"
"Did you cheat on my mother?"
Words had left his mouth, Charlus stood still, baffled like a simpleton. There was no answer he could give which would make him sound less of a monster to his son, who already thought of him as one. He looked down at his feet, to catch a last glance of the ground before it was slipped right from underneath him.
You're not a horrible person, Charlie Blue, he could imagine James's impart his wisdom, you've made some horrible choices but that doesn't make you inhumane... it makes you a human.
"Your mother was the love of my life," he repeated the same words he had been repeating since a decade, "she was a—"
"None of that crap," Gary closed his eyes with exhaustion, "tell me the truth... please."
It had been so long that Charlus himself had forgotten what the truth was. He'd become so good at convincing others that at one point in his life, he started doing it to himself. He was hypnotised. The truth that Gary longed for lay forgotten in a dumpster somewhere.
"Did you truly love her?" He further asked, "was the night at the bar a mistake?"
Charlus's whole world crumped around him. Of course, he could've prevented it by telling another lie, but the brunet was tiered. Of the lies and his life.
"No," his heart shattered into a million pieces, "I'm sorry Gary... I... I... I... I liked your mother very much, but... I didn't love her. But the five years with her... with you in that little house in the suburbs of Pallet, it was the most at peace I'd ever been in my entire life. I'm sorry son, I'm sorry I couldn't love her. I wanted to... I wanted to very much but I..."
Tears were rolling down Gary's cheeks by the time Charlus was finished. He'd heard enough, but his father still hadn't answered his question.
"Did you or did you not... cheat on my mother?"
Charlus's silence was answer enough.
"Was... was it Grace? Did she know you were married?"
"No," he was stoic, "she didn't know."
"Of course, because it makes it so much better."
Gary didn't know how to act around his mistress anymore. He wanted to go back to when his father didn't care whether he was dead or alive. When things were simpler... when his mom was alive.
But he couldn't, he would have to face Grace and Serena... Serena.
Her name send him into a deep spiral, back to the time when he'd first arrived at the Raider Manor, to the room with the pictures where one in particular had intrigued him.
It was Serena, but Ash had denied because her eyes weren't blue.
Her eyes... which were dark Viridian.
Just like Gary's and Charlus's and Samuels.
It was the Oak Family colour but alas, cerulean Blue was of the Van Black Family.
"Serena is my sister, isn't she?"
Charlus didn't deny, "It's not her mistake, please don't hate—"
"Hate?" He repeated, "hate? And that too, Serena? I love her, she's been more like a family to me than you ever were! It's a shame... that such a pure person could ever belong to someone as vile as you."
Gary turned around, determined that this conversation was going to be their last.
"You know," he said, "I felt like so awful when a little part of me wished that you'd died on Citadark... you just made it a lot easier."
"You told Charlus?!" The silver haired burst into Grace's room at the hospital wing.
"Please..." she took off her oxygen mask, "...come in."
"Don't!" She barked, "no sarcasm, not right now!"
"Why?" She took a deep breath before removing her mask, "your world came crumbling down?"
Ailsa's nostrils fumed with anger, "I thought we had a deal!"
Grace's put on her mask yet again, the little spat she'd with Charlus has sucked all the strength out of her. "I didn't tell him genius, he found out himself."
"How?!"
"She's your carbon copy, its not that difficult!"
"Ah!" Ailsa grunted in anger.
The ebony-haired couldn't help but be vary of the Oak in front of her. Van Blacks weren't respected in the Chamber because of their blood, because of Lysander and her parents, the mad scientist.
But Serena didn't deserve the hate Ailsa was throwing towards her. She was so pure and kind, the Van Blacks didn't deserve her.
"You shouldn't hate her," Grace said, "Serena cares about others, she's kind and pure like an angel."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because," she took off her mask once again, "she isn't a Van Black, that kind of kindness isn't seen in our family."
"Just... what do you want to say?"
"She isn't a Van Black," said Grace, "she is an Oak."