When The Sun Sets (Moon X Gladion)

The Dusk Grows

The rest of that day was a blur in Moon's mind, only bits and pieces standing out as she recalled them. The boys hurried out of the cave and into the sunlight, Hau frantically scrambling to start a fire in the wooded terrain surrounding the cave. Gladion sat as close to the fire as possible, with Green to the side, his head in his hands as he crumpled to his knees. Moon closed her eyes as the warmth of the flames brushed her skin, her mind drifting away. She dreamt of playing in the snow with an older Sun Orion; a depiction of what could have been had their fates been happier. He smiled and cackled, his laughter like gold flowing from her ears. He was happy. He was okay.

He was not the monster in the cave.

He was not the monster.

He was not...

Moon awoke to a pressure against her forehead. As she opened her eyes, she realized she was still in Gladion's arms. His lips hung near her face, and she could feel him breathing steadily as he pulled her closer. He had, to her blushing revelation, just kissed her. Was she still dreaming?

Her eyes fluttered shut again. Hau spoke.

"Don't do that when Green wakes up," he joked with a slight chuckle.

"Shut up," Gladion replied simply.

Hau chuckled again, the laugh running deeper this time around. "Speaking of Green, how about you wake him up and go catch us some dinner? I'll stay here."

"But..." Gladion began to protest.

"I'll stay here," Hau repeated gently.

Gladion heaved a lowly sigh before gently laying Moon upon the grass, which had been rumpled beneath his weight for the past couple hours. Then, she listened as he waltzed over and woke up a slumbering Green. The boy groaned and growled in displeasure as Gladion explained what they needed to do. Then, grumbling, the boy got up and she heard the crunching of their shoes grow distant. Finally, Hau addressed her.

"They're gone, Moon. You can wake up now," he smiled as she opened her eyes again and titled her head to see him. The fire danced in front of her face, rendering him in a soft glow as his features morphed with the flickering flames "How are ya feeling?"

She sat up slowly, getting a feel for her limbs and nerves. Although she was not freezing anymore, her heart still bore a layer of frost that attempted to permeate her throat. When she spoke, it came out in low croaks. "Awful."

Rubbing the back of his neck, he nodded slowly. "H-how much do you remember?"

"He looked like me," Moon admitted after a moment of torturous silence. She shook her head and buried it in her hands. "Too much like me."

"Well, you were twins." Hau's voice faltered, fizzling out towards the end. "You didn't see what Gladion—"

"That wasn't my brother," Moon told him suddenly, holding eye contact for only a moment. "It didn't scar me as much as it probably should've."

She was referring to watching her 'brother' explode into a puff of smoke, of course. She knew it should have hurt her, watching Sun die again. Truth be told, however, nothing could have hurt her more than the words that monster spewed. The jumbled phrases rattled in her mind like rocks in a wooden box, filling her head with frothing accusations of what she should have done as a child.

"I think Green hates Gladion even more, unfortunately," Hau grumbled.

"Green hates him?" Moon raised an eyebrow, and Hau froze.

"Ah," he said after a short moment, rocking backwards. "I thought you noticed..." He cleared his throat. "They both like you, you know. I-I know that's not something you want to worry about now, but... I thought you already knew."

Moon just laughed. "Green isn't my type. He's always been a brother to me."

"And what about Gladion...?"

Moon looked up at Hau before pursing her lips. "That is a bit harder to believe."

The expression on Hau's face almost made Moon believe she had grown a second head. "He kissed you. Like, two minutes ago. Don't even try telling me you didn't notice that."

Moon half-groaned. "I just... he's confusing! He hated us growing up. He made it clear on many occasions that we weren't friends. He left Alola without even saying goodbye–"

"And then he forced his way onto this trip. For you. Because of you," Hau reminded her. Then, he drew out a long sigh. "Do you remember Vinny? The Team Skull grunt who kept trying to woo you?"

Moon stifled a sudden laugh. Who could forget Vinny, the "King of Romance," as he so called himself? She immediately recalled the way he would challenge the throne just to see her, the Champion. Or how he would approach her in public carrying a rose in his mouth like one of those salsa dancers you only see in movies. Though, he always looked far from one, with his black bandana tied around his forehead and his blue faux hawk haircut. Arceus, that punk was head over heels for her, even going as far as to write a loud, boisterous, but sweet ukulele song about her, which he cleverly titled: "To The Moon and Back." He was cute, and they actually went on a couple dates together, but Moon just was not interested. In the end, they were better as friends. "Yeah, I remember him."

"Well, Gladion is like that but quieter." Hau clarified with a wave of his hands.

Moon stared at her best friend for what felt like an eternity, her thoughts whirring. This entire time... had she truly been dense? She wanted to probe into the matter further, but judging by the footsteps in the near distance, Green and Gladion had already returned. They emerged from behind a huddle of tall oak trees, each of them carrying the freshly-fished corpses magikarp. Hau jumped up to help them prepare the meat, and he and Green took it upon themselves to make dinner whilst Moon and Gladion again sat by the fire. The two were silent for a long while, both of listening to the crackle of flames and the hushed voices of their friends as dinner was cooked. Eventually, just as dusk was beginning to settle into the sky, they were each served a plate. Though, not many of them actually felt like eating. In fact, Moon was convinced that the only reason why her friends did eat was so they would not be forced to speak about what happened that day. Thus, as the blues from above faded to swirling mixtures of pink and orange, little was said. And, had Moon not spoken for the first time in an hour, nothing more may have been said at all.

"At dawn, let's go to Cordovan Forest. We can ask Necrozma to fly us to Route 27, where we can head north until we reach the trees. After that, we'll figure out how to summon Mewtwo." She looked each of them in the eyes, her shifting gaze a blank slate. It ran a chill down Gladion's spine.

"And then we'll face the beast," Green's voice was almost a whisper. "We'll end this, once and for all."

They all nodded, though not in unison. They were apprehensive nods, like the ones you would give a friend after making a promise you knew you could not keep. Would they live to see the day after tomorrow? Or the morning, even? Would Mewtwo strangle them in their sleep, snuffing them out like a young child suddenly abandoning their favorite toy?

None of them knew. They themselves were only children, after all.

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Thank you for being patient with me. College is going well, I'm just very stressed and busy. I'm glad I was able to push this chapter out though, even if it is a bit shorter. We are in the final stretch of this story, which is a freeing feeling to me. As much as I love this fanfiction, I do need to focus on my actual novels. ;)