(Old) Unexpected Union | Umbreon X Sylveon

Chapter 2

Keir sat at an awkward angle as he picked away a bowl of mago berries in order to try and not move his broken leg. He hoped that it would heal sooner rather than later, but at least he had his favourite type of berry to eat.

Elswyth—or as he preferred to call her, Elsy—had gone out to 'go get water' from the river a few minutes prior to leaving him his bowl of mago berries. She had been gone for a while now, despite the river being relatively close to the den.

He felt uneasy being left on his own in a place he wasn't yet fully accustomed to; it didn't help that he felt defenceless due to his inability to move as much as he usually could, making him feel like a sitting Psyduck. This caused him to become anxious and jumpy, with his eyes not sitting still for more than a couple seconds.

He heard a twig snap outside and tried to spring to a defensive stance, though this caused him to stumble and cause a lot of pain with his leg, but he didn't care. A mixture of panic, anxiety, and adrenaline was causing his mind to fog; his only thought was to defend himself from whoever was outside.

After what felt like eons to the panicked eeveelution, he saw someone walk through the cave entrance. He couldn't see them clearly due to the brightness at the cave's mouth obscuring them; he only saw them as a silhouette. "Wh-who's there!" Keir demanded, trying to sound as intimidating and brave as possible, before he said anything else; however, he noticed the silhouette was twisting into a familiar shape.

It was large, but from this distance, it was hard to tell how large, but it was at least double his size. It seemed to have a rather shaggy coat, so long that it draped over its legs. It was then that Keir realised why it was so familiar; it almost looked like...

a Stoutland...

When he realised this, he gasped quietly to himself and began to tremble uncontrollably. His brave façade crumbled as he began to cower. "No... wh-wh-why are you here? Come to f-finish me off, you old cunt?!" He yelled shakily, fear washing all the faux bravery from him.

The silhouette began to quickly trot over to him, causing him to flinch and shut his eyes tightly. His trembling worsened, causing him to stumble and hit the floor hard. He narrowly avoided landing on his broken leg; he braced himself for a searing pain that would rip through his fresh bandages and steal his young, incomplete life away from him... but no such pain came, only hearing a comforting, familiar voice.

"Hey, everything's going to be ok..." Elswyth soothed. Slowly, he opened his eyes. There was Elsy, a shabby, worn cloak draped over her back, a look of concern etched deep into her face. He felt tears flowing down his face as he began to sob.

Elsy soothed him, gently stroking his back with one of her ribbons. Keir didn't know how long they sat there or how long he cried for, though it had to be at least 10 minutes.

When he stopped crying, Elswyth spoke up: "So... uh, do you want to talk about what caused that little... meltdown?" She looked at Keir when she finished speaking, her concern and sincerity still in her facial expression.

He said nothing for a while; he opened his mouth, but before he spoke, Elsy interjected quickly: "I-I hope that asking that doesn't, y'know, set you off again..." She said sheepishly, Keir smiled meekly at her. "I'm n-not ready to say the whole thing yet, but... it was your c-cloak that triggered it. It... l-looked like a s-Stoutland in y-your shadow..." He said as calmly as he could muster, stuttering throughout most of his speech as he was still pretty shaken over the whole ordeal.

"So, a Stoutland did that to you? Wow, he really gave you a beating despite how tanky you umbreons are..." Elswyth muttered to herself, though still loud enough for Keir to hear her.