Pathos「Pokemon Fanfiction」

Twenty

Chapter Twenty: Not Really

"I didn't think you would come." Lillian raised an eyebrow as she watched the boy approach her, an uncanny smirk dancing over her face as she took a drink from the bottle in her hand. "Didn't peg you for that sort of person."

Her smile only widened as Avis glanced off to the side, a scowl plastered on his face and a slight flush forming on his cheeks as he grunted.

"Don't get me wrong," the older boy muttered, staring at the ground in distaste. "I'm here not because I believe in your cause. I'm just sick of having to act like Aiden all day. Get your facts straight before talking to me."

She let out a low chuckle at that. "I've seen your eyes," she commented. "You do sort of believe in it, don't you? Stop acting like a bitter asshole to yourself—trust me, it reflects in your behaviour. You're being pretty damn mean to others too."

"You talk too much," the knight uttered back, blue eyes cross as he glanced back at her. "If you want to do this, then get it over and done with before something happens."

Sighing, Lillian ran a hand through her hair, stopping midway when she realised that it was—to her chagrin—in a ponytail, and she shook the action off. "I told you that I'll be more careful," she protested, but the bandage peeking out from under her bangs told a different story. "If anything remotely suspicious happens, we'll leave."

Avis rolled his eyes at that, jamming his hands into his pockets and cocking his head at her. "Whatever," he sighed. "Let's go, then. It's not my fault if you die out there."

"Stop being negative," she huffed in response. "You would be happier if you stopped pitying yourself and decided to do something about it."

When she heard no response, she turned to continue with a knowing smile on her lips.

§

"It should be around here," Aiden supplied. "I'm not too sure of the exact location, but we're going in the correct direction."

The girl followed the spirit, unsure of his forwardness, and sighed in relief when she saw a cave in the distance. She hadn't been able to find Avis or Lillian that morning—and that was why she'd been trudging in the barren, long-abandoned fields for the past two hours.

She hadn't planned on going, because why should she go and help someone she didn't quite know?—but she'd seen the desperation on Aiden's face, and even though it had been the first time that the two had talked properly, she found herself helping him instead of helping out in her father's herb shop.

"Sorry for making you do this," he apologised, turning back and shooting her a sheepish smile. "I don't know how I could pay you in return."

"It's fine," she muttered; though it wasn't, in all honesty, and she knew that thought was selfish. Her fingers curled around the cloth bag on her shoulder. "It must be important, right? I'm just going to assume that it's for a good reason. Besides, you're far better at asking than Fabio."

He chuckled at that. "Fabio, huh?" he contemplated, locking his own fingers together and tilting his head to glance at the morning's dim sky. "So he did come back. The two of us didn't talk, but that's nice to know."

Yan scowled in response, eyes drawing into something like an unimpressed squint as he spoke. "Nice to know?" she questioned, huffing just the slightest bit and focusing on Terminus Cave once again. "He's still the most annoying person I know."

Aiden gave a small laugh in response, the ghost turning away to hide an amused expression, but his eyes were sad as he turned to look back to look at her. "Fine," he agreed. "Still, you did use to know him, so..."