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Part 39. A Moment Of Weakness.

Fletcher was pacing. He was nervous. He was still slightly flustered by what had happened merely hours ago, but he was definitely nervous as well.
"Calm down, she's going to be fine." Silver sighed, brushing his hair out of his face.
"You don't know that. They're crazy. That bloody king guy must be the reason White Forest was levelled, which means he's the reason that her parents are dead."
"Shit..." Just then, a scream pierced through the air, causing a flock of Pidoves to fly off in fear.
"Arceus...that sounded like a girl screaming..."
"Relax, Fletcher. She'll be okay..."

Around ten minutes later, an Aurorus, Leafeon, Reuniclus, Houndoom and Lucario walked up to them, followed by...
"Red!" Fletcher ran up to her, glad to see her okay.
"Fletcher...you can call me my real name..." She sounded exhausted.
"But you said you hate it."
"I guess I finally got over myself..."
"Why are you...wearing a dress?"
"Long story, I'd rather not tell. I need rest." She walked off a little way.
"Hey Fletcher, you should go after her. Show her that thing you've been carrying around." Silver half-whispered to him.

~

Fletcher found Burgundy staring at the setting sun.
"Hey, Burgundy?"
"Not now Fletcher, I'm so tired..."
"But I have something for you, and I think you might want to see it." Burgundy sighed and walked over to Fletcher, her legs a little shaky, her bare feet crunching the few autumn leaves that had already fallen.
"Alright fine, what do you need me to see?" Fletcher carefully pulled what seemed to be a folded piece of paper out of his pocket before unfolding it, revealing that it was a photograph. Burgundy took the photo and looked at it for a few moments before her legs gave out and she fell to her knees. "Where...where did you get this?"
"It was in the file for your parents back in Castelia."
"I thought...all the pictures were gone..." Burgundy had started to shake, and Fletcher noticed what seemed to be droplets of water hit the ground.

But it wasn't raining.

"A-are you crying?" Fletcher slowly knelt down as Burgundy rubbed her eyes clumsily with her arm.
"Don't laugh..."
"Who said I'm laughing? I never thought I'd see you cry..."
"Well it's been 13 years since I last saw my parents..." Fletcher cautiously put his arms around Burgundy, and surprisingly, she didn't fight back. They stayed like that for a while, before Fletcher swore he heard Burgundy whisper something, which she later denied saying.
"Thank you, Fletcher..."