Fire and Ice

Heartbreak

A/N: This is a sort of companion/sequel to "Broken".

It had been nearly half an hour since Froakie's argument with Hawlucha, and still the Aztec fighting-type was nowhere to be seen. He hadn't come back to camp, so no one else knew where he was either. Hawlucha had disappeared for long periods of time to train before though, so they didn't think too much of it.

Froakie tried to convince himself that this was the case, that Hawlucha was only missing because he'd decided to do a bit of training. He  couldn't possibly be upset over their fight. Maybe his words had been a little harsh, true, but surely Hawlucha would have gotten over it by now even if he had upset him. It wasn't as though Hawlucha liked him, after all. Why would he be dwelling over the fact that Froakie didn't want to be friends with him?

But even so, Froakie couldn't shake the feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach.

It's all right, he tried to tell himself. Sure you might have gone a little overboard, but there's no way Hawlucha took anything you said to heart. He's never cared what anyone's said about him before, right?

No, Hawlucha had never been one to care what others thought of him. He always acted as though he was above everyone; why would he care when he thought everyone was beneath him?

Then why do I feel so guilty?

Deciding it would be best to find Hawlucha himself if he wanted to put his mind at rest, Froakie ventured out into the woods in search of his teammate. He wasn't sure why he was so worried, but he figured it was better to confirm that there was no reason to worry than wait around for Hawlucha to come back. Hopefully Hawlucha hadn't gone too far, or else it would take ages to find him.

Luckily, Froakie spotted Hawlucha sitting underneath a tree a few minutes later. He approached him, ready to confront his rival, then came to a stop. Something wasn't quite right. Instead of his usual mask of indifference, Hawlucha's expression conveyed nothing but unhappiness and his eyes seemed to be watering. As Froakie watched, still unnoticed by the miserable flying-type, a tear ran down Hawlucha's face.

Froakie didn't know what to do. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Hawlucha had always been so strong, never showing much emotion at all. He was supposed to be a rock, he was supposed to be teasing Froakie and getting on his nerves and making him want to throw something extremely heavy and sharp at his head. He wasn't supposed to be crying and looking as though someone had just taken a knife and plunged it into his soul.

"Hawlucha?" he asked tentatively.

At the sound of his voice, Hawlucha turned his head away slightly. Despite this, Froakie could still see the tears threatening to spill out of his eyes.

"Froakie? What do you want?" Hawlucha sniffed.

Froakie hesitated for a moment, unsure what to say. He had been planning on reprimanding Hawlucha for making everyone wonder where he was, but clearly there was no way he could go through with that now. If he upset Hawlucha any more than he already had, he didn't even want to think about what the consequences would be.

Finally, he replied softly, "I'm sorry."

Hawlucha sniffled and looked up at the sky, blinking rapidly. "It's okay. I-I know you won't ever like me."

"No, I-I want to be friends with you. That is, if you still want to," Froakie said quickly, feeling his face heat up. "I don't blame you if you don't..."

"You-you do?" Hawlucha asked, turning to face him at last, and although his eyes were still red and wet, they were full of hope and Froakie felt even more ashamed of himself.

He nodded, and the next thing he knew, Hawlucha was hugging him. And even though Froakie usually hated being touched, even though Hawlucha was holding him tightly enough to suffocate him, he let him hug him anyway.