In Tune

Acceptance

Charlie noticed Kafu jump off of the floor in shock and spin around to face Charlie.
"What happened? What's wrong?" he asked, looking around in shock for any danger. Charlie slapped her mouth and wiped some sweat off of her forehead, sitting up straight before pulling her boots off- despite them already have made various mud prints on her white bedsheets. 

"Nothing, I," she cut herself off as she bit down on her lip to force back tears, "I just don't know what to do. Tapu Lele just talked to me in my dream saying that opening that wormhole was actually really bad for the 'multiverse'. And it said that I'd never live to see the damage I caused be fixed! Kafu, I don't know what to do." The tears were pouring out now, her eyes like floodgates. Kafu blinked and sat down next to Charlie. 

"It's okay, you're okay. Talk to me," he insisted with a small smile, Charlie rubbed her wet cheeks and wrapped her arms around Kafu in a hug, sniffing every ten seconds. 
"I'm not okay! I'm a horrible person! Those wormholes transport you between timelines, different realities! And I saw a different me! And she was horrible! Kafu, she could look at a broken city and say it was beautiful- and I used to be like that!" she cried, her tears staining Kafu's shirt, "I still am like that! All I care about is knowing everything, and Tapu Lele showed me that! Kafu, I'm a monster!" 

Kafu shook his head and hugged Charlie back, resting his cheek on Charlie's head, 
"You're not a monster, Charlie. You're not like that alternate you! That's the you that went wrong, you are a completely different person!" he told her, stroking the sleeve of her jumper slightly. 
"But I used to be like that! Kafu, I used to work for Team Rocket! My entire life goal used to be to bring destruction to the place I lived in! Don't you understand? I wanted criminals to be successful!" she wailed into her partner's shoulder. 

Kafu lifted her chin up with his finger to face him and shook his head again, 
"You can't define yourself by who you used to be! People change, nothing stays the same. Are you the same person you were ten years ago? We all change in every way, be it appearance, personality, mindset! You're you now, and you need to start focusing on that. You've learned from your mistakes, okay? So now you need to look forward," he told her. Charlie stared into his eyes and felt her ears begin to warm. 

"But," she whispered- except she couldn't think of an argument. Maybe Kafu was right. Maybe she couldn't define herself as who she used to be or who she could've been if she had made just one mistake. Everybody changes and we're always growing. We can never have it all, lead perfect lives or achieve everything we wanted, but we can smile at ourselves and say;

"Yeah. You're right. I'm not who I was and I'll start looking forward," she whispered slowly and began to smile along with Kafu. After a short pause, they hugged each other, Charlie's final tears dripping off of her cheeks and onto Kafu's jacket. For the first time in a long time, Charlie's mind was completely blank, only focusing on holding Kafu. 

The heat began to spread from her ears and into her cheeks, her heart began picking up its pace. For a moment Charlie was confused, not able to pin down exactly why this was happening- until the scientific explanation hit her and a smile met her face.
"I love you, Kafu," she whispered and held him tighter. Kafu didn't flinch away or contradict, 

"Yeah," he instead replied quietly, "I know you do." 
Charlie couldn't help but pull away to giggle, seeing Kafu's knowing grin. 
"I'm sorry, what?" she laughed, clutching her sides a bit. Kafu lazily shrugged.
"What can I say? I give amazing life advice," he explained, holding his hands up in surrender and running his fingers through his hair. Charlie raised her eyebrow, 
"Really? That's it?" she giggled with a wide grin. Kafu smiled at her, 

"Yeah," he nodded, turning back to look at her with a smile, "and I love you too." 
They looked at each other, both smiling as wide as the other. Slowly, Charlie blinked at him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, smile not leaving her face, 
"Well, we got there in the end, huh?" she giggled. Yes, Kafu was right. In order to live the life you want, you have to learn a little acceptance. For the hand life's currently dealt you, to the people around you, and especially yourself and your mistakes.

And they kissed.

No flinching, no regret. Charlie just felt at peace, maybe this was the start of a really great step in her life to becoming a better person?
Well, time will tell won't it?

Right now, she was just enjoying the moment. 
And at that time, that was all that mattered. 

Thank you for reading In Tune! Your support has been honestly unreal, so I just wanted to thank everyone that's read this. Unfortunately, this is the end of yet another journey, but if you want to ask me about what happens next in this chapter's comments, I'll be happy to spout my nonsense to you! I love talking to you guys, so please don't stop just because my updates will be slower now that In Tune is over. 

See you guys next time! Stay Tuned!<3