epilogue II.
I've got your back!

─── ⋆⋅🪻⋅⋆ ───

I padded into the kitchen the next morning, trying to brush the desperation out of my eyes. Ash was at the stove, stirring something and absent-mindedly humming. The scent was divine - something floral mixed with cinnamon.

"Morning, sleepyhead," he greeted, splitting the mixture between two cups and pushing one over to me. Then he took a once-over. "You look terrible."

"Thanks, Raven."

"Was it the futon?"

"No, just thoughts."

He didn't push me further. The warmth of the mug he placed in my palms was soothing.

"Lavender chai," he grinned. "Miette swears by it. A real nerve breaker."

The warmth fled.

"Speaking of... you two seem close," I started, hoping I didn't sound as prying as I felt the need to. "She kissed you last night."

Ash blinked, then laughed sheepishly. "That's just her way of greeting everyone. Kalosian style, she proclaims. Kissed Tasker right after, and he said he had contracted girl-germs. Took me ten minutes to bribe him to apologise to her."

It was my turn to blush.

"I haven't moved on, Serena."

Oh.

Our pinkies brushed. My eyes caught the bracelet I had slipped onto his right wrist before he left. It was faded, chipping off at places, but the words held.

"I couldn't when I kept replaying everything you've been through for me. The fantasy aisle. The rain. The scavenger hunt. The firework Shuriken."

"Ash-"

"I still love you."

That cracked open something in me. I crashed to the wood, suddenly dizzy. He took the mug gently from my hands and set it on the table before flopping down beside me on the floor.

"I just... didn't want to rush you, in case you found somebody... more deserving of you," he admitted quietly, hugging his knees to his chest like he did in flashes of my teenage memory. In the fantasy aisle...

I laughed, bitter. "You really think I deserve someone better?"

He grumbled something about being 'far amazing than a therapist' under his breath, then peered at me through his bangs - they weren't as grown as they had been in memory files. Almost shyly, he smiled. "May I?"

I didn't give him verbal permission. Just scooted closer, close enough for his head to dip down into its rightful place. We sat in silence for a while, watching the butterflies in the garden and the light morning drizzle that had started.

"The kids asked me to stay forever," I started, sometime after a thunder struck. "Forever ever."

"They - uh..." he stammered, fumbling with the front of his hood. He sat up straight to face me. "They're just too blunt and don't consider the consequences."

"Do you want me to?"

He blinked. Like I had tossed something heavy at him. Then, red dusted his cheeks and his hand rose to ruffle his already messy hair.

"Yes, I mean, I definitely want to be close to you, but I wouldn't want to be a bother..."

My heart fluttered, and I flicked his jaw. "Why don't you just say so?"

"Would it change anything?"

"Why do you think I came to Sinnoh?"

Silence blanketed us. Not the heavy kind. Just the slower one. Rain hardened outside and the children were filing in for breakfast, but neither of us cared.

Then Raven's eyes widened like dinner saucers. "You mean - you-you-"

I nodded, biting back a full-fledged grin. "I've got a full-timer in Heartgold. Mama wants a change of place too, so we're looking for a flat to rent out."

Whatever I said lifted something in him. The glint in his beautiful brown eyes soared, and the next second I was drowning in vanilla. His arms squeezed my frame. "Oh, oh my Nathaniel!"

"W-whoa, Raven, air!"

He let go immediately, but his arms still lingered at my sides. That extremely boyish grin was back with a maddening blush. "I-I can help with finding a flat! Or you could stay at the guest rooms until I get it renovated and even better! Just give me a few months. I'll make it the best place for you to live in with your Ma-"

I pressed my pointer to his lips to shut him up. It did the task. "You're rambling, Raven. Get a hold of yourself."

If that were humanly possible, his sheepishness and blush grew. The boy tugged down his hood over his face, bashful. "I'm just too excited that you're going to be in Sinnoh..."

"Would it change anything?" I echoed him from before. There was a crash somewhere behind - Tasker, probably - and his eyes flickered to the room beyond before returning to mine.

"I wouldn't be here without you," Ash said slowly. "I can't imagine a life without you in it. You made this worth living. I'm ready to give up anything for that."

I drew in a soft breath when he leaned into my touch, cheek curving into my palm. He was warm. Like he had always been...

"I want you to... share your life with me, Satoshi."

His eyes blinked open. Time stilled. I had always found his eyes the most defining trait among everything. They always showed the truth, even when he desperately wanted to cower behind what others had built him.

That, probably, was why he always grew out his bangs to obscure them.

"Can we chase life together?"

Droplets. Squeals of children. Paper rustling. I barely registered anything other than the quirk of his lips. It was the softest smile I had ever seen on him. Our foreheads brushed, his fingers splaying on my cheek.

"Thought you'd never ask that," he whispered, voice rough with emotions. I didn't speak.

I didn't have to.

That's just how we were built from the start. Our hearts synced as one, be it in game or a stupid scavenger hunt.

Perhaps words are really the most dispensable thing to exist when you knew someone better than the back of your hand. One look, a flutter of a contact - they sufficed.

Maybe life wasn't storybooks and games. They didn't have to follow a script. Words and music may blend together into something meaningless, but as long as you have that one person beside you - the co-author of your life - you'll get through just fine.

Raven, Satoshi, Ash. They were names belonging to the same entity. The one who proclaimed I had given him his life. The one who took the right to safeguard me in silly games. The one who laughed at the lack of culinary skills but still helped me make tea.

The one I truly ever felt the comfort of silence with.

I smiled, cheeks warming, heart settling for once in the quiet. "I've got your back, Ash."

He didn't hesitate a second to reply. "I've got your back, Serena. Forever."

─── ⋆⋅🪻⋅⋆ ───

The epilogues end, but we still have the bonus chapters! So stay tuned!

Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x