Chapter Text
Serena's mind overflowed with questions.
"I… I can't believe you're here! How? Why?"
She released her grip on Clemont and made a futile attempt to hide her face as she wiped her eyes. Much like her mind, they had long since overflowed, but with something else entirely. She ran her dirty sleeves over them, the rough fabric doing far more to increase the redness than to soak up the tears.
Making a noise caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob, she took a step back. She shook her head, then clasped her hands to the sides of her head and dug her fingers into her hair. She stared. Nothing made sense. She stood in the middle of a field on her mother's Rhyhorn ranch in Vaniville Town. It was midday on a brilliant day in early autumn. Like every day in recent memory, she had woken up before dawn, tied her hair back, put on her pair of coveralls, and made herself filthy from manual labor before noon. And so it had been without end, uninterrupted, as predictable as the rising and setting of the sun.
But today, for the first time in months, something was different. There were different sights, different faces. Faces of people who weren't from Vaniville Town, who weren't supposed to know she was here, who weren't supposed to be here at all.
Somehow, standing there before her in the field were Clemont, Bonnie, and Korrina.
"What are you all doing here?"
Serena knew how ridiculous the question was as soon as it left her lips, and Bonnie's reaction reiterated it. Folding her arms, Bonnie sent Serena a sideways glance.
"I thought you'd be happy to see us!" said Bonnie, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I- I am! I just-"
Serena's mouth moved faster than her brain. Her words ran off along with her train of thought. Again, she stared. Three curious faces stared back at her.
"...how?" she said. "How did you all know I was here? When did you find out? How did you find out? I haven't-"
Serena stopped herself. A pang of guilt shot through her heart. She winced, then let her eyes fall to the ground and her arms to her sides.
"I haven't talked to anyone in months."
She swallowed. She clenched her eyes shut, the heat of shame rising from her stomach up onto her face.
But when she opened her eyes again, she did not find an irate mob wielding torches and pitchforks. Instead, she saw three familiar, friendly faces. They weren't smiling, but there was not even a hint of anger in any of their eyes. She saw confusion, concern, and even a little amusement, but not anger. Not at all.
Until Bonnie stepped forward.
"You could have called, you know!" Bonnie said, with her fists on her hips and a knot in her brow.
"Bonnie!" said Clemont. The sound was so familiar, the same tone of voice Serena had heard hundreds of times before, the same tone Clemont used every time Bonnie stepped out of line.
Which, as Serena recalled, was daily. The corner of her mouth turned upward into a hint of a smile at the thought. The memory persisted for only a fleeting moment, though. Bonnie did not back down.
"We were worried about you!" said Bonnie.
Serena met Bonnie's eyes for a moment but found she couldn't hold Bonnie's gaze and looked at the ground instead. She folded her arms.
"I'm sure you were," said Serena. "I gave everyone a lot of reasons to worry. I'm so sorry."
"Apology accepted," said Clemont. "I think I speak for all of us in saying that I'm immensely relieved merely to find you in one piece."
Serena held up her hands for everyone to see.
"I'm here," she said. "I'm all here, I promise. All my fingers and toes attached. See?"
Serena wiggled all of her fingers. Inside her boots, she wiggled her toes. When she realized nobody could see her feet, she looked down at them, then back at everyone else.
"They're there, I swear," she said. "I'll take my boots off if you want to see."
"We'll take your word for it," said Korrina.
Serena met Korrina's eyes. She found herself at a loss for words.
It must have shown, because after a protracted silence, Korrina waved. Serena found that her eyes had glazed over. She shook her head to shake it off.
"Hey! Are ya sure you're okay?" said Korrina.
"I-"
Serena stopped herself from finishing her automatic response. It would have been a lie. She was not fine. There was no point in hiding it anymore.
"I've been better," said Serena. "I've been worse, though."
"Where's Ash?" said Bonnie. "Why isn't he here?"
"Bonnie!" Clemont said once again.
Under better circumstances, Serena was sure she would have laughed. Instead, another pang went through her heart, much stronger than the last. It was more than shame or guilt. It was a lot of things.
A moment later, a familiar yet foreign presence on her shoulder brought her back to reality.
"And who's that Pokémon?" said Bonnie.
Serena had to catch herself to avoid saying the wrong name. It had only been a few hours. She wasn't used to it yet.
"It's- ...Ribombee," she said.
"Fascinating," said Clemont, adjusting his glasses. "I've never seen one in Kalos before! I thought they lived in tropical climates."
"They do," said Serena. "Ribombee is from Alola."
"Ah, yes, that makes sense," said Clemont. "How did you meet Ribombee, then?"
Serena felt the sweat beginning to form on her palms. She knew she was about to jump off a veritable cliff. There was no legendary Pokémon waiting to swoop in and save her this time. Her shoulder vibrated as Ribombee shuddered.
"We met in Alola."
The faces she received in response made it clear that she had never had more explaining to do.
An hour later, Serena's mouth was dry from talking at such great length. Her throat was on the edge of becoming sore. She had said more in an hour than she had said in all the time since her return home combined. Putting everything into words was more challenging than she expected it would be. She had certainly never explained it all to her mother, not in nearly so much detail. She hoped that her mother was not in earshot.
Mostly for the sake of privacy, but also for everyone's comfort, Serena had wandered toward the far side of the field, as far away from the house as she could be while remaining on the property. She sat on the ground with her back propped up against a fence post. Clemont sat with his legs between the rungs of the fence, sitting on the middle rung while resting his arms on the top rung. Korrina sat on the top rung next to him, and Bonnie lay on the ground, looking up at the clouds, while Dedenne slept on her stomach. Nearby, Chespin and Bunnelby were having an animated reunion with Pancham and Sylveon.
Further in the distance, Delphox sat alone. Though she had come to greet her old companions, she seemed to quickly run out of things to say and departed to be on her own again. Lucario stood beside Korrina, occasionally glancing in Delphox's direction, but remaining silent.
Ribombee, meanwhile, remained glued to Serena's shoulder, eager to provide her own incomprehensible input to Serena's telling of the story, chirping and buzzing at seemingly random intervals.
"So Ash went with Lillie after all?" said Clemont.
Serena nodded.
"He's been making really good progress on his island challenge, according to his letters," she said. "From what I've read, he made it farther in a few weeks than most trainers do in months."
"That's no surprise," said Korrina. "I bet having Pikachu and Greninja with him is like having a cheat code!"
"An apt analogy," said Clemont.
Bonnie huffed and looked at Serena. Her sudden movement woke Dedenne.
"I can't believe you let him go!" she said.
Serena gave Bonnie a confused look. She thought her explanation had been perfectly clear, or at least as clear as something so insane could be.
"I made him go," said Serena. "He didn't want to. He tried to stop me!"
Dedenne scurried out of the way as Bonnie made a show of pointedly crossing her arms and looking away.
"I wish he'd stopped you," she said.
Serena's mouth hung open, lost for words. Bonnie was as blunt as ever. Once again, Clemont scolded her.
"Bonnie! That's not appropriate! Serena has been through quite an ordeal and we should be supportive of her!"
"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Bonnie grumbled, pouting.
Clemont rubbed his forehead, exasperated. Korrina laughed.
"Hey, shipping is serious business!" said Korrina.
"It's not shipping when it involves real people!" said Clemont.
"I'm pretty sure Bonnie disagrees," said Korrina.
"I know she does, and I don't much like the implications of the fact that person she seems to enjoy shipping the most is me!"
Bonnie sat upright.
"It's because of the challenge!" she said.
"Challenge?" said Clemont. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Bonnie groaned, flung her hands up in the air, and flopped back onto the ground again.
"Ugh! How are you so clueless?"
"I'm not clueless!" said Clemont. He looked to Korrina as if he were expecting her support.
Korrina dismissively waved her hand.
"Yeah, yeah," she said.
Clemont's jaw dropped. Before he could say anything, Korrina's lips formed a smile and she winked at him. Clemont's face began to redden. He turned toward Serena.
"Do you see what I have to deal with now?" he said, moping. "The two of them are both like this all the time."
Serena did not say a word. She tilted her head.
"We all know you secretly enjoy it," said Korrina. "And besides, I think it's great that Bonnie's found her new calling in life so quickly. You should be more supportive of her!"
"Shipping is not a career path!" said Clemont. "Not that kind of shipping, anyway!"
The quarrel continued, but Serena sat there, zoned out. Memories, all of which had once seemed unrelated, aligned themselves in a chain in her head. Memories of talking to Clemont about her issues with Ash, of learning how long everyone had known about her feelings, of admitting her feelings to everyone, of Bonnie's final sabotage of Miette's plan.
"Wait a minute."
Serena's words brought the ridiculous argument to an abrupt end. Everyone turned to look at her. Serena met eyes with Bonnie.
"You were shipping me and Ash?" said Serena.
"Duh!" said Bonnie. "Everyone was!"
"That is a gross exaggeration," said Clemont. "I would never ship my friends like they were fictional characters. I merely hoped that you and Ash would find a way to resolve the romantic tension between the two of you because I believed it would make both you happy."
"That's the same thing as shipping!" said Bonnie.
"I respectfully disagree," said Clemont. "I think there is an important distinction to be drawn between passively hoping for the success of one's friends and actively playing the role of matchmaker. And to be perfectly clear, I find the former to be much more appropriate than the latter."
Clemont's reply was met with a pause.
"That's the same thing as shipping," said Korrina.
Clemont hung his head and covered his face with his hands. Korrina laughed.
Serena stared.
"I… didn't realize anyone else cared," she said.
"For real?" said Korrina. "Didn't you see how happy we all were for you two?"
"Not really?" said Serena. "I was kind of distracted at the time!"
"Ha! That's fair," said Korrina. "But seriously, you two are adorable together. How could we not be happy for you?"
Serena folded her arms and tightened them around herself. This conversation had been awkward enough already.
"Well, thanks, I guess," she said. "I just didn't realize anyone else had, you know, expectations about me and Ash. I mean, I don't want to blame you all for being excited, but things between us were complicated enough without worrying about what anyone else thought."
"Also fair," said Korrina. "We were just happy for you two, and it's kind of a bummer to find out that things didn't really work out for you two after all. It's gotta be way more of a bummer for you, though."
Everyone was quiet. Serena nodded.
"Yeah. Sorry to disappoint you all," she said.
"No apology is required," said Clemont. "You haven't disappointed any of us."
Serena instinctively glanced at Bonnie. For once, Bonnie appeared to have the self-control to keep her thoughts to herself.
"Sorry for all of us being super weird about this," said Korrina. "I'm sure this isn't what you wanted to talk about."
Serena leaned her head back against the fence post and looked up at the sky.
"Not really," she said. "Honestly, though, I guess it was time. I haven't talked about any of this stuff with anyone in months. I haven't talked about anything in months."
"Well, we apologize for forcing the issue," said Clemont. "I think I can once again speak for everyone in saying that we all could have conducted ourselves more tactfully."
Korrina nodded. Bonnie frowned and looked away.
"Me too," said Serena.
"It is not your fault that this conversation went off on such a bizarre and inappropriate tangent," said Clemont. "There's no need for you to apologize."
Serena turned her head toward Clemont.
"Are you serious?" she said, an incredulous eyebrow raised. "Did you listen to my story at all? I ruined everything and kept everyone in the dark about it for months!"
"We listened," said Clemont. "You made it all very clear."
"Then…"
Serena shut her eyes and grimaced as she dug for the words.
"Then what are you all still doing here? Why are you wasting your time with me? I pushed you all away! I basically ruined an innocent girl's life! I pretty much literally lost my mind! And I threw away the relationship that apparently all of you were rooting for! Why would you even want to still be here with me?"
Bonnie mirrored Serena's incredulous face for a moment.
"Because we're your friends, dummy."
Serena's mouth opened, but she said nothing. Before she could speak, there was a hitch in her breath, one which silenced her words and replaced them with tears. There was no stopping the coming tide. She drew her knees up to her chest and hid her face. Shame washed over her again.
"I think it's perfectly clear that you didn't mean to harm anyone," said Clemont. "In fact, I would say that anyone who knows you at all understands that. You would never hurt anyone on purpose."
Serena wanted to agree, but she remembered it all too well. She remembered trashing the loft. She remembered the feeling of the fabric of Lillie's pillow as she strangled it on the floor, trying to wring from it a life it did not possess. She remembered Lillie's handwriting, spelling out words no one was ever meant to read.
She wanted to explain, but instead, she only stared vacantly into the coarse fabric covering her knees. She did so for quite some time until she felt a hand on her shoulder.
It was Clemont. Serena revealed enough of her face to take a quick glance at him and then hid again.
"It's clear that you regret what you did," said Clemont. "It's obvious that you are genuinely remorseful. And, correct me if I am wrong, but it also seems obvious that you exiled yourself here as some sort of penance for what you did. You've been punishing yourself, haven't you?"
Serena wanted to answer the question with both yes and not enough. All she managed was a nod.
"And furthermore," said Clemont, "it is obvious that you have suffered enough. You've paid your debt. You don't have to do this anymore. You can start over again."
Serena peeked another glance at Clemont. When she spoke, her voice was meek.
"But what can I do?" she said. "I can't go back to Ash!"
"That's not what I'm suggesting, actually," said Clemont.
A clever look crossed Clemont's face, one which Serena knew well. It was the same look he always had when he just so happened to have created an invention that was helpful for whatever absurdly specific scenario they were in.
Serena took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She was certain she was going to snap if Clemont tried to offer the services of a time machine or something else ridiculous.
But that wasn't what happened at all. Instead, Clemont removed his hand from Serena's shoulder and he reached into one of his many pockets. He pulled out an envelope.
"I have a proposition for you."
Serena stalked up to the barn door and slid it aside. Ribombee fluttering behind her, she entered. As soon as she was inside, she stopped and folded her arms, her eyes squarely on her mother. Near the rear of the barn, Grace was fitting a saddle on Rhyhorn.
Several seconds passed while Serena stood in front of the entrance, waiting to be acknowledged. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She knew her mother was well aware of her presence. She figured her mother probably also knew why she was here.
There was a whoosh of fabric against fabric as Grace pulled a strap through a buckle loop and tightened it. Without looking up from her work, she spoke.
"So, you got the offer, I see."
Serena unfurled her arms and stepped forward. As she approached her mother, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the letter. With only Rhyhorn separating the two of them, she stopped. Brandishing the letter, she glared.
"Explain."
Grace's lips turned upward into a sly smile. She gave the strap another firm tug, then looked up.
"Surprised?" she said.
"Of course I'm surprised!" said Serena. "You knew about all of this! You kept this a secret from me!"
"I thought it would be better that way."
"How long have you known?"
"Not long."
"How long."
"Less than two weeks."
"Two weeks?" said Serena. She held both hands up to her head for a moment, then flung them into the air in exasperation and let them fall to her sides. The letter slapped against her leg. Rhyhorn grunted at the sound and glanced up at her.
"Less than two weeks," said Grace. "More like ten days."
"Ten days?" said Serena. "Are you serious? You've known for ten days that they were coming here to see me and said nothing?!"
Ribombee zoomed around in circles high above Serena's head. Grace looked up at Ribombee for a moment, then back at Serena.
"I didn't think you would be so upset about it."
"I've been here alone for months!" said Serena. "Don't you think I would have wanted to know my friends were coming to see me? Not to mention why they were coming?"
Grace tightened her lips for a moment.
"Well, yes."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I had good reason to think you might not stick around to see them."
"What?"
"Serena."
The way Grace said it was so flat, so deflating that it immediately took the wind out of Serena's sails, the way only a mother using her child's name could.
"I was afraid you would run away again," said Grace.
"Why do you think I would do that?" said Serena.
"You did it not that long ago."
Serena's jaw tightened.
"Mom."
"I'm not calling you a coward," said Grace.
"Good, because I'm not!"
"It's just that there's… precedent for you running away from problems."
"My friends coming to see me isn't a problem!"
"No, but it's obvious that you're here because you're avoiding something," said Grace. "If you were willing to run away from Ash, it seemed likely that you would be willing to run away from your friends, too."
Her mouth shut tight, Serena bit down on her tongue. There was a bitter irony in accusing her mother of keeping secrets from her. There was so much Serena had intentionally left unsaid. Her mother knew that she went to Alola with Ash, and that there was another girl, and that even though she tried her best to be friends with her, things didn't work out in the end.
That was the safe-for-moms version of the story, anyway. A neat little package that made everything sound like it was another rehash of one of the oldest stories ever told. Boy meets girl, boy meets another girl, the rest is history. It was technically all true. It wasn't a lie.
Except that the condensed version of the story left out basically every important detail, especially all the ones which reflected poorly upon her and her judgment, or lack thereof.
And her mother wasn't a fool. Serena knew she knew it. Not the specific details - there was no way she could know those - but that there were details being hidden. And for just a moment, those details sat on the tip of Serena's tongue, waiting to be spilled, waiting to burst through the dam and finally tear down the wall of secrecy.
But Serena remained silent, Grace spoke again.
"You're punishing yourself by being here. I don't know why, but I do know that you've suffered more than enough."
Serena tried to resist the instinctual widening of her eyes. Clemont had used almost the exact same words.
"As much as I appreciate having your help around here, you have nothing to gain by staying here," said Grace. "So, I thought it might be nice if you were with your friends again."
"What did you tell them? And who did you tell?"
Serena's voice raised as she spoke. Imperceptible to her, but enough for her mother to take notice. Grace's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and she pursed her lips in preparation for a response.
But Serena spoke first. With her fists at her sides, she leaned forward.
"What have you been doing behind my back?"
There was a moment of electric tension in the air between the two of them, fueled by the memories of years of petty feuds and contradictory feelings. For a mere instant, Serena felt it slipping, her tenuous stance upon the foundation of goodwill she and her mother had spent the last few months laying. It would be so easy, so comfortable, so normal to jump off and go back to how things used to be, as natural and thoughtless as putting one foot in front of the other.
But that mere instant of hesitation was all it took. The momentary pause made all the difference.
"I wasn't trying to do anything behind your back," said Grace. "I just thought you would enjoy the surprise."
Her eyes locked with her mother's, Serena bit her lip and let out a long, deep breath. She shook as the air left her, the aftershocks of a barely contained anger rolling over her.
"I wasn't trying to trick you," said Grace.
Serena bit down harder and looked at the ground, trying to steady her breath. In the sort of roundabout way that could only make sense between two people with such a messy and entangled history, her mother's attempt at level-headedness was almost an insult. In some backward, twisted way, it was like a power play, yet another attempt at obtaining the upper hand in some perpetual, meaningless battle.
Had it been like any of their innumerable arguments in the past, Serena would have gladly turned her nose up at her mother, turned the sass up to eleven, and picked apart some innocuous turn of phrase in an attempt to weaponize it. This wasn't the same, though. The instinct was still there, but the fire in her stomach was gone. There was no fight to be had. Instead, Serena stood there, staring at nothing, inexplicably out of breath.
"Are you okay?" said Grace.
Serena shifted her eyes up toward her mother, keeping her head bowed. She shook her head, then quickly looked away.
"No," she whispered.
"I… thought so."
Grace stepped around Rhyhorn and approached Serena. She stopped a few steps short and looked Serena over. When Serena looked up, she found her mother mirroring a posture that was all too familiar, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. As many times as she had done it herself, it was disarming to see her mother so transparently vulnerable.
"I wish I could tell you that this is one of those mothers always know things," said Grace. "Honestly, though, I only recognize it because I've been through it, too."
Serena's eyes grew a little bit wider.
"You have?"
"I know what it's like to choose to punish yourself," said Grace.
"I'm not punishing myself."
"Then what are you doing?"
"I'm doing what's right."
"It may feel like the right thing to do, but it won't get you anywhere."
"It's what I deserve."
"Maybe in your eyes. Not in anyone else's, though. The world didn't ask you to do this. No one did. None of your friends wanted to see you do this to yourself."
"They didn't see what happened. No one else did. I deserve this, trust me."
"Are you deserve to spend your youth alone, devoting your days to endless labor when you could instead be seeing the world with your friends?"
"Yes."
There was a measured pause.
"I'm not going to ask what happened," said Grace. "I hope you'll rethink that, though."
"I… hurt people who didn't deserve it," said Serena. "I told a lot of lies."
"I think you're still telling yourself one," said Grace.
"Why do you want me to leave, anyway?" said Serena. "I know how much it helps for you to have me here."
"Because you can do better than this."
"Better than what?"
"A lifetime of farm labor in a small town."
"Didn't you choose to do this with your life?"
"Yes, but for very different reasons."
"Don't you want me to follow in your footsteps or something? Haven't you always wanted me to, you know, be a Rhyhorn racer?"
"Well, not exactly."
"Huh?"
"It's not about you being a Rhyhorn racer. It's about you being able to do all the things I couldn't do. There's an important difference. For your sake, I wish I had understood that sooner."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your future."
Serena resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It was her mother's favorite conversation topic.
"What now?" she said.
"I'm not trying to tell you what to do."
"Yes, you are. You knew about the job offer!"
"Yes, but I'm not telling you to do anything."
"You obviously think I should take it."
"I do. I want you to take it. But wanting you to do something and telling you to do something are different things."
Again, Serena fought back against assumptions born from years of experience. They were not the same thing, but they weren't always so different. Not in a war of passive aggression, anyway.
But the war was over. A ceasefire had been reached. An unspoken treaty signed. And so, Serena tried one last time to take a deep breath and step back from the edge.
She succeeded. Ribombee landed on her shoulder, releasing a mellow buzz which sounded very much like a sigh.
"Are… you really sure you don't need me here?" Serena said, her voice meek at first. "Taking care of this place is so much work."
"I'll manage," said Grace. "I need another pair of hands around here, but they don't have to be yours."
"Who, though?"
Grace looked out the open barn door and tilted her head in the direction of their nearest neighbor.
"Oh, there's a certain someone who is looking for a job and will be thrilled to have an excuse to come over here."
Grace's lips curled into a dry smile and glanced at Serena. Serena rolled her eyes and groaned.
There was no doubt to whom her mother referred. It was the boy next door. A newcomer to Vaniville Town, he and his family had arrived about a month ago. Why anyone would choose to move to such a place was a mystery to Serena. As far as she could tell, it was some kind of cosmic joke being played upon her, a divine gift given to her mother for the purpose of providing an excuse to drop painfully blunt hints about asking the boy out as often as possible.
The mere idea made Serena want to gag. The only thing more painfully obvious than the boy's attraction to her was how eager her mother was to set her up with someone so dull. There was nothing remarkable about him at all, save for perhaps his persistence at finding a contrived excuse to say hello to her every single day. He could not have been more of a blank slate if he tried. Serena struggled to remember any of their conversations, only a scant handful of them going on for longer than a few words. She even struggled to conjure his name. It was something particularly bland. It suited him well. Was it Caleb? Yes, that was it. Even if she was mistaken, that was his name now, as far as she was concerned.
There was nothing objectionable about him. Serena knew she had no reason to hate him. She had no reason to like him, either. Frankly, he also had no reason to like her. But instead, it was plainly transparent to everyone that he was smitten with her because she was the only girl of similar age who lived within walking distance and that her mother took a shine to him because of how safe he was. He was a guy who was never going to sweep anyone off their feet, who would never travel the world on a whim, would never do anything more dangerous than drive slightly over the speed limit. He was exactly the kind of guy mothers wanted to see their daughters bring home.
Or, at least, he was the kind of guy Serena knew her mother wanted her to bring home. That is, he was the opposite of Ash in every way that mattered.
While Serena flatly glared at her mother for the umpteenth time in response to this particular subject, her mother laughed. Serena was grateful that at least her mother had something resembling a sense of humor about it.
"I know, I know," said Grace. "The poor boy will be heartbroken when I tell him you've left."
Serena narrowed her eyes. Grace hid her mouth with one hand and leaned toward Serena, pretending to whisper.
"I'll just have to leave out that little detail until after he accepts!"
Serena raised an eyebrow.
"When I leave?" she said. "You're really going to let me do this?"
"Of course I am," said Grace. "When Clemont called here looking for you, he asked if he and your other friends could come for a visit, and I asked him if he could take you back to Lumiose with him."
"Wait, what?"
"You're miserable here, Serena. Don't try to hide it. You can't waste your life hiding. You're young. You have plenty of time to start over. Go."
"Why didn't you tell me that Clemont called? When was this?"
"Just last week," said Grace. "It wasn't originally the plan to keep it a secret, but while Clemont and I were talking, his father overheard and mentioned needing help at his shop, and then this whole plan to surprise you fell into place. It all came out of nowhere, really."
Serena thought for a moment. She assembled the pieces in her head, but a question lingered.
"Are there any other phone calls meant for me that you haven't told me about?" she asked.
Grace shook her head.
"No, just the one. Were you expecting one?"
Serena quickly opened her mouth to answer but stopped herself before she spoke. She wasn't sure what was more depressing - that she had to stop herself from lying, or the truth itself.
"No," she said. She bit her lip and looked at her feet.
"All the more reason for you to go, then," said Grace. "You've got nothing tying you here. Go be with your friends again. Get a fresh start. Have new experiences. Meet new people. Enjoy yourself. Live. Don't do… whatever it is you've been doing here."
"Waiting, mostly."
"You can't wait forever. Your life will pass you by before you know it if you do. Let it all go. Everything. Go explore while you're still young. Find out what's waiting for you out there in the world."
Grace tilted her head before speaking again.
"Maybe you'll even find out who is waiting for you out there," she said.
Serena wasn't sure what it was, but there was something about the intonation of her mother's voice that flipped a switch inside her head. On the surface, Serena knew there was no harm meant in any of it. She knew her mother at least thought she was looking out for her best interests. But beneath all that, Serena knew there was something else. Something unspoken. An ulterior motive.
So, she spoke her piece to life.
"I'm waiting for Ash."
Grace went silent. Her mouth closed. Her face tightened. Motionless, she stared.
"I know you don't think he's good for me," said Serena. "I know you want me to move on, but I'm not willing to do that. I love him. He loves me, too. He's going to come back to me. I can wait for him in Lumiose City just as well as I can here, and even if I go, that's what I'm going to do."
Grace folded her arms. She looked at her feet for a moment before turning away.
"You can't make me change my mind," said Serena. "It doesn't matter what you do. I will never give up on him."
Ribombee lifted off from Serena's shoulder, chittering as she zoomed around the barn in circles again. Grace returned to Rhyhorn and picked up where she left off on the saddle adjustments. She shook her head.
"The more things change, the more they stay the same," she said.
The next time Serena looked at the clock, it was well after dark. The rest of the afternoon and the evening passed in a frenzy of packing and travel preparations. Clemont called home and informed his father that Serena would be accepting the job offer and that they would depart for Lumiose in the morning. Serena tried to join the conversation but only got in a few words of thanks before Meyer took off running in response to a sizzling sound, a puff of smoke, and Ampharos hurriedly running across the room in the background.
Afterward, Clemont busied himself with Grace, helping her with several minor repairs around the ranch. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Korrina attempted to help Serena pack, but instead mostly proved themselves to be a hindrance and a distraction, all too eager to spend the time catching up instead. It was only once the two of them were both passed out in sleeping bags on the floor of Serena's bedroom that she had a moment to stop and think.
Seated on the edge of her bed, she looked at her bedside table. She reached for the drawer. Slowly, determined not to make any noise, she pulled it open. Inside was a neatly stacked pile of letters from Ash, with a folded handkerchief on top of them all. Double-checking to make sure neither Bonnie nor Korrina were sneaking glances at her while pretending to be asleep, Serena grabbed the stack of letters and the handkerchief and shoved them into her bag, concealing them from sight.
After closing the drawer and zipping up her bag to no response, Serena was content that she had been neither seen nor heard. She laid back on her bed and stared at the ceiling, too restless to have even a chance of falling asleep. It was the first time in months that she hadn't fallen asleep within minutes. Had it been a welcome feeling, it almost would have been nostalgic.
While the lamp blazed in the darkness, Serena lay there with her hands folded over her stomach, lost in thought. It was true that she had not been expecting a phone call from anyone. Somehow, it was still a disappointment that her mother wasn't hiding another one from her. What she was expecting, though, was another letter from Ash. Like clockwork, they arrived at the same time every week. Although, maybe it wouldn't this time. It sounded like the mess with Team Skull was going to keep him busy.
Still, her mother's call with Clemont wasn't the only secret correspondence in the household. Unless her mother had been spying on her or was far more perceptive than she ever imagined, her letters from Ash were a secret. Serena realized, though, that if she wasn't there to intercept his next letter at the mailbox, they wouldn't be a secret anymore. After her conversation with her mother that afternoon, that was one secret she wanted to continue to keep.
How could she prevent being discovered, though? There was no number at which to call Ash. He didn't carry a tablet or a phone. Every letter had been postmarked from a different Pokémon Center. He had always been notoriously difficult to contact, and that was one thing that definitely had not changed.
Serena thought. She fidgeted. She tossed and turned. Eventually, she gave up trying to think of a good solution and went with a bad one instead. Why not just mail him back? Maybe his progress would be slowed down for a week while he dealt with Team Skull. It was worth a shot.
Serena rose from her bed, tiptoed her way over to her desk, and sat. She pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen. She thought for a while.
Through the window, she saw two faint figures outside in the field, their silhouettes barely visible in the distance. Delphox and Lucario stood side by side, both of them leaning against the fence. Serena could only imagine what they were doing, their inscrutable conversation lost to the silent darkness. Ribombee snoozed on the windowsill. Serena wondered how she would react if she were buzzing around Delphox and Lucario right now.
But there was no way to know. There never was. Serena closed her eyes, took a long, deep breath, and picked up her pen.
And then she wrote for a very long time.
The next morning, Serena was unable to deny anything when she was discovered asleep at her desk, hunched over her finished letter. All she could do was hide it from prying eyes and cover her flushed face while she hurried to seal it in an envelope and apply a stamp to it. Bonnie and Korrina had seen mercifully little of the letter, but more than enough to tease her about it for hours. It only ceased for long enough for them to have breakfast and to say goodbye to her mother in peace.
When they left, Serena was caught off-guard by the sound of opening the front gate. It was the sound of silence. The weary, metallic creak which had served as a secondary doorbell for years was gone. From the corner of her eye, she saw Clemont take notice of her momentary confusion. Though he said nothing, there was no doubt from his satisfied grin that he had repaired it the day before. Serena figured it was but one of many things he had repaired, not all of them physical.
So, when Serena pulled the gate shut behind her, she did not look back. It was another glorious day in early autumn, with the leaves on the trees all throughout Vaniville Town just beginning to change colors and the first crisp taste of winter in the cool air. For a few moments, she stopped to admire the scene while she stood beside a mailbox in the center of town. Memories lingered while her hair tossed about in the gentle breeze, the letter in her hand flapping about as if it were eager to escape her clutches and begin its journey.
Her reverie ended when her friends called to her and she discovered they were already some distance ahead of her. Surprised at how long she had been daydreaming, Serena slipped her letter into the mailbox and ran after them.