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The dreary afternoon sky over Hammerlocke cast the bustling city under a cold shadow. Dark clouds blotted out the sun. Bede hefted the shopping bags in his arms higher as he prepared to leave the crowds behind him and make his way back to Ballonlea. He didn't mind the trek. He was more than happy to spend time walking back to Ballonlea by himself rather than deal with another person. Sky Taxi drivers were friendly, but talkative.
Silence was always preferable.
Silence that was interrupted before Bede could set a single foot outside Hammerlocke. His phone burst to life in his pocket with a cheery jingle he'd never bothered to change. He rolled his eyes and huffed. What he wouldn't give for a few moments of peace and quiet…
Bede unceremoniously deposited the shopping bags on a nearby bench and dug his noisy phone from his pocket. A number he didn't recognise stared back at him. With a sigh, he accepted the call and held the phone to his ear.
"Hello?" Bede answered. Poised to end the call in a split second if it turned out to be spam.
"Hey, mate! It's Hop!"
Hop?
"What do you want?"
Bede glanced at the shopping bags on the bench, mindful that Ms Opal was waiting for him to return.
"Ah, I was wondering if you've seen Gloria around recently?" There was a nervousness to Hop's voice that made Bede straighten. His brow furrowed.
"I haven't. Why do you ask?"
A pause.
"Well…"
"Out with it. You've already gone to the trouble of calling me; you may as well fill me in. What has the Champion done this time?"
He was ready to roll his eyes. To scoff after hearing the latest of Gloria's antics.
"She's gone missing."
Everything went numb. Bede almost dropped his phone. He caught the device before it had fallen more than a foot, the world spinning around him. Hop's words echoed in his ears.
"What do you mean she's gone missing?!" Bede barked, jamming his phone against his ear as restless indignation erupted in his chest, burning his lungs.
"I mean, we don't know where she is, that's all."
"That's all?!"
"Look, mate, she ran out of an interview this afternoon and she didn't come back. I thought maybe she'd gone to you or something."
Bede exhaled a sharp sigh through his teeth. "When did this happen?"
"Uh… I think it was around two o'clock."
"That's over two hours ago."
"I know. We were waiting to see if she came back or turned up anywhere. She hasn't gone home."
"Have you tried calling her?"
Bede heard Hop scoff on the other end.
"That was the first thing we tried! She left all her stuff behind, including her Pokemon."
Including her Pokemon .
Bede dropped onto the bench before his legs weakened any further. He stared at the pavement in a daze.
"Bede?"
He swallowed, steeling himself, and his focus, back into place. "Where was the interview?"
"Hammerlocke stadium. It was after her exhibition match with Raihan."
Hammerlocke. Bede glanced up the street. The dark stone buildings became wedges of black against the grey sky. The street lamps had yet to flicker on, leaving the city in shadows as the sun dipped lower, hidden by the clouds.
She could still be here.
Bede's mind ticked over. "I'll let you know if I see her," he said to Hop, unable to promise anything more.
"Thanks, mate. I'll keep you updated if we find her!"
"Thank you."
Bede stood, slipping his phone into his pocket before drawing out a Pokeball. Hatterene appeared from the burst of light, her dark eyes fixing on her trainer. He wondered what emotions she could feel ebbing from him. The haze of thoughts in his mind were difficult to pick through. His gut churned with a myriad of emotions, each fighting their way up his throat, each threatening to choke him. He clenched his hands into fists.
"Hatterene, can you locate Gloria?" he asked, forcing the turmoil inside his chest to settle. He took a breath, then another. "She might be in distress."
Hatterene tilted her head, a bead of worry in her face as she studied her trainer. Felt each of the emotions he tried to quash. With a chime of affirmation, she closed her eyes. It wasn't long before they snapped open, her head turning to the side with a cry. She pointed with her tentacle down a side street.
Everything slowed.
"She's here?"
Hatterene chimed again. Bede stared down the street Hatterene pointed out, a trickle of unease settling in his veins before he brushed it aside. He scooped up the shopping bags with a curt nod.
"Lead the way."
They set off in the direction Hatterene indicated. Each step Bede took pounded beneath him and echoed the thumping of his heart. Hatterene drifted down a set of stairs and he followed, skipping two, or three, steps at a time. The coil around his throat tightened. He saw Hatterene glance at him more than once, saw the flicker of pain in her eyes as his emotions washed over her in tumultuous waves.
He set his jaw and focused on the streets ahead. They wound further into the streets of Hammerlocke, deeper into the city than Bede had ever ventured before. Away from the crowds. Away from the noise and the bustle and the people. Into silence. Accompanied only by Bede's footsteps, they powered on.
He wouldn't have seen her if Hatterene hadn't drifted to a halt, sounding a quiet cry. He stilled beside her. She pointed at the side of a building cast in shadow, a darker form curled up against it on the floor.
Bede's heart plummeted. The figure, that tiny form curled up into itself against the hard stone, shook. He knew at once it was her. He drew a step forward, his foot ghosting over the pavement, not silent enough as her head snapped up. Their eyes met and he froze in place. The look of shock on her face splintered, collapsing and fragmenting with pain before she dropped her head into her knees. A broken sob reached his ears.
The strength in Bede's bones crumbled and he slumped where he stood, the shopping bags tumbling to the floor at his feet. He heard nothing but her shaky breath. Not his heart in his ears, not the crash of cans and milk on the pavement, not Hatterene's croon of worry. Everything faded but her.
A step forward and she stiffened. Two steps and her sniffling stabbed like ice through his chest. A third and he could see how tightly she held herself, arms crushing her knees to her chest. Four was all it took to stand beside her. Even as she pressed her face to her knees, he could see the glistening of tears on her cheeks. Her body shuddered with every breath. He dropped to the ground beside her as if his legs had collapsed beneath him. She turned her head away.
Something fractured inside him.
"Why…" a tiny, quavering voice split the air. "Why are- are you here…?"
Bede's hand froze in the space between them, stopping dead in its path to touch her shoulder, to give her a gesture of comfort. His mouth was dry. Lungs too empty of air, too hollow.
His hand dropped to his side.
"Everyone's looking for you," he said, turning his face away from her.
His gaze dropped to the ground. In the corner of his eyes, he saw the way her shoulders shook, the way she rubbed her cheeks on her knees to force away the tears. Her quiet sniffling was deafening in the silence.
She didn't say anything. She didn't give any indication that she'd heard him or that she cared. That she didn't care that people were looking for her. About the worry she'd caused.
"They're worried about you," Bede said quietly.
Nothing. She said nothing in reply. Her silence cut deep into his chest, a cold ache gnawing into the marrow of his bones. Pain lanced through his heart. He clenched his hands on his lap, burying the urge to pull her into his arms, to hold her until she didn't have any more tears to shed.
Bede squeezed his eyes shut. He tightened his jaw as a lump wedged high in his throat. The weight of his useless arms, his useless body, fixed him in place, unable to do anything. Unable to comfort her.
A shaky breath escaped, making his bottom lip tremble. He swallowed.
"If… if you don't want me here, I'll…" He exhaled deeply. "I'll leave you alone."
She moved in the corner of his eyes. Her head shifted against her knees, turned faintly from side to side.
A knot loosened inside his gut.
"I'll stay."
His hands unclenched on his lap, the heavy weight crushing his lungs eased enough for him to breathe.
"I'll stay. For as long as you need me."
She sniffled, but the sound was fainter now. Her shaky breaths fell into a steady rhythm as she quietened. Bede calmed beside her, finding enough clarity in himself to return Hatterene to her Ball and type a quick message to Hop saying that he'd found Gloria. He put his phone on silent, not willing to risk the chance of Hop calling again.
They sat there, in silence, as the sky darkened above them. Street lamps flickered to life. The chill in the air became more pronounced as the minutes drifted by, the breeze rustling the shopping bags where Bede had dropped them. Strangely, he found that he didn't care. He didn't care what the time was, how long he'd been here. He didn't care that he'd be scolded by Ms Opal upon his return. He didn't care at all.
When Gloria finally lifted her head off her knees, the ache in Bede's heart returned. Her cheeks were red from the constant rubbing against her knees. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, her lashes stuck together in clumps and darkened by her tears. Her expression was hollow. Lifeless. She stared ahead, over the top of her knees, but her gaze was empty and unseeing.
With a heavy sigh, Gloria slumped. Her shoulders sagged, arms falling listlessly into her lap as her knees pulled away from her chest. Her head hung low. She sat there, motionless, as though discarded like a broken doll.
Bede looked away. A sliver of pain etched into his heart at the sight of her like that. The sight of Gloria, usually, - no, always - so upbeat and full of life, who smiled and laughed even when she stumbled, like that…
It hurt.
A weight dropped to his shoulder and Bede stiffened, a gasp catching in his throat. Soft hair tickled his neck. Warmth pressed to his side. He froze, his whole body going rigid, for a few tortuous seconds before he allowed himself to glance to the side and confirmed that Gloria was indeed resting her head on his shoulder. Confusion and shock burst through his veins with a torrent of heat. His lungs seized at the sight as he filled with warmth, as a furious and panicked blush rose up his neck to burn across his cheeks.
Wh-Wh-What is she doing?!
His brain short circuited. He couldn't comprehend how she'd gone from lifeless and broken to curling up at his side, her head on his shoulder.
"Sorry…"
Her voice was so soft and quiet, whispered in the silence between them, and stole the air from Bede's lungs.
"Can I… stay like this for a while…?"
The erratic pace of Bede's heart settled slightly at the heavy fatigue in her voice. He swallowed and looked away.
She was so warm.
"Sure."
He managed to sound calmer than he felt. The arm she pressed against sat awkwardly between them, his hand flexing on his lap. He stole a deep breath to calm himself. Waited for a tense few seconds, drumming up courage and sitting through the uncomfortable way his arm was squashed, before he shifted and wrapped his arm around her back. He settled his hand loosely on her waist, supporting her against him. She softened into him. Sagged into the space his arm had left.
Her whisper sounded so loud in the silence.
"Thank you…"
Bede couldn't reply with his heart in his throat. All she'd have to do is glance up, to look at his face, and she'd see the effect she was having on him. His cheeks scorched red. His gaze flickered from one thing to the next, unable to focus on any one thing for long, not without snapping back to her in disbelief. He didn't know what was happening. He didn't know how to react, or if he should, or what to do about the situation at all.
He no longer felt cold.
"Did you tell them I was here…?" she asked.
Bede swallowed again, his tongue feeling too large and clumsy in his mouth. "No. I messaged Hop to let him know I had found you, that's all."
He felt her sigh against him.
"I didn't mean to… worry anyone…"
The guilt in her tone drew his eyes back to her. A glimmer of light had returned to her eyes, but it was a pale comparison to the blaze that usually burned in its place.
"That's what tends to happen when you up and vanish for hours," Bede said lightly.
Silence descended over them again. Sounds from the city began to drift by in the night; a door clicking shut, mingled voices and laughter in the distance. A Corviknight beating its wings overhead. The world continued on around them but for the moment, it was as though time sat still. As though they were in a world of their own, separated from the passage of time.
"Are you… not going to ask why I ran away?" Gloria asked.
"I didn't think you would've wanted me to," he said honestly. "Although, I must admit that I am curious. It's not like you to leave in the middle of an interview, let alone disappear without your Pokemon."
"Mm…"
"Whatever did happen, you should speak to someone about it. We- Everyone was worried about you."
"How did you find me?"
"Hatterene found you."
"Oh. I guess she could sense me…" Gloria sighed. "All my stuff is still there… I don't want to go back there…"
"I'm sure you can get someone to collect your stuff for you. You're the Champion, after all."
"Mm…"
Silence.
"So… they didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"Why I left the interview."
"All Hop said was that you left halfway through an interview after your match."
Gloria shifted slightly, her face turning further into Bede's shoulder. It muffled her voice, but he still heard her clearly as though she'd spoken into his ear.
"They asked me about the Darkest Day. I couldn't… It was like I was back there . So I ran and... I couldn't bring myself to go back." She sighed. "And then I felt guilty for leaving, and stupid and weak and…"
"You're not stupid, or weak, for running. If anything, leaving means you left them nothing to work with, rather than whatever reaction they wanted to get from you. Arceus knows everyone has something they don't want to be asked about during an interview. At least your instinct was to run."
"You... really think so?"
"I do. I know that if… if I were to be asked questions about Rose, I wouldn't be able to keep my composure for long."
"Mm…"
Gloria shivered slightly against him. He glanced at her and saw her hug her arms to her chest, rubbing her arms for warmth. He reached over and touched the bare skin of her arms.
"You're freezing!"
She breathed a faint laugh. "Just a bit. I took my jacket off for the match and left it with the rest of my stuff."
Bede rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's get you someplace warm."
He drew his arm from around her back and stood, before turning to face her and offering his hand. She looked up at him for a moment. The sparkle had finally returned to her eyes, her expression one of ease. She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet and into his arms. She fell against his chest with a gasp, her cheek pressed against the crook of his neck, as his arms wrapped around her back and held her close.
"B-Bede?!"
He rested his cheek against the top of her head so she couldn't look up at him and see the blazing red burning across his face. His hands dusted up and down her shoulders and back, smoothing firmly against her.
"This- this is to warm you up, that's all!" he said quickly, flinching at the crack in his voice. "I'm not going to be responsible for you freezing to death out here!"
She grabbed the sides of his shirt, winding her fingers into the fabric. Her hands trembled there for a moment before slowly sliding around his back to rest there. Bede dropped his hands from her back to her arms, slowly running his palms and fingers across her goosebumped skin. A quiet noise, caught in her throat, met his ears.
"You're… You're so warm…" she whispered faintly.
Bede squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his jaw at the tremor in her voice. Heat pulsed through his veins with every thundering beat of his heart.
"That's because you're so cold," he managed to reply.
Bede smoothed his hands further down her arms, letting his warmth bleed into her. He rubbed gently up and down, from her elbow to where the short sleeves of her shirt ended, and tried desperately not to think about what he was doing.
He continued his ministrations for a moment longer before asking, "is that better?"
"Y-Yes. I'm feeling a lot warmer now."
"Good."
He dropped his arms, taking a robotic step away from her and busied himself with his phone.
"I'll call you a Sky Taxi," he said, deliberation focusing on his phone and not the adorable flush on her cheeks or the way she chewed bashfully on her bottom lip. She wouldn't look at him either.
"Th-Thanks. Oh, your shopping!"
Gloria hurried over to the shopping bags, grabbing them off the floor.
"It's fine." Bede shrugged. He'd forgotten about them. "Nothing in there needs immediate refrigeration anyway, although the apples may have a bruise or two."
She gave him a thankful smile and handed him the bags. "That's good. It'd be awful if you'd bought ice cream and it'd all melted."
"I wouldn't have cared about that either."
That made her pause. She looked up at him, her eyes gazing right into his. Studying him, studying his expression, the meaning behind his words. A question lingered in her eyes.
She glanced away. "Can… Can you message Hop for me? Since my phone is still with my other stuff and all…"
Bede ignored the flutter of his heart, wondering what on earth she'd seen in his expression, if anything at all.
"Sure. What do you want me to say?"
"Oh, um… well, I was hoping he'd be able to grab my stuff or get someone else to. I can't exactly organise that without my phone."
"Okay." Bede typed the message quickly as the Sky Taxi landed nearby. "Let's go."
She looked at him. "You're coming too?"
"Who else is going to pay for it? Unless you have money stashed in your pockets, I assumed you didn't have any on you," he said pointedly and Gloria pursed her lips sheepishly. "And I'd rather not walk all the way to Ballonlea in the cold, so I'm hitching a ride."
"Thanks, Bede." Her expression softened into a gentle smile.
A coil of warmth buzzed on his cheeks. Her simple smile melted something in his chest. He blinked at her, unable to think, or breathe, for a moment under her spell.
He quickly looked away. "You're welcome."
It was worth it to see her smile again.