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Once when she was younger, Lillie made the mistake of calling her mother beautiful.
Lillie smiles and waits for Moon’s coughing fit to stop. The champion pauses like she isn’t sure whether to laugh or not. “This will be a good one,” she says with a bitter smile.
Good one is their phrase for a bad one. A very, very bad story from Lillie’s childhood that makes Moon angry and heated like Wela Volcano.
Lillie touches Moon’s arm. “Calm down, Moony,” she giggles. It’s sometimes amazing to her that she can still giggle. She can still smile and laugh and enjoy everything she’d always wanted to.
That was why the two girls sit on the beach, in front of a crackling fire that Moon insisted on making without her Pokémon’s help; she always says it’s more romantic this way, and Lillie quite agrees.
Lillie’s stories aren’t pleasant to listen to, nor pleasant to tell. But one day Moon was holding her hand and lazily smiling at her in that way Lillie knew was just for her. And she told Lillie she wanted to know more about her, wanted to know her favorite flower and food and color and gemstone, and anything else Lillie wanted to be known. And Lillie had said yes, she would tell Moon all those things, but she wanted to tell her more. About the ways she was broken and damaged.
Moon had taken her other hand and clasped them both tightly. “You’re not broken, just a little…”
“Broken?” Lillie supplied dryly.
Moon rolled her eyes. “No. You’re hurt, that’s all. But you’ll heal. So yeah. Tell me about anything you want. So I can help you, or- or just listen. Anything, okay?”
Campfires are good for ghost stories, right?
So they made a fire one night, and brought snacks and blankets and flashlights tucked away in faded cloth bags that Moon pulled out of a closet. “My dad put his trainer stuff in these,” she said with a wrinkled nose. “I’m glad to finally use them for something important.”
On that night, Lillie told Moon about her father.
On many nights following that one, Lillie told Moon about all kinds of things she and Gladion had been through- hurled insults and veiled threats and uncomfortable situations.
Now Lillie would tell Moon about a specific day that she had never been able to forget. Moon smiles at her and kisses the back of her hand. “Go on,” she says, voice so low it makes Lillie shiver.
Lilllie pokes at the fire and watches it rise to meet the crooked little stick she’s challenged it with. It reminds of her Moon, so small and so strong. Moon always has the most beautiful of flames in her large dark eyes. She tilts her head up, feeling her long light hair, almost white in the blackness, fall back over her shoulders. The sky is dark, and the waves sound lovely on the shore. A wild Lycanroc howls somewhere in the shaded woods to their back.
It’s the perfect night for a story like Lillie’s. So she turns to Moon, heart leaping into a happy little cadence when she realizes Moon has been looking at her with unfiltered adoration plainly written on her face. Her dark eyes are warm with love as they meet Lillie’s pale green gaze.
Lillie holds Moon’s hand. “Have you ever wondered about Mother’s Milotic?”
Her mother hadn’t always been cruel, but she had always been vain. It simply wasn’t fair to put all of Lusamine’s faults onto Nihilgeo’s toxins. Her mother had always been vain, and old-fashioned, and overbearing, and completely sure that she knew exactly what to do at all times, including what was best for her children.
(Moon points out all parents are a bit like that last part. Lillie supposes she agrees.)
After Mohn’s disappearance, Lusamine became cruel. Lillie was too young to really notice, and Gladion knew enough to realize something was wrong but not enough to get away in time. They both suffered.
(Moon’s hand not held by Lillie clenches into a fist in her lap. She’s already worked up, and even while telling her serious story, Lillie can’t help but remark on how ridiculously attractive Moon is when she’s mad. Moon flushes dark but the compliment doesn’t alleviate her anger. It’s not really meant to.)
Lillie had always loved Pokémon- perhaps not the battling aspect, but all others. They were quite simply wonderful creatures who Lillie had always wanted to learn about. Her mother’s Pokémon were no exception, and she had especially fond memories with Clefable, whom Lillie had known since she was a Cleffa. But there were others, like Lilligant and Mismagius and Bewear. And Milotic.
“Mother, Milotic is so pretty! Just like you!” Her voice was small and high.
Lusamine stopped whatever she was doing- signing off on some paperwork, most likely. Miss Wicke, who was holding out a clipboard, dropped her pen. Her face was pale.
“Lusamine, you know she’s young. She didn’t mean anything by it-” Wicke fell silent as Lusamine raised one hand. The tall woman knelt to look Lillie in the eyes.
“Never say that again, Lillie,” she said, and her eyes were burning acid green and her lips were curled into a hateful frown. Her voice was soft and sickly sweet, like wilted flowers on a heavy summer day. “Understand?”
She didn’t.
(Moon sniffs indignantly, nose wrinkled as she says, “I’d be happy if someone compared me to Milotic.” Lillie replies that Milotic are stunning but can’t compare to Moon’s beauty. Moon becomes a bit incoherent in her babbling.)
Lillie tilted her head and looked at her mother. “Why? You’re beautiful like a Milotic.”
“No, stupid girl,” said Lusamine in that same voice that sounded sweet but dripped poison. “Milotic is nothing like me.”
(Moon’s warm voice drops an octave as she murmurs curses. She tells Lillie she isn’t stupid, not at all, she is actually so smart it’s a little scary and really very attractive. Lillie face heats up and she hurries to continue her story.)
Lillie hadn’t known enough to back down. Gladion wasn’t nearby, and Wicke was just silent, eyes wide behind her glasses. She wet her lips. “Miss Lusamine, please-”
“Enough.” Lusamine’s narrowed eyes never left her daughter. “Wicke, leave us.”
“But-”
“Leave us.”
Wicke had no choice. She left them, casting an anxious look over her shoulder, her heels clicking against the tiles.
Lusamine took Lillie’s hand, a little too tightly. “Come with me.”
They walked to an open pond. A Poliwhirl swam laps around in, while a gaggle of Poliwag cheered it on. Two Golduck were curled up, taking a nap near the water’s edge. A Corsola was singing a sweet tune.
Lusamine said something to a nearby employee in a clipped voice. He hurriedly procured a fishing rod. Lillie watched in fascination as he got a bite in no time. The young man caught her expression and smiled kindly.
“Hello, little miss. You like fishing?”
“I think so!” said Lillie.
He reeled the catch in easily. “I bet I got the Feebas. They’re hardy little things, but not too bright. It’s okay, though. They’re perfect the way they are, I think.”
Lusamine’s scowl deepened. “That will be all.”
The Feebas flopped onto the ground. Lillie blinked. It was cute, in a disheveled kind of way. Its scales may not have been a bright color like Magikarp, and it’s mouth was a little too big and wide, but its eyes were quite nice.
Lusamine stared down at the fish Pokémon with revulsion. “This is how Milotic start out. As these weak and ugly creatures.”
“That’s not nice,” Lillie pouted.
Her mother’s grip on her wrist tightened. “Ugly things don’t deserve happiness, Lillie. And ugly things don’t change. Milotic may look beautiful but it came from this disgusting thing. So don’t ever compare me to Milotic again. We are nothing alike.”
She took on a false smile. “Maybe Milotic is a better comparison for yourself, little Lillie. Now go along. I don’t want to look at you.”
“Yes, Mother,” said Lillie, smiling widely because her mother was smiling, too. Lusamine’s smile hadn’t faltered as Lillie skipped away. Her eyes were wickedly cruel. But of course, Lillie hadn’t seen that cruel glint until it was too late.
Moon’s expression is as dangerous as it’s ever been, her eyes narrowed and mouth curled in an angry frown. But when she speaks, her voice is soft- not the sugary softness of Lusamine’s voice when she was particularly annoyed, but Moon’s gentleness that never fails when she is with Lillie.
“When does she get back from Kanto, again?” she asks quite conversationally. Lillie knows her better. She sighs a small laugh.
“Moon, thanks to you, Mother could call me the worst names imaginable and I wouldn’t flinch. Not anymore. I’m stronger now.”
Moon leans into Lillie’s side “You were never weak to begin with,” she says. She sighs, too. “I guess the press wouldn’t like to see me beat up on a sick lady. Seriously, though. Can I- can I be with you when you meet her again?”
Lillie’s heart speeds up. She looks Moon full in the face, amazed to find the champion looks nervous. As if Lillie would ever turn her down.
“Of course- nothing would make me happier,” says Lillie, feeling her lips curve into a smile. “I would want nothing more than to be by your side. But won’t she- she hurt you, too. That day in Ultra Space.”
Moon is still. “Maybe. But I was still there with you. I don’t mind being there again.”
“Moon… we once discussed your journey. How it revolved around Nebby and I. How you risked so much and gave up so much for us. Isn’t this much of the same?”
The champion looks at her thoughtfully. “I told you then. I’d do it all over again. I wouldn’t do anything differently. Well, I might ask you out before you leave Alola for a couple years. Save us both some trouble.”
Trouble indeed. Lillie laughs lightly. “How gallant.”
“Anything for my lady.”
Lillie’s face heats up, and she imagines her heart does the same. It’s impossible not to react like this when Moon looks at her like that, like she’s the only thing that matters. Like there is nothing Moon would rather do than be with Lillie.
Lillie knows she’s looking at Moon the exact same way.