Chapter Text
“Are my sacrifices not enough for you, you UNGRATEFUL brat?”
“M-mother, please-“
“That boy is having a bad influence on you, isn’t he? This is why I can’t trust you on your own. You’re nothing but trouble without me, you understand?”
“They’re not a bad influence! They- they actually care- about me.”
The slap had echoed across the room.
“And you act like I don’t? Let’s make one thing very clear, girl. I am the only one left to care about you. Me. No one else.”
“That’s- that’s not…”
“Do you think your father would have left if he loved you? Do you think you’d have friends if people were capable of loving you? I’m here. Why don’t you care about ME? Oh, don’t cry. Come here, darling. We only have each other in this cruel, cruel world.”
~~~~
Mother was asleep. Good. That would make this a lot easier.
Howl’s ball was exactly where it was supposed to be, just sitting in a drawer like a spare trinket. It would be easy to grab. It was the last thing she needed.
So why were his hands shaking?
Margot stared at the bleached white drawer, empty except for the lone dusk ball that lay inside. It still had that sickening engraving on the side of it. I’ll break this, catch you with another one, Margot thought, as if he could hear her. After this, neither of us ever have to see her again.
As she reached out to grab the ball, it trembled, as if it feared the hand about to grasp it. “It’s okay buddy,” he whispered. “It’s just me.” The shaking subsided after a few seconds, and she was able to carefully scoop it up and pack it snugly into the backpack she’d prepared. The ball crinkled against the many plastic wrapped snacks shoved inside and she winced at the sound; how it echoed through the cold halls. He waited a few seconds, a minute maybe, two perhaps. Nothing.
He sighed. She hadn’t heard.
It was fine. This was fine. The door was right there, just ten feet away.
It was now or never. Everest would be waiting at the garage, and there was no way she would let them down.
She took a few tentative steps outside the sickly white mansion, making sure to carefully shut the door. For once, his mother’s insistence on perfect cleanliness worked in his favor, as the door and gates outside made little to no noise.
He tried to steady his breathing. A faint breeze could be felt, yet it chilled her to the bone. Everest had called her stubborn for not taking any of the clothes Mother had bought for her, and maybe they were right, but nothing she picked out had ever suited him anyways. Better to leave it all behind in one fell swoop.
That did leave her with a ratty t-shirt and shorts she had found buried away in a closet somewhere. How it had escaped his mother’s keen eye, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t complaining. If Margot ever saw another formal dress or tie again, he’d burn it on the spot. That was if Howl didn’t rip it to shreds first.
It wasn’t a long walk to the garage. The crisp grass crunched under their feet, sending pangs of fear into their heart every time. “No one will hear you,” she muttered to herself. “Just follow the path.”
Santalune wasn’t huge. She could make it out of the garden and to Everest if she just stayed calm.
~~~~
“Thought you’d never show up.”
Margot pulled her hood down and shook the volume back into her hair. “Mother’s a light sleeper. I had to be careful.”
Everest sighed. “You don’t have to call her that. Sure as hell isn’t one.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Meg,” they said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You got everything you need?”
She nodded. “There wasn’t much to bring.”
“I’ve got some extra cash if we end up needing anything.”
Margot smirked. “What, you think inflation affected the price of toothbrushes in Alola?”
“Ha ha. No, but it can’t hurt to have a few extra hundred dollars.” They dusted off the window of the motorbike and started to strap on a helmet.
He raised an eyebrow. “Ev, how’d you get your hands on a hundred dollars?”
“What do you think?” They handed her the other helmet sitting on the ramshackle table next to the bike. “And it was five hundred. Don’t sell me short.”
She blew the dust off of the visor and started adjusting the strap. “Dad?”
“Bingo.”
After the strap was fixed, he fitted it snugly on his head, turning his neck back and forth to make sure it fit right. “Won’t he notice half a grand missing?”
Everest laughed dryly. “When has he noticed anything I’ve done?”
Margot didn’t know how to respond to that.
Everest grabbed the keys off the table, tossed them up and flipped them around in their hand. “You ready?”
Was he?
She reached into her bag and placed a hand on Howl’s pokeball. There was one more thing he had to do before it was too late.
“Do you have a pokeball on you?”
A grin spread across Everest’s face. “Thought you’d never ask.” They reached into their pocket and tossed an ultra ball her way, which she managed to catch. That left the other one.
She took a sharp inhale. If mother- if that woman had woken up, it would be a matter of time before she noticed Howl was missing. It was only a matter of time before she locked the pokeball and trapped Howl there until Margot came home.
And maybe even then she wouldn’t unlock it.
Within a few seconds, she reversed the recall beam and let the polished dusk ball clatter to the floor. Howl blinked a few times, clearly disoriented, then stretched his neck and pawed at the ground a bit. Meeting her gaze, he tilted his head questioningly.
Without any warning, Margot brought his foot down on the ball, crushing it and shattering the invisible link between them. The black and green shards littered the ground, almost enough to distract from the sickening initials engraved into the scraps. The absol jumped back, sniffing the broken pieces as if trying to detect a hint of insincerity.
“Sol?” He inquired.
Margot kneeled down to meet his level and gently cupped a hand around his muzzle. “You’re safe now. She can’t get to you, see?”
Howl seemed satisfied at this, stepping over the litter to lick her face and nuzzle her arms. “Sol, Sol.”
She scratched his head, laughing softly at the tickle of his sandpaper tongue. “Howl, buddy, look at this.” As he stepped back, Margot silently held out the ultra ball. “It’s your choice,” she said. “If you want to go back to the wild, you can. But…I’d like to keep you safe for a little while longer.”
It had always just been the two of them. Margot and Howl against the world, even when the world kicked them down over and over again. Even when his father left. Even when there was no one to defend her against her mother. Even when she threatened to lock Howl away until he behaved, they kept trucking along.
“I don’t know if I can do this without you,” he whispered. “I— I need you, buddy.”
Howl booped the ball with his nose without a second thought. The red recall beam engulfed him and brought him into the ultra ball, but for the first time in years, the glow didn’t terrify Margot.
For the first time, the glow made him feel alive.