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Dawn, Lucas, and Barry needed to leave.
Even despite Giratina’s mercifulness in bringing Barry back to them, he hadn’t been awake. And he probably won’t wake up for a while. But they needed to go.
Cynthia had left the three of them to go find Cyrus, she’ll be fine. She’ll return. The other three though? They had to leave. Both she and the lake trio made it absolutely clear.
So Dawn threw Lucas’s backpack over her shoulder, letting her friend shift the other onto his back. And so, with the lake trio’s guidance, they left.
And they walked.
Walked.
Walked.
“…Is he still there?” asked Dawn, her grip on Lucas’s backpack tightening.
“…Mhm.” Lucas acknowledged.
She can still feel the other mitten, the one that didn’t have the lustrous orb stuck in it. That one felt warm, compared to the other which was cold. Horribly, horribly cold. She wondered how Lucas felt, his foot is bare, after all. It must hurt walking with that on the rough ground of the distortion world, on top of being cold.
But they walked. And walked.
Walked.
Walked.
All in silence, the only thing Dawn can hear is her own breath, and her own footsteps.
“…Is he still there?” Dawn asked again.
“…Mhm.” Lucas acknowledged again.
She doesn’t want to look back and see the two of them. She’s scared he’ll vanish into the distortion world if she dares turn around. She can’t hear him.
But Lucas can. The first thing they did when he was given back to them was establish he could breathe. And he did. So Lucas can hear him breathe, feel him breathe on his back.
He’s just sleeping. He’s not going to be a god. He’s not dead.
Not anymore.
But what if he was. What if Lucas disappeared with him when she turned around.
But yet they walked.
Walked.
Walked.
Following Azelf’s lead, with tired eyes. She can’t sleep yet. She walked, with Lucas, and their friend who must sleep on his back.
“…Is he still there?” Dawn asked yet again.
“…Mhm.” Lucas acknowledged again.
Dawn appreciated Lucas’s patience. It’s just like him.
But the silence was suffocating. Not even the lake trio had the decency to make noises as they guided them home.
What if they came home, and the two people behind her disappeared? And dreamed of the distortion world trip. Lucas went by himself, and he didn’t come back.
She doesn’t want that.
But she can’t look back.
She doesn’t want this dream to be taken away from her if it was one. Her dream of her two treasured friends with her now.
“…You two mean more to me than you’ll ever know.” Dawn said, not turning back.
There was a pause of silence between the two, before Lucas gave her his acknowledgment.
“…I feel the same.”
The freezing cold from her bare fingertips seemed to go away, hearing his response. But she doesn’t smile. Instead she asks.
“…Do you think he does too?”
And Lucas responds.
“…I don’t know.”
Dawn can’t.
And so they walked.
Walked.
Walked.
Even with the light of the lake trio, Dawn still can’t look behind herself.