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You couldn’t sleep. And not for lack of trying. This had been going on for weeks. It felt as if ever since you had stopped Ange, sleep had eluded you, constantly taunting you but never fully committing, and when it did? It was frustratingly fleeting.
Intermittent and unplanned naps were the most sleep you were getting; most recently, it had been in Corbeau’s office.
He’d let you sleep, and you had woken to his coat draped over you. Shortly after you woke up, Corbeau had Philippe drive you back to Hotel Z with express orders to get some sleep. Orders. As if he could order your racing thoughts to cease with masked concern and a care package of high-quality lavender-chamomile tea to help you relax.
You couldn’t be mad at him, and you tried to sleep. But the minutes ticked by as you lay on your back, staring up at the dark ceiling of your hotel room, the wind whistling outside.
You couldn’t stop thinking about it. Ever since you set foot into Lysandre Labs, it haunted you. The things you saw in that dilapidated underground lab played in the background of your waking moments, and the echo of your footsteps in its empty halls sometimes came to mind when you walked down alleyways at night. You’d been able to distract yourself before with other things: Corbeau, rebuilding Lumiose, engaging in the Infinite Royale, running research errands for Mable, odd jobs… but now? Now, you had nothing to distract you, and your misadventure in Lysandre Labs came to dominate your thoughts.
The prison cell you’d found, AZ’s work- AZ’s greatest mistake, researched and expanded upon for an ideal world, a fresh start. The knot in your stomach only tightened.
You trusted Flare Nouveau; you trusted that Grisham and Griselle would lead them to a better future, one where the children of Team Flare would be absolved of their crimes. But the thought still ate away at you. What if there was still danger down there? What if someone else came along, saw what you had seen, and decided they did not have good intentions?
You had to know. You had to make sure.
You sat up, changing from your pajamas to warmer clothes, slipped your coat on, grabbed your bag and your team, and left your room.
The elevator ride down to the lobby felt slower than usual, and you couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling in your stomach as it descended. Maybe you shouldn’t go at this alone? Who would even be available to go with you? The rest of Team MZ was out in the Infinite Royale tonight, and Grisham and Griselle might not appreciate you poking your head into the past they were so desperately trying to leave behind. Emma came to mind, but you remembered she was out of the city for a little bit.
Corbeau would… likely be unhappy you weren’t sleeping.
You shook your head. No. This would just be a quick check. In and out. You had your team with you, so you weren’t entirely alone.
The elevator door finally opened to the lobby of Hotel Z, and for a moment, you were elsewhere as you stepped out. It felt like one of the first nights you’d stayed in Lumiose:
The lobby was empty, and you’d come out of your room to explore and to ease your anxious thoughts. You’d come here for a vacation and gotten wrapped up in a whole battle tournament amongst other things. Your world was changing in unexpected ways, and you just needed a moment to get used to everything. Just as you were settling in on one of the comfy chairs, AZ had found you. He’d made tea, and he invited you to join him with a caring smile, carrying the tea set to the elegant coffee table.
And he sat across from you, awkwardly spilling out of a chair that was far too small for him, Floette sleeping peacefully on a designated pillow. Even the teacup and saucer he held were comically small, but there was something comforting to it.
You blinked, realizing you’d been staring at the same chairs for an indeterminate time. You blinked back the sting of tears, tilting your head back to look at the ceiling and swallowing the trembling tightness that pained the back of your throat. AZ was gone. You had to remind yourself of that sometimes.
With a sharp intake of breath, you stepped out of Hotel Z, the cool night air stinging against your face as you began to make your way to the old Lysandre Cafe.
Your feet remembered the way, and soon you were standing in front of the cafe; the dark windows and chipped paint a foreboding forefront to what lay within. The door wasn’t locked, and you stepped inside.
The inside of the cafe was the same as the last time you’d been there, cardboard boxes of ceramic dishes on the counter, a small lantern currently turned off next to it. A thin layer of dust coated the surfaces, and the moonlight that streamed through the windows behind you only seemed to darken the shadows in the room. The air was still. You were alone.
You froze, staring dead ahead at the opened secret entrance to Lysandre Labs, a chill racing up your spine as you became keenly aware of your own heartbeat. At your side, you felt one of your Poké Balls shake, and in a burst of light, your loyal Absol was at your side, looking at you with concern.
You mustered up a smile, resting your hand on their head, “Hey buddy, I’m fine. I just want to make sure of something.”
Absol leaned their weight against your hand, tangling your fingers into their white fur.
“Promise we’re just going to take a look.”
Seemingly satisfied, Absol looked ahead, as if keeping a watchful eye out.
With newfound reassurance, you took the first steps down to Lysandre Labs.
Soon, you were in front of the main elevator, and something was definitely wrong. The hair on the back of your neck stood on end, and pinpricks of anxiety were starting to tighten around your ribcage. Absol pressed into your side, you couldn’t tell if it was a comfort or a warning.
The lab was eerily quiet, something that hadn’t been the case last time. Last time, you could hear wild Pokémon. Now all there was was the hum of electricity and forgotten servers.
Your own footsteps echoed as you approached the elevator, joined with the gentle scrape of Absol’s claws on the tiles. You still had the access card from last time, almost forgotten at the bottom of your bag.
The elevator felt smaller than last time, but it still worked. Your hand hovered over the button for the second basement level for longer than you wanted to before you pressed the button for the third floor. You didn’t need to see what was on the second floor again.
The elevator rattled for a moment, and you leaned back against the wall, the cool metal chilling against your spine as Absol continued to press against your side. You gave them a wry smile as you scratched the side of their neck, fingers dextrously moving around the collar that held their Absolite.
Absol had been attached to your hip since the night the two of you had met and always seemed to know just when you needed some comfort.
“I’m glad you’re here with me.” You sighed, “Let’s hope we don’t find anything, then we can put this behind us.”
It was late.
Corbeau took his glasses off, closed his eyes, and sighed. All reports were filed, and the ones that weren’t up to par had been sent off to be rewritten. All emails were replied to, and all meetings were long finished. It was finally time to go home and rest.
He’d sent Philippe home after dropping you off at Hotel Z, thankful to know that you were finally getting some rest. You had sent him a Goodnight text with a photo of the tea he’d sent you home with, and a soft smile had warmed his face on seeing it. On an ideal night, he would have taken you back to his apartment and personally seen to you getting some proper sleep, but the day’s workload had just gotten wildly out of hand, and now Corbeau was leaving the office close to midnight for the third time that week.
And he told you that you needed to get some rest…
Relaxing his shoulders, Corbeau donned his glasses and began to pack up for the night, but a bright red notification in the corner of his eye stopped him.
He sat up, looking at his laptop screen, and instantly, his blood ran cold.
Someone had used a keycard to access Lysandre Labs.
Immediately, his mind began to race on who it could be. He had made a promise with Grisham that neither of their people would go into the labs again, that whatever was down there stayed down there for good. Was it a thief? A spy? Mable was basically on house arrest at the Pokémon Research Lab, but the only other person he knew who had an access card was-
You.
Corbeau couldn’t pull out his phone fast enough; his fingers raced to check your location- you weren’t at Hotel Z. You were far from Hotel Z. The pit in Corbeau’s stomach grew, his heartbeat quickened.
Lysandre Labs.
You were in Lysandre Labs.
He called you immediately, praying you weren’t too deep in the lab where a signal wouldn’t reach you. As the phone rang, he began to pace, running a hand through his hair.
Your rotomphone stopped you just as you stepped out of the elevator into the dark of the third floor. Corbeau’s face appeared on the screen, a mixture of anger and fear that you hadn’t seen before, glaring at you.
“What the hell are you doing down there!?” Corbeau’s voice boomed through the hall, “Tell me what’s going on right now!”
“I couldn’t sleep.” You started to explain, only to be cut off by Corbeau.
“So you took a midnight jaunt into Lysandre Labs!?” He sighed, frustrated and trying to keep his rage contained, “Y/N… If you can’t sleep, you call me. Hell. You come to Headquarters. You don’t go traipsing into Arceus-knows-where for-”
His sentence cut out, the screen on your rotomphone blurred with static for a moment. When Corbeau’s face reappeared on the screen, static snow made the image fuzzy.
“-Stay- I’m - getting you—”
“Corbeau, you’re cutting out-”
The signal went dead.
Corbeau watched the screen of his rotomphone suddenly go dark.
“Signal lost” flashed across the screen as the call abruptly ended.
Now Corbeau was in a full-blown panic.
He nearly forgot to grab his coat in his rush to the elevator; his foot tapped impatiently as the elevator seemed to take forever to reach the lobby floor. And when the doors finally opened, he made eye contact with the closest Grunt.
“Car. Now.” It was cold. Dangerous. The grunt ended up booking it to where the car was parked as Corbeau barked out his next orders.
“I need you to get another car and collect Philippe.” He was already calling Philippe as the other grunt nodded and swiftly began to carry out that order, “-Philippe, our favorite do-gooder has gotten themselves into another mess. I’m sending a car, meet me at Lysandre Cafe.”
Corbeau ended the call before Philippe could get a word in.
Very quickly, the Rust Syndicate Headquarters, which had been almost sleepy until that moment, was abuzz with frantic activity.
And Corbeau left it, his orders given, and the car door frantically opened for him.
“W-where to, boss?”
“Lysandre Cafe.”
You blinked at the signal loss, your heart starting to race.
Everything in you was screaming at you to turn away, to take those two steps back into the elevator, to hit the button for the first floor and walk back up the stairs, back onto the streets of Lumiose, and to forget about whatever you were hoping to answer down here.
But something else, something deeper within you needed those answers. It was like something had taken hold of your hands and was pulling you, dragging you against your will down that dark hallway. Absol tried to block you with their body, crying out at you, trying desperately to warn you.
But you didn’t listen.
You had to know.
You stopped at the top of the stairs into the third-floor research lab and the abyss before you opened to the whirring of power, to the pale blue flickering of the large holographic screen at the head of the room as it came to life. The red lights of the servers outlined you and your Absol in a dangerous hue.
The silence was broken by an automated voice clicking overhead.
“Initiating security protocols… mega stones detected, routing power to critical systems.” The automated voice stilted and buzzed, static hissed between phrases.
Absol growled, lowering it’s body in anticipation of a fight.
Your heart was hammering against your ribcage, and your lungs felt tight. But your thoughts were clear. Deadset on a goal, everything else was desperately begging you to leave behind.
Something was wrong. Something was horribly, horribly wrong.
“Ac-activating- Project M.”
Project M?
You didn’t see that last time you were here. The project title flashed across the holographic screen, static intermittently interrupting it. You wanted to know more, needed to know more.
What else was Lysandre working on?
“Warning. This project is highly dangerous. Would you still like to release the locks?”
Something pulled at you to wait. Corbeau was probably on his way. It would be better if you waited.
But the fear you felt drowned out all reason.
“Yes. Release the locks.” You spoke, and your voice didn’t feel like your own. It felt like an imitation of your voice, stilted and uncanny. Dry.
The lab went dark as pneumatic locks popped open, each metallic hiss felt as if it heralded something.
And suddenly. You weren’t alone.
What stood before you was unlike anything you’d ever seen. A bi-pedal, vaguely humanoid form, but so very wrong at the same time, so very much like a Pokémon you’d maybe once seen, but uncannily so.
Its eyes locked with yours, and your head spun. It regarded you with complete and utter disdain.
Your Absol barked at it, backing up close to you as you swallowed hard. Your heartbeat pounding in your ears, wanting to tear itself from your ribcage.
What the hell was this thing?
The room seemed to shake, and you could hear the groaning of metal as the Pokémon before you closed its eyes and seemed to take a deep breath, as if deciding something.
And then.
Complete silence.
It opened its eyes, and you felt your body fly back as if it had been struck by a vehicle. You crashed into one of the servers, glass and wires shattering and snapping as you fell to the ground.
“ABSOL!” You cried out, your body screaming in pain, your voice yours again.
Your Absol heeded your cry, and the mega ring around your wrist began to thrum with the familiar energy of mega evolution.
“Can’t this thing go any faster?” Corbeau was beyond irritated now; he had half the mind to jump out of the side of the car as it sped around Centrico Plaza and whipped onto Autumnal Avenue.
“I’m driving as fast as I can, boss!”
His knee bounced violently, and the veins on his forehead were ready to burst. On his phone, he was checking Philippe’s location, checking your location, sifting through the security cameras in Lysandre Labs, trying to locate you.
You weren’t anywhere on the first floor, nor the second, nor in the elevator, or in the cafe waiting for him like he told you to.
The only place you could be was the third floor.
But the only camera that was functioning down there was the one by the elevator; all others had their signals cut by something. And that frightened Corbeau; he’d checked them on a whim last night, and all cameras had been functioning perfectly fine.
He tried to call you again, only to be met with an error message: “The number you are trying to reach-”
He tried again. The same thing.
His heart felt tight as it raced wildly, and his lungs struggled to pull in air. He was suffocating in this car.
And just as it was becoming too much, it skidded to a stop in front of Lysandre Cafe. Corbeau couldn’t get out of the back seat quick enough; he slammed the door behind him, told the driver to wait until he came back.
He didn’t have time to reminisce on his childhood days spent learning to read in the cafe, on the free meals he could count on, on the warmth from Lysandre before everything went to hell. You were in trouble.
Corbeau didn’t need to descend too far into the lab before he heard the crashing sounds of battle, the battle cries of your Absol echoing up the elevator shaft and sending him into a blind panic.
He furiously pressed the button to the third floor, almost kicking the elevator for not going fast enough.
Slowly, he could make out your voice, winded, weakened. The sounds of battle died down. You fell quiet.
No. No no no no no no.
The elevator doors hissed open, and Corbeau was past them the moment he could squeeze out, nearly stumbling headfirst into the wall. He barely recovered his footing as he rounded the corner, Scolipede leaving its pokeball in hot pursuit after him.
The server room was a disaster; shattered glass littered the ground, outlined in a slowly pulsing red light. It was almost quiet, except for your ragged breathing.
“-Rbeau?”
His head snapped in your direction. Rotomphone out, flashlight on, he needed to see you. You were sitting up against one of the intact servers, your Absol resting their head in your lap, completely exhausted from the fight.
“Did it work? Did I catch it?” You panted, eyes screwed shut at the sudden bright light upon you.
For a moment, Corbeau was confused; he couldn’t see any other Pokémon in the room with you. He almost missed the masterball in the center of the room. Sat perfectly still as if it had always been there.
“I didn’t know- what else to do.” You managed out, crying out in pain as you tried to sit up, “It wouldn’t stop.”
Corbeau was at your side immediately, the captured Pokémon completely forgotten.
“Don’t speak.” He quickly ordered, placing a hand on your back and feeling the sticky wetness of your blood on the palm of his hand. He sucked in a breath, gritting his teeth, “We need to get you to a hospital.”
“Is Absol..?”
“Exhausted, but both of you need medical attention. Now.” He took off his suit jacket, pressing it between your back and your jacket in an attempt to stem the bleeding. He would never be able to get the blood stains out, but he had so many more like it and only one of you. “I don’t know what possessed you to come here.”
“I think I have a guess.” You tried to say, but the breath you took created a sharp pain in your side, “Ow..”
Corbeau recalled Absol to their designated pokeball, his hands shaking, “Scolipede, help me out.”
As carefully as possible, Scolipede wedged its horns under you, helping to lift you into Corbeau’s arms.
“Boss!?”
“Over here Philippe!”
“Oh, Philippe is here.” You croaked, woozy from the blood loss and the sudden distance from the ground to Corbeau’s arms, “That’s nice.”
“Don’t say it like that!”
Your vision swam; whatever Corbeau was saying to Philippe was completely muddled, and you thought he was calling your name out.
You woke up sometime the next day–you think–in a hospital bed, an IV drip in your arm, and a plethora of bouquets on every non-necessary surface of your room. Your head felt muddled, and the memories of last night came to you slowly.
Lysandre Labs. AZ. Absol. Project M. The Masterball. Corbeau.
It hurt to think about it.
“Look who's up.”
Your eyes glanced over to the door, your head feeling too heavy to move. Philippe stood there, hospital coffees in hand.
“Philippe? Where's..?”
Philippe only motioned with one of the coffees over to the corner of your bed. You blinked, focusing hard and momentarily confused before your brain registered what it was seeing. Corbeau. Sat in a hospital chair, arms crossed, and head tilted forward, his eyes closed. You blinked and took a moment to take it all in. The gentle rise and fall of his chest, his glasses hanging around his neck, his shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his tie loosened, and the top buttons undone.
“-Was half tempted to ask the hospital staff to sedate him. He was pacing up and down the hall until you were cleared from surgery, and didn’t settle down until a few hours ago.” Philippe joked, setting one of the coffees near Corbeau. You watched Corbeau’s face twitch as the smell of coffee started to wake him, “How are you feeling, kid?”
“Like shit.”
“You look it.”
You gave a weak smile to Philippe, watching as he pulled up another chair and sat in it.
“Is my team alright?”
“Pokemon center downstairs is taking good care of them, but I think your Absol almost bit someone's hand off trying to get up here. Don’t worry, I gave them one of your sweaters, and that seemed to calm them down.”
Sounds about right.
“Thank you.” You let your eyes rest for a moment, “How bad is it?”
“Not as bad as it could have been, but worse than it should have been.” You could hear Philippe take a drink from his coffee, grimacing at the taste. Clearly, this hospital’s coffee was awful. “You had the boss extremely worried.”
“How pissed off is he at me?”
“Why don’t you ask me how pissed off I am at you?”
You opened your eyes. Corbeau was awake now. Already glaring daggers at you.
“Philippe. I need a few minutes alone with our favorite troublemaker.”
Wordlessly, Philippe stood up and began to make his way out of the room. You had half the heart to call to him and beg him to stay, but you knew it wouldn’t have changed the outcome either way.
The door to your room closed, and for a moment, it was quiet between you and Corbeau. The tension could have been cut with a knife.
“So are you going to start yelling at me or-”
“What. The Fuck. Possessed you.”
There it was.
“Do you have any idea what could have happened if I didn’t have security measures in place? You could have died, you almost died!” He pulled the chair up next to you, intent on making his points clear without looming over you, “You are lucky I thought to have a direct notification if anyone accessed Lysandre Labs- If I didn’t, you would have- I would have-”
He choked, blinking back tears. He pulled off his glasses, letting them fall against his chest as he buried his face in his hand.
“Corbeau..” You tried. His shoulders heaved as he took a shuddering breath. You reached out and took his free hand in yours, offering a reassuring squeeze.
“Why? I need to know why.” Corbeau managed, pulling his hand from his face. His eyes were red and rimmed with tears.
“Honestly. I think it was whatever that Pokémon was. But I also think it might have been something I needed to do. Ever since I first visited Lysandre Labs, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. So many good intentions went wrong in that place.. I wanted to make sure that nothing else was down there, that Lumiose- that we were safe. That I wouldn’t have to step in to stop the end of the world again.” It was a truth you’d kept close to your chest.
“Who said it had to be you? I don’t remember there being a decision that said the fate of the world was solely in your hands.”
You paused, unable to answer his question. Corbeau seethed next to you, and you avoided eye contact with him.
Corbeau made a deep sigh and said your name, firm with a softened bite.
“Clearly, I failed somewhere in making this explicitly clear, so let me do it now. I’m right here. Lumiose is my city, my home. I, and others, are also fully capable of protecting it. And if you ever need to talk to me about anything or if you ever need my help, know that I would drop everything to be there for you.”
You nodded.
“So, next time you can’t sleep and need to explore an abandoned lab, you'd better make sure that I’m right next to you. Alright?”
“-Or the next time you need to explore Lysandre Labs, you could reach out to your dear Auntie Mable.” You blinked, turning your head. Somewhere during your conversation with Corbeau, your rotomphone had accepted a holo-call, and now the holographic avatar of Mable was “standing” in your hospital room, one hand on her hip and a strained smile on her face, “Sorry to interrupt what was clearly a private moment, but I noticed something really interesting in my favorite research assistant’s dex entries. I figured holo-tech was called for in this situation. Voice calls are just so impersonal.”
The hologram of Mable turned to you; you could practically see the spark of scientific glee in her eyes. “Now then, let Auntie Mable explain to you why you ended up battling Mewtwo in Lysandre Labs.”
Mewtwo. So that’s what it was called.
“Try not to be so cheerful about it, your favorite almost died capturing it.” Corbeau growled from behind you, his grip on your hand tightening. You could feel his disgust at referring to you as another’s favorite.
“Oh, so they caught it! How wonderful.” Mable’s smile dropped, “You’re right, though, Corbeau. This is a fairly serious matter. Lot of complicated feelings wrapped up in this. See, Mewtwo is a Pokémon created by a scientist who was conducting research on pokemon DNA.. it has formidable power, which piqued Team Flare’s interest. We wondered if we might be able to use Mewtwo in the ultimate weapon. When we heard it had been spotted in Kalos’s Unknown Dungeon, we went and caught it.”
She was so matter-of-fact about it, not holding back any information or sanitizing the language. It made your head spin.
DNA research? A created Pokémon? Powering the ultimate weapon?? No wonder it looked at you with such disdain.
“Honestly,” Mable shrugged, “We still don’t know why Mewtwo had even shown up in the Kalos region. One theory was that Mewtwo came seeking the power of Mega Evolution. But even with all five of us looking into it, we couldn’t arrive at an answer. See, we had pieces of both Mewtwonite X and Y, but even when we tried using ‘em, Mewtwo never mega evolved. Since Mewtwo tends to mostly just hang about, saving up its energy for when it needs to battle, we put Project M on the back burner and forgot about it.”
“I almost forgot you were so involved. You do a great job pretending to be different now.” Oh, Corbeau was pissed.
You weren’t sure what to say; a lump had formed in your throat, remembering just how hard Mewtwo had hit you with its psychic attacks.
“The same could be said to you, Corbeau.” Mable sighed, “I don’t want to fight, I know better than to get on the Rust Syndicate’s bad side… but Mewtwo sure does like leaving me with questions, doesn’t it? Like, why awaken now? Was it just reacting to the Mewtwonite X and Y you have? Which leads to the question of why you even have those two Mega Stones in the first place.”
Her eyes narrowed at you, and you snapped back to attention, confused. Mewtwonite X and Y?
You couldn’t wrap your head around it, you couldn’t remember ever receiving such items. If you had, maybe you would have known better. Someone would have told you, or there would have been a letter, or something.
Eventually, she seemed to cave.
“But what do I know? Maybe now that you’ve caught it, Mewtwo will be a good little Pokémon and listen obediently to a Trainer with your skills.”
The thought left you sick to your stomach.
Mable didn’t wait for your response; that same fake sweet smile plastered itself on her face as she briefly looked away from you and Corbeau, “Anyway, this acting director still has a pile of work awaiting her. So I’m hanging up now. Bye!”
“Awful.” Was all Corbeau could say, “What an awful woman.”
His attention turned back to you, his expression softer.
“That was a lot to take in. How are you feeling?”
“Honestly. I don’t know. I barely remember catching it- but everything else?” You strung words together mindlessly, unsure if you were making any sense.
“That’s horrifying what Team Flare wanted to do.”
“Agreed.” Corbeau paused for a moment, taking a deep breath and relaxing, “Let’s focus on getting you recovered for now, and we’ll unpack the rest of it when you’re ready. I’m here for you, always will be if you’ll let me.”
“I know.” You smiled, leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek, “Thanks for keeping an eye on me.”
“Someone’s gotta. But pull that stunt again, and we will have words.”
“I swear on AZ’s grave I won't.”
Corbeau hummed an approval at you before deflating, exhaustion evident on his face, “Arceus, you’re going to make me go gray before I turn thirty.”
“Oh? My lovely Corbeau is still in his twenties?”
“Of course I- How old did you think I was!?”
Outside in the hall, Philippe was happy to hear the usual banter between you and Corbeau start up again. He breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that as much as Corbeau wanted, he couldn’t stay mad at you for long.
“So this is Mewtwo.” You eyed the masterball with apprehension. Corbeau had it on his desk, gently cradled by a soft silk pillow. You almost forgot that you'd been forced to use it. Now, you were thankful that you had.
“I’ve kept him in a safe place since that night. I wanted to make sure that it was your decision what we did with him.”
“Hm.”
Your back had healed over the month; thankfully, the cuts hadn’t been that bad, and you were promised very minimal scarring. But while you and Absol had made a full physical recovery, your mental recovery would take time. Corbeau had helped you find a therapist to unpack a lot of the last few months, and those appointments were helping immensely. That and being able to more comfortably confide in Corbeau helped, though you did occasionally hold back in order to not worry him too much.
Now came the moment to decide what to do with Mewtwo.
And now that it came down to it, you weren’t sure. You could try and show Mewtwo that humanity wasn’t all bad, but if he really was as powerful as Mable told you, would he want to be among human society?
No, the decision you made was kinder. You hoped.
“I think I’m gonna let him go. Not in Lumiose, that’s for damn sure. But maybe back at that cave he was first found at.”
“I think that might be for the best.” Corbeau nodded, standing up and rounding his desk to wrap a comforting arm around your shoulders, “Let me know when you want to go, we’ll make a trip of it. Just the two of us.”
“I’d like that. Maybe it can be a longer trip, I hear Anistar City is gorgeous around this time of year.”
“So I’ve heard.” Corbeau pressed a kiss against your cheek, “Anistar City then, just the two of us."