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The air in the Ilex Forest is thick and ancient, like the trees that hung high like an awning was shielding a coveted secret. It smelled like damp moss, aged oaks, and the sweet, sweet scent of Apricorns beginning to ripen. It’s a feeling I find..some enjoyment coming back to every year. There’s always a part of me that starts to relax every time I step foot in here in honor of the annual festival held in Azalea Town. I wish my entire body could accept this moment of idyllic peace, but beneath that warmth, I can’t help but question if I’m deserving of this ‘honor’.
It’s not an honor that was forced upon me. It’s just a debt I feel personally responsible for because of…him. It was a phantom weight on my soul. The memory of an icy mask that made me call him Father before I ran away. I’m well aware that it’s been..twelve years I believe since I’ve last done any sort of training under him, but the guilt remains even now. I knew the Masked Man wanted Celebi even back then. It was the first thing he taught all his children, including Hao and I.
I can’t help but wonder if I’ll ever be free of these feelings. Logically I’m aware that the ‘me’ who was once a child of the Mask of Ice didn't exist anymore, but the forest doesn't always know that. Every time a twig snaps underneath my wooden sandals, I worry perhaps the spirits here remembered the boy who was taught to hunt things that were meant to be sacred.
There’s another part of it too that makes it hard to unwind, though, outside of my past. Most people come here, fresh off the heels of the festival in Azalea Town, for the chance to bond with their newly hatched Pokemon. Me? Walking under these canopies always feels like stepping into a conversation that had been going on for a thousand years. Perhaps it was a product of the shrine nestled in a corner of the vast forest, but there’s always so many voices; echoes of the past, whispers of the present, and ushers of the future. Both from things of this world and the next. I don't just see the trees either. To me, this forest is a sprawling network of silver-blue ley lines, a map of archaic memories etched into the dirt. Every Weedle crawling over a root leaves a tiny, vibrating trail of life-force behind it, and every rustle of the wind carried the faint, echoed whispers of the people who had walked these paths centuries ago.
I keep my eyes half-lidded, letting the physical world blur just enough so the real world could come into focus. The biophoton lights I’m able to see are everywhere here. They aren’t just glowing dust. They feel like tangible forces my body wishes to consume. Things like the joy of a newly hatched Pokémon in the far distance, the quiet peace of a resting Oddish deep in some shrubs.
And then..there’s Taeyang’s light. It’s like a halo that magnetizes, as if nature itself is naturally drawn to his pure kindness. Franky, I think he’s the only thing truly keeping me grounded as he saunters a few steps behind me. My darling Taeyang.. I didn't have to turn around to ensure he was still there. The shimmering thread that entangles both of our minds, our souls together resonates a steady and homey pulse of orange and lavender. I’m positive he can sense everything, which gets a bit annoying at times like these.
"Yiiyii~ You're doing it again, cher~"
Like clockwork, I swear. His voice startles me out of my trance, and I let out a shaky, uneven breath. I slow my pace to a stop. With a halfway turn to face him, a lazy, practiced smile drifts onto my face. The icy eyes that look down at me hold so much concern that it’s difficult for me to not just spit out all my feelings.
"Doing what?" I try to lie anyway. It was second nature to me.
But it doesn’t work with him. "Oh, ya know. Just that 'I'm listening to the universe and it’s stressing me out' mental state~" he gestures a lot with dainty fingers, meeting me at my side.
I can’t help but find myself lost in the way the flecks of sunlight highlight his warm, deep skin tone. I would have thought he’d been born to exist here if I didn’t know he actually preferred being indoors. The bright pinks of the yukata he chose only adds to how much his dark skin stands out. He really is a work of art, and the slight tug of a smirk upon his lightly-glossed lips told me he knows that very well. Behind him, Rosé, his Shiny Lopunny from our journey in Sinnoh, practically vibrates with energy. The way the two of them not only match in color palette, but also in energy, isn’t lost on me. I question if he did it on purpose to kill m-
Now don’t go thinking that just cuz you’re eyein’ me like candy means I’ll let you out of talkin’ to me, mon ami~ Taeyang’s mental ping rings loud and clear in my head. Can’t blame a guy for trying, though.
"..Ya got me~” I lift my hands like I’ve been caught in a crime, a smirk of my own mirroring his. “It’s nothing you don’t know really. Just…taking it all in."
My attention draws to speckles of the bright blue sky through the leafage. I’m not just taking in the view, though, Arceus I wish I was. Unfortunately, my eyes drift to the spaces between the trees. There, barely visible to anyone else, are the lights. Tiny, flickering motes of fluorescent green and vibrant gold, swirling like dust in a sunbeam. They were congregating toward the center of the woods, toward the shrine. They’re nervous. I’m nervous.
I feel a sharp spike of vanity and enthusiasm hit our mental tether. Rosé again, I immediately assume. He shoves his way between Taeyang and I, reaching his paws up to grab my cheeks and force me to look into his light pink eyes. I’m made to perceive just how different his lights are compared to a normal Lopunny’s; a vibrant, shimmering rose-gold that seems to push back the deep green shadows of the woods. “R-Rosé?? H-Hey, c-come on now, it’s really not that seriou-”
Stop being in your head!! Too noisy!! He lets out a soft, rhythmic thump-thump with his feet, his long ears twitching at the folds in rapid succession. Sometimes it’s a curse to be able to hear our Pokemon like this through my bond with Taeyang.
Taeyang places a hand on his hip in my peripheral, his smirk only festering more til I catch a glimpse of a fang. At least someone’s enjoying this. “You heard dear Rosé~ What say you, Yiiyii~?”
Another sigh slips past my lips as I take Rosé’s wrists by the thick, pink fluffs and gently push them away. “Alright alright. Just…it’s a bit of a sensory overload sometimes, that’s all. That and…well. You know how it is with Celebi.”
That’s the truth. It’s all so beautiful, yes, but it’s also loud. My headphones are down and around my neck like a reassurance, but sometimes I wish I could just flip a switch and turn the spiritual volume off.
"Oh, cher," Taeyang’s expression melts into something genuine. He steps over a gnarled root just to bring himself right against me, his knuckles tenderly stroking the apple of my cheek. A heat ignites beneath the skin of my cheekbones, but the sensation grounds me a little more. “I’m sure soon you’ll be able to stop seeing those lights when you don’t want to…And, well, you already know how I feel about that other thing~”
“...The spirits are just real chatty today," I murmur, my voice low so it wouldn't disturb the delicate equilibrium of the air. I lean into his touch, to Taeyang’s exposed wrist, placing gentle kisses upon the delicate skin. "They’re excited. It’s like the whole forest is holding its breath, waiting for a party to start. It’s a lot to absorb on top of him being on my mind."
“I know cher…I know.” His icy eyes relax into this dreamy, hazy look as his lips curve heavensward. I can tell how tired his soul is; he’s clearly able to hear them all, too, through our link. “Let’s..just try to make the most of it. Alright, mon ami~?”
“..Mm. Let’s~”
Thump.
Rosé's powerful leg hitting the mossy ground makes both of our heads turn. In my shamanic sight, a ring of pink energy ripples outward from his foot, clearing away the static of the forest’s whispers. Since when could he do that?? He looked at me, his nose twitching, and I felt a clear, sharp intent through the bond: Enough with the heavy thoughts, Yoh. Watch this.
In a blur of bubblegum-pink and cocoa-cream, Rosé lunges into a thicket of wild Gracidea flowers.
"Hey! Rosé, whadyu think you’re doing?" Taeyang chuckles, turning away from me and reminding me that he had his hair up in a ponytail. I can see the back of his neck…
I’m quick to avert my gaze, instead watching as Rosé moves with a grace that demonstrates how much he’s learned from the Pokemon Contests Taeyang and I performed together in. He plucks at the gratitude flowers like they’re his dance partners, with every leap, he gathers more. It’s a stunning palette of blossoms. Pale pinks, vibrant yellows, and soft whites. They’re all weaved together with nimble paws.
"Wow~ I think he got that move from me, donchya think, Yiiyii~?"
Taeyang leans into me a little, nudging my arm with an elbow as his eyes remain focused on the show. I watch as a microscopic, radiant glow drifts down and lands right on Rosé’s nose. He didn't sneeze or shoo it away. He just winked at it and kept weaving.
Like Pokemon, like Trainer, I suppose.
Damn right, cher~
Taeyang winks through the pipeline as he gives another Vulpix-like smirk. I just chortle as I shake my head, but the gentle poking proves..rather effectively. For the first time since we entered these woods, the cold weight in my chest starts to thaw. The overstimulation melts away. With Taeyang and Rosé here, it was just...an extension of home. I reach my hand down and interlock my fingers with his, giving his knuckles a firm grip.
“Come on, Taeyang. Let’s continue forward.”
“Alrigh’ cher~”
As we move forward, I can still feel the phantom itch of the Masked Man’s influence, like a cold draft in a room with all the windows shut. I grip onto Taeyang’s hand tighter in a silent protest. It had been three years since Taeyang and I stood together to stop him during our Johto league journey, but the memory of that day..it’s etched into my soul. I look back and see someone who barely helped my idol out back then. I know it’s a thought I shouldn’t have, and yet..
Yiiyiiiii~ You’re doing it agaiiiin~
S-Sorry…I just…Never again.
Don’t worry~ What is it you say…nantokanaru~?
I don’t respond even through the mental thread. My eyes naturally find their way up to him as we walk. Taeyang was thirteen back when he helped me stop the Masked Man, and now here he was. Sixteen. He leans into his strength with a grace that still caught me off guard compared to the boy who first decided to train me. He was a lot more ruthless back then because he had to be. Now? He walks with a light step.
His ice-blue eyes regard me with a glance. He doesn’t question my reminiscing. A warmth that embraces my synapses envelops me as he lets me have this moment of peace.
❀❀❀
The shrine’s as it’s always been; humble.
It’s just a small wooden structure weathered by centuries of rain and spirits, tucked away in an off-beaten path of the forest. To a normal traveler, it’s a photo opportunity. Something to pose by while a selfie gets taken before they continue on their merry way. To me, though, it was the epicenter of a massive, swirling vortex of life energy. I stop a few feet away, my eyes narrowing as I scan the spiritual frequency of the clearing. Any jagged edges, any lingering malice... Steady as my hands are, my mind’s back in that clearing years ago, seeing the sky turn dark as the Masked Man tried to tear the "Voice of the Forest" from its timeline for his own selfish gain.
Loving arms snake their way around my frame, a hand sliding securely into the opening of my yukata. It’s Taeyang..trying to feel my heartbeat. Earth to Yiiyiiii~ He’s not here, Yoh. I promise~
A mellow fire blooms beneath the skin of my shoulders. I feel strands of his bangs tickling my neck as I turn to meet his eyes. Up close, they’re ethereal. Icy blues with one, his right, being entirely fogged from blindness. This close, I can almost count the numerous freckles that scatter his cheeks like dark glitter. He’s real. He’s tangible. My brows frown as barely a chuckle escapes my grinning lips. I reach up and run my finger in his messy bangs.
“I know,” I manage out, finally letting my shoulders drop an inch. “I just... I can still hear how quiet it got back then. When the Pidgey and Spearow stopped singing because they were too afraid to breathe.”
Rosé moves on his own. He drifts over to the shrine with a reverence that feels almost human. His rose-gold aura softens until it’s a gentle, flickering candle-light. In his paws, he holds the garland he’d continued weaving as we walked. It’s a chaotic, beautiful mess of wildflowers and vine. With a surprisingly delicate touch, Rosé draped the flowers over the front of the shrine. The effect is instantaneous. The lights around the ancient structure stop their nervous swirling. They begin to settle on the petals, turning the flowers into glowing lanterns of soft pink and gold. The impact I’d braced for..simply vanishes. In its wake lies a raw, unfiltered gratitude.
“See?” Taeyang squeezes me tighter from behind, nuzzling a cheek into the crook of my neck. “Told ya the shrine won’t gonn’ remember that old man~ It’s remembering us~ It’s remembering that you return, cher~”
I look between the shrine, my boyfriend, and the pink-furred Pokémon who’s currently preening the fluff at the ends of his massive ears, looking immensely proud of himself. The blizzard draft in my mind just..melts away. Maybe I can allow myself a moment. It feels like a sanctuary here, after all. The voices of the forest hum with an approval I’m trying to learn to accept. I stand there, eyes still half-lidded, watching the way the spirit-lights begin to pulse in sync with the slow, rhythmic thrum of the earth beneath my sandals.
I pull away from Taeyang’s arms, approaching the shrine. My hands work delicately to adjust the alignment of the Gracidea and Vine garland, ensuring it stays in place for a while after we’re done. “Yeah,” I concede in a breath. “I guess it is.”
Something soft and smelling of crushed nectar hits the top of my head.
I blink, my sight flickering as a physical weight tilts over my brow. I look u- Or, well, try to look up, as a pair of long Lopunny ears brush against my cheeks. The culprit, Rosé, stands on his hind legs, his nose twitching with a look of supreme, self-satisfied mischief. He didn’t just make a garland for the shrine, I guess. He saved some material for me. He really was just like his Trainer. My fingertips magnetize to the floral crown that lay lopsided on my head, grazing the cool, waxy petals of a Gracidea flower. Judging by the smell alone, these are also the freshest ones he could have found. Figures.
"Haha~ Looks like you've been recruited, Yooooh-kun~" my boyfriend purrs, his voice dropping into that low, melodic tone he only uses when it’s just the two of us and the spirits. The way he pronounces my name when he says it like that drives me awol sometimes…
"I think he's tryin’ to make me blend in more than anything~" I scratch at my cheek nervously, a lazy huff of a laugh escaping me. "Hard to be a super scary guardian when yer covered in pink weeds..."
"And who on Arceus’s name suggested you hadta be the scary one~?" Taeyang counters, his smirk resurfacing. He steps back into my space, as if he’s physically unable to be out of my orbit for two seconds. And he..kinda isn’t able to, he’s pretty pathetic.
I say this, and yet his presence is a sudden, beautiful flare of vibrance in my vision.
He doesn’t just marvel at the crown- though there’s no doubt he does, I feel the sparkles of admiration in his very soul. He reaches out, his gel-nailed fingers steady and infinitely gentle. I stay perfectly still, knowing better than to move while he works. A tranquil grin replaces his earlier smirk as he begins to adjust the crown, tucking a stray vine behind my ear and centering the largest bloom right between the parting of my bangs. Through the ribbon that connects us is an overflow of affection. It’s a golden waterfall of reverence that dares to challenge the sun, washing away the last haunting echoes of the Masked Man's relentless winter.
It was...nice. To see how he views me through his eyes, I mean, even if I don’t a hundred percent understand it.
"There," Taeyang’s thumbs linger for a second against my temples. The contact sent a shiver of pure peace through my soul-circuitry. I want his hands on me forever and then some… He winks, adjusting his black-rimmed glasses. "Perfect~ Now the forest knows exactly who you belong to, Cher~ Well, outside of me of course~"
Without thinking, I lean deeper into his gravity, my eyes closing as I stand on my toes. My forehead finds his with ease. The lights around us dance in reverie, a shimmering aurora of celebration that mirrored the quiet, fierce love radiating from my lover’s heart. I take a chance and reach out, catching his waist and pulling him just a bit closer. For me, who's seen hell and lived to tell the tale, the most important thing I’m able to feel right here and now is the joyful beat of Taeyang’s heart against my own.
"Yeah," I exhale, rubbing my forehead all over his. "I think I like this version of the forest a lot better."
The aura around us settles. The constant pressure of the forest’s ancient, overlapping memories suddenly smooths over completely. The cacophony that had been scraping at the back of my skull all day even now smooths into a single, crystalline high-pitched note. It was a frequency that vibrated in my very marrow, making my teeth ache with the sheer purity of it. I felt Taeyang stiffen against me, too, his hand tightening on my shoulder protectively until his knuckles likely ghosted white. Even Rosé went unnaturally still, his long ears pinned back. Not the flat, defensive tuck of fear, but a rigid, wide-eyed awe that paralyzes his usual energy.
The lights. Those tiny, flickering biophoton motes I was tracking through the canopy begin to lurch, pulled by an invisible tide. They swirl around the weathered wood of the shrine, spinning with a sudden, violent velocity until they blurred into a brilliant, emerald cyclone that smelled of everything and nothing all at once. And then, a sound like a silver bell ringing underwater resonates out. It’s muffled, ancient, and echoes in my chest rather than my ears.
She appears.
Celebi unfurls, stepping through the seams of the timeline as if the air itself were a curtain pulled aside. She hovers just inches above the flower garland Rosé had draped over the shrine, her large, soulful eyes reflecting the entire, dizzying history of the woods in a single blink. She looks so fragile, like a sprout pushing through winter frost, and yet the sheer weight of her spirit is staggering. Her existence is a paradox like mine. Like looking at the sun through the veins of a single leaf; the light was too vast for the vessel, yet it held.
I hold my breath, my sight practically blinded. The purity of her aura is a searing flare against my retinas, making my eyes water. I feel that familiar, leaden lurch in my gut creep in again, in a way I can no longer ignore. The old instinct to recoil, to retreat into the shadows. I start to take a step back, the desperate need to hide my tainted past, all those harrowing edges of who I used to be, who I could have been, from a light this clean. I don’t want her to see those parts of my soul.
But Celebi doesn’t let me retreat. With a playful, dulcet chirp that cuts through my spiraling thoughts, she flits forward. She ignores the shrine. She ignores the meticulously woven flowers gifted to her as an offering. She flies straight into my personal space, her light pressing against my skin like a warm, physical touch.
I freeze, my breath hitching as she hovers level with my face. Her tiny, translucent wings hum against the air, a high-frequency blur that creates a localized breeze. It smells of petrichor, spring rain, and the aggressive scent of new growth tearing through soil. She tilts her head, her gaze boring into mine with an intelligence that spans eons, heavy and unblinking. In this light, I find myself unable to hold onto any thought of my past. It just dissipates.
She reaches out a small, leaf-green hand, her fingers ghosting over the flower crown Taeyang had just adjusted.
“Bi... Celebi!” The sound ripples through the clearing, and through our bond, a tidal wave of emotion crashes over me. It isn't mine, and it isn't Taeyang’s. It’s hers. A surge of profound, archaic gratitude that tastes like the rising sun on a spring day. It’s the visceral relief of a gardener thanking the fence that held the storm at bay.
She knows. She has always known I was standing guard in the periphery. She felt every grueling hour I spent meditating on the ley lines until my legs went numb; she tracked every shadow I chased out of the thicket; she heard every silent vow I made to keep these woods inviolate. She isn't just a legend I’ve burdened myself to protect. She’s a friend who has been waiting for me to finally stop staring at my own shadow. A couple tears stream down my face. I’m unsure what I’m supposed to do with these emotions that overflow within me. She doesn’t let me linger on them much, though, as she uses her small hands to wipe my tears away.
With a chirp of pure, liquid mischief, she suddenly dives toward Taeyang. She loops around his head in a tight, kinetic spiral, trailing a ribbon of glittering green sparks that makes him bark out a laugh. It’s the most wonderful sound I think I’ve ever heard; a sound of unbridled joy that echoes through the ancient trees. She nuzzles Rosé’s nose, the contact causing the Lopunny to sneeze a puff of shimmering glitter, before she spirals back toward the canopy in a streak of emerald.
"Yiiyii~" Taeyang’s voice is thick, caught somewhere between a sob and a laugh as he watches her dance through the leaves. "She... she came out for you~ You realize how huge that is, right..?"
I watch her go, a tiny, emerald-pulsing star disappearing into the labyrinth of high branches until the canopy swallows her whole. The lights of the forest are calm now, the biophoton trails and lingering memories all but gone. They simmer into a peaceful, rhythmic glow that pulses in time with my own heartbeat, a visual lullaby that finally hushes the noise in my mind. I reach out, my fingers finding Taeyang’s and interlacing with a familiar, grounding pressure. The flower crown resting on my head feels heavier now. It’s no longer a fragile decoration, but a coronet, a weight of belonging that I finally stop trying to shrug off.
“Ha…yeah. I guess I do. Kinda crazy, huh?" I say. My voice finally finds its listless equilibrium, the serrated edges of my earlier tension smoothing into something soft and permanent. I look at my boyfriend, the warmth in my chest feeling just as vast and rooted as the aged trees surrounding us. "I love you, Taeyang."
"I love you, too, Yoh," he whispers back.
We stand there for a long moment, two small figures in a cathedral of green, before we finally end up unpacking our small, quaint picnic.
❀❀❀
The forest is quiet again. But for the first time in seventeen years, it was the kind of quiet that meant everything was exactly where it was supposed to be. The sun begins its slow descent, filtering through the Ilex canopy in long, honey-colored rays. We’d cleared a small patch of moss near the shrine, spreading out a worn picnic blanket that smelled faintly of home. The small ceramic cups of Johtoan sake sit on the edge of the blanket, catching the last of the amber light. But the real star of the picnic rests in a modest, wax-paper-lined box between us.
"You're going to spoil your dinner, mon ami~" Taeyang teases, though his eyes are dancing with that familiar, sharp-edged spark of affection. He reaches into the box, his fingers steady as he pulls out a dark, slightly irregular truffle—the kind of imperfection that only comes from something handmade and poured with intent.
"Hard to care about dinner when you spent three hours tempering this," I murmur. My voice is thick, weighted with a lazy, alcohol-warmed honesty that only comes out when the world finally goes quiet.
I lean in, and Taeyang holds it to my lips, his touch a grounded anchor. The chocolate is rich, unapologetically bitter, and it melts the absolute second it hits my tongue. I can practically taste the effort in it. It’s the specific, focused vibration of Taeyang’s soul-spark when he’s honing in on something small and delicate just for me. It’s better than any over-sugared festival candy the kids are currently hunting for in the brush. It’s deeper, more complex. It’s us.
"It’s good, cher?" he asks. His thumb brushes a stray flake of cocoa from the corner of my mouth, the friction of his skin a warm, tactile contrast to the cool evening air.
"The best," I breathe, reaching out to catch his wrist. I pull his hand toward me, letting the lingering bitterness of the cocoa mingle with the crisp, floral burn of the sake sitting heavy on my palate. It’s a strange combination. A little bite, a sharp burn, and a grounding surge of sweetness. But it feels right. Again, like us.
Beside him, Taeyang’s most trusted Shiny Alpha Alolan Ninetales, Ailiseu, tilts her head. Her lavender eyes track a stray chocolate wrapper as it catches the wind in a crinkling dance. On one side of me, my Shiny Latias, Yua, keeps trying to shove her nose into my sake cup no matter how many times I tell her ‘no’. From beside me, my Alpha Shiny Absol, Yomi, lets out a low, rumbling huff of amusement that vibrates in the earth. Her senses are likely overwhelmed by the sheer, sugary domesticity of the moment, a frequency of peace so loud it almost drowns out the forest's song. I lean into her and adjust my Absol claw necklace on her.
The flower crown still perches on my head, a light, fragrant weight as I look at Taeyang. The sake has turned the forest’s bioluminescence into a soft, glowing fog, blurring the sharp edges of the world until only he remains in high definition. Through our bond, his soul is a beacon. Clear, radiant, and tasting of dark chocolate and spring rain.
"You know," I start. My voice drops into that gravelly, post-sake register, low and vibrating as I watch the kids in the distance. "Someday... when we’re done with all the traveling? When we finally settle down in Alto Mare..."
I feel Taeyang’s heartbeat skip through the bond before the thought even fully forms on my tongue. The frequency of his anticipation is a quick, keen spike.
"I’d like to ha—"
The peace of the clearing snaps. The heavy silence is punctured by the frantic crashing of brush and a startled, high-pitched gasp that cuts through the atmosphere like a blade.
A young trainer, who couldn't be more than seven, stumbles into our sanctuary. He’s clutching a freshly hatched Togepi with a vice grip as if the creature were made of spun glass. His eyes go wide as he nearly trips over Yomi’s massive, Alpha-sized paws. Yomi doesn’t bother to growl. She just shifts her weight with a bored huff, but to a kid, the movement must look like a mountain range rearranging itself.
"Oh! I—I'm sorry! I was just looking for the golden egg and—" The boy freezes. His gaze travels from the towering, ethereal frost of Ailiseu to the golden shimmer of Yua resting her head in my lap. Then, his eyes land on us.
His jaw drops, his breath stuck in his throat. "Wait... are you...?"
"The Quasar and the Nebula?" another voice pips up. A second child, a girl with a dusty Poké Ball clipped to her belt, scampers into the clearing. Her face lights up with the intensity of a Beacon Badge. "It is them! Look at the Alolan Ninetales!! And the Shiny Absol!! That Shiny Latias, too?? They’re the ones from the Hearthome City Contest stream!"
I feel a flash of that old, instinctive static. That urge to pull my headphones up and let the world blur into the shadows. Being touted as ‘The Nebula’ was never the goal of any of this. It was just a side effect of trying to survive Taeyang’s father. But before I can even shift my weight to retreat, Taeyang is already moving, his soul shifting from a lazy glow to a focused, radiant warmth.
He doesn’t stand with the cold, immovable authority of a Champion. Instead, he scoots forward on the blanket, his expression softening into something so tender it actually makes my heart ache with a dull, physical thrum.
"Hey there, little ones," Taeyang’s voice drops into that sweet register he usually saves for the Pokémon, a sound like honey over a low flame. He reaches out, not to shake a hand, but to gently steady the boy with the Togepi, his touch grounding the kid’s manic energy. "That's a beautiful partner you’ve got there, sugar~ Just hatched today?"
The boy nods vigorously, his small hands trembling as he holds the Togepi out like a precarious treasure. "Yeah! But... he’s so small. Do you think... do you think we could ever shine like you guys do? Like the Nebula and the Quasar?"
Taeyang doesn't offer a hollow, PR-sanctified answer. He reaches out and lightly boops the Togepi’s nose, then looks the girl straight in the eyes, his smile authentic and unfiltered.
"Listen to me, cher," he ushers, his Cajun lilt wrapping around them like a physical blanket, thick and comforting. "Stars don’t start out big, no. They start out exactly like this~ Just a little bit of heat and a lot of heart. You keep caring for him like you are right now, and I promise you, one day the sky won't be big enough to hold the light the two of you make."
The kids look like they’ve just been injected with a Rare Candy. They beam, their gratitude a high-frequency chatter as they thank him a hundred times. They scramble back into the woods, and in my sight, their spirits are practically glowing. They leave behind a trail of soft, golden biophoton light that lingers in the air long after they’ve disappeared.
I watched my lover as he settled back onto the blanket, a lingering, motherly softness still tracing his features as he looked toward the trees where they’d disappeared. He looked so natural in that role. So protective. So kind.
The sake, the forest, the flower crown... it all clicks.
"You're going to be amazing at that, ya know," I start again, my voice just above the breeze, vibrating with a rare, unshielded sincerity.
Taeyang turns to me, blinking, the residual warmth from the children still softening his features. "Hmm? At what, mon ami?"
"Being a mom," the words come out all on their own, anchored by a certainty I didn't know I possessed until this exact second. I lean in, locking my gaze onto his, refusing to let the mental vessel of my own vulnerability pull me away. "Someday... when we finally settle down in Alto Mare. I want to have a couple of kids with you. I want to see you look at them the way you just looked at those trainers."
The fluster hits him like a literal Thunderbolt. I watch the color climb. It’s a brilliant, soul-deep crimson that floods his face as his energy surges through the bond in a beautiful, chaotic heat. It’s a sensory overload of gold and violet sparks in my vision, but beneath the shock, the answer vibrates through our connection. It’s a tsunami of pure, shimmering yes. He leans over, the scent of handmade chocolate and spring rain following him like a physical wake. He kisses me with a ferocity that tells me he’s been dreaming of this exact future for just as long as I have.
"Sure, cher~" he purrs against my lips, his smile wide and his eyes bright with a sudden, tearful sheen. "I'd love to tell them your story while we do this with them."
The future finally feels like something I’m allowed to keep. It looks a lot like the box of handmade truffles: deep, sweet, a little bit irregular, and exactly what I want.