.「 Truth 」 / 「 Ideals 」.

a mix of arguments, tension, manipulation, gossiping, fighting, & general emotional messiness!

you  weren't  supposed  to  hear  that.

don't  look  at  me  like  i'm  the  only  one  lying.

want  to  tell  them,  or  should  i?

you  think  i  don't  know  what  you  did?

i've  hit  people  for  less.

oh,  i  thought  you  already  knew.

that's  funny,  you  didn't  say  that  last  night.

say  that  again.  i  dare  you.

you  wanna  talk  about  loyalty?

no  offense,  but  if  you're  the  last  to  know,  that's  on  you.

go  ahead  -  pretend  like  it  wasn't  your  idea!

they  deserve  to  know  the  truth.

you  didn't  hear  this  from  me,  but  -

oh,  so  now  you  care?

don't  flatter  yourself.  you  were  just  convenient.

you  crossed  a  line.

we  had  bets  on  how  long  it  would  last.

it's  not  even  a  secret  anymore.

you  don't  get  to  cry  about  it  now.

touch  me  again  and  see  what  happens.

say  it  again.  louder  this  time.

you  really  thought  nobody  would  find  out?

don't  act  so  innocent.

okay,  but  am  i  the  villain  for  laughing?

tell  me  who  else  knows.  right  now.

this  whole  time,  and  you  didn't  say  a  word?

don't  act  brave  now.

you're  really  gonna  do  this  here?

it  wasn't  supposed  to  get  this  far!

you  can't  rewrite  history.

oh,  i'd  never  say  it  to  their  faces.

it  was  supposed  to  stay  between  us.

we're  all  thinking  it,  i  just  said  it.

you're  not  as  untouchable  as  you  act.

do  you  even  feel  guilty?

they  warned  me  about  you.

go  ahead,  make  it  worse.

if  you  repeat  this,  i'll  deny  everything.

the  next  thing  out  of  your  mouth  better  be  an  apology.

you're  about  three  seconds  away  from  regretting  this.

you  keep  pushing,  and  i'll  push  you  back.

they're  going  to  find  out.

one  more  lie,  and  i  walk.

they're  lying  to  you.

you  need  to  back  off.  now.

you're  defending  them?  after  everything?

don't  try  to  hide  it.

tell  me,  was  i  just  a  placeholder?

you  really  think  sorry  fixes  this?

there's  nothing  left  to  say.

don't  act  like  you're  the  one  hurting.

i  don't  owe  you  any  explanation.

whatever  helps  you  sleep  at  night.

you  should've  seen  this  coming.

i  hope  it  was  worth  it.

i  told  the  truth.  just  not  all  of  it.

you'll  miss  me  before  i  miss  you.

smile.  you're  ruining  the  mood.

i'd  watch  that  tone  if  i  were  you.

it's  not  my  fault  you  believed  me.

you  have  such  a  talent  for  pretending  you're  innocent.

we  both  know  this  is  over.

i  never  said  i  was  a  good  person.

This was the Fae Realm, so there was always a catch...right?

Not that she'd been mistreated in her time there, or cruelly tricked, but then again she'd been vigilant in her engagement with the fae.

Taking the panpipes in hand, Mina slowly clutched them close to her body. A quiver ran through her, as if blown by a winter's wind, as she stared down at the instrument. She nodded in response to Nelhian's warning, but for a long moment she didn't move. Don't look back if she truly...Her body tensed.

That was the only warning she gave them, before she threw her arms around the princeling and gave him a tight squeeze.

It was over in an instant, with Mina letting go and running towards the edge of the forest. Only her words lingered.

'Thank you.'

Nelhian had hoped that she would stay. She seemed happier, despite her earlier frustrations. More… herself. Yet they knew that holding someone against their will – human or not, wasn’t the way. That was something their mother had been trying to instill in their head since they had first met the not-human-not-faeling. Had it worked? Perhaps.

The princeling hummed softly, picking off a bit of moss to drop to the forest floor.

They could wait.

Mirroring the boy's enthusiasm, those amethyst eyes of Opal's squint when she swears she catches a familiar shame amidst the crowd. Nata has his back turned when she gives an echo-like cry. 'A-ron!' Nata whirls around at the sound of her voice, and sees Opal hopping jovially about as her nose pointed towards the rest of Avis Unit in the crowd.

He takes a few steps forward, and only stops when Blueberry hops down to race toward him. He knelts to her level and opens his arms to her as she rushes toward "Blueberry!"

As they make contact, Nata scoops the little zorua up in an embrace and does a little spin. Opal lets out chipper metallic grunts, still bouncing with delight as the others close the gap between them.

“– if I had known it was to meet you, kiddo, that’d be easy peasy!” Gemma cuts in, mock glaring at Alma as she ruffled Nata’s hair after he was released. “Besides, N n’I were drawing up plans on temporary capture pieces. So –”

“… May we at least get out of the way of the other travellers?” N said in a soft voice, smoothly stopping the conversation from engaging into a mock argument. “I also believe Nata would like a chance to breathe.” And perhaps get away from the water so they didn’t have to worry about the pokémon falling in.

A midst the murmurs of trees and the whispering wind, there is one that does not make a sound. Not so much as a rustle or the shift of shadows; in the gleaming eddies of light from the canopy, one moment it is only the flicker of leaves and the next? A white-haired maiden stands. As if she had been woven from the filaments of sunlight and the sweetness of the breeze.

In a Timeless face, dark eyes are stark against porcelain ivory features and the wisps of snow-white tresses tickling across her forehead dont quite hide the star-mark there. She gives N a pensive once-over, hands resting in the folds of a lavender dress that seemed to be of an era past.

( Perhaps this was a good thing, N thought, as he slowly moved his hands to where the stranger could see them. Anyone friendly always had something to hide. )

“I was listening to the forest.” he said in response, realising he was still in his head. “It is… very chatty. Today. I take it, visitors… don’t come here often?” N’s eyes narrowed a little, as if trying to get a better view of Amalthea as his head shifted.

'Oh, don't be afraid,' A voice rings out, clear for him to hear. 'Yes, it's a disguise, though I'm not a zoroark as you suspect. You, who was raised among them . . . you hear the voices of pokemon, do you not?'

'Can I ask . . . what is it you know of dragons?'

Anyone who asked about dragons and knew about his ability to hear the hearts of his friends meant that there was something more that they wanted. Wariness, as Blueberry also froze in response. The pair shared a look of caution, before N… slowly nodded.

“I know of them.” he said finally. The light stone made its presence known as Reshiram’s own attention had been gathered. “Why do you ask?” Who are you? Was left unspoken.