Alphonse, the Buizel

I woke up. I instinctively look to my side to greet my sister, but the sight of an empty bed quickly makes me remember.

‘Right… She’s not here…’

It had already been a week of me being alone. Well, technically not alone, my parents were still here. Whether that was a good thing or not, however… That was still up for debate.

I knew I wasn’t going to get anything done by staring at the ceiling, so I forced myself up. I had to interact with them sooner or later.

I went downstairs, quickly noticing the aroma of… pancakes? Maybe? It had been a while since they cooked anything for me. These ‘family breakfasts’ were still really new.

New and uncomfortable.

“Morning treasure!” My mom said, her smile as wide as ever. I could only guess if she truly meant that smile or if it was another layer of denial.

“Hey mom.” My spirits were definitely not as high as hers.

“What’s with that tone? Didn’t sleep well, son?” My dad said from the other side of the room while he cooked. I knew they knew what was wrong, but as always, they kept trying to make it as if everything was alright.

‘Sure. Might as well play along.’

“Probably.” I replied, sighing. “Either that or I was more tired than I thought and I still need more sleep.”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we? Let’s eat!” Dad put the pancakes (I was right) on plates and gave them to us, saving one for himself. “Before that, of course…”

Both of them started praying… to Arceus. The one that threatened to kill me and my sister, along with my friends and the entire guild. The one that had a petty revenge against humans because it reminded them that they weren’t invincible. The one that killed another deity for being accepting and hopeful.

…The one that that human turned Cubone killed.

I felt so tired of it. So tired to not have them listen to me about what really happened. Tired of them forcing their religion to us and not admitting that there’s a reason their prayers haven’t been answered.

And now I was alone without Sanah, because they made us choose.

It had already been a month at least since the incident with Arceus. My parents clearly noticed something was wrong, because as much as a ‘religion’ this could be, it was real. A deity that answered to prayers. So when Arceus died, it was only a matter of time until they realized.

At first they thought of it as strange, but nothing more. It wasn’t until last week where they asked Sanah and me that question.

“Do you know if anything happened to Arceus?”

And of course, us, the oblivious kids, even though we were already past our 20s, trusted in them and told them everything.

Their response? Denial. More and more denial. After all, how could Arceus have died, they were indestructible! They were the hope in this society!

‘Yeah, hope… Sure.’

But we insisted. Because that’s what we saw with our own eyes. No, that was what we lived through. We saw Mark return to life, we saw him wither Arceus away.

The funny thing was, that was the part that they couldn’t approve of. Arceus dying? Impossible! Arceus attempting to kill their own children? Sure, that was okay.

It made me mad, and somehow that wasn’t the worst part.

They were so in their heads that they made us an ultimatum. They kept saying that the guild had indoctrinated us, that we were being brainwashed into thinking there was no god, as if we weren’t the few ones to be there to witness it.

So that was the choice. The guild, or them.

Sanah made her choice in a heartbeat, leaving the house instantly. But me… I faltered. Because as much as I hated everything about the situation, they were my parents, the ones that raised me.

So I told myself that I would choose them… for now. Because I knew Sanah forgave. Because I knew the guild forgave. Because I knew my parents didn’t.

So, I stayed here. Trying to change things, little by little. Was it working? It had only been a week, there was no way to know.

…I tuned out the prayers with all of those thoughts resurfacing. I just wanted to eat and get some fresh air. Luckily, it happened sooner rather than later.

As I left, I wandered around near town, hoping to see Sanah. We’d been seeing each other every day, in secret of course. After all, for all my parents could care, they only had one son now.

I approached the guild, not to enter it, but to see if Sanah was nearby. She was, actually, along with Dave and Tyson.

…Right, we did end up fusing our teams together, it was a long time coming.

“Alphonse!” She ran to me when she saw me, hugging me tight with her vines. Maybe it was because she evolved into an Ivysaur not that long ago, but I still always underestimated the strength she had. “Everything okay?”

She let go of me, I could only sigh. She already knew the answer to that. “What do you think?”

He furrowed her brows a bit, but judging by the reaction… yeah, she expected that. She turned back to the other two, nudging her head to the side to indicate they needed to talk alone.

Dave and Tyson, of course, being the amazing friends they are, obliged.

“Alphonse… When are you going to give it up?”

“I don’t know.” I replied, sitting on the stairs and hugging my knees. “But you gotta understand, they’re mom and dad, Sanah. I can’t just… leave them!”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re their kids! I love them, and they love us back!”

She sighed at that. “That’s what I thought too, Alphonse. But then they made us choose. They made us choose between them and our ideals. They cared more about their vision of the world than us. That’s how far they were willing to take it.” She slumped down, sitting next to me. “Do they really love us back if this is how easily they can abandon us?”

I couldn’t respond. I knew the answer to that, I always did. But there was that feeling in me that I couldn’t let them go, that I had to try and change how things were.

…But were they even trying to change? That was another question I knew the answer to.

“It’s just… hard, Sanah. We’ve been in that place since we were born, with the same Swampert and Sceptile taking care of us. Yeah, their views were always extreme, but I can’t just forget about all these years like they never happened.”

I felt the vines come back, wrapping around me. Hugging me and giving me warmth.

“I know how you are, Alphonse. Always trying to help others, it happened with Dave, it happened with Mark…” She paused, thinking about all the crazy stuff that had happened just a month ago. “But all I’m asking of you, is that for once, you help yourself.”

I looked at her, she was looking back at me. That loving smile that really made me happy to have her as my sister.

She had my back, I knew that.

“Maybe… maybe you should expect me to come to the guild tonight. You have a room up there now, don’t you?”

“I do! We thought of only getting one, but four people in there can get stuffy, so we decided to go two and two. You can imagine which one of us got the room for herself.”

“Heh. Dave and Tyson never change, do they?”

“Even after more than a year of being separated, Tyson comes back and everything is back to being alright.”

I smiled. The history of those two was… complicated. Tyson went to another town by himself, wanting to have a place to think. But the guild badge got a group to kidnap him, used as a ransom for that town’s guild. It ended… poorly, but he was alive. That guild took care of the Pignite, multiple months hospitalized. Turns out that that one letter Dave sent him without expecting a response was received the day Tyson finally fully recovered. All a stupid coincidence.

After so much time of stagnation, the team was springing to life again. Maybe… Maybe it was time I joined my sibling again.

We spent the rest of the day together. Mom and dad, as angry as I was with them, at least never bothered to keep checks on what I did out of home. For all they knew, I could be doing guild work, but lying like that never felt right to me. Was that because they trusted me? Or because they thought they had won this stupid battle they were against us?

Hard to say, but I appreciated the privacy anyway.

Eventually, it was sunset. The day with Sanah went quickly enough that I almost forgot what I said I would do.

Only almost.

“Will you be okay? Do you want me to go with you?” Sanah said as we approached home… Well, it wasn’t going to be home anymore.

“No, I… I think I need to do this alone.” She nodded. Yeah, she definitely trusted me on this.

I opened the door. Mom and Dad were immediately there. And their faces told me everything I needed to know.

‘Right… The window. They saw her with me.’

“Do you mind explaining what you were doing with her, son?” Mom said. “You know we don’t want you hanging around guild members.” Her tone was calm, yet demanding. As if she was trying to convince me that what I did was genuinely wrong.

“No, I don’t mind, actually.” I took a deep breath. “When you two made us choose, we both saw what it meant. Sanah acted on it, I was scared to lose you.”

They stepped closer to me. As if… 

…

They wouldn’t get physical, would they? They literally never did that to either of us in all our lives. For as extreme as they may be, they never laid a paw on us.

‘Whatever. They want to hit me, they’ll have to work for it. There’s a reason why I’m a guild member.’

“And what did it mean, Alphonse?” Dad said. No ‘son’, no ‘treasure’. My name. There were no family relations now and they knew it.

“It meant that you’re more willing to follow a dead deity than the ones of your own blood.” There was a hint of anger when I said it, even if I tried to hide it as much as I could.

And that’s when they snapped, Mom threw Razor Leaves at me while Dad shot a Water Gun at me. I dodged, it was pretty easy, honestly. Probably because as they attacked, they were furious… and scared. They weren’t thinking at that moment, just attacking in rage because of what ‘the guild took away from them’. Their words, not mine.

When I got far away enough, I noticed that they wouldn’t move, still at the entrance of our home… Former home. They were panting, as if not even themselves could believe what they did. But when they looked at me again, they frowned, it was a look of hate. One that I never thought I’d see from my own parents.

Without a word, they closed the door with a slam. I took a deep breath to calm myself, I needed that. It was already night time… somehow. Maybe I stayed on the ground for too long without noticing.

I felt a tear fall, it wasn’t easy, but it had to be done. If I had to choose a side, I’d choose the one that doesn’t try to convince me that what I saw wasn’t real.

I slowly walked back to the guild, thankfully all my belongings were already there. Not that I had many, anyways. Out at the entrance, was someone. Waiting for me.

Sanah sighed when she saw me, letting me get closer. She hugged me again, but this time I hugged her back.

“You did the right thing, Alphonse…”

“I sure hope so…”

We didn’t take long to go to sleep. I needed the rest. Mentally, at least.