Creon, the Nidorino

The night was quiet, only the rustling of leaves around us. The almost full moon gave light to the empty park in front of us. This could have been such a beautiful moment, but sadly, it wasn’t.

“Are you… really, really sure about this?”

“For the fourth time, Creon… I am.” She was looking at me with those sparkling eyes that I loved. But I wasn’t looking back at them, I couldn’t, or else I would break down again.

We stayed silent for a moment. I kept looking at the stars, hoping that somehow this situation had some sort of happy ending.

“…Is it selfish if I don’t want you to leave?”

She chuckled sadly. “As selfish as I am for wanting to go.”

“Is there really nothing I can say or do to change your mind? I love you, Damone, and I know this is your dream but… I just don’t know how I’m gonna keep moving forward without you.”

“You will. I know you well enough to say that with confidence.”

“What if I go with you? I could pack my things and we could go to the Water Continent together, right?”

“And leave your restaurant behind? C’mon, Creon.” She nuzzled me. Another reminder of what I was going to lose. “That was your dream. Don’t throw that away because I’m choosing to pursue mine.”

“I can open another restaurant, that’s not an issue.”

“With what money? You should know better than anyone how much time you spent saving up, it’s not feasible to do it again.” She sighed. “Look, babe, I get it. This pains me a lot too, but… You have your career as a chef, and I am going to study art. It’s what both of us always wanted.”

“I can let my dream go, I just want to be with you.”

“That wouldn’t be fair to you, Creon. Neither of us should let go of our futures for this.”

“But this isn’t my future!” I shouted. “M-my future is with you, dammit! What good is my job if I can’t be with the one I love?!”

“I will visit, and it’s only for four years, I’ll be back eventually.”

“That’s not the same!” I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t. “We planned so fucking much for the future. We were going to marry, we were going to be happy together, we were going to buy ourselves a new place. A-and now? All gone…”

I slumped down again, trying to wipe my face off the tears I couldn’t stop. “I’m… I’m really happy for you, Damone, but… I don’t… I don’t know if I can do this…”

She pulled my head down and enveloped it with her own, hugging me tight. “I’m sorry. Believe me, I really am.”

We stayed like that for a few minutes until we saw the first signs of the sunrise. I knew what that meant.

“We should get going, I can’t miss the ship.” She knew those words would sting, but there was no way to beat around the bush.

The Mawile held a paw for me to stand up. This simple gesture was such a hard decision for me. It felt like by taking it, I was accepting that she wouldn’t be with me anymore. I looked up to her, she was smiling. Smiling sadly, but smiling nonetheless.

After a deep breath, I took it.

We walked in silence, not like there was anything else to say. There were one or two mons here and there, what you’d expect from such an early hour. But aside from that, the only sounds were the wind and our footsteps. It was somewhat relaxing, somehow. The view of the sunrise was also pretty, a good moment of tranquility after so much stress.

Then, the sound of the water nearby appeared, and the small feeling of contentment I found in that moment vanished.

It wasn’t difficult to locate the ship, as it was the only one stationed at the port. A pretty small boat, all things considered, could probably fit around ten or fifteen mons. She couldn’t afford anything bigger, especially not when it was such a sudden event.

“Ah, there you are. Miss Damone, I assume?” An Octillery greeted us.

“That’s me, yes.”

“You’re the last one to board, so we’ll leave in two minutes.”

After giving them her bag, she turned to me. “I suppose this is goodbye, then…”

I couldn’t respond, I felt too heartbroken, even if I just started to accept it. She hugged me, and I returned it, making sure to remember the feeling. I knew it would be a long while until I felt it again, after all.

“I… I hope you have a good time out there, Damone.” I said, fighting the urge to cry again. “I’m going to miss you so, so much…”

She sighed, but it wasn’t a satisfied sound, I could tell she was fighting internally with something. As she let go, her sight was fixated on the ground between us.

“I…” She started. She shook her head, grabbing something from between her giant jaws behind her. A paper, folded multiple times. She gave it to me. “Read this when you’re alone. I’m sorry for this, Creon. Goodbye.” She gave me a peck on the cheek, and boarded.

It only took some seconds for the boat to start moving, and all I could do was stare at it as it grew smaller and smaller.

“Goodbye, my diamond…” I stuttered.

I wasn’t crying, not because I didn’t want to, but because I already used all my tears earlier. I turned around and walked again towards the park. I didn’t even look at her paper yet, I was too deep in thought.

The place was a bit livelier now, it was still early morning, but it was late enough for some mons to be awake and around. Some waved at me, some others ignored me, and I just kept thinking the same thing.

‘Everyone else living their lives as if nothing happened, and meanwhile, here I am, having said goodbye to my love after six fucking years together.’

I sat on a bench. Well, no, not a bench, but the bench. The one Damone and I always used. It felt weird being alone now.

With one more look at the paper, I thought it was time to read it. As I unfolded it, the first thing I noticed was that this was rushed, the writing was more of a note you’d do at the last minute rather than something planned and thoughtful. Whatever the case, I started reading.

Hey Creon. If you’re reading this, that means that I’ve given up on hiding anymore. There’s a lot of me that you don’t know. And honestly, I don’t truly know if you should, there’s a reason I hid it from you, after all.

Whatever the case, I have probably left by now. I can’t stand being with you without telling you all that’s happening, and now that I am revealing everything, it means that staying by your side is putting you in danger. I will never come back, Creon. It pains me so much to write that, but it’s the truth.

Speaking of truth, it’s way too much to write on a note like this, so all I’m asking of you is to go to that abandoned shack next to the tree. You know which tree I’m talking about. You will find everything there, for better or for worse.

Again, I’m sorry, Creon. For hiding things from you, for leaving you, for making you get your hopes up even though I knew this couldn’t last. The only thing I can say is that, despite all of this, I still love you. I always will.

That… that wasn’t what I wanted to read. If anything, it just made my head hurt even more than it already did. What the hell was she hiding from me to warrant her moving away from me and never returning? What did she mean I would have been in danger?

I had to find out, so I sprinted into the forest. I knew what tree she was referring to, the one where we carved our initials. We used that spot as a meeting point years ago, and sure enough, we always talked about the abandoned shack nearby. We never headed in, but it was a mystery that we told ourselves we would solve eventually.

Apparently she did that on her own.

It wasn’t difficult to get to the shack, I knew the path by memory. I knocked on the door just in case this was a trap of some kind. I trusted Damone, but after reading all of that… I couldn’t be sure anymore.

Nobody answered, so I entered. It was almost empty, except for one thing right in the middle. A box. It was the only item not covered by dust, so it was clear this was what she wanted me to find.

I was scared out of my mind. Everything gave me a bad vibe, it felt dangerous, but I couldn’t back out now. If there was a secret this big between us, I had the right to know about it.

Hesitantly, I opened the box. Its contents were… surprising, not in a scary way, but rather, it left me even more confused. Papers, documents, all with very careful handwriting and official-looking stamps.

“Damone… what the hell have you been doing…?”

“That’s exactly what I would like to know too.”

The sudden new voice made me jump. I tried to turn around, but my brain didn’t send the signal fast enough. I felt something on my neck, pain. I was getting injected something, and my sight went blurry.

Before I lost consciousness, I managed to register a silhouette. A silhouette I had never seen in my life.