Taking it slow

Neither of them moved. Mark kept looking nowhere, his mind was too full of questions to process any feeling at all. And judging by how Rachel and Simon were acting, they probably had the same problem.

It was obvious why, there were a lot of doubts. With all the information that they all got, it was difficult to even start to figure out what to do next.

“Do you… do you need to talk?” Mark snapped back to reality with that question.

“I don’t… I don’t know, Simon.” His response was anything but satisfactory. 

Simon seemed to think a bit before standing up. “Come with me. There’s a place I wanna show you.” He then turned to Rachel. “You can come too if you want.”

“No, thanks. I think I need a bit of time for myself after all of this.”

“You sure?” She nodded weakly. “Well, alright. Let’s go.”

He didn’t really think about it. Mark simply stood on his feet and followed him out of the guild. It was only then he remembered about the possible attacks.

“Uh, Simon? Is it really a good idea to get into town now?”

“Don’t worry, we’re going around it. Besides, what I want to show you is not there.”

He trusted Simon, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a bit nervous. It was already late, the sun was setting, the last thing Mark wanted was an ambush in the middle of nowhere. But even with that fear, he found the trip relaxing, forgetting about the whole loop thing for a moment and taking in the scenery of the giant trees surrounding him. It was peaceful.

“We’re almost there.” It was clear that Simon knew exactly where he was going. He weaved through the trees in a very specific way, like he memorized the exact path. Only some minutes after, he stopped in front of what looked like a wall, but made out of foliage. He looked at Mark for a second, giving him a reassuring smile, before pushing open the plants and revealing the place. “Welcome to Ione Lake.”

It was… beautiful.

Mark took a look at his surroundings in awe. A big clearing, with the aforementioned lake in the middle. The lake was gorgeous, the water was pristine, you could see the bottom of it. The outside was covered in grass that moved gently with the breeze. And not a single sound around aside of the quiet waves of the water.

“Wow…” That was all Mark could say. The view was stunning, especially with the sunset being reflected. “This is… how did you find this place?”

“Well, that is… Rose’s parents knew about it, and they passed the location down to both of us. It’s apparently supposed to be a secret, that’s why it’s so far from any other landmark and in such a difficult place to find.” Simon stepped forward, motioning to the lake. “And now, I’m also sharing it with you.”

“That… I don’t know what to say. Do you not want it to be a secret or do you really trust me that much?”

“What do you think?” Simon smiled, punching Mark on the shoulder lightly. “Now, c’mon, let’s get in!” He jumped into the water before the other could even respond. The splash covered the Cubone from head to toes.

“Gah! Dude! It’s cold as hell!” Mark retorted.

“Well, get in entirely and you’ll stop freezing! C’mon!”

Simon kept playfully splashing water onto him. As much as he hated that, it did manage to put a smile on his face. “Oh, you bitch…” He charged forward and tackled Simon into the water. Both laughed when they resurfaced. It was nice to have a change of pace like this.

“What? Still cold?”

“Oh, shut up.” He couldn’t avoid the content grin he was wearing. “It feels weird getting in here with this thing on my head.” He said while he tapped his bone helmet.

“Yeah… It took me a while to get used to my shell. But eh, it could be worse, you could be one of those fire types like Magcargo and not be able to even touch water.”

Mark laughed at that, and Simon stared at him for a bit.

“What? Something on my face?”

“No, it’s just… refreshing to see you like this, you know? Even after everything you’ve been through, it’s nice to see you smile.”

He could feel some heat from his face. He was happy to wear the helmet now that it covered his otherwise-obvious blush.

“Heh… Sure thing, dude…” All of a sudden, he felt a barrage of water over him. The culprit was right there, laughing his ass off.

“Don’t you get shy on me now! I brought you here to have a good time and to take a break from everything going on, so I am gonna make you have fun whether you want it or not.”

He couldn’t do anything but smile at that. “Heh, you’re on!”

Turns out Mark underestimated how much this weird little water battle would tire him out, as he was already exhausted after like ten minutes.

They both got out of the water, opting to lay down on the grass. It had already become nighttime, and the stars were beautiful here. He tried to search for a constellation, only to remember soon after that there was no recollection of any constellation in his head, and that even if there were, he was in another world, with probably different stars.

“So, did it help?”

“What do you mean?”

“C’mon, you know what I mean. Did this help take your mind off things?”

“Yeah. It really has. It was short but I really really needed this.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Mark couldn’t help but notice a hint of sadness in his voice. He was focusing so much on his well-being, that he never asked Simon how he was doing after the whole thing with Rachel.

“And you? Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know, you seem… thoughtful.”

He hesitated a bit, but eventually responded. “I guess it just feels weird being here… you know, without Rose.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad to be back here, especially with you.”

They stopped talking for a moment. In a place like this, where the stars shine and the only sounds are the waves and the breeze, the silence felt nice. 

“So, what are you going to do?”

“About what?”

“About, all of this. Gren is looking into Dialga’s location, but… what do you want to do?”

He sighed. “I don’t know, honestly. I can think about it a bit more clearly now but, I don’t think I have a plan. Wait until we know where Dialga is and go there only to ask them. Because it doesn’t feel right that they’re the ones behind this if they brought you here.”

“Agreed.”

“So yeah, I’m not sure what I’m going to do these days. Maybe I do need to take a break and focus on myself for a bit.”

“That would be nice. We don’t need to do missions right now. Honestly, I’m just happy to be out of that bed. At least Charlie was nice company.”

“Heh. Oh, by the way. This is a bit hard to say but… Gren told me they were going to do a funeral for Rose once you were back in action.”

He thought about it for a second, the words ‘funeral for Rose’ were probably the least he wanted to hear. “Yeah, I… I think that’d be nice. But it’ll have to wait, this cycles thing is more important right now.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind taking some more time to-”

“I’m sure. Besides, it’s what she would have wanted, right? To make sure you were alright and not to dwell on the past.” Simon looked up at the stars again. “She was the best sister I could’ve ever asked for. I don’t want this cycle to repeat and make her die again. Even if we wouldn’t remember, I don’t want that.” He looked at Mark, a slight smile on him. He grabbed his paw tightly. “So let’s make this one count.”

Mark returned the smile and nodded. He had hope, for once. He knew it would be difficult but he had to at least try.

When they left the lake, they went around the town again to avoid any possible attacks all the way until they got home. Even with Rose gone, Mark didn’t feel comfortable sleeping on her bed, so he still took the couch. At least Simon understood that and didn’t complain.

But when trying to sleep, his mind was again in the clouds. Except he wasn’t thinking about all the bad things that were happening, instead he was thinking about a new feeling he hadn’t felt until now. Simon had always been caring for him, and of course, the opposite became true. It didn’t help that a certain something rumbled in his stomach every time he was around Simon. Mark knew what that feeling was, but he didn’t want to admit it.

‘Do I… Do I have a crush on him?’