Silver didn't take his eyes off of her for even a moment. "I trusted you." Those words replayed in his head along with the pain behind them. It left behind a degree of guilt that he hadn't felt in quite a while.

        He recalled back when he had first stolen Totodile how the small pokémon would cry after his insults towards it. He hadn't been bothered by the pokémon's behavior until one day, a particular trainer caught him berating Totodile after their loss. "You keep blaming your pokémon for not being strong, but you're actually the weak one. A pokémon can't be strong for someone they can't even rely on. What good do you think talking to them like that brings?"

        Silver remembered throwing hands with that particular trainer, losing, and then feeling what his own pokemon had felt as the trainer talked down on him while pressing his face into the dirt. It was...an experience to say the least. He became a stronger trainer because of it and came to know the importance of respect and trust. That's why it was sickening for him to have seemingly turned on someone who had given him their own trust, and maybe even respect, after knowing him for just a little over a week.

        "Silver." Hau had been trying to catch his attention for the past minute. "Hey, you did what you could. I don't blame you for what happened, so don't be so hard on yourself." The green haired boy had known him for even less time and already felt that Silver couldn't have harmed his friend on purpose. It confused him more than anything how these people found no fault in him. True, Silver had explained the situation after carrying (y/n) to the pokémon center, but he expected some sort of backlash. This type of forgiveness was making him feel worse.

        "I know," Silver quietly spoke, still not taking his eyes off the unconcious girl in front of him. He hadn't left her room nor her side after the pokémon center's nurse had taken her in. Although her injuries had been taken care of, she had not broken from her slumber despite the sun having already set just moments ago.

        Hau had only recently returned. He was the island's Kahuna and had to delegate his responsibilities to others for the afternoon before coming back to check on his friend. It was Hau that had gathered (y/n)'s fainted pokémon in their pokéballs and called the pokémon center in advance. The only ones who hadn't arrived yet after being called were...

        Gladion threw open the room's door and marched right over to Silver. "Why did you let this happen?" Gladion demanded as he lifted Silver from his seat by the collar of his shirt and threw him against the wall. Silver found himself unable to speak in the wake of Gladion's anger. He had just barely missed the window to their left, which was a relief because Silver definitely didn't want to be thrown through a window.

        "Hey, calm down, Gladion." Hau put a hand firmly onto Gladion's shoulder. "He's the one that called me and brought her here. If he wanted to hurt her, then he wouldn't have helped her."

        "Get off me Hau," Gladion hissed, still not taking his eyes off Silver's. "I left her in your care thinking you would be able to handle looking after her for a bit, and this is what you cause?"

        Hau's grip on Gladion's shoulder tightened. "Gladion. That's enough."

        "I said get off me," Gladion warned.

        Silver reached up to take hold of Gladion's wrist, slightly tugging it away. "She wanted me to meet Tapu Koko. I didn't know any of this would happen." He spoke as calmly as he could, his own agitation beginning to grow. He did ask for backlash, but this was a little bit more than he had bargained for.

        Gladion, very reluctantly, let him go and began to walk away. "The least you could have done was control your own pokémon," he remarked. That struck a nerve.

        "You're the one who left early. Meeting with a girl is more important than your sister, right?" Silver shot back. Gladion turned on his heels ready to make Silver eat his words, but Hau grabbed him by his waist and lifted him off the ground without any sort of effort.

        "Put me down Hau!" The green haired male calmly removed Gladion from the room and asked Lillie to close the door behind them. Silver hadn't even known that the girl was there until then. She stood near the closed door with an apologetic look on her face.

        "Please try not to fight with him. He's just protective of us," Lillie said, reffering to herself and (y/n).

        "Sorry..." Silver sat back down and returned to watching over (y/n).

        "Thank you for protecting her. I heard from Hau what happened. I'm sorry that your friend turned on you. That must be a horrible feeling." Lillie's kindness was digging his ditch of guilt even deeper. "If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you to stay with her in case she has to stay overnight. Gladion and I weren't supposed to come here. Mother went out for a business trip this afternoon and left the company in Gladion's care. We have to go back soon. I'm not sure if Hau can stay the whole night either, so I'm asking you."

        "Even though I'm the reason she got hurt?"

        Lillie flashed him a smile. "Didn't you already apologize for that? I didn't just let you onto the boat back in Kanto because you were running away. You probably can't see it yourself, but you're a very kind person. I saw it in your eyes, and I'm glad I brought you along. So take care of my friend for me, please? Oh, well you see us as sisters now. Yes, then watch over my sister for me." Her words made him want to cry again, but he was tired of doing that and settled for averting his gaze.

        "I'll try," he agreed. When he looked back at her, Lillie was still smiling brightly at him. It was somewhat off-putting how she could be this nice, but Silver figured it was much better than being pinned to a wall.

        The next three hours passed rather quickly. During that time, Hau had returned with Gladion though the blond didn't attempt to exchange any words with Silver. After he and Lillie stayed for their limited amount of time, Hau had been the only one left. Silver began to notice that Hau had started to nod off, so he insisted that Hau head home for the night. Of course, he didn't want to comply at first, but after waking from a brief nap against the side of (y/n)'s bed, Hau apologized and took Silver up on the offer. That left Silver alone in the room with (y/n), waiting for her to wake up.

        The nurse came to check on her twice before Silver finally saw her eyes crack open. She was confused as she looked around the room only finding Silver present. "You," she spat. Her tone felt like poison to him, but he remained seated and looked her right in the eyes. He was about to explain, but she attempted to sit up and failed. Silver was quick to leap from his chair and catch her so she wouldn't hit her head again. "Let go," she weakly protested but made no move to push him away.

        Without a word, Silver helped her lay back down before returning to his seat next to her bed. "The nurse said you should be able to leave some time tomorrow. Gladion, Hau, and Lillie were here, but they had to leave." She didn't seem to be listening.

        "My head hurts," she whined. She reached up to touch the area where she had been hurt. "Koko," she mumbled. Silver realized that her memories from the incident must have been coming back in fragments. She then looked at Silver, her previous disdain instantly vanishing. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

        "Me?" He was surprised that she had even asked. "I'm fine. You're the one that got injured. I'm sorry. I didn't know that would happen. Mewtwo has never done anything like that before."

        "At first, I thought you lured me into a trap trying to get me alone and away from everyone. Doesn't make very much sense now that I think about it, but I was kind of scared at the time." Why was she smiling at him? She was supposed to be angry. She was supposed to be cursing him and wanting him to leave. Suddenly panick spread through her features. "My pokémon! Are they okay?"

        "Yes, they're safe." Silver's voice cracked. "How can you look at me as if nothing happened?" he asked. "Mewtwo attacked you and I couldn't even stop him, yet you-"

        "That was Mewtwo's choice, wasn't it? Didn't you say for yourself that you had made your choice? I may have been on the verge of collapse, but I still heard every word. You protected me."

        "No...I couldn't protect you," Silver rejected her forgiveness. "It's all my fault. I don't deserve this," he whimpered. They wouldn't have been able to forgive him if they knew what he was or rather what he used to be. Surely she would send him away, back to Kanto. Maybe she'd ship him straight to the Johto police. At least then he would get what he deserved, right?

        "Silver, stop it. You can't keep blaming yourself like that. Every time something goes wrong, even when we were on the boat, you keep taking responsibility for things you really didn't even do."

        "No, you don't understand," he cried again. He hated crying. He also hated this guilt weighing down on his heart, so he told her everything. He went into detail about what type of person he was. He told her about all of the crimes he committed, all of the people and pokémon he had hurt in the past, and all of the lies he'd told. He spoke about the orphanage that he grew up in, his father, Team Rocket, and even how Crystal had befriended him only to kick him to the waves. He explained to her how his pokémon would no longer respond to him, and how Mewtwo had been the one taking care of him after saving his life. Silver even told her the reason why he left Kanto from the moment he woke up that morning until that very night when he met up with Lillie by chance. The only way he left out any details was if he just couldn't remember them.

        (Y/n) listened to all of it. Though it had taken him hours to tell the full story, she hadn't missed a single word of it. By the end of his rambling, he was sobbing into the sheets at the side of her bed. She must have hated him. He must have seemed like nothing more than a repulsive criminal in her eyes.

        "Silver," she said his name calmly and clearly. "Look at me, Silver." He refused, choosing to keep his head buried in his arms as he continued to tremble from how overwhelming his emotions currently were. She stopped trying to get his attention and settled for petting his head until his voice failed him and his crying was no more than silent whines.

        Silver felt her lightly tug on his arm as she shifted in her bed. Finally, he gave in and lifted his head up to look at her, expecting to be criticized. "Come here," she spoke just barely above a whisper. She had scooted closer to him and pulled him into a hug. "It's okay, just rest now. Everything will be okay," she added. Her hand reached to pull his hair free of the ponytail that it was still in. He didn't understand. This gentle touch. This unreasonable remission.

        "Why?" he asked her. "Why don't you hate me?" He tried to pull away from her, but she refused to let go.

        "You've had enough of that. It's okay now." Her hand lightly combed through his hair as she spoke. "Everything is fine now. You don't have to worry anymore. There's no need to explain why. You can just take it easy from here on out, okay?"

        Was it really okay to just let everything go? He wasn't sure, but he did feel himself growing weary in her hold. His eyes closed on their own and he reached up to bring her closer to him. This feeling was familiar somehow, and just as pleasant as the last time he'd felt it. What was it again?

        Whatever it was, he let it lull him to sleep. A sleep was filled with a dream he hadn't had in a while, one of his father. He was happy back then. Those times when he was younger were probably the best years of his life, short as they latest.

        As he fell asleep, Silver was unaware of the silent tears that fell for him. He didn't know of the anger that was being felt on his behalf. Oblivious was he to the emotions sparked from that moment, for it was here that (y/n) began to fall for him despite her not even realizing that herself.
____________________________________

That was kind of longer than my usual chapters, whoops. Until next time you spectacular readers!