I took a couple of steps back, not believing what I was seeing. Lethe was right; I wasn't going to believe him. How could I? My parents were dead, they had been for...

Seventeen years.

I looked up at the boy, feeling my stomach tighten. Lethe was now standing in front of the bed, shoving his hands in his pockets as he rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet.

Eyes didn't mean anything. Back in Kalos, I'd met many Trainers with similar eye colors, but we weren't related in any ways. Heck, I even met one girl who had gray eyes as well. If that happened, there was no way this guy could be related to me. When I looked at Lethe, I started to realize how much he believed his own words to be true. He even looked a bit disappointed when I didn't even respond.

I took a deep breath.

"You said you were close with your mom," I said, trying to pick out every detail that could make his statement wrong. "I was there at my parents' funeral when I was two. That's something that a child can't forget, Lethe. There's no way she's...No, if she was alive, she would've let me know. You're lying."

That last statement shouldn't have come out. I could tell Lethe believed every word he was saying, but it didn't mean it was true.

By the looks of things, the boy ignored my last comment. Lethe shook his head, as he pulled something out of his pocket. It was a small piece of paper, a picture by the looks of it. His mouth curled up slightly as he looked at it.

"About that, Mom wanted people to think she was dead, especially you. She did something. I don't know what it was or when, but it was enough to have people on the hunt for her. We were always on the run. I never understood why," Lethe said.

"No," I shook my head. "That's not possible. If my mom is alive now, then where is she?"

The boy's smile disappeared as he looked up at me. I'd seen that look once before, or more specifically, I remembered wearing that exact expression whenever people would ask me about my parents.

"I'm sorry for your loss," I said. "It sucks."

Lethe dropped his head, causing his hair to cover his eyes a bit. My heart went out to him, and despite the circumstances we were in, I just wanted to give the guy a pat on the back and let him know that it was going to be alright.

Even though things would never be the same. I'd be lying to him if I said that things were going to be okay.

"I don't need your pity because she was your mom too," Lethe whispered. "I just need you to believe."

Before I could protest, the boy held a picture in front of him, showing me what was on the other side. He kept his head down, so he wouldn't see my reaction. Not that it mattered. I tried not to react to who was in the picture.

I'd seen plenty of pictures of my parents before they passed. I was always the spitting image of my mom. My dad, well, I had nothing to share with him besides the fact that I acted like him, or so I'd been told.

The picture had two people in it, and one of them was an older woman who appeared to be in her early thirties. Her dark black hair was pulled up in its signature bun, kind of like Rena's. Her gray eyes were unmistakable, but her signature smile was gone. Instead, that smile was placed on the young boy in the picture. Despite being a seventeen year-old now, there was no mistaking that the young boy—maybe in his early teens in the picture—was him. His hair was cut short and combed to the side, just like the pictures of my Dad as he used to style it the same way. Since then, Lethe must've let it grown out a bit.

My eyes were glued onto the woman as I felt the tears building up in my eyes. Surely enough, that was my mom. She—she looked older than the most recent picture I had of her, but even then, she was twenty-four, not what looked like to be in her early thirties.

There was no way I could've touched the picture because of the glass, but I did the closest thing I could. My hand pressed against the glass as I stared right at that picture Tears started to escape my eyes as I noticed someone's handwriting on the bottom right hand corner. "JETG". Those were my mother's initials written in her handwriting on the bottom of that picture.

Still, there was no denying it.

No matter how much I wanted to.

"The day our Dad passed, he had our mom hide somewhere else. No one knew about it. Mom escaped whatever happened that day, and had me a week later. I never knew our Dad, just that I shared his brown hair and carried that stupid curse," Lethe explained. "After that, Mom and I just moved around, so we wouldn't end up like him."

"What curse?" I asked as a million question popped into my mind. "Who were you running from? Why—why couldn't I come with you?"

Lethe dropped his hand and shoved them back into his pockets, shoving the picture inside as well. "Dad was a Gray, a family name that's been around for centuries. I'm not sure why, or how to explain it without sounding like a crazy person, but I—" He paused for a moment, making some grumbling noise as if he wasn't sure how to get the words right. "I can see things before they happen. Glimpses of it. It's how I knew you were going to die of hypothermia three years ago."

"Wait," I shook my head. "You—you saw me die?"

The boy nodded his head, before turning towards the bed and taking a seat on it. "The future is usually set in stone, but then I saw you laying there, dead, with your Pokémon grieving, I couldn't let it happen. I snuck out of the Oblivion's hideout and made sure you were safe. Of course, you made it somewhat easy seeing as Swanna was there to help. I just couldn't let you die."

Again, as much as I didn't want to believe him, his words started to make sense. Guess I'd seen too much for me to know anything was possible. A few weeks ago, yeah, there would be no way I would believe him. In these few months alone, I met a guy who could talk to Pokémon, had made a deal with Gila—something I thought I'd never do—and had seen Joy angrier than a Primeape on a rampage.

Hearing that Lethe was my brother, and knowing it, just proved anything was still possible.

"What was mom like?" I dared to ask as I looked up to see his gray eyes that looked so familiar.

"I'll tell you all about her, but I'm not sure how much time we have before your friends come in. I promise to cooperate if you make me a promise in return," Lethe said.

It was then I noticed that he was no longer looking at me. His eyes were locked on the door.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Tomorrow, you and I have to get out of here," he said, "so I can show you something."

(-o-)

I had a brother.

That shouldn't have been possible. How was it that I had a brother? Better yet, why was it my mom never came back?

I bit my lip as I sat down on one of the ledges in the training room, kicking my feet back and forth as I leaned back on my arms, looking up at the ceiling. After learning about what happened, my mind was everywhere. I avoided everyone because of it. It wasn't hard. Hilbert and Hilda were interrogating Lethe, and Rudi and Rena were trying to calm down Joy, who refused to get anywhere close to me.

Lethe did warn that there were double agents on every side. I didn't want to believe him then, but the farther we got into this case, the more I started seeing truth in his words. N was a member of Team Plasma, that much was true, but seeing how Hilda and Hilbert trusted him, despite everything that he did, it made me wonder what happened back in those days.

Maybe I should've watched the news more carefully when that happened, but it didn't matter. After N was sent to jail, and seeing his friends' reactions, I didn't think he was as bad as I thought. There was something about him that I seemed to have been missing.

Either way, I had to keep my guard up, especially now that Lethe was here.

I hated to admit it, but Nox might have been right when he said "Being nice gets you nowhere. Do you really think I got to where I'm at by playing the rules?" Team Oblivion would stop at nothing to get whatever they wanted, even if it meant breaking the law.

It was still unclear what their goal was, which only explained Nox's point even more.

"I thought I'd find you here," a voice noted.

I looked down, seeing Landon Rhea standing down on the ground with his Unfezant standing beside him. A part of me knew I should've gone down, but when I looked across to the other ledge across from me I saw that Swanna was curled up asleep. Even if I wanted the company, there was no way of getting down.

If I just jumped, well, imagine how well a short girl jumping from at least fifteen feet up in the air would play out.

Landon didn't seem to give me a choice as he had Unfezant lift him up until he stood beside me. These ledges on the walls weren't exactly meant for many people. I stayed still until Landon sat beside me.

"How are you holding up?"

I didn't answer. Despite feeling like I hadn't talked to Landon in a long time, I knew he would understand my silence.

The middle-aged man gave me a light pat on the back. "It's about Joy, isn't it?"

"No," I told him. "It's about—I want to know more about my parents."

Even though there was space between us, I could feel Landon tensing up. "What do you want to know?"

Gosh, where do I even begin? Landon was always there to tell me everything and anything about my parents after I was finally ready to learn more. It was just... Now I felt selfish as my questions weren't about what they were like as much as they were about getting information to see if Lethe's words spoke the truth.

I looked down at the battlefield below.

"Why did I live with Joy and not you guys?" I tried asking. "After all, from all the adventures you've told me about, it seems like both my parents were closer to you and not Joy."

Landon's hand dropped from my back and I could feel him looking at me. "Your parents didn't want you to ever know about their past lives as Swanna Woman and The Unfezant until you were older. You might not believe it, but I was pretty boastful back in my day. If you'd lived with us, you'd probably get an earful of what happened."

It made sense, but that still didn't answer the question I was trying to get at.

I tucked a strand of my long dark hair behind my ear, while I still fixed my gaze at the training field below. "If they wanted to hide me—well, I know it wasn't a fire that killed them, so I guess what I'm asking is—well..."

"How did they pass?" Landon asked.

I turned my head to look at him. His blue eyes that he shared with his children darkened a bit more than usual, which only confirmed my fear.

"Jena was a reckless one, more so than you and my kids combined," Landon laughed at whatever memory had come to mind, and a part of me wanted to know what he was thinking about.

Then again, I remembered the story on how Landon and my mom met. Well, maybe it was best I didn't ask. Long story short, my mom forced Landon into a pair of tights and shoved him on stage to perform some sort of dance. First off, I still couldn't shake the image of a grown man in tights, though I guess he would've been about fifteen at the time, which still didn't help. Secondly, I still couldn't believe Landon would dance in front of hundreds of people.

Again, because of that story, maybe it was best not to ask anything of what he was reminiscing.

"But that's besides the point," Landon's voice grew dim, as his eyes became glossy. "Your mother got leads on an upcoming organization, one of which she and your father managed to postpone their plans for a bit. They left me out of it, and tried to stop them themselves. Sylvia, I wish I could tell you more, but that's all I really know. All I can gather was that they were caught one night, and the next day, I found your home burned down with no trace of where your parents were.

"I understand," I honestly said, knowing there were some memories that were best to be tucked away. "But would there be a chance that maybe, just maybe, one of them got away?"

A smile crossed Landon's face. "I don't want to give you false hope. Your parents were my best friends, but I wasn't there that day that they passed. Trust me, I wish I could've done something to stop whatever happened that day. Somedays I wish I could've done more."

I nodded my head in agreement, knowing what he meant. Instead of saying anything, I looked back down.

"We can't live in the past. What happened there has already happened. We've got to keep moving forward, no matter how hard life gets. You understand that though, I mean, look how much you've grown in these past four years alone. Your parents would be absolutely proud," Landon explained. "Whatever they did that day, I think they had your best interest in mind."

While Landon didn't give me a straight answer, his answer was all I needed.

Landon didn't want to give me hope, but seeing that last smile on his face meant that he wasn't completely convinced that they were gone either.

As much as I hated to admit it, my gut feeling was probably right. Seeing that picture of Lethe as a boy with my mom, seeing his gray eyes, that should've been enough. Hearing Landon talk about them just now, well, that only confirmed it.

I wasn't the last of the Gray family. My mom survived whatever accident happened nearly eighteen years ago. Because of that, I had a brother.

That meant my whole life could've been a lie.

Author's Note:

The picture above is how I've somewhat pictured Lethe to look like. The outfit is how I've visioned the Team Oblivion grunt uniform to look like. His hair looks to be on the darker side of brown, but it's still brown. By the looks of things, it appears his eyes are gray, which is what matters.

Hope you all enjoyed that little plot twist explanation. Next chapter is one my favorites as we will finally find out a few secrets we've been waiting for all book, so you'll just have to wait and see what happens. Bye ya'll!