Austin woke after some time had passed, but he kept his eyes shut tightly. He could smell her scent was stronger now.

She had been here while he slept.

Was she still here?

He opened his eyes slowly, nervously, then wider, looking around with concern. He could tell she had been here, but she did not appear to be there at the moment.

Austin whipped around quickly at the sound of pawsteps at the cave's entrance. His eyes widened as he saw her standing there. She held a small pouch in her jaws, and her eyes kept focused on the floor. She padded forward slowly, and Austin instinctively took a step back. Her ears pulled back, and she set the pouch down, and padded out again.

Austin stared at the pouch for perhaps a good ten minutes before he was able to bring himself to open it. Within, he found an assortment of berries, mushrooms, and the like.

The products of foraging, as he usually ate.

He was glad she had remembered this.

And beside the food, she had placed his glasses, now fully back in working order. He put them on quickly, then carefully ate the food, keeping his eyes up, looking around for any sign of where she was now. But there was no trace of her anywhere. Austin kept his eyes peeled, looking around for her, but she still remained invisible to him.

Austin finished the food, and folded up the pouch, setting it carefully in Jan's bed. He looked out again from the cave, and still did not see her. So, he took a few steps out, padded to the beach.

From the center of the lake, the water suddenly burst up, as Jan leapt out from the depths of the water, leaping high into the sky. Austin's eyes widened as he looked up at her, and she descended again, slipping beneath the water with hardly a splash. 

Austin looked out into the water, then suddenly to his left, as he heard her padding out from the water along the shore. She shook herself, making sure she was far away enough not to splash the Flareon.

"Impressive..."

Jan looked up at him, and woofed softly.

"Impressive...?"

"I... don't know of a lot of people that could just jump out of the water like that."

Jan lowered her head. "Thank you..."

Austin looked at her, though he could not bring himself to look her in the eyes, instead staring at a spot just before her paws. She stared at her own paws, trembling.

"What... brings you here?"

"I thought you brought me."

Jan looked up at him, her ears folded back. 

"I-I don't know how... but if I could, I wouldn't... I know... I know I scarred you badly, and... I came here to keep you safe from me."

"You didn't need to run away..."

"Of course I needed to," Jan woofed, closing her eyes tightly. "If I had made anyone else feel like I made you feel... if I had hurt anyone else I cared about like that... I... I don't know how I would handle it..."

Austin brought himself to look up at her, seeing her big, yellow eyes, wide and wet, the grief of solitude over time tangible.

"You didn't deserve this..."

"I-I know... I should have died, b-but-"

"No!" Austin stood, and approached her, padding up to her. "You deserve to be happy... you're a great, wonderful, quirky person... don't harp on yourself thinking you messed things up. Strive to do better, but don't stop being you..."

Jan looked back at him quietly, trembling, tears running down her cheeks. Austin sat up on his haunches, as an invitation for a hug. Jan padded forward...

...and was suddenly snared in a net. 

Austin shook his head, incredulous, before he was struck in the side with something sharp, like a bee, or a needle, and he went down.