Lillie… Still had Cosmog? That gave Gladion a moment’s pause, his gaze falling to the duffel bag at her side. By all accounts, it didn’t make sense; Nebby changed forms after their mother fled through the Ultra Wormhole, and as far as he knew, Alola’s Champion was currently traveling with it in its fully evolved state. His sister’s clothing, her possession of Cosmog, the way she acted like she hadn’t seen him in ages…
The scientists choose people that interest them. Suddenly it makes far too much sense to him: This is a version of Lillie that he never had the honor of knowing. The two of them were separated by different paths for years, and at this point in his sibling’s life, they had yet to reunite. Their mother had yet to throw Alola into peril; Nebby had yet to be tortured within an inch of its life. If people could be brought in from different worlds, there was no reason they couldn’t come from different times, too.
Gladion sighed, a sudden sense of exhaustion settling over his shoulders. Years ago he would have wrapped his arms around Lillie and squeezed her until the source of her tears was a thing of the past, but now he felt like a stranger; a being from another time, a different future. He moved forward and placed a thin, shuddering hand on her shoulder, feeling momentarily stricken by how much she’d grown from the little girl he used to know.
“I’m sorry,” he said – for the past, the present, and the tumultuous future she had yet to experience. “I’m here now. I know that doesn’t make up for anything, but… It’s all I can offer you.”
Lillie didn’t move back when Gladion stepped towards her, but she didn’t help close the gap either. She felt almost frozen in place. she shut her eyes tight when Gladion placed his hand on her shoulder, keeping back tears she knew would come eventually. But they didn’t have to come now. She was stronger than this, she knew that. So why was this so hard?
“You don’t need to make up for it. But you’ll be here? Can you promise me that?” Part of her didn’t want to ask, out of fear that the answer would be no. But she pushed that worry aside and asked anyway. “I haven’t run into any trouble here, but... I haven’t run into much good either. There’s no Professor Kukui, there’s no Moon, there’s no one... except you.”
This wasn’t where she wanted to see her brother again. Not by a long shot. But it’s where it happened, and she had to look forward now.
“I need you now, Gladion. Maybe even more than I did before. And there’s nothing here to separate us, right...?” If their mother wasn’t here, there was no one to hide from. No foundation to steal from. No reason to stay apart. Was she being too hopeful about that?
“I don’t know what to do here. I can’t help Nebby.”
