Welcome to Gaia! ::

A vast lawn stretched before the entrance to Camphoreon's grand hotel. The shards of glass had long been cleared away and new windows installed, and operations had resumed as usual. Various guests were seated on various benches, enjoying the fair weather. Some spoke on cell phones and some smiled with friends or families, but there were also those that were isolated, some more deeply and innately than others.

A gold and white Pidgeotto wheeled above, enjoying the weather the same as the humans below. One human, however, caught Gui's attention, and he gave a sharply excited cry before suddenly descending before the dark-haired man.

Alou?! Gui could have shed a tear to hear his old name again. How long had it had been? ...Not that long, actually, but it felt like ages to the poor bird. Ages upon ages.

But there was a question to be asked, and a task to be completed, and Gui could not wait to answer the man's questions. He cooed under the touch before turning and hopping slightly forward, spreading his wings with a glance over the shoulder that beckoned the man to follow. A flap of his wings found the flying-type aloft by a few feet, careening through the air at a leisurely pace to ensure his friend could follow.

Their destination, the follower might have surmised from their trajectory, was the girl seated below a tree a ways off, small hands fidgeting with the hem of a blue dress and dark hair spilling from her lowered head. As they approached, he might noticed her tanned complexion and, more significantly, her rose-colored eyes, downturned in contemplation as they were.

She had her own memories of the hotel, though they were perhaps strikingly similar to his. Her expression, as well, was similar, an obvious regret darkening her features. It was a simple vendetta, and it could have ended as such if she had simply struck her intended target instead of his daughter. Then she never would have suffered with the grief of the innocent's death, never would have come to the realization that her mother had manipulated her towards an empty purpose, never would have been struck with such vast and unending uncertainty...

The first thing she noticed was the Pidgeotto, and she responded with a tilt of her head, "Déjà fait, Gui?" Of more interest, however, was the pair of feet standing near to the bird, which led to a pair of legs, and the legs to a body, the body to a head of dark hair and pink eyes and a mouth that opened to speak a name - her name, and no one else's. The owner of that name recoiled against the tree, staring up with wide eyes, trembling hands, and a racing heart. How was she to respond? A simple 'yes'? Perhaps repeat with his own name? Apologize? Kill him? Moreover, she wanted to flee and hide, but at the moment there was a large tree blocking her escape.

"No." No, that was the wrong name. No, she didn't recognize him. No, she wouldn't speak. Any was applicable if it would turn him away. Unable to run, she instead found a sanctuary behind her own hands, raising them to hide her face. "No, no, no." She couldn't possibly speak to him. What in the world could she ever say...?

Those few scant months ago, she had insisted that the name 'Aila' belonged to her, and that the other who possessed it was a villain who had stolen it from her. She had told him directly that the name was used to address her and no one else. And now it was addressing her, and she didn't want to hear it.

In crouching on the ground, he drew himself closer to her, and she twisted to hide her face against the bark of the tree, quivering still. "No, you can't. You can't possibly..." Forgiveness was out of the question. She had taken from him one of the most precious things in the world, and it could never be returned. She knew how that felt. It was the same hollow rage that had caused her to swear against his life in the first place. Unforgivable. "I blamed you for Mother's death, but... It wasn't because of you. Everything I've done, everything I've ever wanted to do - it was all hinged on a lie. Don't forgive me."

What a fool. How could he forgive her so readily and so completely? What if she was only acting? Only waiting for his disposition to be shaken by the frightened face of the girl who said she was his sister so that she could turn and strike and take away everything he had left? How could a human be so kind...?

The change in his tone led Aila to turn - though only slightly, only enough to peer at him from the corner of her eye. It was strange to think that her mother was his mother as well, especially given the attitude the woman had held towards her son. "Four years ago," she said, voice low. "She was ill. We had no money to treat it, and so she..." It was rare that Aila shed tears for her mother. In fact, the only previous time she was consciously aware of was when she had been struck with nostalgia while dancing with Sorano. However, the rose-eyed man might have noticed the threat of tears rising on her lashes. It was too much - all of it. She didn't want to think about any of it anymore, and yet there it was: right in front of her.

Ugh, why did he have to make such a face? It only reaffirmed the truth of everything ever written about him. Kind, idealistic, self-sacrificing... Why couldn't he just be the treacherous villain he had been painted as since she was a child? She could easily counter treachery with hatred, but how could she counter sincerity and regret? She couldn't.

He had every place to be sorry. ...Except that he didn't. Not at all. "...You've nothing to be sorry for. Mother was... Mother acted on her own after all, didn't she? You never intended to kill her that night, did you? She brought everything on herself and blamed it all on you." She could almost pity him. He had been the target of an intense yet entirely misplaced hatred for years and years despite the fact that he had no fault.

He had no fault.

"Mother... said you ruined our family for greed. Killed Father and drove her away so you could seize the seat of the duke. She blamed you for everything..." She couldn't help but shudder at the thought. Arceus, it was all so wrong. So, so wrong...

She recoiled from his gaze, wanting once more to hide but unable to bring herself to break the contact. When at last he spoke, desperate and pleading, it was to ask a single question comprised in a single word. But how simple was the answer? Not at all.

"I don't... I'm not sure." Arceus, why was he so... "I think... she was angry to lose everything at once. But she had nothing to be angry with, and so she chose the most applicable party..." Why didn't she just stay to begin with, though? Perhaps she thought her son had lost his mind, or... or... something. Anything. ...And in the first place, why was Aila so invested in finding an answer to placate her brother?

She drew a quiet breath. On the subject of their mother, there was more yet to be said. "When I was a child, she made me promise I would kill you." Her volume was whispering, for the whisperer no longer had any intent to follow through with said promise.