[xio] mine

in what seems like a very far away land, the sun is shining.

a silverhaired boy stood on top of a rock, recounting the same old story he'd changed so many times out of whim that it wasn't close to the original, something so fictious and yet utterly entertaining that even the green haired girl in the shade, the one that had heared this story a million times over, had to keep one eye on the pages of her book and one eye on the boy out of sheer curiosity.

in what seems like a very far away land, xio is giggling excitedly. and the sun is always shining.

the door creaks open, all she can see the lump on the bed, and a head full of silver hair. xio walks in noiselessly, sliding through the door without opening it all the way, and letting out a quiet whisper. "adrien." it's softly said, but affirming.

and then the dusknoir practically jump-scares her-- forcing her eyes wide open and her to suck in a breath, before she pauses, rationalizes, catches herself and lets the breath go. count on someone who's been tortured to keep a dusknoir as a guard, what had she been expecting? "you still keep the strangest company."

she winces internally. that's a hell of a way to start explaining a disappearance from over five years ago. they both have explaining to do. it feels too surreal that, one way or another, they both ended up here. hopefully firt he'll turn around. it's been too long since she hasn't seen his dorky face.

"adrien!" she's breathless now, because of all the oxygen she's sucked in as he turned in his rest, the pessimist inside telling her that he probably didn't care any more; but then he says her name, and so she has to say his again.

the dusknoir backs away, glaring at her still, at which xiomara gives the pokemon and coyly triumphant smile, likely earning a worse glare. that's alright. ghosts don't scare her-- and if she has to pick one, she was almost more afraid to confronting adrien than the dusknoir. but she couldn't pace around veilstone and not stop by, not after what liam had told her.

years ago, they'd been thicker than thieves, maybe more. she'd never been sure. but then the flickers of fate forced her sister's life to burn, and then she'd never talked to him again because things had changed too much. now, she feels a little short from stupid and not to far from silly.

he seems flustered, flabbergasted, and each little stumble makes her smile and inch more genuine. "nice to see you haven't changed your dorkish ways." xio gives adrien a smile, but it weakens as he smiles at her, and she waves awkwardly.

"hi."

are you okay, are you hurt? did liam do this? how have you been? why are you in galactic?

...or you know.

hi.

it was like two two places had merged into one-- the paradise with the shining sun, and this hospital room with a scent of spirit and anesthesia. they were kids again, and adrien's giggle refreshed her and made her breath out a helpless sigh as she smiled too, a little chuckle as he commented awkwardly about the awkwardness of the situation.

"i've been okay," she lied. "i know, you've really done it without me there to look after you," she says, looking down his battered legs-- almost the exact same thing as what liam looked like. but then she looks back at him, green and blue eyes locking quickly with his. her eyes blinked away, watching the dusknoir now. "i'd ask how you've been, but i think i've heard enough about that."

she opens her mouth to ask a question, a hard question, one that will shatter the imagine of the shining sun inside her head, but adrien speaks, and she thinks it's better if they can continue on like this, lighthearted idiots. "no?" she asks, her serious expression splitting into a grin. "i bet you'll go off into rambling in a few seconds." she smiles coyly, eyes rising again to meet his.

"what do you mean? i don't think i'm much taller...maybe an inch or two..." she played coy easily, blinking in apparent confusion before smirking. "you, on the other hand, will forever be stuck at the mental age of fifteen." she smirks, ignoring the seat next to his bed and opting to st on the bed itself instead, relaxing in the cozy mattress, sitting gingerly as not to touch adrien's legs.

she watched him lean forward, his face very close, but she never wavered in her smile or took his eyes off him-- she was coy but she was adamant, and when he did speak she laughed. "i know right, it's hard to keep my waist is so thin, thank you for noticing," she remarks without missing a single beat, eye still locked on to his.

he leans back, though and she relaxes, posture reclining if only by a few millimeters. she doesn't know what to think of adrien. he's always been their for her, and he was definitely one of her greatest friends, at the very least, a friend she trusted completely, devoid of all her present day cynicism and criticism. he's a treasure for a life time ago, and she's like a sphinx, and wants to keep it safe.

"it's impossible to avoid your name in galactic..." she mutters, idly looking out the window while casually dropping the fact that she joined galactic.

she did a lot of crazy things in that five year gap.

"and well, the hospital is your fault." she smiles. "personally, i'd have preferred reuniting back in celestic town. "

half of her wants to just collapse on the bed. she ran from solaceon to veilstone in less than two days, as soon as she had heard, and the exhaustion rushes into her, making her eyelids swoop down and open up in a slow motion blink, but then immediately after her blue eye is on adrien again, giving him a sidelong glance to see what he'd have to say.

she smirks back and shakes her head, glad that neither of them have lost their touch with words, despite having lost touch with each other. apparently, anyway, because both of them are in the same crime syndicate without really having known, and that's a strange occurrence as any.

well, to be truthful, she's known for a while.

but she never knew how to approach it, because once she revealed herself everything would come to the light. her sister's death, her brother's conviction for murder, the alarming robbery of the greens' house only two days after they left for a vacation to kalos. xio, sneaking away from celestic town and playing with being a little mercenary programmer in veilstone, the sudden attempted murder...everything would unravel, and she didn't want it to.

"yep," she said finally, no longer looking him in the eye. anger flickers across her mismatched eyes before she blinks it away. "i could easily say the same for you."

she pulls up her hand, and then rests it on his knee. "i can't explain everything...i--," she says, feel a wave of guilt wash over her, because adrien look likes been through enough, too much to learn that his best friend had somehow turned into a criminal, one that's in galactic.

she grits her teeth, her grip on his knee becoming tight before she realizes and quickly lets go-- but her eyes don't let go of his as she says, "well, i'm not the one getting caught up in plots to overthrow cyrus, then getting myself tortured of liam summers of all people. where did you go wrong, adrien?"

she shakes her head.

"where did we go wrong?" she mumbles.