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Counting Days

It had been three full days of nothing. Today, being what Nion called 'Thursday' was just like any other one. I awoke in the morning hours before he did, only to watch the sun rise from outside Draye's window. I had taken a liking to his bed. The morning sun was of incredible warmth which I had made a pattern of enjoying fully. Normally Nion wouldn't awaken until well after the sun reached the ceiling. So I would sleep for any extra hours I felt necessary during such time, but today was different. Today I found Nion standing in the doorway as I overheard him yawning. I immediately opened my eyes and alerted my senses, awakening fully from the semi-dozing state that I was tranced in.

"Good morning Nion." I spoke first for a change. Although when I was originally brought here, I wouldn't ever consider becoming a part of their lives in any way shape or form, I had grown to accept that I wasn't going to leave, that the answers to my questions would be revealed if I was prepared to wait for them, and that Nion was ever more increasingly willing to assist me if the time ever came. Although my first question still hadn't been answered, I could only assume that I was piecing everything together, no matter how long it seemed to take. Many other nights I had gone sleepless over that first question, and every rational answer I eliminated with another question, so, I still had no clue on what he was hiding from me. "Why are you up so early?" I finally finished my original thought, looking at the blue and black lightning wolf.

"I decided to lie in the sun for the morning, but it seems that you have beaten me to the thought."

"Well, since you never woke up until the sun had gone, I came here the last two days. It's surprising how much warmer the sun is here." The feeling was coming back again. The one that came out the moment I caught sight of the painted picture of Nion and myself, which had a little extra work on it only to prove that my original thoughts were correct. The picture was of Nion and myself, my name was now printed underneath me. The picture had been titled 'Luyo and Nion' in a fine calligraphy. But I still couldn't quite tell what it meant to me. I wasn't going to tell Nion about it because there were still parts of my life I wanted to keep from him that were stashed away along with the countless mental pictures I had created of us. I lay still for several moments, waiting for Nion to say something else. We both remained silent for at least a minute. I wasn't going to share anything about what I had just thought, that was something I wanted to figure out myself.

"Well, is it ok if I join you?" Nion spoke softly, just audible to my ears. I continued to look at him, non-committing to any side. Over the past few days I have started to enjoy Nion's company more than I had expected. That strange feeling inside me saying that it was ok to talk to him boiled up again, like I wanted to have something more to do with everything than just to be a roommate throughout our perpetual boredom. Although I'm not sure as to the level of boredom Nion reached, he seemed slightly amused throughout the whole day, as if by holding me in semi-torture, withholding information I wanted was some sick or twisted thrill ride of his, but toying with someone's mind was above all the highest insult in my opinion. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to strike him. "Luyo?" I shook my head quickly, removing any thought and refocusing back on what he had asked me just a moment ago.

I glanced down to see how much sunlight was left and how long it would last. There was at least an hour left of the sunlight, and it stretched out over the bed for another metre or so, allowing enough room for Nion and myself, while still having a bit of space between us. "If you want to." I spoke equally as softly through a sigh. I watched Nion take several steps closer to the bed, he stepped lightly and slowly, taking his time to come into the sun. Any other normal pokémon would've just walked at a normal pace and jumped up, but Nion seemed reluctant to reach the light. After a few moments of silence while I watched him eventually jump to the bed he quickly curled up in the very back corner of the light and lay facing the window. Although that was where his face was looking, his eyes had other plans. They were stuck to me, again.

I had stopped worrying about Nion staring at me like he was now, it seemed that whenever he did this I could do anything, and he wouldn't notice. After I first found this out I insulted him with everything I knew, only to watch the same dumb look stare back at me. Then when I started killing myself laughing he tried to figure out what happened, only for me to say nothing. Payback did feel nice because he wouldn't put it down for at least an hour. I enjoyed torturing him for that time, but I didn't know what I could do to him this time.

"You know that Draye is taking us to the park on Saturday." It was Nion who spoke through his stare, something that was completely unusual, since he usually zoned out like that about three times a day. Then I thought about what he said, something about going outside? Wait, Saturday, that was the sixth day, and we're on day four. So we were going outside in two days. I had to survive two days before I would breathe fresh air once more. Although sitting in-front of the window did give a cool breeze, it wasn't anything compared to being truly outside. "If your leg is better by then." Nion added. I immediately stood up and stretched out both of my back legs proving to myself that I was physically fit. I felt fine, like there was nothing wrong with me in the first place. The potions Draye must've given me were definitely working. As I continued to test out my leg, Nion started his stare again, I shrugged it off and ignored him. If he had nothing better to do with his time than stare at me, so be it, although we weren't going anywhere for a while, not until the sun decided to move away and cause the room to cool down. But that wasn't for a few hours at least.

I lay myself back in the sunlight, watching as Nion moved his gaze out the window overlooking the park. "I'm sorry about that." He spoke solemnly, as if he'd done something wrong. All he did was look at me, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing he hadn't done before. Nion had become extremely apologetic over our days alone in the 'apartment' as Draye called it. It was like he had something to hide from me, something he didn't want to show. Although I admit, I wanted to keep several aspects of my life a secret I did that in a more subtle way. I wasn't going to just say that I couldn't wait to get outside, although that was obvious. I wasn't going to say that I didn't mind staying here as much as I expected to, then again I suppose he figured that out too.

"Why are you sorry Nion?" This wasn't the first time Nion apologised for no reason. He did it once yesterday while I was testing my battle skills. Of course I couldn't actually attack anything, but I practised my dodges mostly, that was until I felt my leg tire out and start to give way. "You said the same thing yesterday Nion, now tell me, why are you sorry?"

I watched as Nion tore himself away from the window and looked at me again, his expression had changed from focused to relaxed. He was hiding something like the answers I wanted to know days ago. I was going to get them, eventually. "I can't tell you." Nion said calmly which caused me to sigh heavily and turn towards the window once more.

"Can you actually tell me anything? I have waited days for you to tell me things Nion, and all I keep hearing is that you can't say, or you want to be sure, or the time isn't right... When is the right time Nion? When can I actually expect a straight answer out of you?" I had had enough of his foolish games. He can't tell me why he keeps apologising, he can't explain how he managed to find me in the mountains, he can't tell me why I'm not allowed into the room opposite the 'kitchen', he can't even tell me what is in that room. All I knew about it was that Nion went in there at night with Draye for about an hour before they would go to sleep. The first night I expected them to be doing something, but this was completely uncalled for as it undermined my position in the family, if one were to call it that.

"Luyo... Please, you're not making this any easier on-"

"On who? You? You think it's easy for me? I have to forget everything I've ever known and the only thing I get in return is a 'friend' who can't tell me anything," I had almost had enough of Nion's stupid excuses. "A stupid little bowl with my name on it," Draye had finally bought me my own food bowl yesterday. "A captor who is never home and a living space with the ability to do nothing but bore me. But it's not enough for you... Isn't it? You have to pretend that nothing's wrong and that you can get away with everything while Draye's not home."

"Luyo, you're not listening. I will-"

"And now you expect me to listen... After all this time of asking and silence you now expect me to listen?" I stood on the bed, towering over Nion who looked like he had just killed his first enemy, frightened and ashamed. "I'm tired of trying to listen to you Nion, you have given me nothing but silence since I've gotten here, and so now-"

I was cut off by Nion who had jumped up from his position and knocked me down. He was standing over me, holding my legs down with his own forcefully. "Luyo, listen to me." He paused for a moment as if I was going to interrupt him again, I figured that I could hear him out one last time. It's not like I was going to die from it, but it ad better be worth it. "Please, just give me a second to explain." I summed up my choices. If his explanation wasn't good enough, his throat was just in range from my scythe blade. I could end everything here if he didn't value his life enough to tell me what he knew. But if he did tell me what I wanted to know, I wasn't prepared for that. "I know that I haven't been telling you anything that is important, but I have a reason for that." I held my body still, not giving away the fact that he could die soon. "I can't tell you what is going on yet, it's not ready..." It's not ready? What is it? And why didn't he tell me this sooner? "If you will allow Draye and myself to finish everything tonight, I will tell you what I know tomorrow, every question you've had, I will answer. Any other question you can make up, I will explain to. Just please, don't do this yet. And if you find that what I have isn't enough, then you can ignore me for the rest of your time here. Just please, give me till tomorrow."

Nion quickly stepped off me and turned around, lying on the bed facing with his back to me like he normally would when something like this happened. It seemed that whenever Nion made any advancement towards me, immediately after he had to lay down and become silent for several minutes. But the offer he gave me was interesting to say the least. Whatever 'it' was, I figured that it had to be something useful. After all, I never had anything to lose, only Nion had his life. I suppose that if I did strike him again, Nion wouldn't be anywhere near as calm as the first time I attacked him. If only I could figure out what 'it' was. Then I could finally get my answers out of him. But at least now I knew when they were coming, I knew that he would tell me everything tomorrow, either that, or suffer my consequences.

* * *

The rest of the day was exactly how I envisioned it to be. Nion had fallen deathly silent as if he was trying to figure out something, no doubt how to tell me the answers. Draye got home early than the previous two days, but rushed into the spare room with Nion almost immediately after arriving home. Draye sat between our beds and talked with us for about half an hour before moving into the spare room with Nion. I could hear occasional cluttering sounds from inside the room, sometimes I would hear Nion growl in disapproval, but otherwise it was silent. After about two hours they both emerged looking accomplished, like something great had happened. I personally had no idea on what they had done over the past few days or what had just happened. All I knew was that Nion would tell me everything, tomorrow. Which was a time I could do nothing but look forward to.

Another hour passed and Draye had disappeared into his room, leaving Nion and myself alone together, again. Except this time something felt different. It felt like something was going to happen, something, out of the ordinary. I myself didn't feel the same. Having spent the past four days doing nothing but talking to the same person about nothing changed how I thought. I still had my philosophies on life and such, but my short term plans had changed dramatically from escaping at all costs with my life intact, to looking forward to the next day waiting for something to happen. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy my life back home, it's just that something more is happening here than I know, something is happening to me.

Living with another pokémon has given me a new outlook on life, instead of watching over the land thinking about nothing, I would think about nothing until Nion decided to wake up and talk to me. I now had a purpose beyond survival, a reason to act, a friend.

"Aren't you tired?" Nion asked quietly. I remembered last night when we talked at normal volume, I remember Draye coming out and yelling at us for a moment for being so noisy. It's not like he could understand us. "There is a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"What do you mean? Nothing is happening tomorrow. Besides that you're going to tell me everything." I wanted to add that last bit in to make sure he wasn't going to back out of our agreement.

Nion sighed and turned his body to face me, something completely unusual for him. "Luyo, I won't lie to you, I will tell you everything tomorrow, no doubt about that. But can you promise me one thing now?"

I pricked my ears at the comment, what did he want now? "Is it something I'm going to regret later? Or is it something you're going to regret?"

"I don't know yet..." His tone of voice worried me, like something bad was going to happen. "But just promise me that you'll understand what I say tomorrow and where I am coming from when I say it."

"How can I understand what you're saying if it might not make sense?"

"Just, trust me Luyo. You know that you're the only pokémon I haven't spoken to outside a battlefield, so, believe me when I say that not everything can go to plan." Nion's words continued to dumbfound me. I didn't know if he was being serious, annoying, or just over-reacting to something I haven't already said. Or did I say something earlier? I couldn't remember. "I will tell you everything you need to know."

As much as I didn't want to, Nion was the only source of information I had, and I had promised myself earlier that I would hear him out, at least until he told me what I wanted to know. I thought to myself for a moment, as if all this waiting and promising was actually worth my answer in the end. "Ok Nion... I believe you."

I wasn't sure on what to do next. We had an agreement... Two actually. I had agreed to his, after he agreed to mine. He would answer my questions, while all I had to do was respect what he said and agree to hear him out to the end. I personally thought that I got the better end of the deal, but that was just the way I wanted it. All I had to do was wait until tomorrow. But I knew that would come soon enough.

Nion sighed heavily and nuzzled his head deep in the cross of his arms. I followed suit only to lie still for several minutes. I stayed awake on purpose for no reason other than to try and piece together what pieces Nion had given me. I figured that I had enough information to figure out the puzzle, all I needed was time.

I lay awake for several hours trying to fit everything together, but nothing came through. I thought that I had everything figured out, until I remembered something else he had done following an awkward event. But there was still a major part missing.

Nion had been asleep for about two hours when he started to twitch in his sleep. And since he was facing me tonight I could see everything that he was doing. Nion would push forward his right foreleg and contract it back slowly while clenching his claws, murmuring softly in the background. I stood from my bed and put my ear closer to his face until he spoke subconsciously again.

"I love you Luyo..."

That was all I needed to know.