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berevityandquiet · 6 years ago

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They all Float to the Sea

AO3 Link: here

Summary: Not all Drifloons kidnap children. Some do.

This is the first fic I've written since january.

wrow okay, before I go any further, lemme thank plus5pencil for helping me edit this fic - they were a huge help and I'm mondo grateful.

I was listening to Feels like Summer by Childish Gambino when I was writing this - it's got the same feel I was hoping to convey in this fic, so if you're looking for new music, go check it out.

I've been suffering from massive burnout when it comes to writing, to the point that everything I wrote would just make me angry. I'm starting to come out of that which...I can't tell you how good that feels. Here's hoping that I'll be able to write more in the future.

Moon is in her early twenties in this fic. Nanu's pokemon are all named after the NATO alphabet. Nanu's pokemon: Sierra (Sableye), Kilo (Krokorok), Papa (Persian), Alpha (Absol) Moon's pokemon: Balboa (Lycanroc), Danyerys (Salazzle), Pacifica (Primarina)

Let it be known that not all drifloon kidnap children. In fact, the majority do not – with their docile, almost somnolent nature, they're great house-pokemon. Children adore how they float and their soft cries and drifloon are content with a nice spot of sunshine and a soft summer breeze.

They practically go hand-in-hand.

Still. There are the slim few. The past few years have seen a steady decline, with most local police forces enforcing a strict registration protocol of domestic drifloon and the tracking and tagging of wild ones. And besides, most parents are savvy enough to keep an eye on their little ones whenever the pokemon are around.

It's a startling low number in Alola, for reasons that are anyone's guess - some posit that, due to their already weak flying ability, drifloon have a tendency to get blown out into the sea. Considering their populations normally localize at inland areas, it's a fairly solid theory.

Drifloon kidnappings are like sharpedo attacks, you're more likely to be hit by a car, killed by a raging tauros, or die from food poisoning.

Still...some slip through the cracks.

Her nickname is Daisy; full name Dorthy Anne Hale. She's 4 and a half, with dark hair that she wears in pigtails and big brown eyes and she loves math class and peaches.

She's from Virbank. She'd moved with her parents when they got new jobs working for the police department in Malie city and, according to her parents, she had been excited to see an evening without smog.

She has asthma – which was what convinced Mrs. Hale to her kidnapping in the first place.

“She said, she left without her inhaler.” Nanu says quietly, his hands on his chest. He's staring at the ceiling, fingers drumming against his heart in that quiet, nervous way, "She never would have left without her inhaler."

You've taken to sleeping at Nanu's house whenever you're in town (which is pretty often) and so you weren't entirely surprised that he didn't react to you cooking dinner that night (at this point Nanu just assumes you'll be there).

But you were surprised by the fact that he didn't react to the meowth gang. Normally he greets them all individually, lets all his pokemon out to relax and makes them supper.

Tonight he just...sat on the couch. Crossed his arms on his knees and looked at his fists, as if expecting some grand answer to be trapped between his fingers.

He barely ate dinner, barely responded to your questions, and when you turned on the tv for the nightly news, he barked at you to turn it off (which earned him a pretty icy stare).

For a moment, you wonder if he's trying to hide the kidnapping for you. It doesn't matter - within a few minutes, your phone is blowing up, between Hau and Lillie trying to get more information.

Nanu clomps upstairs when Mom calls - you're relieved.

"Can you believe it?" She says, in that entirely too chipper way, "The news won't say, but I bet it's a drifloon kidnapping. Can you believe it? Here on the islands!"

"Yeah mom."

"I totally forgot they were here! I never left you alone with your father's drifloon, I was always afraid it'd just take you away. Don't people know better?!"

"Well, we don't really know if it was her pokemon, Mom. We don't even know if it's a drifloon."

"Aah, that's true," you can hear clanking in the background, sizzling. Mom's making dinner - you hope she's not too lonely, "I just can't believe it. Remember that girl Moon? The one you used to play with?"

"I try not to." You sigh, laying back on the couch - Pacifica lays his head in your lap, looking up at you sleepily - you run your hand through his fur and the hair-like mane almost feels like rain, "I'm just hoping for the best now."

"That's good."

Mom changes the conversation. She received another letter from dad and it's...well it's bittersweet. You try to be happy for her, but it's hard to bite your tongue sometimes.

Nanu never comes back down. You get everyone set up for bed.

His persian follows you up the stairs.

You don't sleep together that night, but you do lay in bed with him.

“So...what, you think it's a drifloon?”

“I know it's a drifloon – she had one.”

You curse under your breath, her head propped up on your hand. You were hoping Mom was wrong.

“They'd just found it,” Nanu continues quietly, even as Papa turns her head and continues to snore against Nanu's side, “The father caught it, even named the fucker. That hadn't had a chance to get it registered yet, but they figured she was just going to school, what was the harm in letting them go together?”

Nanu clenches his fist and bangs on the side of the bed, grinding his teeth. Papa growls softly and turns over.

“Why the hell would they let her just go like that?!” He hisses, brows furrowed, “They know better, it's so-”

“Take it easy,” You murmur, tucking your head against his neck, “Look, that's not important now. They say where she was last seen?”

“Walking to school. Where else?”

“It hasn't been very windy – she's probably not too far away.” You ignore his quip, “Drifloons are pretty weak, it'll get tired and drop her off.”

“That's what I'm worried about, Moon.” He groans, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Sure, it hasn't been windy, but they can still fly pretty high. What if it drops her on the mountain? Or christ, the ocean?”

“It won't.” You're not sure of that. Quietly, you've been wondering that too.

You remember what Mom was talking about, the kid you used to play with, the schoolmate chum from Kanto that you used to hang out with after class was done. She found a drifloon one day, and took it home with her.

They found her six months later, when her body washed ashore.

The silence is heavy. Downstairs, your pokemon are curled up with Nanu's, all fast asleep and dreaming peacefully. Papa stretches in her sleep, giving a soft, haughty meow. Theres a soft wind in the night, one that creeps into the loft from the itty-bitty window above the bed.

“You don't believe that,” Nanu says eventually.

You don't say anything.

Nanu doesn't come home the next night – ironically, you don't either. You're out with a small group of other veterans, Professor Kukui leading the search for the girl. Balboa has been scouring the fields with the other rockruffs and growlithes, there's a group of aether employees scouring the skies with charzards.

This goes on for a few days. You don't receive a lot of challengers at the league. The few that you do go down in flames.

Nanu looks tired. He doesn't eat. Papa's taken to looking at him nervously whenever you're around – he smells like cigarettes.

He's the kahuna, he states cooly when you try to get him to take a break, Ula Ula is under his protection.

It's his island. For all his nonchalance, he won't let his island down.

“You been sleeping, cousin?”

Kukui grins at you, shoving a cup of kamola coffee in your face, “He nearly had you that time – you gettin' tired of being champ?"

You take the cup with a soft "thanks" - Kukui makes it strong, like a bolt of liquid lightening. He flops down beside you and Danyerys crawls to him, crooning and growling, greedily curling in his lap for attention.

"Any word yet?"

Kukui's smile falters, seems a little less genuine. He scratches under Danyerys' chin, "Nope. Not a word. Ain't even found her clothes."

You're both sitting on the champion podium, looking over the wreckage - the cleaning crew will be by soon, and the challenger has run off to get his pokemon to the Pokecenter. The arena is a mass of scattered rocks and burnt metal and melting icicles and, for the first time in a hour and a half, you take a deep breath. It's a nice moment of peace.

You were very, very lucky.

"Do you..." You start but it seems a little foolish. You know how this ends. Everyone does.

"Maybe." Kukui rubs his chin thoughtfully, answering the question you didn't want to ask, "I'm not one to give up hope, you know that. It's slim, but maybe she'll beat those odds."

Acerola meets you outside the stadium. She's totally unbothered by the whipping winds and the bitter snow and she walks down the mountain with you, sandals and all.

It's nice - you haven't seen each other in a while. She's been consulting with the UlaUla police force about the case, but you're both always too busy to really hang out.

Which is a real shame - Lillie's been sending pictures from Kanto and you know Acerola's been scheming on a few selfies from her favorite princess.

But you're too lost in thought to think about that. She laughs at every wild pokemon that leaps out and practically skips as you both treck down.

"Do you-"

"Do I think they'll find her?" She finishes for you, easily skating across a patch of ice, "Do you really want an answer to that, Moon? Or are you just looking for reassurance?"

In that moment, you remember who she calls uncle and you can't help but laugh - they're so much alike.

"You know me, I don't like to be negative." She grins as you both finally come across the elevator down, "But I'm also honest."

"So what do you think?"

Something flickers across her face - a flash of sadness.

It's all you need to know.

The rest of the ride is spent in silence.

"Do me a favor, Moon."

You can still feel the cold in your bones. Even in the heat of the dying sun, it feels like ice has formed in your gut.

Acerola links her arm with yours and leans in close, as if she's telling you some great secret, "Make sure he gets some rest, okay? Uncle pushes himself too hard - we both know he's too old for that."

You have a sneaking suspicion this isn't the first time she's told someone that.

You promise to do so. She promises to come around the station for dinner some night.

You part ways.

Nanu still hasn't been home.

You feed the meowth tribe. He's left the rest of his pokemon in their balls, so you summon them out and let them stretch their legs. Kilo growls at first - he's never really trusted you - but Sierra practically leaps into your arms, immediately trying to get to your earrings.

"No! I just got these!" She's determined to get those gems - eventually, you just unclip them and let her have it, "Tell your daddy he owes me new ones."

Alpha says nothing, simply curls on his spot on the couch and begins to watch you. Papa's out with Nanu and the meowth tribe looks a little lonesome without their fearless leader.

Your pokemon are next out. Balboa immediately bounds towards Kilo and out the door they go, playing in the front yard - they were fast friends, as all the pokemon are now. It's a relief, you honestly thought no one would get along at first.

Dinner is a slow process, but eventually everyone gets fed, everyone gets let outside for some fresh air, and everyone gets a goodnight kiss.

You don't turn on the news.

Around 4:00 am, Nanu arrives home.

You don't say anything. You move over to give him more space.

He doesn't say anything - but he does curl his body around yours. The stubble on his chin tickles.

For the first time in weeks, he goes to sleep.

"And now, our breaking story - Dorothy Anne Hale's body was discovered last last night in Ula'ula meadow. Police have released a statement thanking the citizens of Ula'ula for their assistance and the family has asked for privacy at this time.

In other news, this weather's going to change, isn't it Bob! Let's go to the weather reports for more information..."

Breakfast is a quiet affair, but Nanu eats like he's starving.

You're no great chef, but you make pancakes and toast and Nanu has enough energy to fry up bacon. The meowths all cry for scraps and everyone gets a sip of tea with milk and it all feels very...domestic.

Nanu goes back to sleep directly after breakfast. You sit up and watch television and switch the channels when the thirty-second news breaks appear until Nanu comes back downstairs and grabs you by the middle, hauling you back to bed with him (he's surprisingly strong for an old guy).

You shoot a quick message to Kukui that you're out of commission for the day, that Nanu seems to really need someone to be with, and Kukui sends back a host of emojis, including an "okay hand" symbol and a collection of peaches and eggplants.

You still don't sleep together. You haven't had sex in a while but....

But that's okay. This...whatever you've got between you two, it started as sexual and it just turned...

Well, there's no reason to complicate things.

He sleeps on your chest - you fade in and out of sleep. It's raining, a soft, steady drizzle that taps against the window. The clouds lumber slowly, spots of blue and shocks of sunlight peeking through every once and a while.

It's noon when he wakes up again. Looks at you for a minute - you look back at him. You smile.

"What?"

He's got his arms still wrapped around your middle. He plucks at the strings of your bra absentmindedly, looking at a scar on your breast (a friendly battle between you and Guzma that got a little...heated).

"You need to pluck your eyebrows - they're bushy."

"You ass!" You grab the closest pillow and shove it in his face - you can still hear him laughing through the fabric.

"So she's back home?" "Yup. Her parents are flying back tomorrow - they're gonna bury her next to her grandparents."

"That's good."

As it turns out, Nanu was right - the drifloon had gotten to around 60 stories up, gotten tired, and dropped her. The look on Nanu's face as he talks tells you everything you need to know about her body.

The drifloon itself had been owned by an elderly trainer on Melemele who had recently passed away - in accordance with the original owner's will, all of her pokemon were released back into the wild. The family, still grief-stricken and trying to control family problems with the inheritance had forgotten to mention the drifloon's release to the Melemele police department. The drifloon, who had been around people for a majority of it's life, had approached the father in hopes of being caught and brought to a home.

When it saw the child, nature kicked in. A perfect, entirely fucked storm.

Nanu quiets when he's finished - in some sort of twisted luck, he'd found her, her tiny, crumpled body covered in red petals. In the darkness, he could only just make out the blue peticoat dress she'd walked to school in.

He squeezes his eyes shut and he looks so old...lays his head against your chest and takes a deep breath.

You run your hand through his hair. He doesn't need to talk anymore.

You're okay with the silence.

#finished fic #crossposted on ao3 #pokemon moon #fic: TBI #nanu/protagonist #drifloon kidnaps a kid #we all know where this is going

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