It was now nightfall, and the woods had become dark and silent. Not knowing where to spend the night, he decided to go to Devin. Sometimes he had walked with him to his home, so he knew where the boy lived. He could’ve asked to host him for that night. Also he felt the urge to see him. He needed to vent, to cry, and to feel safe in his arms. The house was located in a wide clearing in one of the most populated areas of the forest. Salazar walked there, taking care to be as discreet as possible.
When he arrived in front of the house, he stood there for a moment, not sure of what to do. He surely couldn’t just knock; he wanted to avoid being seen by Devin’s parents. At that time he didn’t wanted to be seen by anyone, he would have preferred to just disappear into thin air. Also they could have become suspicious about them. So he slipped in the back yard. There one of the rooms of the upper floor had the light on, and it was exactly his room.
Salazar took a pebble from the ground and tried to toss it to the glass, to get his attention. After several attempts he finally succeeded, and the boy went to the window. "Salazar ..? Is that you? What are you doing here at this hour?" He said with an expression between the concerned and the unbelieving. "I need to talk... please, come down” he replied in a whisper, his hands bound closely together, with crackly voice. Devin peered around for a moment, then looked at him and sighed. “Wait there, I’m coming.” after a little while he went out the back door. Without even thinking, Salazar left the suitcase fall on the floor and tried to hug him, hoping that he would have taken him in his arms, but the boy instead shook him off, frowning slightly.
"Can you tell me what happened? Your neighbors have heard a racket coming from your house, and seen your father go away in a rage.. What's going on?” Salazar gasped. The news was already spreading around? How was that possible? He looked at the ground and weakly shook his head. The forest was large, but it wasn’t so populated. The news didn’t take so long to be on everyone lips, especially a scandal like that. But for sure his father would have silenced all of that with some excuse. Salazar had put a bad light on his family in front of the whole forest, and now his father had to fix it.
He clenched his fists, but finally lifted his head, returning his gaze. “My father became aware that I had an affair with another man. Someone must have told him, and he kicked me out. And now I don’t know where to go.” Devin took a step back. Even in the dim light of the streetlamp one could see that he had turned pale. “... Someone has seen us? They know about me then?” Salazar shook his head again. “I don’t know actually...I don’t think my father know about you, maybe they didn’t told with who I was."
Salazar took his hand in his own. “Please let me stay here tonight. ... I'm overwhelmed. I don’t even have the strength to think anymore, and I’ve no other place to sleep.” Devin bit his lip and looked somewhere else. “I’m so sorry for what happened to you ... it's really horrible. But I cannot let that happen to me as well. If my parents knew about us, they wouldn’t take it well too, I fear. This story took a very bad turn, unfortunately. And it could get even worse. Maybe we shouldn’t see each other again…” “But ... I thought you were happy to be with me ... I thought you liked me...” Salazar stammered, feeling his eyes dampen once again.
How many tears could he shed in a single night? He believed he had finished them all already, but it wasn’t like that apparently. "Yes indeed!” he said nodding, but continued to avoid his gaze. "I like being with you, we had some good times together, but is that so, right? It was just a nice experience, but it cannot continue of course. Two men cannot be together." Salazar stepped back, and for his luck he found a tree to lean on. He couldn’t understand, his heart was already broken into a million pieces, so how it was possible for him to feel as if he had just got it stabbed?
"So it's never been so important to you. It was just to try, just a distraction in the end..?!" Devin spread his arms, defensive. "You didn’t really thought all of this could continue, did you?” He sighed, approaching "I think it's the best for both of us if you don’t stay here tonight. I could give you some money so you can go find some lodging ..." said, holding out his hand, but this time Salazar was the one moving over. “I do have money, thank you very much.” his voice came out much colder than what he thought. “And don’t worry, I will make do by myself, I surely wouldn’t want you to put yourself out for me!" burst out, taking back his suitcase and quickly walking away. As soon he as he went out the garden, he started running in the woods, as fast as possible, as if he just could run away from everything that was happening to him.
Unfortunately he had no energy and it didn’t take very long to get tired.
Now he was back on the main avenue, at the edge of the forest. In the distance he could see the lights and the silhouettes of the tall buildings of Castelia city. He sat under a streetlight, still shook up. In less than two hours his whole world had collapsed under his feet. He still couldn’t believe what he had heard... for Devin everything there had been between them had been nothing more than an affair? All of his feelings, all his doubts and the lies they had been for nothing in the end… and the price he paid was just so high.
But that didn’t changed anything after all. What he felt was true. He had really been in love with another man. Disgusting... a filthy, loathsome being. It was really what he had become. Why he had those feelings? That’s how it was, and it was wrong. And now he would have never seen his family, ever again.
He felt the panic prevailing on him again, like a long cold shiver traversing his body. What would it become of him now? Where he could go? No one would have still wanted him in the forest, but he had never left that place before… the world was a big and scary place for someone so weak and inexperienced like him.
He took out the piece of tapestry that had decided to bring along. Virizion was still there, standing among flowers with his resolute and yet pretty face. "Help me... I don’t know what to do! I ruined everything ... why I am so wrong? What should I do? Please help me..." Salazar fell silent a second, holding his breath, as if waiting for something to happen. But nothing happened. Only the swarm of wild Pokémon broke the silence of the forest.
In his heart, Salazar knew that Virizion wasn’t in the forest at that time, but the doubt still gnawed away his brain like a bug. He just couldn’t take off the words of his father from his mind. "Maybe ... Maybe he wouldn’t want to see me anyway!" he broke down loudly, holding his head in his hands. "Because I've ruined everything!"
Sobbing so hard to shake, he started to hyperventilate. That night had been the most grueling of his life. He had no energy left. His vision darkened, his head was spinning, and moment later he collapsed, unconscious.
