All That Matters

All That Matters
(CAUTION! This is meant to be read after One More Block. It may be read first or separately, but it is part of the One More Block mini-series. It may be a prequel, but it will help clarify some things in One More Block that are meant to be realized while reading this. Thank you, and enjoy!)

The blocks fell to the floor with a clatter. N numbly nudged one with his foot.
He sighed, and started again. He slowly put the blocks on top of each other, one by one.
As he put the final block on top, he let his hand drop to his side.
He smacked his hand through the tower, scattering the blocks again. This time, he didn’t feel like trying to build the tower again.
N drew his knees up to his chest and stared at the wall.
Then, the door to his room opened and light streamed in. N shielded his face from the blinding light and turned to look at the person standing in the doorway.
A young woman with long pink hair was standing with a small Pokémon in her arms.
“Anthea…” N scrambled to his feet and rushed over to her.
Anthea gently put the Pokémon in N’s arms. It was a Purrloin, and it was unconscious.
N stroked the battered cat’s body and looked up at Anthea, his eyes brimming with tears.
“How could someone do this?” he whispered.
Anthea shook her head sadly.
“I don’t know, N,’ she said quietly. She bowed her head and slowly shut the door. N slowly walked back to where he had been and sat down slowly, carefully holding the Purrloin.
He stroked his matted purple fur.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, tears dripping down his face. “I’m so sorry.”
The Purrloin suddenly squirmed, and opened its eyes wearily.
“Hey,” N said quietly.
The Purrloin hissed ferociously and raked its claws across N’s cheek.
N recoiled, and the Purrloin leapt out of his arms and crouched a ways off, its teeth bared. N looked at it. He hung his head.
“I…I understand that your Trainer hurt you.” He looked up.
“But I’m different! I won’t hurt you!” He reached towards the Purrloin. The Purrloin hissed again and lashed its claws out, scratching N’s hand. N drew his hand back to his chest. He hung his head again, trembling.
“I’m different…” he whispered.
“Hey there…Shhhh. It’s OK. I won’t hurt you.”
N’s head shot up. His eyes widened. A girl, a few years younger than Anthea, was kneeling in front of the Purrloin. She held her hand out a few inches away from the Purrloin’s nose. The Purrloin sniffed it hesitantly. The girl gently pet its head.
“There you go. That’s it,” she murmured.
“Who are you?!” N exclaimed.
The girl looked at him briefly, then turned her attention back to the Purrloin.
”Let me get you something for those wounds…” She rummaged through her bag, and pulled out what looked like a spray bottle.
“Leave Purrloin alone!” N shouted. He smacked the bottle out of the girl’s hand. It skidded to a halt a foot or so away.
The girl turned to N.
“N, it’s ok-” she started.
He pushed her. “Get out of here! Don’t hurt Purrloin!” he exclaimed.
“Why would I hurt Purrloin?  I don’t hurt Pokémon,” she said.
N shook his head vigorously. “That’s not true! You’re a Trainer aren’t you? All Trainers are bad! All Trainers hurt their Pokémon!”
“I don’t,” the girl said calmly. “I promise. I just want to help, but I won’t be able to if you don’t let me.”
N shook his head again. The girl looked at him sadly.
“N,” she said gently.. “I don’t intend to hurt this Purrloin. I don’t hurt Pokémon. Pokémon are my friends.”
N looked at her warily. The girl held out her hand.
“Trust me.”
N hesitated, then nodded slowly.
The girl grabbed the bottle again.
“This is a Potion,” she explained. “It’s a spray-type medicine. Trainers use them if their Pokémon are hurt.”
She started to spray the Purrloin with it.
N stood a cautiously behind her.
“You mean…there are things Trainers use to help their Pokémon?” he asked.
“Of course. I use them whenever my Pokémon get hurt. I don’t like seeing them in pain.” The girl answered. The gently stroked the Purrloin’s back. It purred softly.
“You can try,” the girl offered. She held out her hand. N took it.
The girl’s eyes widened.
“N! Your hand is bleeding!” she said in alarm.
N yanked his hand back. The girl looked at the blood dripping from it.
“Give me your hand,” she said.
“No.”
“N-“
“No! It’s fine!” N shouted. He backed away, clutching his hand.
The girl sighed and reached over, grabbing his wrist. N tried to pull his hand back.
“Don’t move,’ the girl said sternly. She examined his hand closely.
“These scratches are pretty deep…”
“Purrloin was just scared!” N said indignantly.
“I know. It wasn’t its fault,” the girl responded. “Let me clean it.”
She took a tissue and soaked it in liquid from a bottle. She dabbed it on N’s hand. It stung. N whimpered and tried to pull his hand away again.
The girl kept a tight grip on his wrist.
“Don’t move! I need to clean it, so stay still!” she said.
N stopped, and stood silently as she wiped the blood away. The girl gently wrapped bandages around N’s hand, then looked up at his face.
“You have scratches on your face, too,” she noted.
N squeezed his eyes shut and tried to keep more tears from leaking out.
“It stings,” he admitted.
“I’m sure it does, sweetie. Let me take care of it,” the girl said soothingly.
N blinked.
“Sweetie…?” he murmured.
The girl tucked some of his hair behind his ear, and carefully cleaned the scratches on N’s cheek.
N was quiet for a moment, then asked, “How do you know my name? Who are you? Why are you here? What’s your-“
“Whoa, slow down there,” the girl said, smiling.
“I’m a friend. A friend who cares about you very much. You can call me Hilda.”
She carefully placed a piece of gauze on N’s face and taped it in place.
“There! All better!” she said.
N touched the gauze on his face.
“…Thanks, Hilda…” he said quietly.
Hilda ruffled N’s hair. “Sure thing.”
She looked past him to the blocks scattered across the floor.
N turned and saw what she was looking at. Hilda looked down at him.
“Are you going to finish that?” she asked.
N looked at the blocks.
“I don’t know…” he said hesitantly.
“I’ll help you out,” Hilda offered. She took two blocks and set them up next to each other. N sat down next to her, and helped build up the tower.
“It looks like a king’s castle,” Hilda commented.
N nodded. “My Daddy tells me when I get big, I’m going to be King and liberate all the Pokémon.”
Hilda looked at him. “Why would you want to do that?”
“Because! People are mean to Pokémon! They treat them badly!”
“Not all people do. Some people treat their Pokémon with love,” Touko said.
N shook his head. “That’s not true! I know it isn’t, Daddy told me!”
“N-“
N covered his ears. “No! You’re wrong!!”
“N, please listen-“
“NO! Go away!” N yelled.
He shut his eyes tight.
“Go away!” he yelled again.
There was a long silence.
When N opened his eyes again, Hilda was gone.

N lay curled up on the ground, crying silently.
“Daddy…” he whispered. “It hurts…”
He touched the scratches on his faces with trembling fingertips.
Ghetsis had come into the room, and noticed N’s bandages.
When N didn’t tell him who gave them to him, Ghetsis accused N of leaving his room and struck him across the face. He then left N on the ground.
N clutched his head, shaking.
As he lay on the floor, he felt someone gather him into their arms.
“H-Hilda…” he whimpered.
“Shhhhh, it’s OK. I’m here,” Hilda said softly.
She rocked slowly back and forth, cradling N in her arms.
“It’s OK now.”
N clutched her shirt, sobbing.
Hilda stroked his hair.
“You poor baby…”

When N awoke, He was covered in a soft blanket. He felt his cheek. New bandages covered his scratches. He slowly rolled over. In the darkness, he could make out Hilda, sitting on the ground, watching him.
“Hilda…” he murmured sleepily.
Hilda crawled over to him.
“Hey,” she said, rubbing his back. “How are you?”
N sighed sleepily and pulled the blanket tighter around him.
“You know, Purrloin has been sleeping next to you this whole time,” Hilda told him.
N felt Purrloin nuzzle his face, purring.
“It’s amazing…” Hilda murmured. “You’ve somehow gotten another Pokémon to trust you. You’re an amazing person, N.”
N looked at her in wonder. No one had called him amazing before.
“What’s…amazing?” he asked.
Hilda looked up at the ceiling, seemingly perplexed.
“Well…amazing it what you call something that is extraordinary. Something that is stunning, and you wouldn’t expect it,” she explained.
N nodded tiredly.
Hilda pulled the blanket farther up over N.
“I think it’s pretty late. You should get to sleep.”
N closed his eyes.
“Is amazing good?” he asked sleepily.
He heard Hilda’s voice, “Amazing is very good. Amazing is wonderful.”

Hilda decided to stay this time. She eventually fell asleep a ways away from N.
At some point in the night, she felt a small body wriggle between her arms.
Hilda smiled to herself.
She hugged N closer to her and closed her eyes.
Not much longer now…

N awoke to a wet nose nuzzling his face.
He opened his eyes and saw a small, black, foxlike Pokémon in front of his face.
“Hey Zorua,” N murmured, reaching a hand out to pet its head. As N sat up, he felt Hilda’s arm slip off him. He turned and looked down at her. She was still asleep.
N shook her arm.
“Hilda, wake up. Hilda?”
Hilda groaned and rolled over. N pushed her harder.
“Hildaaaaaaaaaa,” he whined.
Hilda sat up into a somewhat straight position, blinking.
“Yeah…?” she said tiredly.
“Can we play a game?” N asked.
“Sure. What do you want to play?” Hilda asked.
N looked around his room.
“Umm…how about trains first? Then we could finish the castle,” he suggested.
Hilda nodded. “Sounds fine to me.”
N trotted over to the trains and sat down with Zorua in his lap.
“Zorua likes chasing after the trains,” he said.
Hilda pushed one of the trains forward. As it rolled along the tracks, Zorua hopped out of N’s lap, and trotted, yapping, after the train.
“Do your Pokémon friends play with your toys often?” Hilda asked.
N nodded.
“It’s more fun when I play with them,” he said. “My sisters don’t have a lot of time to play with me-“
“N?” came a voice from outside.
Hilda shot up.
“N? Who are you talking to?”
Hilda ran behind the skateboard ramp and crouched down. N stared at her.
“Hilda…?”
Hilda put a finger to her lips.
Concordia walked into the room.
“N, who were you talking to?”
“U-Uh…” N stammered. He looked out of the corner of his eye at Hilda.
She shook her head urgently and pointed to Zorua.
“I was…talking to…my friend!” N spat out.
Concordia cocked her head slightly.
“Friend?” she inquired.
“Her name is Hilda and she’s really nice and we were playing together and she’s in here!” N babbled.
He heard a soft smack and turned his head slightly.
Hilda had facepalmed.
Concordia smiled and ruffled N’s hair.
“It’s nice to have imaginary friends,” she said gently.
“She’s not imaginary! She’s real,” N protested as Concordia left the room.
He saw Anthea standing in the doorway with Concordia, smiling.
They both turned and left, leaving N staring after them.
Hilda peeked out from behind the ramp.
“Are they gone?” she asked.
N didn’t answer her.
“N?”
“They don’t think you’re real…” he murmured.
Hilda looked at him in concern.
“N, what’s wrong?” she asked.
N sat down, staring at his trains.
Hilda crawled out from behind the ramp and sat silently.
“N…?” she said tentatively.
N turned around and crawled into her lap. He hugged her tightly.
“They don’t think you’re real,” he mumbled into her hair.
Hilda hugged him back.
“They don’t.”
N was silent for a minute. “…Are you real?”
“Do you think I’m real?”
“Yes.”
Hilda hugged N tighter. She said softly in his ear, “Sometimes that’s all that matters.
“Sometimes no one else will believe what you believe in, but despite those odds, you need to believe. If you truly believe in something with all your heart, then it’s worth something.”
N looked at her in wonder.
“Promise you’ll always remember that when you feel doubt,” Hilda said.
N nodded. “I promise,” he said.
Hilda took a deep breath.
“N, I won’t be able to spend much more time here. If we want to finish the castle, we better start now,” she said.
N cocked his head, confused.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“Somewhere far away. I won’t be able to come back.”
“What?! No! I want you to stay here!” N protested.
“I want to too, N, but I can’t,” Hilda said.
N shook his head.
“I want you to stay!!” he shouted.
Hilda took his hands.
“N, I know you do. I want to stay too, but if you’re going to get upset about what we can’t change in the future, you’ll miss what’s going on in the present. Like that unfinished castle,” she said gently.
N looked at the unfinished tower.
“…Yeah. Let’s finish it,” he decided.
The two went over to the tower and started to add more blocks.
“How big do you want it?” Hilda asked.
“Big enough for my sisters and father and all my Pokémon friends,” N said.
Hilda laughed.
“That’s a big castle,” she said.
N nodded, concentrating on the battlements of the castle.
The two continued to work, mostly in silence, but occasionally breaking it to make a comment on the tower.
As Hilda placed another block on the castle, she noticed her hand.
It was starting to glow faintly, and was starting to become see-through.
She looked at it sadly.
“N…” she said quietly.
N turned around. His eyes widened as Hilda started to fade.
“No, Hilda! I don’t want you to go!” he protested, his eye filling up with tears.
“Oh, my sweet N,” Hilda said, wiping his tears away. She put her hand on his faded scratches. N held her hand, tears spilling silently out of his eyes.
“W-Will I ever see you again?” he asked.
Hilda smiled, her eyes tearing up.
“I believe so,” she said.
N felt her hand disappear from underneath his. He watched as she completely faded away.
He started to sob. Through his streaming eyes, he looked at his unfinished tower. A lone block stood on the top. He wiped his eyes and looked determined.
“When you come back, we’ll finish it together,” he vowed.

I’ll wait forever if I have to.