A/N: I... have... emerged!

This is the most bizarre thing ever. I stopped writing this story, like, end of sophomore year, I think? And now, as a senior, much later, going down memory lane, I found this story, and read the reviews again, and the people asking me to come back and finish... my gosh... how can I even resist?

I got some new inspiration for this story... the ending is going to be completely different from what I clearly had in mind for this. The quality and plot are going to be upped from here. No more crackfic time. Get ready.

Although excuse any mistakes in this chapter! I'm sure I missed some... R&R :)

Chapter Five

Yay for Filler! I mean…

"There's somethin' 'bout the way the street looks when it's just rained
There's a glow off the pavement, you walk me to the car
And you know I wanna ask you to dance right there
In the middle of the parking lot, yeah..."

She was laughing.

"No, no, no. This is all wrong." Luna stopped in the middle of the music store, doubled over with giggles. The man in the next aisle threw a weird glance, dropped his Taylor Swift album, and walked away. "Archeology?" She managed to repeat incredulously. "No, no. You're supposed to be pulling pranks in your spare time."

Hekiashi shoved his hands in his pocket. "Only a bit!" He insisted, eye twitching. "You've never thought the various ruins are actually kind of fascinating when you get down to it, that's all. The Ruins of Alph – all of the hidden chambers, the Unown, the puzzles. Although I can never quite figure them out, the damn things.

"You know, you could ask Entei for help with the ruins." Luna pointed out.

Hekiashi made a noise of disgust, in part because of what she said and in part because he saw the giant poster of Nick Minaj on the next aisle. "Of course I can't!" He maintained, throwing his hands in the air. "That would ruin all the fun of it. You guys just don't get these things." He shook his head. "The fun isn't in getting it done immediately, it's utilizing your brain and figuring it out."

Luna grinned. This was a new side of him. A new discovery. "Well then. I've never tried it. Maybe I will, sometime, in my free time."

"Like you've let yourself have any free time before."

"Point taken."

But Hekiashi took a deep breath and continued causally. "Well, let's go sometime and try to figure out those puzzles. I'll show you."

Luna gave him a skeptical look. "Really?"

"Meh, probably not."

They continued down the small aisles, pretending to browse as employees walked by, but really, making fun of human tastes in music. "It's weird." Luna thought aloud. "You have like... a double life! You should tell everyone."

Hekiashi snorted at that. "You really think Letmis would ever let me live it down that I might possible resemble the... intellectual type?" He said the words disdainfully.

"Of course not," Luna said thoughtfully, then added a sly, "But at least now I have some leverage on you."

"Try me."

Luna smiled and bent down to grab a CD from a lower shelf. One of the other male lurkers in the store took that opportune moment to pass slowly by, raking his eyes up and down her curves. Irritated, Hekiashi graciously tripped the fellow as he tried to smoothly saunter past and catch her attention.

The boy swore as he hit the crowd. Keeping down his snickers, Hekiashi decided to keep the conversation going, to deny the boy even the comfort of Luna's attention.

"And you?" Luna straightened back up in response, and turned to face him as he asked the question. She raised an eyebrow at his smirk, which he tried to hide. "What are your secrets?" He asked dramatically.

"I don't really have any, at this point." She said, growing quiet. Her smile dropped.

He had reminded her of Jake, damn. "Oh, come on, don't get your feathers ruffled." He said quickly, picking up a CD and tossing it from hand to hand. "Well, I know you like to cook, makes you feel more human and motherly, all that jazz. Let me guess... you have a secret, passionate desire to marry Justin Bieber."

Luna gagged. "Excuse me?" She demanded, indignantly, jabbing a finger at him. "How could you even compare him to the likes of Beethoven and Mozart and -"

"Music! There we go. I've found it."

Luna's cheeks turned a light pink, and she muttered something he couldn't understand.

"What?"

"I play the cello." She repeated, covering her blush with her hand.

"You what?" Hekiashi guffawed, clapping his hands.

"I play the cello. Now shush!" She hit him with her shoulder and threw up a hand. "I don't want to talk anymore about it."

"You want something to drink?" Hekiashi granted her wish to change the subject, indicating the small café attatched to the book and music store.

"Why does it feel that we have to endlessly eat when we become humans?" Luna wondered aloud as she began the stroll over.

"Do we really care? It's all just so damn good."

"We're driving down the road, I wonder if you know
I'm trying so hard not to get caught up now
But you're just so cool, run your hands through your hair
Absent-mindedly making me want you..."

They sat down at florescent red tables and talked. Luna's delicate giggles pealed through the hallway.

They discussed philosophy, the meaning of life, and when they hoped the next good season of Survivor would be coming out. Hekiashi insulted Luna's taste of pink in decorating. Hekiashi bought Luna some fries and thanked his lucky stars that he had thought to steal that guy's wallet before the date. Their hands brushed on the passing. That weird indigestion. Gotta stop eating this human food.

The pair strolled. Luna tried to convince Hekiashi to get a haircut. Hekiashi felt strange when she for the instant that she ran her fingers through his white air. They determined that it took about 508 licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop, and that the airspeed velocity of an unladen Spearow about 25 miles per hour. They agreed that a Pidgey catching a Magikarp out of the water to eat was a better love story than Twilight over a bag of fresh-made chocolate chip cookies. Both discovered that they had a weird penchant for chocolate.

"And I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless
And I don't know why but with you I dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless..."

They laughed over Mespirit's antics and tried to get to the bottom of who really threw the fridge over the mountain, and who among the legendaries was most annoying. They settled on Hekiashi. He noticed that the conclusion brought that rare, true smile to her face. She had the hint of a dimples on her left cheek.

Her beaming smile pressed on where his heart would most likely be, if he had one. It reminded him. "Luna…." Hekiashi said softly, leaning forward. "Luna, I don't want you to lose this."

Luna paused. Heart leaping in alarm at his sudden seriousness, she slowly placed her hands back in her lap. "Lose what?"

"And there you go and promptly do it." He leaned backwards as he sighed impatiently, rolling his eyes. Smile, damn it."

Luna blinked.

"Should I laugh at what you're saying? Are you being sarcastic?"

"No! Rest assured, no sarcasm. You need to stay like this. Smiling." He gestured towards her. She had been relaxed, leaning back. "Smiling. That was the point of this whole outing, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Oh, that's right. There wasn't any feeling behind it.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "It makes you slightly less unpleasant to be around." The silent remained rather awkward, as Luna stared at her hands, trying to figure out whether he had complimented or insulted her. She could never quite tell. Hekiashi continued, lowering his voice and for once being gentle. I shouldn't be bringing this up. I shouldn't be bringing this up. "Luna... Have you and Arceus ever discussed what happened back then?"

She knew exactly what he meant by "back then". She shook her head.

Hekiashi saw her discomfort, and reached out for her hand, but then thought better of it and withdrew. "Have you ever discussed what happened back then with anyone? Ever?"

Again, the shake of the head.

"Luna, do you think it might help you to talk to anyone about this?"

A strangled half-laugh erupted from Luna's lips. "What, you think I should go see a counselor?" She asked incredulously, privately wondering if Hekiashi had gone insane.

"No. Not necessarily. Just anyone you need to. Even if it's me."

She blinked in shock. So many strange revelations today. "I… appreciate that." She managed, nodding.

And she was. She felt the rush of gratitude for her counterpart. The ache in her heart seemed less painful, in moments like these. The iron chains tightly wrapping her lungs had lessened. She couldn't pretend that Jake had never existed, but she could imagine that maybe, just maybe, he would be okay with this. He would want her to be happy, wherever that was.

She looked back at Hekiashi, who was staring hard at her while her thoughts were wandering. The intensity of his gaze made her fidget.

"Have you ever… tried to visit him?" He persisted with the questions. "After these, I'm done with the painful stuff, I promise.

"Well, yeah." Luna swallowed painfully as images of a headstone flooded her mind. "I told you." She began rubbing her arms. The tingling sensation kept her in the real world.

"No. I mean have you ever tried to visit him in the Underworld?"

"No. That's forbidden." Luna murmured, surprised at his frankness. She couldn't meet his gaze anymore, so she looked down and began lining up the quarters on the table.

His eyes didn't leave hers.

"Would you like to?"

The conversation was too much. "I need to walk."

"So baby drive slow 'til we run out of road
In this one horse town, I wanna stay right here
In this passenger seat, you put your eyes on me
In this moment, now capture it, remember it..."

They strolled, and walked out her anxiety. That's when the storm began, a gentle rain pattering against the roof of the mall.

"It's raining." Luna observed calmly, her eyes dancing at the drops falling fast behind the misty windows.

"It is." Hekiashi murmured, puzzled.

Luna silently handed him her bright white coffee cup, not sparing him a glance and she took slow footsteps toward the open doors. She pushed with both hands against the fogged up glass, which swung open just enough for her to slip her thin frame through.

Opening her arms, reaching for the clouds, she stepped out in the rain.

She closed her eyes, reveling in the moment, thinking of nothing, feeling no guilt, no unhappiness - only the simple joy of feeling water droplets roll down the curves of your hands and feeling that you are alive.

"'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless..."

And Hekiashi leaned against the archway of the doors and watched her. Her dress was drenched and her hair was losing its originally perfect curls. But for once, now that the burdens were no longer totally on her shoulders, the wrinkles of worry and fear smoothed from her face, she was actually a little beautiful.

He had a hand in that.

He didn't know whether to be proud or rather disappointed in himself.

"And I don't know why but with you I'd dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless..."

"Hey, Loony," Hekiashi called out to her with a half-laugh. "You're going to get sick, or worse, people are going to release what a lunatic you really are."

She appeared next to him in a flash.

"Was that a pun?" She asked in mocking disappointment. Her pink lips stretched up in a smile.

"The gravity of the situation is less than what you think."

She took her coffee from him, a grin and a pun being drawn forth against her will. "It took you a long time to think that one up, didn't it. This is a nightmare." Her laugh was caught short, as her teeth clenched together. The wind begin to blow, raising goosebumps across her skin.

"And you're shivering." Hekiashi pointed out quietly.

Luna glanced down at her arms and shrugged. "I'll be fine. I have a bit of experience being uncomfortable. Just goddess of the moon, had to fight off endless nightmares, and worst of all, spend time with you, y'know."

Hekiashi ignored her words and began sliding off his own black jacket.

Luna gaped at him. "Wait - "

He handed the article of clothing over to her.

"You're not actually doing what I think you're doing."

Hekiashi dug his hands in his pockets and looked at anywhere but her. "Just take it, okay?"

Her round blue eyes stared at him in confusion for a few moments. Her face reddened. "T-Thank you." She whispered, slipping it on her shoulders. It did make her feel better, in an instant. Like he did. His eyes returned, making sure that she put it on, and then met hers.

"Well, you stood there with me in the doorway
My hands shake, I'm not usually this way
But you pull me in and I'm a little more brave…"

At this close range, Luna noticed his eyes weren't simply blue; in the midst of that intense color they were flecked with green. It was quite a nice color. Quite nice. Nice. She had never really noticed before.

It occurred to Hekiashi that he really shouldn't be staring at her, but found that he couldn't actually bring himself to look away, either.

She couldn't decide what he was thinking – she couldn't even decide what she herself was thinking.

"Luna." He sharply inhaled.

They were close. Too close.

The thunder sounded with a large boom that rang in their ears, both of them glanced upwards, breaking the moment, even as their eyes met again.

Luna stepped backwards, glancing away, drawing the jacket tighter around her. She thought of Jake.

Hekiashi paused,opened his mouth to speak, and found he had no words. He spun abruptly on his heels and walked into the department store nearest to them. A small bookstore.

"Fearless…"

Luna wondered why it was that she suddenly felt a sense of loss, disappointment pressing on her lower stomach. It was merely the giddiness, she concluded forcefully. All the happy feelings that had been repressed for so long were simply welling up. Welling up in strange ways. That was all. It would pass. It didn't mean anything.

Until then, she felt that she couldn't stand. Her knees were like a Ditto.

"Cause I don't know how it gets better than this
You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless
And I don't know why but with you I'd dance
In a storm in my best dress, fearless…"

Luna wrapped the jacket tighter around her, turned, and followed Hekiashi inside.

Just a nice way to end the hiatus. Plot (Did you know there was one?)will return next chapter.

H/P