Contains story spoilers for Pokemon Sun/Moon. This chapter contains spoilers from the return to aether sanctuary segment (after completing the third island)

Far in the distance, the roiling clouds flashed. Though it had been many hours since the storm had covered the sky, the sounds of thunder and flashes of lightning still managed to keep Lillie from embracing sleep fully. It seemed every time she barely nodded off, some far away sound or light awakened her, bringing back painful awareness of the night's earlier events. News didn't travel fast in Alola, but reports had already started coming into the Aether foundation's base about the appearance of many Ultra Beasts across the islands.

Fortunately, it seemed things were mostly under control. The beasts had retreated from the combined assaults of the kahunas and the island's guardians, disappearing without any identifiable trace. Somehow these alien creatures were gone, just like Lillie's mother - no leads, no trail, and to top things off, no apparent way to call them back to the earth.

Lillie sighed and sat up. Sleep apparently was not forthcoming and lying in bed only led her mind to wander, leading again to the depressing reality of her situation. Glancing to the foot of her childhood bed, she noticed that Nebby's slumbering form had floated slightly out of her bag. She reached down, gently pushing the sleeping Pokémon, who provided a slight resistance as it slipped back into her gear bag. Thinking for a second, she pulled out her laptop and zipped the long duffel shut.

The computer opened with a brightness that made the young woman squint and rub what remained of her tiredness from her eyes. The news website homepage still had frantic reports from all across the islands, some contradicting each other, some agreeing, but all painting a grim picture of the things that had transpired. A consensus of impending disaster and questions of what was to come scrolled down the page.

"Hey." Lillie started, slamming the laptop shut in surprise. After her eyes readjusted to the extremely dim light from the cloudy sky outside, she picked out the form of another teenager in the doorway to her room. Moon was wrapped in a heavy blanket, probably stolen from the guest bed that Wicke had shown her to. Moon smiled slightly. "Do I want to know what you were looking at to make you shut that so quickly?" Lillie felt her cheeks and the back of her neck instantly heat, and knew they were likely bright red even in the darkened room.

"It was nothing! I just got surprised by you, that's all…" Lillie looked down at the bed, trying to disguise her embarrassment. Moon giggled, walking over to sit on the edge, still tightly gripping the blanket around her shoulders. She sat facing away from Lillie, gazing out the window.

"Sorry to barge in like this. I tried to get some sleep but everything that's happened kept me awake." She thoughtfully watched as the clouds lit again with a distant bolt of lightning. "Or, maybe it was Hau's snoring." Unable to help herself, Lillie let out a snort of amusement, but quickly felt the gravity of their shared situation collapse onto her. The girls sat like this, Moon gazing out the window and Lillie gazing at Moon for what seemed like an eternity until Moon finally broke the silence.

"Do you think they're ok?" Moon turned, meeting Lillie's eyes. It was a simple question really. The answer was not nearly as simple. Both Guzma and Lusamine had been sucked into a portal, ending up wherever the Ultra Beasts hailed from.

"I… I like to think so." Lillie looked down at her hands, gripping the edge of the bedspread tightly. "We don't know the extent of the research that my mother did on that place. I feel like she wouldn't have gone nearly as willingly if it had been dangerous." Lillie let out a small sarcastic snort. "The only thing she cared more for than 'beauty' was – is herself." She felt a burning in her eyes, and tears began to drip onto the patterned quilt. "I'm just starting to figure out why she dressed me the way she did." She weakly gestured to her now hanging dress and hat. "I think she wanted me to look like… Look like one of those things."

Moon glanced over at the offending clothing and gasped. "Lillie! That's absolutely terrible!" In a matter of moments, before the smaller girl could respond, Moon had dropped her blanket cloak and leapt across the bed to hug her friend. Lillie immediately tensed, but something made her relax just as quickly. Lillie tentatively wrapped her hands around the back of Moon's waist and buried her face into the crook of the red-haired girl's neck, silently shaking from the sobs that suddenly seemed to pour out. Moon was warm and inviting, unlike the quick, almost disciplined embraces her mother had given in the past. Lillie had always shied away from those short moments of contact, but something in what Moon provided that the blonde's mom did not kept the girl feeling comfortable.

Lillie's tears finally slowed, stopping after a few minutes of being held. Moon had at some point started stroking Lillie's head. The smaller girl was suddenly painfully aware that between Moon wearing nothing besides a bra and underpants and her own very thin pajamas that the contact was a bit more intimate than perhaps either had intended. She leapt backwards into the headboard, pulling the covers up to nearly her chin. She felt her cheeks redden again, and Moon's did the very same.

"Oh! I'm…" Moon frantically reached for the cover she had been using, scrambling around the bed without much avail for a short while. "I didn't even think… it gets so warm here that I…" She finally managed to wrap the thick blanket back around herself, looking up at Lillie, mortified. "I'm so sorry Lillie! I usually sleep in so little and every night in Alola is so hot I… I just didn't think before I grabbed at you." She was now staring at the bed more than Lillie had, absentmindedly clenching and unclenching her fists. "I just… I wanted to make you forget about that horrible woman." After a few seconds Lillie finally found the courage to speak.

"Moon, I… didn't mind. I really liked it actually." Lillie wondered if her cheeks could get any redder, and felt as if they would be practically glowing at this point from the heat rising in her face. She let the covers fall back to her lap and caught the other girl's eyes when she looked up. "This whole night has been one crazy thing followed by a horrible thing followed on top of things that none of us can understand." The tears had started again, flowing without abandon this time. "I don't think I should be alone. And… And I really liked that" This time, Lillie was the one who moved forward, pushing her hands beneath the sheets that wrapped her friend and pulling the two of them back together. "Can you spend the night in here with me?"

Moon grasped the other girl tightly, then gently pushed her away to look her in the eyes. "I will be here for you Lillie. And if you want me to help you by staying here I promise I will." Quickly squeezing Lillie tightly, Moon released her and dropped the blankets she had been using onto the floor. Lillie shifted her position to one side of the bed, and Moon climbed under the covers with her. For a while, both laid in silence, staring at the ceiling and unsure of how to proceed or what to do. Lillie finally took the initiative, rolling over so that her head was lying just below Moon's chin. Moon shifted slightly onto her side to make the position more comfortable, putting her arms around the other girl's back.

After a few minutes of being held, Lillie considered breaking the seemingly pregnant silence by thanking Moon for her choice to stay. Glancing upwards she noticed that Moon had closed her eyes, and the slow movements of her chest seemed to betray that the taller girl had fallen asleep. Lillie closed her own eyes, settling into the hollow that had been created for her as they laid together. Something about this felt completely right, like something that had been missing before had suddenly been found. Feeling her own sleep begin to take her, Lillie let herself drift away in the arms of her best friend.