"You're moving?!"

Gladion winced at her shrieky tone "Seriously, you gotta stop screaming like that." he sighed "Yes, we're moving to Moscow. We were talking about it with dad last night, and came to a conclusion that it would benefit all of us if we were closer to him. You know, to support him and to keep an eye on his condition. It also gives us a chance to be a family again..."

What he said made sense. Mohn just survived a heart attack, of course he'd want his loved ones close to him. Besides, their family had been apart for too long, it would be wonderful them to be together again. It shouldn't be much of a surprise, and Megan should've been happy for him. So why was she holding back tears of sadness?

"Do the others know...?" She asked, barely above a whisper.

"Yeah... I was in charge of telling you, but since you fell asleep last night I didn't get a chance." He rubbed the back of his neck "Sorry."

"No, no it's fine..." The girl waved her hands, forcing a smile "That's amazing, Gladion. I'm happy for you and Lillie."

Gladion didn't seem convinced. He knew that smile wasn't genuine, and the obvious quiver in her tone made him question if she was actually unhappy with this outcome. Megan cleared her throat and turned away from the boy.

"So, how long will you be staying there?"

"About a year."

"And when do you leave?"

"Next week..."

She felt her heart throb painfully "Shit..." She muttered, mentally cursing the hideous cracking in her voice. Now he knew...

"Meg, you don't have to pretend to be happy about this..." Gladion stated as he approached, placing a hand on her shoulder "The others were upset, too. Hell, even Lillie and I took some convincing. So you don't have to put on a--"

"No, no! I really am happy for you, I'm sure you'd want to see your dad again. It's just... You and Lillie are important to me... and, the thought of not having you close is just..." She placed a hand to her face as she couldn't hold back her tears any longer "I don't know, it's selfish! I shouldn't be this upset, b-but--"

"Hey, hey, hey..." Gladion hushed her and pulled her close, allowing her to silently cry against his chest "It's not selfish at all..."

"How can you say that... when I'm crying over you leaving, when I told you I never wanted to see you again...?"

"You said you didn't mean it, right?" He asked, but continued without waiting for an answer "Besides I've already forgiven you, I'm not holding a grudge against someone who ran from my house to here in her pajamas just so I wouldn't be alone. I'm pretty sure that implies you still care."

"Of course I care--" she stopped at her sudden raised voice "I care about you all so much, and I can't imagine a life without you... Just thinking about you guys leaving, it scares me to think you won't be in my life anymore."

Gladion frowned and held her closer "We aren't disappearing. We'll just have some distance between us. We can still keep in touch, and the year were gone will have flown by before you know it. You'll see us again, hell we'll call everyday if we want. We'd never disappear on you guys like that, least of all Lillie. She has a boyfriend and a best friend here."

"True..." Megan let out a sigh, enjoying his warmth as she began to calm down. She wondered how many more hugs they'd share before his departure while wiping her eyes "You know I think I've cried more these past few months than in my entire life. Kinda weird how one person can change you..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that you do unexpected things when you're in love with someone."

Silence...

"Wait!" The girl pushed away from Gladion and slapped her hands over her mouth, a large blush stretching across my face "That wasn't-- I didn't--"

"Say it again."

"W-What?"

Gladion's eyebrows were knitted together as he once again approached, this time to confront rather than comfort "Repeat what you just said."

Megan squeaked "I-It's nothing, just ignore it!"

"So it was a joke?"

"No! Yes... I don't know!"

Real smooth.

"Well then, if you mean it..." He leaned in closer so he was eye level with her "Tell me clearly. I want to hear it."

Megan wasn't sure what to do. What she said just slipped out, she never meant for him to hear it. Especially now. But with him demanding like that, how on earth could she talk back to him?

"I..." she began, face heating up like an oven. She went quiet for a moment, before burying her face in her hands "M-mmph-mmm."

Gladion blinked, trying to make sense of what she just said. However, the muffled mess she thought were words confused the hell out of him "What?"

Megan breathed heavily, and she let out the same amount of nonsense, just louder. It still made no sense "M-mmph-mmm!"

The boy's frown deepened "What??"

She whined through her hands.

Gladion sighed. He reached forward and wrapped his fingers around her wrists, feeling her flinch, but not resist as he pulled them away from her face.

He was pretty sure his heart had stopped. He'd seen her face so many times before, bit of he way her eyes widened with uncertainty. Her lips were puersed tightly together, almost as if they weren't even there, and her eyebrows were knitted together. She looked almost scared, and it tugged at his heartstrings.

Why the fuck was he nervous? He was fine when they weren't looking at each other, when he told her to repeat herself. Oh god he hoped his palms weren't sweaty. Why did he even ask? Clarification? Ugh, he didn't know. He licked his lips to try and give himself a couple seconds to get his shit together, which Megan definitely noticed. Her eyes flickered down at the action, widened slightly, and then snapped back up. A nervous gulp could be heard from her throat.

If she was nervous, well he was terrified.

"I can't hear you with your hands over your face like that." He claimed, managing to keep his calm composure.

Megan let out a long, shuttered sigh and allowed her eyes to meet with Gladion's. She knew she'd have to say it sooner or later. Besides, didn't he say he wanted this? Did he still want it?

She didn't know,  but there was only one way to find out...

Suddenly all the nervousness had disappeared, her eyes lit with blue flames of determination as she stared up at the boy. And holy shit, it was hot.

He was pretty sure he knew what she was going to say, and he was pretty sure his heart couldn't take it. But he couldn't look away. Or move. Or breathe.

But he asked for this. And he wasn't going back on it.

"Gladion..." Megan began, but trailed off right after. Gladion kept ahold of her wrists and leaned in even closer.

"Yeah?"

She gulped to give had a moment to recollect her thoughts "I..."

Come on, Artemus, just say it!!!

"I love you."

It was barely above a whisper, and had he not been as close as he was he probably wouldn't have heard. But he did hear her, loud and clear.

He heard her say she loved him.

Megan's eyes were squeezed shut from embarrassment, and her heart was beating a million times an hour as she began thinking about Gladion's reaction. He was silent... Was it shock? Was it shame? Anger?

Oh god was he angry?!

"I-I'm sorry, I should have said anything." She said quickly "W-We can pretend this never happened. It's not like we--"

She felt his hands place themselves on her cheeks, causing her eyes to flutter open in surprise. Serious green eyes met hers, which made her breath hitch softly.

"No way in hell could I forget this..." Gladion whispered, before closing the distance between them.

So this it was what it was like to kiss someone. Megan had forgotten the feeling for awhile. It hurt a little, but it felt amazing at the same time. Placing her hands on his chest she lifted herself up onto her toes, giving her more access to his lips. She wanted this, they both wanted this...

But then, she realised a small yet important detail... And it made her stop.

This isn't right...

"Gladion, wait a minute..."

The light pushing on his chest made Gladion pause the movement of his lips, and slowly he pulled away to meet her eyes "What's wrong?"

She sighed, not able to look up at him as she fiddled with her fingers nervously "You're moving to Moscow in a week."

"I know."

"And we literally just fixed our mental distance, yesterday."

He frowned "I don't see your point."

"My point is..." she trailed off, only to sigh deciding it would be better to be blunt "We can't get back together, Gladion."

"What?! Why not?" He looked angry now, but Megan knew he was only confused. He had every right to be. The girl in front of him literally just told him she loved him, and now she's saying they couldn't restart. She was giving him mixed signals.

Megan took a step back and crossed her arms "The reasons I've already stated, to name a few issues. If we started going out now, we'd have to do long distance--"

"So what? Lillie and Hau are doing long distance."

"They didn't just go through the a bad break up. We are still tense, and distance between us would only make things worse. It will never work between us, not how things are now." She allowed her eyes to fall to the floor, feeling incredibly guilty for this "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let what I said slip out. I... I didn't mean to make things any harder for you..."

"No, I asked you to repeat it..." Gladion muttered with a shake of his head, only to clench his fists and kick the ground angrily "This isn't fair!"

"I know, I wish it could be different...I want to be with you, Gladion, I really do... But I don't think I can with how we are now. Besides... Is this really love, or just desperacy?"

His eyes widened at that. Was this actually love? He was sure it was... But how could he be certain? He just got her back, and now he had to leave her again. He wanted to make sure she wouldn't slip away again, but was rekindling their relationship so quickly really the way to do it?

"I see your point... What do we do, then?" He asked, glumly.

Megan thought for a moment. What could they do apart from accept it? So much could change in a year, maybe their feelings would too. It would be like a test to see if their feelings were true.

Wait.

A test...

.

.

.

That's it!

"We wait." She told him, and his eyes slowly lifted to meet hers.

"Wait?"

She nodded "We'll be apart for a year, right? In that time we'll have plenty of chances to just sit and think about our feelings. If we do that, we'll figure it out, right? And if we still feel the same way, we can start over. If not... well, at least we tried."

"That's reasonable, I guess..." Gladion agreed reluctantly "What happens if we don't?"

"Well, it's not like we hate each other. We could start over as friends?"

He pursed his lips together, and nodded. He may not like the idea now, but in a year maybe he wouldn't mind it "Alright..."

They stood in silence for a moment, not exactly knowing what to say to each other. However Gladion did speak up first, reaching into his pocket for something "Then, can I at least return something to you?"

She raised an eyebrow. Had she dropped something? "Sure...What is it?"

Gladion reached down to take her hand, only to place something cold into her palm "Something that'll remind you of me."

Confused, Megan opened her hand to peek at what he'd give her. Her eyes widened at the sight of the same necklace she tossed aside the day they broke up. It had a new chain since she snapped the last "Wh- Gladion I can't take this, not after the way I treated it. And, what if I don't--"

"Then you'll have no problem returning it when I come back. But for now..." He took the necklace and stepped behind her, hooking it around her neck like he did after the ball "It stays with who I choose it to."

Heat rushed to Megan's cheeks as he spoke those words, and she touched the pendant lightly before turning to him with a slight guilty expression.

"I'll try not to throw it against the wall this time..."

He scoffed and placed a hand on her shoulder "If I piss you off, throw it at all the walls you want."

That made her laugh "Oh god it's doomed."

Gladion chuckled back. He pressed his lips to her forehead before wrapping an arm around her shoulders for a hug "It's still a little early, but I'll miss you... and your sarcasm."

"I'm sure you'll live without it for twelve months."

"I mean, less headaches would be nice."

"Oi, watch it Frenchfry." Megan hissed.

"Oi, watch it Shorty." Gladion retorted with equal sass, before chuckling again and combing his fingers through her hair almost lovingly.

"I'll wait for you..." He whispered "No matter how long it takes..."

Megan smiled and buried her head into the crook of his neck, allowing herself to lose her snarky attitude again "I'll wait for you, too..."

---

The departure of the Aether family was a bittersweet one. All their friends (excluding Joyce) had come to see them off to the airport. They stood outside the large house as the car was being loaded.

"WE'LL MISS YOU SO MUUUUUCH!" Rose wailed as the group of friends engaged in a long wholehearted group hug, after the blonde siblings had hugged each of them individually of course.

"I still can't believe you're leaving!" Hau exclaimed, not as loudly as Rose but not far off "And we're not going to see you for a year- and--"

Lillie placed a chaste kiss on his cheek as she was right next to him "We can still keep in touch, Hau. I'll call you every day if you want."

The boy sniffled "R-Really...?"

"Of course!"

Crying out again, he pulled his group closer almost until they couldn't breathe "I love you all so much!!!!"

Sun smiled solemnly before addressing the departing two "You better keep that promise. And make sure to stay warm in Moscow."

Wow. Dad mode alert.

Gladion nodded as they pulled away, giving him a thumbs up "We will."

Honk Honk!

"Gladion, Lillie, c'mon that plane won't catch itself!" Rafe yelled from the driver's seat of his car. He had willingly offered to drive the Aethers to the airport, saying it was his way of apologising for all the trouble he caused. Though, to be honest Gladion knew it was really because he wanted to spend a little extra time with him and Lillie.

"Coming!" Lillie called back and grabbed Hau's hands, giving him a final loving kiss goodbye and Megan one last bear hug before running over to join her mother in the back seats, waving at her friends through the open window. Gladion picked up the rucksack at his feet and slung it over his shoulder, ready to follow his sister.

"Well," he began awkwardly, slowly turning to the car "I'll... see you later..."

Megan watched as he began to walk to the car, heart aching as she realised this was the last time she'd see him for a year. She was given a week to spend time with him, and Lillie. It went by too quickly... It wasn't enough...

"Dammit, it's not good enough..."

Her head shot up as she heard the boy mutter that phrase, just in time to see him pivot around and march towards her with eyes filled with determination. She wasn't given time to speak as an arm looped around her waist and pulled her into him, before a pair of lips pressed against hers.

Gladion held her there for the longest moment before finally pulling away, smirking at her expression, and quickly retreating to the car. When regaining the ability to speak Megan let out a fuming huff.

"THAT'S AGAINST THE RULES, YOU DAMN FRENCHFRY!"

Gladion laughed out loud as he opened the door to the front passenger seat, only to turn and give her a mischievous wink.

"Babe, love has no rules!"

And with that he climbed into the car, giving his gang one final salute as the vehicle sped off to take them to their plane. Rose, Hau, Sun and Megan watched them until the car wasn't visible anymore.

Megan lowered her hand to touch the pendant around her neck and let out a sigh, hoping the year would go by just as quickly as the week before did.

---

Entering her apartment glumly, she noticed two extra pairs of shoes next to Luke's. One pair she recognised as Laura's, but the other wasn't quite as familiar.

Maybe he has Ashley over... She thought with a shrug, only to flinch when her brother's door swung open. He searched around the room urgently until his eyes landed on her, before marching over and grabbing her hand. He seemed to be in a rush as he tugged her along.

"Luke, wha--"

He shushed her and pushed her into his room, closing it behind him before facing his sister. He didn't look at her, but rather behind her at something that made his lips curl upwards. Megan was confused, what could be behind--

"Megan?"

Her eyes widened.

Quickly she turned around, only to have her hands fly up to her mouth in shock. Laura sat on Luke's bed, holding the hand of a person Megan knew all too well.

"...Mom...?"

Her mother was quick to stand up and walk towards her youngest daughter, who met her half way only to be engulfed in a long awaited embrace. Megan cried into the woman's shoulder as they sunk to the floor, once again feeling like the little kid she was long ago.

"M-Mom, you're- you're back! I can't believe it, you're back!"

Her mother shushed he, running a hand through her hair "I know, honey, I know..."

Megan suddenly gasped and pulled back, holding the woman's shoulders "How did you do it? Did you get your job back? Were mine and Luke's earnings enough? Did Laura get a god amazing tip? Wha--"

"Dear. Dear. Megan!"

She shut up instantly, which allowed her mother to explain.

"I was called up by someone, you may know them" she said with a small smile "They paid for everything, from my debt to my flight home... They said I was needed here to look after someone, because they had to go away for awhile. He seemed to be very fond of her." She told the girl, who's eyes widened as soon as she said 'he'.

He fucking didn't...

Megan let out an unbelieving laugh and slapped a hand to her face "I swear to God, rich kids never listen."

Despite saying that, she couldn't be happier. She had her family back, how could she not be happy? She felt complete, and she believed it was because of that one fateful encounter in room 4A.

The song that played then, was the lyrics to their journey.

When it all falls down, then whatever.

When it don't work out for the better.

When it just ain't right,

and it's time to say goodbye

When it all falls down

When it all falls down, we'll be fine.