"Oh look at all the adorable preschoolers," exclaimed Ira.

They were passing by the school between Striaton and Nacrene, and it was apparently recess. Yellow capped preschoolers ran around through the playground, squealing in glee as they chased each other around in the sandbox. Some were playing on the swings, their little legs not letting them pump too high into the air, some were having mock pokemon battles, and yet others were building castles in the sand.

Granny looked at the sandcastles they were constructing and frowned. "Someone has to whip these whippersnappers into shape, those are pathetic." Completely ignoring our destination, she wobbled off the trail and went to go corrupt the young ones.

"Guess we're taking a break," said Elron, putting down his back and sitting down on the ground.

Ira repeated after him. "Sorry, she can be a little self centered sometimes."

"Meowstic! Let's show these kids how it's down!" Granny threw her hands into the air as if conducting her pokemon as it raised up a several foot tall castle in the sand.

"No way!" yelled one of the kids, mouth gaping wide. "Could it be?! Granny of the Biting Sands?!"

"Darn right, kiddo," she replied with a smirk on her face.

Elron could only somewhat believe it. How the heck do these kids have an interregional information network like that?!

"Now, who's going to be my prince?"

"Ewww!" cried out several of the boys. "That's gross!" The girls giggled wildly at the thought.

"I'm the queen, you runts! That means one of you gets to be my son and live in the castle with me!" She and her diminutive frame walked through a hole in the back of the structure, and apparently started walking up some stars.

"Be careful, grandma!" Ira called out to her, worried that she'd hurt herself.

"Oh, I'll be fine," she replied, surfacing at the top of the grainy building. She raised her hands up into the air as if commanding her loyal subjects.

The small kids clapped and cheered wildly for the feat, and several of the boys were already lining up to audition for the position of prince so that they too could stand at the top of the playground.

"Yes! Bow down before me, peasants!" she said with a snicker. She stepped a little further forward to get a better view, then suddenly it gave way under her feet. Granny's body ripped through the sandy walls, and she tumbled down face first into the ground.

The little kids burst into laughter, loving the slapstick humour.

Even Elron let out a small sarcastic "she told you so" laugh, but Ira wasn't laughing. She stood up quickly and ran to her grandmother's side.

Granny wasn't moving.

"Grandma! Grandma! Are you alright?!" she said as she frantically pulled her out of the sand and rolled her over.

Elron saw that this was serious and went over to help, and the kids stopped laughing and gave them distance.

Granny's face twitched.

"Grandma?!"

She coughed, then said, "my back hurts."

-----

Ira sat next to her grandmother, tear stained and wadded up tissues on the bedstand.

Granny was alive, but was connected to several tubes on her hospital bed. She had broken her back, paralyzing her from the waist down, and a rib had punctured her lung. She was going to need surgery.

Elron walked in with a plastic bag and sat next to Ira. He rustled around in the bag and procured a framed picture, then handed it to Granny.

Her feeble hands accepted the picture, and she looked intently at it. It was a picture of her and her husband from long ago. "My my, looks like I'll be joining you at last."

Ira burst out into tears, and was tempted to snatch the photo out of her hands right then and there. "How can you say such a thing?! You're going to live!"

Elron hung his head. He didn't want to see anyone like this, much less these two.

"When you get to my age nothing is certain when it comes to health, dear. It's just how it is."

Ira blew into a tissue. "Why do you have a death wish?! Why? Why? Why?!" She stood up and stormed out of the room.

Granny sighed and put the frame on the bedstand. "Elron."

He looked up. "What?"

"Tell the doctors that I'm ready to have my treatment."

He looked to the door, then back to her. "But Ira just left." And he could understand why. "She'll hate it if you went now."

She shook her head. "No, that's exactly it. She's gone, but when she comes back she'll have even more resolve into the idea that her way of thought is right. Her stubbornness plus my stubbornness is just asking for a fight."

He looked at her inquisitively. He didn't know how to react to this one. "But what about--"

"No!" she said, using the little energy she had to slam her fist on her bed. "I've made up my mind, so that's how it's going to be!"

Elron stood up. "You're acting like a spoiled brat! Try and think about what she's going through right now! I'm going to go calm her down and get her, and you're going to stay put, understand?!" His eyes said that he was serious on this point.

Granny frowned. "Make me!" She leaned over to press the button to call for a doctor, but he pulled her bed on its wheels to make her grasp fall just out of reach.

"I said stay put!" He pointed accusingly at her, then motioned that he was going to keep an eye on her. "I'll be sure to tell the doctors not tell let you go in yet." With that parting remark, he left the room.

Granny shifted uncomfortably in her bed then looked up at the ceiling. "Darn that boy, guess I have to come up with something to say to her now." A small smile curled at the edge of her mouth. She rubbed her chest, trying to ease the pain. "Well, regardless of what happens, I can rest assured that my stubbornness will live on."

-----

"There you are!" said Elron, catching up to Ira. "I've been looking all over for you."

She was standing on the roof of the hospital, overlooking the world from a bird's eye view while leaning against the railing. "Let me guess, grandma is already having the operation done?"

"Nope, I wouldn't let her." He took up a place at the railing next to her.

"Really?!"

"Really. Though it did take a little force."

She hollowly giggled. "Yeah, I guess it probably would. Say, you're on my side right?"

"Don't make me play that game," he said. "I think you're both a little wrong."

"Really? And how am I wrong?!"

"Well, think of it like this. She's old, her body probably aches, she can't do what she used to, and she's watched almost everyone she grew up with pass away and leave her behind. Doesn't sound like the most fun life ever to me."

Ira didn't try and make a come back to this one.

"However, she shouldn't be rushing to Yveltal's gate when you're around either. That's what I think at least."

Ira shifted her weight back and forth a little, then sighed. These were conclusions that she herself had come to, but wouldn't believe until someone else said them outloud. "I guess we're both in the wrong here."

"I wouldn't blame either of you for it, though, it's kind of natural to feel the ways you're feeling."

She looked at him like he'd just said the stupidest joke, but then she understood. "We can go back now."

"Really? Are you sure you're ready?"

"I'm about as ready as I'll ever be." She turned around and made her way to the door.

Elron followed her, and almost bumped into her when she suddenly halted at turning the door handle.

"Thank you, Elron," she said, then continued down the stairs.

-----

The three of them were now back in the little hospital room. They were all silent, each for their own reasons.

Granny cleared her throat. "Ira, I'm going to ask that they start my surgery soon."

Ira nodded her head somberly. "I understand."

Granny nodded back. "It's what must happen, and so it will."

The room went silent for another minute.

"I just want you to know, dear," the venerable woman said, "that I am very proud of you."

"Proud of me for what?" she sniffled.

"Let me impart a bit of wisdom to you, Ira. Sometimes it's not about how you live your life, but rather who you live your life with."

She looked at her grandma in the eyes, then leaned forward and reached out to hug her grandma. She started crying again. "Love you."

"Love you too, dear."

She motioned with her fingers for Elron to get the doctor, and he nodded.

Moments later, Granny's bed and all of her miscellaneous apparatuses were being wheeled off to another room, a room with a threatening sign above it that now flashed "occupied."

-----

The light went out above the doors.

Ira shifted nervously when she saw this, but tried to contain herself and wait for the doors to actually open.

It wasn't long before they did, and a lone doctor stepped out. The doctor pulled off his latex gloves and walked over to where they were sitting, then kneeled down before them. He pulled off his mask.

There was no Granny behind him, and Ira's heart dropped when she noticed this.

"I'm sorry, but she was too fragile and broken. We lost her."

All the life filtered out of Ira's face and she almost fainted in her seat. No way... No...

Elron acknowledged the doctor to shoo him away and he put his hand on Ira's back, trying to comfort her.

All Ira felt was emptiness. "There's no one left for me now," she said. "No one in this world that understands me."

The depressive feelings were contagious. It hurt to see such someone he knew pass away, but this time was different. He opened up his mouth to say something, but no words would come out.

She stood up like a zombie and Elron's hand slid off her back. "Come on," she said without enthusiasm. "We have a journey to continue, right?"

Even Elron was considering calling it quits now. Right when he thought he could make a difference, he inadvertently ended up putting someone else in harm's way, even if by a stretch. Then, a solution came to him. "No, we don't."

She looked at him with dead eyes. "What? Are you leaving me now too?" She looked like she was going to snap if he said yes.

"Nope. See, that's where you're wrong." He stood up, then forcefully grabbed her hands and held them up in front of her. "You said that there's no one left for you, but that's wrong. I'm not going to leave you, not until you're ready to be left alone."

Mixed emotions surged through Ira, and in a rushed confusion brought out just a small glimmer of life to the girl. "Huh?"

"And no, we don't have a journey 'to continue.' Right now, you and me, we're going to go to that amusement park you wanted to go to, and after that we're going to start a brand new journey, together this time."

She almost laughed. "What are you saying? You're speaking gibberish."

"That might be so, but you're coming along for the ride!" He turned around and tugged on her hand, making her follow him whether she wanted to or not. Right now, she just needs out of this dreaded building.

"Wait!" she whined, pulling in the opposite direction. "At least let me get my bag first!"

He let go, and she walked over to get it, then they met face to face in the corridor.

Neither one of them were necessarily happy right now, but yet they found comfort in each other's gazes.

Spontaneously, they both leaned forward, closer, closer, until they touched, kissing in the halls. It didn't last long, but only just as long as felt right.

They pulled back and Elron smiled at her. He extended a hand to her. "Shall we?"

Ira wasn't quite at the level to where she could smile yet, but she nodded and took his hand.

They two of them walked together, hand in hand. The touch of another human being is often the best medicine one can administer to a broken soul, and it was just what Ira needed.

I'm going to make sure that I live my life around the right person, grandma.

***

A/N: Rest in peace, Granny. You were only around for a few chapters but you will be missed.

This chapter... Was hard to write :*(