Far From Yesterday (Marissonshipping Fanfic)

Chapter 20

When Mairin walked into Max's office, an office was what she expected to see. Something plain, simple, cramped and tiny. However, as she slid the keycard into the lock, she was pleasantly surprised to find that it was quite the opposite from what she had been expecting. There was the usual for what one would think would be in an office, a desk with a computer, a wall filled with filing cabinets, but beyond that the office was a cheery little room.

Next to the desk was a large branch, a heating mat resting under it. Fake leaves and moss decorated the thick wooden bough, and Mairin could easily imagine a certain gluttonous Sceptile napping on it while Max worked. The background image on the computer was a picture of Max and Bonnie, the blonde having one arm wrapped around her boyfriend, tongue stuck out towards the camera playfully. Max had an uncertain smile on his face, glasses slightly tilted, two melting ice cream cones in his hands as he too looked at the camera. Mairin stared at the picture, a moment of happiness captured in time.

That wasn't the only picture with Bonnie– another framed image, this one featuring a younger Bonnie with her brother and their father– sat near the computer mouse. A dried flower crown was laced over the top of this picture, and a picture taped to the wall behind the computer showed a glowering Max wearing the same crown shortly after it had been made. Other pictures and cards were hung up on the computer wall as well, but Mairin didn't let her gaze linger long on them. Seeing the smiles in the images made her lips twitch, but yet her heart only ached more.

A decorative map of Hoenn took up the wall near the door, pins and labels sticking out from it. At first Mairin thought that perhaps it had something to do with research, but after seeing phrases such as "Home" and "Captured first Pokemon" she quickly realized it was personal. Mairin's eyes swept the map, it not taking her long to locate the tan that would mark Hoenn's desert. Max had no labels on that section of the map.

There were knickknacks up on shelves, an old PokeNav sitting near a cracked Pokeball. A case of gym badges accompanying a single contest ribbon, among many other things. Mairin was sure each item was their own story to tell, a rich history behind each one, but that wasn't why she had come in her.

Her eyes finally drifted to the filing cabinets, a slight shiver racing through her. According to Max, the very information that had been kept from her was in here. She swallowed after a moment, last night she would have happily done anything to be here, but now that night had passed her desperation from before was gone.

But she still wanted to know.

This morning she had expected Max to attempt to talk her out of doing this, but when he had approached her he had simply told her what filing cabinet she'd want to look in. It took her several moments to locate the one he had been speaking of, tugging the drawer open once she did. She peered in, and was startled to find that were was only three files in the drawer. Near the front was a small tag labeled as 'Human Bonded', and the folders were each labeled with a name. Mairin's eyes danced over them: Tory Lund, Max Maple, Mairin Vide.

Even though she had been looking for information about herself, it was still a bit strange just to see her name labeling a seemingly random file– especially since she didn't really consider 'Vide' as her last name, but rather Alain's. She uncertainly picked up her file, before glancing at the other two. She hesitated for only a moment, not quite sure if this was something she should be doing, but she grabbed the other two folders as well.

The more information the better. Besides, assuming that 'Max Maple' was the Max she knew, she wanted to know why his name was in here as well.

She sat down at his desk, setting the three folders in front of her. She stared down at them, as if expecting something to happen, before she picked up the first folder. She had no idea who 'Tory Lund' was, and she really hoped she wasn't looking into anything too personal as she opened the folder. There was a picture of the boy she assumed to be Tory, with pale blue hair and eyes. Her eyes slipped past this and to the second picture, looking at an image that showed two figures hovering over a city.