A/N: And here's chapter 2! This one also ended up longer than expected, whoops! Let me know what you thought about this fic, and thank you for reading~

The snow always fell thick on Mt. Silver, a white, heavy powder that muted most sounds. But no matter how dense the snow was outside, sound always traveled far in the cave.

Red turned when he felt someone coming towards him, but he knew who it was before he actually saw her face. The familiar rhythm of her steady footsteps gave away her identity long before her voice did.

"Red?" Leaf called, pulling her scarf down from her face as she stared up at him. Her voice sounded different from the last time he had heard it, a little more mature but still uniquely hers, brimming life even though she had only said his name.

Red stared down from his rocky perch at the girl who had trekked all the way to the top of Mt. Silver to see him. She was dressed properly for the weather, her outfit consisiting of a light blue coat that reached her knees, black leggings that looked like they radiated warmth, and a dark blue scarf wrapped around her neck. He blinked, wondering for a moment if he was hallucinating her standing there. But when he opened his eyes again she was still there, the only splash of color in the entire cave.

"Leaf." He murmured, his voice rusty from disuse. He hoped the two of them were far enough apart that she didn't notice.

"It's great to see you." She said, walking over to the base of the rock he was standing on. She looked like she was going to try climbing up towards him, but Red hurried down to meet her instead. He stumbled and nearly tripped just as he reached the bottom, and Leaf giggled as he righted himself a moment later. He felt his cheeks heat up and tilted his cap over his face, hiding his embarrasment from her.

"I've missed you, Red." Leaf said, her voice softening as she wrapped her arms around him. "It's been way too long." She murmured into his collarbone.

He blinked, hesitating before he brought his arms up to hug her back. He hadn't had much physical contact these past few years, so when she'd hugged him so suddenly like that... well, of course he'd been slow to react. But now that he knew what was going on, he didn't want to let go. He closed his eyes and let himself enjoy the feeling of her warm body against his, only now feeling the chill from the mountain seeping into his bones. All too soon Leaf began to pull away, and he let his arms drop to his sides immediately. He suppressed a shiver as the cold air rushed back into him.

She stared up at him for a long moment, her dark brown eyes following the planes of his face in deep concentration. Red felt self-conscious as she studied him, but he only had to endure it for a moment before she grinned and nodded to herself.

"Just as I thought, you're looking a lot more mature since we last saw each other." She declared, looking satisfied with her accessment. "I guess that's to be expected though. It's been over a year, after all."

Red winced. It really had been a year since they'd last seen each other, though that was mostly is own fault. He'd rarely set foot off of Mt. Silver since the day he decided to climb up the summit in the first place. He could count the times he'd gone down on one hand: Once after Gold had come up to challenge (and subsequently defeat) him, once to see his mom after she'd written a letter asking him to visit more often, and once to say goodbye to Leaf before she got on the plane to travel Hoenn last year. He hadn't even known when she'd come back, or how long she'd been back for.

"How have you been?" She asked, oblivious to the thoughts spinning around in his head. She tilted her head towards him with a smile and said, "I heard from Green that you haven't had any new challengers recently. That must have been boring."

It was true that he hadn't had anyone come to challenge him for a few weeks now, but until she had brought it up, he'd thought that he had been enjoying the solitude. Mt. Silver hadn't changed at all in the years he spent training up here, and the never ending cold and silence had become a familiar presence to him. But now that Leaf was here with him, he realized how lonely it was up here. He didn't want to let her know all that though, so he shrugged and kept his mouth shut instead.

Leaf shook her head, an exasperated sigh leaving her lips. "Lucky I decided to come visit you today, huh Red? I always brighten up your day, don't I?"

She was giving him a teasing grin, but Red didn't mind. Just seeing her smiling at him again after so long made his heart race in his chest, and he couldn't keep his lips from curving up in return.

Leaf's eyes softened at the sight the tiny smile, but a fierce gust of wind blew into the cave just then and quickly turned her smile to a grimace. Her teeth clattered a strong shiver rocked through her. "I-It's freezing up here! I don't get how you can just s-stand around in that outfit, Red. I h-have four layers on and I can still f-feel the cold seeping down to my skin!"

He almost laughed at that. He was pretty much used to the cold and didn't bother with more than his usual traveling clothes these days, but he montioned for her to follow him further into the cave with a nod. She fell into step beside him as he led her into the little alcove at the very back of the cavern, possibly the only spot on the entire mountain that was sheltered from the wind and snow. He knelt down next to the fire pit and motioned for her to sit down on his rolled up sleeping bag next to him while he got the fire going. Leaf sat down gratefully and watched as Red carefully coaxed the embers back to life.

"You always were so good at fires." She said, smiling when it finally flared up. She let her hands hover over the flames as Red added a few pieces of slightly damp wood to the fire before he settled down next to her on the ground. "You know, I had the hardest time starting them when I was on the road in Hoenn. You should have seen me struggle. I kept thinking about the old days, and how easy you made it look when we..." Leaf trailed off, her smile fading to a straight line as she stared at the flames.

Red waited for her to go on, but Leaf didn't say another word. It was strange to see her so silent and still. Red was used to Leaf going out of her way to fill in any quiet moments between them with words enough for the both of them, but right now it looked like she had finally run out of things to say.

Red bit his lip as the minutes passed by, but he didn't speak up. He knew that Leaf had come up here for a reason, because she never went anywhere without one. Even when it looked like she was wandering around aimlessly, she always had a reason. All he had to do was wait for her to reveal it.

Eventually she looked up from the orange glow of the fire, eyes distant as if she was a thousand miles away. "Red, remember those promises we made the year before we started our journeys?" She asked, her voice softer than it had been before.

The memory of that day appeared into Red's mind as if it was only yesterday. They way her hand felt in his as they ran towards the tallest hill from his house, the way the gentle spring breeze had blown her hair across her face, the look in her eyes when she had smiled at him... He nodded, his face turning pink.

Leaf smiled at his confirmation, though she didn't seem to notice his blush. "I've been thinking about that day a lot recently. About how young we were back then, and how we believed that we could do anything we said we could. Like we were invincible." She shook her head fondly. "Remember how Green and I shouted out those promises for the whole world to hear? And how you whispered yours instead, because shouting like that was too embarrassing for you?"

Red felt his cheeks darken at that, and quickly shook his head. He remembered that, of course, but he was hoping that Leaf hadn't. He turned away when he heard Leaf giggle at him.

"Aw, don't be so embarrassed. It was super cute." Leaf said, gently nudging his shoulder with hers. "That was a great time in our lives, wasn't it, Red?"

He was still avoiding her eyes, but he nodded. Life had been simple then. The three of them, thinking that they could do anything and everything, because they were young and believed that nothing was impossible. A lot had changed in the years that had passed since then, but there was one thing he never stopped believing in. That as long as he saw Leaf smiling at him, he would feel like anything was possible.

"Do you think that we kept the promises we made that day? Like, really kept them?" Leaf asked, a shiver running up her body that wasn't entirely because of the cold. She pulled her hands away from the fire and back towards herself. "I mean, sure, I've traveled through Kanto and Hoenn and the Sevii Islands, but that's hardly the whole world is it? And Green became Champion like he said he would, but he was dethroned so fast..."

She let herself trail off, and Red knew that she wasn't going to finish that sentence. He was dethroned because you beat him an hour later. She wouldn't have said it out loud, but they both knew that his victory against Green and later abandonment of the title was the final wedge that split the three of them apart. She didn't even bother to bring up his own broken promise, and how Red had pretty much dropped off the face of the earth for three years to play hermit and had hardly spoken to either of them since.

He and Green were just starting to mend their friendship, but it was slow going. She probably knew that though, since she said she'd talked to Green before. She also probably knew that their friendship was never going to be the way it used to be, no matter how hard they tried to fix it. He was worried that he and Leaf were the same way, and what if their relationship was almost beyond repair too? Red glanced over at her from the corner of his eye to gauge her expression, but she didn't look upset with him.

"Oh geez would you listen to me go on and on about our past?" Leaf sighed, shaking her head at the awkward silence that had settled over them again. She turned to him and smiled, though it wasn't as wide as it had been before. "Say, I bet you've been up here for so long that you missed out on all the gossip that's been floating around! Do you want me to fill you in?"

He nodded, glad to hear her voice again, even if she was only talking to fill the gaping silence between them.

Leaf's eyes softened like she was relieved, and continued, "Great, because I've got some juicy stories for you. Did you know that Erika is secretly selling love potions to people now? Of course it's just a rumor, but last I heard was..."

Red listened carefully as Leaf passed on all the gossip she had accumulated over the last few weeks. He wasn't sure how true some of her stories were (Surge going to raves every weekend? Unlikely…) but he enjoyed the sound of her voice filling the stillness of the cave as she became more and more enthusiastic about them.

"Ah, it's been pretty great, being back here in Kanto," Leaf said, tilting her head back with a grin after she'd finished telling the tale of Lorelai's secret plush toy collection. "You know, I was planning to take a trip to Kalos soon, since i've heard that the atmosphere there was amazing, but... I think I might've found a reason to stick around for a while longer."

She glanced over at Red before quickly turning her eyes down to her shoes. Her face turned pink, and Red's heart skipped a beat. He knew that look. Eyes down, face flushed, the smallest hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth... It was the exact same pose he'd held for years when he was around her. What was she trying to tell him? He swallowed hard and kept his eyes on the fire in front of him, hardly daring to breathe as he waited for her to go on.

"Red, can I tell you something? Leaf said, finally peeking up at him through her bangs. "Something really important?"

He felt himself nod, his blood soaring through his veins as he tilted his head towards her. She looked so nervous, but excited too, and Red had to keep himself from taking her hands in his and confessing his feelings first before she could.

"Okay, here goes." Leaf said, taking a deep breath before she leaned in towards him. She was close enough that all Red had to do was lean forward to kiss her. "So... I am going to stay in Kanto for a while. Maybe for a long time." She bit her lip nervously and let the next words come out in a rush. "Green told me he liked me yesterday and asked me to be his girlfriend."

It took a moment for the words to register in his head, but when they did, Red felt his world tilt beneath him. Green liked Leaf. He told her yesterday. He'd asked her to be his girlfriend... He must have misheard that. Red cleared his throat, careful to hide the fact that the all the air had been sucked out of his lungs, and asked, "What... What did you say?"

Leaf looked surprised to hear him speak out loud, but a wide grin quickly spread over her cheeks as she giggled, "Well I said yes of course! He told me last night, when I was packing a bag to visit you up here. I guess he thought that I was getting ready to leave Kanto already, even though I've only been back for a few weeks, and... I don't know, I guess he didn't want me to go without telling me how he felt." Leaf brought her hands up to her cheeks and closed her eyes, a dreamy sigh escaping her lips. "I've liked him for so long, since we were kids you know, but I never expected him to make a move like this! Can you believe it, Red?"

He blinked and quickly shook his head. Of course he couldn't believe it. He had never seen Green show any romantic interest in her before. As far as he knew, all Green had cared about was being a Pokemon trainer. But now Green had asked Leaf to be his girlfriend, and she'd said yes. And of course she had! Red wasn't blind, he'd noticed the crush she had on Green when they were younger. He had seen the way she blushed and gotten tongue-tied around Green, but he'd thought...

He had thought that maybe she'd gotten over her crush since then, and that Leaf would want to be with him someday. He'd liked Leaf since they were kids too.

Leaf leaned against his shoulder, a tentative smile on her face. "I know it's a lot to take in, but you approve, don't you? I know you mostly think of him as the arrogant kid who bossed us around when we were little, but he's really changed, Red. He's a lot more mature and thoughtful and kinder than he used to be. Please say you're happy for me."

At first, he didn't say a word. A small, bitter part of him wanted to tell her the truth. That he wasn't happy to hear this at all, and that her news was devestating, because he was in love with her, and he had been for years. And... maybe if he hadn't spent so much time on this stupid mountain, things could have turned out differently.

...But it was too late to say any of that, wasn't it? He didn't want to hurt her. Red forced the corner of his mouth up, though he wasn't sure it looked like much of a smile, and nodded.

A look of relief spread over Leaf's face, and she wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I'm so happy to hear that, Red. You know how much I value your input, and now that I know you approve, I just... I feel so much better."

"I'm glad." He lied, tilting his head down to rest his chin on the top of her head. His chest ached as he held her in his arms, knowing that this was as the closest he'd ever be to her.

"Thank you for always being there for me, Red." Leaf murmured, burying her face in his chest with a sigh. "I know we haven't been as close as we used to be, but you're still my best friend, and you always will be. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it this far without you." She said, pulling away just enough to look into his eyes, a tender smile forming on her face. "You've been my pillar of strength Red, and I love you for that."

Red gasped at that last sentence, subtle enough that Leaf didn't notice it. He understood that she hadn't meant it to be romantic, but hearing Leaf say that she loved him made the ache in his chest dull a little. Because she had never stopped caring about him, even after all these years apart, and that alone was enough to turn the smile on his face a little more genuine.

Leaf smiled back as she pulled away from his arms , but she stayed close enough that their shoulders were still touching. She shook her head fondly as a giggle escaped from her lips. "Okay, wow that was incredibly mushy, wasn't it? Sorry, go ahead and tell me how lame I am."

"No... It was nice." Red said, looking right into her eyes as he took her hand his. She raised an eyebrow, but didn't pull away, and his heart stuttered in his chest. He cleared his throat. "I promised I'd always be here for the mushy stuff, remember?"

Her eyes sparkled at the memory and she nodded. "I remember. You're still the same great guy I could always rely on."

And that's all I'll ever be, he thought to himself. But maybe that was okay. He'd missed his chance to tell her how he felt, sure, but that was just something he was going to have to live with. The only thing that mattered now was that Leaf was happy, and looking at her now, Red knew that she would be for a very long time. So what if she was never going to love him the same way that he loved her? Being her best friend was more than enough.

"Come back with me." Leaf said, squeezing his fingers gently. "Let's get out of the cold and go home together. What do you say?"

He hesitated, weighing the options in front of him. If he left now, he'd have to deal with all the things he'd been neglecting for the past few years. All the people he'd let down, the responsibilities he'd abandonded, the life he'd left behind. But if he stayed, he had no idea how long it would be until he saw Leaf again, and he couldn't stand the idea of letting her down a second time. So really, he only had one option, didn't he?

"Okay." He whispered, squeezing her hand back with a quick nod. As long as Leaf was by his side, he knew he could face anything that was waiting for him.