It takes a while before Volkner can extricate himself from the hustle and bustle of the wedding reception. Between the two of them, Red and Blue have amassed two decades of training experience and quite the ton of friends and acquaintances, all of whom appear to have shown up. Volkner wouldn't be surprised if the entire League had turned up; the association loves an occasion and these are two of their best and brightest, after all.
It was a beautiful ceremony, solemn and strong like Red yet vibrant and lively like Blue, and more than a few people had sniffled. The ensuing reception is loud and messy; although Red and Blue don't seem to mind. It may be fun for someone with a livelier temperament than he, but Volkner has spent the last half hour convincing Flint to throw up in the bathroom and not on the floor, and the half hour previous trying to stop Elesa from flirting with either of the grooms.
So once he's convinced Elesa that the maid of honor might be a better choice than either of the newlyweds and passed Flint over to a clucking Bertha, he takes the opportunity to step outside the reception tent for a breath of fresh air. The Alolan air is muggier than Sinnoh's, but the night's sea breeze is cool, the smell of salt is sharp, and feeling of sand in his shoes is familiar. For a moment he's not in Alola, with its large broadleaved trees and towering volcanoes, but back home in Sunyshore, surrounded by the whirrs and buzzing of the city's machinery.
And, he thinks, gazing down the long line of the beach, he's not the only one.
"This seems familiar," he muses, sitting himself down.
Jasmine startles and blinks wide-eyed at him, and for a moment he fears his intrusion is unwelcome and prepares to leave. But her face relaxes and her eyes soften after a few seconds. "Volkner," she greets, "It's good to see you."
"And you as well," he says, briefly looking her over. "You look well." It's not a lie – she's wearing a simply-cut white sundress that evokes every memory he's ever had of her, her delicate beauty and natural elegance only making her look more ethereal. White kitten heels lay forgotten in the sand a couple of feet behind her, and in the torch-lit night he can half make out her dainty feet disappearing into the sand. She looks older, wiser, and infinitely more beautiful. He thinks of their years of silence, and his heart aches a little.
He hadn't meant to run into her again, but fate is funny that way.
She laughs a little, a musical tinkling sound, again making Volkner think of Sunyshore Beach's large boulders and the squawks of wild Wingull. "That's very kind of you." She seems to fiddle with her fingers a little before adding, "The reception's quite wild, isn't it?"
"I'd be more surprised if it wasn't, knowing the League," Volkner admits. "Although I suspect Blue had a hand in it."
Jasmine nods. "They're good kids. It's nice of them to invite everyone; things keep happening. There's always a world to save."
"You're right," Volkner says, his voice still quiet. He hates it, this stilted, awkward small talk, when before before before their conversation had flowed so easily. "It's nice to do something fun once in a while."
She turns to look at him. She'd cut her hair since he'd seen her last and curled it for the occasion, and it falls out of its ponytail in long strands and wisps. Volkner has a brief desire to tug it down and run his fingers through it, perhaps have the Jasmine he remembers back for just a moment. "That's new," she says, her tone teasing. "Not something you would've said five years ago."
There it is, the acknowledgement of their past. She looks away from him, as if realizing what she's said.
"A lot has changed in five years," he admits. It's true. Since Lucas and Dawn saved the world and Dawn stepped up as Champion, things have been quiet in Sinnoh. Cynthia keeps them updated on the events she encounters on her travels, but for the most part Volkner and the rest of the Leaders have had time to focus on their own projects. Fantasia had returned home to Kalos for a while and Candice decided to tour Hoenn. Volkner himself had found it in him to challenge the Elite Four, but politely declined the position of Champion despite Dawn's protests.
I'm happy where I am, he'd told the girl, and for the first time in years it had felt like he was telling the truth.
"I heard the Association awarded Sunyshore that Clean Energy Award a few months ago," Jasmine says. "Guess that means you finally got that power system up and running, huh?"
The memory brings an unbidden smile to his face. "Yeah," he says, looking down. "It only took around twelve citywide blackouts, but it's working like a dream now."
"Congratulations," she says. "I'd love to talk about doing something similar for Olivine. I don't really want to have Pokemon illuminate the lighthouse forever, it does take quite the toll on them."
"You can just give me a call anytime about that. I'd be more than happy to help you out," he says, but his throat feels dry. If she'd wanted to call him anytime through the years, she would have. If he'd been less of a coward, less a person who wanted change but also for things to stay the same, he would have called her first. "Wallace also tells me you were quite the rising star in Super Contests for a while," he says, mostly to push the conversation forward. "You and Rusty swept the Ultra Rank contests."
"It was a wonderful time," she replies, and there's a glimmer in her eyes that wasn't there five years ago, confidence and determination all at once, and it's a good look on her. "I think it helped me, a lot. I'm – stronger. My Pokemon are getting on in years, but I think I could win if I took you on in a match this time," she says, referencing their single training match.
I could have been strong enough to inspire you then, is what he hears, and Volkner wants to say You did.
"I was – better, afterwards," Jasmine adds.
After you left Sunyshore, Volkner's mind thinks traitorously, and he hates himself for it. Jasmine is clearly happier now, stronger and steelier than she was when he knew her, and he'd loathe for her to languish in Sinnoh when her heart lay with Olivine's clean seas. But it's not hard to think of almosts and what could have beens, of brunches in his favorite hole-in-the-wall places and Flint's endless ribbing, of conversations on the beach long into the night, looking up at the –
"The stars are different in this part of the world, aren't they?" Jasmine says, almost like she's thinking the same thing as he is.
His head snaps up at her voice.
"I suppose," he says. "Although I think it's more – their tilt is different, but we're still in the same hemisphere, so we're seeing the same stars, just in different positions." He's blabbing, but Volkner has come to find that he's rarely the person he thinks he is when she smiles at him.
"You were always smart."
He'd been the one to point out the Sinnoahan constellations to her, when they were sitting on a picnic blanket on the beach. Sometimes, he'd confided in her, I'm actually grateful for the blackouts. All the electricity makes it hard to see the stars.
That's…actually quite lovely, she'd replied, in the genteel and softspoken manner he had come to associate with her. Sinnoh is much more developed than Johto. Back home, in Olivine, the stars are everywhere.
Sunyshore reminds me of home, she'd said, and for years he'd turned her words over and over, wondering what home meant to him. Was it his dark apartment? The metal floors and fluorescent lights of the Gym? The beach, with its vast sky and sea?In the years after her short visit he would find himself leaning over the railing of his lighthouse, wondering if she was enjoying the same view of the ocean as he. A trainer would come in with a Steelix or a Magnemite, and he'd be reminded of the pale grey of her eyes.
But five years is a long time, and it would be so foolish; he'd known her for all of four months before she left for Hearthome, for contests, for a type of strength he didn't – couldn't – appreciate then.
Maybe, Volkner thinks, thinking of the wedding earlier today and Blue Oak's happy tears as he'd looked at his husband, home could be a person. Volkner thinks of his energy contraptions back home, steel taking spark and channeling it into something warm and wonderful.
"How long are you staying in Alola?" he blurts out before he can think better of it, and flushes at his uncharacteristic bluntness – but Jasmine, as he's come to know, deserves more than silence and thoughts she can't hear. For a moment he thinks he's too forward, that all this longing would have been for nothing and they'll return to what they were before this wedding. But Jasmine blinks at him, and her mouth stretches in a big, sweet smile, her cheeks flushing prettily.
"Long enough this time," she says, and despite himself, he smiles back.
They're not the same people they were five years ago – they're both older, wiser, and a little less heartbroken, but after everything they're still Volkner and Jasmine, and there's the promise of tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Whitney and Jasmine will go shopping along Akala Island's wide beachside boulevards.
Tomorrow, Flint will wake up on Volkner's hotel couch and call him frantically, wondering where he is.
But tonight, they have each other and the infinite sky. He hadn't kissed her five years ago, but when his hand rises of its own volition to cup her cheek, he feels the burgeoning of possibility, gleaming like a lighthouse in the dark.
NOTE. "Five years" is arbitrary; I'm not really sure how many years pass between II/IV and V, then how many years pass between B/W and B2/W2 and XY. I imagine Red and Blue to be at least twenty here, though. Although Gen IV remakes are probably coming, so… *shrug*
There's not a lot of Alexandrianshipping, so naturally I had to write it. I love love loved V & J's hypothetical dynamic in DPPt – he's brooding, she's gentle, but they're both quiet, caring people who I think were feeling rather lost at that particular point in time and so couldn't take that step. Also, almost lovers reuniting is one of my favorite tropes that isn't done enough. Also also, lighthouse imagery. My heart.
(I think Fantasia (and Juan, I guess) are from Kalos, because ~*French*~. Phoebe is probably Alolan.)
Seeing as I'm from a tropical country, Sun and Moon's entire aesthetic basically revived my Pokemon-loving heart, and that Red and Blue trailer appearance is just…a perfect opportunity to revisit my loves. So this is the first in a series covering little scenes from Red and Blue's wedding/reception/etc. which is basically an excuse for me to write all the pairings that used to tickle my fancy but never really bothered to write. Because who doesn't like weddings? (Note: The maid of honor is Leaf/Green, of course, here to spike the punch and get everyone wasted because HER BOYS ARE GETTING MARRIED)