Of Cold Wonders and Christmas Miracles
A blur of minty green brushed past the misty window. Frosty breaths escaped from under a scarf, itching against his neck. Nevertheless, he hardly minded. It felt like wearing nostalgia. Proudly too.
Driftveil City seemed a little less still than usual. Busy life buzzed about, children walking hand in hand with their parents and pouring over presents while couples giggled alongside one another. To add in to the mix, droplets of frozen water began falling from the sky. Liquid at first, then solid crystals by late December.
N felt out of place. He didn't need anyone to remind him, either. So when he passed by a family or over-attached couples and received stares that made him feel even more "off," his mind wandered to her again.
Her.
With a laugh that could echo through a meadow of daisies and a smile that lit up all of Unova- it was her. Strength tucked away so deep inside for the ones she loved- it belonged to her. And oh, his favorite part was her eyes. Sure, her high ponytail of hot chocolate was nice, but those eyes. Orbs of radiant baby blue, like the color of a newborn Cubchoo.
To say the least, the entire region was missing something. A puzzle piece that was thrown away somewhere, never to be seen again. And everytime her face appeared in his mind, he fought the urge to cry. His mind became a battlefield within weeks of her disappearance.
But he blamed himself the most. If he had not fled with Zekrom into the unknown, maybe she wouldn't have left to search for him. Maybe she wouldn't end up getting lost somewhere, or whatever else that could have happened to her. For all N knew, Reshiram could have thrown her off his back and left her isolated in the wilderness.
She could catch Pokemon in the wild. With or without a pokeball. She would, to survive.
He used to think that she would try and survive for him. Now he doubted her survival chances, that is, if Reshiram had did anything at all.
It was still his fault, no matter how he looked at it. And he had been looking at it through a thousand sleepless nights.
N tried to suppress the aching in his head. His eyes stung too. Both tears that had been shed not too long ago and two years before stained above his cheeks. He acted like a complete child at first, but shutting himself away from even Anthea and Concordia months later was even worse.
He didn't cry during that time. Not usually, anyway. Instead he would stare at the ceiling every night and order Plasma grunts who had made contact with Hilda in the past to share their memories of battle with her to him.
They all described her roughly the same.
Confident, courageous, clumsy.
And he would cry over and over again and wouldn't stop. The grunts panicked at first, but he only thanked them later and invited them to come back any time. They didn't, however. They couldn't bare to see their king cry. When they barely knew why, too.
His hand skimmed the surface of another shop window. This time, he stopped for a while and peered in towards something rested on a shelf.
Hanging from a board of foam with a price tag looped around, a treasure of golden chain and azure vial caught his eye. The vial swirled with diamonds and sparkling bokeh that filled its inside. Specks of gold and flecks of silver lined the base as well.
N drew in a breath. Hilda smiled back at him through the azure teardrop pendant that held the vial with metallic wire. Her eyes glimmered in the dreary sky, filling N with colors he had wished so desperately to see again. They sprouted wings and flew around him like translucent butterflies, every color that brought him back to the memories of Hilda. When he first met her, their first battle and their last.
"If only…" he sighed. The colors flashed back into the vial where they'd come from and N continued trudging down the alley. Hilda's smile vanished.
A figure whirled past the intersection up ahead. N glanced up from the ground.
His eyes widened.
He raced across the street, ignoring the Cold Storage workers and shopping-bound pedestrians who yelled his way. Yet he didn't stop. Not until he was within a meter of a familiar brunette did he stop.
There was no mistaking it. N nearly smiled, frost biting into his lips. They cracked, but he couldn't care less now.
Until the girl turned around did he taste blood. And his gaze fell. He collapsed to the ground in a hazy blindness.
Because it wasn't her.
"Excuse me?" She asked, cocking her head in a way she would have never done if she was-
"Sorry about that. He's mistaken you for me, that's all."
The new voice rang in his ears. Slowly, he turned his head with silent despair.
"H-H-"
"Now, don't be a big baby. In public too. How about we go get some coffee?"
And in the reflection of her perfect blue eyes, he breathed in what he saw.
Joy.
I know, I know. FerrisWheelShipping and B&W itself is old. But still, after all these years, (what has it been? Four years?) Unova has still been my favorite region and Black and White have been my favorite games out of the entire franchise. Second is Black and White 2, if you haven't guessed.
So if you're like me and a stickler for Gen 5 stuff, please rate, review, and follow.
I would also love to take some requests. If you have any B&W pairings you're into, feel free to comment below or PM me your message!