Fireplace Boy [lyra-centric]
She's 6 when she makes a promise to herself.
It's raining buckets and she's watching the droplets thud against the roof and the windows. Her mother sits by the fireplace and, later on (much later on, when only wind remains that blows and blows and blows), tells her stories about her father and how they used to cuddle by the fireplace and sing songs.
A tear slid down her mother's cheek as she said this.
Little darling, naive Lyra promised to herself that she would find a boy to cuddle with by the fireplace and sing songs.
She's 8 when the champion visits her school.
He had hair like rubies, spiked and vibrant. His eyes were a gleaming gold that basked in the sunlight. He wore a cape - a black cape with red fabric on the inside that swayed when he walked. His steps were sure and certain, never yielding, even when the wind blew and blew and blew.
His name was Lance.
He told her that she was special, that she was important, that she would amount to everything and anything. And little darling, naive Lyra believed him. She smiled brightly and giggled and promised him that she would amount to everything and anything. He promised her that she was the best little girl in the world, that she would succeed. She believed him.
She wasn't supposed to hear him speaking softly to her best friend, saying that she was special, that she was important, that she would amount to everything and anything. And her best friend (traitor traitor traitor, she thought, even though she knew that he was the traitor - the champion with the spiky red hair, golden eyes and cape that swayed when he walked, even when the wind blew and blew and blew) smiled brightly and giggled and promised him the same empty promise Lyra had made. And he promised her the same empty promise he had told her (liar, liar, liar)
But she thinks about the promise she made and her mysterious fireplace boy, and decides to give the champion a second chance.
She's 10 when she fulfils Lance's promise.
She didn't mean to, not really. She'd just swung by Professor Elm's laboratory to help with an errand. But he insists for her to take a pokemon and she meets the Chikorita's eye and smells it's (her) scent.
She smelled like blossoms and nectar and beauty, and she was beautiful.
Lyra smiled and scooped her new partner into her arms.
Maybe this Chikorita would be a good luck charm, drawing beauty from the world for her trainer (Lyra thought about the mysterious fireplace boy and decided that if her new pokemon did, he would come also)
She thinks of the champion (with his spiky red hair and golden eyes and cape that swayed when he walked, even when the wind blew and blew and blew) and the second chance she gave him (she didn't know if it was the right choice, not yet anyway) and smiles again - but this time it's a sad smile, one of longing and wishes and dreams of cuddling and singing songs by the fireplace.
Maybe he would be her special fireplace boy.
She shouldn't have said that.
(it all went downhill from there)
She's 10 as well when she meets a boy who might fulfil her promise to herself.
He's her age, with red hair (darker than the champion's) and dark brown eyes - nearly black - and he wears a permanent scowl on his face. He battles her with a cyndaquil and even though he is harsh and brutal and unyielding, she smiles and giggles and still clings onto her newfound fantasy.
She had Lance (the champion), but now she had Silver (the cruel, cruel boy who is harsh and brutal and unyielding, who might just be her fireplace boy)
She's 11 (nearly 12) when she encounters the champion again.
He still looks the same - spiky red hair, golden eyes and cape that swayed when he walked, even when the wind blew and blew and blew. And for a little while, her childhood dream is rekindled - maybe he'll be the fireplace boy, maybe it won't be Silver (the boy with red hair that's darker than the champion's and dark brown - nearly black - eyes) who'll fill that role (she hadn't given up hope for him yet, not yet)
They take on the Team Rocket base that's messing with Mahogany Town. He congratulates her, says he'll see her at the League, and departs. He leaves her standing on the ground, childhood dream extinguished. She stood there even when the rain drenched her clothes and hair, washing away all her regret, all her dreams - but not all her pain.
She likes to think that the sky was crying for her that sad, sad day.
(she knows that's not true)
She's 12 when she meets the champion at the league.
She beat the Elite Four (part of the best of the best) and now she's up against the fearsome dragon tamer, the strongest trainer in Kanto and Johto (not for long, she smiles). He says a few empty words and then the battle is on.
It's down to her darling Meganium (the one who stuck through her journey) and his Dragonite. One Leaf Storm later and it's all over. He grins (but it's a fake, empty grin - he's not happy with the outcome, and deep deep down, neither is she) and congratulates her (fake, fake, fake) and then he leaves.
And she's all alone again, at the top.
No one ever told her that victory would be so, so, so bittersweet. Because she knows now (she should've realised sooner) that Lance (the champion with the spiky red hair, golden eyes and cape that swayed when he walked, even when the wind blew and blew and blew) wasn't (never was) her fireplace boy.
(then she is told about the silent champion on top of Mount Silver)
She's 12 still when she defeats the true best of the best.
It took place on a battlefield on top of Mount Silver, in the cold and wed. Her opponent is a brown haired boy (not red like his name) with brown eyes and no voice. His pokemon are deadly and strong, but ultimately hers are stronger. Her Meganium strikes down him Charizard (she feels a burst of pride for her disadvantaged pokemon) and then the battle's over. Red doesn't bother to congratulate her on her win (he can't anyway, but she's still grateful that he won't say those empty, empty words), just leaves her with one last smile.
She's still not satisfied.
But Red (silent, strong Red) might be her fireplace boy. Might, might, might.
Might.
She's 13 (just) when she finds out that Silver (who could've, should've been her fireplace boy) doesn't love her.
Instead, he pines after a blue-haired girl called Crystal who vanished long, long ago. Lyra wants to yell and scream and demand why he wants her so, so, so badly - why he would wait a possible eternity just for a blue-haired girl called Crystal who might not come back.
Silver answers her unspoken question.
"When you love someone, you're willing to risk an eternity of waiting, just for them. That's what love is."
Lyra wants what Silver has. She wants the desire to wait a possible eternity for her one true love, like he waits for the blue-haired girl called Crystal who somehow captured his stone cold heart.
She smiles sadly and lets her fantasies go.
Silver isn't her fireplace boy after all.
She's 14 when she finds out that Red (who could've, should've been her fireplace boy) is like Silver - just like Silver.
He communicates with her through writing, tells her all about the girl he grew up with - a brown-haired girl with a green, green name, who (just like Silver's Crystal) disappeared and never came back.
Her name was Leaf.
Lyra doesn't need an explanation this time, but Red might, so she tells him what she thinks.
"Leaves blow in the wind, Red. They float around and around in random pathways. But in the end of the day, something will always catch the leaves, Red. Make sure you catch yours."
She leaves him shocked and surprised. She leaves with a sad, sad smile on her lips.
Red isn't her fireplace boy after all.
She's 14 when she seeks out Blue again.
Brash Blue with the cocky smirks and arrogant demeanour. They have dinner and he tells her about a brown-haired girl with a green, green name, who disappeared and never came back. She recognises his description - Leaf, the girl who Red was willing to wait an eternity for. She smiles and repeats what she said to strong, silent Red.
"Leaves blow in the wind, Blue. They float around and around in random pathways. But in the end of the day, something will always catch the leaves, Blue. Make sure you catch yours."
She leaves with just another broken dream. She might not have known him long, but he had still wormed his way into her hopes and wishes.
All for nothing.
Blue isn't her fireplace boy after all.
She's 15 when she meets Steven.
He has shining silver hair and steel-tinted eyes, and she runs into him while he's on an expedition in the caves. Lyra thinks he is beautiful (in an odd, earthy way), but then he mines out a sapphire and his eyes mist over with longing. She's glad that her fantasy was destroyed before it could develop, cling onto her like Lance and Silver and to an extent Red did. Steven tries to give her the beautiful blue jewel, but she pushes it back to him.
"Hold onto her, Steven Stone." is all she says, but that's enough.
He lets her pick a Hoenn starter. She chooses Torchic.
She doesn't see him again.
She's 16 when she stops her fanatical journeying.
She buys a nice house in Sinnoh and settles down with her loyal team of Pokemon and home just a flight away. She's quit her obsession with her 'fireplace boy' - after 10 years, she hasn't found him. Maybe he doesn't want to be found.
Lyra's surprised to find that she's fine with this.
After 10 years, it was finally time to let go.
(so she sits by the fireplace, singing songs by herself, and slowly (slowly slowly slowly), her dreams, fantasies, hopes and wishes fade away)
Wow. Just... wow.
That's all I have to say this time.
Lyra, in this fic at least... is a complex character. She started off as a little girl with a dream - a dream that, later on, she realised might not be fulfilled. And 16-year-old Lyra is okay with that - after 10 years, maybe her fireplace boy doesn't want to be found. She's come to accept that.
Lance, Silver, Red, Blue, and Steven. All people who could've-should've been 'the one.'
But life didn't grant her wish in the end.