the gap
G.S - Consider it a spiritual sequel to the meeting place or standalone - it doesn't matter. It's time for some more whimsy and sadness.
She had been born far from here, but this was where she wanted to live. Lacunosa Town. It was a strange choice, for many - why die where its always snowy when you can live where its always sunny?
However, Hilda White knew what she wanted and what she wanted was not the prestigious rank of Champion but instead the quiet of a town that kept to its walls and that would endure anything.
As the sun above dipped out of the air, her thoughts drifted to the monster of the chasm. While she believed no such thing, she was still enthralled by the myriad tales surrounding its enigmatic existence: the strange being swathed in a snow cloak, the cold its ally as it consumed wrongdoers and the evil - was it a Pokémon or a human? Did it fall from space as the story spoke or was it always there, patiently waiting out the years until it could scavenge another meal?
She shivered and shut the window, while in the trees far away yellow eyes, narrow and sharp, averted their gaze and the being known as Kyurem sloped down the mountain.
Not believing is not the same as rejecting. White was intrigued and while she would not dare step out at night, in the day she ventured as far as she dared into the chasms. While the echoes of the wild Pokémon were sometimes enough to turn back the not-so-brave young lady, she would occasionally walk down by the small pond in the centre of the lake and gaze into it, only to quickly leave as the hail and snow picked up.
She was down by the lake when the snow came again, extremely heavy. She could barely see in front of her, and that was what caused her to fall down into the ditch.
She cursed as she tumbled over, feeling her leg hit something incredibly solid and break. Biting back tears, she attempted to drag herself toward the caves where she could seek shelter from the cold. Her leg weighed her down - moving it sent flares of pain through her until she lay still in the snow. Face down, she heard something approach and wished it to be over fast.
When she awoke she was wrapped up in a little blanket. She had no idea where she was - as she looked around she saw she was in some kind of cave. It wasn't the one she had entered through, and that sent fear up her spine. Had she been kidnapped? Looking around she saw the cave was empty apart from a small slope up to a plinth - like structure and a body of water by it. Looking the other way she almost had a heart attack.
The monster of the Giant Chasm was there, beside her, curled up. It was nothing like she had imagined. She had imagined a snakelike creature, all fangs and terror. This... This was positively broken. In fact it had even fashioned ice-armour to keep old wounds covered - scars were visible beneath the mask of ice and one wing seemed to be damaged.
She tried to get up, to escape, but her leg wouldn't respond now. It didn't hurt, but she couldn't move it. Touching it however made her cry out, a cry that she tried to stifle as the creature slowly opened one lazy eye and observed her. It opened both when it noticed her looking back. Gently with a taloned hand did it remove the blanket, and look at her leg.
It had wrapped it up in a rag and then put a thin, but sturdy layer of ice over it to numb it and keep the bone from shifting out of
place. It pointed upwards and White shook her head, unsure of its meaning.
The being stood and pointed up again. White hastily tried to follow its lead, but when she collapsed she fell into its arms, ready to catch her. It lifted her back onto her feet, and she gingerly took a few steps before sitting down again. Kyurem was looking at her with its head cocked, as though prompting a greeting.
"Uh, I'm White," she said. Kyurem blinked and collected a bit of snow from outside before returning to her. The frozen creature let the snow sift between its talons.
"Yeah. White," she confirmed.
Kyurem scratched a series of lines into the wall. When it showed them to her, she recognised it as something her boyfriend Black would be able to read, but not her - the dialect was old, something from ancient Sinnoh.
It wrote a new word, and she recognised it. Kyurem.
"Kyurem. Khy-u-rem," she pronounced, but it shook its head. "Ki-u-rem? Q-rem?" It nodded at the last one, and nuzzled her. It was cold, but not unpleasant, more of a morning chill than a snowy oblivion.
She was still alive, and this 'Kyurem' didn't mean her any harm. She reached out to it, but it shyly turned away from her and went to a corner of the cave where a small pile of random pieces from the city were kept. It lifted up half a Pokéball and dropped it on seeing the shinier hubcap buried beneath it. White smiled at its naivety.
It had sifted through the junk for some time before it returned to her - she had been watching the outside and waiting for the snowstorm to abate but it just raged on. It held a Rage Candy Bar, which it offered to her. She took it gratefully and they both stared into the swirling white outside.
It was later that the storm died down and she took her cautious steps for the outside. Kyurem gently helped her, but she could see it was so lonely, and that it would miss her if she left - she could see it in the yellow eyes, despite them bearing no recognisable emotions.
She wore the blanket like a cloak, keeping her warm in the still frigid environment. Kyurem looked at her longingly but did not want to force her to stay. White put her arms around its neck and hugged it.
"I'll visit. I promise."
Promises are not easily kept.
She never did.
Nay, it was three years later that they met again. Not exactly in the most fortunate of circumstances, either. See, while the town was out of the way, it was certainly not free from modern evils - in fact the main bank was robbed easily despite all the defences it had, and crime was still high - the criminals knew not to stay the night.
Therefore when White was attacked she regretted her lifestyle. And even though by this point Kyurem was merely a distant benefactor, it was not the same the other way around. Kyurem never forgot, and as the attacker nervously looked around after having robbed her, the ancient being split open its mandibles and roared. The shotgun went up to the ice mask and a blast echoed through three lifetimes while Kyurem's arm crashed into the attacker, sending them soaring a full eight meters and crushing ribs easily.
Kyurem roared again, but this time it was in pain. The left side of the mask had shattered, blood spilling over the frozen jawline and dripping onto the ground.
White stood, approaching Kyurem and lifting its head gently. She lightly turned the face so that the monster of the Giant Chasm could see her with its one good eye, and there was a question not spoken.
She didn't have an answer to it.
'Why did you never return?'
Every snowflake may be different, but it doesn't matter in the end.
Every snowflake melts.
-fin-
G.S