She didn't know what it was that drew her to him, what facet of his flat personality that made her gravitate towards his presence. All the same, however, his mark on her life was reflected in her daily life and actions; the way she walked, the way she talked, her hair and her glasses...the list went on. Not the least of his influences was the way her eyes chilled, becoming stone-hard in the heat of battle; she hid her emotions well outside of her duties, but even he was unable to read her thoughts when they challenged one another. While his own eyes were bloody pools of hollow flame, silent and unforgiving, hers were a blue steel that let no warmth pass.
People liked to claim that either opposites attracted, like Magnemite and its evolutions, or that Flying-types of a feather would flock together...but nobody, not even the two themselves, could truly figure out just how the relationship worked. They never fought, or even argued; any public shows of affection were few and far between. He was a mute who hated self-weakness with a passion, a fighter who fed on his own fears and anxieties to drive himself to victory. She was the anti-social ice queen, a title that was as ironic as it was true, and her partner Pokemon reflected that...speaking of which, she had more Pokemon than friends. (Which wasn't to say that she didn't view the creatures as friends, but she could never really understand their speech in the same way that he could.) He was the strongest Trainer in history, save perhaps for Samuel Oak or some of the other previous Champions of various regions; at the very least, he was the most famed Trainer of all time. It had taken a grand total of two months for him to leave Pallet Town and become the Champion of Kanto on his fourteenth birthday. While his assembled team was fairly riddled with weak points, he'd made sure to blanket his team with some of the harshest training a living creature could endure.
She had been considered the weakest of the Kanto Elite Four, despite the fact that their types moved in a broken circle. If Lance had been moved beneath her in their order, then the cycle would make sense; Dragon was weak to Ice, which lost to Fighting, which was defeated by Ghost. She didn't doubt that she could butcher Lance's teams any day of the week, no matter which of his precious dragons he chose to use in their bouts.
...all the same, however, they were an "official" couple. They went on dates, occasionally held hands, and did other things that couples supposedly did. Once, he'd even surprised her by kissing her in public; it had been one of very few times that she'd ever blushed.
Their dates were often strange, near-formal, and generally awkward, though such thoughts would only truly arrive in the minds of those who didn't know either of of the pair; neither had been in any kind of romantic relationship before, though it was a conscious choice that both had made, and so they didn't truly know what they were supposed to do. That didn't particularly bother them, however...they were both serious-minded introverts who really just wanted to be left alone to themselves. She was more seriously affected by her inward spiral than he, who was forced to bear it for his position as Champion, and rarely smiled at all; when she did, he knew that it was a confirmation of her care for him.
He tried to do the same for her, as she was far more nervous than him. A smile meant that you were important, between them, since he couldn't speak and she rarely chose to. She was frosted precision, and he was burning rage. She was calm, cool, collected, logical...and he only appeared as such because no sound could move past his lips. Her battle strategy was thought-out, cut and measured to exactness. He ran off of exhilaration, panic and even fear, though there was no small amount of pure instinct. It was something about him, one of many things, that never failed to confuse her.
She could only see his inner self for a few moments each day, and that little while was fine for her. Waking up beside him, only to find that he was already staring at her with those crimson eyes of his, was never discomforting or shocking to her sense of self-space; he would kiss her forehead as a wake-up greeting, and then on the lips to reassure her (as she sometimes needed) that he was still hers. Depending on what had happened in the previous day or night, he might even smile at her as well. Just for the hell of it, he occasionally let slip a grin that she knew she'd been the only one to see; it was toothy and beaming. He'd touch his forehead to hers and lock her eyes with his own...while she couldn't see too well, since her glasses were gone, she knew that he'd never given that damnably adorable look to anyone else but her.
When he'd gone to Mount Silver, to train himself and eliminate all of the self-weakness that he so despised, she'd gone with him; he'd needed a guide, and she'd been in far harsher temperatures than those of the mountain's barren peak. She'd stayed for the years he spent there, knowing that they would both be replaced at the League with Trainers who were good enough...and she told him, on a day that was five years after he'd come, that he'd been without weakness for as long as he'd been the Champion. If he hadn't been, of course, then why would he have remained undefeated for more than eight years as a Trainer?
He'd rolled his eyes, but gone along with her obvious ploy. He'd gotten tired of the constant meditation, and the chilling weather, though he'd faced a few challengers that had been interesting.
He always enjoyed the looks she gave him, as she was never angry...at least, not at him. At most, she was annoyed with him. In any case, he'd learned to identify her mood at a glance; it had been a clear and sunny day, miraculously without snow or hail, that he'd seen a look in her eyes that was unidentifiable. He was nineteen, and a quick round of mental math allowed him to remember that she was two years older than him...and it had been that night, amid screams and silence, that he'd first smiled at her.
After leaving the mountain, he decided to forego a return to Pallet Town; instead, he went to Lorelei's home on Four Island. It was something that she'd always been against, with vehemence, and he learned why as he surprised her with his company: her house was filled with plush dolls, one for every Pokemon that could be found in Kanto or Johto. When she'd gone to the store one day, getting groceries and the like, he'd cheesily arranged their preferred battle-teams of six Pokemon into the shape of a heart. When she'd gotten home, the surprise was complete; she'd wrapped his larger frame in a hug, trying to laugh off her light blush, but he'd noticed when she'd given him "that" look again.
It had been a fun day, with a very long night.
He'd taken her all around the world, since he could afford to, and they went to all the wonders of the world. They had traversed the majestic mountains that straddled the Kanto-Johto border, as well as the ever-present ruins in the latter. The Sevii Islands held their own sets of ruins and mazes, as well as the famed Mount Ember. They went through Hoenn's divided state by land and sea, exploring underwater trenches and a desert or two...as well as the infamous Sky Pillar, home of Rayquaza. In Sinnoh, they'd gone to the trouble of climbing through Mount Coronet and the region's Underground tunnels. Isshu was perhaps the most fun for both of them; he'd taken her to Nimbasa's somehow-romantic Ferris Wheel.
It had been in Undella Town, with the help of the visiting Sinnoh Champion, Cynthia, that he'd made a ring out of a nugget and a red diamond...not that he gave it to her immediately. He would wait, as Cynthia had cautioned him. (Surprisingly, she'd been able to correctly interpret his mute gestures after a short battle which she lost.) It was for a special occasion, and he was narrowing down the list of places where he might reveal the ring to Lorelei.
When the pair had returned to Kanto, she had gone straight to Four Island; he, however, had elected to do a run-through of the joint Elite Four. After crushing them with much greater ease than previously, he'd gotten Bruno and Lance to sketch out a rudimentary plan with him.
The pair had a picnic at Cerulean Cape, though it was small and simple: sandwiches of different kinds, lemonade, salad, and the like; they had one another as well, later, but that's a story for a different time and fiction rating. He'd thought about offering the ring then and there, damning the plan, but chose not to. After all, the plan was much better with time and place.
He'd taken her out to each of the places that had been important to the pair over the years, though they were all in Kanto this time; not the least of those destinations had been Mount Silver, but even the frostbitten mountain didn't seem appropriate enough a place. None of them did, and he understood why: he needed to choose the place that was important to her, and her alone, so that he could make it a place that would truly bind them together.
When he was twenty-two, and she had yet to turn twenty-four, he'd woken up early to scribble a note down onto a piece of paper. Grabbing a piece of toast, and nearly inhaling a tall glass of water, he'd left for Icefall Cave...and promptly fallen asleep with his back to the wall, in the chamber where he'd helped her fend off Team Rocket. Only luck, or perhaps an attuned sense of hearing, allowed him to wake in the seconds that preceded her arrival. She'd recalled her Lapras, looking mildly irritated, while she waited expectantly.
A miniature ball was tossed, which she enlarged while she walked to him. When she was just a few feet from his sitting form, he watched her open it...and sat up a little straighter, with his back flat against the ice that constituted as a wall. She'd crouched down, her face unreadable as he stared right into her eyes, and a very special sort of dread began to well up inside of him. She was silent for several seconds, which was more than enough for the terror to take hold of his heart and begin trying to tear at it; he refused to lose this game of strength, though he closed his eyes as he began to feel the unfamiliar pricking sensation in the backs of his eyes...it was in that instant that she spoke.
"What took you so long, you ass? I should've been expecting this years ago!"
He'd inwardly damned her absolute emotional control, though he was willing to bet that it was only a facade. He also knew that it was one of the things he enjoyed about her: she could be unpredictable when she wanted to, and he loved it...his eyes opened to find her pressing herself against him, preparing to attack his mouth with her own, and he felt a laugh that would never be heard.
On their kitchen table was a letter, which led to the diamond-encrusted band of gold that was wrapped around her left ring-finger.
Lorelei,
I'm in the final room of Icefall Cave. I hope you'll like the present I got you! I've been trying to think of a way to give it to you that wouldn't just be random, and I thought that today would be a good day. I don't think you're going to be disappointed...and, you know, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Love,
Red
