Disclaimer: If I owned these two, they'd have the amount of screentime they deserve, wouldn't you say?
"I don't know, but I think there would be more of 'em where those four came from," the white- haired man pointed out in a great boom of sound. "I think someone should go check the situation out."
"I think so too, Wattson," the head of Hoenn region's gym leaders confirmed. Her gaze flicked down to the written report in her hands once more, scanning the information within. She was acutely aware of the gaze of the seven other leaders she was in charge of, being trained on her. "They mentioned north-east from Mauville... it's within Fortree boundaries, so I'll go do some reconnaissance, and see if there's anything I can spot from the air. Does anyone have any suggestions?"
"Doesn't it sound rather dangerous? I mean... you could be in danger if you were spotted!" She smiled warmly at Flannery, who had only recently become a gym leader. The red-haired girl's concern was much appreciated. But as she began to reassure her, another voice cut in.
"I have my air car as well, Winona. I could go in your place."
Winona's gaze shifted to the one who had spoken. He was being over-protective as usual. While it was a sweet gesture, it could also get very annoying at times. Such as now. "I'll be perfectly fine, Wallace." She could not help the mild tinge of reproach and defensiveness that entered her voice. "I'll be safer on Altaria than you would be in your air car, I believe." Then, she pressed on as if nothing had happened, "Any more objections?'
"In that case..." Wallace's ears automatically tuned out the rest of her words, simply letting her voice wash over him. His brows furrowed in concern. This was, no matter what she said about it, a dangerous task with a lot of risk involved. How could she take it upon herself so lightly? And she had just brushed off his concerns like they were nothing.
There had been a brief but definitely sharp warning look in that instant where she had turned down his offer of aid. And even as she finalised her details of her reconnaissance, he made up his own mind – he was tagging along with her, whether she liked it or not.
Winona was frowning, her face lined with tension. Wallace came over to her, expression carefully neutral. She wasn't in a good mood after his intervention, and they both knew it. "Wallace, I told you I could handle it. Why did you come after me?"
"I was worried about you." He answered without hesitation. "Recon without enough information is always risky, and even more so this time..."
Winona's usually serene features took on a slightly frustrated cast. "I could have handled myself perfectly fine, Wallace."
"I know, but..."
"This is my responsibility. I'm in charge of the Hoenn gym leaders – I'm responsible for their safety."
"By compromising your own?" The Sootopolis gym leader had managed to keep any inflections of sarcasm or accusation from his voice, a considerable feat, although there was an unspoken challenge in his words.
A challenge for her to prove him wrong.
"I would have taken that grunt out in an instant had you given me the chance." The lilac-haired trainer's voice was dangerously calm.
"How sure are you on that?" The quiet challenge still didn't leave Wallace's voice.
The flying-type trainer glared at him. "You can't trust yourself to have faith in my strength, Wallace. How am I supposed to work like that? And what would you do in future if I had my mission and you had your own? What would you do? Could you just shake my hand for good luck and bid me farewell?" The cerulean-eyed trainer was silent. Winona exhaled slowly as she turned her back on him pointedly, moving to mount her Altaria. "I didn't think so. Then I think we should end this, Wallace. For both of our sakes."
"Winona..."
"Nothing you say now is going to change my mind, Wallace. If being together will impede our work, then we should pretend none of this existed." She suddenly turned, eyes meeting his coolly. "Promise me that much, Wallace." And on that note of finality, an eternity – almost – of memories faded into mist, presence acknowledged, but intangible and therefore non-existent.
Wallace watched both trainer and Pokemon take to the skies, still unable to bring himself to speak, to stop her, to do anything. When they finally vanished from sight, then did he snarl something under his breath, slamming one hand into the wall beside him in a very uncharacteristic show of anger. "Damn it all!"
Don't go, Winona. Don't leave me.
She had never once looked back.
Wallace exhaled as he slowly moved to his air car. She wouldn't budge for the world when her mindset was that fixated on one ideal. She was honestly willing to sacrifice them for their responsibility – Hoenn. And just for that...
A bitter smile crossed his face, at odds with the weariness in his eyes.
...Wallace just couldn't help but fall even deeper in love with her.
He would be her silent guardian, until the day came when something bigger than their responsibility lay in their hands.
Then would he step from his own shadow, and come forth to face her.
And only then would he prove her wrong.
He would prove that he could love her without holding her back.
That he was worthy of her.
A/N: I realised I wrote most of this story a while ago, and I forgot I did. Until I found it today and started touching up. Thanks to my beta, sesshomaru-haku, too, for fixing errors I don't even notice I make, haha.