I don't know why I bothered to tag along with her. If the twerpette wants to go on an epic journey of self-realization or uncover some dark mystery of her past, let her do it alone! I have better things to do with my time! It's not like she even asked me to go with her, I was just following her to steal her pokemon. I could have left at any time.
Yet here I am. Walking around the city, making small talk with her between stops at all the local haunts, the Pokemon Center, Cerulean Cape. Listening to her chat with people who knew her parents, asking them questions and getting vague answers if she's lucky.
"I just never knew what to believe," she sighs. "Are they really dead? And if they survived the shipwreck why didn't they come back?"
"Maybe they lost their memories," I offer lamely.
"Maybe." Finally, we've reached our last destination...the home of the old ship captain. "He was the last person to see them alive," she whispers. She knocks, he lets her in and I wait outside. I keep myself busy by counting the apples in his trees.
Hours later, the door opens and she slowly walks out...one look at her and I can tell it ended badly. I stand up and follow her down the path, feeling slowly returning to my butt after hours sitting on that cold stone step.
"He doesn't even remember." Her shoulders shake and she hugs herself tightly. "I don't know why I expected him to...I don't know why I expected any answers. I'll never know, will I?" Her tears spill over as she throws herself against me, and out of pure instinct I hug her. "I'm so stupid," she continues. "Why did I even bother trying in the first place?!" God, what do I say? She's so completely crushed I don't have the heart to be brutally honest with her, but I don't want to sound like a greeting card!
So I fall back on what one of my teachers told me after my mother disappeared.
"Look...whether they're dead or alive, you can be sure of this. They would be very proud to see you today."
She sniffles, pulling back to look me in the eye.
"Come with me, I want to show you my favorite place." I blink, but follow her anyway. She leads me back to the Cape, to a small hill overlooking the sea.
"This is..."
"They call it a lovers' spot, but I've never heard any rules against bringing friends." She gives me a tiny smile, and suddenly I feel all warm and fuzzy.
"It's beautiful."
We sit there for the rest of the evening, looking up at the stars, watching their reflection sparkle against the sea.
Coming here was the best stupid choice I ever made.
Author's ramble: For some reason Misty always seemed like the type to have "parents died in a wreck" as her backstory. We never DO learn where they are and why she's been living alone with her sisters all this time.
As for Jessie, despite her soft side having been shown in canon on multiple occasions it always feels tricky to write her as being more gentle for fear of sliding into OOC or falling back on the cliche "why do I suddenly feel like this?". So I tried really hard to avoid both in here.