Title: Journey
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,009
Genre: Romance, Fluff, Friendship, Slice-of-Life, Character Study
Summary: Lyra/Ethan+Silver. Three times the championship changes hands while Lyra tries to find what she's missing.
Disclaimer: Pokémon isn't mine.
Author's Notes: Originally written 12 Nov 2010. For pokeprompts (DW)'s Go On prompt, but I didn't submit it for the competition. A failed attempt at warmboys (LJ)'s writing style. Also, this is my 40th Pokémon fic. What is wrong with me.
Lyra felt lost in the swirl of colors and lights, muted by the hundred microphones that reached for her voice.
Ethan turned to her, mouthed "Congratulations" against her ear, and smiled when she clung to his hand.
—
She stood in the large Champion's room, hands twisting the canvas strap of her bag. She didn't know why she still carried it when there was no need to have supplies and Poké Balls always at the ready, nowhere left for her to go.
Lyra's eyes roved the walls, every surface reflecting the cold, even lights overhead. The dragons were gone but the pillars remained. The artificial, air-conditioned breeze slid across her skin, reminding her of the windy town where it all began.
"I've made it," she whispered. The words echoed off the walls before vanishing.
—
Months passed before she saw Ethan again.
"Hi," he said, standing far away across the polished marble floor.
"Ethan," she said, her hands dropping to her sides.
"Sorry I didn't visit sooner," he said. "Did you get my letters?"
Lyra nodded. They decorated the walls of her room and felt more like home than the cold furniture and unused bed.
"I missed you," she called to him as he closed the distance.
"You don't have to stay cooped up here," he replied, standing before her with a crooked smile. "They don't own you."
"But now you know where to find me," she said, laughing through the tightness in her throat.
Ethan cocked his head. "I've never had a problem finding you."
She swallowed until her questions stayed down, then said, "It's good to see you."
He shook his head. "I came for a battle," he said, his eyes taking in the shock that flashed across her face. She nodded, fingers reaching for her first Poké Ball—a conditioned response.
They fought, and he lost. But he didn't give up.
—
This time it was Lyra who stood at Ethan's side. She whispered encouragement and felt his fingers tremble in hers as he smiled and smiled.
He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, pupils constricted from the flashing lights. Lyra pulled back a little and laughed, blushing for the cameras, but didn't like it—didn't like being on display like this. Never had.
—
"Why did you do it?" she asked.
"You're prettiest when you're out on an adventure," Ethan said.
Lyra looked at him until his teasing smile faded, bit by bit.
"You don't belong in a room all day," he said. "Everyone misses you." She'd missed them too, but she'd never talked about it. (Did he know everything she'd never said?)
Ethan dropped her gaze and stared at his swinging feet. They were sitting on the roof, right at the edge, fearless. Lyra found danger exciting at best; she only felt afraid when people expected things of her. Ethan was scared all the time, but, he said, never when she was around.
She rested her head on his shoulder and listened to the dissonant rhythm of his heels striking stone.
"Go have fun," Ethan said. "I'll save your spot."
—
Red wasn't there when she visited again, and she wasn't sure what that meant.
Her badges were scattered at the bottom of her bag. She wasn't the champion anymore. The only thing waiting at home was a neatly-swept room, which was to say that she didn't have a home at all.
She could go back to being the champion, if she wanted. She could go back to traveling. But as she stood at the top of Mt. Silver, everything felt like a step in the wrong direction.
Her fingers fumbled for her PokéGear. "I'm coming back," she interrupted before Ethan could say hello.
She listened to his breathing on the other end of the line. "Okay," he said at last.
There was a pause.
"...Hurry."
Lyra hung up and pressed the phone to her chest.
—
Lyra returned just in time to see Ethan lose to Silver. Though her old rival had grown and his childish awkwardness had disappeared, he still stiffened when Lyra hugged him. Ethan grinned when they shook hands.
"Good luck," Ethan said.
"He won't need it," Lyra corrected him.
"Thanks," Silver said to them both.
Silver took the spotlight alone, ducking his head before the cacophonous crowd, but Ethan and Lyra stood a few steps away in the shadows just beyond the stage lights. Every time Silver turned to them, Lyra bounced and Ethan waved until Silver's wide eyes softened into an annoyed look and finally into a smile.
—
Ethan and Lyra went to collect his things from his room—her old room—Silver's room now. Walking down the cool, dark hallway made nostalgia prickle down her spine, a distraction from the butterflies in her stomach.
She stopped Ethan before he could open the door. He turned, one hand on the doorknob, and looked at her.
"Thanks for waiting for me," she said.
Ethan's lips twitched. "I'm sorry I lost."
She shook her head. "I didn't want the championship anyway."
Ethan nodded, but continued to wait as Lyra shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Fear, she realized. This is what fear felt like.
He held her gaze as she stepped closer. After a moment of hesitation, she reached up to slip her arms around his neck.
"I love you," Lyra whispered.
"I know," Ethan said. He pulled her closer, breathed "I know" into the space between their lips, and leaned in.
—
"What should we do now?" Lyra said, squinting up at the sun. They were back in New Bark Town for a few days, visiting their families and showing Professor Elm their Pokédexes.
"Anything you want," Ethan said.
A Pidgey broke free of its hiding place in the long grass, and Lyra smiled, remembering.
"Let's go on an adventure," she said, as she once had years ago, the day before she left New Bark Town for the first time. "Just you and me."
Ethan smiled.
"Okay," he said. "Let's go."