SECRET TEARS. JESSIE'S GIFT.
What did really happen in Jessie's past? Why does she act so strange? And what are her nightmares about? A determined Jessie tries to find the secrets about her past and her mother Miyamoto. Also in this fic, I've decided to use the dubbed name of Melissa for Miyamoto (Jessie's mother).
Chapter one: Sweet dreams
"Mommy please don't leave me! Don't go to the Andes!"
"But Jessie you usually don't cry when I'm going on missions. Why don't you want me to go this time?"
"Because I know you won't come back, you'll leave me!"
"Jessie you know I would never leave you. You're my little angel, what scares you so much?"
"The cellar."
13 YEARS LATER.
Jessie awoke from her nightmare. Once again, she had a nightmare about her past.
It was a dark summer night in Viridian Forest, the place where she and her partners were sleeping. They had found a quiet lawn not far from the path which crossed the forest. They were following the twerps and their Pikachu, like they everyday did.
Jessie looked at James and Meowth, both asleep in their own sleeping bags next to hers. Even though she didn't have any light to use, Jessie decided to go for a little walk. After her nightmare she wouldn't have slept anymore.
She could hear the weak sound of water so she walked in the direction of a small stream they had seen the previous day. It was close to the place where they were sleeping. She walked slowly under the white moonlight. Eventually, she found the stream and sat on a rock watching the dark sky.
She began to cry silently.
The forest was completely in silence. The only sounds that Jessie could hear were the weak peeping of some Pidgey accompanied by the feeble rusting of the wind and the roaring of water. The perfect place for her as she wanted to stay alone.
Jessie hated having nightmares about her past. They were the cause of her pain. All she wanted was to forget everything and live her own life. But she knew she couldn't.
It was like she had missed something. It was like her mother was trying to tell her something. It was time to find out the truth.
Jessie heard a noise coming from the bushes all around the stream. Before she could do anything, Meowth emerged from the dark.
"Stupid bushes!" the cat said.
"Meowth, what are you doing here?" Jessie asked recognizing her pokemon partner. She wiped away the tears on her face.
"Uh, Jessie? I thought you were sleeping!"
"So did I. I can't sleep tonight so I came here for a walk," Jessie answered nervously.
"Me too," Meowht answered.
They remained in silence for a little while then Meowth sat on a rock next to Jessie.
"Did you have another bad dream?" the cat noticed Jessie's tears under the moonlight.
"What makes you think that?" Jessie didn't want her friends to know that she had nightmares about her past.
"I know you still dream of your mother, Jess. Don't lie," Meowth answered calmly.
"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, MEOWTH!" Jessie yelled as she stood up and turned away from him.
"But Jessie, what are you doing now?"
"I'm going back to the camp! Now leave me in peace and mind your own business!" the girl yelled as she walked through the bushes.
When she finally arrived to the camp, she put herself in her sleeping bag, tears falling down her cheeks. She didn't know if it was for anger or for depression. It would have been a restless night for her. She could think about nothing but the nightmare she had before.
The next morning they woke up early and ate something for breakfast. They had to go through Viridian Forest if they wanted to reach the twerps, as Meowth was sure that they had passed from there.
"I believe the twerps are directed to Viridian City. They want another badge," Meowth said.
It would have been another boring day without any success. Jessie knew that.
The sun was shining high in the sky. The forest had awoken together with all the creatures that populated it. Swarms of wild Pidgeots and Pidgeys crossed the sky looking for something to eat. Some Kakunas had made their nests on the trees next to the path.
Even if James was absorber in his day-dreams, he noticed Jessie's depressed mood. She was acting strange, not the same Jessie of everyday. She used to hit him with her fan, to scream at him for anything and to take all decisions by herself. But that morning Jessie had done none of those things.
When James was sure that Jessie couldn't hear him, he grabbed Meowth and put him on his shoulder.
"Meowth, I'm really worried about Jessie, I mean she has been acting strange for all the morning. I think something is bothering her, it's not usual seeing her like this," James said worried.
"Yeah I know that. Please don't be mad at her for this. I think her life's enough painful,"
"I'm not mad at her, Meowth. The only thing I want is to help her,"
"I don't think you can help her and even if you try, she won't let you do that. What I believe is that Jessie's still having nightmares about her past," Meowth answered calmly.
"What makes you think that?"
"The last night I saw her crying. I asked her what was going on but she didn't want to talk about it," the Pokemon simply said.
"I wish I could do something for her," James said as he let out a sigh.
The day passed rapidly. It was already sunset and they had not found the twerps anywhere in Viridian Forest. Another day, another failure.
The decided to rest for some minutes on a rock. Jessie looked at her partners. Meowth was laying down on the rock with his eyes closed, while James was looking inside the backpack and complaining about the food they had.
"Only two sandwiches and a bottle of water. How can we divide these?" he said almost crying.
Jessie looked silently at him. How could James complain in that situation? They were a total disaster as a team. They had never completed a mission. Not even a successful mission! And all he could do was complaining about the lack of food? Jessie wondered what was wrong between her and her partners.
"Hey, Jessie, look at that!"
Jessie's thoughts were interrupted by James' exclamation. She didn't want to give all the responsibility of their failures to James and Meowth, of course. They were in three so she knew she had to take her part in it.
She looked in the direction James was pointing at and saw a small wooden chalet. A low teak-edge surrounded it and a private path reached the entrance. There were pots with flowers on each windowsill, white curtains on the windows and even a mailbox in front of the door.
"It's very nice, James. What a wonderful place to spend the night," Mewoth was the first to reply.
"But Meowth it looks like it is already occupied," Jessie observed. Suddenly, her expression changed.
A little girl sat alone on her bed in her room. She was crooning a lullaby while staring outside at the snow, sadly. When the door opened, she didn't turn back to see who had just come in. She already knew.
"Hi little Jessie. How are you today?" Giovanni asked her. She had never liked that man, who was a friend of her mother.
Jessie didn't answer him as she kept her stare at the snow falling outside. She was still crooning the lullaby.
"Jessie? Did you hear me?" The man said calmly. He then tried to speak again.
"I'm so sorry little Jessie… I don't now how to tell you this but…" He wasn't able to finish the sentence. But Jessie ignored him. She kept on looking outside and crooning the lullaby.
Giovanni put a hand on her shoulder and stroked her hair.
"Your mom… the snow killed her, Jessie. I'm so sorry, there was an avalanche and…" He tried to sound as painful as possible. Jessie slowly turned to face him with her bright blue eyes. She noticed that there were no tears as he was just pretending to cry.
"I know… I know the truth. It wasn't the snow what killed mom. The snow can't be so evil," Jessie said determined.
"What do you mean? You are wrong, little Jessie. The snow is evil because it killed your mom,"
"NO! IT'S NOT EVIL! I WANT MY MUMMY!" Jessie cried as she pulled away from Giovanni.
"You have to face reality. She won't come back," with that, he stood up and went to exit the room but Jessie spoke again.
"Mr. Giovanni, I'm scared,"
"What are you scared of, Jessie?"
"The cellar."
Giovanni was left speechless at Jessie's icy glare.
"Hey Jessie! Jessie! Are you ok?" a worried James asked her.
"You have been hallucinating," Meowth added.
"Yeah. I'm… I'm fine," a conscious Jessie answered with a feeble voice. It was like she had lost consciousness for some minute. She had been hallucinating about her past again. What a real hallucination! "Now come on, let's find out if that chalet is really occupied or not," she authoritatively said.
They made their was through the private path and then to the door.
"Hey! What are you two doing here?" a male voice interrupted them. They turned around to see the person who had just spoken.
"What are we THREE doing here!" Meowth corrected.
A tall man with light hazel hair and blue eyes was standing in front of them. He wore a pair of blue jeans and a lumberjack shirt, sunglasses on its head. He had a quite muscular build.
"I own this cabin and you are in my property," he looked like 35, maybe 40.
"Well… sorry we didn't know that," James admitted.
"That's ok… wait a moment… " he pointed to Jessie. "Why are you so familiar to me? It's like I've already met you before," he said to Jessie.
"No, I don't think so… it's impossible," Jessie said.
"Your hair… the colour of your eyes…" finally he recognized her. "You must be Jessica! Melissa's daughter!"
Jessie was almost in disbelief. "Yes, that's me… but… but who are you?"
"Maybe you were too young to remember me… I'm Jake,"
"JAKE? Oh my God… I can't believe it!" she ran to embrace her long lost friend.
"I can't believe you still remember about me, Jessie… it's been so many years…" he said still embracing her.
"James, Meowth… this is my friend Jake. He was my mother's partner in Team Rocket,"
Jake allowed them to spend the night in his chalet so they all went inside. They had a lot to talk about.