I don't own the characters. I attach strings to them and shout, "Dance marionettes! Dance for my pleasure!"
She wonders what its like to feel the wind in her face and feel completely free. To just stand on the edge of a ledge, feel the sun glaring down on her face, the wind kissing her hair, and not wonder what would happen if she jumped and ended everything.
She's had this goal ever since she was little. Always, she's had to endure the disappointing looks from the man she once idolized.
She wants to defeat him, show him that she can be stronger than he thinks of her.
She refuses to be called weak again.
She is fourteen and he is twenty when they first meet. This is the site of her second badge, but it has a distance that she must cross. Her final goal is tangible, almost sweet even, but it is still far away.
She finds the man in a cave. He is hunched over a rock, an Aaron by his side. It is the Aaron who sees her first and the trainer next.
To him, she doesn't even look real. She is small (almost too small), looks incredibly delicate, and is covered in dirt. Even he, who has been in the cave for two days, is not nearly as dirty as she is.
"Are you Steven?" Her voice is a whisper and he strains to hear her.
He nods in reply. "Can I help you?"
She quickly hands him the letter. It is creased in many places and a little grungy, but otherwise in perfect condition. "Your father asked me to deliver this to you."
An errand girl, he can't help but think. "Thank you for your time." Before she can say otherwise, he hands her a TM and explains what it is.
She looks like she might protest, but slips the TM into her pack and murmurs her thanks. They stand there awkwardly for a few moments, each person praying to give them an excuse to leave.
Before he can even any anything (what is your name, why are you so small and alone, why are you here) she leaves.
He thinks he may never see her again and curses himself for not getting her name.
He sees her again. Over and over again, he watches and helps her and it kills him.
She is like no girl he has ever met. Some are reserved and quiet. May is practically mute. She refuses to say anything, even when he wants her opinion on something. She shrugs her dainty shoulders or shakes her head. She is always looking for a reason to leave the room and go find her next badge.
It isn't until he meets her father that he realizes why she is who she is.
He was in Petalburg for an errand when he thinks that maybe going to have a chat with Norman might do him some good. The assistant trainers at the door say he is battling his daughter and that it might be a good idea to wait. But he wants to see Norman in action and so he wanders to the battle arena to see the battle.
Much to the older man's surprise, it is the girl he is infatuated with battling the gym leader. Curious, he sits back behind the door and watches.
He's seen May battle before. He knows how good she is and how she is rapidly defeating gyms like her life depends on it. But he has never seen her battle so aggressively before, or show so many emotions while battling. She scowls whenever one of her Pokemon get hit and smiles when her Pokemon makes a hit.
May won and was handed the badge.
To his surprise, no words of affection are spoken between father and daughter. There is a pat on the head, a murmur for her to visit her mother more often, and then he is gone.
Later he catches her heading to the Pokemon Center and decides to ask her what happened.
She stares at him long and hard (so hard that he think he may break under her gaze) before she turns away from him and murmurs, "He always wanted a boy. Now he's probably embarrassed that he lost to a girl, his daughter, for that matter." She spits the word out like its the nastiest insult she can say.
"He is still your father. Doesn't that count for anything?"
She gives him a sardonic smile, the most emotion he has gotten from her while talking to him. "Try telling him that." She gives a humorless chuckle. "I'd love to hear that conversation."
He doesn't go back the the gym and pound some sense into Norman like he wants to.
Instead, he sweeps her into a tight hug (he ignores the fact that she stiffens) and murmurs that he is there for her.
It is raining hard and he can barely see in front of him. But he needs May. He needs to make sure she is okay.
Hold her. Hold her like he will never let go, like their age difference is just a difference, like he can make everything in her world better–
He sees a girl huddled on a rock, her Mightyena whining and curling itself around her body. Her shoulders are shaking, but he can't tell if she's crying or just cold. He may even bet on both.
He has never seen her so small and vulnerable.
"May!" He calls out to her. He orders his Skarmory to land closer to the girl and the Pokemon obeys. He has to shake her shoulders to get her to look at him. She looks at him with bleak and emotionless eyes and it breaks his heart. "Are you okay?"
Slowly she shakes her head. "They chose me, but I can't do it."
"Can't do what?" Her voice is higher than it was when he first met her, but he still has to focus to hear her. "What can't you do, May?"
"Defeat Kyrogre."
His throat drops into his stomach. It was her. The chosen one is her. "May–" Thunder cracks overhead and the rain starts to pour harder. He is finally aware of how much they are both shivering, her much more than him because of her lack of a coat. "Lets go talk at my place."
The house is silent and has obviously not been used for awhile. There are the necessary furniture, but the only ornaments are the various rocks decorating the walls, tables and shelves. He sits her down on the couch with the thickest blanket he owns and makes them both coffee.
She asks for black and it doesn't surprise him.
Even while sipping her coffee she is silent. She holds her cup like an adult, but curls her feet under her blankets and almost disappears into the couch. She is wet and her lips are almost blue.
She has never looked more beautiful to him. Or more miserable.
"How are you the chosen one?"
Instead of talking, she pulls out a blue orb, one he only recognizes from various texts and legends. "It won't let go of me." She whispers.
"What do you mean?"
She holds it out for him. "Try and take it." He tries, and is instantly pushed back by some force. She pouts. "It won't let go of me. I can put it in my pack, but it refuses to leave me. Even Maxie was thrown back when he tried to take it from me." Her lips start to shake. "I can only assume this means I'm the one."
"Are you scared?"
She doesn't answer, but her eyes are a little wet and her shoulders start to shake. She is only sixteen and Steven realizes she has the weight of the world on her shoulders at such a young age. He wraps his arms around her as she cries into his coat. He murmurs sweet words, words he has never told anyone else. He thinks he puts an 'I love you' in there, but can't be sure.
"I-I.." She swallows when she finishes. "Can I go to my mom's house?"
He can't help but notice she doesn't call it home.
She jumps off his Skarmory before it lands and rushes into the smallest house in the town. She is still not smiling, but there is worry in her eyes and he wonders what her relationship with her mother is like.
He gets his answer when not even ten minutes later, she is thrown out by an angry woman and an older man he knows is not her father. She lands on her backside in the pouring rain and the woman slams the door after shouting for the girl to never come back.
He lifts her up. "Are you okay?"
She shrugs out of his embrace. "I just needed to see if she was okay."
"Does she always..." He can't say it. He can't imagine having a mother like that. He has an okay relationship with his father. He has a family that cares about him and friends who would have his back.
She has no one. Only her Pokemon, a rival she barely knows, a sickly boy who probably won't live to see eighteen, and him.
She turns away from the house (even he can't bear to call that place her home) and hops on his Skarmory. "I need to stop Kyorgre."
Steven doesn't argue and takes her away.
He swallows down the urge to burn the house to the ground.
There is a large party in honor of May. She defeated Kyogre, became Champion and is now the strongest Pokemon trainer in all of Hoenn.
He has to watch her mother affectionately pat her head and her father tell everyone he is proud of his daughter. It disgusts him and by the blank look in her eyes, she doesn't feel anything. She twitches every time the use the word love and it only serves to anger him more.
He draws the line when her mother practically orders her to return home with her.
"You don't need to go anywhere anymore." She whispers it harshly to May when she thinks no one is listening. "Your journey is over and this hobby is finished. Now come home with me or I will drag you there by force."
He turns around, prepared to rush in if things get nasty, when he sees her push her mother away. There is silence, only the soft music playing in the background. To his satisfaction, he sees Norman's hand tighten around his glass.
"No."
Her mother turns white. "What do you mean no? You are coming home with me!"
With confidence he never thought he would see, she steps forward, forcing her mother to step back. "Or else what? I'm not coming home with you and thats final. I'm fifteen years old now and its time I start living on my own, well away from you." She leans into her mother's ear and whispers, "I won't tell Dad about your affair, but you have no business telling me how to live my life anymore. I'm done."
Her mother's once white face is now flushed and she reaches down to slap her daughter. There is a collective gasp among the audience as May falls back, but no one steps in. Wallace notices Steven hiding a smile behind his glass despite the concerned look in his eyes. Her mother rages and shrieks, but May is silent like she usually is. Only this time there is a smile on her face. A real one.
She is happy for once in her life and Steven thinks she looks beautiful. Beautiful and strong. He is happy to see her like this.
It isn't long before Norman steps in and grabs his wife. "You need to stop making a scene, Rose."
May smiles and stands up as tall as she can. "Yes Dad, stop Mom from making a scene. Its what you do best isn't it? Care for everyone else except your family."
Norman faces her and his eyes are cold. Steven has seen that look, but he doesn't like it in Norman's eyes. "Stop talking nonsense and go home with your mother."
"Why? Because I'm not a boy?"
Everyone can see Norman flinch. "Stop it, May. Thats enough."
May shakes her head. "No, Dad, I'm not going to stop. I'm going to do what I haven't done for a very long time and tell the truth. You've never wanted me because of my gender. You ordered Mom to keep me locked in the house because I'm a girl and you think that girls can't be strong trainers." She shrugged. "Well I'm stronger than you and I'm ready to leave."
Her mother throws her head back and laughs. It's hysterical and sends shivers down the spine of everyone who is listening. "You have nowhere to go."
"Actually," Steven saunters up and stands beside May. He figures he has stayed on the sidelines for long enough. "I have graciously offered May my home for as long as she may need it. She is free to come and go as she pleases." May looks at him with surprise, then with admiration and (dare he even hope) love.
"Stay out of this." Hisses her father. "This is between family."
May hold out a hand to stop Norman. "No Dad. I've already accepted his offer," A lie, but Steven is happy nonetheless. "and I plan to move into his home. I'm done with this family."
"If you go with that man, you are no longer our daughter." His face is red and his fist is raised, ready to knock some sense into his daughter. Steven says nothing and offers her his arm with a wry, but happy smile.
It is between the man she has come to love and the parents who were never there.
She chooses happiness.
May sells most of her stuff and throws everything else away. She takes everything sentimentally important, along with some of her clothes, and stuffs it all in a backpack.
She doesn't say goodbye. She doesn't think she will regret that.
His house is familiar and she loves it already. She knows there is a spare bedroom right next to Steven's, along with its own bathroom.
He puts a hand on her shoulder as soon as she finishes unpacking everything. "This is your home now."
She smiles, wraps her arms around him and kisses him. He doesn't protest. She knew he wouldn't.
She finally feels happy.
Later, she'll see that not everything good comes with bad.
Yes, they argue and sometimes she storms out, but they are in love and they get over it.
She stands on that ledge again, but she doesn't stand so far out. She welcomes the wind and its kisses because it pushes her back.
Back towards Steven and their daughter.
No one is trying to drag her under anymore.