**REWRITTEN VERSION**
Based off of The Legend of Hon Vong Phu, a Vietnamese folktale.
Characters: Brother (X), Sister (Y), Old man (Green), Son (Sun)
This probably exists in the Pokemon world. Kalos could've gotten hold of this while in Poke Vietnam.
"Whew…." Yvonne sighed, wiping off the sweat from her brow, then pushed her long blonde hair behind her ear. The sun's rays continued to pound on her, as she picked some of the last berries at the bottom of a Cheri tree into her nearly full basket. Although she wanted to get out of the merciless summer light and play with the neighboring children like she used to do before her parents died, she knew that this was the only way to get money for their basic needs and food on their table.
"So how many berries are left for tomorrow?" her brother Xavier, whom she called X, asked.
She turned towards her companion, a young boy dripping in sweat as he leaned onto the trunk of a fruitless Lum Berry tree, holding his canteen filled with cool water. "Only several trees with unripe berries left," she answered, wiping off some more sweat from her brow. "They'll probably fully mature in several days. So I guess the rest of the day is picking herbal leaves to sell as tea."
"Alright, thank you for telling me Y," he said, then sighed as he closed his canteen.
"Not a problem," the girl replied, then opened her canteen and took a gulp of water. After closing the bottle, she picked up her heavy basket. "Oof! Let's go! The market would be busy soon!"
X nodded, and picked up his own, both starting their journey to the center of the town while trying not to drop the heavy pannier or bump into each other. After a while of slow, cautious walking, the two had arrived to the market, crowded with people wanting to buy some food for their next meal and the chatter of talking with friends or dealing with the sellers.
Fortunately, they didn't have to go deep into the masses of people, as their regular buyer Gold had set up his stall at the edge of the bustle. They turned towards the right where the stall was, and placed down their baskets, relieved of their load and the merciless heat from farming and their slow travel.
"So how much money do we get?" X asked, wiping sweat off his face as the clerk counted the money pulled out from the small black box on his left.
"Ehhhh...about 2,303 dollars," he replied, then gave the money to the young boy, who placed it in his pocket.
"Thank you, Mr. Gold," they both said, dipping their heads a bit, then bent down to their baskets.
"No, no!" the man cried.
Both of them looked up, their faces furrowed with confusion.
"What do you mean Mr. Gold?" the girl asked. "We're just putting berries into your crates."
"I'll do it!" he insisted. "You two go home! It's hot here, and better to be in your house sooner than later!"
"But-" Y started with a raised finger.
"And you won't even need your baskets tomorrow!" he finished.
"Um...alright Mr. Gold…." X said, giving the man a suspicious glance. He then stood up, turned back to their house, and started walking, Y mimicking his movements.
After the two were a distance away from the man, the girl spoke.
"I wonder what's he up to," she said to her brother as they kicked up some dirt on the unpaved path. "He usually isn't like this."
"I wonder so too," he agreed. "But he does have a point. It's probably one of the hottest days of the year. Better to be at home where food and water is."
"Yeah…" the girl sighed. "At least we have an earlier lunch. I'm starving!"
X suddenly gave her a smirk. "Want to race?"
She replied with a grin. "You're on."
"Loser gets all of the Oran Berries," the boy said in a playful tone, then broke into a run, leaving dust in his wake.
Y coughed and waved the dirt away. "Not fair!" she cried after seeing X already several feet ahead, but laughed, and raced after him.
Despite the slow start, the girl soon was several inches ahead of her tiring brother, smirking in victory as her long blonde hair bounced on her back.
"I'll get you!" he growled with a smile, trying to pick up speed despite exhaustion being near.
She turned her head towards him, giving him a smug smile. "Try me!" she taunted, then suddenly fell over with a yelp.
The boy's smile instantly morphed into a face of concern, and rushed over to his sister's side, going on a crouch to observe better of the girl clutching her right knee as she winced in pain.
"Y!" he cried. "Are you alright!?"
"Yes, I'm fine," she assured. She pulled herself into an upright sitting position, then winced once more. "I scraped my knee, that's all."
"I'll help you," he said, then brought her into a standing position.
"Thanks," she replied, then bent down to brush off dirt from her light brown pants.
"Can you walk?" X asked with a worried tone.
"I would assume so," she muttered, brushing off the last of the dirt from her pants before pulling up her right pant leg, which revealed a dark red scab dotted with blood.
"Well it's not that bad," Y observed. "Now let's go home."
The boy nodded, and started walking slowly, looking back every once in awhile to his sister, who was attempting to not use her right leg in exchange for speed.
When they arrived to their cooler home, X took off his canteen and gave it to Y, quickly leaving the medicine cabinet that was in the kitchen, while Y hobbled over to the brown dining table. When she was there, she placed down the canteens and sat down on a chair next to the table, then bent down to pull up her right pant leg to reveal the wound.
The boy soon returned with a small open bowl of ointment, a white cloth, and a bandage, and placed them save for the cloth on the table. He then dipped it into the green cream, and rubbed it on the crimson spot, quickly replied by a hiss.
"Agh!" she cried, swiftly pulling it away.
He quickly retracted the cloth from the wound.
"Are you alright!?" he asked worriedly.
"Fine," she replied, pushing her leg back. "Just stings a little."
He nodded, and continued rubbing it for a few more moments, before covering it with a bandage.
"There," he said. "I'm going to get some lunch for you."
"Thank you, X."
"Not a problem," he assured, then went to the dish and food cabinet, where he filled a plate for himself with a slice of bread and a random mix of berries, and for Y, her favorite berries and also a slice of bread. When he returned to the table, he placed the food down, with Y muttering a "Thank you" before X sat down and began their silent meal.
After finishing their food, X took the plates to the washbasin, then went over to the cabinet once more to get some jars for storing the dried herb leaves. He placed them down on the dining table and went outside to the table that held several trays of sun dried herbs, but immediately stopped at a peculiar sight.
An old, tall man with ash-colored spiky hair was limping towards the house, his only support through the laborious walk being a gnarled wooden cane. Sweat droplets snaked from his head down to his neck, as he gritted his teeth in pain, appropriate to the dark green eyes that were filled with fierce determination.
During this strange event, X didn't utter a word to the man, who seemed to desire no conversation at all, until he finally stopped, his expression softened but still winced once in awhile.
"Excuse me young man?" the elder croaked. "Can I stay here for the night? My name is Green, and I'm a traveler who needs a place to stay, but there are no inns I can afford here, and my left leg hurts from age."
Sympathy rose in the young boy's heart for the poor stranger, and he replied, "I am Xavier, and I'm willing to let you stay, but first, I have to talk with my sister Y. I will be back soon."
The elderly man nodded, and X piled the trays of dried leaves on top of each other, before going inside to where his sister sat, admiring the stone wall of the cottage.
"Y, there is an old man named Green outside who is need of shelter," he said to the girl, putting down the trays of herbs.
The girl immediately snapped out of her trance. "What?"
"Should we let an old man named Green stay here for the night?" he repeated.
"Sure," the girl shrugged. "There is enough food to spare and he has somewhere to sleep,"
The boy smiled, then said, "Thank you Y!" before running back outside, where the old man waited.
"My sister agrees," he told the man.
Green gave him a gentle smile. "Thank you, little one," he said. "Can you please help me to get in the house?"
"Of course, sir," the boy replied, then took the old man by the arm and guided him back inside the cottage.
When they were both in the house, Green took a seat across the girl, and nodded at her. "Hello, little one," he greeted. "And thank you for letting me stay here.
"Hello to you too, sir," she greeted back, then smiled. "And it's not much of a problem, we have enough room and food for one more person."
"We also have enough medicine to provide for almost anything curable at home," X added. "I'll make some ginger tea for your leg sir."
"Thank you young man," he said with a smile.
The boy nodded, then went into the kitchen to prepare a pot of boiling water and cut up some ginger.
After doing the task, X returned to the table and took a seat next to Y, who had started putting the dried leaves into the jars. She didn't seemed to noticed, or at least, cared, of the man sitting across from her, who seemed to be lost in thought.
"Are you alright sir?" the boy asked, filled with concern for the man.
The man's eyes widened with surprise, before calming down when he realized who he was talking to. "Oh no, I'm just thinking of the past day," he said. "I really don't want to trouble you."
X knew the man was hiding something, but didn't bring it up any further. He then took off a tray from the pile, and started placing the leaves into the jars.
When he was certain that the water was boiling, X went back to the stove, and put the ginger into pot, turning off the heat and going back to the table to let the herb be soaked into the tea.
As it was before, Green was quiet while the two placed dried leaves into the jars. Even after the ginger tea was done and given to him, he only muttered a "Thank you", and drank it in silence. This continued on for the rest of the day until bed, with the man seemingly brooding on something, while his young hosts did their usual routine after finishing their task, not daring to bother him as they would get nothing in the end.
The next morning, after a quiet breakfast has past, Y left to the market, leaving X alone with the elderly man, who was glaring at the door from the comfort of his seat.
"Why are you looking at the door like it would destroy you?" he asked.
Green turned towards the boy, but instead of the harsh eyes he had given to the wooden slab from moments before, they were filled of sympathy and sorrow that made X very worried. "I can't keep it any longer," he sighed. "Do you want to know your future? It is best that you don't know, but it is your choice."
The boy thought on the offer for a moment. His parents had always told him the future was never set in stone, with the ability to change at the slightest of things. If he had a sorrowful future, it may not even come true, or he may be able to avoid it.
"Yes sir," he replied.
The man sighed once more, and looked down on the table. "You and your sister will be separated, when, I do not know, but years later, you will reunite, and fall in love, unknowing of your blood. If it continues that way, it will surely end in tragedy."
Disgust took hold of X's mind, and was tempted to call the man insane, but he bit his tongue, and calmed himself.
"But the future is always changing," the boy pointed out. "From all I can know, that would never happen."
"Yes, the future never flows on one path," the man said with a sigh. "But my visions have the tendency to come true, no matter how much I deny that I was merely right by chance. Now I must leave." He pulled himself up with his cane, and walked towards the door. With a hand on the knob, he gave one last sorrowful glance at X, before turning it and left to parts unknown.
Several days after the man had stayed at their house, the berries on the fields had ripened, allowing the two to harvest the fruit and sell at the market.
As X dropped some of the Tamato berries he picked into the basket near his feet, a shiver crawled up to his spine.
"Who would be watching us?" he wondered after dropping the last berry on his hand into the container. But knowing he can't tell unless he looked, X turned around.
And there stood a Beedrill.
Panic overwhelmed the boy of the sight of the dangerous Pokemon, but he managed to swallowed it down, and fired a small ball of aura at its torso as it rose from the ground. "Y! Beedrill!" he yelled, then fired another at the slightly stunned Pokemon.
Y turned from the Sitrus tree she was harvesting from, and stared with her mouth agape at the Pokemon.
It then narrowed its eyes at the two, and dived towards them.
Quickly recovering from her shock, she threw a small fire ball on its forehead. "Don't come back!" she cried to the Pokemon, who had stopped in mid-air to shake its head.
After recovering from the attack, its narrowed eyes turned to her, and dived.
"Stay away from her!" X ordered, then threw an aura ball at it.
The Pokemon flew above the attack, and lunged at Y.
And all seemed to went still, when it plunged its stinger right under her chest.
Shock and disbelief overwhelmed the boy, as he watched crimson blood seeped out of the wound and onto the light brown pelt and gray blade. He wanted to run or shout at his sister's assailant, but for some reason, his throat was dry, his legs, numb.
So he stood there, for what seemed like years, watching the Beedrill relish its victim's pain, until it let go, seemingly bored of its new plaything.
"Y!" X cried, his voice finally restored at the sight of the girl falling onto the brown earth.
Grief and anger overwhelming him, he rushed over to the dying girl, whether to defeat the threat or to be with her for one last time, he didn't care. But his plan was quickly interrupted by the slowly approaching Beedrill, who pointed its unbloody spear at him as it glowered with hatred.
"It's no use…" he realized. "No matter what I do, I will never see Y again…"
Tears fell from his face at that thought, but X knew if he were to stay and die, the girl would never like that.
"I'm sorry Y…." he whispered, then turned with a heavy heart and fled, to where he did not know, but only knew of the tears that streamed down his face, and his sole love and light in the world, gone.
"Y, I'm home!" X called as he entered into his home after a long day working on the fields of Cyllage City.
"Welcome back dear!" his wife called from afar. "I'm just drying up from a bath!"
"Alright!" he replied, then closed the door.
"Dad!" a high pitched voice cried. X turned to the dark hallway with a smile, soon revealing a boy, at the age of three, running towards him with excited blue gray eyes.
"Hello to you too Sun," he greeted to the young boy, who immediately clung onto his right leg. He ruffled the boy's black hair, then said, "Can you let go? I want to see your mother."
"Alright Dad!" the little boy said, then ran off to his room.
X smiled, as he walked down the hallway that lead to his and Y's room. He couldn't ask for anything more in his life. He had a wonderful wife, a lively son, a successful business, and a comfortable house, provided by his wealthy mother-in-law White Shiro-Kuro. Although he still remembered of his harsh past, they were now just memories, memories that kept him going forward.
He stopped walking at a certain door, then knocked.
"Can I come in?" he asked to the occupant.
"Sure!" she replied.
He opened the door, revealing the sight of his wife, whose bare back was facing towards him as she bent forward to dry her hair with a towel.
"You're earlier than usual," she noted. "What happened?"
"Some of the plants died and the seeds won't come in until tomorrow, so we had less crops to work with," he replied.
"I see," she said, then stood up and went over to their bed, where her shirt laid.
Though it was just for a moment, a scar of a puncture wound seemed to appear under Y's chest. That was strange. X never noticed one on her body. But then again, she could've hidden it with an illusion.
Of course, he couldn't let the subject go and never get it resolved, so he spoke up.
"Where did you get your scar from?" he asked.
Y stayed silent for several minutes, taking her time on buttoning up her shirt as if to stall her answer. When she finally finished the last button, she slowly turned to him with sorrowful eyes.
"When I was young, I lived on a farm with my brother Xavier, whom I called X," she started mournfully. "My blood parents were dead by a disease, and we had to work on the fields every day to gain money for our needs. One day, a Beedrill attacked us, and would've left me at the mercy of Death, hadn't my mother, the woman you know as White, found me and taken me in, for she was grieving over her husband Black's recent death and was in need of comfort. I love her, but I still miss X, and pray to the gods he's still fine."
Sickening thoughts sunk into X's mind, but he shook it off. He didn't have much evidence of that yet. There was no use to jump to conclusions quickly.
"What is your native hometown and your birth parents name?" he asked quietly.
"Vaniville Town and Ruby and Sapphire Petalburg," she answered.
Nauseating realization rammed into X. He fell in love with his own sister. He had a child with his own sister. Green's vision was right.
Y must also had realized the repulsive fact, staring at her brother with horror for several moments, before reaching out a hand towards him.
"X-"
"Get away from me!" he hissed, backing away from her, then turned towards the door. "You can't be near me."
A shadow of horrified surprise past Y's face, before she said, "X-"
Before she can finish her words, he left the room with a loud slam.
The woman sat down on her bed, and placed her hands onto her face. She didn't know what to think of right now. Though she was angry and guilt ridden from the new found fact, she also was happy and relieved, for her brother was with her all this time, happy and loving as he always had been. But at that cost, he left her once more, possibly forever in this life.
She looked up, her eyes narrowed in cold determination. No, X wasn't gone. She knew he wasn't. He was still out there, hiding from her and Sun. She just needed to look for him.
With the ironed resolve, she stood up from the bed, and walked with quick steps to the main room, where Sun stared at the main door.
"Mom?" he asked, his blue-gray eyes staring at her with worry. "What happened to Dad?"
The striking resemblance of the boy to his father pained her even more now, but she kept the hurt hidden as much as possible. She couldn't bear to have him worried even more on her.
"Your father went out on a walk and got lost," she said, then took him by the hand. "We're going to find him."
The boy gave her questioning eyes, but nodded, and she lead him into the night to the cliffs above the city, where they would look for their father.
Every day since, when night fell onto the cliffs, Y and Sun travelled to there, where they would search on the land below for a sign of X, any sign, that he would return home. The neighbors and friends of the family also joined the search, but as days turned into months, and months into years, they gave up, dismissing him as dead and the mother and her son as people who hope and hope but will never receive.
Still, the two never faltered in this routine, and kept looking, kept hoping, for his return. Even if death were to come, they will still wait, if it was needed.
One night, many years after the disappearance of the man, as it was before, Y stood on the cliffs, scanning the city and its beach below as the cool sea breeze flew into her hair. Behind her, Sun, now near the age of adulthood, was seated on a rock, letting himself to be refreshed by the wind after a long, hot day of working on the fields.
"He's still not here…" she thought after her eyes past all she could see. She sighed and shook her head, then glared once more at the sky with steely resolve. "No. He will return. I will wait, whether in this life or the next."
Suddenly, the cool, salty air vanished.
Instantly, Y gasped, but no air came in. "What's happening!?" she panicked.
"Mom, are you alright!?" Sun asked worriedly.
Before she could respond, a jolt of pain seared through her head. She quickly clutched it, before another jolt hit her right leg. She bent it, soon met with another in her other leg. She bent it as before, but returned with pain so intense that she fell onto the rocky ground.
"Aghhhhhh...what's….happening?" she wondered, as she tried to breathe from her sudden suffocation and bear the excruciating agony that now traveled throughout her body.
"Mom!" Sun cried, rushing over to the woman.
Darkness suddenly blinded her, but left as quick as it came, letting her to see her son's worried face.
"Mom, are you alright!?" he asked, his face filled of panic. "Your breathing is shallow and your face is pale."
She looked in his anxious eyes, the eyes of his father, before the darkness took over, never to recede.
It wasn't long before Sun joined his mother, cold and dead on the rocky earth. How they died, no one knew, but they thought that the ever slow exhaustion robbed their lives, or, if rumors were to be true, the gods did, to let the family reunite at last in the Land of the Peaceful Night. But what many do know was that the story is what gave the cliffs and the beach its name: for muraille means wall, a testament to the wall that Xavier seemingly tried to build to protect his wife and child, and their attempts to break it in their fading life.
2,303 dollars = 20 US dollars
*rolls off of the cliffs of Route 8 while crying over this poor family*