Note of update!
Bianca knows what Latias speaks through their bond, so don't be confused why suddenly they can speak like that in this chapter.
I will redo previous chapter later to fix this!
For some reason unknown, while I tried to import this chapter, it fucked up conversion :/ - So I had to edit with FF's text editor and that sucked too.
Now enjoy the newest update, and thanks for the reviews!
Chapter 2
Bianca had her painting brushes inside a suitcase on her left hand, as she witnessed Ash making out with Latias. Then she had yelled Ash's name with a hint of anger, because she knew how innocent Latias is, and inside of her mixture feelings, she knew it was wrong, to make out with a pokemon.
Ash staggered backwards, startled. "Bianca... That's you?" he asked in disbelief.
She walked slow steps toward him, and every step Ash's heart-rate hammered like a piston engine. He was afraid; afraid of the answer, and yet he wanted to know it.
Then she came to a halt before him. Air tensed up, or that's how Ash felt then, swallowing hard once or two, he didn't count.
"Yes, I'm the real Bianca..." she had said. "Why-" She shook her head, thought different approach. "I thought you were better than this, Ash. You know very well she's lost her brother, not too long time ago, and yet you dare abuse that?"
He was shocked. She actually accused of him that?
"No!" he exclaimed. "You got it all wrong. I didn't mean to kiss her. It was an accident!"
"How can you kiss accidentally, Ash?" she asked. Bianca wasn't buying it. It sounded he was making lies as he spoke to her, and that just made her madder.
Latias frowned, upon hearing Ash's words. An accident. That word alone made her unconformable, but also Bianca's sentences spiked her self-esteem; they were fighting of her.
She opened her mouth, and said, "It's not Ash's fault, Bianca-"
Bianca shushed her, cutting her off. "Latias... you might think like that for now, but it's just an affection your heart tries to find after you lost your brother. It's not everlasting." She shook her head. "It is not what you thought it were."
"How can you know for sure?" she asked of her. "What do you know of my feelings?"
"Latias..." She recalled the past, every hour she was playing with the red dragon. How her grandfather had introduced Latias to her, and Latios too. All fun things they did back then but... under circumstances, those have changed. Now Latios was gone, and she took the liberty to take care of her, as instead of her brother, she had promised to herself.
Bianca sighed. "Latias. I'm doing this for your sake, don't misunderstand that. You know very well that, don't you?"
She nodded. "I know, but that's your delusion," she answered, "that I'm weak. I'm not, Bianca."
"Of course you aren't weak," she corrected. "I have never thought that you were, but this is wrong."
Those words, Bianca's sentences made Latias angry, not just a little. She raised her voice, and inquired, "Why is it wrong? Why I can't follow my inner emotions? Why?"
"These emotions," Bianca calmly said, "are lies made by your shattered ego, and..." She didn't want to say it, but it had become into this already. "You are... a pokemon, Latias. Arceus forbids it."
That last sentence silenced Latias,
"You are a pokemon, Arceus forbids it."
She cringed inside. She felt bad, and sad. Had she forgotten what she was, how different she was from the humans, how... immoral it would be...
All the hopes were degenerated to nothingness. "If I have not been born as a pokemon...," she told herself.
Latias glanced up, from the ground, and saw Bianca's face. "I'm sorry," she said, her words hollow. But no words followed after it, she couldn't say, protest against the fact; she couldn't oppose Arceus' laws.
She refracted the light around her body, and disappeared from the sight; she flew away then, perhaps running away, as unsure she was.
Ash was bewildered; had just Bianca and Latias fought, a moment ago? He couldn't understand Latias's words, any of them, so he left a question from his mouth, "What was that all about?"
"It's better to leave between me and Latias," she said to Ash. "And... I think it's better if you make some distance. I-I can't bare to see your face after this. Not after what happened on this bridge." She pulled her white beret, and masked her eyes, before she tracked off with a sour face.
Brock made his way on granite floor, exiting the museum with Dawn and Pikachu as his companions. They had seen the fossils, written history of Alto Mare, DMA – the Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare - and literally about everything in it.
"Man, that tired me wholly," Brock said, not complaining but stating. "We should book to an inn, considering the time now."
Dawn nodded. "Agreed. There was this inn I saw when we ventured around earlier; Night Shade. About few hundred meters from here, give or take. Leisure walk."
Brock smiled then. "Good. Lead the way then, Da-" He stopped abruptly to his tracks, and saw no other than Ash coming towards them. "Ash!" he yelled, and motioned with a hand. He took the notice, though held no interest to wave back, since his mind was disturbed by earlier experience.
Dawn opened her mouth, and said, "We are going to rest for the night in inn that's very close from here. You came at the right time, Ash." He nodded, and Pikachu leaped to his shoulder. Brock hummed once, and whispered to his ear,
"How did it go?"
Ash sighed then, and whispered back, "Not well, I guess." Doubt and grim echoed in his voice, though Brock hadn't paid attention.
"You guess?" he asked, still in silence. "It's either went well or no good... which one is it?"
"Are guys coming or what?" Dawn asked, leading towards the inn. Brock straightened, and nodded for her. They went after her, following her footsteps corner after corner until an inn came to sight of theirs; very well preserved old building, in between two of others. A lantern hanged on wall, illuminating the sign that held its name Night Shade. Dawn pushed the door open, and others came behind.
"Welcome to the Night Shade," greeted man behind a desk. His face worn by age; cheek bones were easily seen, and he wore a brown leather vest over green shirt. "Place for stay? Or perhaps feast is more preferable?" he asked.
"Place for stay, and morning breakfast is enough for us," Brock said, and the innkeeper complied, taking three keys from wall behind him, leaving them on the desk before him.
"That's fifty dollars for each person, includes the morning breakfast."
Brock grunted. "Isn't that a bit too much?" he asked. Even Ash, nor Dawn have seen that pricey inn.
The innkeeper gestured to left and right with his hand. "Not at all. You should seen the other inns' prices. My are the lowest ones here, on Alto Mare anyway," he answered. "But if that displeases you, you can try find cheaper place to stay."
"No, we will pay." Brock pulled wallet out of his pocket, and handed his part while others did same.
The man nodded pleased, as he counted the money. "Okay then. First three rooms in second floor," he said whilst he slid the keys towards, and Brock, Ash, Dawn, individually took one.
"The breakfast will be served at seven. More questions?" he inquired.
"Nah... this will do," Brock said then. The trio ventured up, to the second floor, every step creaked the wooden stair under the weight, weary of its age. But before any of them entered their own room, they bid "goodnight" and "see you morning", and then entered their own suite for night.
Pikachu leaped on floor, Ash sat down to his bed, which seemed to be made of very old oak tree, full of engravings. That didn't matter for Ash. He wasn't interested anything else but what happened on bridge. It bugged him.
A knock, Ash heard. "Come in," he told, and the door flew open, Brock coming in.
"So," Brock started, "everything didn't go as planned." He closed the door, and turned back to Ash.
Ash threw his cap on to desk, next to bed. "No," he blatantly said, scratching his hair as he did.
"What went amiss then? No guts for revelation on your part? The setting was bad? Tell your buddy, I won't tell anyone else," Brock ensured, giving a light tap on his shoulder.
"No, no. Everything was okay, until I kissed her," he told Brock, his face bare shock of this truth, so much that he stumbled backwards a bit.
"You kissed her?" he exclaimed. Ash shushed, told him to be quiet, but the cat was already out of the bag. "You frigging kissed... Oh man, no wonder you failed at your courtship so bad. You don't just go and make out if someone gives a kiss on cheek, no," Brock ran his mouth. "Why did you do that?"
Ash shook his head, inclining it wasn't because that. "That wasn't the whole story, Brock. After I had done it, then everything went downhill. Because she wasn't Bianca. Do you understand now?"
"Wasn't Bianca?" asked Brock, disbelieving. "But clearly she was! Definitely!"
"How I wish she were... but it was Latias that stood on the bridge. And Bianca saw the whole thing!"
Now Brock understood, every puzzle piece fitted together in this whole picture. "Latias..." he murmured. "Didn't she have the white beret, the one she usually wears?" he asked, and Ash shook his head, and answered,
"No. She did not. And I noticed when the real Bianca arrived, just at the right time." He frowned at his remark. Why didn't he took the hint? How did he miss the obvious? It frustrated him.
Brock sat beside Ash, gave him a pat, and said, "Sorry, Ash. I should have notice too, thus I'm partly fault in this. But hey, future can be redeemed, so you should go tomorrow and make up with Bianca." He nodded for this, and thought approaching her yet again, but this time not intentions of wooing but giving a proper explanation and hoping she does approves it.
The door slammed open wide, starting both Ash and Brock. Immediate head turn showed it was Dawn that stood in between door's path with a very weary facial expression. She yawned lousy, and said then, "Can't you guys be more quieter. I mean, it's very late already, and everyone's slumbering."
Brock stood up then, and bid "goodnight" for Ash, before he left for his own suite.
Lorenzo was in Secret garden, doing today's last checkup so everything was okay. His daily job as a gondolier maker and a fixer ended earlier. The museum curator was his job too, though the workdays were every second day for it, otherwise he couldn't do the other one, as they would overlap.
He grunted pleased; the green grass was okay, the crystal clear water was fine too. Not to mention the well preserved Soul Dew that was it in its rightful place. And the pokemons were sleeping in silence.
"This is how it should be," he claimed, but at the same time he heard a voice, sound? "That's... new..." he murmured, finding it very strange.
It sounded almost like someone was weeping, to Lorenzo's ears. He turned around few times, to find out where it came from, and went after it, over the green grass, over the water as he hopped. Then he halted; the weeping noise came before him, but no one was in sight.
"That's weird," Lorenzo marked. He reached with his hand, and to his surprise, it touched the air. "Whoa!" he exclaimed right then.
The air warped; refracting the light, and revealing Latias, who was the source of the weeping; her eyes flowed with tears, little drops dripped down her creamy colored chin, ending on the grass below.
"What's wrong?" Lorenzo asked. Latias stroked her face, those tears away, and cried out,
"Everything!"
She felt miserable; had she not just lost an argument with Bianca, and perhaps wanted, a valuable future too! It brought her down; it struck her so never changing joyful mood away, like it never existed. And what of her bond with Bianca? She doubted its existence now.
Lorenzo scratched his beard, trying to figure out her reasons for this, but none came to his mind. The dragon never have been like this before, even when her brother was still alive. It sure confused him to great exceed. He coughed up, and said, "I don't know what is bothering your mind right now, but I'm always here to help." He embraced Latias with a hug, and soothed, "Now, now. It's okay to let it out sometimes." Then as a reaction for Lorenzo's embrace, Latias let out a sorrowful cry, echoing throughout the Secret garden, waking some of the light sleepers up. Its melody heartbreaking on those who had heard it.
The Soul Dew vibrated, and emitted light around itself; it had resonated with the cry of Latias, unbeknownst to her, and Lorenzo, while they were no far away from it. Then, it brimmed down, like it never happened.
Her plead had been heard...
