The Marionette

Chapter Two: Pity

I'm like an updating machine here! Whoo! Unfortunately, however, time for the Toronto Youth Symphonic Winds Auditions is running out (only three weeks left!) so the promised once-a-day updates may not happen/be cut to four updates a week or less.

Anyway, here is the third chapter of The Marionette. I'm always amazed by the amount of attention this is getting, considering it hasn't been up for long. Thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed/favourited this story! Your support is very much appreciated.

Disclaimer: Do you really think Nintendo sues fanfiction writers who don't put disclaimers on their stories? I mean, I've seen a good deal of stories without disclaimers, and their authors seem to be fine. Eh. XD


The staff of the Rosewater had put their roses away in small boxes for protection, and when they left the restaurant, Dawn hired one of the Snowpoint Rosewater's "snow carriages", which were large, old-fashioned carriages drawn by Sawsbuck in their Winter form, padded with lush red velvet. The Sawsbuck didn't need a driver, as they were perfectly capable of getting to the hotel on their own, so the eight people all piled into the carriage. Each velvety side of the carriage seated four people. Drew and May sat on the side facing the Sawsbuck, and Dawn and Paul went in next to them. On the other side sat Zoey, Kenny, Misty, and Ash.

The carriage started, and Paul watched the snowy streets, how a little boy slipped on the ice but was caught by his Delibird, and looking up, how the new moon was a pale sliver in the sky, barely visible. The streetlights in Snowpoint were famous for not being the normal luminous yellow of the other streetlights in Sinnoh, but a pale white colour that cast a cold, bright, watery light.

"So, Dawn," May was saying. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

Dawn smiled. "I have an interview with Sinnoh Now. After that, I've got to get to the Stardust Theatre and finish practicing for the day."

"Oh, yeah, Dawn," Zoey said. "Why didn't Barry come today?"

Dawn tensed up. "Barry?"

Zoey nodded. "Yeah. I saw him in the hotel the first day I was at Snowpoint."

Paul flashed back. Yeah, Barry had been there. Why hadn't he come to dinner today?

Dawn's delicate eyebrows furrowed. "I didn't invite Barry. You think he came to challenge Candice or go sightseeing around Lake Verity or something?"

Zoey shook her head. "I even asked him if he was watching you perform, and he said yes. If you didn't invite him…"

Dawn let out a sigh. "Then he's stalking me. Joy to the world, the Lord has come."

Misty huffed. "I mean, I know he likes you, and I know you rejected him—because, face it, he's Barry—but this is going a bit far, don't you think?"

Paul looked at Dawn. He didn't know about her history with Barry, but it made sense, in a way. In middle school, Dawn had too many admirers to count—all the guys liked the quiet, pretty honour student. Looking at her now, Paul could see why. Dawn's beauty differed from Ursula's—Ursula was flashy and pushy, glamorously arrogant, the type that liked to give people too-sweet giga-watt smiles and leave a dazzling, glittery image printed into the back of your eyelids, whereas Dawn was sophisticated, curt, and had a sort of muted grace that was born and printed into her every move, whether she was aware of it or not. She was almost dangerously pretty—not the typical, high school girl kind, all bubbles and lollipops, but sharp and precise, with an indescribable magnetism.

Suddenly aware that he had been staring at Dawn for far too long, Paul turned his gaze back to the streets, and within a minute, they had arrived at the hotel.

Stepping out in front of the others, Paul dropped a few Poke in a little pouch at the neck of the Sawsbuck labeled "tips" and went inside the hotel. Glancing back at the others, Paul saw Dawn give the Sawsbuck a generous tip and pat it on the head affectionately, before lifting her skirts up to walk across the ice. Seeing him watching her, Dawn held his gaze for a moment, before smiling a little, looking angelic. Something settled in Paul, and he turned away, trying to get rid of the feeling, before going up to his room.


Dawn smiled at Paul, noticing him looking at her. She didn't know why—it was just something she had to do, to get him to acknowledge her, maybe. Something was unsettled in his eyes for a brief instant, before it disappeared. She held his gaze, but he turned away, and Dawn fought off the brief disappointment and continued walking, careful to avoid the overly icy patches.

In her room, Dawn took a long shower and removed her makeup, changing into her cotton nightgown. She set her alarm for eight in the morning—her interview was at eleven thirty, and she figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Peering out a window, she noticed that huge, fluffy snowflakes were falling rapidly, carpeting the already white ground, and signaling the arrival of a snowstorm that would make travel unbelievably difficult in the morning—another reason to get up early. She touched the glass of the window—it was cold, and she pressed her forehead to it, watching her breath fog up the glass. Pulling back, she drew a smiley face in it, watching the fog disappear along with the smiley face, leaving the cold night behind. Abruptly, Dawn left the window and climbed into bed. It was late enough already.


Late at night, the hotel was woken up by an announcement blaring from hidden loudspeakers.

A record snowstorm has struck Snowpoint City violently. While it should settle by late tomorrow morning, it has been raging for quite a while now, and has damaged many of the power lines in the city. We are currently running on backup power that should last until the power lines are repaired, however we encourage those residing above floor thirteen to move down to another room on a lower floor for safety reasons. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you.

Paul growled upon hearing the message. It wasn't the hotel's fault, but he could be angry. He tromped down the stairs all the way down to the twelfth floor, where Drew and May's rooms were, as the elevators were out of order. Knocking on their door, Drew opened the door, looking apologetic.

"Sorry, we're already filled to the brim. There's Misty, Ash, Zoey, and Kenny in here, plus May and I. Try the lobby if you want—they have some couches there."

Paul let out a breath. Thanking Drew, he went down another floor to Dawn's room. Her door was already open, blue eyes peering out. Upon seeing him, she waved him over.

"You want to share my room? It's better than sleeping in the lobby," Dawn offered.

Paul gave a gruff nod. "Thanks," he said, stepping into her room. It was your standard hotel room—with only one bed.

"I'll take the floor," Paul offered.

Dawn shook her head. "There's a chair over there in the corner. It might be a bit of a squeeze, but curl up and you should be fine."

Paul looked over. There was indeed an old-fashioned armchair in the corner, with a footrest on it. He walked over, catching the pillow Dawn threw at him, and settled down in it.

"I'll get you a blanket," Dawn said. Walking over to the closet, she began fishing around for something.

Paul looked at her. Her cotton nightdress wasn't completely opaque, and under the billowy folds he could vaguely make out the shape of her small waist and slim legs. Moving his gaze higher, he saw how her ivory neck curved down into sloping shoulders that extended down into long arms that were bare, the sleeves ending right under the shoulders. Her hair was slightly messy from sleep, hanging down in loose tendrils that ended just past her collarbones. She wasn't anorexically thin, but still slender and willowy, even with her petite form. Dawn turned around, apparently finding what she was looking for in the form of a mustard yellow quilt. Her eyes clouded, brows furrowing as she looked at Paul strangely. Paul quickly tried to remember what he normally looked like, and ended up looking quite odd as a result.

Dawn seemed to think nothing of it, though, and she tossed the quilt to him. Paul took it gratefully and draped it over himself, glad for the extra warmth.

Dawn walked over, bare feet making no sound on the floor.

"You need anything else?" For some reason, Dawn was whispering. Paul supposed it seemed like a good time to whisper, though he had no idea why.

He shook his head, and Dawn, satisfied, walked back to her bed, turning out the light. The room was pitch-black, and he could hear the sound of the sheets shuffling as Dawn made herself comfortable. He adjusted the quilt over himself, propping his feet up on the rest. Eventually, sleep won out, and he drifted off to sleep.

Dawn was woken in the morning by her alarm clock, which blared at an almost obnoxiously loud level, rivalling an Exploud in decibel amount. Blearily, she turned it off, twisting up. Her dress was riding all the up to her waist—she wasn't a particularly heavy sleeper, and kicked everybody and everything—and the sleeves were pushed up uncomfortably, so she pulled them back down again. She heard a groan from Paul as he pushed himself up on the couch, purple hair rumpled. In that brief moment, he was, by no stretch of the imagination, quite attractive, and as he turned his gaze on her, obviously not a morning person, she resisted the urge to giggle. But as he blushed and turned away, Dawn was suddenly very conscious of the fact that her dress was currently ending at her waist and her blanket was somewhere around her upper legs, probably revealing quite a lot of skin in the process. Looking down, Dawn's face flamed as she realized that the beginning of the hem of her underwear was visible. Hurriedly pulling her dress down, she tried her best to look nonchalant as she stepped out of bed and opened the door to the hallway—and almost bumped into Barry.

"Dawn! Hey!" Barry said, face overly hopeful.

"…Hey," Dawn greeted back, albeit rather awkwardly.

Paul appeared next to her, and Barry's face darkened a bit.

"Oh, by the way, Dawn, the people who had to move last night can go back to their rooms now. Lucky for me, I had to sleep in the lobby," Barry informed her.

Dawn giggled against her will as Barry pouted while giving her the last bit of news. His face brightened immediately, but his eyes darted to Paul and his face fell again.

"Um, so, I'll…see you around then! Bye!" Barry dashed back down the hall.

Dawn shook her head. "Sometimes he's a nuisance, other times he's just comical. It's confusing, really. You should get back to your room now."

Paul gave an affirmative grunt. Dawn watched his form disappear down the hall. Somehow, the room felt…colder without his presence. She hadn't noticed before, but it was true. Shaking her head to clear it, Dawn got ready. She had to dress appropriately for the interview.

Dawn rummaged through her closet. She had to look sharp for the interview, but not overly businesslike. Something casual and chic but mature and sophisticated at the same time. She picked out her favourite white pullover with a scoop neckline and a thin black anchor design on the front. She put on a midi skirt that cinched her waist, making it even smaller. It was kept full by the waistband and tulle underlay and worked well with her top, which cut off a little high, curving upwards in the middle. Looking over her shoes, Dawn selected a pair of low-heeled pumps with a rounded, closed toe that was a muted neutral colour like the skirt, but a little lighter. She grabbed a small two-toned bag with a strap that could be slung over one shoulder or tucked away so the bag was a clutch, and painted her nails a poppy, metallic teal, alternating each nail with a muted jade green that contrasted piercingly with her neutral clothing colours. She put on faint makeup, just highlighting her features rather than adding anything—a touch of eyeliner here, a hint of lip gloss there. Opting to go jewelry-less, Dawn combed her hair until it lay in sleek, billowing waves down her back. Checking over her appearance one more time, Dawn saw that it was nine already, and went to eat breakfast.

Back in his room, Paul got ready for the day, but unwilling to move just yet, he lay on the bed. That image of Dawn when they woke up was practically seared into his eyes. Rubbing his eyes as if that would get rid of the memory, Paul turned over. The phone rang then, and he picked it up.

"Hello?" Paul called.

"Paulie!" Ursula's unmistakable voice screeched back at him. "I just got the pearls you sent me by Pidgeot service!"

"Did you like them?" Paul asked.

He could almost hear Ursula pout. "I liked them…but I admit, they were kind of tacky. I mean, wearing pearls that big is just kind of like showing off, which, is, like, so not in season right now. Last year, that would've been fine."

Paul rubbed his temples. A headache was forming. "I'm sure that trend will come around again. You can wear them then," he told her, doing his best to sound reassuring, though Ursula's rants about what was in season or not might as well have been gibberish to him. Who cared that much anyway? It was fine to care about how you looked—nobody wanted to go out in the morning looking like a dump—but taking it to such levels was kind of extreme, wasn't it? Paul wondered if Dawn ever cared about whether the stuff she wore was in season or not. It didn't sound like her. Then again, he didn't really know her that well, so how could he know? He made a mental note to ask May about it when he had time.

"He-llooooo?" Ursula asked. "Paulie, you there?"

Paul snapped out of his daze. "Uh, yeah. Sorry."

Ursula sighed. "Honestly, have a larger attention span! So, what did you do last night?"

Did this woman have to know every detail of his life? "I was out at dinner with Dawn and the other people she invited to the special box for the Swan Lake premiere," Paul replied.

"You were at dinner with Dawn? Hah! I bet Dee-Dee looked like a total slut!" Ursula screeched.

Paul flinched, taken aback by her language. Ursula didn't say stuff like that much—it wasn't good for her social image.

"No, actually, Dawn looked pretty great," Paul said, then slapped himself internally for saying that.

Ursula was silent. "I'm sorry? There's no way that b**ch—excuse my language—can look good," she said, as if Paul had made a mistake and she was talking to a small child.

"Maybe I'm a bad judge of stuff like that, but May, Zoey and Misty all though she looked good too," Paul said.

When Ursula talked again, her voice was a hiss. "We'll never talk about this again."

Paul was about to reply when he realized that Ursula had already hung up. He let out a long breath. How the hell had he gotten into this mess?


Dawn was at the interview. The interviewer was a middle-aged woman who obviously had no idea what she was talking about, but she tried to keep herself under control. At first, all the large cameras had creeped her out a bit, but she kept calm and answered the questions as best as she could.

"So, Miss Berlitz, I understand that you were in competition with Miss Rosa of Unova for the leading roles of the two swans, correct?"

Dawn smiled, hands folded demurely in her lap. "That's right. Rosa's a really sweet girl—it was kind of a shame she didn't get the role, but I'm glad she had her role as Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty to fall back on."

The interviewer took a breath. "While we are on the topic of the Sleeping Beauty, have you ever done the famous Rose Adagio before?"

"Yes, I have done it, actually. It was at Port University in Canalave City, when I was nineteen. We were doing a student presentation of the ballet, and I was Aurora. I'm sure I wasn't all that good at the Rose Adagio, as it's extremely difficult, but I managed to pull it off anyway," Dawn replied.

"You are playing shows all over Eastern Sinnoh, correct?"

"Yes," Dawn answered. "Our last show is in Sunyshore City, and if there is more demand for the show, we will consider extending to Western Sinnoh."

The interviewer nodded, before continuing to ask Dawn questions. When they were done, Dawn thankfully headed out of the studio to eat lunch at a small café across the street.

She ordered a sandwich and some bacon with a cup of coffee, not having much of an appetite. After her order came, she spotted Paul entering the café and waved him over.

He sat across from her at the small table, looking distracted.

Paul ordered a bagel and a muffin. She tried to strike up a conversation, but Paul was zoning out, and eventually Dawn just gave up, and they ate slowly in silence.

"You're not like her, you know," Paul said. His gaze was fixated on his bagel.

Dawn was startled into almost spilling her coffee. "Not like who?"

Paul looked up briefly, then back down again. "Ursula. My girlfriend." He said the word "girlfriend" like it tasted bitter, spitting it out. "Normally, she would've pestered me until I left, even if I never answered." At this, Paul looked up, giving Dawn a rare smile.

"She's a jerk," Dawn stated plainly.

"A jerk that's my girlfriend," Paul replied.

"How did that even happen? You don't look like somebody who would like her."

Paul sighed, before proceeding to tell Dawn the whole story. When he finished, Dawn was shocked.

"I didn't think you were so much of a…a pushover," Dawn said.

Paul looked at her as if she'd just grown four more arms. "Excuse me?"

Dawn appeared sheepish at this. "For lack of a better term, I mean. Like, if you don't like Ursula, then dump her. Who gives a damn whether it's bad for business relations? I bet her parents think she's just as much of a brat as you do."

Paul looked at her. "I prefer that to what people normally give me when they hear this story, actually," he stated.

"What's that?" Dawn asked, curious.

Paul held her gaze. "Pity."

Dawn's eyes didn't soften like he thought they would. "You don't need pity."

Paul's eyes bored into hers for a moment, drowning in the blue of them, before in one sudden, fluidly powerful motion, he reached out, pulled Dawn to him, and kissed her. The kiss wasn't gentle, but Dawn didn't need it to be. As a matter of fact, neither of them wanted it to be gentle. They were stronger than that.

Paul pulled away. Dawn's breathing had sped up, and he found out that his had too. His mind whirled, a mixture of thoughts mostly consisting of What did I just do I have a girlfriend, but there was a mixture of Oh damn, that felt good in there.

Dawn looked at him, then down at their half-finished lunch. Then back up again. Then down. The next time she looked up, Paul caught her eyes and held them.

Dawn's eyebrows raised a bit at the ends. "You have Ursula," she reminded him. "A girlfriend you can't get rid of."

Paul sighed, forcing his pulse to steady. "I know," he muttered.

Dawn took another bite of her sandwich. They finished eating in silence, the only contact happening when Dawn tried to pay the bill for both of them. Paul had gripped her wrist, a type of contact he never would've made before that lunch, and paid the bill, trying his best to ignore the way Dawn shivered at his touch. They left the café together, Dawn going left towards the Stardust Theatre, Paul going right.

Dawn was distracted all through practice. Her body remembered the dancing and did it perfectly, but her brain wandered. Leaving the theatre, Dawn had dinner in her room at the hotel, not bothering to taste the food. Taking a long, cold shower to clear her head, Dawn slept early, suddenly exhausted despite the battle that was raging inside her head. She didn't bother with blankets or pillows, curling up on the bare sheets, her hair spilling all over the place. One azure curl stubbornly attached itself to her eye, and Dawn, brushing it away, opened her eyes to find herself staring at the couch where Paul had slept. Dawn would've turned away, but sleep crashed over her suddenly, drowning her in a sea of dreamless oblivion.


That's done! I think this chapter was a little shorter than the other ones…oh well! There was extreme Ikarishipping in this chapter! And sorry about the use of language in Ursula's dialogue, I just think that's what a bratty character like her would say. ^^

Star xx