Quick note: italics represents emphasis in addition to thoughts

Chapter 4: Lyra x Gold

In many ways, Gold is like a Prince Charming to Lyra. He smiles as radiant as the sun, his gold eyes shine with a certain beauty to it, and his jokes always make her laugh, no matter how ridiculous or stupid they are. In that way, she's rather different from her twin sister, Crystal, who could never withstand any of Gold's jokes, even when they were dating.

Dating. With her sister. Lyra knows she shouldn't harbour any thoughts of Gold but she just couldn't help can anyone really control their feelings? She doubts it. She keeps it hidden though, because it's her sister afterall and she couldn't do anything wrongful to her. Never.

It certainly wasn't an obsession she felt with Gold. Or an inferiority complex that it was her sister who won the heart of Gold. Granted, they had known each other longer, and she probably would never have met Gold if not for Crystal. But it was her sister, her dead-serious, no-nonsense sister that had won the heart of the most notorious joker and prankster Lyra had known her entire life.

But when she found out that Crystal and Gold had broke up, she felt hopeful, like the sun has finally peeked out after days and days of thunderstorm. Sure, she felt guilty too for feeling that spark of happiness when both Crystal and Gold are both feeling miserable about. But maybe, just maybe, she could have the very thing that she had dreamed of for the longest time, and she wasn't about to give it all up again this time. So when Gold asked her out a month after he and Crystal broke up, she agreed without an afterthought, her head giddy with joy and euphoria.

Going out with Gold was like how she had imagined it to be, but better because it was real and not something she dreamed of. He's the fun, playful boyfriend, while she is his equally fun-loving counterpart albeit more clumsy and scatterbrained. For a first relationship, it really wasn't too bad for Lyra, and it was as beautiful as it could get for the hopeless romantic in her.

She ignores the nagging thought that is always at the back of her mind though. That Gold picked her because she looks like Crystal. That she was only a rebound. That she's always second-best. Focus on the present, she will tell herself. So each time Gold asked her what's wrong, she'll shake her head and smile like nothing is wrong.

Her worst fears came true one day, when Gold called her over the PokeGear, saying something about being unable to do this anymore and wants to breakup with her. She begged him, she remembers, wailing out loud, tears pouring like there's no tomorrow. It didn't moved him though, and all he did was to mumble a sorry before hanging up with a click, leaving Lyra to deal with it all alone.

Breakup over a phone call. That must be one of the lowest time of my life, she thinks, to be ditched over a phone call. He had been such a jerk when they broke up, and also such a coward, for not being able to say that to her face. Angry and hurt, she hunted the entire Johto and then Kanto for five days before she finally found him and gave him what he deserved.

It took her a while to finally not feel bitter about it. And even longer to get over Gold. But she could never forget him completely. While Gold had truly been a jerk to her when they broke up, they did spent a good time as a couple. At least, they was how Lyra saw it - he's her first love afterall. To his credit, Gold treated Lyra with respect as an individual, never as Crystal's sister, or Crystal's substitute. I guess I should be grateful that he never did confuse me with Crystal.

Does she regret it? It was painful, yes. But no, she doesn't regret it. Because for the hopeless romantic in her, the process of it all was perfect enough for her.

Afterall, she did loved him once with all her heart.

Notes:

While Lyra is not canon in the manga, I always like to view Lyra as part of the gang because she adds that little synergy to the other characters, particularly the Johto trio. And I do like her appearance in other stories I've read. A little bit more on the backstory that I imagine Crystal and Lyra to have: they are twin sisters brought up apart because their parents separated, so each parent got the custody of one girl. I always thought it funny that when Crystal's mum was introduced in the manga, she called Crystal "my favourite daughter", which kinds of suggest that she has more than one daughter. At least that's how think it.

This was done from Lyra's POV to give some mystery to Gold's reasoning for acting the way he did, which will be revealed in a later chapter. I didn't include Crystal response from the POV of Lyra in this chapter too, because it didn't feel appropriate, and I'm not sure I want to do it at all. We'll see about that.

A/N:

Another short chapter. This hadn't been easy to write, mostly because I didn't have any inspiration for this. But I needed to write this, because I wanted to show that Gold had "moved on" from breaking up with Crystal too, as part of maturing. I know there are a lot of mystery on this now, but I promise everything will be revealed in a later chapter.

I also realised that the Kanto Dexholders didn't have too much screen time at the moment.. Well more will be coming up soon! I actually rearranged the chapter orders so that there wouldn't be too much Johto Dexholders in a row. I'm not sure why, but in terms of chronological progression, it made more sense this way. Hopefully it makes more sense to you too as you read on.

As usual, review to let me know what you think, and follow the story to catch the subsequent chapters of how the story unfolds.