Well, well, well...thank goodness I updated on Thursday last week! Stupid hurricane decided to come by on Friday. We decided to "evacuate" more inland, since we live on a coastal area, but nooooooo, Charley decided to veer RIGHT TO WHERE WE EVACUATED!
So yes, I'm sitting there on Friday, at around six in the evening, hiding under a mattress with the rest of my family (and two dogs) in case the roof blew off and stuff threatened to fall on our heads. One of the windows broke...and honestly, that was the scariest moment. Imagine it being totally silent and then—CRASH! WHOOOOOOOSH!
The 'WHOOOOOOOOSH' being 130 m.p.h. winds, of course. You really can't picture winds that high unless you see it yourself...it's maddening.
Anyway, the house we were staying in suffered the broken window and some roof damage, and that was LUCKY for that part of town. It was just...mind-boggling. The town is freaking trashed. I hate it. And it figures, totally figures, that our part of town was just fine; the only damage our house suffered was a fallen tree, and it didn't hit the house or anything. –wipes sweat off of forehead- And we didn't have power until late that Saturday...it felt like FOREVER though, let me tell you!
So yeah, I survived. –sigh- They cancelled school this and next week, even though one of my school suffered no damage whatsoever...they're using it as a shelter. It BLOWS, because this means they'll lengthen the year! GRRR! And I was supposed to get out early, being a senior and all...
Blech. Enough of my life. Onto...
Chapter Forty-Seven
"So..." I finally managed to spit out. "What you're saying is that...that...you can bring them back?"
April nodded. I noticed out of the corner of my eye Mom was looking over at us, a curious expression on her face.
"Wait," I said. "If you can bring them back, can you—"
"No. That was destined to happen. This was not."
I swallowed and nodded. This was too good to be true. Darrell was gone, but I was going to get my best friends back! They were coming back! It—
"What's the catch?" I suddenly asked.
April sighed. "The catch...well..." She stared at me with those deep green eyes of hers. "You see...giving my body to a Dragonair has enabled me many powers once I returned to human form. I waited for you for so long to call me, so I could return, and live the life that I had missed...it's not a picnic being a Dragonair." She smiled grimly. "Only...I need some of this power to remain in this body—reviving your friends would mean depleting all of that power...and both Mystic and I would disappear for good."
Oh, great. So this was a test of morals, or what? Let's see...my looks-like-she's-barely-middle-aged grandmother who had been a Dragonair for the past twenty years or so was finally human after all that time. She could bring my best friends in the world back to life, but she would basically give up hers in return. And how could I ask her to do that? I mean, I barely knew the woman.
Mom had suddenly appeared next to April, and flung her arms around her. April returned the hug with force, and my stomach flipped again. I mean, duh, I wanted my best friends back...but Mom had separated from her own mother for so long. Who was I to break them apart?
I stared at them, still hugging, and I realized how much we all looked like each other. Exact same hair color, same big eyes and pale skin...sure we had our differences; April was skinny and Mom was more muscular, while I was sorta busty, and our hair was all different lengths—but anyone could look at us and tell we were family. My stomach gave another jolt. Was my daughter going to look like us? When I looked at her...would I be reminded of Darrell at all? Would she have his eyes, his hands...any part of him with her? Or would just looking at her remind me of the inevitable I had to do?
With a start, I realized Mom and April had pulled apart. They both had tears in their eyes for whatever reason. April then touched one of Steve and Ivy's hands and closed her eyes, murmuring something to herself.
"Wait a sec!" I cried. "What are you doing?! I didn't say—"
"But I know this is what you want," April whispered, smiling. "Don't worry. It is inevitable that all Tamers someday meet again. Right now...you need them."
She was right.
I did.
More than anyone could ever hope to comprehend.
April resumed her muttering, and I realized she was chanting something in the Dragon language. A glow appeared around Steve and Ivy's bodies, and then seemed to swallow them as her song grew louder and stronger. I was about to close my eyes from the brightness when it suddenly dimmed—and some sort of light explosion broke out.
From the light came what I knew were two spirits—April and the beautiful Dragonair I knew was Mystic. April smiled down upon us—with tears spilling down Mom's cheeks as she watched. From somewhere else came a blonde hair, blue-eyed guy. April noticed him and flung her arms around his neck. He returned the embrace, smiling into her freakishly long hair as Mystic flew around them, celebrating.
It is inevitable that all Tamers someday meet again.She was right again.
Another flash and the three were gone. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding, and looked over at Mom. She swallowed and sighed, wiping the moisture from her eyes. "I better check on your dad," was all she managed to choke out before another wave of tears hit her.
"That was her husband—your dad, wasn't it?" I whispered.
She nodded. "Danny. My father...you know, the last time I saw him...he had cancer. I honestly couldn't remember him looking like he did just now. He told me Mom was under a curse from the Den...that she was now a Dragonair. That's why I basically freaked out every time I heard of that Pokemon...it just reminded me of the life that was no longer mine. It's someone else's now." She let out a sad laugh, wiping another tear from her eye. "I can't believe I got to see them again," she added before turning and walking back over to Dad.
I was speechless for probably the first time in my life. I couldn't piece this together...everything had been explained, and yet...
"Mmmph..."
I gasped and turned my gaze back to my friends. I sat up a little, grasping one of Ivy's hands. "Ivy?" I whispered. "Can...can you hear me?"
It seemed like an eternity later before she weakly opened her gray eyes, like her eyelashes weighed a million pounds. "Lind...sey?"
"IVY!" With all of my strength, I pulled her up and flung my arms around her, not really believing what was happening. Hadn't been just awhile ago I had begged her not to leave?
"Lindsey?" she groaned weakly. "What's...going on?"
"YOU'RE ALIVE!" I squealed, practically squishing her brains out.
"Yeah, I can see that...what's going on? Where's Steve?"
I looked over at the mass that was Steve. I let go of Ivy and crawled over to him. "Steve? Steve, can you hear me?"
What seemed like hours later, but was really only seconds, he groggily forced his brown eyes open and smiled slightly. "'Zee?"
"Don't forget the first part," I smiled, tears once again threatening to spill from me. He slowly sat up, and before he could utter around word, I flung my arms around him and cried all of my happiness into his chest. I knew he was looking up at Ivy, giving her a confused look, but he obviously couldn't resist something like this and wrapped his arms around me. Ivy eventually crawled over and hugged both of us, and we sat there, two confused as to what was happening—but I knew this is what I would've given practically everything for.
After I was done crying, we all broke apart and I wiped my eyes on my sleeve. For the first time, I noticed Umbreon, Absol, and Kitsune had appeared from somewhere and were running over to us. The pool was still, and everything had a sort of glow to it. Such a change from before Steve and Ivy had woken up.
"Um..." Steve began, observing the scene from behind his shaggy bangs. "Care to explain what just happened?
I sighed. "Got a few hours?"
LTP
My voice was hoarse from talking, and things had gotten confusing at one point—Dad had woken up and wanted to know what the heck was going on, so Mom was explaining while our stories overlapped. Ivy was picking at a loose thread in her skirt, and Steve was staring at the floor, like he was torn about how to feel about the whole thing.
In the midst of it all, I did leave out two things: the fact that I was only allowed to love one person for all of time, and my only connection with Darrell. My...our baby.
Because, y'know, Steve and Ivy had just gone through a very traumatic experience. I didn't want to shock them into a relapse, or whatever.
"...and now, here I am with you guys," I finally finished, taking a deep breath.
The three of us were silent for a few moments, letting it all sink in. Finally, Ivy sighed. "Lindsey...I just...wow."
"You sure have a way with words," I smiled.
"Very funny...it's just..."
"I can't believe it," Steve suddenly piped up. He was still staring at the floor. "You went through this whole thing by yourself. Ivy and I...we weren't even there for you, after we said we were going to be. This is probably the most extreme thing to happen to you, and we weren't even there for you."
"Shut up," I said, causing him to look up. "Look...there wasn't anything either of you could've done. Anthony never said a word about anything to me, even after...well, you know. This all happened to me. I was the one that could only truly experience it...and no matter what, it had to happen. There was nothing anyone could do to change it—like April said, it in the Prophecy. It had to happen."
More silence. Ivy stopped picking at her skirt and grabbed my hand. "Oh Lindsey...you know we're here for you, right?"
"For real?" I teased.
"You bet you ass 'for real'," Steve mocked, pulling us all into another group hug. I closed my eyes and gave a silent thank-you to April...
And I know, like the Tamers, the three of us will always meet again, no matter what.
It was my choice to leave the Den. Mom thought that once I left, I might not want to come back—gruesome memories lay there, after all—but I told her it was destiny. Now, more than ever, I was drawn to the Dragon Den, now and forever.
Kitsune trapped everyone his energy ball, or whatever you wanted to call it, as I led the way out of the Den and up through the lake. I sighed, fingering the key floating around my neck. Yes...I would go back.
When we all surfaced, dawn was breaking, as if the world knew a life had ended, and a whole new one was beginning. We all stared at the sky in silence for a few seconds before Blaze and Joker came bursting out of the forest around the lake—Blaze still fully tacked—and practically attacked us. Blaze was trotting 'round and 'round Mom and Dad, whinnying happily, while Joker wiped some Ponyta snot on my shoulder, gave an ear-shattering neigh in my ear, and bent down to graze.
"He hasn't changed a bit," Steve said.
"At least someone hasn't," I smiled sadly, unconsciously putting a hand over my stomach. So true...at least something hadn't changed.
Mom and Dad mounted Blaze. "We're going over to the hospital," Mom said, looking positively giddy she was back in the saddle—where, I knew, she truly belonged. "We need to get—"
"—My gory head wound checked out," Dad joked. His 'gory head wound' consisted of some dried blood on his forehead and a deep cut—otherwise, he seemed fine to me, but I guess being knocked unconscious for a few hours would call for a trip to the hospital.
"Okay," I said. "We're..." I looked at my friends, who all smiled. Kitsune, Absol, and Umbreon were on Joker's back while he still grazed. It all seemed so...normal. Why? Nothing was normal, and ever would be again. And yet...
"Can we all go back home?" I asked. "I can leave Joker with the Pokemon Center."
Mom nodded. "What about—"
"I'll figure something out," I interrupted. She nodded again and sent Blaze on their way.
I sighed, looking at Umbreon and Absol. "You two..." I said to them, and they looked up. Should I keep them with me? Or would that only remind me of Darrell the way our child may? Would he want me to keep them? I felt like I owed them...after all, they assisted in saving my life, even if it was Absol's Sword Dance that had summoned the sword that...
I shook my head. "Umbreon, Absol, would you two like to stay here and guard this lake, until the day I return?"
They jumped off of Joker's back—and bowed to me. How weird—I've never seen a Pokemon bow to me before. With one last glance, they jogged off into the trees, where I saw a faint blaze of a Rapidash's flame.
I smiled. They weren't the only ones guarding until I got back...not by a long shot.
Kitsune gave a little squeak as he watched them run off. I sighed, shifting my gaze back down towards the lake.
"It's hard to believe," Ivy whispered.
"What?"
"Well...I was going towards the light, Lindsey. I really was. I thought everything was over...but now, here we are...as if nothing happened."
I sighed again. "Sort of. For me...it's hard to believe I'm still the same person." I swallowed. "How could so many things change so soon?"
Steve gave an exasperated sigh. "Didn't we just talk about this?" he grinned lopsidedly. I looked over at him and smiled. I knew in the back of his perverted little brain, no matter how much he wanted to deny it later, he was thinking he might now have a chance with me now that Darrell was...well, you know.
"Yeah," I smiled slightly back. "We did." I ran and mounted Joker before he could protest. "C'mon. We have a bus to catch."
After dropping Joker off at the Pokemon Center, we managed to catch the bus back home. Luckily, seeing how it was early in the morning, there were hardly any smelly trainers there.
We were silent for awhile, until I caught Steve staring at me. "What?"
He blinked. "You didn't tell us something, did you?"
I tried to play innocent. "What are you talking about? I told you what happened..." My voice trailed off. Gaah, no matter what I did, I was always going to reminded of that moment...the sword in my hands, his dark eyes...
Steve seemed to know what he conjured up. "No! Nothing like that...well, sorta. I mean...arrguh. I don't know. I guess what I'm trying to say is that you look you're still not telling us something."
Ivy was studying me now. "Yeah...Steve's actually right for once." He made a face at Ivy. "But really, Lindsey," Ivy continued after making a face back at him. "You know you can tell us anything, right?"
"Yeah." Kitsune was on my lap, and now kneading my jeans to make himself more comfortable for a nap. "Yeah, I know."
It seemed surreal once we were all back where we belonged. Ivy insisted on letting the bus drop us off at New Bark Town, which was closer to mine and Steve's homes than Cherrygrove City was. She gave her mom a call and lied and said she spent the night at my house after the competition.
Geez, the show...it seemed like a million years ago. Was it really only hours ago that I had led Joker up that ramp? Barfed in those bushes? Shakingly admitted to Ivy I hadn't talked to Steve yet?
I inwardly groaned. If there was one negative thing about my best friends coming back...it would be that now I was going to have to talk to Steve for real. What kind of person would I be if he really did die and I never explained myself?
'Yeah,' I thought, putting a hand on my stomach after Ivy gave me a huge hug when her mom came to get her, saying how she really would always be there for me. 'At least now you have an excuse.'
Once Ivy was gone, Steve put his hands in his pockets, looking over at his house. "Doesn't look like anyone's home," he said, noticing the empty driveway. "I'm going to go inside and leave a note...are you going up to your room?"
"Umm...actually, I'm going out back by the barn. I should probably muck some stalls."
"Okay," he smiled. "Meet ya there in a few?"
"Sure."
He jogged off into his house, and I shuffled into the 'backyard', ignoring the whinnies of the Rapidashes that were in pastures or had stuck their heads over their stall doors. Part of me just wanted to fling myself back into everyday life, as if the past night had never happened.
No, I'm not pregnant with Darrell's baby girl.
I didn't kill the only man I'm ever allowed to love.
My best friends didn't almost leave me forever.
I'm not destined to protect a bunch of Dragon Pokemon.
But like Mom had said...it was someone else's life now. No matter how goofy Steve acted, or how messy Ivy's bun was, life was never going to be the way it was before this whole ordeal in the Den. It wasn't something I could block out of my mind; like a bad fall off of Joker. It was a part of me whether I liked it or not. And let me tell you, it sucked.
I wandered over and sat on one of the pasture fences while Kit ran in and out of them, trying to scare the now-grazing Rapidash. After so many years of Kitsune's sillyness, though, they merely flicked their ears back and let Kit enjoy his game. After another few minutes of me staring into space, Steve came out of his house and sat down next to me.
"No mucking?" he asking, watching Kit run around like an idiot.
"It seems irrelevant," I replied. "Right now, anyway. Watch, as soon as Mom and Dad get back, they're going to be yelling at me to get to work on those stalls, like nothing happened." I sighed. Why was I sighing so much? Grrr.
"Heh, probably."
"Yeah."
Something suddenly popped into my head I looked over at Steve. He raised an eyebrow. "What?"
I grinned evilly, standing up. He jumped off the fence and took a few steps back. "Uh, Lindsey? You feeling okay?"
"Never better." I stepped right in front of him, and gave him a push—causing him to tumble backwards straight into the manure pile.
His cries of disgust were blocked out by my extreme laughter, even as he stood up and started to chase me around the property.
At least something hadn't changed.
LTP
-gasp- Have you all realized how close to the end we are?! –cries- Wow...
Anyway, I have it all figured out: this fic is going to officially end on September 3, conveniently, the day it was published a year ago! How weird is that? XD There's one too many chapters for it to end on that day, so I'm going to update an extra time, probably...this Wednesday, maybe? I'll have to see. Keep checking back though.
Adriel—YAY ANCIENT REVIVAL MAGIC! XD
Robin Ryan—Yeah, but I'm a pessimist at heart. –wink wink-
Rose—Haha, the story you've probably been waiting for since those long lost days at Pokemasters ;P Bwhahaha. I don't know how he knew...which is weird. Man, I don't know a lot of things about my fic. What kind of writer am I?
Hakura0—Bwhaha...quite useful for an evil d00d...heh heh. Mmm...marshmallows...-breaks out the Hershey bars-
Karania Avalon—And continue I shall...-evil laugh-
The Almighty DB-- -bows before green smilies- Woo, glad you decided to register and review! –hands you more mint ice cream- Heh, heh, heh...
Lurk-- -gasp- An English-speaking Espeon! –falls over- Sorry I made your human so catatonic –hides- At least she liked the chinchilla. Muhahaha. And beware, the plot just might get even thicker...yes, I don't see how it's possible but...BWHAHAHAHA!
-cough- Well, yes, so look out for an update most likely on Wednesday. I'm off to draw and pout that I have to get up so freaking early for my riding lesson tomorrow. Meeeeeh.
RainbowSerenity, signing off and wants YOU to review! XD