Ash spun in his sleeping bag and his face looked painful. He had a dream, and it wasn't any nice dream. "Serena..," he muttered as the sleep became even more horrible, and at the same time, an even more painful look appeared on his face.
In his dream:
Serena lay against the tree. There was a painful look on her face and Ash, squatting next to her, didn't look any better. They looked at each other and tears flowed from both cheeks.
"Ash... I just want to say... I love you," said Serena quietly, and smiled sadly. She touched Ash's cheek. She brushed one tear off from Ash's face and then she closed her eyes, looked at Ash last time and then, and she was gone.
"Serena?" Ash said as Serena's hand slumped out of his cheek and panic struck him. He shook Serena's shoulders and shouted her name, but Serena didn't answer. She just lay against the tree, eyes closed and a calm smile on her face, and did not react in any way to Ash's attempts to wake her. "Serena? Serena, wake up! Please, wake up! Serena?! No... no no no NO!
"NO!" shouted Ash out loud and his eyes burst open. He got up to sit and realized he was in his and Serena's tent. He rubbed his forehead and he was relieved when the sight of Serena lying dead against the tree quickly evaporated from his eyes. Luckily it was just a dream, he thought grimacing in his mind as his eyes gradually got used to the darkness of the tent.
"A nightmare, wasn't it?" was heard from his left and Ash turned his head. He saw Serena and Pikachu awake and sitting next to him and Pikachu said quietly, "Pikaa.." Serena instead looked at Ash quietly and Ash was able to see even in the darkness of the tent that there was a slightly worried look in her blue eyes.
"Yeah," Ash said, rubbing his forehead and realizing he was wet with sweat. The nightmare had still not completely dissipated in his mind and he shivered as he thought about it. "And it was nothing nice"
He felt something warm and soft grab him by the hand and he guessed Serena had taken him by the hand. "It was yesterday's events, wasn't it?" she asked and Ash nodded, staring at the end wall of the tent.
"Yeah. You lay there injured against that tree. You said how you love me. Then you went unconscious and I shouted your name. But in this version, I didn't have time to heal you, but.."
Ash couldn't say the end of his sentence, but closed his mouth in the middle of it, but Serena understood what he left saying.
"Ash. It wasn't true, it was just a nightmare," she said quietly and hugged Ash tightly. Pikachu also climbed into Ash's arms and looked at his trainer sad. "Pikapi," he said quietly, rubbing his head against Ash's hand and smiled slightly.
"I know, but it was so..." Ash began, but ended his sentence in the middle of it. Instead of continuing it to the end, he just muttered, "I need fresh air," and crawled out of the tent.
He stepped quietly to the shore of the lake and stood standing on it, looking at the surface of the lake glistening in the light of the shining stars. The moon was full again, creating a beautiful reflection on the surface of the almost dead calm lake. Ash closed his eyes and drew the cool air of the night into his lungs. It calmed him down and made the nightmare recede from his mind.
Suddenly he heard someone stepping next to him and he recognized the newcomer as Serena based on this strawberry scent floating from her hair. This one said nothing but wrapped her arms around Ash and put her head on his shoulder. And that gesture reassured Ash even more than the air of the night.
"You know, Ash, you can tell me anything," Serena said quietly and Ash opened his eyes. He looked at the girl next to him, but this one did not look at him. Instead, Serena looked toward the shimmering lake and Ash smiled slightly.
"Yeah, I know," he said, pressing his head against Serena's head. He wrapped his arms around the girl and they stood there for a moment, listening quietly to the soothing silence of the night.
However, the moment was interrupted when Serena felt something small and white floating on her nose. At first, she thought it was a snowflake, but then she realized it wasn't possible because it was summer and not a single cloud was visible in the sky. She took the thing off her nose in confusion and looked at it more closely.
Ash had also noticed it and asked with interest, "What is it? Snow?" He detached his arms from Serena and watched as Serena turned the white and small thing in front of her eyes, the moonlight illuminating it almost translucent.
"No, I think it's some kind of petal," she replied, staring at the white thing and Ash looked a little confused.
"Petal? Oh, like the ones in the flowers?" he asked and Serena nodded.
"Yep. That's right," said Serena and as she looked at the petal, another similar one hovered in front of her face.
She shifted her gaze away from the petal she was holding, and in doing so, a third petal hovered in front of her and the sand in front of her. She squatted to pick it up in her hand and muttered at the same time, "Where do these come from? I don't remember seeing a single white flower here."
However, her thoughts were interrupted, for then she heard Ash say, "Serena, look," and she looked up curiously. She saw Ash pointing towards the forest to their right and Serena was amazed to realize what Ash meant.
It looked like it was snowing from the forest. White petals hovered with the air flow in their direction, descending into the lake, making it look even more beautiful. However, nowhere was seen where the petals came from and Serena became interested in it.
She got up and said, "Where do they come from? Is there some kind of big flower meadow in that forest or what?" She watched as a few more petals descended in front of them and then Ash grinned at her.
"There's only one way to find it," he said, suddenly grinning wide and Serena smiled as she realized what he meant. He held out his hand to Serena and then continued with a twinkle in the corner of his eye, "Come on, let's figure out the case of those petals."
"All right, Agent Ketchum," Serena said, giggling and grabbing Ash's hand. Then they set out together to walk hand in hand towards the forest, and Pikachu, who had watched them from the tent door, went back to sleep. He smiled himself. This adventure would only be for Ash and Serena.
They walked along the forest, led by white petals, and at some point, there come also a small forest creek where the petals landed. They walked in the bright glow of the full moon and, oddly enough, it made the forest less frightening than during the day.
As they walked next to the creek, Serena noticed a lot of things that had been completely unnoticed by her during the day. There was no fog anywhere now, so they were also well visible.
She watched in delight as the small flowers at the roots of the trees, which opened their petals only at night, the fireflies that flew lazily around them and created a beautiful light in the surroundings, and the clear water of the creek glistening in the moonlight and the round, small rocks visible through it. Watching them, she wondered how the forest could have been so scary of them during the day, when now it was downright magical.
As they continued their journey forward, the creek made a turn and disappeared into the woods. However, the petals did not continue with it, so now Ash and Serena were just walking down the path covered by new petals falling in front of them all the time.
"It's beautiful here, downright magical," Serena whispered, smiling in delight as they walked along with the path hand in hand and Ash smiled at her.
"True, the day here was quite different," he said, watching as the fireflies flew around the flowers. "Outright ghostly"
"Ugh, don't talk about it," Serena said, shivering as she remembered yesterday's events. "I wouldn't want to think about it all"
"Neither do I," said Ash, and his recent nightmare returned to his mind again. To get the thoughts out of it, he quickly changed the subject, "But where does this path lead?"
"I don't know, but it will surely be clear soon," Serena said, and then they continued to walk in silence, broken only by the occasional sounds of nocturnal Pokemon.
They walked in silence for a moment until Serena noticed something in front of her. "Ash, look!" she said and snatched the boy closer to what she noticed.
"What now?" Ash asked as Serena looked curiously at the thing in front of her. It resembled some kind of veil, but it was made up of leaves and vines. A dense forest grew on either side of it, and the clinging vines of the leaf veil spun around the trees.
It cut off the path they were taking and an occasional stream of air made its vines swing a little. Curious, Serena pushed her hand through the vines and said thoughtfully, "What's on the other side of it?"
"I don't know, but we might have lost our petals," Ash said, looking at his feet, beneath which rested the last petals that were visible. "No more of they are showing"
But just as he had said it, a slightly stronger gust of wind blew over them, causing the vines and branches of the trees to sway. Meanwhile, a few white petals hovered in the face of Serena, who was standing in front of the vine veil, and she took one of them in her hand in astonishment.
"Where did these come from?" she thought, holding the petal in her hand, while staring at the vine veil in front of her. And suddenly she realized.
"Of course! The petals come from the other side of that vine veil!" she exclaimed excitedly and then she stepped through it, at the same time exclaiming to Ash, "Come on, Ash!"
"Wait, Serena!" Ash exclaimed and also stepped through the vines. They grabbed his hair and clothes, and he wondered how Serena had been able to go through it without any problems.
But eventually, he got through the vines and to the other side. Muttering something vague, he removed the last vine that had gripped his wrist, and then said, "Serena, how did you manage to go through that without the vines sticking to you? Serena?"
However, Serena didn't answer, so Ash looked up and then he gasped when he saw the vision in front of him.
A sight opened in front of them that could only be described by the word magical. Directly in front of them grew a large tree, the creeping branches of which swung quietly with the flow of air. From the branches of the tree also grew white flowers, from which the petals they saw apparently came. The full moon lit up them and it made the petals of the flowers glow bright.
Around the tree, flowers also grew in the ground, but they were not white but pink. They also swayed quietly and hundreds of beautifully glowing fireflies flew around them. Around the tree flowed the same, clear-water creek they had been following, and the light of the full moon made it shine beautifully. Around this small square grew a dense forest and made the place seem even more magical.
In front of all this, Serena stood with her mouth open in delight and her hands crossed over her chest. She watched her eyes shine and when she heard Ash come to her, she breathed in enchantment, "Ash, isn't this place beautiful?"
"Yeah, it is," Ash said quietly and stood next to Serena. He watched with as much delight as Serena as the airflow made the vine-like branches of the tree swing. "So magical"
He watched as Serena walked slowly to the tree and watched the quiet swing of its vine-like branches as well as its white flowers from which petals slowly dripped over them.
Serena stepped up to the tree and pressed her hand to its rough bark. She carried her hand over it, closing her eyes at the same time, and smiled slightly. Then she opened her eyes and turned her gaze to one of those thousands of white flowers. They had five petals, as well as a slightly darker center that was yellow from pollen.
"They're so beautiful," she whispered as she took the flower in her hand and smelled it. The flower wasn't very big, it covered only half of Serena's palm, but it was still very pretty in a simple way. "I wish I knew what their names were"
"Moonflowers," suddenly Ash's voice was heard from behind her, and she turned her head in surprise. "Huh?" she said in amazement that Ash knew the name of the flowers and Ash himself looked a little confused too.
"When I was in Alola, Professor Kukui, he is a teacher at the school I went to (long story, I will tell you another time) and he called such flowers moonflowers. I don't know if those are they, but they look very much like what I saw in Alola," explained Ash and smiled slightly.
Serena nodded slowly and then removed the flower she was looking at from its branch. She watched as it rested on her palms, and its petals glistened in the light of the full moon.
Suddenly a slightly stronger gust of wind blew over the square and caused the flower to fly out of Serena's hands. It leased through the air and then descended into a stream where it began to flow with the stream.
Serena stepped beside the creek and watched as a flower flew with the stream along the creek and away from her. She heard Ash coming next to her and she said quietly, pressing her head to his shoulder, "Tell me more about those moonflowers."
"Oh, uh... okay," Ash said, thinking for a moment. "The professor seemed to say that they only grow in warm regions, so those probably aren't them. And that they symbolize something. Yeah, and they grow on the ground, not in a tree."
"What do they symbolize?" Serena asked, watching the white petals flow in the creek and Ash tried to remember.
"It was something about love... and dreaming," he began, trying to remember what the professor had explained about those flowers. Serena seemed to listen with interest.
"Right! Now I remember! The professor explained that they symbolized dreaming of love. I remember that I was just really confused about the whole thing," Ash explained, chuckling a little embarrassed and scratching his neck.
"Oh, okay," Serena said, wrapping her arms around Ash. She watched as the flower descended into the creek flew slowly toward the end of the creek, and she smiled.
Ash, on the other hand, was a little confused. "Aren't you going to say more?" he asked, but to his surprise, Serena looked up and shook her head.
"No," she said and her blue eyes twinkled. Looking at Ash, she smiled and said quietly, "I don't have to. Because I already live my dream of love."
And as she stood up to press a kiss to Ash's lips, the flower slowly disappeared behind the bend and set off to flew towards the forest.
After a while, they sat against a tree trunk, leaning against each other. Serena tied a wreath with her hands from the flowers she had collected nearby, and Ash looked at the starry sky.
"Has anyone else found this place?" he thought aloud and Serena shrugged, not looking up from her semi-finished wreath.
"I don't know, but it would be a shame if it weren't," she said, tying another flower in her wreath again. "For such a beautiful place deserves to be discovered"
"Yeah, you're right," Ash said, letting his gaze wander from the sky toward the top of the tree trunk.
Suddenly something in the trunk caught his attention and he got up curious. Serena noticed it and asked in confusion, "Ash, what now?"
"I think I noticed something," Ash replied, watching the bark surface of the trunk with his eyes focused. And then he smiled broadly as he found what he was looking for.
"There!" he exclaimed and Serena looked at him in wonder. "What did you find?" she asked, stood up, gently placing her wreath on the ground, and Ash turned, grinning in her direction.
"Look closely at that point and say what you see," he said, pointing to the bark a little above them.
Serena squinted and tried to see what Ash meant. At first she didn't distinguish anything, but then she noticed some kind of pattern on the surface of the bark, and then she realized what it represented.
"They are initials..." she said slowly, looking more closely. "Which are inside the heart..." And then she realized what it meant. "So that means..."
"Someone else has been here," Ash said, ending Serena's sentence and glancing at the initials. He distinguished just and just what letters were. "And that someone has been in love judging from that heart. By the way, the letters seem to be M+F."
"But how have they gotten that high?" Serena thought, looking at the letters above, and Ash shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe this tree has been much smaller then," he suggested. "Or the creator has been taller. Anyway, we'll never know."
"Yeah," said Serena, brushing the bark of the tree with her finger. Ash looked at her and suddenly he got a great idea.
"Come on, Serena," he said suddenly and grabbed the girl by the hand. "Ash, what are you doing?!" Serena exclaimed in confusion as Ash led her into the middle of the square in the middle of those pink flowers.
However, Ash did not answer, but stopped suddenly and turned to look at Serena with a smile.
"May I?" he asked and held out his hand to Serena. Serena grabbed it a little amazed, but still smiling and then Ash pulled her close.
Serena suddenly found herself in a dance position and she looked at Ash a little in amazement, saying, "But.. but I thought you didn't know how to dance. How then..?"
Ash laughed a little and explained, "When I was in Alola, Professor Kukui, I also lived with him, he married Professor Burnet. Because of the wedding, I also learned to dance, at least somehow." He grinned a little and Serena giggled.
"Well then. Maybe then you should show how well you know how to dance," she giggled and Ash grinned. "Sure, my lady," he said with a smile and started dancing.
They danced in silence, amidst pink flowers and fireflies, under a large and shimmering full moon, and the only thing they saw was each other's eyes. The dance wasn't perfect, sometimes one of them stepped on the other's toes or almost fall, but they didn't care. Because they were close to each other and that was the only thing that mattered.
Eventually, Ash stopped and took his grip off from Serena. They stood facing each other among the flowers and held each other's hands. They smiled, and a bright moon illuminated their moment.
Ash looked into Serena's beautiful blue eyes and felt almost sinking into them. The glow of the fireflies and the glow of the moon reflected from them and made them shine beautifully. He watched as the light breeze made Serena's hair, reaching over her shoulders, swing lightly and how it shone almost golden in the moonlight. He watched as Serena's pink lips curled into a smile and at that moment that girl was more beautiful than ever before.
"Serena... I love you," he said quietly and Serena smiled. That smile made her even more beautiful in Ash's eyes and he wondered how lucky he was when he had someone like Serena in his life.
"I love you too, Ash," Serena said with a smile, and then she rose to her toes and pressed a kiss to the boy's lips. At the same time, she wrapped her arms around Ash and thought how lucky she was when she had someone like Ash in her life.
After a while, they sat under the tree again and Ash watched as the petals of the flowers slowly dripped in front of them. Next to him, Serena finished her wreath while humming something.
"This night has really been wonderful," Ash said, looking at the star-covered sky, but Serena didn't answer him anything. Instead, she continued to hum, her gaze on her almost finished wreath, and Ash turned curiously toward her.
"What are you humming?" he asked with interest, and Serena, who had just threaded a new flower into her wreath, said, "An old lullaby song that my mother hummed at me when I was little. I don't know why, but it came to my mind from this place."
"I like it," Ash replied and Serena looked up from her wreath and smiled at him. Then she suddenly yawned and said during it, "I like it too, but it always makes me sleepy."
Ash chuckled to this and said, "Well, isn't that a little bit of its purpose?" Serena giggled at this nodding and then Ash grinned and turned his gaze back to the sky.
"Do you remember when we saw those shooting stars there on that beautiful meadow back then and we both wished for something?" he asked suddenly, but Serena did not answer. However, Ash didn't think about it further, but continued, "Well, I feel like my wish at least came true. What about you, Serena? Serena?"
But when Serena didn't answer anything, Ash turned in amazement to see why she hadn't said anything. His astonishment, however, turned into a tender smile when he saw Serena fell asleep against a tree trunk, a finished wreath in her arms.
"That lullaby seems to really work," Ash muttered quietly to himself, watching Serena sleep peacefully, breathing against the tree.
Ash smiled a little and then he got up and lifted the sleeping Serena gently in a bridal style up from the ground. He then carefully removed the wreath made by Serena from the girl's hand and placed it on her head.
As he set out to walk slowly back toward their camp, sleeping Serena in his arms, wrapped Serena her arms around him and muttered in her dreams, "Ash... I love you" Her lips had a wide smile at that moment, and Ash thought she was dreaming something she liked.
He smiled at Serena and then pressed a light kiss onto Serena's head. "And I love you, moonflower," he whispered quietly as he continued on his way forward, white petals hovering quietly around him.
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(A/N: Okay, this was the sappiest chapter that I have ever written, but I liked it. And I hope you liked it too :)