Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters
"Gold you get down here!" Crystal screamed as she chased after him. She knew she was going to regret the decision but hoped that she would be able to keep him from using his powers. She was wrong. He continued to walk on the air, leaving a trail of acrylic paint behind him that blended into the sky to create a stream of star dust.
"You're no fun SuperSerious Gal. How 'bout you come up here with me?" Gold held out his hand to her but she didn't take it. She didn't know what would happen if she took his hand. She didn't even know the full extent of his power to predict what he could do. While his smile was easy and attractive, his carefree attitude didn't fit into her well design life.
"If you don't listen to me then I'll throw you out on the street!" She threatened and he turned sharply to her. He looked into her eyes to see if she was serious and debated how much he could tease her. She let out a relieved breath when he drifted down from the ground to walk beside her. "I want to help you but you're making it difficult for me."
"I am the least difficult person I know," Gold pretended to be offended but couldn't keep a fake grimace on his face for long and burst out laughing. He was never overly serious and thought that he worked best when he was relaxed. Why work on something unless he enjoyed it? "I already said that I'm not going to cause you too much trouble and I always keep my promises."
"I think the problem is that we have a different definition of what 'too far' is." Crystal said under her breath. He only shrugged and placed his hands on the back of his head as if he didn't have a care in the world. She studied his profile as they walked and wondered what he was thinking as he was looking up at the sky. "May I ask you something?"
"You just did sweetie," His words weren't condescending like she thought the phase would be, instead they were teasing. He smiled and she could only flush. She didn't know why a smile so easily given was also warm. It shouldn't affect her as much as it was doing now and she told herself that it was nothing more than her base nature getting the best of her. "Don't be so silent. What did you want to ask?"
"I wanted to know what inspired you to paint the stars. I can't imagine a world without them and here I am talking to the man that created them. If you stop painting them, what will happen?" Crystal clutched her hands around her bag and stared up at the sky. For the first time she looked up at the sky, she thought she saw strokes of gold paint edging them.
Gold saw the sparkle in her eyes and wondered if he would ever paint a star as beautiful as the ones in her eyes. Her happiness was pure and it was his stars that made them. He needed to find his muse soon so she won't lose those stars. The gods could easily find another painter to replace him but he would be damned before he let anyone paint the stars he created.
"The gods were the first to create the beauty of this world," He told her truthfully since she looked so worried. He might hate the thought of someone else painting his stars but she might take comfort in it because she wouldn't lose her stars. "Once they lost interest in creating things, they pushed the duty onto a selected few. Every time a painter lose inspiration, they just find another painter to replace them. So there will always be someone to paint the sky."
"But I'll know that they're not the stars I love," Crystal whispered so low that an ordinary human wouldn't have heard her but he did. He remembered the chart of stars in her room and wondered what caused her to be so dedicated to capturing each one. Even if she was very different than him, she had the same goal he had when he was human. The stars made him happy so he tried to capture them with his paint.
But now they didn't do anything for him. What had changed between then and now? Gold wasn't one to think too deeply on his emotions until they became too overwhelming so tried to distract himself from them. He placed his arm around her and purposely leaned closer to her. "Could it be that you're falling in love with me, SuperSerious Gal?"
"How can something as beautiful as the stars be made by such an arrogant man?" Crystal pushed his arm away. It amused him that he could tease a reaction out of her so easily and how she tried to hide it made him want to do it all the more. Even when he was human he didn't understand why others would try to restrain something as simple as emotions.
"And there's little chance of me falling in love with some strange man that paint stars in the sky. I like my life normal," She crossed her arms and Gold resisted telling her that she invited him to her work. Of course he invited himself and he didn't want to take her kindness for granted. "I thought you said that you wouldn't cause me trouble while you're staying at my house."
"I'll make it up to you I promise! Since you're taking me to your work I'll take you to this really nice restaurant. Whenever I granted a wish in the past, I would visit this restaurant afterwards. I've travelled all around the world but I never tasted soba better than theirs." Gold offered and she didn't know if she should accept.
Firstly, he said that he hadn't visited earth or grant wishes in centuries so the restaurant he might not exist anymore. Then there was the problem of if she had the time to go out to eat since she had a lot of things to do. She looked back to Gold who was still waiting for her answer. She didn't know how he was able to rock back on his heels as he walked but he looked as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"It doesn't have to be tonight," He could see that she was hesitating so tried to reassure her. "I just wanna do something nice for you since you're doing so much for me. I haven't granted a wish in so long and I'm glad that it was you. If it wasn't for your wish, I wouldn't have the opportunity to hide out down here and try to find my muse."
"I don't think I really did anything," Crystal shrugged and he could tell that she meant it by how indifferent her eyes were. She might love his stars but she didn't know how much they meant to him. He wondered if she would ever know what the chance she was giving him meant. "It was really Lyra who made that wish."
"Oh," He didn't know why he was disappointed at the confession since the result was the same. She didn't call on him so it was truly the stars she saw. Not the man. But that was what the gods saw of him too and he was beginning to think that the only ones that understood him were his friends. "I'm here anyways so I still have something to be grateful for."
They walked in silence for a moment and she wondered why he was now walking a respectable distance from her. While their one night wasn't enough to know him entirely, he seemed to be quieter than usual and she wondered if something was on his mind. She didn't know if her answer was the reason but said, "I'm glad that you granted her wish though. Lyra was always better with words than I am."
"I think you're pretty good with them." Gold's shoulders seemed to relax and his smile lightened her heart. "If anything your kick says a heck of a lot when we first met. No one has ever told me to back off that loudly in my life. I've been called a lot of things but I think that was the first time I've ever been called a delinquent before."
"No one?" She echoed in disbelief. He seemed perfectly comfortable with disobeying the gods so she could only guessed what mischief he had committed over the centuries. She only recently met Silver but from his annoyed reaction towards Gold it seemed that he had to put up with Gold's behaviour for years. "You honestly want me to believe that?"
"There was this one kid," Gold laughed at the memory. "It was the very first wish I've ever granted. Ungrateful kid thought I was breaking into his home and pulled a knife on me! Your time is so much different from his."
"What made you start granting wishes?" Crystal asked out of curiosity. She wondered how the custom of granting stars started and this seemed to be the best source to ask. The boy must've wished for something incredible if it inspired Gold to grant it. To her surprise he didn't elaborate and simply shrugged his shoulder instead.
"Boredom." He answered shortly.
"There must be more than that," She pushed him. It was unusual for her to push people for an answer and was something her sister would do. But she found herself curious about the man and wanted to know more about him. He was staring up at the stars and he dangled his paintbrush from the edge of fingers as if he was about to paint he didn't.
"I'm a simple guy," Gold knew that he must be disappointing her but that was the only answer he could give since it was the truth. He had granted as many wishes as he had painted the stars but neither seemed to make him or others happy. He was just a simple man that wanted to paint.
"Well I hope that you won't get too bored while I work because we're here." Crystal said and he looked up at the large building. While it looked cold and dead to him, Crystal's eyes lightened at the sight of it. It was the outside that excite her but it was the inside that inspired her. "Now remember your promise to not bother anyone. If they ask you-"
"I can make myself invisible so you don't have to nag me." He twirled his paintbrush in his hand and laughed as if she was forgetting the obvious. She rolled his eyes since he was quickly becoming accustomed to his behaviour. While she was becoming close to him, she wasn't any closer to understanding his power or their origins. "I'll be a squeaky clean boy scout."
"Why do I feel like you're lying through your teeths?" She mumbled but he didn't look at all insulted by her words. He merely painted the air around him until she couldn't see him anymore. She didn't know if that was better than him being visible because she could only imagine the trouble he would cause being invisible. By God he was the kind of person that would do something like that.
She would feel better if she could see him so she could stop him if he did try and wished for a way to see him. She was shocked when she felt a warm hand on her cheek. Crystal started to back away before she felt him brush his paintbrush over her temple. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she found herself staring into Gold's tawny eyes.
"There," He grinned down at her and touched the glasses he painted for her. He didn't know why but he had been able to read her thoughts even if they were a low hum in his heart. Was it because she had such a connection to his stars that she didn't need them present to make a connection to him? "Those glasses should allow you to see painters even if they create a barrier around themselves."
"Thank you," She touched the constellation he painted to create the glasses. She could feel the heat of each individual star as she took them from her face to study the golden glasses. They were beautiful and shew as shocked that it could be so detailed when he painted it in mere seconds. "I thought that a guy like you would like the advantage."
"It hurts to think that you think so little of me," Gold pouted and placed an arm around her shoulder as he faked a sob. She slapped away his hand when it started to move towards her chest. He kept going back and forth between being kind and being unbearable. "Now let's check out your telescope thing. Maybe that hunk of junk will become my muse."
"Hunk of junk?" She snapped. How dare he call a million dollar telescope a 'hunk of junk'? It was the pride of the planetarium. The only way he could've insulted her more was to call the telescope she made something insulting. "That equipment is the only way we can study the stars without endangering astronauts' lives. It is not junk."
He didn't know that she would be so offended and winced. He never understood technology since he found that it complicated lives as much as it made the world easier. It also made it difficult to see his stars during the night. "If you want to see my stars more clearly, I can always take you to see them myself. I don't know what Red would think about people changing his metal into these cold things."
"You really need to listen to yourself before you talk because you can come off as rather rude," Crystal told him and he shrugged. Gold had never been the one to refrain from saying what was on his mind. He watched her turn away from him and entered the large building. "I need to get to work and I can't stay out here arguing with you."
He had to admit that he was curious about what was inside the building since she said she studied the stars there. He tried to stay silent as he walked down the hall behind her but he found himself curious about the human technology around them. Sure he didn't' like how humans were changing the nature painters created but he wondered how they work.
"What's in that room?" He asked and pointed to where a large number of people leaving. Some looked rather happy while others looked bored so he wondered what was in the room that caused such mixed reactions. Even before she answered, he started to walk towards the room but stopped at the door since he didn't know why there were so many seats in one place.
"That's the projector room where we show people the stars and planets," She answered him and stood next to him. She could see the intrigue in her eyes and hoped that this was a chance to quell his mischievous nature. "We're going to have another showing soon. Do you want to watch? Maybe this is the chance you've been looking for."
"Will you watch it with me?" He took her hand even before she answered and started to pull her inside but she shook her head.
"I need to work but I'll come back in a little while to check on you. This is our last show for tonight so there aren't a lot of people here." She told him and he didn't know why he was disappointed since her reason was perfectly logical. He wanted to hear her opinions on his stars during the show but he couldn't pull her away from her work.
"How am I ever going to survive without you?" He teased and she smiled weakly in response. He was becoming increasingly difficult and she wondered if she would be able to handle him. She motioned for him to sit in one of the plush seats and hoped that he wouldn't cause trouble while she was away. She looked back to see Gold staring blankly at the ceiling as she left.
The show started and the room dimmed before shining to life again. His didn't know how but he found himself in the middle of stars without going back to his home. The lights and colours were vibrant to the point that they looked like fairy dust. There was no denying that the detail was almost perfect and he could recognize his work easily despite it being a human replica.
Yet he found it cold.
The stars were cold and calculated with no heart. A mere mirror of his night sky was all he saw. He thought back to Crystal's simple star chart that held far more love than this flashy display. He was almost insulted that her simple pen and paper copy was better than this display and took out his paintbrush to correct the stars around him.
He raised his paintbrush to the sky but then something stopped him. Fear. Will he lose inspiration until he merely painted cold stars as well? Was this what his stars would become?
"Why is it every time I go back to the human world I end up here," Red sighed. He was sitting in a jail cell. Again. All he did was ask for directions and tried to use his carving knife to create something to repay them for their kindness.
He hadn't come down from his mountain in centuries but the gods had finally given him a task outside of creating carvings in stone. So it wasn't a surprise when he got lost but what shocked him was the fact that he was arrested for doing so. Whenever he was forced to leave his mountain, people seemed determined to keep him caged in a cell.
He was even more disconnected from the world than Gold was. While Gold stayed in the night sky to create the stars, he was able to watch the humans from his perch even if he couldn't interact with them. Red often stayed in the mountains where he carved sculptures with his knife so didn't know the norms of the human world.
Red sighed and leaned back against the cold stone wall. He was powerless at the moment since the police had taken his mantle and carving knife. He didn't want to hurt them and thought they were trying to help him so went along with their demands. He could escape with the minuscule power he had left but that would attract too much attention and anger the gods.
"Someone came and paid your bail," Red looked up to see one of the officers address him. He didn't know who it was since he didn't call anyone and planned to wait until it was night to escape. Once he exited the cell, he smelled a familiar scent and walked past the officer to the front desk where the scent was strongest.
"Red!" He smiled at the sight of the woman before him, Yellow. He hadn't seen any of the other painters in so long and seeing a familiar face after being alone in a cell was a comfort. His art required him to create rocks and stones so he stayed in the mountains while the others had their own home such as Blue who stayed near the sea and Yellow who stayed near the forest.
It had been so long since he seen her and he didn't realize how much he missed her until he smelt her soft scent. She smelled like paper and charcoal, a smell he never thought would be a comfort to a simple mountain man like himself. But she always had that effect on him, the sense of coming home. He cared for the others painter but he was always closest with Yellow.
"I thought Blue and I told you not to use your knife while you're around humans," She whispered softly so the officer wouldn't be able to hear them but Red could hear the worry in her voice. She made sure the officers weren't watching them when she held out his knife to him. "I knew they would take it from you so I had Blue steal it back for you."
"Thank you," Red nodded and took back his knife. He knew that she was much too innocent to steal it herself and remembering her other acts of kindness made him smile. He always admired her since she was powerful yet kind. While some called her weak he thought her powerful. "Where is Blue? I thought she would be here as well."
"She came to steal back your knife but then left since the gods called for her. Blue really wanted to see you but the gods has been monitoring her watercolour art more than usual." She realized that despite their attempts to whisper, the officers were starting to pay attention to them. "Maybe we should go back to the house Blue and I stay at so we can talk in private."
Red nodded and once they left the station they quickly went into an alley to use their powers. Yellow didn't usually wear her mantle in town since it attracted too much attention. If she needed to use her powers she still had her charcoal in her bag. She breathed in quickly when Red pulled her closer to him and wrapped his mantle around them both.
The world became dark for a moment but when he pulled away from her, she found herself in her forest. He was always able to find her forest easily and knew that she lived in an apartment not far from it. He didn't know if it was dangerous to teleport closer to her home but had to admit that he enjoyed being in her forest so didn't mind walking the distance to her home.
"Are you okay?" He asked when she staggered back from him and placed a gentle hand on her arm. She blushed at the touch but told herself not to become nervous. Red was her friend so she shouldn't be anxious around him but it seemed like he always evoked an unnamed emotion in her. He looked relieved when she nodded but told herself that any caring friend would look the same.
"It's been awhile since we've been in this forest," He reminisced for a moment before he remembered what the reason he came down for the mountain.
Red wished that it was because he had the time to visit since it would give him more times to spend with his friends but that wasn't the case. He had asked Blue and Yellow for a place to stay but never told them the reason he needed to stay. They said that he couldn't stay in their apartment since there was simply no room but Blue offered to find a place for him to stay.
"You can wait in our apartment until Blue comes back. I'll make you something to eat as well," Yellow offered and he nodded. They started to walk together with a respectable distance between them that felt too far for both but neither was sure if they should close that space. "May I ask why you're looking for a place to stay? I'm glad but usually the gods won't let you come down for more than a day."
"I've been ahead of my work so they've given me another assignment." Red sighed and she wondered why he sounded so resigned. "They've been worried about Gold so one went to check on his work but found that he's been neglecting him. They know that he came down to earth but doesn't know where and they want me to find him."
Something in his voice told her that Red was keeping something from her and she feared that she already knew what it was. She knew the penalty for defying the gods and feared for Gold. She didn't say anything since she knew where he was but didn't want the gods to punish Gold. Blue had already told her about his situation and now she felt caught between wanting to help her friend.
She wrung her hands together and the guilt she felt kept her from saying anything more. The two walked on in silence and she hoped that Gold would find inspiration before she had to choose between two close friends.
Man I don't like anonymous reviews because I can't reply to them. And what I want to say is: STOP ASKING ME FOR UPDATES. What really irritates me is when someone tells me when to update. I already went on a rant on my tumblr but please people don't ask me for updates because it hurts my writing more than helps it. When I feel like I'm writing to please others it feels like a job and I don't want it to become that.