Author's Note : Heyyy, I'm back. Sorry for the delay but I was facing some personal issues these past months and it was hard to find time to sit down and write. That being said this chapter could not have been done without Eeveeleah whom I'm now co-authoring with. She is amazing with her ideas so go give her some love!
Before we start :
1) Eeveeleah and I (Mainly her) have created a backstory for Purple Eyes which is included in this chapter
2) I bring up Top Rangers and sort of in light of watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood this week any Top Ranger has a "codename" like Wendy being the Flying Ranger.
3) Be on the watch for a companion fic regarding the Aftermath of Almia, they'll both lead to an overlapping sequal.
Enjoy!
Leanne poked her head around one of the grand pillars holding up the temple that she frequented, and frowned.
He - her friend, David - was usually around here somewhere. He always like the Snowpoint temple, and Leanne had to admit she understood its appeal. A huge, ancient temple with countless legends surrounding its origins and contents . . . who wouldn't want to explore and figure out the mystery behind it?
She let out an annoyed puff of air and turned on her heel, a dangerous act, considering the stairs surrounding the temple, the only part of it really open to the public, were covered in a sheet of ice. But she had done this many times before and made her way down the steps with ease once again, huffing and tugging her scarf tighter around her neck.
She had already checked the library, even the attic, where they snuck up sometimes when nobody was looking. She had checked in with his aunt and uncle, by the docks, and even that one groove of pine trees with the icy rock on the outskirts of town. And now their usual spot was empty, the smaller stairs on the right side of the temple near the front, so where . . . ?
Oh, she hadn't checked the lake yet. He loved the allure of Uxie.
Hopping down the last step, she briefly surveyed the snow-cleared path (thank Arceus it hadn't started snowing yet) before doing a double take and looking more closer at the snowbank piled up by the left side of the temple. Though it wasn't obvious at first glance, there was a set of footprints going through it.
Aha, Leanne thought, quickly clambering over the snowbank, stumbling over her thick skirt. He must've wanted to be alone for a bit, but she knew that would only result in self-degrading that he didn't deserve.
As she nearly fell face first into the snow trying to reach the bottom, Leanne noticed how the tracks stayed close to the side of the building, then suddenly stopped. So he hid in the niche in the side of the building the two of them had found last year, when it was a particularly warm spring and they were able to wander more freely and explore areas that would have been very difficult otherwise.
Following the tracks clumsily, due to David's tracks being more set apart than her own, Leanne finally reached the crack in the wall about two-thirds of the way down, stopping at the entrance.
When it appeared to be devoid of anybody, Leanne whispered, "David?" She knew about the boy's ability to blend in with his surroundings and go unobserved if he so pleased.
After a moment of silence, a figure shifted and whispered back, "Leanne?", clothes ruffling. Leanne ducked under, only barely making out his pale features in the dim light they had. It was getting late, after all.
Curling up so she had a better position on the fairly non-snowy ground, she said softly, "I'm sorry I wasn't in school today, Mom rescheduled by doctor's visit and didn't tell me until this morning." More silence. "I heard you had a bad day."
After a minute of no response, David finally said, "It was nothing. Just those guys being douches again."
Leanne let out a huff, eyebrows furrowing. "David, you know that's a lod of bull. You're almost never back here unless you really want to be alone for a while." She paused, thinking, then added on, "... They were teasing you about your eyes again, weren't they?"
"... Yeah. And they're right. They're weird and freak people out."
"No, they aren't." Leanne reached out a tentative hand and brushed back the flop of dark hair he always pulled over his eyes whenever he became extremely self conscious of the rather unusual eye color. "They're unique, and they define you. I like them." Another pause. "And your hair color matches your eyes, just like mine. At least you didn't get some combination of bright pink and orange."
David let out a short laugh, but it was enough to let Leanne know he felt better. He always seemed to feel better when she was around, anyways. He tilted his head in her direction. "You really like them?"
She grinned in response. "Really."
He turned to look at her fully, and with the amount of light hitting his face, Leanne could clearly see the brilliant purple eyes of David.
xXx
A little while latter, Leanne found her self walking down one of the cold, frosty streets of Snowpoint city. David was at her side, slowly dragging his feet through the snow as he followed. She managed to cox him out of his little crag in the temple's wall and convinced him to come with her to take a stroll through town.
A small winter festival celebrating the mystic ice bird pokemon Articuno had taken hold of Snowpoint earlier that morning. The usually desolate streets were teeming with street vendors selling all sorts of colorful memorabilia.
Leanne hooked her arm around David's like how she seen her parents and older couples do and grinned. "See, isn't this better than crouching in that hole all by yourself?"
David aloud himself to smile slightly. "I guess so." He brought a hand up to his dark hair and pointedly tucked it behind his ears so is eyes were visible. Leanne took pride in him having the courage to ignore his fear and let the world see his unique eyes.
Riding that wave of admiration for her friend, Leanne leaned up to kiss him in a purely platonic way on the cheek. "Lets go look at the vendors."
For a moment David stood still as Leanne tugged him in the direction of on of the stalls, his normally pale skin flushing a faint pink. He stayed ridged and unmoving until Leanne gave an other yank on his arm.
"C'mon," she said, oblivious to what he was feeling.
"Y-yeah." He answered.
Leanne guided them to a small, little venue selling a variety of jewelry. Necklaces, pendants and charms hung from racks and rings of all sizes with different stones and gems were displayed in a glass case in front of the merchant. Beautiful gold, yellow and green feathers decorated the awning. On closer inspection, the feathers were claimed to be Lunar Wings from Crescilia, bought with the purpose of keeping bad dreams away.
"Maybe I should get one of these." Leanne said, standing on her tiptoes to cup one of the pretty feathers in her palm. David shook his head.
"Those are obviously fakes." Both Leanne and the shop owner turned to look at him.
"Come again young sir?" The old man running the shop said. "I assure you these are one hundred percent authentic."
"Crescila is never depicted as a winged beast in myth and legend so why would it molt feathers?" Leave it to David to find fault in something with archeology as a backup.
"Calm down David, its just ment to be art." Leanne touched his arm with a gloved hand and tugged at his jacket.
"He's trying to sell a lie Leanne."
Leanne watch as the old man turn red in the face, looking as if he was about to yell at David. She had to play peacekeeper in order to stop them making a scene.
"Lets just look at something else shall we?" She said. Thankfully an other customer caught the shop owner's attention and she pulled David to the rack of necklaces. "See any pendants you like?"
David shrugged and glanced back at the man like he wanted to continue the argument. Deciding to firmly put the idea out of his mind, Leanne gave him a swift yet gentle slap to the cheek.
"Erm, yeah. Sorry." He mumbled. "How about this one? It matches your hair." He pointed to a necklace with a small blue stone in the shape of a triangle.
"Hmm, I like it." Leanne agreed. She took it of the rack to look more closely at the price tag but David pulled it out of her hands.
"This ones on me, to say I'm sorry for almost causing a brawl."
Leanne laughed. "Alright. And thank you, it's very pretty."
xXx
"I don't like the new ranger kid." David growled under his breath.
"You don't?" Leanne asked looking at the boy walk across the street with his red and yellow uniform. He had only been here less than a week and Leanne wasn't entirely sure of his name. Randolph or something.
David shook his head. "He walks around like he owns the place."
"He seems alright to me. Yesterday he offered to carry my library books." She said and waved to the ranger. David scowled as he grinned and waved back before making his way over to them.
The boy looked older than her up close with slight stubble on his chin that matched the raven color of his hair. He was well built too but it was the lopsided grin that really got Leanne.
"Hi." He said. He was still smiling at Leanne and she, much to David's chagrin, return it.
"Hi."
xXx
Nema bounced up and down excitedly on the bed, peering over her mother's shoulder with bright eyes. "Mommy, Mommy, what's that?"
Leanne gently smiled and stood up from where she had been digging around in the depths of her closet, gingerly holding a small, intricately carved box, designs hidden by a thick layer of dust, wood weak and cracking in places. She sat down next to Nema calmly, who had immediately stopped bouncing in favor of staring curiously at the box in her mother's hands.
"Mommy, what is it?" she repeated softly, a small hand reaching out to skim the surface.
Her mother chuckled and brushed away the dust that had accumulated, trying to recall some memory of the box. "I think it used to be my grandmother's. I always had it around when I was younger, and hid all sorts of treasures I could find. Something reminded me of it this morning, and here it is."
"Whoa . . ." Nema was gazing at it, slack-jawed, before resuming her hyper bouncing. "Can we open it can we see what's inside pleeeeease?"
Leanne let out a small chuckle. "Of course we can! If I can just-" Her fingers fumbled with the latch for a moment; it was rather rusty, and Leanne didn't want to risk cutting her finger on it or breaking the delicate box. "Aha!" The latch opened with a small 'click' and she opened it slowly, mindful of the reddened hinges. Nema 'ooohed' and leaned over her mother's arm to get a better look.
The woman smile herself as she beheld its contents. A multitude of scraps of paper, a few old broken pencils, rocks shining in the bedroom light and glazed with Micah and quartz, chunks of small, white stone, and a few old necklaces. As Nema rummaged through the mess, Leanne's smile faded as she caught sight of a faded blue stone, hung on a thin leather cord. It seemed oddly nostalgic. Not quite familiar, but there was something about it that reminded her of . . . someone? An old friend? Not Rand, she could remember that, as down-putting as it seemed.
"Mom, look!" Leanne was snapped out of her thoughts as Nema held something in front of her face. "Where'd you get this from?"
It took a few moments to recognize the thing being dangled in front of her, but soon recognized it as the very same necklace she had just been thinking about. Well, speak of Giratina. "Hm, I was just thinking about this," she mused, rubbing her fingers against the triangular stone. "I honestly don't recall."
"Recall? What does that mean?"
"It's . . . just another word for remember."
"Oh. Okay. Can I keep this?"
Leanne tilted her head in thought. She really didn't remember how she obtained it in the first place. And it match Nema's eyes and hair fantastically, they were practically the same shade of teal, much like how Leanne's had been. "Why not? Just go and wash it off first, alright?"
Nema let out a "Whoo hoo!" and shouted, nearly running down the door in her enthusiasm to find a sink, "Papa, Papa, guess what Mommy gave me!"
She chuckled again, shaking her head at her daughter's excitement. Well, it was to be expected of a five year old, she supposed. But still, he thought that she didn't know who gave her that was nagging at her. She sighed, resignedly standing up to chase after her daughter and make sure it didn't go down the drain. She's probably remember it later while she was translating those documents she found in Booker's basement.
Leanne's eyes fluttered open and she immediately jerked away from the touch of the cold floor, eyebrows furrowing. What a time to dream about those memories, she thought drearily, rubbing her forehead.
She felt sick again, both physically and mentally. Her stomach was in knots from worry and hunger. Purple Eyes had brought her some food but she refused to eat it, she wouldn't give into the mental game they were playing. Rand would be here soon, he replied to the cordinates with "I love you." Absolutely cliché and sappy but it was purely him.
Toying with her wedding band, Leanne pulled the journal that Purple Eyes onto her lap. She ran a thumb along the leather binding before opening the front cover. Something was scribbled in blue fountain pen with messy yet oddly familiar hand writing. Squinting her eyes, she tried to decipher what was written D-something-I-something, it was a real mess.
She froze.
David?
They were quick to leave after Ben got the message. Within ten minutes the life returned to Rand and Summer could finally see the formidable ranger she once knew. He quickly organized everyone; they'd travel by air, him and Ben on Latios and Summer on her Staraptor. Murph would stay and look after Nema.
"Looks like the Shield Ranger is back." Murph said with a glance at Rand who was hugging and saying goodbye to Nema.
"Shield Ranger?" Summer echoed. Murph nodded.
"It was Rand's codename when he was a Top Ranger. Top Ranger's get a second name when they achive their rank." Muph said as he helped her onto Staraptor. "I've been working with Top Rangers for a while now Rand, Wendy, Sven, Keith, Kate - my old buddy Spencer and his fiance just become ones too."
Summer looked back at Rand. Had he really once been a Top Ranger? Yes his styler was much different than her standard model but she just assumed his was outdated, not a Fine styler and he knew a lot about the Union and it's history. But still.
Murph seemed to sense her thoughts. "He doesn't look like it but trust me, when you find whoever took Leanne you'll know why he was once one."
