So this MIGHT just a chapter more anticipated than The Big Reveal(that's what I'm calling the nice little incident in the last chapter). It's probably gonna be an emotional chapter for our heroes, especially our main protagonist, Serena/Serenity. If anyone is unsure about what to call her, just call her Seré,
So anyways, I was talking about the plot and stuff to my mom(she's an english teacher) and she called the situation 'dramatic irony'. It's when the audience knows something that the characters don't. So we've got a lot of dramatic irony here. XD
Amy47101 does not own pokémon, only any OC's mentioned and/or brought into the story. All rights go to their original owners.
o.0.o.0.o
The Adventure Saga
The Reality of Serenity
o.0.o.0.o
Serena literally felt her mind go completely and utterly blank. She couldn't recall how to speak, how to move, hell, she was nervous that she forgot to even breathe. All she could really do was stare up at Leaf like some sort of open-mouthed fool, taking everything in. This world renown woman... this leader of dexholders... this champion was claiming that she was her missing sister?
She couldn't speak. She was afraid of saying something, of loosing control. So she said the only thing she could manage without bursting into a screaming fit of rage or tears.
"Huh?"
"DNA tests." Leaf stated simply, taking the papers from Professor Sycamore and approaching her. She briefly noticed Fire and Dayna holding the professor back, probably to keep him from 'reacting to a situation needing an overreaction', her four friends standing silently, if not awkwardly, off to the side. Gary, like always, was by Leafs side, though this time, not as a translator of whispers or glares, but rather, a supporting boyfriend.
Serena gaped. DNA? Where had they gotten her DNA from?
Leaf held out the papers. Serena took them with a shaking hand, briefly glancing over it. Some of it didn't make much sense, but she saw the word MATCH printed out in big bold letters at the bottom.
"H-How?" she asked. She needed to sit down. She was going to puke at this rate.
"I'm at fault for that." Calem stated, raising his hand and catching the attention of everyone else. "They wanted me to get something with your hair and fingerprints on it. Sorry I stole your hairbrush, Seré."
At that point, she could feel her life crumbling around her. But at those words from her friend, her very close friend, a friend that she had, dare she say, began to love... Serena felt everything around her shatter. Everything she was told... her life... her memories... all of it was a lie? All of it?
She hadn't realized she had turned back to the piano until her hands slammed down on the keys, as if to regain balance. The noise was less than harmonious, a strong, loud, ugly difference to what she had played before. The noise rattled in her head, along with the lyrics of the lullaby she yearned to know the origins of, the lullaby she always seemed to know. But instead of the words being calming and peaceful like she had always imagined them, they sounded garbled and warped, mixed in with the words said over the past... what? Past fifteen minutes? Maybe more?
"Seré?" a hand on her shoulder. She knew the voice. It was his. Liar. He was a liar. Leaf was a liar. Professor Sycamore was a liar and Shauna was a liar and all of them were Arceus-damned liars-!
She whirled around and smacked him so hard that it actually hurt her hand. Calem's head snapped to the side, loosing his balance for only a short moment. This didn't stop her.
"I hate you!" she shrieked. "You ruined my life!"
"Seré..."
"Don't call me that! My name is Serena. Se-re-na! You," she turned to Leaf, shoving the papers into her chest. "Are not my sister, Professor Sycamore is not my uncle, and all of you are crazy! Every last one of you is absolutely insane accept for me!"
And with that, she ran out of the room, out of the building and into the streets of Lumiouse.
o.0.o.0.o
The first thing Serena did was buy a new outfit. She didn't want the clothes, as cute as they were, that Calem bought her. So she stored them deep into her PC, and bought a pleated kilt skirt in black and gray, a tie-neck blouse, pulled on her gray socks and black mary janes, then shoved a black fedora on her head with a silver star pin, uncaring of the fact that the fedora was from the boys section.
Did she care that she pretty much wasted all her savings on this single outfit? No. Now she blended in perfectly with the Lumiouse crowd. And money wouldn't be an issue. All she had to do was cream all the gym trainers and Clemont in the gym, and she'd be set. If she desperately needed money, she'd go cream some of the rich spoiled brats in that Battle Chateau on route 7.
Still unsatisfied that the impulse buying didn't quell her emotions, she went to the gym, creamed everyone who even thought of looking her dead on in the eye, and earned her fifth gym badge. She was about to go out the doors when a small voice stopped her.
"Are you... Are you okay, Miss?" Bonnie asked.
"Fine." she growled out, turning to glare at the little girl. The look on her face must have scared her, because she scurried back a bit, looking over her shoulder, as if waiting for someone to come and help her. Serena didn't want to look at her anymore, she walked out the gym doors, stomping through the streets of Lumiouse, trying to find a small place vent or stew or something.
She found what seemed like a small square with a green, prism-like statue in the middle, completely void of people.
She stared at her Halo Caster as it rang again, gym badges glinting brightly off of it. It was Calem again. She let it go to voicemail, waiting until she heard his voice leave a message.
"Please pick up, Serena! I'm so sorry! I really, really need to talk to you! Please!"
"Calem! This guy said he saw someone fitting her description go into the boutique!" she heard Gary say in the background. Then a click, indicating that he had hung up, finishing his voice message.
Her phone's been exploding since she ran out of the lab.
Suddenly, it rang again, and she snapped, answering, not even glancing at the contact.
"Stop calling me for Yveltal's sake!" she screamed into the phone.
"S-Serena?!"
Oh, Zapdos strike her down.
It was her mom.
Or Grace.
The woman who posed as her mom?
Honestly, she didn't even know anymore.
"Serena, baby, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong? What's wrong?!" Serena suddenly screamed, the full reality of what was going on hitting her. "I just found out from Professor Sycamore and Leaf Green that I'm Serenity Green! The missing Serenity Green from over fourteen years ago! Who the hell are you? Because tests are saying you aren't my mom and... and..." then she broke down.
"Serena, baby, listen-!"
"No, I will not listen!" she screamed. "I won't! I won't listen! What did you do?! Did you and dad plot to kidnap me or something?! 'Cause judging by what happened in the last few hours, this was no adoption! What's going on?!"
"What did you do? As in, the both of us?" Grace suddenly seethed. "Don't you dare lump me in with him, Serena!"
"Well, you obviously had a part in it, right?! She... I went missing fourteen years ago, making she or I two! With the DNA tests, there's no way I'm your legitimate child!"
"Your father just showed up with you one day, saying it was a favor for a friend who was rocky with money. They wanted us to take care of you for a while they tried to get back on their feet!" Grace yelled. "Then he said they died in some horrible boat accident leaving you an orphan! At that point, my racing career picked up, so I didn't question it! Out of the kindness of my heart, I raised you as if you were my own daughter! How was I to know he kidnapped you?!"
"You could've looked into it! At least have told me that I was adopted, if that's what you wanna call this fucked up situation!"
"Serena, language!"
"Don't you dare lecture me you... you fake! You're a fake!"
"I am not! Serena, I love you like you're my own daughter! Please, please...!"
"No. I don't want to ever talk to you again."
And then she hung up. She barely felt any satisfaction from the action, though, only more frustration and sadness. So she threw the Halo Caster. Why? Because she felt like it. Then she felt guilty about throwing the innocent Halo Caster went over and picked it up. On her way back to the stoop, the ting buzzed in her hand, ringing. She knew what that meant. It was a call. Had her friends top trying to video message her and resorted to calls? She didn't care. She really, really, really needed someone with her right now, someone to talk to, someone to keep her from thinking. She knew if she thought anymore on the subject, she would surely go insane.
So she sat on the stoop and immediately picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked, holding it against her ear.
"This is a recorded message from an inmate in a Hoenn prison. Do you accept any charges should you be running a prison scam via phone and/or providing information to previously mentioned inmate?"
She was silent for a good thirty seconds. He was calling her? How had he even gotten this number? From Grace, no doubt, but... but...
"Yes." she said, not even thinking about it. He would provide more answers.
"Serena!" her, well, father said. "These prisons are just so stingy about the rules. Wouldn't let me talk to you unless your mother gave me permission! I got this number about a month ago, and still!" he sighed. "How're you doing, kiddo?"
"Tell me the truth." she immediately demanded.
"The truth?" his voice came out clipped. "I told you. I had a little to much to drink, saw a girl, and stuff went down." he paused. "I didn't kill her or anything."
"Not the about the assault!" she said, tears forming. "Tell me the truth about my origins! I know I'm not your legitimate child!"
A long moment of silence. Then he spoke.
"I should have told you sooner Serena. I had friends who fell on hard times. They couldn't afford to care for you, so rather than having Social Services take you, they asked me to care for you." a chuckle. "Your mother was so happy. She adored the thought of raising a child since she couldn't have children, you know?"
"Cut the crap, I know that's a lie." Serena hissed through her blubbering. "Because I... met my biological sister today, and she and her family spent fourteen years searching for me. That doesn't sound like a family who couldn't afford me."
A pause.
"Then she's obviously lying."
"That's how it always is with you, isn't it?!" Serena screamed into the caster. "Always 'It's not my fault' or 'I can't help it' or 'they don't know what they're talking about' or some bullshit like that!" her voice dropped to a deeper tone as if trying to impersonate him. "It's not my fault there's no jobs open. It's not my fault I drank to much. It's not my fault that I came across some random woman walking home at night and almost beat her to death because of rejection!"
"I was drunk!" he defended.
"Fuck you." she spat.
"I'm still your father! I raised you!"
"You got arrested when I was twelve and you kidnapped me." she sobbed. "You didn't raise me, you kidnapped me, you bastard."
And then there was a dial tone. She blinked, checking the time, seeing a half hour has passed. At least he had the balls to stay on the phone for the full half-hour. The Halo Caster fell from her fingers as she curled downwards, forehead nearly touching her knees. It was his fault. It was all his fault and... and...!
Something suddenly fell over her shoulders. She jolted, looking up to see a black trench coat dress. She was eyeing it up at the boutique earlier, but she essentially wasted all her money one what she was wearing now. Slowly, she looked up at who had given it to her. She expected Shauna with Trevor trailing behind her, or maybe Professor Sycamore, considering how freaking emotional he is. Hell, somewhere in the debts of her shattered heart, broken spirit, and muddled mind, she prayed Calem would be standing there.
But no.
Standing there, head bowed and arms crossed behind her back, was Leaf Green.
A long silence.
"Hey." Leaf said.
"Hey." she responded.
"It gets cold here at night." she stated.
"Night...?" she glanced up at the sky, and saw the sun setting, streetlights coming on. "Oh."
"Yeah."
"How did you find me?"
Leaf wordlessly held out a single pokéball. Serena flinched upon seeing her Pidgeot sitting in there. Seeing the reaction, Leaf tucked the pokéball away again.
Serena tugged at the coat.
"What's this for?"
"Um, a reunion gift. I kind of bought the entire ensemble. Boots and hat included." she said
"Boots and hat?"
"I had it put in your PC. I hope you don't mind Gary hacking into it." she averting her gaze. "I wanted to give Serenity something when we met up again. I kind of have souvenirs from region, each one bought with hopes of meeting her again." a silence. "As you can probably guess, I was excited."
"Some reunion." Serena muttered, recalling her actions.
"I can say it wasn't exactly how I planned it." Leaf stated, taking a few steps forward and sitting beside her.
"Bet you didn't expect your little sis to be such a brat."
"I wouldn't say brat." Leaf stated with a sigh. "You obviously haven't heard word of Gary in his younger days."
"He couldn't have been that bad if you fell in love with him."
"I suppose."
Another silence.
"So what're they like?" Serena asked.
"Who?"
"Our parents."
"Oh. Well..." she trailed off thoughtfully. "Our Mom, Flora Green, is a gentle yet strong woman. She's been through a lot. Every hardship we encountered, we faced together."
"And our Dad?"
"He was the greatest person I ever knew." Leaf said quietly. "He's dead, though."
"O-Oh." Serena swallowed. "I'm sorry."
"I should be apologizing." Leaf stated. "I just told you your whole life was a lie and your actual father was dead."
"Do you have a picture?"
Leaf smiled at her eagerness, then shuffled through one of the pockets on her belt. She suddenly pulled up a laminated picture, showing A man with dark brown hair and glittering green eyes standing next to a woman with honey-brown hair and warm gray eyes. The woman had her hands on the shoulders of girl who obviously was Leaf while the man had a little girl on his shoulder.
"That's Obsidian, our father." she said, pointing to the man. "That's our mother, Flora. And obviously you," she pointed to the small girl. Her finger moved to the other girl. "And me. This was taken shortly before dad was killed and you were taken."
"He was killed?!" Serena gasped. Leaf nodded solemnly.
"Team Rocket." she stated simply. Serena nodded, understanding not to push the question further. Serena looked at the picture again, then giggled.
"Looks like the gene pool got split down the middle." she said.
"That's not true." Leaf said, shaking her head. "You got Dad's smile."
"Did I?" Serena asked. Leaf nodded. "That's... pretty cool."
A pause.
"How'd you get my DNA?" she asked.
"When you were a kid and you first met Uncle Sycamore, you had your hair in braids. He said they were so cute that he wished her could take them home with him." she smiled, a small laugh coming out. "Needless to say, your two-year-old mind took that a bit to literally."
"And he kept them all that time?!" Serena asked through giggles.
"Probably as a reminder. He thought you were Arceus's given gift to the world."
"Heh, favoritism much?"
Leaf smirked.
"Tell me about it."
A silence as the two shared a smile.
"What should I call you?" Leaf suddenly asked. "Should I call you Serenity or..." she trailed off, awaiting an answer.
"I..." Serena paused, mulling over her options.
She could practically imagine the publicity if it suddenly came out that she had proof she was Serenity Green. The press would be exploding, maybe even more so than when Leaf was crowned champion. She had always wanted great fame like that. But... she also knew that this great fame only stemmed from the fact that she was Serenity Green, related to Leaf Green. She wanted to be famous for herself.
"I want to be Serena, a little while longer." she said, glancing at Leaf. "I don't want to be famous or anything for being 'Serenity Green, missing sister of Leaf Green'. I wanna be famous for being Serena."
"A plausible reason." Leaf stated.
"Just a little longer." Serena sniffled. "I know this is going to blow up like crazy once it gets out, and I want the peace to last a little longer."
Leaf comfortingly wrapped her arms around the girl, a hug that Serena didn't reject, but returned.
"I understand, Seré."
o.0.o.0.o
Calem
Calem
Calem
Calem
Shauna
Trevor
Shauna
Tierno
Tierno
Shauna
Shauna
Shauna
Tierno
Tierno
Trevor
Shauna
Shauna
Shauna
Trevor
Trevor
Trevor
Trevor
Trevor
Trevor
Trevor
Calem
Calem
Calem
Calem
Trevor
Tierno
Calem
Calem
Calem
Calem
Serena flicked through all the missed calls on her Halo Caster the next morning, suddenly feeling very depressed and very, very guilty. No doubt Shauna forgot to charge her Caster again, and begged Trevor to use his. The redhead would have caved in easily, and Tierno was probably trying to do damage control.
And Calem...
Arceus, she hit him hard. She knew she did because immediately after rushing into the boutique and into the dressing room to change, she had spent a good three minutes wit her hand pressed against the mirror, cursing the burning, stinging sensation spreading through her palm. No doubt his cheek felt any better.
"You have sweet friends."
She blinked, rolling off the bed to look at Leaf. She had bought her a hotel room for the night, calling Gary and telling them that both Serena and herself were safe and sound, but needed some alone time. After that, her Halo Caster exploded with calls again, all of which she continued to ignore.
Leaf strode across the room- she never simply walked, Serena had learned- and held out a package wrapped in pink paper, donned with a pretty black and silver bow. No doubt this was the work of Shauna.
"I went back to the lab today. Tierno told me they pooled their money together for this a while ago, wanting to celebrate your friendship or something, but there never seemed to be an opportune time to give it to you, with all of you, together." she sighed. Serena felt another pang of guilt as she took the present, slowly unwrapping it.
If she weren't feeling so guilty, she might have laughed. It was a high-waisted dress, the skirt blue, the top white, and the collar black, almost an exact image of the dress she wore when she first met them. With it was a blue cycling cap with a white band, matching the dress perfectly.
"Shauna was probably really excited for this." Serena whispered.
"Calem was the one who suggested it." Leaf stated, crossing her arms. "Tierno said that it took a while for them to actually order the outfit online due to it's rising popularity in Snowbelle City."
"Oh Arceus." Serena murmured.
"I'm going to give you a piece of advice." Leaf stated, sitting beside her. "Go to them."
"Calem hates me." she muttered.
"He doesn't." Leaf smiled.
"How could he not?" Serena asked. "I hit him, really, really hard. And I said I hated him, and he ruined my life..."
"Do you honestly think that he would go and hate you for something so small? No doubt he feels more guilty than hateful."
"I didn't mean too..."
"I know. It's been stressful for you." Leaf paused. "Don't do what I did. Don't go isolating yourself. It won't help you. It makes... everything worse."
There was a heavy silence as the two sat.
A sharp blare of music suddenly rang out.
"I'm coming home, I'm coming home. Tell the world I'm coming home. Let the rain, wash away, all the pain of yesterday..."
"Is that the original or part two?" Leaf asked as Serena fumbled with it.
"Part two." she answered.
"I love that song."
Serena laughed softly.
"Me too." she answered the Halo Caster. "Hello?"
"Oh!" Trevor's face appeared surprised, as if he wasn't expecting an answer. "You answered."
"Yeah."
"Hello."
"Hi."
A long silence. Serena never much talked with Trevor, outside of pokémon and pokédex's, so she honestly didn't know what to do to continue the conversation.
"How have you been?" it was an innocent question, surely, but Trevor looked as if he suddenly committed a horrible crime, like he shouldn't have asked the question. "Listen, um, Tierno's worried sick and Shauna's been crying all night. Calem hadn't slept a wink and..." he trailed off.
"I bet that was beneficial to you." Serena stated offhandedly.
"... Huh?"
"Did she cry on your shoulder all night?"
"... That's none of your business." he stated, though his face heated up nearly to the color of his hair, saying otherwise. Serena smirked at that, but quickly regained her composure.
"Listen, lets all meet on Route 14." she said. "There's a few things that needs to be settled."
o.0.o.0.o
Serena gently rocked back and forth on the swing, the toe of her black, lace up boots being the momentum to push her on the swing, her pigtails swaying slightly. Turns out the other gifts from Leaf to go with her new jacket was black lace-up boots that went to her knees and a black beanie, both of which she adored. She had on the dress that she got from her friends, gray thigh-high socks under the boots, her black purse over her shoulder and the blue hat on her head with a the black star pin that Calem had gotten her yesterday. A small sign that she wasn't angry at him anymore.
She stared at the gate, waiting for her friends. She needed to get this out of the way. She needed clear things up with them. So she waited, gently swinging on the swing.
What happened next was rather humorous. As she continued to swing, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, she heard a slight rumbling. It was small at first, barely hearable, then...
"SERÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ!"
For a moment, all she saw was brown, realizing it was Shauna's hair, her arms latched around her neck, a crying mess. Trying to keep herself from falling off the swing, Serena patted her back comfortingly.
"Hey, Shaunee." she said.
"I'm sorreeeeeeeeeeeee!" she wailed.
"You didn't do anything."
"Hey, Shaunee, you're gonna knock her off if you keep this up." Trevor chuckled. Shauna blinked, then stepped back, wiping her face off with the back of her hands. Serena took in their appearances, blinking. Shauna's eyes were red and puffy, an obvious sign she spent a lot of time crying. Trevor's clothes were slightly disheveled, most likely from Shauna and her crying fits. Tierno looked extremely relieved, but exhausted, like he had spent the night trying to keep everyone else from loosing it.
Calem... looked a little worse for wear.
He was wearing the same clothes from yesterday, slightly wrinkled here and there, indicated that he most likely slept in them. He had dark circles under his eyes, meaning that any sleep he had was either restless or he hardly got any sleep at all. On his cheek was a bruise blossoming purple and blue. Serena could feel herself wince. She really did hit him hard.
"Hey, so..." she pushed off the swing, standing up. "I'm... sorry about yesterday, okay?"
"Why are you apologizing?" Shauna sniffled.
"She's right." Trevor stated. "We essentially conspired with our seniors to do all this."
"We should be apologizing." Tierno nodded.
No one really said anything for a moment. Calem suddenly crossed the distance and Serena suddenly was looking over his shoulder, his arms around her in a hug.
"Crap, Seré, I'm really, really sorry they I stole your hairbrush and essentially started all of this, but you scared me half to death when you didn't answer the caster."
Serena felt her gaze soften.
"Sorry." she murmured.
"Hey, I'm sorry." he said, pulling back and flicking her forehead. "Stop apologizing for reacting the way any normal human would react."
"Heh, yeah."
"But wow, you're actually wearing it." he grinned, turning to Shauna. "Look, Shaunee, she's wearing that dress you picked out for her!"
"Really?" she blinked, looking back over what she was wearing. "Oh, wow! It looks really great on you Seré!"
"I know." Serena grinned.
"So, hey, what did you do all that time you were gone?" Tierno asked. Serena shrugged.
"You know, what all girls do when they're upset. Impulse buy, take their anger out on someone else, and yell needlessly at people on the phone."
"Who called you that you actually answered them?" Calem asked.
"Grace." she said simply. Everyone thought about that for a moment, then realized she was talking about the woman who raised her.
"What did she have to say?" Trevor asked.
"She said she had no idea, that my dad just picked me up from a friend because said friend couldn't afford to raise me." Serena said. "Said friends 'died'," she put air quotes around the word. "In a boating accident and instead of letting Social Services take me, they decided to raise me."
"Which is total bullshit." Calem stated.
"Yep." Serena said, crossing her arms behind her head. "Then my, well, I guess you could say my dad, called from prison."
"Prison?!" Shauna exclaimed.
"Yeah. He got arrested for assault when I was twelve, and is serving his time in Hoenn. Grace divorced him a bit after that and we hopped around doing Ryhorn competitions." she paused. "He told me the same story my mom did, but he's a chronic liar, so I'm not surprised. He probably believes his own lies."
"Asshole." Calem muttered under his breath.
"So now what are you going to do?" Trevor asked. "No doubt you're going to have to move back to Kanto with Leaf."
A heavy silence.
"You're right." Serena stated. "But I'm going to be staying as Serena a little longer. I feel like finishing this journey before the whole damn world throws a fit about Serenity Green being found."
"I like your thinking!" grinned Calem. "So what now?"
"I know!" grinned Shauna. "Let's go to the scary house!"
"Scary house?" Serena asked.
"It's just some silly legend." Trevor said, rolling his eyes. "Hardly worth the time. I heard it was a huge letdown."
"It can't be that bad though." Tierno mused. "It's called the scary house for a reason, right?"
"Right!" Shauna exclaimed. "That's the spirit, Tierny!"
"But I never said I didn't wanna take a look!" Trevor suddenly exclaimed. Shauna simply beamed.
"Yay! L'il T's in!" she grinned pumping her fist in the air. "What do you say, Cal? Seré?"
"I'm up for a little adventure." Calem shrugged. "Seré?"
"Er..." Serena trailed off. She didn't like scary things that much, but Trevor said it was a huge letdown, right? Couldn't be that scary.
So she smiled, and nodded.
"Okay."
o.0.o.0.o
Wow, this ended up being a long chapter. I believe Serena unintentionally went through the five stages of grief.
Anyways, I put a new poll up on my page. Gary and Leaf are having a girl! But what, I wonder, shall she be named? I posted fanart on my facebook, so if you want to see what she'll look like as a teenager, make sure to check it out and make sure to vote!
Amy47101 signing off! ^.^