Day: 2
Time: 55 minutes
Prompt: seeking solace
Theme: spring
Words: 244
Before Champion Lance guarded the continent, before Team Rocket was a name anyone had heard (let alone feared), before Pallet was more than two or three houses in a grove near the sea, there had existed a tree.
There were many trees around, of course; much of Kanto's unexplored surroundings was forest, and Pallet in particular was surrounded by them. And this tree was not much different—it was no older or grander, had no wise old gnarls or hollows so revered in fairy tales—but it was significant to the people who made it their own.
At its base was where they had met, neither tall enough to grasp the budding branches. Against its trunk was where they sat and traded sandwiches from their mothers. Among its leaves was where they had vowed friendship forever. Under its canopy was where they had shared their first kiss.
And now, between the roots was where half of the pair sat, alone in the shadows cast by the waxing moon. Perhaps she was comforted by the familiarity of the tree and the memories it stirred; perhaps the empty space beside her struck loneliness into her heart.
The tears pooling in her eyes confirmed that it was the latter.
(A ways off, the other half of that pair shifted in his sleep. He dreamt of a lean tree, warm chocolate eyes, and something that could have been love.
He woke with a hollow ache in his heart.)