Chapter 3
"Good morning, Serena-san." greeted Nurse Joy from behind the counter as Serena approached.
"Good morning…" Serena had to push a smile onto her face; it wasn't easy since it was 4am in the dead of the night and she hadn't slept for very long. With possibly some lag involved, she placed the key as well as the slip of paper on the countertop. Nurse Joy deposited the key into a drawer and proceeded to type something else into the computer, she slotted the paper into a shredder.
"Alright, that's done now." Nurse Joy bowed, "we hope to see you again, Serena-san"
Serena smiled and pulled up the handle of her luggage at her side until a click sound was heard.
"Thank you" Serena replied gently, before taking a quick glance at the Nurse's face which was already slightly pink but her gaze was slightly averted from Serena. She tightened her grip on the handle and began to turn away but stopped when she heard a voice coming from Nurse Joy - A voice that was definitely not Nurse Joys'.
"Do you think you are a good performer?"
Serena spun around, and found herself staring into a shadow instead of Nurse Joy.
"You are lacking of something… you are always lacking…"
Serena felt an icy cold grip holding her wrist down, and she could not pull away from the shadow even though she was trying her best to. The icy grip was pulling her towards the shadow, and she could even feel jolts of chill air down her spine.
I… am not…
The shadow morphed into a face with blackened out eyes and pale skin. But that hair style and the facial features, even the clothes that 'it' was wearing… it was..!
"Serena? Serena!"
Serena felt something warm touching her right arm, and then the voice got clearer as well as familiar. She could smell cold air, but it was different from before because there was the scent of lightly toasted bread.
"Hmm…" with some difficulty, she opened her eyes. Instantly, she knew that she had cried – the corners of her eyes were wet, and her vision was definitely blurry. She blinked a couple of times, and her sight started to clear up.
"Elle…" Serena muttered, addressing the person calling her name in a concerned tone. Serena rubbed her eyes in attempt to get rid of her tears.
"Are you alright?" Elle asked quickly, she placed her hand over Serena's and gripped them tightly.
"Hmm, I think so…" Serena replied but shook her head slightly, "I…can't remember it though..." she added in with an afterthought. She dab the tissue on a tear on the side of her cheeks, it got soaked up immediately. What was with that dream…?
Elle placed her hand on the top of Serena's head and rubbed it gently, "You were crying in your sleep with an expression on your face that…" Serena had little idea about what expression she had made however, she concluded that it must have been awful, seeing that she had worried Elle to such a state.
Serena propped herself up in her seat then shook her head rather quickly. "Elle-san, I… I am feeling alright now…please don't worry…" Honestly, she felt abashed as well as troubled that she made someone worry about her.
"Serena, you…" Elle said softly, and used her fingers to wipe off the last streak of tear on Serena's face. Elle did not finish her sentence, her voice trailed off and Serena did not catch her words. Serena was also slightly distracted; she never had someone else rub her tears away in such a tender way beside her own mother. It would be odd to relate Elle to her mother, if she had to describe it, it would be like how an older sister would act.
Serena blushed a little around the cheeks, and Elle caught on quickly, she too blushed a little and her voice was slightly alarmed. "Ah, look at me; being weird… Sorry, I must have made you a little uncomfortable."
"Eh! It is not! It's just…just..." Serena replied almost immediately, she waved her hands in the air, but clutched it hurriedly, and placed it on her lap. Because of her embarrassment, her tone was just as alarmed "I…just thought that this felt…quite sis…" The rest of her sentences however, was knocked into the horizon, when a tall figure approached them from the front and spoke in a polite and curt manner.
"Excuse me, Elle-san and Serena-san; is there something wrong? Can I assist?"
It was Enoe-san, the head steward of the plane that they were on at the moment.
"Ah! It is nothing; we were just talking and got pretty excited while chatting about it!" Elle replied, retrieving her composure and softer tone as well as she addressed the person.
Serena felt the nervousness drain away from her, ever since she woke up from that dream of hers. She was so preoccupied, that she nearly forgotten where she was at the moment.
Three hours ago, she left Lilycove city by boat and arrived at Hoenn international airport; meeting up with Elle-san who had arrived half an hour before she did. And now…they were on the plane to Alola, as planned.
The voices of both Enoe-san and Elle-san talking politely and professionally were mentally tuned out, as Serena turned her head to the left. She had chosen to sit next to the windows since she was always fond of the scenery of the blue sky whenever she travelled. It gave her a sense of peace, and now…she found herself treasuring this moment of tranquility.
Whatever that dreams was…please just for this moment… let it be washed away…
"I just got the latest update; we will be landing in Alola another three hours' time." Elle voice rang out from behind Serena, but the latter did not respond. Her eyes still fixed on the blue skies and white clouds.
"Serena…"
Hi everyone, thank you for those who have read and liked the story so far. In respond to the only review I received, I have indeed decided that this would be amourshipping since the planning stage of the story. However, I'm also not one to deter away from a good adventure and dramatics. Even though amourshipping; like all other shipping can be full of fluff, I would make a great deal of effort to balance the story. As you can already tell, Ash has not made an appearance in the story. I am focusing on Serena at the moment, establishing her character, thoughts, opinions and personal struggles that grew as she becomes a better performer. Why just Serena at the moment? Well, that would be a secret until another time.
Just a heads up, the Ash that would make an appearance in future chapters will be more similar to the XY and XYZ version. The people he meets in Alola, would be reminisce of those personalities you have encountered in the Sun and Moon games and NOT the anime.
Any changes to Ash's journey in Alola so far will be explained as much as possible in the story. Please remember that this is an adventure for 'this Ash' and 'this Serena', I love the characters as much as you do but we all get to tell our own tales.
Lastly, thank you for all your love and support!
Mushimio