Primary: Diamond & Platinum.

Nightmare:

Diamond sat in a chair in the waiting room of the Berlitz Mansion, waiting. It was 5 pm, the time he promised to take Platinum out for a date. The plan was simple: he would first take her to south of Sandgem Town, towards the ocean specifically. They would take a walk along the cliff, looking into the ocean as the sun would start to set. The sunlight would glisten in a golden hue off the incoming waves, which was guaranteed to be beautiful. Then he would take her somewhere to eat dinner, and then he'd take her to Lake Verity. This time, the reflected moonlight would sparkle on the calm lake water, and it would hopefully create a different mood. From his experience, Diamond had learned that Platinum liked such things.

He was sure that ever since he started to date her about… two years ago, she was wondering when he would do something classic and romantic as taking her to watch the sunset on a cliff. Diamond would have taken her out for that a lot sooner, if he had thought about it. In fact, he wouldn't have thought about it if his seniors didn't suggest the idea; a secret, never to be told to Platinum.

He took a deep breath. The day wasn't going to be hard. Although he took the girl out countless times, he was nervous as always.

"Ah, Diamond, I am sorry to keep you waiting," came Platinum's cheerful voice from behind. Diamond turned to face her. She had her old/classic casual clothes, better known as her adventure attire. Nothing too fancy… perfect for Diamond. "I am ready to go."

He held out his hand, and she took it without the slightest hesitation. She wrapped an arm around his and carrying her purse in the other, followed him out of her mansion, thus starting the date. This time, however, things were a bit more complicated… Due to some tension that Diamond didn't know about, and the fact that the scheduled time of return was near 11 pm, Sir Berlitz had agreed to let Platinum go with him, under one condition: two of the most highly trained guards from the mansion had to follow.

These guards, Platinum explained, were hired/recruited because of the harsh experiences the entire family went through when Sir Berlitz was ambushed and ransom had to be paid to release Platinum from being 'captive' from Team Galactic. Although luckily Diamond and Pearl were there to protect Platinum, Sir Berlitz reasoned that they couldn't be there all the time and hired specially trained bodyguards.

With these guards, Platinum would be safe from whatever danger her father believed was out there, but they sure made the mood of the date awkward. In silence, Diamond and Platinum headed south, both occasionally glancing back at the two guards silently following. Diamond noticed Platinum's discomfort and a frown marring her beautiful face. 10 minutes later, as if an idea suddenly popped in her mind, a smile formed on her lips. She let go of Diamond's arm, which she had been hugging, and pretended to shiver. She turned to her guards, while rubbing her arms with her hands.

"Would one of you go get my coat? It is in my room on the third floor, I believe."

The two guards glanced at each other before one nodded. Although it was posed as a question, their mistress had just given them an order. The one who nodded turned around and ran back towards the mansion. Now with one guard, Platinum hugged Diamond's arm again and continued to walk. About a minute later, she turned to the remaining guard.

"Could you scout ahead and see if there is a suitable restaurant where Diamond and I will be able to eat dinner?"

The guard hesitated, unwilling to leave her unprotected. Sir Berlitz had given him orders to protect and watch over Platinum, but he had now just received an order from her to go find a restaurant. For a brief moment, the guard thought of what he should do. Since Sir Berlitz had assigned him to watch over Platinum, he figured that a part of the duty was to make her feel comfortable, and thereby follow her orders as long as it didn't directly conflict with his outstanding order. Soon the guard left to find a suitable restaurant, like he was ordered to.

As soon as the guard was out of his sight, Diamond felt Platinum pull his arm and run. He understood what she was trying to do and followed her. About 5 minutes later, he caught up with her, who had stopped and waited for him. She was smiling and started to laugh as he came closer. She had a really beautiful smile and she was very cute when she laughed. When he was close enough, Platinum reached forward and kissed him on the cheek.

"We are finally alone, Diamond," she said, returning to her position on his left and latching onto his arm again. Since he was out of breath from the running, he could only nod in agreement.

After a minute of walking, Diamond looked at Platinum. She looked very happy. Seeing her happy made him happy. With his free right hand, he pointed ahead.

"I think we'll be able to get a good view of the sunset over there."

"Over there?" Platinum asked, pointing to a small hill near the cliff with her left hand. "That would be very n… Ah!" she trailed off, ending with a sudden pained yelp.

Surprised, Diamond looked at her. She also seemed very surprised as she let go of his arm and put her right hand onto her left side. Diamond was very shocked when he saw blood on her fingertips as she pulled her hand back. She slowly turned around and looked behind. He turned as well when he heard her gasp.

There was someone standing roughly 20 meters behind them, with a silenced gun in his hand… before either Diamond or Platinum could react, the weapon was fired. The first shot had missed slightly, and it had grazed Platinum's left side. But this shot had hit her just below the rib cage.

Everything seemed to go slow for Diamond. Everything started to slow down the moment the second shot was fired. But the shock and fear had left him immobilized, and he found himself unable to do anything but watch Platinum twitch a bit as the bullet tore its way into her body.

Platinum dropped her purse, which dropped towards the ground along with large drops of blood. Her hands reached up towards her bleeding wound. Before the purse even hit the ground, the weapon was fired again. This time, the shot hit her right shoulder, and she staggered backwards. Diamond snapped out of his trance and caught Platinum in his arms as she fell.

While gasping for air, she looked into his eyes. He held her bloody hand but didn't know what else to do. Just as Platinum was about to say something, a fourth shot was fired, and this one hit her right beside her heart. She winced and tried to scream as blood spurted from the bullet wound. But the only thing that came from her mouth was a mist of blood, not a scream or any sound at all. She had an expression of indescribable pain, which soon disappeared as her arms lifelessly fell to her side…

Diamond snapped awake and opened his eyes. He had that terrible nightmare again. He had the same nightmare countless of times. Just when he convinced himself that it was nothing more than a dream, he had it again. He had the nightmare so much that he was certain that he had memorized everything about it, even to the most trivial details. Such as how many strands of hair was on her face when she smiled at him after evading the guards, how many times faster his heart beat when she hugged his arm, exactly how many steps he had taken before everything started to go wrong.

Unfortunately for Diamond, the more horrible part of the nightmare kept on replaying in his mind over and over. He had memorized everything… no matter how hard he tried to forget about them, the memories of the nightmare came back. He could even draw what happened with perfect accuracy…

Diamond forced his mind away from the memory of the awful scene. He had been covered in blood… not his blood, or some random person's, but Platinum's… blood of his girlfriend… the girl he loved ever since he first saw her. And that was a degree worse than being drenched in his own blood. But it was just a nightmare… just a nightmare; nothing more. This nightmare-phenomenon would eventually end…

He wanted to visit Platinum. After having these nightmares, he felt it important to see her again, to ensure that nothing had happened. Just a nightmare, so nothing would have happened, right?

But no matter how much he wanted to visit her, he knew that he couldn't. He knew that with as much certainty as his answer to his question. He couldn't visit her right now because he hadn't talked to Platinum in a long time, ever since… ever since the hired gun had tried to kill her… and succeeded…

Diamond remembered the answer to his question. Something did happen. There was a reason why he kept having these nightmares over and over… because that was no nightmare. It was an actual event that happened two years ago… the day when Platinum Berlitz was killed; murdered, for some political/economical/whatever reason that he did not know about.

He took a deep breath and looked around, trying to remember where he was. He was sitting in a shade created by a large tree, leaning against an upright rock.

'No, not a rock,' he corrected himself.

He stood up and looked at the 'rock' he was leaning on. It was a tombstone, actually… belonging to Platinum Berlitz. She was buried in the large open field/back garden of her mansion, along with some of her ancestors. Only a few people were allowed into the burial grounds, and as Platinum's 'ex'-boyfriend, Diamond was one of the few. Looking at his 'ex'-girlfriend's grave, he couldn't help but relive her dying moments once more…

The moment Platinum fell motionless, her two guards had returned. The one who was sent to find a restaurant charged at the hired gun while the other ran towards his mistress to check on her condition. The hired gun was reloading when the guard struck, and before long, he was captured. Diamond snapped out of his trance once more when the other guard shook him.

The guard had used Platinum's coat as a makeshift bandage, to try to slow the bleeding. Once the coat had been wrapped around her chest and the hired gun was well tied up, Diamond carefully lifted his girlfriend onto his back and ran as fast as he could towards the nearest hospital. One of the guards led the way and the other returned to the mansion with his prisoner.

As Diamond ran, Platinum's arms dangled lifelessly in front of him. Her head rested against his, and dark blood was trickling from her mouth. The blood started to drip onto his vest. He ran even faster. At this rate, Platinum would certainly die from blood loss, assuming she wasn't killed yet. He couldn't help but feel warmth in his back as yet more blood spilled from the wound in his girlfriend's stomach.

Two hours after being shot, Platinum's injuries have been fully treated and tightly bandaged. The doctors have removed the bullets that were still lodged in the girl's body and gave her the best treatment money could buy. It was a miracle that Platinum had survived the shots and made it to the hospital. But she had lost too much blood and was in shock. Her internal organs have taken too much damage as well… she was going to die.

11 pm…

It had been 4 hours since the treatment was completed. Diamond watched sorrowfully as Platinum slept painfully. She needed a respirator to breathe and other various life support systems. Diamond looked at her heart monitor. Her heartbeats were weak and slow.

The Berlitz family had scattered to contact various doctors and nurses to see if anything could be done to try to save the girl, leaving Diamond all alone with her. He didn't know who would try to kill her. What did she ever do?

All he knew was that a complete moron had been chosen for the murder. The idiot chose to try to kill Platinum in a wide open area, too close to the target and was captured before he could escape. It would only be a matter of time before he found out why the moron had been sent to kill his girlfriend… but he didn't want to know. He knew that whatever the reason was, it wouldn't justify killing her, and it would certainly make him sick.

Suddenly, there was a spike in the heart monitor. Hope rising, Diamond looked. Platinum's heart had started to beat faster, but it was still horribly weak. He looked over at the respirator. Platinum was breathing faster, but were taking shallow breaths. So shallow that it hardly counted as a breath. It was more of a gasp… Much to his surprise, her eyes slowly opened. Her head turned a bit and she looked at him. Diamond's heart sank as he realized that her death was imminent.

"Lady…" he started, tears welling in his eyes.

He noticed something. Platinum's left hand was moving. At first, he thought she was twitching, but he saw that there was a pattern in the movement.

A writing… she was writing something on the bed. Diamond quickly scanned the room and retrieved a sheet of paper and a pen. He showed them to her, asking if she wanted to write something. He could see a very faint shaking of her head. She had no energy to lift up a pen… she could barely move… Even if she could lift the pen, she wouldn't be able to exert enough force to actually write something.

Diamond nodded and he prepared to write. Platinum managed to move her left hand's index finger slightly on her bed to write a letter. Diamond saw the movement and wrote the letter. He asked for clarification as he went along, to ensure that he received her last message.

"Two B's?" he asked. He detected a faint nod. He let her continue writing on the bed.

After a couple of minutes, the message was complete. Diamond frowned as he read it; he didn't understand… "TYFEDIRHFSTWYBBWPWFIWLTTYTILY" Perhaps he had to rearrange the letters? But then… what was the point of that? Perhaps it was a password to something? No, no…

Afraid that that he wrote the message wrong, he hesitantly showed what he wrote to Platinum. But to his surprise, she managed a faint nod. She wrote something again… the last three letters of the incomprehensible message. Diamond wrote them. Was this an acronym? If so, then this was one long message. It was probably very important, so he vowed to figure it out.

He looked into Platinum's barely open eyes. As tears fell from his eyes, her lips formed a very faint and weak smile. Diamond put the pen and paper away and grabbed her left hand… it was very cold. Her eyes slowly closed and tears fell from them as well. Her heartbeats were becoming MUCH weaker…

"No… no, you can't die…" Diamond started.

He saw Platinum struggling as she managed to open her eyes again… just barely. She desperately tried to reach her respirator's mask. Diamond was still holding on to her hand, and noticing her trying to move, let go of it. He could see that she was looking at her respirator's mask.

"Do you… want to remove it?" he asked. He saw a faint nod. "But… you'll die!"

She looked at him sadly. Having spent so long with her, he could somewhat read her thoughts just by looking into her eyes. He could see that she knew her death was unavoidable.

He did as she wished. He took the respirator mask off. Platinum's heartbeats became even weaker. But she smiled faintly and looked at him longingly. He noticed that she was looking back and forth between his eyes and his mouth, and soon knew what she wanted.

"One last kiss…"

Diamond could see Platinum's faint nod. He was on the verge of crying, and he could see that she was too. Again, he did as she wanted. He gently pulled her closer, and after brushing off a few tears from her cheeks, kissed her, one last time. He had his eyes open for a few seconds, and during that time, he could see her looking into his eyes before her eyes closed. The message she was trying to say was clear this time.

"Thank you… and good bye, Diamond…"

Diamond closed his eyes as more tears fell. He didn't want this moment to end… he wanted her to live, and be happy… But before the kiss ended, Platinum's heart monitor flat lined. Diamond pulled back and looked at the heart monitor. Surprised, he looked at Platinum. Her eyes were closed and she was perfectly motionless…

"Lady, no! You can't die! I love you too much!" Diamond yelled desperately, bursting into tears.

But it was too late. Just like that, she was gone… She had woken up and passed away so quickly, as if she had resisted the inevitable death and woken up just so she could deliver her last message.

Diamond sighed as he wiped away the forming tears. He looked up at the sky and sighed again. Words couldn't describe how much he missed Platinum. Her sweet voice, beautiful smile, caring nature, et cetera, et cetera… He felt ashamed that he couldn't save her. He wished that he had taken the bullets instead. Definitely not mentally, but physically, Platinum was weak… she was much, much weaker than him. Therefore, he had a much greater chance of surviving the shots.

Diamond took out a sheet of paper… it still had Platinum's last message. Although he didn't understand what it meant for nearly a year since her death, now, he understood perfectly. A reference to an event… it pleased him to know that it meant as much to her as it did to him. He smiled faintly and neatly folded the paper and put it back in his pocket.

He sat back down and leaned against the tombstone. He spent several hours a day there… it was the closest he could get to the girl he loved so much… and he was sure that she appreciated his visits.

Diamond closed his eyes as he recalled what the message meant. It was the first letter of every word that she said to him on the fateful day in his home party 4 years ago, after returning from Mt. Coronet… Silently, he thanked her again for the message and took a deep breath, dreaming of her, dreaming of the way she hugged his arm, and how good it made him feel… and thinking of each wonderful moment he had with her…

In Twinleaf Town, after Diamond had returned from Mt. Coronet, his mother had prepared a party of his return with various berry delicacies. Cakes, drinks, and other fancy food were prepared, and enough to feed roughly 30 people. The invited guests were easy to determine. The first 7 Gym Leaders, Cynthia, Professor Rowan, Pearl and his father, a few other guests, and of course, Platinum (and her father).

Platinum sat next to Diamond and she seemed rather nervous. There seemed to be something bothering her, and it bothered him too. She seemed to be avoiding eye-contact with him…

As the party ended many hours later, Diamond followed Platinum as she left. He stood in the doorway and watched her walk away, perhaps from his life forever. But she suddenly stopped after just three steps and she slowly turned around. She kept her head down and seemed really nervous. He asked her what was wrong, and she slowly looked at him. What she said next would stick in his mind forever, replaying over and over…

"Thank you for everything Diamond… I really had fun spending time with you. But before we part ways forever, I… would like to tell you that… I… like you… … I love you…"

I do realize that this one is a little confusing, and I do apologize. And about this being tragic, well… when I run out on ideas, I tend to drift towards tragedies for some reason… Anyways, next up is something not tragic.

Next up: Silver & Soul.

Added after SE #024: The Set Up II…

What Could Have Been:

A writing… she was writing something on the bed. Diamond quickly scanned the room and retrieved a sheet of paper and a pen. He showed them to her, asking if she wanted to write. He could see a very faint shaking of her head. She had no energy to lift up a pen… she could barely move… Even if she could lift the pen, she wouldn't be able to exert enough force to actually write anything.

Diamond nodded and prepared to write. Platinum managed to move her left hand's index finger slightly on her bed to write a letter. Diamond saw the movement and wrote the letter. He asked for clarification as he went along, to ensure that he received her last message.

Diamond froze when he realized what Platinum's last message was. It was a simple message composed of 7 letters.

"Good bye…"

Platinum smiled faintly as her eyes slowly closed. Her last tears fell from her eyes and her head fell lifelessly to the side.

Diamond dropped the sheet and pen and clasped Platinum's cold hand. "No, Lady, you can't die! I love you too much!" he desperately yelled, bursting into tears.

But it was too late. Just like that, she was gone. She had woken up and passed away so quickly, as if she had resisted the inevitable death and woken up just so she could deliver her last message.