Disclaimer: Olih: As usual, thank you for such a nice review ^^ Crystal: It's totally me, too ; w ; *hugs you* And you're very welcome ^^ Rosepearl: Thanks for the alert! And thank you for your review : ) Mitsy: Amen allll around. And nope, I really don't think so X D Arthur: Hahaha, thank you : ) Silver: EVERYONE, GO CHECK OUT THETRAINERNAMEDSILVER'S NUZLOCKE, BREAKING BARRIERS.
Question: HEY, HEY, HEY EVERYBODY. I HAVE A NEW STORY OUT- VIOLET HILL: A PMD3 STORY. IT IS A DARKER RETELLING OF THE PMD3 STORYLINE. I WOULD LOVE YOU IF YOU CHECKED IT OUT.
My Answer: Please?
Characters: Crystal-centric.
Summary: What happened to Crystal? I mean, why wasn't she in the remakes? Also, Florence and the Machine is my favourite artist: her songs, especially this one, are gorgeous.
Only If For A Night
~And she was there, all pink and gold and glittering
I threw my arms around her legs
Came to weeping
Came to weeping~
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And there's this underwater place where you and me always used to play.
The water there is perfectly clear, the pixels that make it up the colour of a see-through sky. We would run down there whenever the game shut off, whenever the skies dimmed: it would be the only time when we could be ourselves, and not be controlled like puppets by forces outside of our control. So we would run down there, down to that watery place by our town, and would dive into the water without making a splash. And though the wetness of actual water was lacking, it wouldn't stop us from pretending that we were actual people… if only for a night.
"This is for the best," you whispered one time, your words floating like strings of pearls through the pixelated liquid as light flooded our world. "Really, it is."
I had frowned as we surfaced, unsure of what you meant. You had repeated the line, strong and unshakeable under the light of the internal battery.
Sometimes I wonder if you said that because you knew that that would be the last time that our sun ever rose.
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~And I heard your voice
As clear as day, and you told me I should concentrate
It was all so strange, and so surreal
That a ghost should be so practical~
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Things had gone wrong.
The light of the internal battery had been off for so long, we had forgotten what the sky looked like. The starless sky yawned down us until the word 'day' became a long-forgotten memory, and nocturnal pokemon thrived.
There were other things, too. Like how I could feel eyes watching us- outside eyes, eyes like the ones that used to help control us, back in the day where we were still used as pawns- and how the pixels were slowly rotting, crumbling away like rocks from the tip of a cliff ledge.
But you never crumbled. Not once. You were a pillar of strength, right until the very end.
"This is for the best," you had said, the blue hair of your sprite crackling faintly as it swished. "Really, it is."
Sometimes I wonder if you said that more to convince you than me.
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~And the only solution was to stand and fight
And my body was loose and I was set alight
But she came over me like some holy rite
And although I was burning, you're the only light
Only if for a night~
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They came for us eventually. After years of letting us wait, letting us waste away, they came for us.
They ravaged the land, turning Johto into a parody of itself: the same but different, like an image reflected in a warped mirror. They replaced the pokemon. The people. Everything was rearranged, and nothing was the same.
For the first time in what seemed like a millennia, the internal battery shined down at us, glaringly bright to our eyes.
They paced before us- us, the main characters in this sick game they like to play- and sized each and every one of us up. They cut Silver's hair. They burned down my house, and built a new one in its place. They killed Leaf. They clipped Red's tongue, and exiled him to Mt. Silver. They replaced Giovanni with Green.
And they took you.
I screamed, smashing my fists against the wall of pixels that separated us. You just smiled that small, ageless smile of yours, and stepped up to the outsiders.
"I'll go," you told them, your voice ringing loud and clear over my shouts. "Take me instead of my friends. I don't mind dying if it means that you'll stop this."
"Crystal! Crystal! Crystal!"
You had turned to me, still smiling. "I've already lived my life, Gold," you said. "I've collected all the badges, defeated the champion, and captured all the pokemon. I've fallen in love." Your smile had wobbled at that. "But my story's done now. Believe me, I've had more than enough time."
Then you had repeated that one line. The line that so defined you, so defined us.
"This is for the best. Really, it is."
Sometimes I wonder if I ever even heard that, or if I just expected you to say it: I was too focused on you to notice anything other than you falling, and your sprite disintegrating into a pool of pixels that seeped into the ground without a trace.
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~And the grass was so green against my new clothes
And I did cartwheels in your honor, dancing on tiptoes
My own secret ceremonials before the service began
In the graveyard, doing handstands~
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There are no graves for those that weren't technically alive.
But I build one anyway, right at the spot where you vanished: blossoming berries, the colour of your hair, and crowns of grass that you would probably scoff at if you still could.
When your replacement arrives, I don't let her wear your clothes: I sink them in our underwater place, and tell her to get her own. She's not you. No one can ever be you.
I tell her that she's just a pawn.
She runs away crying, this Kotone girl, but before she escapes I snag her arm and whisper:
"This is for the best. Really, it is."
And then I smile for the first time since you left, because I finally realize what those words mean.
Smiling a soft, ageless smile, I let her go, and watch her run into your old house.
Sometimes I wonder if there was any doubt that I could live without you.
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~"My doe, my dear, my darling
"Tell me what all the sighing's about
"Tell me what all the sighing's about."~
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And there's this underwater place where you and me always used to play.
The water there is perfectly clear, the pixels that make it up the colour of a see-through sky. We would run down there whenever the game shut off, whenever the skies dimmed: it would be the only time when we could be ourselves, and not be controlled like puppets by forces outside of our control. So we would run down there, down to that watery place by our town, and would dive into the water without making a splash. And though the wetness of actual water was lacking, it wouldn't stop us from pretending that we were actual people… if only for a night.
I go there tonight, necklaces of weights strung along my neck and the memory of you causing my feet to drag. I know that you would be disappointed that I am giving up, but you were- are- my home: this place holds nothing for me, nothing but places I have already explored, and people I already love and have loved. I have lived. Like you, my story is over.
So I dive into the water without a splash, without a ripple. I slip through the surface soundlessly, the pixels forcing their way down my throat.
Sometimes I wonder if they would have replaced me even if I hadn't let my breath go.
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~Only if for a night~