Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. This story is a pretty heavy one I think. It's not emotionally heavy but it tackles a few different scenarios and story-lines but they all come together and are involved in the same situation. It's also quite fantastical as well! I was heavily inspired by Alice Through The Looking Glass with this one and also the subject of time flowers in the anime. This chapter focuses on the time after Justin and Katie are intimate, how Lynne feels about that and something happening causing Katie to learn something pretty important. I hope you enjoy :3
Ages:
Justin: 23
Katie: 17
Lynne: 30
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!
I dug my claws a little bit deeper into Katie and together, we let out a grand old sigh of relief. Neither of us were looking at one and other but we were shaking our heads as we exhaled and looked ahead towards the grand clock of "up there". It had been a huge, massive adventure to say the least. It had been one big, glorious tale. We finally looked at each other, still shaking our heads but smiling slightly. Yes, it had certainly been a story to tell all. And I would like to tell you it. But where to begin? Well, at the beginning I suppose!
Justin shook his head fondly and smirked to himself, settling down on the sofa in the Ketchum living room after Katie had uttered an amusing joke to him, shoving his shoulder lightly and heading off to the kitchen to get snacks for them. He turned his head over his shoulder as she left him and she turned back, smirking herself. And this caused him to shake his head all the more while untangling their video game controllers.
He was lucky. Plain and simple, he felt lucky to have some simple time with the orange haired female after everything that had happened between them. They undertook in quite a diversion! But after it was all said and done, it was wonderful that they could just sit and relax together and be friends, just as they always had been.
I for one admired them for it. I had had moments of uncertainty in the middle of it but now that everything was a bit more out in the open and calmer, I was almost pleased for it. It had been confusing. It had been chaotic. But it proved their friendship was strong. Their companionship was beyond robust. I was happy for them. Unfortunately, not everybody felt the same way.
Lynne had obvious seen Katie heading off to the kitchen and gathered it was the perfect time. The perfect time for what exactly, I didn't know. I knew it wasn't malicious. But it wasn't with the same air as she would have done once before. She had seen things. She had heard things. And she didn't like them. And when she glided into the living room where Justin was smirking to himself, amusing himself with a thought while he waited for the younger female to get back, it didn't sit well with Lynne what she saw.
She entered the room and surprisingly, straight away Justin was aware of her presence. And he was aware of his facial expression too; I could tell that from sitting in the arm chair opposite. He almost cleared his throat and wiped his smirk off his face. He tried to look up at his father's girlfriend and give her a polite smile but it was hard for him. Both of those things were hard for him. He looked away. He didn't know what to say. Fortunately or unfortunately, he didn't have to say anything. Lynne did all of that for him.
"Are you being wise right now?" she started and without thinking, Justin looked up all over again. He pushed his growing locks out of his eyes and listened but started to frown right away. He didn't know what she was getting at yet at the same time, he understood exactly what. Lynne continued, pushing her own hair out of her eyes. She was frowning also. She began to explain. "You and Katie-"
"Are just hanging out. We're just hanging out." Justin responded to her words and it was very unusual for them to be frowning with each other as much as they were. Well, it would have been unusual before. In recent weeks, unfortunately, it had become quite a common thing. The deep purple haired male subtly scoffed, his head shaking all over again. He insisted. "Everybody knows we're hanging out today and everybody is fine. Well, nearly everybody."
I watched the orange haired woman's eyes widen upon hearing this. They filled with such innocent horror. But then after Justin breathed out quietly and managed to look back at her (he also managed to stop his eyebrows from knotting together defensively and his chin jutting in the same way) she realised what his words meant. She realised that she was the 'nearly everybody'. Her hands wandered down to her dress and played with some of the stitching as she sighed.
"Well I'm sorry, Justin. I feel how I feel. It's no secret and I have never lied to you." Lynne spoke softly despite all of the confusion and misunderstanding that she felt. And perhaps that this was the worst thing that she could have possibly done. You see, the deep purple haired male mistook it for passive aggression.
And in addition to this, he felt like she was pointing a finger with one of the words in particular that she uttered. He felt like she was pointing a finger and it was reflecting right back at him. He flinched. He clenched his jaw also.
"Katie's got not much time at all until she goes back travelling with my brother, okay? We've not got much time left together at all." He responded to her and I could see a flushed colour creeping up his neck. He tried not to swallow with hurt. I tried not to swallow with hurt for him. He pursed his lips together before continuing, putting his games console remote down. He couldn't help but add. "And you're probably glad of that."
Lynne let out a quiet sigh, her shoulders sinking slightly. A small frown decorated her face. She thought for a moment. She shrugged. That wasn't exactly true. She wanted Justin and Katie to be friends. And that was exactly that. After the way that they had spent lots of time together following their break ups and grew closer than other, she worried that they could never be just that.
Justin let out another quiet breath himself and looked down, mistaking her silence for the answer that he believed but it still hurt him to imagine. The orange haired woman knew that she had to push her pride away and reassure him just a little bit. She took one step closer.
"No I'm not." She insisted and silently, her eyes filled with hurt at the accusation that Justin was making. Although silently also, I rather understood why he would think that of her. But despite this and despite the almost low expectations of her, she knew she just had to be honest. Her hands started to play with themselves. Rather like Justin, she couldn't be anything other than truthful. "You haven't got much time together. But you're being careless with it."
And upon hearing this, the deep purple hair coloured male finally had enough. I found it rather an odd moment for him to snap but with everything that he had been through and that was not mentioning the struggle between his and Lynne's relationship, he had a lot on his shoulders. He suddenly stood up to face her. His chin finally jutted out. But to contrast that, his eyes were filled with hurt. And his shoulders were shaking with frustration.
"Do you understand how deeply it hurts me that you think so lowly of me these days? With Katie I never…" he tried to begin but he got choked up on his own words. However, he was not emotional. Shakily, he ran a hand through his hair and tried again. Meanwhile, Lynne took a step backwards at coming face to face with the taller male. Justin couldn't be bothered to defend his intentions – his pure and genuine intentions towards the younger female. So he explained his hurt instead. "I don't understand how you could think so lowly of me. You fell in love with my father and I never said anything. I didn't judge. At all. I thought your relationship was beautiful and cool because not only were you determined to make it work but you were determined to make everybody else comfortable too. Bloody hell, you even became the inspiration for a good few of my songs! But what do I get in return? Nothing but disapproval when I need help understanding and processing my feelings the most."
Lynne remained quiet. Similarly, she grew choked up as well but naturally, it was in quite the different way. She took another step backwards. She looked down. To tell you the truth, I knew that she wasn't really used to Justin being so honest and upfront with her. Sure, she knew him to be a very honest young man but it was still new to her – and it was still a little new to everybody – how communicative he had grown.
Katie had changed that in him. She had encouraged and bought out that side of him. So how could someone think their time together was so bad? Possibly, Lynne could. She finally had words for Justin. And she managed to look right at him as she spoke them.
"I'm sorry but I don't believe it's the same for you and Katie as it was for your father and I." she told him and she told him in just above the whisper. Straight away, Justin looked to the floor. He looked as though he might cry. That was strange to me. I hadn't seen him so quickly enveloped in emotion and so quickly near to tears in my life before. Unfortunately for him, there was more. Lynne shook her head. She wasn't trying to hurt him. She only saw things how she saw them. She properly whispered. "You know how she feels about you. You were careless and you continue to be careless."
"Do you mind?" Katie suddenly entered the room and came back to hear these last words of her youthful nanny. Needless to say, she didn't have any snacks with her. She didn't hesitate to ditch any of that when she sensed that something was going on in the room that she had left. Straight away upon entering, her eyes pricked with mortified tears yet ones filled with hurt also. She didn't refrain from moving between Justin and Lynne, defending him at once. She shook her head in disbelief. "Don't talk to him like that. He's not a bad person, far from it. He's been very, very good to me and nothing but supportive of all of my relationships."
I gulped. Some of Lynne's previous words had not been a subtle dig at Justin, even though he took them as such. However, Katie's words then absolutely were said with bitterness and disappointment towards the older woman.
While Lynne's eyes widened and then filled with hurt and once again, she remained quiet as she tried to figure out her next sentences, Katie automatically turned around to face Justin. He was still looking towards the floor, his jaw clenching. This gave the orange haired young woman time to blink back some of her tears. Then, her hand innocently went somewhere between his chest and shoulder blade. Lynne watched.
"Are you okay, Justin?" she tried to ask him but he didn't respond to her. It was as though she hadn't heard him at all. Straight away, Katie knew exactly what this meant and knew exactly what he was feeling. Her shoulders straightened and she frowned with disappointment. She made an effort to comfort him with her words first before looking straight at Lynne. Though, he didn't seem to hear those words either. "You don't have to listen to this. She doesn't know you like I do."
Lynne didn't hold back from being unable to stop herself rolling her eyes and laughing slightly in disbelief upon hearing this. My eyes widened. Katie grew more frustrated. She shortened the distance between herself and the fellow ginger, her fists beginning to clench. She shook her head.
"I have had enough of the way you've been acting towards him." Katie began and as I watched from still in the arm chair and my head turned, Justin started to blink ever so slightly and his shoulders moved upwards towards his ears. He was starting to hear. But he still wasn't expressively reacting. Lynne only reacted with facial expressions while the orange haired young woman continued, trying not to get too fired up. "H-He's not a child and neither am I. We can make our own decisions. We can make our own decisions together and apart. But d-don't ever think that he would ever hurt me – ever! He's shown me nothing but kindness. Even when I left him without saying goodbye…"
Justin's shoulders dropped down once again when he heard this. He swallowed quietly. He was touched how she was defending him, he really was. But he didn't dare show it. Any sort of affection that he showed towards her granddaughter was surely going to brush Lynne the wrong way. His guards started to go back up. Katie could sense this. After reaching behind her and lightly squeezing his hand to support him, she looked right at Lynne, shaking her head disapprovingly.
"We've grown together and we've both begun to figure out what we actually want. How dare you call him careless? How dare y-you! He is so caring and is supporting me maintaining my relationship with his brother!" Katie insisted and at this, Justin dropped her hand. I tried not to overthink it because Katie didn't. I just believed that things were starting to get a little intense for him hearing two women arguing because of his sake. For once, the orange haired female didn't pick up on this and she continued one last time. "You should take a look in the mirror! Perhaps maybe you're being careless with your time!"
For a rare instance, I found myself briefly looking down at the floor like Justin was. Needless to say, Katie and Lynne had never really disagreed in this way before, let alone argued. Of course it was having a horrible effect on Lynne's heart, of course it was. Like the younger female, she was filled with frustration also. Her eyes pricked with tears. But she smiled. She smiled out of despair but she knew she had to try. She knew she had to try and be on the same wavelength as Katie and Justin too.
It wasn't like she was trying to not understand for the sake of it. Truthfully, she wanted to understand. But she just didn't. There were too many complications and labels and twists and turns for her. And it caused her to sadly dismissive the companionship of her granddaughter and her best friend.
Lynne saw the hot tears in Katie's eyes when she looked over at her and I did too when I looked up. Because of this, the orange haired woman found herself trying to take a step forward. And as well as this, she tried to reach out and shakily touch Katie's cheek as she reasoned with her.
"Katie, you have no idea… You don't understand…" Lynne tried to begin but these words weren't working in her favour at all. Because I saw the orange haired young woman so obviously beginning to shake in frustration and after she rubbed her own forehead, I instinctively moved onto her shoulder. As gently as I could, I dug my nails into her shoulder to support her while Justin felt lost with it all and wordlessly took a step back. I didn't know if it was this or I being there for her but Katie found her voice all over again. And it was more determined than ever.
While Lynne tried to reach her hand out to her granddaughter's cheek, Katie suddenly grabbed hold of it and prevented her from doing so. She gripped it, her eyes burning with emotion.
"I'm not a child!" she insisted adamantly and while she gripped onto her grandmother, she took a step forward. She was shaking. She really had had enough of everything. Her aquamarine eyes welled. "You don't understand! You don't understand! A-And you know what? I'm not even going to waste my breath trying to get your closed off mind to understand how much support and friendship and love that Justin and I have!"
And upon hearing this, Lynne suddenly gasped. It flashed across my mind that Katie might have been hurting her and I believe that the same thought dashed across Justin's mind also. He finally looked up. And as he finally looked up, he witnessed it all.
The orange haired woman from 'up there's' gasp was not one of pain at all. It was one of the inevitable. For out of nowhere as she was down on earth and she and Katie were arguing, her time was up. And because Katie was holding onto her, she began flickering with her. And because I was holding onto Katie, I began flickering with them both.
All of our time was up. Justin didn't have enough time. Before it registered in his brain what was going on and he tried to swipe the air and secure us all, we were gone. We flickered our last flicker. Our time was up. And we had all gone back 'up there'.
Needless to say, the time of Lynne and Katie in the land of the heavens was not a pleasant one. The orange haired young woman had told her that she wasn't going to waste her breath on explaining a thing to her and out of the shock of being taken 'up there' with her, she had decided not to speak any words at all.
Time passed slowly and quickly, all at once. In our heads, our minds longed and raced to worry about how we were going to explain to Justin what had happened. But in our surprise and shock and exhaustion too, none of us did anything. For quite some time, none of us did anything. We just all sat together in the meadow by the windmill and in silence.
The orange haired angel woman had been teary eyed from the moment she arrived back up there and it was obvious she was regretting everything that she said and had done. She proved this by trying to speak to Katie. She proved this by trying to get her to talk to her back. But Katie wasn't having any of it. She was fed up. Plain and simple, she was fed up.
From her point of view, she hadn't tried at all to understand Justin and Katie's friendship from their point of view, rather than Jayden's. And in addition to this, she was the reason that she had been snatched away from Justin so abruptly. She had mentioned they were being careless with their time and now they had even less of it. Katie decided that it was all Lynne's fault. She was not speaking to her. She was only walking away from her. And I had to make the decision to follow her.
I breathed out and hopped on the eldest Ketchum daughter's shoulder as we walked away from Lynne together, leaving her shoulder slumped and helpless sat on the grass. Katie didn't seem to know where she was walking but she was walking somewhere. Most importantly, she was walking away from her grandmother.
She quietly scoffed, picking up a piece of long grass in her fingers and playing with it while she walked. She couldn't believe any of it. She couldn't believe the direction that her life had taken. She wasn't annoyed about her time with Justin. She was only annoyed with the way that people had reacted to it.
She suddenly stopped in her tracks, dropping the grass strand. She resisted holding a hand to her heart as she quietly gulped. She hoped that he knew that. She hoped that Justin knew that not once did she regret their time together that was filled with such understanding and lessons and openness. She knew that she hadn't explicitly told him this – she couldn't out of fear of using him. But she hoped that he knew it even so.
Katie let out a weary sigh and continued walking. She tried to forget about her deep purple haired best friend and continue walking to clear her head. But for some reason, everything about 'up there' reminded her of him.
I smiled sadly at this. I reflected but on a different matter. We had been 'up there' before, Katie and I. We had accidentally tagged along with Lynne and James once and found it to be a wonderful place. It was so quirky. It was so upside down. It was homely. But it was so far away from home.
Katie had explored the lands a lot with her uncle. Maybe that was why they were reminding her of Justin. And on top of that, she knew him to be a dreamy and adventurous person, much like herself. She sighed. She begged to stop thinking. And because of this, instinct took over instead.
As we carried on walking, our surroundings begun to change around us. I blinked. Blue, clear sky with not a single cloud changed to an orange atmosphere filled with nothing but clouds. Together we looked down at the ground. Grass blades and flowers had evaporated and we were walking on nothing but clouds as well. It felt weird. It didn't feel fluffy; it felt solid. Katie shrugged. For once, the only idea that was stimulating her was the idea of changing things for the better.
She continued walking. Secretly, she wouldn't have traded her weekend with Justin away for anything because, like she said, it made her realise how strongly she wanted a future with Jayden, even if that future wasn't to begin right at that very minute. She frowned. She didn't understand why people were so disapproving. Things happened. Things just happen.
She stopped once again. But did they? Did they have to happen? She thought to herself, resisting looking at me. It would be wrong of her to take matters into her own hands but she had seen how Justin reacted to Lynne's disapproval. She understood how Justin felt towards Lynne's judgement. He was fed up with it. He was fed up with it and sometimes, he grew weary with it. She bit her lip.
She didn't regret her time with him. And he said he didn't regret his time with her – because it had done the exact same things for him as it had done with her. But what if it would have been easier if it hadn't happened?
Katie wanted to be happy. But more importantly, she wanted Justin to be happy too. She worried that that would never be the case with her grandmother judging him so! She knew that she couldn't change minds. She felt as though changing time would be easier!
Time. Time. She suddenly thought to herself. Her Grandad Jordan had always said that time was funny 'up there'. It didn't follow the same system as down on earth. Sometimes it did. Sometimes it didn't. Time made him laugh. He was pompous. He was a buffoon. Despite it all, Katie smiled slightly to herself. Only her Grandad Jordan would speak of a thing like it was a person. But then she thought to herself of something she always told herself. Nothing was impossible.
We had been walking for so long and thinking so hard that we hadn't noticed that our surroundings had changed multiple times. We walked through an atmosphere of blue. We walked through a ticking atmosphere, filled with black clouds. And then we entered a castle. We walked towards the end of a castle. And came face to face with all kinds of mechanical gear. We finally stopped.
Katie and I turned to look at one and other. Most certainly, we had never seen a sight like that before. In front of us was a grand clock. Truly, the grandest clock in all of the world. We didn't know that it was the grand clock.
The hands of the grand clock were easily bigger than myself and they were easily bigger than Katie too! The face was seemingly made out of crystal. Katie breathed out. Katie's eyes dropped down. It was there that she spotted something almost familiar in a very unfamiliar place. I stayed clinging onto her shoulder while her body dropped down. She knelt.
After pushing her hair from her face, one of her fingers reached out to the crystal life form in front of her. She didn't dare blink. I did. She had read about it in books. I had seen them only once or twice before in real life. Katie reached out and stroked the petals of the crystal flower and she uttered.
"A time flower…" she mumbled and after looking up at the grand clock once more, she looked down at the crystal life form that was indeed a flower. Her head couldn't help but shake with wonder. And she thought that her adventures had slowed down since she took a break from travelling with Jayden! It was certainly a curious thing. After I glanced over to her, she looked back at me and explained with a shrug. "I've read about these. Dad knows lots about them and you must too? They're beautiful."
Though Katie looked away and continued looking at the time flowers while being watched by the grand clock, I continued looking back at her and nodded my head. I nodded my head to both. She was correct; Ash and I had witnessed those unusual things a very long time ago. And they were beautiful. Katie was right; they were so beautiful. She found herself fixating on the prettiness of what she was saying. And then her eyes misted over slightly.
"They're beautiful…" she uttered once again but that time, her voice had lowered to almost a whisper, she tilted her head and sighed. I remained on her shoulder. Wordlessly, I pressed my cheek against hers and hopefully because of this, she found herself able to admit. She pushed her hair from her eyes once more. "They make me feel kind of sad."
And after admitting this, Katie fixed her gaze back on the flower instead of the petals. I smiled sympathetically back at her but for once; I didn't feel sadness along with her. Instead, I felt a strange sense of admiration and respect. I didn't know why. Really, I didn't know why.
However, I didn't have time to fixate on that myself because all of a sudden, the time flower that Katie was staring at suddenly made an icy kind of noise. It was as though someone had stepped on and cracked ice. And along with that noise, the petals began to open. The orange haired young woman quietly gasped. I did too. She was a little bit afraid. She wanted to look away when it began to shine bright light. But she didn't. She didn't look away.
And because she fixated even more, her eyes beginning to tingle slightly. She began to see something. She began to see an event from the past. What started to unfold in front of her left her with great feelings of sadness yet contentment too. She saw her and Justin's time together.
There was a beautiful arboretum filled with greenery and the two of them walked hand in hand, heading off to feed the ducks. Then there was a guitar shop filled with all different beautiful versions of that instrument and Justin tested them out, making Katie laugh by playing her a tune. And then the two of them sat on the dockyards where her boat was anchored in the dark and her hand ran up and down his back as her cheek rested against his shoulder.
They had shared such laughter, such friendship and such intimacy; it was plain to see. That feeling of admiration and respect came back. But for Katie as more memories played out for her, that feeling of nostalgia changed to that burning of frustration. She shut her eyes and went back to stroking the petals to comfort herself, not noticing a water droplet being formed due to her touch and trickling down her finger.
"If only Nanny could see that. Maybe she would understand…" she whispered to herself but she clenched her jaw. She shook her head to herself. She didn't believe even that would make her see or feel the way that she felt. I pressed my cheek against hers once more and this allowed her to remind herself of the positive. "At least Mom and Uncle James seem to know how I feel…"
And after Katie uttered these words and I smiled in spite it all, quietly touched to see the positivity that I adored in my best friend was still there in his daughter, she opened her eyes and felt something strange. I saw something strange in the corner of my eye. And then we saw it together.
That water droplet that had trickled off the time flower and onto Katie's skin and turned into a perfectly round sphere liquid shape on the palm of her hand. The orange haired female blinked. She swallowed. We shared a look and then we looked right back at it.
We were a little scared. We were a little scared because we had never seen something like that before. We were even more unnerved and confused when we heard sounds in our ears after noticing that sphere of water. But we didn't recognise the sounds – the voices – at all. We didn't know where it was coming from.
After looking at each other once more and I looked right back at Katie, shrugging softly, she breathed out and understood. Life was an adventure. There was nothing to be scared of. Besides, we were 'up there'. Nothing could happen to us in the world beyond ours! Well… At the very least, we hoped.
And just like Katie had done to the time flower itself, she couldn't stop herself from reaching out and stroking the water sphere. She smiled at first when she felt it. No doubt it felt weird and strange and it didn't burst. She cupped it all the more. She almost cuddled it! And that's when it happened.
Out of nowhere, the little water sphere burst into what felt like a gallon of water! In no time, we felt like we were swimming in an ocean. And ocean of time as it were. And while we whirled and swirled together, I believed that because it was those two names in particular that Katie had uttered just before the liquid sphere formed, we went to pay a visit to them both.
Drenched and gasping, after what felt like an eternity and yet no time at all, the eldest Ketchum female and I hit the ground together, choking. It was lucky that Katie was youthful and bought that trait of mine back to me! She got up straight away and lifted me back onto her shoulder. I was grateful for that. Our eyes instinctively wandered back to her hand. The water sphere was still there and feeling more solid than ever. Good to know, we thought. That was potentially going to be our way back home.
Katie fixed her hair and then we surveyed the surroundings. It was pitch dark. It was pitch dark but there was a sky full of stars – such beautiful stars. And after our eyes were in working order, our ears suddenly caught up. There were pops and bangs all around us! All at once, the orange haired female and I sussed it out. It was New Years. And the sound of cheers all around us proved only that.
But in a surreal like and perhaps back in time like occasion, just like how it usually was for Katie, she was drawn to the quieter, less noticeable things. It was almost like a sixth sense. Within her, it was almost like a sixth sense. She suddenly turned her head and glanced up at a balcony as she remained standing on the gravel path of Pallet Town.
It was our old home – well mine anyway! It was the Ketchum residence. It was New Years. And two people were sitting on the balcony. I exhaled. I had been told of that tale before. But it was time for Katie to see it.
While everybody was inside and celebrating a New Year and new opportunities and new starts and new friends and new beginnings, enough minutes had passed since the initial jubilation and kisses of midnight so James and Misty were sat outside together. They were looking at the last of the fireworks. They were huddled up together. They looked rather melancholy. But they were accepting of it.
Katie's eyes filled with curiosity yet a strange flicker of joy when she saw a younger version of her mother and she saw her cuddling into James' side, her cheek resting against his shoulder and her fingers absentmindedly drawing on his back. Together we honed our ears in enough to listen.
"So… This is it, Jimmy." She mumbled and straight away, the lavender haired male knew exactly what she was saying and he nodded his head, even more of a sad smile taking over his face. But he forced that away when his best friend looked up at him. He wanted to be brave for her. She continued, her hand sliding down to the decking of the balcony. She added. "A New Year. A new start. No more bad habits. We can do this… Right?"
"Of course we can." James almost chuckled in an emotional sort of way as he lifted her hand back up as it slid to the decking but he didn't put it back on him. He just held it. He just squeezed it. He simply reassured her. With his other hand, he broke away from hugging her and pushed her bangs out of her eyes. He nodded his head sincerely. "We don't need to be young and stupid anymore. You've made a decision. You want a family. With Ash. So it's time for us to stop distracting each other."
"I know it is." Misty agreed with him and she nodded her head in return but then she groaned. I glanced at Katie while watching and she grew all the more curious. She somewhat smiled as she watched and listened. In fact, she was so ready to observe that she sat down on the grass and pulled her legs to her chest. She watched her mother's eyes light up with contentment but then fall with apprehension too. "It could be a big year. All kinds of things could happen."
The lavender haired male nodded and he didn't let go of his best friend's hand. In fact, he squeezed it all the more. He resisted holding it to his chest but he didn't let it go. He smiled and nodded his head as he looked out to the last of the fireworks going off pop. But then he couldn't help but murmur.
"And we're not going to make the same mistakes…" he uttered and because of this, needless to say, Katie turned her attention away from the scene and looked right at me while I hopped down onto the grass myself. She tilted her head at me. I had to take a moment to think.
Things might end up being revealed to her. Secrets from the past might end up making their way into her understanding. I breathed out. But I couldn't control it. I just couldn't. In a place like 'up there' or wherever we were – things were going to happen if they were meant to happen.
So I just had to wait and see how things unfolded. Katie was going to have to do that as well. So I gave her this look with my eyes. Quickly, she understood. Curiously, she swallowed. But she nodded her head. And she went back to observing.
James and Misty remained in silence for a little while following these words. Shutting her eyes, the young version of Misty rested her forehead back on her best friends shoulder but then she found it within herself to look back up at him, her eyes filled with all kinds of emotion as she did so. But she nodded her head once more.
"Yeah…" she whispered and I believed that another silence was going to ensue. From watching with Katie, I almost got the impression that James wanted there to be another silence. I wondered if Katie felt the same way. But then I figured that she was too busy wondering what was going on. And on top of that, she was focusing on the people of the past not seeing her. After all, she had seen enough movies to know that was bad! Misty shook her head, adding with a brave smirk. "Ah well. Good things must come to an end and disasters must come to them even quicker."
The lavender haired male remained quiet. I understood why. Katie tried to figure it out but she was completely lost. However, she reminded her of my advice. She was a naturally good observer. So in that instance, she had to keep her intrigue at bay and focus on that skill of hers.
Misty inwardly cursed herself for her choice of words and though she didn't do anything to retract them, she nudged her shoulder against James' and tried again. She too went back to looking at the colours of the sky. More of what she really wanted to say came out. She furrowed her brow.
"Do you think that people will always be dismissive and afraid of unique kinds of bonds? Do you think fear will always get in the way of understanding?" Misty asked and while I was proud of my best friend's young wife for coming out with things like that, Katie was curious how a younger version of her uncle was going to answer that. He appeared quite a lot different but the same as well. He answered quickly.
"Yep." He responded with a shrug and continued looking up and out into the sky. He didn't notice his best friend's shoulders drop; however, I noticed Katie's did as we watched. Yes, he wasn't as positive before Lynne came along! She might have been close-minded in recent months but she had nurtured positivity in Katie's beloved uncle. While Misty furrowed her brow more, James added. "People are always going to fear and dismiss what they don't understand. People are always going to try and label."
The eldest Ketchum daughter breathed out and momentarily looked down. That most certainly hit home. But despite that, she showed that she was one of a kind because she wasn't deterred by emotions upon hearing things. And this was wonderful. Because she was able to hear more of her young uncle's words as he uttered them.
Both mother and daughter listened to them – it was rather bittersweet.
"But… One day they'll get it right. The people around us didn't. Maybe even we didn't. But one day it'll pay off. One day, somebody will acknowledge a new kind of love with understanding. And one day too, someone – a couple – two people – will have the world judging their bond and even if it doesn't work out in the long run, they will hold their head or heads up high and know that they had something special. And nothing anybody else could say could matter."
Katie's hand shakily went to my head upon hearing this. All at once, it was like she was hearing everything that she needed to hear. But she knew that she couldn't switch off then. She knew that there was sure to be even more for her to learn. Her mind was silently racing – her mind was silently racing with the what if of why or how James and Misty were sitting alone together and why they seemed to understand she and Justin's situation before it even happened.
But she knew she had to switch off for the time being. And she knew she had to watch.
Misty reacted in a similar way upon hearing her best friend's words and though she moved away from him and sat further up while she looked at the fireworks, she felt closer to him than ever. She nodded her head. She took a few seconds before speaking. But then she spoke in agreement. She almost smiled.
"Yeah…" she agreed and she gave herself time to think about what she truly wanted to say. That was a time in her life where it was difficult to do that. But I think the darkness helped. The darkness and the fireworks helped, as did the opportunity for a fresh start. So she came out with it. "James and Misty's… youthfulness… may be behind them. It may be behind us. But at least we can understand if it happens to someone else. Maybe we can even help them. Who knows Jimmy? Our time together may be over. But maybe one day someone or some people close to us will experience the same thing. And when people try to invalidate it, they will stay strong. So because of that, it's not really over for us, is it? It's just put on hold until someone gets it right."
Even I breathed out upon hearing this. It was almost like seeing a role reversal. In their little moment together, James was secretly the one trying to be brave while being tongue tied and it was Misty – the one uncertain of communicating her emotions – who was saying it all. And not only that, she was saying all the right things.
Because the truth was, James and Misty weren't all that different. They both encouraged wonderful traits and possibilities out in each other without trying at all. And like their children, they both had friendship, companionship and love too. And Katie was finally seeing it. Katie was finally putting it all together. She was putting all of the pieces of the puzzle. She understood.
So as she watched on, she understood why, though James didn't say anything in return, he nodded his head and his eyes softly lit up and following that, he pressed a kiss to his best friend's forehead. James pressed a kiss to Katie's mother's forehead. And it was somehow more intimate than if he had planted it elsewhere.
And as the fireworks died down for good, James and Misty's hope for a better connection for all burned stronger than ever. They went back to hugging in the moonlight. Katie hugged her legs to her chest as she watched. She understood. And after understanding it all in her head for a few more seconds, she stood up and looked down at me. Her brow was knotted in a quiet way. She spoke to me.
"Of course…" she uttered and she didn't need to say anything else. The way I smiled gently and knowingly made it obvious that she was right. Nothing else needed to be said of that matter. But lots of things needed to be said on another matter. Katie thought out loud. She glanced down at the water sphere still in her hand. "I was thinking of Mom and Uncle James and so the time flower bought us here… So that means…"
I nodded my head slowly as we both were on the same page. If we made our way back 'up there' and hovered over another time flower and Katie thought of the time a little bit before she and Justin's time together, she could go back and stop it. She had the power in her hands to go back and change it. And by doing that, Lynne wouldn't judge anymore. Justin wouldn't feel judgement anymore. Everything would go back to how it had always been. The question was, though, would Katie do it?
I watched as the orange haired female pressed her lips together. Her eyes shook with defiance. She swallowed. I had never been so glad to see someone shake their head as she thought of the possibility.
"No, I won't do it." she said and upon hearing this, I didn't bother to stop myself from smiling and leaping back onto her shoulder. Rather shyly, Katie smiled back. But more importantly, she thoughtfully glanced over to the silhouette of young James and Misty still in each other's presence. She smiled wistfully. But she smiled with understanding. She gestured. "It's like they said… Someone needs to make a stand and not let other people affect something so precious to them. And it's like Grandad Jordan always says too…"
And as Katie repeated the yellow haired male's words, I heard them echoing around my own brain. I was certainly surrounded by wise people.
"You can't change the past. But you can learn from it."
And with that, Katie showed off a smile. Her eyes lit up with determination and she smiled a smile that told me everything that I needed to know. She wasn't going to change the past. She was going to learn from it. And she had learned from it.
James and Misty understood her and Justin for a good reason. But most importantly of all, she and Justin deserved to have that time together. Because maybe it wasn't going to be revealed then but it would in the near future – their little companionship was going to be a lesson to all involved.
So just like young James and young Misty advised, with her head held high and myself on her shoulder, Katie thought of the land of 'up there' and the grand clock and the time flowers too and reached out and cradled the water sphere. And we got taken back to where we had been standing before. And that was where I began this story.
I dug my claws a little bit deeper into Katie and together, we let out a grand old sigh of relief. Neither of us were looking at one and other but we were shaking our heads as we exhaled and looked ahead towards the grand clock of "up there". It had been a huge, massive adventure to say the least. It had been one big, glorious tale. We finally looked at each other, still shaking our heads but smiling slightly. Yes, it had certainly been a story to tell all.
But Katie had some words to tell me after she carefully bent down and very respectfully gave the water sphere back to the time flower. It shrunk back and the beautiful flower was happy for the admiration and to be back with its other half. Katie looked back at me all over. She shook her head all over again.
"They say that time is a friend to no man but I hope that we will be remembered… And I hope that everything that we have done will be remembered, as well as everything we saw." The orange haired female uttered and I nodded my head. I nuzzled against her. It was times such as those that I felt closer to her than ever. And that was wonderful because I thought I couldn't love her more. She smiled a little bit wistfully. "I only wish that I could give something back… I've been given so much."
I nodded my head. I understood that. Yes, I understood that Katie was a kind and generous and thoughtful person. But not only that, I had learnt along with her on one of our other adventures that you must give before you took. And perhaps the eldest Ketchum female was thinking of this at the exact same time as me. She was most definitely thinking of the person who had taught her a lesson like that.
Letting out a sigh, she reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out the pocket watch which he had left for her on her boat during their time together. I looked down and watched. But I gave her privacy too. She thought aloud once more.
"He says that the only thing worth doing is what we do for others… He definitely would like it up here." She thought to herself and after managing to smile at me, she got a bit of an idea. No, she most definitely got an idea. While thinking of her deep purple haired friend, Katie walked around the time flowers and she walked over to the grand clock. She stroked the silver of the pocket watch and mused some more out loud. However, she still didn't reach her hand out. "You can't change the past but you can learn from it… And you must give before taking… And Justin told me to pass it on to someone special… Time is a someone to us…"
Katie breathed out. I felt somewhat emotional as she prepared to depart with the pocket watch that Justin had generously and sentimentally bestowed upon her. She got ready to hang it on one of the hooks hanging next to the grand clock. But she was stopped. She was stopped by Lynne.
"Katie, don't… Justin would want you to keep it…" she began as she entered the room and she couldn't hide the worry on her face. I watched as at first, Katie clutched the pocket watch to herself defensively but after realising she felt so very different after everything we had witnessed, she clutched it in a more relaxed way. She hadn't felt truly ready to depart with it anyway. She held the pocket watch in her hand and didn't put it back in her pocket, let alone on the grand clock! Katie didn't want to part with it. Lynne felt the same way about her. She found herself moving over to her granddaughter, her hand moving over her heart. Her eyes watered. "Katie… I was so worried. I thought I had lost you. I thought I had lost you both. I thought you had gone a great distance…"
The orange haired woman reached her hand shakily out to the younger female and I watched as that time, both Katie and the situation allowed her to stroke her face softly. Lynne almost welled up properly at this. But she swallowed. However, Katie was the one to find herself speaking. She responded to her Nanny's words.
"The worst kind of distance between people is misunderstanding…" the plait wearing female found herself reminding Lynne and straight away her shoulders slumped. Katie's eyes pricked with quiet defiance. Lynne's watered with understanding. Then with guilt. She looked away and nodded her head. But then she forced herself to swallow her pride and look at Katie. She didn't move her hand away from her.
"I know, I'm sorry, I…" she began saying and the eldest Ketchum daughter couldn't stop her eyes from widening slightly upon hearing the small apology from the 'close minded' woman. Her eyes watered a little more out of surprise. Lynne's mouth slammed shut at the younger female's reaction. But then she sighed. She almost smiled. She had to be truthful. As truthful as Justin had learnt to be because of Katie. Her hand reached to stroke her hair instead. Katie allowed this. Perhaps it was because Lynne finally could see that Katie didn't care what she thought at all so she was able to let go with some of her own stubbornness and judgement along with it. She sighed to herself once more. "I… I will stop judging. And I will accept instead. I might not understand but I can accept. It might be stupidly hard for me but I will try. Anything is better than thinking I might lose you… Both of you."
And once again, the plait wearing female's eyes widened but for a different way. They watered. Then they dried up. I subtly hopped off her shoulder for privacy. She thought about Lynne's words. She didn't really understand them herself but she knew she had to do the same thing. She accepted.
Slowly and carefully, Katie didn't show off a small smile but her own hand reached to her own grandmother's face. Lynne's eyes flickered at this. Katie's head turned. She was understanding. She was accepting. But she was still stubborn. She couldn't stop herself from telling her.
"Don't worry… Not everyone is as open-minded and understanding as Justin…" Katie told her and Lynne breathed out and looked at the ground. She showed off a brief expression as if to say 'I deserved that'. Katie almost respected that. And because of this, she pushed all of her stubbornness away and pulled Lynne in for a hug. And when those two girls hugged, they hugged tight. The younger female rested her head on the older one's shoulder and mumbled to her. "I've learnt some lessons just now that I should have learned a long time ago. So we all get there at our own pace."
These words were like sunshine to Lynne. But they picked her up in a way that the planets couldn't even themselves! After hugging her granddaughter, she reached to squeeze both of her hands. And when she looked right at her and saw very much the young woman standing there – a young woman who was certain of herself and her feelings and so many other things – she swallowed a lot. But she spoke. In fact, she admitted. She squeezed Katie's hands all the more.
"You… You are so wise, sweetheart. You seem like you've seen so much. I need to see as much as you. And I need to stop judging the things I don't understand the perhaps the things I understand a little too much…" Lynne murmured and after she saw her granddaughter's eyes light up at the woman who she did idolise push past her stubbornness as well, the older female scrunched her nose up slightly. She let go of Katie's hands to tuck her own hair behind her ears. "I'll get there in time though, I expect."
And with that, Katie didn't hesitate to reach back for her nanny's hands. She was thoughtful and understanding and one of a kind. And she was forgiving too.
"Speaking of time…" the orange haired young woman started and I wondered what on earth she was going to come out with. Was she going to tell of our adventures? Was she going to tell everything that she had seen? Who knows! I soon knew though. She smiled as she reached back in for that pocket watch and held it by its chain, spinning it on her finger. Lynne couldn't help but giggle. And following that, Katie wrapped her arms around her shoulders. She smiled sincerely. "There's no use us wasting our time together focusing on what we don't understand. So let's focus on we do understand. And understand this place even more."
And with that, with their arms wrapped around each other and Justin's pocket watch still spinning on her finger, the two orange haired girls head off to make the most of their time in that great world together. But it was short lived. Not because of misunderstanding. But because they understood each other a little more, their lesson was complete. We were all able to go back down.
But as I watched them head off, I couldn't help but smile to myself. Like the pocket watch dancing around on Katie's finger, Justin was the thing that came whizzing between Katie and Lynne. But it was never going to manage things between them for good - no.
Like I said before and like Katie learnt even more on our adventure together; you cannot change the past but you can learn from it. And our entire group most certainly learnt from Justin and Katie's diversion together also.
Ash learnt to let go enough to support endlessly. Misty learnt that no consenting love was bad and you couldn't let other people – especially not yourself - taint it. James learnt that his old feelings were very much real and valid. Jessie learnt that she truly had forgiven completely – for her husband and his best friend but for herself too. Jordan learnt that he had a tremendous amount of respect for Jayden. Lynne learnt that feelings of 'what if' sometimes made her judgemental. But that was okay. She learnt to work through that too.
Jayden learnt that he was capable all on his own and he was never living in Justin's shadow; the only shadow that he was living in was his own feelings of doubt. Sammy learnt to let go of all expectations of love and move forward with the love that Justin offered.
And as for Katie she learnt that Justin wasn't so untouchable. She learnt that Justin wasn't so out of reach. He was right there. And his wit, his mischief, his sweetness and his company taught her lots of things that she needed to know.
And as for Justin – he learnt a lot about love. He learnt that love was blind, not because it was ignorant but because it defies all labels and barriers. And that was all down to Katie.
All of those lessons down to those two people – those two friends, those two companions, those two ships passing in the night. And many more lessons were to come! But more about them in the fullness of time.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 So yeah, this does indeed focus on a lot of other little situations. It tackles on how Katie feels after everything with Justin and like you can tell, she can get fiery and abrupt when something doesn't sit well with her. And as you can see from here, she does indeed still stammer as she's older but it's only when she's frustrated/stressed. It was really fun to have a more fantastical chapter like the anime for this one. Everybody knows that Ash has aura powers and can activate time flowers and Katie can too. The reason that she can pretty effortlessly here is because the land of "up there" heightens everything. It would be much harder for her back on earth! The James and Misty thing is an interesting one as well. When they were younger they made some bad decisions and sometimes would go off together which lead to people getting hurt. They definitely regretted hurting people - so much so that they kind of stopped talking about it and acted like it didn't happen. That's why Katie learnt that it shouldn't be like that for her and Justin. Though both bonds and circumstances are complex, it's important to address the feelings involved because brushing them under the carpet is the worst thing. Thankfully, Katie learnt that here - and learnt how to proceed through the mistakes of the people before her :3 Thanks again for reading and I will be back again next Wednesday with another chapter so see you then!
AmyBieberKetchum signing out :P