FIREFLIES
Someone once said that "It's the simple things in life that give us the most pleasure." For Mewtwo and a pokémorph named D, one of these is catching fireflies. This story was previously called "Twilight."
From the cliff overlooking the metropolis, two shadows watched the cars driving by on the nearby highway, like bioluminescent ants crawling along a black trail scented with their carbon fumes. The vehicles, painted obnoxious colors such as banana yellow, with shells of chrome and glass, were like fireflies in a way. For when they moved away from the couple, they seemed to ooze bloody light in their wakes; while, when approaching, they hummed and flashed their artificial lights at the two. However, none of the drivers, the parasites who controlled the multitude of vehicles, noticed the beings sitting on the side of the road. Admittedly, that road had been carved into a high rise, so the two were several meters above their eye levels. Even so, the fact remained that humans rarely looked up unless it was to pray.
Regardless, the younger of the two, a seemingly normal enough young woman, gazed at the urban forest of glass and concrete before her, which seemed to sparkle with drops of luminescent dew. The bronze and silvery lights sparkled in her plum-colored eyes, while a warm wind ruffled her short, layered hair against her scalp, the strands of lavender tinted orange from the glow of civilization. The breeze carried the scents of food from street vendors, sweet coffee, trash and grime, rotting fish, and smoke. Below her was a shimmering pile of glass, which added the sour stench of alcohol to the air. But she was used to these scents, and so only smelled them when she wished to. Most of the time, however, she preferred the scent of her companion better.
He smelled like mint, except for his breath, which held the distinct odor of "cat breath."
She didn't glance at him as she stretched out her lithe, alabaster form, the Japanese kanji tattoo into her shoulder twisting, or as she turned on her back from her belly to look up at the gibbous moon, which was peeking through the branches above. It spied her laying out there, completely unconcerned with how close she was to the cliff's edge. Her baggy shirt road up her flat stomach; her jeans were tight where it mattered, and torn in her own shredded style. She wore no shoes or socks, but she wasn't cold, and if she did become chilled, she trusted her companion to warm her up.
He sat back, leaning his body against the trunk of the tree towering over them, pretending not to watch her, hoping that something would change so he might be free from his own shame when he did so. The female merely smiled. The night was deepening, the sky turning from deep blue to black, maroon, and dark olive. The moon became creamy, like the taste of him when he dared cradle her mouth to his. And then the fireflies came out, hovering above the grass and within the whispering leaves. She loved watching the insects and hearing their mating calls…and, on occasion, seeing them glow as she squished them. Yet what she loved most of all was catching them.
It was time.
"Get up, my love. Help me catch the fireflies!"
There would be no telekinesis involved, only hands and paws swiping through the air, bodies darting into the glowing swarm, fingers brushing the insects of the stars. The jar they'd brought with them soon glowed with a good dozen of the blinking creatures, most of them caught by the girl's own cunning work. The male was having far more trouble, for his paws weren't inept at cupping something within them gently. He squashed more than one bug in his paws, and looking at his hands, he was dismayed to find them covered with the phosphorescent guts of the beetles. Why was it that he harmed everything he touched…?
His companion saw his frustration and came to him, grasping his hands gently in hers. The strange creature that she was, she licked the insect remains from his paws and drew him amongst the insects again. She guided his hands to close slowly around one drifting bug. It glimmered in his hands, a shard of mica lit aflame.
"You see…? Be patient and you can catch stars, dear Mewtwo."
His tail swung once in the moist, warm air, his amethyst eyes aglow with the light of the tiny creature in his hands.
"…Do attempt to take your own advice, D."
D - Diana to some, Delta to others, but just D to her friend and lover, laughed, the sound husky in the dim.
"Life's too short to wait for anything, even for beings like us. Sometimes, you have to grasp what you want for yourself, like you did when it came to me."
Her hands were still upon his paws, still cradling a living star….
"After all, we're all like fireflies. We glow only a few times in life before falling back into the dark from whence we came. So as I see it, we'd best make the most of those moments of light, right?"
Later, they released all the insects they'd captured. They watched them fly into the dark sky, and savored a short moment of light together in the dark.