March On
A/N: This is a story I've had for awhile now. I started it about a year ago but left it to sit on my hard drive, and I've just recently gotten around to finishing it. Anyway, hope you enjoy it. ~OC
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"Like soldiers, march on.
If we can make it through tonight,
We'll see the sun.
March on, march on."
-- Good Charlotte, "March On"
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The air grew colder as the sun went down, already being crowded out by dark and ominous clouds. It was going to be another long night.
Eve cursed her misfortune as she watched the sun's dying rays through a gap in the branches above. She had been wandering around in this damned forest for four days now, and her morale was slipping away with every step she took. The strange thing was that this forest was devoid of life. She had not so much as heard the cry of another Pokemon since getting lost.
'Better find a place to stop before it gets too dark', She thought glummly, dreading another night in this forest.
She settled for a spot between the roots of a nearby tree. She scraped away some of the surface loam with her paws to make a bed.
Cold, damp, exhausted, and hungry, she curled herself into a ball and settled down.
The sun finally gave way to the clouds, and darkness began to fall around her.
The Eevee grimmaced as she heard the first drops of rain hit the upper foliage.
"Crap..." She said aloud.
A blade of lightning lanced through the sky, accompanied by a loud rumble of thunder, causing Eve to jump.
"Crap!" She said louder, tucking her head underneath her tail. She stayed like that for a few minutes before peeking out again.
Sighing heavily, she settled herself down again.
To silence the sounds of the storm, she turned to her thoughts, ignoring everything else that was going on around her.
Mostly her thoughts focused around one subject, 'How in the hell am I going to get out of here?'
But the more she thought about it, the more she came to realize that she would be reentering a world that didn't care about her. All the humans wanted was to capture her for their own use, and other Pokemon just wanted to fight her. Nobody valued her for who she was, nobody wanted to be her friend.
Nobody loved her.
"Why should I go back to that?" She said softly to herself. "Why should I go back to a world were nobody cares about me? If I die out here no one would give a damn."
A single tear ran down her cheek.
After a while, the wind and rain lessened. Eve sighed. "Maybe things will look better in the morning." She said, though not too hopefully.
And with that, she laid her head down in her paws and let the waves of a fitful sleep wash over her.
>>>~*~<<<
Eve woke up the next morning with the sun shining brightly down upon her from above. The storm was over.
She rubbed sleep from her eyes and opened them, looking around. She hadn't noticed it last night in the dark, but the place she had chosen for a bed was surrounded by a small grove of Berry trees.
Just the sight of them sent her stomach to rumbling. Finally, something to eat.
She rushed to the nearest tree, branches drooping with Oran Berries, and began plucking them off the lower branches, eating them as she went, little by little easing her hunger pains, and eventually she was full.
She felt a little better now. There was a faint glimmer in her heart, and she felt that maybe, there was a chance that there was somebody looking out for her. She said a quiet prayer of thanks, then set off again, wondering what the day would bring.
>>>~*~<<<
Eve had only been walking an hour when she smelled something in the air. She stopped, sniffing the air, and recognized the scent for what it was.
Water!
Four days of living off of dew drops, finally some real water.
She sniffed out the general direction and took off that way. She ran, low branches slapping her in the face, stumbling on protruding roots once or twice, but she didn't care.
She saw a gap in the trees ahead, and she burst through it, and what she saw on the other side made her skid to a halt.
She had come to a halt on the edge of a huge lake, it's sparkling water so bright blue that it matched the color of the sky above. It was surrounded by a beach of sand so brilliant white that it almost hurt her eyes to look at it. The gentle splash of the waves on the shore was soothing. The bright sun was warm on her fur. On the other side she could make out a cliff reaching into the sky. With the sights, sounds and feelings, she could't help but smile, and took a running leap into the water. It soaked into fur as she drank her fill. The water was cool, sweet, and refreshing.
When she was finished, she wadded back to the bank, shook off her fur, and looked up at the sky. For once in a long time, she actually felt halfway happy. She closed her eyes and said another silent prayer, then set off down the beach, unaware that she was being watched by a pair of ebony eyes the entire time.
>>>~*~<<<
'Wow...' She thought. She had reached the cliffs on the far bank, and they had been larger than she had first thought, the rock walls stretching high into the sky. She walked along the base, until she came upon a gap in the rock. Curious, she stepped through it. What she saw made her gasp.
It looked like a large room carved out of the rock, a hole in the ceiling far above, but that is not what took her breath away.
All the walls were studded with crystals in every color she could ever imagine, and the sunlight caused all those hues to be thrown about the room. Blues, greens, reds, violets, yellows, and pinks were splashed in a pattern that almost seemed to be alive, to move about the walls around her.
"Wow..." she whispered, awstruck.
It was so beautiful, that she almost didn't noticed the small cave set into the back wall. Eve crossed the crystal room and peered through the hole.
Inside was just a small, simple room, it's rounded walls were smoothed down, as if by water. The floor was sand, strangly warm under her paws. In the center was a depression that looked like a bed. The whole room smelled clean, like water. It almost made her want to curl up here and fall asleep.
'Who lives here, I wonder.' She thought.
She was just backing out when she got her answer.
"May I help you?" Called a voice from behind her.
She whipped around to find the owner of the voice in the entrance of the crystal room, blocking her way out.
It was a Dragonair.
She hadn't expected to find anybody out here, and it took her by surprise.
"I... uh... I was... just..." She stammered, unable to think of anything to say. The Dragonair smiled.
"Easy," He said, "Let's start over, my name is Azure. And your name is...?"
"My name is Eve." She said.
"A beautifule name for a beautiful creature. It's a pleasure to meet you." He said with a slight bow. Eve thought he was somewhat charming. She had to smile.
"Shall we step outside?" He asked, moving aside. Eve nodded and stepped outside, squinting slightly back in the bright sunlight.
Azure led her over to the edge of the water, where she sat down next to him.
"So," he said, "How came you by this place?"
Eve sighed, and, looking over at him, began telling him her story, from how she first got herself lost in this forest, to how she found the lake. Through the entire story, Azure listened intently, hanging on to her every word, his eyes, blacker than anything she had ever seen before, were glittering brightly in the sunlight. When she finished, Azure nodded. "I see." he said, "Well, if you'd like, I could lead you out of here."
Eve looked out over the lake as she thought about this. She wasn't really sure she wanted to leave now, now that things had turned around so quickly, now that she had found a place that was as beautiful as this, and met Azure, who was more friendly than anyone she had ever met. A small smile came to her face.
"You know, if you had asked me that question a couple days ago, I would have taken you up on that offer. Now I'm not so sure."
"Why is that?" He asked politely, if a little quizically.
She has silent for a moment, trying to think of the right words to use. At last she said,
"I have lived my life without family, no friends, nobody caring about me. I lived not knowing what it felt like to care about someone, or to be cared about." She paused, then, "So far, you're the only one who's shown me any kindness at all, and for that, I thank you." She paused again. "I'm gonna need a day or two to think about what I want to do next."
Azure nodded. "Of coarse. I won't rush you in your decision. Until then, what is mine is yours. If there is anything you need, just ask."
He started to move away.
"Wait," Eve called out, surprising herself. Azure turned to her. "Would you mind sitting here with me for a while?" She asked.
Azure smiled. "Of course."
He went back to her, coiling himself next to her. They sat there in silence for some time, staring out over the blue water of the lake, sparkling in the sunshine. After a while, Eve asked Azure about himself, why he lived out here by himself.
He considered this for a moment, then replied, "I have been living in this forest for as long as I can remember. I don't remember ever having a family or friends. It's just been me."
"Have you ever gotten lonely?" She asked.
"Yes, sometimes. Then again, doesn't everybody?"
"Yes, I suppose so."
Azure turned to her. "You've always wondered what it was like to not be lonely, haven't you?" Eve looked over at him, but said nothing. Azure was about to say something else, but stopped himself, a blush forming on his face, turning his cheeks purple. For the first time since Eve met him, Azure lost his calm. "Um... never mind, forget I said anything."
He seemed very frustrated, so Eve stayed silent.
After another little while, Azure spoke again.
"Ah, I just remembered, I have some buisness to attend to."
"Of course. Don't keep yourself here just for me." replied Eve.
Azure smiled and bowed slightly before moving away, the blush faint but still on his face. Eve watched him until he dissapeared from sight. When he was gone, she turned back to the lake, letting her mind wander.
It didn't wander for very long. Her thoughts soon centered around Azure.
Why was he being so nice to her? Part of it was simple loneliness she supposed, but... could there be something more? It was possible, yes, but, what was it? Wait... it couldn't be... that... could it? No, of course not, they had just met not an hour ago.
The longer she thought about that unlikely possibility, the more she felt a foreign feeling welling up from deep within her. Never before had anyone felt that way about her, if that was even it, and she had never felt this feeling for anyone, either.
She examined the feeling, and she found it hard to find words to describe it, but one came close. It was... warm. Indeed, it was very warm. And the longer she examined it, the more complex it got. It made her feel a little light-headed, but at the same time, made her feel as if she were weighed down with something heavy. The warmth flooded her chest, while a cold knot formed itself down in her belly. It sent little shockwaves up and down her spine.
Could this mass of contradictions in any possibility be... love?
If so, what was the nature of it? Simple infatuation, born out of desperation to be cared about by someone after so long without, or was it more than that?
Love was such a foreign concept to her, she couldn't tell.
She shifted the mental train back to Azure. She thought about the way he had talked to her, the way he had acted.
The things he had said, especially what he had asked, about her wondering what it would be like to not be lonely, struck her. What was the intention behind the question? An offer of friendship? Maybe so, but if that was the case, why had he gotten so embarassed? The blush, too, was strange. Maybe he had feelings, at least to some extent, for her?
She decided to ask him about it tomorrow just as she realized how late it was getting. Somehow, several hours had past, and the sun was beginning to set in the west, sending it colorful fringes up over the tops of the trees. purples, pinks, oranges, reds, yellows, and greens of all shades melding together in to one visually pleasing mess that radiated such purity that it grabbed her attention entirely, and she didn't notice that Azure had come up behind her.
"Enjoying the sunset?" He asked suddenly, and she yelped in surprise and whipped around.
At once Azure looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, did I startle you?"
She chuckled slightly. "Yeah, but it's fine, I wasn't paying attention."
He smiled. "I can see why. It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"But not as beautiful as you..." He said under his breath.
"Eh?" She said, cocking an ear in his direction.
"Nothing..." He muttered.
"Oh..."
They continued to look out over the lake together.
Only after the sun finally dissappeared behind the trees did Azure speak again.
"It's getting late, and you must be tired from so long without a proper bed."
"A little..." replied Eve, "But I've never... really had a proper bed..." She hung her head a little.
"Oh... I'm sorry..."
"No, it's fine," She said, looking back up at him. "It's not like it's your fault."
He nodded and said, "Then follow me."
She followed him back to his cave home.
As they passed through the crystal room, Eve was once again taken by the beauty of the stones winking in the twilight, lit now by the moon now rising over the cliff.
They entered the back chamber, where Azure gestured to the depression in the floor.
"Please, make yourself at home."
Eve was somewhat embarassed. "Please, I couldn't take your bed. Where would you sleep?"
But Azure would not be swayed. "I insist. And as for where I will sleep, I'll be out in the other room."
Eve bit her lip. If she refused to take the bed, she would run the risk of hurting Azure's feelings, but if she accepted it, she would feel bad for him having to sleep outside all night.
Azure saw her indecision. "You need this bed more than I do at the moment. Please take it."
Still Eve hesitated, but at length, she nodded.
Azure bowed again. "Then I wish you a good night's rest."
As he turned to leave, Eve surprised herself again. She called out, "Wait."
Azure turned back to her, and Eve hugged him, wrapping her forepaws about his serpintine body.
"Thank you Azure, for being so nice to me."
She released him, and she saw that his was blushing again. He cleared his throat. "Well... erm, your welcome." He left, leaving Eve with a blush of her own, though better hidden under her fur. She padded over the the depression in the floor and lay down, feeling the strange warmth of the sand against her body. The swirl of emotions from earlier, which had been just bubbling under the surface, came back. She turned it over in her mind. But before she got anywhere with it, she was asleep.
>>>~*~<<<
The next morning, at sunrise, she pawed out of the cave to find that Azure was gone. Curious, she walked out onto the beach. He was coiled at the edge of the lake, staring out over the water, the tip of his tail waving back and forth in a slow rythym. She walked over and sat beside him.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked, not looking over at her.
"Yes, thank you."
They lapsed into silence, listening to the soft wind in the trees and the gentle lapping of the waves on the shore, which only interrupted when Eve's stomach let out a loud rumble.
Azure then looked over at her. "I take it you're hungry?"
Eve rubbed the back of her head with a paw. "Heh, yeah. I haven't eaten since yesterday morning."
"Then follow me."
Eve did, trailing behind Azure as he slid down the beach, frowning slightly. He seemed to be acting strange. His courtousy and good manner was still there, but he seemed somehow, more distant, almost brooding. She pondered this as she was lead into the trees.
Was he, despite her best efforts, offended by something she had done or said? No, that didn't seem likely. If it wasn't that, then what? Was he expecting her to decide that she wanted to leave? No, that didn't seem right either. What was she going to do, anyway? She hadn't even given it a lot of thought yet.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Azure halted in front of her, indicating a few berry trees with the tip of his tail. "Please, help yourself."
Eve hesitated a moment, then padded over to the nearest tree and plucked a Sitrus berry from a low branch.
As she ate, Azure spoke again.
"So, have you decided what you want to do yet?" he asked, tracing aimlessly in the loam with the tip of his tail. He had a strange tone in his voice, like he was apprehensive about what her answer would be.
As she finished her berry, a realization came to her. Why was she trying to decide whether or not to leave this forest and go back to what she had lived with and hated for so long? This made her think of the strange feelings she had for Azure. She was sure that he felt something for her in return. So why go back? Why did she even need to consider it?
"Eve? Is something wrong?" Azure asked.
Eve still wasn't sure whether her feelings were of love, but she decided she would take a chance and find out.
Abruptly, she spun around and padded over to Azure, stood in front of him, and, before he could say another word, kissed him full on the mouth.
She didn't notice Azure's eyes widen in surprise, but he didn't pull away. A wave of calm washed over her and she sighed as he returned the action. Time seemed to stop around them as they lost awarness of there surroundings and lost themselves in each other. Who knew that a simple touching of lips could make someone feel this way?
They gently pulled away after a time and Eve voiced her decision.
"...I want to stay ... with you." she said quietly, looking into his deep ebony eyes.
Azure nodded, saying nothing, then swept her up in his coils and kissed her again, and Eve sighed gently into it. Oh, she loved him all right, there was no question about it now.
~*~
Not too long afterwards, they were back on the beach, Eve stretched out on the sand with Azure coiled protectivly around her. Eve's eyes were half lidded, listening to Azure's gentle breathing and the steady beat of his heart. Oh, his heart. And he had given it to her, hadn't he? Yes, he had, and it made Eve feel complete, wanted, for the first time in her life.
"I love you, Azure." She whispered, just to say it. The words felt foreign on her tongue, but they felt true, as well. Oh, so true.
"I love you as well." he replied in his calm tone, gently nuzzling her cheek before planting a soft kiss on her lips.
Just hearing those words made her heart beat faster. Oh, how she loved this feeling! She sighed quietly into the kiss. This felt so very right, the two of them.
All of the pain, the self-pity, the darkness, she felt them floating away, evicted from her soul and scattered by Azure's love.
Azure pulled away and smiled at her, just a faint hint of blush on his cheeks. Eve returned the smile, and Azure laid his head down next to hers, both of them slowly drifting away into soothing sleep.