Legendarian Mistress
Fic Writer
- 716
- Posts
- 16
- Years
- Age 39
- Queensland
- Seen Jan 17, 2017
Introduction
A/N: This is "Apocalyptic Dawn", majorly revised. I'd like to thank Fuyu for the title, SS for the prologue which was originally the lead up to Arc 2 in "Apocalyptic Dawn" and JX Valentine for the beta-ing of the prologue. I'm also hoping for more reviewers as opposed to the 2-3 I'd gotten. To anyone that's new who reads this, I'd like to give you a warm welcome; any old reviewers, welcome back to LM's latest version. I hope anyone who reads "Ending Sunrise" enjoys it as much as I like writing it. Finally, if you want to be notified of a new chapter, you can inform me in your review or VM/PM me. I won't start a PM List until I'm sure that people are interested.
Disclaimer: This fic is rated M, for violence, character deaths and moderate language. Pokémon is © Game Freak and Nintendo; 1995-2010. All other characters are © Legendarian Mistress.
Chapter List
Prologue
Arc 1
Chapter 1: Judgemental Minds
Chapter 2: Reflections of the Heart
Chapter 3: Returning to the First Step
Prologue
Natalie brushed her hair from her face as she stared blankly out of the window overlooking their front lawn. The sun was going down over the area so the sky had developed a glow above it. She traced her finger down the window, allowing the smudge from her fingertip to form an almost perfectly straight line down the reflective surface. Her sister was gone without any words to bridge the reason of her departure. She could feel the loneliness swell within the confines of her chest.
After prying herself away from the window, she straightened her miniskirt to the point that it almost ripped. Beyond the feelings of loneliness, she couldn't help but feel a bit angry with her sister's sudden decision to leave. Even now she could see the ship drifting off into the distance in her mind's eye. Everything seemed so different now. She knew something had changed within Josephine's eyes the day that she gave a weak goodbye towards her. They held the sense of change, and they basically bellowed the seriousness in her entire body. She could have at least have taken her upon her journey. However, that didn't happen. She was standing within these walls already waiting for her return.
With her face red with emotion — and her mind filled to the brim with such — she continued walking down the narrow hallway like a phantom. Down the hallway, she came upon what was once Josephine's room. Her body almost felt as though it was moving by itself as she reached for the silver doorknob. She twisted it, and the door creaked as she pushed it open, allowing the young girl to enter silently within the darkness of the room. Natalie fiddled with the wall until her fingertips touched the light switch. She clicked it.
The room was lit with a flow of yellow light, causing Natalie to squint as she tried to observe her sister's room. The dark colour of the room, a navy blue hue like a Luxray's fur, helped her eyes adjust to the sudden surge of illumination. She wandered slowly into the room. The scattered pages of Josephine's journal littered the floor with more even pouring onto the bed. She picked up a page. It was the day she graduated from trainer school, taped to the front with the graduation picture. Paul was in it circled with a black marker. Natalie's tears soon blurred her vision. She pulled it closer as she looked at her sister in the picture. That smile was much happier than the one that she saw that day that she left; a faded shell of it was all that she saw.
As she ventured deeper within her sister's room, more of her feelings towards Josephine leaving began to bloom. She couldn't decide what she was angry at or why she was angry in the first place. She knew why she was sad however: her sister had ventured to Sinnoh without her. Natalie ran out of the room with the tears streaming down her face. She could still remember those words that she spoke to her parents, those same words that she resented as they played in her mind over and over again.
*****
Six months before...
"I'm leaving for Sinnoh." Josephine spoke calmly, trying to keep her face composed as she stared at her father's concerned glances.
"Sinnoh?" His voice was that of disbelief. "Why would you go to Sinnoh? It's so…"
"Far!" Josephine's mother finished as she vigorously rubbed the glass that she was cleaning. It almost broke.
"I need to become stronger," Josephine kept this cold tone of resolve.
Charles, Josephine's father, rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger as though he was trying to quell a headache. After a massaging it a bit more, he placed his glasses firmly upon them as he stared down at his daughter with a bleached smile on his face. Fiona, his wife, stared at him as he tried to patch together this smile. She had long given up trying to smile in this situation, yet Charles wouldn't stop. She took in some air as she started to gather her opinion on this matter.
"I don't think that you should go," Fiona spoke sternly.
Charles shot her a glare. "We cannot decide that for her, Fiona. You haven't lost your birthplace to an enemy nor are you in a situation like she is in now."
Fiona's eyes almost seem like they were going to fall out of their head with her husband's surprisingly calm tone.
"Josephine…"
Charles suddenly seized Josephine's hand. They were almost double the size of hers. She stared at the back of his slightly scarred hand as he held it tightly, almost squeezing it beyond the normal circulatory means. He looked into her eyes deeply. They shared the same eye colour, so it was like staring deeply into his own. He took a deep breath, trying to compose the words he wanted to say to her. When they finally came to his mind, he squared his shoulders and released his grip on her hand.
"Be safe," Charles said. Fiona dropped her glass, allowing it to shatter on the tiled floor.
"Why aren't you stopping her?" Fiona exclaimed.
"This is my journey, Mum." Josephine spoke simply as she readjusted her dark blue bag. She flashed the tickets to the ship they were taking. It was already planned.
"I…"
Fiona was breathless, so words were impossible. Nothing she could say or do could convince her otherwise, so she just eyed the bag thrown helplessly over Josephine's shoulder in astonishment. She was really going to do this. She was really going to leave. Tears began to form on her mother's face. Never once in her entire life of being a mum had she worried this much about her child. Those same tears were reproduced on her father's normally relaxed expression as Josephine walked toward the door. Natalie, who until now had just been peeking around the corner, sprung into action. She flung herself around her sister's stomach.
"Don't leave…" Natalie pleaded as the tears splashed all around Josephine's feet. "Don't leave me…"
This was the last person that Josephine wanted to see her leave. She wanted to take every precaution to make sure her little sister wouldn't know until she woke up later this morning. Yet there she was, tugging her stomach as though she was trying to pull it away from the door. Natalie's head swayed back and forth as though she was denying the very reality of the situation. She couldn't reject it… no one could.
"Natalie… please let me go," Josephine spoke, trying to hold back her own tears.
"No… you won't be able to leave if I hold on to you," Natalie spoke between her sobs.
"I know that you don't want me to leave yet…" Josephine forced Natalie to break her embrace slowly. "This is something that I have to do."
With that Natalie slid to the floor sombrely, and she crashed on her knees as Josephine opened the door. She could no longer feel her legs any more. Josephine looked at the disgruntled eleven-year-old girl with a dismayed look of her own. She opened the front door slowly causing an agonizing creak for everyone in the room. This was it. The light just poured within the room of the house as Josephine took her first steps out of the building.
"I'll be back…" Josephine whispered as she stepped clean out of the door, her voice cracking. "Keep the light on for me. I love all of you…"
She closed the door behind her. The remaining three Harris' emptily stared at the door, hoping that Josephine would just crash through the door at any moment. That moment never happened, forcing Charles to wheel over to the door to flick the lock. The morbid aura drenched the room with a mixture of sadness and understanding. The tides of change had occurred, and all three of them were now being pulled under the sick undertows that came with it. It was something that they had to accept as a family.
*****
Charles struggled to swing his body into his wheelchair allowing his massive arms to bring him to the comfort of being upright. The doorbell was ringing a rather slow tone for the third time. This person definitely want to see the family, and he wasn't about to let them wait any longer than his wife had already. He wheeled himself to the doorway, allowing him to fling the door open rather casually. There stood Sabrina with her eyes already observing the area in a sweeping motion. She made a mental note of how nice Josephine's house was before continuing with the task at hand.
"Good morning, Mr. Harris," Sabrina allowed herself in without much effort from Charles to stop her. It didn't help much that he loved company too much to care that she came in uninvited.
"Have a seat, Sabrina. Have a seat," Charles gave the notion with his hand. She took a seat on the white leather sofa while he closed the door. "What did you come to speak to us about?"
"It's about Josephine."
He could feel his heart almost slide from the crest of his ribs to the bottom of his stomach like a boulder tumbling down a slanted hill. Charles, unknown to him, had formed this rather concerned facial expression that infected the rest of his body with a nervous shudder. His hands rapped against the metal of his wheelchair, hoping that he wouldn't hear something that would make him regret letting Josephine leave in the first place.
Before the conversation could even begin again, Fiona rushed from the kitchen as though her mind had detected the mention of her daughter's name. Though she had a full silver serving plate of tea and cups, she ran into the room and placed it down at the table where all of the furniture of the living room was centred. She hurryingly poured three cups of tea before sitting in the vacant chair closest to her husband, but close to Sabrina enough to hear what she had to say.
Instead of speaking right away, Sabrina helped herself to the steaming cup of tea placed before her. She brought the cup slowly to her lips, allowing the smooth, sweet tea to fill her mouth. After consuming much of the cup, she placed the porcelain down and waited for the other two to do the same. Charles, who was nervously sipping away at his tea waited for Sabrina to speak while his wife, who hadn't touched her tea at all with the fear she will break the cup, did as well. She closed her eyes.
"Your daughter's safe," Sabrina mentioned conversationally. Both of the parents sighed in relief.
"That's a relief," Fiona reached towards her cup of tea. She drained the cup to cure the dryness that fluttered in her throat.
"That is definitely a relief," Charles' booming voice echoed within the room. He looked up to the white walls.
"But I can say," Sabrina started but was suddenly distracted by the change in expression of both of the parents. The word 'but' always transitioned a sentence from a positive to a negative note or vice versa. Since they started with a positive one, the negative would soon follow. "She won't be the same…"
A sense of bewilderment flashed against Charles and Fiona's faces like lightning among the clouds. Won't be the same, Charles mouthed to himself. What did that mean exactly? It was natural that a person changed when they went off. Why would she go about telling them this when it was common knowledge for this to happen? Again, they were waiting as the mysterious wielder of psychic powers found the words she wanted to speak.
"She's not going to be the little girl that you both raised. She's going to be different. With power comes a different outlook. It is a simple thought."
"Would she be…?" Fiona trailed off. "Would she…?" The words failed her miserably allowing this broken person before them.
"Don't worry," Sabrina stood up as she took a gander at the last remaining portion of tea. "She will be just fine. Just different…"
"How different?" Charles found himself asking.
"More than what you are used to…" she spoke as she moved her hair from her face. "However, I must be going now. It was a pleasure speaking with you."
As quickly as she came in, she was gone in a flash, leaving an imprint on Fiona and Charles. They pondered the words to themselves, trying to understand what she meant by that. It already felt like years had passed since Josephine was last seen within these walls. Now, with this new information, it rekindled their concern about their daughter's well being. It made them feel anxious. Charles locked the door in the same way that he did when Josephine left.
A/N: This is "Apocalyptic Dawn", majorly revised. I'd like to thank Fuyu for the title, SS for the prologue which was originally the lead up to Arc 2 in "Apocalyptic Dawn" and JX Valentine for the beta-ing of the prologue. I'm also hoping for more reviewers as opposed to the 2-3 I'd gotten. To anyone that's new who reads this, I'd like to give you a warm welcome; any old reviewers, welcome back to LM's latest version. I hope anyone who reads "Ending Sunrise" enjoys it as much as I like writing it. Finally, if you want to be notified of a new chapter, you can inform me in your review or VM/PM me. I won't start a PM List until I'm sure that people are interested.
Disclaimer: This fic is rated M, for violence, character deaths and moderate language. Pokémon is © Game Freak and Nintendo; 1995-2010. All other characters are © Legendarian Mistress.
Chapter List
Prologue
Arc 1
Chapter 1: Judgemental Minds
Chapter 2: Reflections of the Heart
Chapter 3: Returning to the First Step
Prologue
Natalie brushed her hair from her face as she stared blankly out of the window overlooking their front lawn. The sun was going down over the area so the sky had developed a glow above it. She traced her finger down the window, allowing the smudge from her fingertip to form an almost perfectly straight line down the reflective surface. Her sister was gone without any words to bridge the reason of her departure. She could feel the loneliness swell within the confines of her chest.
After prying herself away from the window, she straightened her miniskirt to the point that it almost ripped. Beyond the feelings of loneliness, she couldn't help but feel a bit angry with her sister's sudden decision to leave. Even now she could see the ship drifting off into the distance in her mind's eye. Everything seemed so different now. She knew something had changed within Josephine's eyes the day that she gave a weak goodbye towards her. They held the sense of change, and they basically bellowed the seriousness in her entire body. She could have at least have taken her upon her journey. However, that didn't happen. She was standing within these walls already waiting for her return.
With her face red with emotion — and her mind filled to the brim with such — she continued walking down the narrow hallway like a phantom. Down the hallway, she came upon what was once Josephine's room. Her body almost felt as though it was moving by itself as she reached for the silver doorknob. She twisted it, and the door creaked as she pushed it open, allowing the young girl to enter silently within the darkness of the room. Natalie fiddled with the wall until her fingertips touched the light switch. She clicked it.
The room was lit with a flow of yellow light, causing Natalie to squint as she tried to observe her sister's room. The dark colour of the room, a navy blue hue like a Luxray's fur, helped her eyes adjust to the sudden surge of illumination. She wandered slowly into the room. The scattered pages of Josephine's journal littered the floor with more even pouring onto the bed. She picked up a page. It was the day she graduated from trainer school, taped to the front with the graduation picture. Paul was in it circled with a black marker. Natalie's tears soon blurred her vision. She pulled it closer as she looked at her sister in the picture. That smile was much happier than the one that she saw that day that she left; a faded shell of it was all that she saw.
As she ventured deeper within her sister's room, more of her feelings towards Josephine leaving began to bloom. She couldn't decide what she was angry at or why she was angry in the first place. She knew why she was sad however: her sister had ventured to Sinnoh without her. Natalie ran out of the room with the tears streaming down her face. She could still remember those words that she spoke to her parents, those same words that she resented as they played in her mind over and over again.
*****
Six months before...
"I'm leaving for Sinnoh." Josephine spoke calmly, trying to keep her face composed as she stared at her father's concerned glances.
"Sinnoh?" His voice was that of disbelief. "Why would you go to Sinnoh? It's so…"
"Far!" Josephine's mother finished as she vigorously rubbed the glass that she was cleaning. It almost broke.
"I need to become stronger," Josephine kept this cold tone of resolve.
Charles, Josephine's father, rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger as though he was trying to quell a headache. After a massaging it a bit more, he placed his glasses firmly upon them as he stared down at his daughter with a bleached smile on his face. Fiona, his wife, stared at him as he tried to patch together this smile. She had long given up trying to smile in this situation, yet Charles wouldn't stop. She took in some air as she started to gather her opinion on this matter.
"I don't think that you should go," Fiona spoke sternly.
Charles shot her a glare. "We cannot decide that for her, Fiona. You haven't lost your birthplace to an enemy nor are you in a situation like she is in now."
Fiona's eyes almost seem like they were going to fall out of their head with her husband's surprisingly calm tone.
"Josephine…"
Charles suddenly seized Josephine's hand. They were almost double the size of hers. She stared at the back of his slightly scarred hand as he held it tightly, almost squeezing it beyond the normal circulatory means. He looked into her eyes deeply. They shared the same eye colour, so it was like staring deeply into his own. He took a deep breath, trying to compose the words he wanted to say to her. When they finally came to his mind, he squared his shoulders and released his grip on her hand.
"Be safe," Charles said. Fiona dropped her glass, allowing it to shatter on the tiled floor.
"Why aren't you stopping her?" Fiona exclaimed.
"This is my journey, Mum." Josephine spoke simply as she readjusted her dark blue bag. She flashed the tickets to the ship they were taking. It was already planned.
"I…"
Fiona was breathless, so words were impossible. Nothing she could say or do could convince her otherwise, so she just eyed the bag thrown helplessly over Josephine's shoulder in astonishment. She was really going to do this. She was really going to leave. Tears began to form on her mother's face. Never once in her entire life of being a mum had she worried this much about her child. Those same tears were reproduced on her father's normally relaxed expression as Josephine walked toward the door. Natalie, who until now had just been peeking around the corner, sprung into action. She flung herself around her sister's stomach.
"Don't leave…" Natalie pleaded as the tears splashed all around Josephine's feet. "Don't leave me…"
This was the last person that Josephine wanted to see her leave. She wanted to take every precaution to make sure her little sister wouldn't know until she woke up later this morning. Yet there she was, tugging her stomach as though she was trying to pull it away from the door. Natalie's head swayed back and forth as though she was denying the very reality of the situation. She couldn't reject it… no one could.
"Natalie… please let me go," Josephine spoke, trying to hold back her own tears.
"No… you won't be able to leave if I hold on to you," Natalie spoke between her sobs.
"I know that you don't want me to leave yet…" Josephine forced Natalie to break her embrace slowly. "This is something that I have to do."
With that Natalie slid to the floor sombrely, and she crashed on her knees as Josephine opened the door. She could no longer feel her legs any more. Josephine looked at the disgruntled eleven-year-old girl with a dismayed look of her own. She opened the front door slowly causing an agonizing creak for everyone in the room. This was it. The light just poured within the room of the house as Josephine took her first steps out of the building.
"I'll be back…" Josephine whispered as she stepped clean out of the door, her voice cracking. "Keep the light on for me. I love all of you…"
She closed the door behind her. The remaining three Harris' emptily stared at the door, hoping that Josephine would just crash through the door at any moment. That moment never happened, forcing Charles to wheel over to the door to flick the lock. The morbid aura drenched the room with a mixture of sadness and understanding. The tides of change had occurred, and all three of them were now being pulled under the sick undertows that came with it. It was something that they had to accept as a family.
*****
Charles struggled to swing his body into his wheelchair allowing his massive arms to bring him to the comfort of being upright. The doorbell was ringing a rather slow tone for the third time. This person definitely want to see the family, and he wasn't about to let them wait any longer than his wife had already. He wheeled himself to the doorway, allowing him to fling the door open rather casually. There stood Sabrina with her eyes already observing the area in a sweeping motion. She made a mental note of how nice Josephine's house was before continuing with the task at hand.
"Good morning, Mr. Harris," Sabrina allowed herself in without much effort from Charles to stop her. It didn't help much that he loved company too much to care that she came in uninvited.
"Have a seat, Sabrina. Have a seat," Charles gave the notion with his hand. She took a seat on the white leather sofa while he closed the door. "What did you come to speak to us about?"
"It's about Josephine."
He could feel his heart almost slide from the crest of his ribs to the bottom of his stomach like a boulder tumbling down a slanted hill. Charles, unknown to him, had formed this rather concerned facial expression that infected the rest of his body with a nervous shudder. His hands rapped against the metal of his wheelchair, hoping that he wouldn't hear something that would make him regret letting Josephine leave in the first place.
Before the conversation could even begin again, Fiona rushed from the kitchen as though her mind had detected the mention of her daughter's name. Though she had a full silver serving plate of tea and cups, she ran into the room and placed it down at the table where all of the furniture of the living room was centred. She hurryingly poured three cups of tea before sitting in the vacant chair closest to her husband, but close to Sabrina enough to hear what she had to say.
Instead of speaking right away, Sabrina helped herself to the steaming cup of tea placed before her. She brought the cup slowly to her lips, allowing the smooth, sweet tea to fill her mouth. After consuming much of the cup, she placed the porcelain down and waited for the other two to do the same. Charles, who was nervously sipping away at his tea waited for Sabrina to speak while his wife, who hadn't touched her tea at all with the fear she will break the cup, did as well. She closed her eyes.
"Your daughter's safe," Sabrina mentioned conversationally. Both of the parents sighed in relief.
"That's a relief," Fiona reached towards her cup of tea. She drained the cup to cure the dryness that fluttered in her throat.
"That is definitely a relief," Charles' booming voice echoed within the room. He looked up to the white walls.
"But I can say," Sabrina started but was suddenly distracted by the change in expression of both of the parents. The word 'but' always transitioned a sentence from a positive to a negative note or vice versa. Since they started with a positive one, the negative would soon follow. "She won't be the same…"
A sense of bewilderment flashed against Charles and Fiona's faces like lightning among the clouds. Won't be the same, Charles mouthed to himself. What did that mean exactly? It was natural that a person changed when they went off. Why would she go about telling them this when it was common knowledge for this to happen? Again, they were waiting as the mysterious wielder of psychic powers found the words she wanted to speak.
"She's not going to be the little girl that you both raised. She's going to be different. With power comes a different outlook. It is a simple thought."
"Would she be…?" Fiona trailed off. "Would she…?" The words failed her miserably allowing this broken person before them.
"Don't worry," Sabrina stood up as she took a gander at the last remaining portion of tea. "She will be just fine. Just different…"
"How different?" Charles found himself asking.
"More than what you are used to…" she spoke as she moved her hair from her face. "However, I must be going now. It was a pleasure speaking with you."
As quickly as she came in, she was gone in a flash, leaving an imprint on Fiona and Charles. They pondered the words to themselves, trying to understand what she meant by that. It already felt like years had passed since Josephine was last seen within these walls. Now, with this new information, it rekindled their concern about their daughter's well being. It made them feel anxious. Charles locked the door in the same way that he did when Josephine left.
