From: Marco262 (marco262@vilbSBrandt.net) Subject: [PW!] Time enough for love Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2003-12-29 02:58:16 PST Lisa felt like screaming. She and Darian had been trudging through the deep woods, hacking away brush and tripping over tree roots, for what seemed like months. Her legs were scarred and raw from scrambling over rocks and wading through patches of poison ivy. Not to mention trying to shave with sharp rocks and no shaving cream. She'd come to the end of her tolerance. Her hair was matted and tangled. Her clothes were sweaty and ripped. She couldn't remember the last time she had a bath. And she would never be able to look at worms without remembering a wriggling sensation in her throat. She'd overcome many obstacles to be there standing behind the man she loved most in the world, and now he'd become another one. He would have to accept that she was not made of as strong stuff as him, and that she at the very least needed a rest. She strode up to the tall youth, ready to give him her ultimatum. "We'll stop here for the night." Darian's piercing brown eyes swept over his traveling parnter, taking in her exhausted form. Every day, it seemed, they'd go less and less distance before her labored breathing and slackening pace required them to stop. Jesus H. Christ! He'd probably have made it to Kanto right now, if it wasn't for her dragging them down. He looked up into her confused, liquidy brown eyes, saw her trembling lips, and remembered why he had not left her in a ravine alone many times before. He sighed and nodded off to the side. "There's a stream over the crest of that hill. You can wash up there." Her face melted with a mixture of confusion, stoicism, and relief. She straightened against the weight of her backpack. "Darian..." he silenced her with a scowl. "And make it quick. Once I can grab a badger or something and get a fire started, dinner will be ready. Plus the mosquitoes come out around dusk, so we'll want to be--" "In bed, I know!" Lisa waved away Darian's advice airily. She scowled at him angrily. "I've been out here as long as you have, you know. You don't have to be all high and mighty woodsman with me." Darian's eyes narrowed to slits. Lisa shrank back a bit. "Bath. Now," he commanded. Lisa turned on her heel, gathering up what of her dignity she could spare, and marched off. As soon as Lisa was out of sight, Darian's head dropped into his hands. He hiccoughed twice, then let the tears roll freely down his face. "Pardus, I've failed you," he sobbed, "I'm sorry. I don't want to wander anymore. I don't know what to do. Forgive me." <Why do you torture her so?> Darian raised his eyes. Tears blurred his vision, and he wiped a sleeve across his eyes. "Torture her? Do I? I've been trying to do better. She loves me, I can tell." He slammed his fist against the ground. "Even after all the shit I've put her through, she loves me. And after all the whining and delays, I still love her. I don't understand it." Fist met ground again and Darian stood up, pacing agitatedly. <She whines?> "Of course she whines! Everytime I--well, there was this one time--but that was one time..." Darian's pacing slowed to a stop. He flexed his hand, studying the grooves of his palm. He looked to the hilltop that Lisa crested, stroking his chin absently. The pain in his heart, for the first time since the coma, seemed to lift for a moment. "No. She doesn't whine. She may complain, even bitch. But she doesn't whine." <Why does that surprise you?> Darian shook his head, trying to clear the confusion out of his brain. After a moment of silence, he replied, "Because I've never met someone stronger than me. I've always been able to outlast anyone, or outsmart them. She is the first person I've ever lost to." <You lost to her?> "In the hospital." Darian's pacing resumed, and a smile crept onto his face. "She was always so concerned, and I just thought it was her job. She set my bedtime and delivered all my meals. I was pampered over, and no matter how much I hated it...she did it anyways. And I let her. I let her beat me." <Are you mad?> "Am I mad? Of course I'm not mad! This is amazing! HA! Hey, I just laughed, did you hear it? I'd forgotten what a laugh sounded like. Who could have known losing could be so...so...relieving? It's like I'd been swimming upstream all my life. Maybe all I'm looking for...is in the ocean." He sat again, chin in his palm. <What will you do now?> Darian's eyes narrowed again. He smiled out of the corner of his mouth. "I've lost before. I can lose again. I've treated her like shit, and she doesn't deserve that. She deserves so much more." Darian leapt up, sprinting for the top of the hill. ------------ Lisa shivered through her tears, letting the cold water flow over her. She kept an eye on her clothes piled on shore, remembering the time when they had almost been stolen by an overzealous chipmunk. Crouching in the deepest part of the stream, she dipped her face in the freezing flow, feeling the grime get washed away. Now, she only wished she could wash her insides. The stream chilled her, reminding her all too vividly of Darian's glare at her as he sat in front of her moments ago. So that's why they call it "cold", she thought. Another shiver came over her and she blinked against the biting breeze. <Why are you sad?> She sniffled, though from the cold or her sadness she did not know. "Darian hates me. I'm sure of it." <How sure are you?> Lisa shook her head. "Stupid question. Well, I'm a stupid girl. I'm clumsy, I'm needy...I haven't gone a day since I left the hospital without relying on him for something. He'd be so much better off without me." <Then why don't you leave him?> "It's not that simple. For one, I'm lost in this forest." Her heart broke to admit this to herself. An uncertainty that snapped against her heart. "And I'd be lost without him. He's cut me deep many times, and I just heal over, hoping the scars won't show. I hate myself for not letting him go. We'd both be so much happier if I wasn't so weak." <Have you told him this?> "No. I haven't." She wiped away another tear. "He'd hate me. He'd leave me for sure. If not stranded here, at the next town we come to. I don't think I can take this, anyways. I'll just leave the next time we see a house." <So why not tell him?> "Yeah, why not? It's not like he can kill me, or anything." She sobbed at a thought, but held it in quickly. She stood up slowly, rolling words over in her head. The wind whistled, and she wrapped her arms over herself. But as she started towards her clothes, something leapt out of the bushes directly in front of her. She screamed and fell backwards, missing a foothold on a sluppery rock. Fully aware of her nakedness, she cringed, stunned by the fall and waiting for whatever came. "...Lisa." A soft voice, familiar but new, made her open her eyes. Darian gazed down at her, his eyes surprisingly soft. Lisa's heart leapt into her throat, for she could not remember the last time Darian had ever "gazed" at anything. But that's what he was doing now. Their eyes locked as Darian crouched down to her, bringing their heads level. Lisa sensed his closeness, and blushed. She reached past him onto the shore, grabbing her towel, and covering herself up with it. Darian squatted, oblivious to the water creeping up his pant leg and soaking his shoes. "Lisa," he repeated. His lips moved, trying to find there way around some important word. Presently, Lisa's soul grew stronger. She put a finger to his lips. "No, listen. I need to tell you something first." Her tongue fell over before the next word got out of her mouth, but she took a deep breath. "I love you, Darian. I know you know that I do. I've told you so many times. You are the world to me. I am incomplete without you, but I feel that I am incomplete with you as well. I'm causing you pain, I know it. I've been nothing but trouble for you. I've been holding you back, making you miserable. I know how you really feel about me. I know you hate me, and I don't want to be in your face anymore. I'm sorry." Lisa looked up at Darian. Oh no, she thought, his face has gone all hard and opaque again. He could shatter her with a single word, and her world was about to fall apart. She could not hold back a sob, and brought her hands to cover her face. Darian captured her hands in his. She gasped and cringed, wondering if he was going to slap her. Her head snapped up as his lips brushed the inside of her wrists. He looked up at her again, pain and sadness in his eyes again. But those hazel orbs were warm, and she felt she could fall into them and hide herself away forever. "I love you, Lisa." She melted right there. "What did I do to make you think I hated you? What did I NOT do? I'm the one who's sorry. You have been eternally patient, my dear Lisa. I have dragged you to the gates of Hell and back. You are stronger than I. I admire you. I am inspired by you. I love you." His eyes flicked down, and his look of contentment melted into shock. "Um...how long have you been naked?" ------------ The fire crackled, throwing its light on an occupied sleeping bag. And a rolled up one. Two forms moved under the canvas fabric, and fell still again. <Are you happy?> Two murmurs of contentment. Cue the Unown floated into the sky, and away towards the city lights. --Marco262 There. That's wrapped up. The purpose of this story was two-fold: To release Cue the Unown to the world and everyone who's still collecting "Teh Shinies." And to FINALLY GET DARIAN LAID!!! It's been over 6 months since my last story with him. This guy deserves some ass! So yeah. I'm happy now. How're you?