Serena decides that normal isn't truly anything that could exist in their world. The recruits are tested and tested again before settling into their roles with ease. The contracts the Demons hold begin to stabilize and expand, and the base gets larger and larger, with new construction projects slowly adding onto the existing estate.
Many things change, but there are some things that remain the same.
Lunch dates stay a tradition with the trio. Serena still gets annoyed when they can't settle on a place, Misty still gets just as irritated when it's always left to her to navigate, and Dawn never learns her lesson from eating far too much food than her "iron stomach" can handle.
That day, they settle on a family restaurant that speaks highly of its passed down recipe famous in the city. They eat together wholeheartedly, sharing stories of simpler things from high school days and their families.
The moment is interrupted when Misty catches suspicious shadows knocking over garbage cans in an alleyway and a muffled shout that even penetrates the glass of the restaurant.
"What the hell?" Misty says and points out. "Guys, look over there."
Serena takes in the situation at a glance and groans, throwing her napkin down. "Seriously? Today and now of all times? I wanted to get dessert too."
Dawn cracks her knuckles, ready for a fight. "More room for dessert once we're finished. Lets hit up that tasty looking stand on our way back."
The trio rushes out the door, Misty leaving more than enough cash to cover the bill on the table. They skid into the alleyway to find some delinquents, only a few years younger than them and dressed in baggy clothes, beating down on another shopkeeper.
"Hey!" Serena shouts angrily while Dawn and Misty close in.
The delinquents turn and narrow their eyes. "Who the hell are you?"
"Oh, Serena, it's you!" The shopkeep pipes up in relief from where he had been released. Serena doesn't recognize him personally, but the territories have been appraised of another leader within the Demons gang. "Take care of these youngsters, would you?"
"Shut up, old man, and give us all your money!" A grunt from the back threatens.
"The quicker this is over with, quicker we get our dessert!" Dawn says, landing a clean right hook into the leader's jaw while Misty follows up with a kick directly into another's solar plexus.
The shakedown ends without a struggle that Serena almost feels bad for beating down on thugs so inexperienced. She speed dials her contact for the Lumiose City PD and the trio lingers, Misty and Dawn helping the old man up from the ground, and tending to his injuries as Serena keeps a lookout.
A squad car rolls up not long after and Cilan steps out of the driver's side.
"Serena, I didn't think you would be on duty today," Cilan comments, nodding to the other officer to move to arrest the culprits.
Serena sighs. "I wouldn't be if this bunch didn't stir up trouble. We were just having lunch too and I was about to order dessert."
Dawn and Misty join Serena, and Dawn rubs her stomach. "Now that I think about it, I can eat even more dessert. We were thinking of that stand."
Cilan hums. "The one close by? They do have some exquisite desserts. Make sure to save some for Gary or you won't hear the end of it. Enjoy the rest of your day and leave this to us."
They listen to Cilan and bring extras back to headquarters, tossing bags to Gary, Brock, Miette, and Ash upon their return.
"What took you so long?" Ash asks.
Serena shrugs and decides not to trouble him with the minor details. "Long line. Must've been really popular today."
Later on, though Serena and Miette are on better terms than they ever were, and a devastating duo out in the field, they still bicker incessantly from across the roundtable of the conference room.
"Can't you two stop trying to kill each other?" Ash groans, gripping the sides of his temples. "You two were doing just fine on your mission yesterday!"
"Well if she would-!" Miette starts, but then comes to a screeching halt once she sees something different on Ash's wrist. There's a bracelet of vibrant colors, woven in multicolored threads. "What is that?"
Ash follows her gaze and holds his hand up, looking at the bracelet and then back at her. "A bracelet. I'm sure you've seen one before?"
"No shit!" Miette bites back. "But why are you wearing something that looks like that?"
"I made it. Do you have a problem?" Serena says defensively.
"It's ugly. That's the problem. I could've made one better," Miette retorts and the bickering resumes.
Dawn leans over to whisper to Misty. "You think it's too late to ask Serena to make me one too?"
"Yeah, for me too!" Gary whispers, joining in on the mute excitement.
"I'm not getting in the middle of that," Misty decides with a roll of her eyes. "But maybe it wouldn't hurt to want one too."
Their arguments always end at a stalemate and Ash sighs tiredly to himself. Serena and Miette will act like nothing happened, and follow the usual ebb and flow of their relationship. But Ash doesn't have it in him to say anything else because in all honesty, it reminds him a lot of how him and Miette were years ago.
"I can't believe she's going to annoy the shit out of me for the rest of my life," Miette grumbles to Ash one morning.
Ash doesn't comment on the way that Miette has implied that she can see forever for them both. They were becoming more like sisters, though Serena and Miette would loathe to admit it.
It fully comes as a surprise one day, however, when he sees one of Miette's snipers, with a multicolored threaded bracelet tied around the barrel. Ash doesn't ask out of respect and instead, kisses Serena a little harder that night.
In the blink of an eye, a year passes since the day Serena first arrived.
She doesn't outwardly acknowledge the anniversary, but subconsciously, it brings bouts of nightmares that rouses her from her sleep. Her eyes fly open and she's met with a pale canopy of midnight blue, and the slivers of moonlight that slip from the windows and curve over her blanketed body. She turns her head and finds Ash sound asleep, raven hair splayed over the pillow and his arm wrapped protectively over Serena's waist.
She sighs and sinks further into her feathery pillow. It was just a dream. A very vivid reliving of all the events in the past year, but still just a dream. She slowly raises her hand to look at her fingers, a little calloused, but clean from the blood she had just witnessed in her memories. She drops it back down and peers all around the room that was once Ash's before Serena moved her things into it.
"You might as well, there's plenty of room. You end up sleeping here all the time, anyway."
"Are you asking me to move in with you, Ash?" Serena teased.
It made the leader sputter, but not deny. Ash eventually recovered. "One day, I'll ask you to come live with me in our own place, but for now, will you stay here?"
"Of course I will."
The wardrobe is now filled with her assortment of clothes, unopened shopping bags, and the vanity is taken up by her accessories and collection of different makeup palettes. The walls hold Ash's spears, polearms, and guns, but are now paired with Serena's decorated swords. She knows in the other room is Ash's office, lined with documents, books, and happily added pictures of them in glass frames.
The long road behind her leaves her wistful and the future ahead leaves her restless. She slips from Ash's hold slowly and manages not to disturb him as she throws on a hoodie and shorts over her bare body before quietly leaving the room. The estate slumbers around her and the moonlight through the glass windows illuminates her every step as she makes her way towards the elevator. It climbs and climbs several floors until it opens to the chilly air of the rooftop.
She walks steadily to the railings, taking a deep breath as though she could breathe the entire city skyline into her lungs. The constellations blanket over the velvet sky, the city lights an explosion of stars that flicker and streak across the highway. A year ago, she walked those streets aimlessly day in and day out. Her heart yearned for something that she couldn't place, and all she knew is that she just wanted something more.
She never imagined that she would be given the world, and better yet, standing atop a universe decorated in jade and gold, towering so high she could feel heaven's gates at her fingertips. A universe where the oceans are stained red, mortal dangers linger in every shadow, pain sears in a bitter, bone-chilling winter, and the love between hearts flies upon the wind of sakura petals towards morning light and rising moon.
Piece by piece, her newfound family encircles her and takes their seats around Serena's heart, then Ash stands beside her in the very center of it all.
"I thought I'd find you up here."
Serena smiles and doesn't need to turn around to know who it is as she's encircled in a warm embrace.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Serena says quietly, still drinking in the sights ahead.
"Nah, don't be. I just got used to sleeping with you in my arms, is all," Ash says, resting his chin on her shoulder, then presses a light kiss on her neck. "Is everything okay?"
Serena's hands slide over the backs of his own, tightening the embrace. "I'm fine. Just thinking about how it's been a year since I came here."
Ash hums. "And how does that make you feel?"
"I'm sure if I told my past self what would happen, she would call me insane," Serena jokes and Ash laughs with her. She shifts within his arms to rest her head in the space between his neck and collarbone, hand resting against the strong thrum of his heart. "But despite everything we suffered through, I believe it was all worth it. We became stronger together, really."
Serena looks up at Ash, love warm in her eyes as he smiles at her. Her hand cups his cheek, brushing her thumb along his cheekbone and jaw. She echoes the words she told him a long time ago in a way, though neither could have imagined that this was how things would turn out.
I'm truly grateful for what you've given me. I'm excited to see what more of this world of yours is all about.
"Thank you for the world you've given me, Ash."
He brings Serena closer to capture her lips in a soft kiss. It's unhurried and slow, submerged in the lull of the gentle waves. They relish every press of warmth and calm that washes over their skin, sinking further into a moment that belongs to them alone. Serena tangles her fingers in Ash's hair and sighs as tears well in her eyes from the love that spills over the brim of her chest. In his calloused hands, Ash presses the small of Serena's back in a possessive hold, clinging to the piece of solace she brings to every corner of his scarred heart.
Though the power Ash holds is great, it is inevitably finite. But to Serena, it feels that together, they could grasp eternity.
This is hardly the end, but on the path they now walk together, their hearts are just like one anothers — alike in every passion and every wound, and undoubtedly whole.
When Ash pulls away, he intertwines their hands and brushes a kiss on the back of Serena's knuckles. He curls a strand over her ear and caresses the side of her face in a gentle touch so dear. Ash would pay the price the gods demand if it meant Serena could live the rest of her life the way she looked now — angel sent and a smile that rivals the waning moon overhead.
He wants Serena to have everything he could possibly offer and so he asks. "You said you were searching for something more in the city? Did you ever find what you were looking for?"
Serena's smile is enough to sever the night sky to reveal a wide world of the galaxy, exhilarating and unknown. From the apex of the heavens to the deepest dark world below, a rose's answer speaks true and undenied.
"I found you."
Fin.