Chapter 66: Sunset
I was away from people. I was dressed in clothes I didn't like. I was waiting for Dawn to get dressed, which I assumed would take a long time, leaving me to mull over my uncertain expectations on how well tonight would go.
The day I was having reminded me why I didn't like populated areas or running into people that caused trouble, who changed my plans and distracted me from what I found to be important. Today had been slightly horrifying and, if I had to do it over again, I was sure I would have just stayed inside the Pokemon Center, avoiding everyone except for Dawn.
Yet at the same time I acknowledged that it hadn't been too revolting of a day. Except for Haunter. I would always find that Haunter to be my least favorite Pokemon I'd ever come across. Aside from him, the obnoxious child who was playing with Salamence, the ranting Emma who seemed to enjoy bugging me with her life problems, and the other annoying child who I liked calling mud boy weren't as irritating as they could have been.
Maybe talking to people wasn't as bad as I'd often deemed.
Still, tonight was different. It was me and Dawn, alone. Utterly, wonderfully alone. Yet there was a lot to say, a lot of stirred up feelings, and a lot of different reactions that could take place over the course of the next few hours, which led me to wonder how best to approach what people called a "date".
Lost in thoughts, I was surprised when Dawn didn't take as long as I expected to change clothes. She came back from the bathroom shortly after departing, looking just as beautiful as she had a few hours ago, her hair down, her dress exactly the same as before, yet somehow that didn't take away my stunned reaction. Her eyes roamed over my clothes. Tan dress pants and a dark blue dress shirt that I didn't want to think about. If she had an opinion, she didn't say anything. She just stared.
"Are you ready to go?" I asked.
"Yeah." She stumbled over the word a bit and her cheeks reddened.
I could tell how nervous she was and it absolutely didn't help how I was feeling, which made me a bit on edge. Yet again, I thought about how dates seemed to suck all the life out of people. They became different. A bad different. Closed off.
Everything I felt before I had Dawn.
I walked towards her and grabbed her hand. "I need you to promise me something."
Her eyebrows pulled down, but she nodded.
"We might be wearing new clothes and doing something absolutely different tonight, but that doesn't mean we should be different people." I looked down at her hand, letting my thumb run across her smooth skin before looking up. "We should always be ourselves with each other. Can you do that for me?"
Dawn threw herself at me in a hug. I was closer to toppling over than I cared to admit as I found my balance again, letting my arms wrap around her bare shoulders. Her skin was warm and her hair tickled my nose, making me smile.
"That's better," I said quietly into her ear.
"I think I'm ready for this date now." Dawn unwrapped her arms from around my neck and stood facing me, looking a lot more confident. "I even know where we're going."
"Do you?" I asked, mildly shocked, wondering how she could have possibly figured out where I was taking her. I hadn't told anyone.
"Yeah. We're going somewhere," she said, adding extra emphasis.
"Aren't you smart." I smiled. "We should get going. Somewhere might be far away."
I grabbed her hand and we started walking out of the room as she started guessing where we were going.
As we got outside and Dawn guessed we were going to Mars, I stopped walking and put my hands on her shoulders firmly. "Dawn, I know I asked you to be yourself, but I changed my mind. Be someone who is a lot quieter."
"Yeah, like that's going to happen," Dawn scoffed, brushing my hands away.
"Hey! Trainer!"
I turned my head to see the little boy whose name I still didn't know start running towards me, Salamence right behind him.
"What do you want?" I asked, softening my voice more than I would if I was alone with the little brat. I wanted to avoid a lecture from Dawn.
He stopped short. "Whoa, you're all dressed up still. What'd you do to deserve that?"
"We're going on a date," I said, annoyed at both him and the word "date".
"Oh." The boy looked at Dawn. "Hi! I'm Sam."
"Nice to meet you, Sam." Dawn waved. "Have you been taking care of Salamence?"
"Yep!" Sam patted Salamence's side. "I'm his Trainer for the day."
"I never said that."
"You kind of did." Sam blinked at me in surprise as if I was being stupid and he was far more intelligent than I was.
I really didn't like kids.
"How sweet," Dawn said. "Well, we need to get going."
I looked down at her feet. She was wearing some pretty detailed sandals that I had no idea what words to use to describe besides "foot mangling". How women wore those things was a mystery to me. "Would you like to fly there? I imagine walking wouldn't be fun."
"I don't know where somewhere is to know if it'd be fun or not," Dawn commented lightly.
"It won't be fun."
"Fine, we'll fly."
"Awe, no fair! You said I could play with Salamence all day!" Sam whined.
"He can come back as soon as he's done." I motioned for Salamence to lower his head and whispered something into his ear. He nodded and I turned back towards Sam, frowning. "Don't you have parents to check in with so they know you haven't been murdered?"
"Paul!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Yeah." Sam didn't seem bothered by my manslaughter comment, so I ignored Dawn.
"Then go tell them where you'll be so they don't worry and meet Salamence back here."
"Fine," Sam agreed. "See you, buddy!"
Salamence whipped his tail around and poked Sam in the back, causing him to almost fall over.
"I'm going, I'm going!" Sam laughed. "Bye!"
"He's sweet," Dawn said as he ran away. "But you need to not mention his death around him."
"It's called a verbal warning." I paused. "I suppose he's not the most annoying child I've ever met."
Dawn shook her head and smiled.
"Flying won't be easy to manage in that dress of yours," I stated, studying her.
"Fashion always has its price." Dawn sighed.
"I must say I think it's worth it." I climbed onto Salamence and held my arm out. "Use his leg to help you."
She grabbed onto my hand, hoisting herself up carefully, planting her body in front of mine.
"I know most girls sit sidesaddle or whatever in a dress, but that seems really ridiculous to try thousands of feet in the air. I think I'll bear the shame of being unlady-like and sit normally," Dawn announced, adjusting her dress. "Um... I forgot how windy it was up there."
I understood what she meant. "You hold onto your dress and I'll hold onto you. I promise I won't let you fall."
"I know you won't," Dawn said, getting comfortable. "I'm ready."
I wrapped my arms around her and made sure I was situated. "Alright, Salamence. You know where we're going."
"Somewhere!" Dawn yelled at Salamence expanded his wings and jumped into the air.
The flight wasn't long and Dawn had no problems with her dress or with plummeting to her doom. I directed Salamence to land on the boardwalk, which had fortunately expanded since the last time I'd been in Hoenn. Mauville City wasn't exactly waterfront, though part of the city was nestled against the ocean. Slateport City was known for its perfect white sand beaches, though if I was forced to go to the beach, I preferred the quieter, less touristy Mauville.
The boardwalk was about two miles long, lined with shops, restaurants, and game booths. The ones at Slateport were at least ten times the size and louder than a Mamoswine stampede with the crowds and the shop owners yelling at you to buy absolutely everything.
This was more my style.
"Oh my gosh," Dawn said as soon as we landed, sliding off of Salamence as quickly as she could in a dress. "We're at the beach."
"No, I specifically remember I said we were going to somewhere, not the beach."
"We're at the beach," she repeated again. I was surprised she wasn't jumping up and down in excitement yet.
"Salamence, you made a mistake. We should start flying again."
"Paul, if you dare take me anywhere other than where we are now, I'm breaking up with you," Dawn threatened.
I stared at her, a bit shocked. "I never realized we were together."
She blinked at me a few times, staring in surprise. "I actually think we have been for a while."
For the first time, Dawn turned towards the ocean and murmured a phrase my ears hardly picked up, "A never ending date..."
"What?"
"Nothing," she said hurriedly, turning back towards me. "So we're staying here, right?"
"Yeah," I said warily. What in the world had she been talking about?
"Perfect." She grabbed my hand and started pulling me along, just as I'd always imagined would happened if we went to the beach together. "Come on!"
"See you later, Salamence," I said, nodding to him.
He snickered and I imagined he said, Yeah, have fun being dragged around by her all night.
Salamence took off before I could throw him a glare.
After a few more steps of having my arm yanked out of its socket, I pulled at Dawn, forcing her to slow her pace so we could walk side by side like normal people so I didn't look like a Growlithe being forced on a walk.
"Are we eating here?"
"Yes," I said. "Though I was actually going to let you pick. I didn't make reservations."
She scrunched her nose at the term. "I'm not in the mood for something fancy anyway."
"You really could have saved me some misery by telling me that before we left." I gestured to my clothes. The amount of pain I'd gone through to get these. I didn't even want to think about it.
Dawn stopped walking and let her fingers play with the end of my sleeve. "I guess I was being selfish then. You look nice."
My mind froze. It was the first time I could remember Dawn complimenting my appearance. It was such a simple statement, and yet it did things to me that I'd never really thought would be possible.
Maybe dress clothes weren't as horrendous as I'd imagined.
Dawn cleared her throat. My eyes refocused on her. She was blushing and fidgeting. I had to force myself to think of something to say. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," she said, pulling at my hand again. "So, dinner..."
"Where do you want to eat?" I was still replaying her compliment in my head, not caring as much that I was being dragged.
"Did you know boardwalks were famous for their pizza?"
We ended up sitting in a very casual pizza place. Dawn and I were the most dressed up people occupying the restaurant. Our waitress, who seemed extremely motherly and old enough to be a grandparent, kept smiling in a way that reminded me of Helen, the owner of the flower shop in Verdanturf- not because Helen had ever seemed to smile at me, but because this lady apparently saw the potential between us.
The only difference now was I saw the potential I had with Dawn as well.
Still, the constant gawking from behind the counter was unnerving despite my attempts to ignore her.
"You said you didn't like the beach," Dawn stated from across the table, pulling me away from my thoughts.
I leaned back in the booth, crossing my arms. "I don't."
"But you still brought me here."
"Of course. You like the beach. You liking the beach makes going to the beach bearable."
"I guess you don't look like you're having the absolute worst time of your life," Dawn teased.
"This does not make the list of worst times." My mouth quirked up. "Sorry to disappoint you."
"I'm not disappointed by anything when it comes to you actually." Dawn gently kicked at my feet.
I clasped my hands on the table, staring at them as I remembered everything I'd yelled at Dawn, thinking that it'd be best if we weren't together, pushing her away from me and telling her no over and over again, even after she'd told me she loved me. "Are you sure about that?"
Dawn reached to my side of the table, layering her small fingers on top of my hands. "I'm absolutely sure."
I glanced around the pizza place, glad that no one was around us, not that I particularly wanted to have this conversation here. "You realize I took your heart and smashed it to pieces knowingly not even three days ago, right?"
Her eyes faltered for a millisecond before she sighed, gripping my joined hands. "Listen. I'm not going to pretend that didn't hurt, but when it comes to you, and with everyone, I've found out that actions speak louder than words. You came back and saved me from Team Magma."
"Dawn, I would even save Joey from Team Magma. You're giving me far more credit than I deserve."
"This is different and you know it," Dawn said quietly. "I don't think you look at Joey the same way you look at me. At least not anymore."
I'd never been as irritated with Dawn as I had been with Joey. "Yes, but that doesn't make my actions vanish without any consequences."
"Why not?"
"Why not?" I repeated. "In what universe do people miraculously, immediately get forgiven for their offenses?"
"This one." Dawn held back a smile. I just stared at her until she continued, "Look, if you didn't care, I don't think you'd be on a date right now with me after saving me. I can add more than two things together, you know."
I was too shocked to reply and stared at her hand on top of mine. No matter how often I tried to get rid of her, ever since the beginning, she refused to move from my side. Her loyalty was something I'd never experienced before. No amount of pain or cruelty seemed to repel her. And yet I knew it wasn't loyalty that kept her coming back to me. It was love.
I opened my hands, squeezing hers. "I'm sorry for what I did and said. I promise I will never give up on you." I paused, correcting my wording. "That I will never give up on us without a fight."
Dawn smiled. "I know you won't."
Our food arrived shortly after our heartfelt conversation. The pizza was just as good as Dawn claimed it to be. We talked sporadically as we ate, thankfully without the awkwardness that would accompany our short spans of silence. Dawn seemed just as content as I was with the peace between us caused by her forgiveness and my promise. One of her feet regularly bumped against my own, followed by her smile and a bite of pizza.
We finished our meal in a fairly short amount of time, which turned out to be a good thing considering Dawn was getting jittery about soaking in the last of the sun's rays on the beach as it set.
I paid. The second I put down the bill, Dawn grabbed my hand and attempted to pull me out of the booth.
"Dawn, I'm capable of moving without help."
"Well you move so slowly! Learn how to move faster."
Within a minute, we were back outside, the ocean air hitting our faces. Dawn inhaled the salty wind, eyes closed in bliss, before turning to me. "Where to?"
"You're letting me pick?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I thought you might have this whole date at least kind of planned out." Dawn smiled sheepishly.
"Lady's choice."
"Smart guy," Dawn stated. Without another word, she walked at a brisk pace towards the boardwalk, ready to explore. She turned sharply to the nearest set of steps that led to the ocean, racing down them and somehow not tripping despite her intricate shoes. I followed, watching her excitement with my eyebrows still partially raised, a small smile on my face.
As soon as Dawn made it to the bottom of the steps, she began loosening the strap of one of her heels. In her hurry, she lost her balance, her hand stuck in the strap. My arms caught her securely before she was remotely in danger. Her trusting blue eyes looked up in thanks. She stayed in my light embrace to prevent any more stumbling, removing her heels one at a time before stepping away.
"Well, aren't you going to take off your shoes?" Dawn asked, her arms swinging at her sides in impatience.
"I suppose you give me no choice."
I removed my shoes, which had been uncomfortable compared to my normal tennis shoes. They were heavier than I'd expect as I situated them in one hand. I took off my socks as well, feeling the grainy sand and rough concrete against my feet. Dawn was already a few steps ahead of me, heading for the ocean at a brisk walk as I tried to catch up. I wondered if this is what it had been like to be her when we'd begun our journey together- always behind me, staring at my back. Of course, I never moved with that amount of enthusiasm. Or skipped. I would never skip.
Wingull drifted on thermals above us, letting out shrill cries. The ocean was ahead. Waves crashed on the shore, the water foaming, roaring, and swirling in complex, beautiful patterns. The sun was getting lower in the sky, a peaceful mixture of blue, orange, and golden yellow that glittered on the water, reflecting the colors along the constantly moving surface.
I came to a standstill as I remembered walking down Route 115 by myself. Another beautiful sunset, another beach shore, the same exact factors. It was the last day I'd been alone, focusing only on myself. I'd had the sound of my footsteps to keep me company, my list of goals and expectations the only thing I needed to be happy, to get through each day. I hadn't needed anyone, not a companion, not someone who would slow me down or distract me from what was important to myself.
Dawn had changed all that. She'd changed me. My goal was no longer to get stronger, to train Pokemon relentlessly. She was my priority. She was the only true part of my life that had meaning.
And I'd almost given her up to walk alone along the long stretch of shore. Things had changed in an unbelievable amount since she'd entered my life. I, myself, had changed so much I felt unrecognizable. I was no longer heartless or calloused to everything around me. I saw the beauty and warmth in the sunset before me now, unlike that solitary walk along the beach on my way to Meteor Falls. There was so much the world seemed to offer that I had been missing.
Right at that very moment, the only thing that the world offered that I wanted was to be with Dawn.
Dawn was standing still, facing the sun a few feet from the small waves that crept along the smooth sand. She'd abandoned her shoes farther away from the water. I placed mine next to hers before joining her. Dawn's face was tranquil as her toes scrunched in the grains underneath her feet, a smile forming easily, making her an even more stunning sight.
I intertwined my fingers with hers, feeling myself settle into the place I felt like I belonged. I wasn't sure what the future would bring, but I knew who I wanted to spend it with regardless of hardships or differences.
"Did you think this would happen?" Dawn asked after a moment of listening to the crashing of the waves.
I knew she meant us, this series of events that I'd never thought would lead me to this moment.
"Not once." I paused. "But I'm glad it did."
I turned to face this girl who had somehow wormed her way into my life, never once realizing I'd ever think being parasitic could be such an amazing trait. A sense of peace washed over me as I took in all the changes that were so noticeable in the way she held herself. We'd changed each other, I realized. I wasn't the only one who had undergone a metamorphosis. Her eyes were as blue and innocent as ever, but mature as she stared at me with the same intensity that I used as I stared at her.
"I love you," I stated.
Dawn blinked a few times as she inhaled, her eyes growing teary. It was the first time I'd told her out loud that I loved her. The words were true, yet saying them made me realize the degree to which I'd been hiding my own emotions from not only her, but from myself.
I promised myself that wouldn't happen again.
I pressed my palm against her cheek, stepping closer. Dawn threw her arms around my neck and kissed me. We weren't suppressed by any unknown feelings, emotional barriers, or hidden intents. It was the truest expression of love I'd ever experienced, her lips and body against my own, the feel of her silky hair, my hands on her back, pulling her closer, the waves forcefully pushing at our feet, the combination of salty sea air and Pecha berries as we melded together.
I got lost in feeling for once, every tiny movement full of tenderness. All sense of time was meaningless, all sense of everything existing outside of Dawn held no interest to me. All that seemed to exist was her.
We pulled away. I touched my forehead to hers for a second, letting my hand come back up to her cheek, tracing it gently with my fingers. Her blue eyes met mine. I felt my expression soften, something I wasn't used to in the slightest.
I tried to think of something to say, but there was nothing to say in this moment. Not with words. I knew Dawn understood that about me. She'd known of my love of her before I'd said it and I'd known of her love for me before she'd told me. I just hadn't allowed myself to acknowledge we meant so much to each other. Now was the time for acceptance, of togetherness, of peace.
Instead of words, which weren't enough for me to express myself, I leaned forward and kissed Dawn again, feeling like I was exactly where I belonged.
"When one life meets another life, something will be born."
I can't believe it's over. Not over over, but over. I spent years working on this story. Years. And the final sentence is written, posted, and now being read by who knows how many people. I never thought First Light would become this popular just as I never expected Dawn and Paul to love each other by the end of this story (the original ending I wrote was not as emotional). So here we are, the sun setting, kissing the horizon, the first light of Paul's life, the first of his stories being replaced by the moon until the sun will rise again.
I can't help being poetic. I just finished my precious story.
Thank you all so much for your support of First Light. I can't express how much your votes, comments, follows, and reads mean to me. I'm so glad that you could journey with Paul and Dawn and see them change so drastically into better people.
Like I've said, Paul and Dawn's stories will continue. The next things I post will probably be in Dawn's POV which I count as part of First Light, but from her perspective. Some of these chapters are absolutely new stories, some are old ones from how Dawn saw them. (I recommend that writers write in multiple POVs if they're ever stuck in how a character should react to something and to see what's going through their mind). Keep posted for those because Dawn and Paul will forever be in my heart and I can't see not writing about them.
Pokemon Question of the Day: What's your favorite moment in First Light and why?
Thank you all yet again for your support. I hope you enjoyed this final chapter. <3
-Flips