to better days // lyra

[seth ivers]

ALL WE CAN DO IS HOLD ON

JUST GIVE ME A REASON TO KEEP MY HEART BEATING

lyra▐
651 WORDS▐
N/A▐
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"Wait! Come back!!" The little boy screams to the darkness, watching in horror as the silhouette dances across the grass in the pale moonlight. He'd heard the door close, he couldn't help but notice the sound of her feet pounding on the concrete outside. Those heels.. he was so used to hearing around the house every single night. Before..

Higher the duo flew, the pidgeot's grand wings flowing through the warm summer air as it's heavy winds howled in the young man's ears. The sky's gorgeous hues were practically blinding from up here. It seemed like up here, there was no strife, no sadness, only the empty air high above all the suffering.

"Please, don't leave me! I need you!" The woman will never yield a reply. She continues walking away without a single shudder for her crying son running after her. As he trips with his bare feet stumbling across the dirt road, his body slams and skids across the ground as he gains fresh wounds on his knees and face. Still he cries out for her, but she will not turn around.

The young man's eyes were ensnared by the shades of blue in the waters far below, onto the horizon where the oceans bled into the sky with dark and light shimmering lights. The clouds overhead grew closer as he failed to notice his pokemon steadily rising over cherrygrove's shores. He couldn't help but stare, his mind had left him behind for that moment.

"Mother!! Come back!!" He screams aloud, his hands filthy from the fall as he reaches out to the woman too far for him to ever reach again. He cannot help but suffocate on his own tears, the child's voice breaking as he attempted to climb to his feet again and run after the woman already long gone from his sight.

Higher they went, until at last he was snapped from his trance. His eyes had brimmed with tears before he had known what he was doing, when at last he took one look down then pat his bird's back with a odd gesture. Just like that, his pidgeot had rolled in the air and he had fallen, the young man then sent plummeting through the air with his back to the ground far below. He felt lighter than air, his expression hidden beneath the dark purple hair spiraling in the air flying past him. His bird then carrying on without him, flying off to wherever it wished.

As the boat docked just off the harbor and was already well out to sea by the time he had arrived at the shore, the boy fell to his knees at last with just enough breath to cry harder. His eyes a stunning silver-blue then overflowing onto the sand beneath him, the cool air nipping at his cheeks as they burned from the salt and burning cuts from the gravel. Nothing had ever hurt him so much, when he couldn't speak through the cries on that long empty beach. He watched her fade away into the distance, never once looking back to her son.

His story was no sad song.. it was a tragedy.

Raising an arm over his face as he fell and turned back through his decent, the trainer was closing in on the depths by the beach's edge, wiping away the tears however he could regardless of how difficult it was already. What kind of mother leaves her child? He looked down to the waves far below, watching as they grew closer within seconds before he would crash into the ocean. Seth lost his breath, waited for his mind to silence itself so the images would go away. The child with eyes as bright as his, needed someone to hold close as he fell from grace.

Perhaps what was more devastating, is at that moment that child felt further out of reach than ever.

[lyra]

The surf let out a soft hiss as it licked at Lyra's feet, the spray creeping up her knees, causing a chill to run up her spine. It was too cold for a swim and yet, here she was. A few folks in town had called her crazy when they'd seen her making her way toward the beach, towel in hand, but she'd kept on walking as though she hadn't heard them, as though their words hadn't made her feel lost and just a little bit foolish. I know that she wanted to scream. I know, but I have to. You wouldn't understand.

Her shoes came off as she went. Then her socks. And soon, all she could feel was the squish of sand between her toes on the deserted beach. It was a comforting feeling, one that reminded her of better days, of splashing, and sandcastles tumbling down only to be built back up, and peals of laughter – hers, his. Lyra missed those days, missed being able to make him smile. Nowadays, it seemed that all she managed to do was let him down. His face was a mask now, a general's mask, a war mask. Sometimes, Lyra wondered if he hadn't all but forgotten the boy who lived beneath it.

She hasn't.

Her fingers seek out the locket settled against her chest, as she watches the waves pull in and out, in and out. She touches it whenever she thinks of him, of any of them, really, even though none of them gave it to her. She knows that if she opens it, she'll see their faces smiling up at her, but it isn't the same, and the locket hasn't been opened in months. She doesn't open it now, just keeps her fingers curled around the smooth brass surface and forces herself to smile as she rubs little circles against it's back with her thumb and stares out at the sea. They're still here, she tells herself. That's all that really matters. They're still here. But they aren't here, not now, and they haven't been for some time.

The memories ought to be enough: sneaking out of her bedroom window at night to meet Gold in the field just outside of town, gazing up at the stars, the moments when Silver found himself more flustered than frustrated and stammered a bit before snapping at her– she knew he wasn't really mad at her then, promises made under the sun that used impossible words like friendship and forever, meeting Red in that cave and convincing him to come out into the light, to live again. They all seemed like distant specks now, little lights in the darkness, anchoring her to the world, keeping her sane. She would have given anything to see them again, sometimes she did, but those moments were few and far between now, and growing even fewer.

The war had changed things. Each of them had their respective causes to further, while Lyra had her family to tend to, an ailing grandfather and a business that was probably far too much for her to handle, though she would never admit it. There were a lot of things that she would never admit to (at least, not out loud), things that made her chest tighten and her eyes leak, things that no one would ever expect. It was better that way.

The war had changed things and yet, whenever she saw them, whatever the circumstances, whatever their beliefs, Lyra still greeted each and every one of her friends with a smile and tried her hardest to make them forget that things had changed. She could tell that many of them didn't understand it, couldn't fathom how she maintained her cheer when the world was beginning to fall to pieces all around them. For Lyra, it was simple. When they were around, she was home.

Home. It's been a while since Lyra has felt like she was home. Her eyes scan the horizon, dart up to the clouds drifting lazily overhead, tracking the shape of a large bird pokemon circling just beneath them. There's someone on it.

Lyra finds herself smiling in earnest. She knows the joys of flight all too well. She can practically feel the wind in her face, catching her pigtails and tugging them lose, leaving her wild and free as she watches the pair, and then the Pidgeot rolls and its rider is dislodged, and he's falling, falling, falling.

A gasp tears itself from Lyra's lips as she watches the trainer plummet toward the sea. I have to do something she thinks, but she finds herself rooted to the spot, her toes digging into the sand.

The trainer continues to drop, gaining speed as he nears the water, but it isn't until he's breaks the surface that Lyra manages to wrap her head around the situation in full. Her feet kick up sand behind her as she bolts into the water without so much as a second thought. 

word count: 834 | tag: seth ivers | other: n/a

[seth ivers]

ALL WE CAN DO IS HOLD ON

JUST GIVE ME A REASON TO KEEP MY HEART BEATING

lyra▐
612 WORDS▐
N/A▐
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It was already too late to hold his breath before he'd collided with the ocean. The sensation came at him like a bullet train, cracking him almost in half like a tree struck by lightning as his entire body went numb. His arms had protected him as he breached the surface, but as he felt the water just barely spill into his mouth before he sealed his lips and closed his eyes, he felt the water's cold hands hold him close and wipe away the tears from his face. Just as he'd made the decision to leap, he knew that after only those short seconds in the sky he'd be freed of his pain just as soon as he hit the water. Back in mossdeep, as a child he had spent almost every waking moment of his years splashing around off the sandy shores.

Time itself became as fluid as the sea, passing by in an instant as he lost himself to the simple joys of feeling lighter than air in an underwater world all his own. It brought him peace, gave him happiness and could give him room to think without all the sounds of the outside world tugging away at him. Just like some kind of magic, the images of his mother began to blur and wear away from his mind. The pain of scraped knees and burning eyes from crying in his past had faded out like a speaker slowly muted. Just like that he was healing again, the filth of such despair had been cleaned away by the pure ocean depths as he drifted around motionless just meters below the surface. He could hear his grandmother again, the same kind words that he could use as a mantra to pick himself up again should those memories come back to torment him.

There's nothing wrong with crying when you're in pain. Tears aren't a sign of weakness, they show you have already begun to heal. He could imagine the warmth of his grandmother's embrace; that same embrace that had stopped so many tears before when he had mourned the loss of his father, and the departure of his mother. Even as the cool waters enveloped him for those passing moments, he could feel nothing but a warmth springing fourth from his heart that chased away the sadness. With a welcome light in his heart, the young man opened his eyes to the bright surface just beyond his reach as he regained control of his body and began moving again. Just as he had done so before, the fall had snapped him out of the trap his heart had laid without him noticing--renewing himself as his mind and heart felt as clear as the ocean again.

Turning to rise to the surface as the sun beamed down in a blinding explosion of air, Seth's eyes squinted against the harsh light as he let himself adjust while he took in as many deep breaths as he could muster. Though as he did so, he began to notice the sounds of splashing in the distance and felt his alertness suddenly return. He raised an arm to cover his eyes from the sun in hopes of scanning around the water's lengths so he could spot who or what was making the sound. Though as he finally had his breath back and lowered his arm, his attention was stolen back by the call of his pidgeot who had circled back and flew overhead to check on him. Although as Seth looked away to the pokemon, he began to panic as he turned to catch something splashing just a few feet away and getting closer.