#that came down to my starter landing a hit while paralyzed

[goldensunset]

that must have been THEEEE most heart-racing battle i’ve ever had

[pokemoncreepypasta]

My Shining Star

[STORY SOURCE]

Up until some recent events, I used to be an aspiring shiny hunter. Technically I was pretty good at it, too, at least by encounter standards. But even though I was great at finding my fair share of shiny Pokémon , I’ve never been able to keep any of them.

The first one of these shiny Pokémon I found was by a random encounter. I’d gotten lost in Rock Tunnel after forgetting to bring Flash, and spent so long in there that I ran out of Repels. Just as I was giving up hope that I’d be able to escape on my first run, she appeared.

I knew about shiny Pokémon, but hadn't ever thought I'd encounter one of my own in the wild. I was unprepared, and after a moment of staring in surreal wonder, I concentrated on figuring out how to catch her with my limited supplies. Thankfully it wasn't very hard, and soon I had my first legit shiny.

I normally wasn't creative with naming my Pokémon, but I wanted her to have a special name. I asked my mom for help, and she suggested "Star." I liked it, but the name itself seemed short and boring, so I added a couple stars to the ends to give her name a little flair.

I was beyond excited to put my first shiny into my team, and plowed through the rest of the cave. She was the light at the end of the tunnel, and I had to get out to the nearest PC, because I knew a shiny baby Cubone was waiting for me to adopt her.

I quickly fell in love with the little green dinosaur, and soon she was the shining star of my team. I used her more than my starter, and neglected the rest of my party a bit in the process, but still made it through the game alright. Setbacks didn't matter when I had a shiny.

Lots of time and multiple trips through the Elite Four later, I proudly turned ★Star★ into a level 100 Marowak. She was the first Pokémon I ever raised to level 100, and I couldn't have been prouder of her.

It had been a couple years, and I was starting to feel unsatisfied with just ★Star★. I was itching for more, and felt like I probably should have found some other random encounters by now, with all the time I'd spent playing.

Feeling inspired by all the shiny hunter videos I'd been binging on YouTube, I decided to start taking up shiny hunting. I was feeling ambitious, and decided to go straight to hunting for a shiny legendary Pokémon. I was a weird player who didn't really bother going after the birds or Mewtwo in my HeartGold, since I planned on transferring up my legends from my LeafGreen. I decided to rework ★Star★'s moveset for capturing legendary Pokémon.

The moveset I settled on was Bonemerang, False Swipe, Stone Edge, and Swords Dance. I decided to keep her moveset mostly offensive because she was still a member of my team, and not just a shiny-catcher. I planned on replacing False Swipe with Aerial Ace at some point, but I never got the chance to.

I decided to pick Mewtwo as my target. Lots of people find green shiny Pokémon overbearing and unattractive, but ★Star★ made me fond of them. Plush, Mewtwo was awesome, and I thought the two of them would look great together.

I spoke to ★Star★ aloud, saying, "Are you ready to do some shiny hunting, ★Star★?"

"★Star★ let out a roar!"

I thought she was just as enthusiastic as me.

I made it to Mewtwo, saved my game, and started the tedious process of soft resetting.

I’ll spare the details of how long it took, but eventually I came across the sparkling green Mewtwo.

I led with my team's Ampharos to paralyze it, and switched to ★Star★.

I remember being very lucky with this fight at first, with Mewtwo being fully paralyzed every turn.

I used Swords Dance to fully buff ★Star★'s attack stat so False Swipe would do as much damage as possible.

But even though I swore that I had chosen to use False Swipe, ★Star★ proceeded to use Bonemerang.

Shocked, confused and distressed, I watched as ★Star★ mercilessly beat the shiny Mewtwo down, knocking it out in one hit with her increased stats.

I felt crushed and dejected as I went back to the overworld. I blamed myself, thinking I had misclicked the wrong move and killed the Mewtwo myself. In my wave of disbelief, I absentmindedly talked to ★Star★.

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

I decided to go back to square one and start over.

A dozen thousand resets later, I saw it sparkle again and I was shaking with anticipation. Part of me felt twitchy and paranoid, like I should have used my Master Ball right away.

I decided against it because I wanted to hunt the birds later, but decided that if the Mewtwo seemed like it would run low on moves, then I'd use it as a last resort.

I probably should have listened to my guts though, because the same thing happened all over again. I knew for certain this time that I had chosen False Swipe, but the game purposefully made ★Star★ use Bonemerang. I saw it completely clear.

After seeing the Mewtwo go down a second time, I just cursed and slammed my desk a bit. I glared accusingly at my Marowak.

I decided to put my shiny hunting on hold. I used an Escape Rope to leave, and decided to place ★Star★ in the PC, quarantining her in an empty box for a time-out.

As I dejectedly hunted for a third time, I thought to myself what was wrong with my game. I wondered if it was just glitchy, or if I was misinterpreting the situation. I decided to convince myself that it was a mistake on the game's part; otherwise I wouldn't have been able to handle killing the Mewtwo twice in a row.

Finally, it sparkled one last time. I decided not to screw around while reclaiming this shiny. I had hunted it twice before, and decided to just use the Master Ball on it.

I had earned this.

After the initial rush of finally obtaining the shiny, I decided not to nickname it until I thought of something good, and watched as it got sent to the PC. I excitedly saved my game, and made my way out of the cave and to the nearest Pokémon Center.

But when I got there, the Mewtwo wasn't anywhere to be seen.

I shouted curses in confusion as I scrolled through every box in a state of denial. Where did it go, what could I have possibly done? I thought of all the ways I couldn't possibly messed up, did I have an evil hacked Pokémon from the GTS that deleted it, was this actually a bootleg game and Nintendo's anti-piracy revenge was to delete my legendary?

After a few minutes of searching, I gave up. My Mewtwo was gone.

I scrolled back to ★Star★'s isolated box and looked at my only green shiny in mourning. Obviously it wasn't something wrong with just her, but the game itself. In a game as glitchy as this, I was seriously worried that I might lose her, too.

After looking at her for a bit, it seemed like she might've been looking at me? I wasn't sure if she was supposed to do that, but in a game that was acting up like this, I didn't doubt it.

I took her out of the PC and put her at the front of my party to talk to her, to see if anything else was up.

"★Star★ nodded slowly."

She only did more random friendly things after that. Quite chipper for someone whose life might be threatened, I thought.

I decided to trade her over to Platinum for safe keeping. I wasn't sure what to do about the rest of my Pokémon on HeartGold, but ★Star★ was the most important one to me right now.

As I traded her over, I noticed that her eyes were red now, instead of the green I was just looking at. I was off-put by this inconsistency, especially with the recent events surrounding her. I forced myself to brush it off, however, notice I could do about it.

Even though I had an unfortunate experience with my HeartGold, my thirst for more shinies still persisted. Maybe it was the fact I had lost my shiny three times that I really had to fill the void, now.  A couple weeks later, I found out about a method of shiny hunting called chaining, and wanted to try it out. I felt a little more at ease, since if you accidentally killed a shiny with this method, the chain wouldn't break, and you could keep going. Plus, Platinum should've been fine.

I chose Route 208, as it had a good selection of Pokémon for me to choose from. I wasn't picky, so I just started chaining whatever Pokémon I liked until I got a decent chain. I heard that the shiny odds max out at a chain of 40, so after that you can just keep resetting the radar until the grass sparkles.

I landed on Roselia, and sent out my shining star Marowak.

I started with False Swipe, since I wouldn't need to buff up ★Star★ for a LV. 19 Pokémon.

"★Star★ used Swords Dance!"

Oh no.

I panicked as memories of the last incident came flooding back, and how it had started out with her disobeying. Not giving her a chance to kill it, I frantically switched to the items menu to start throwing PokéBalls instead.

(Name omitted for personal reasons.)

I had plenty of them, so I stared throwing Ultra Balls, since they had the highest odds. At least one of these would probably work.

" blocked the Ball!"

"Don't     !"

I tried throwing one, but it failed, as if I tried using it on a trainer's Pokémon.

I had no idea what in the world was going on, what could be stopping me from catching a wild Pokémon? Was my Platinum glitched out too? Was I cursed??

I tried using different balls, but nothing would work.

Eventually, I ran out of PokéBalls to throw. I'd failed the shiny.

Frustrated, but not enough to kill the Roselia, I fled the battle.

I had no idea what to do after that, and was exasperated. I wanted to berate myself, and that I should've tried test catching a normal Pokémon in Platinum first to make sure it was going to work okay. But really, how was I supposed to know that was going to happen? And always, conveniently when I was in the middle of hunting a shiny. I thought of berated my parents instead, if they had bought all my Pokémon games for me on eBay.

Was it really my games, thought? I don't even know if you can trade Pokémon from fake games. Was it my DS could it have been hacked? Can you even bootleg a DS? I tried going to the Internet for answers, and read some Reddit and random Pokémon forum posts about glitches and bootlegs for an hour, but gave up without finding a real conclusion.

So, I'd given up hunting for some time. But, I hadn't gotten tired of Pokémon. I bought Black for myself, and played through the story just fine.

I found out you could get a Shiny Charm if you completed the Pokédex. That made me excited, until I remembered my past luck. Was it worth trying again?

Shortly after transferring up all my Pokémon, I decided, yes. It was. I went for the hatching method this time, since the Pokémon ends up right in your party afterwards- no catching, no PC transfer. It would be my final test, and if THIS didn't work, I would officially give up on ever getting nice things.

Foreign Ditto in hand, I went to work. I went for a shiny Flygon, since they were one of the best looking, and it'd be a nice addition to my competitive team.

One long hunt and a really late night later, eyelids barely able to stay open, I saw it.

I'd never seen anything more beautiful.

Skipping the nickname, I rushed to immediately save my game, wasting no time. I checked my party to see my Trapinch was still there, and chalked it up as a success. I was an official shiny hunter now.

Since ★Star★ was level 100, I figured she could battle for my baby Trapinch until she could hold her own in battle. I only wanted to take her up a few levels, so I could personally train her afterwards. Just raising her immediately into a Flygon would be too soon.

I attached an Exp. Share to her, and started running around in the tall grass. After a little bit of grinding, my Trapinch made it up to level 8 before I accidentally stepped into the thick grass and triggered a wild double battle.

Knowing the wild Pokémon were too strong for the underleveled baby Trapinch, I wanted to flee, but I first noticed ★Star★'s sprite as it asked me what to do.

The end of her bone facing the wild Pokémon was no longer symmetrical, being sharpened at the end of it. I'd seen her sprite enough times to know it wasn't supposed to look like this.

I tried to flee, but it failed.

"★Star★ used Swords Dance!"

"The wild Pidove is watching carefully!" 

"The wild Patrat is watching carefully!" 

"Trapinch is watching carefully!" 

★Star★ had started using moves on her own. Stunned, I tried to switch out.

"★Star★ can't be switched out!"

Giving up, I told ★Star★ to use Stone Edge on the Pidove, and told the Trapinch to use Bite on Patrat.

"★Star★ ignored orders!" 

"★Star★ used Bonemerang!"

I gasped as she struck my Trapinch instead.

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

As soon as I read that text, it hit me. This wasn't any ordinary friendly fire.

"Trapinch fainted!"

It finally allowed me to run, so I immediately tapped the button and rushed to my party to see the damage.

My Trapinch was gone.

I tried resetting to bring her back, but it was hopeless. My shiny new baby had been murdered.

Connecting all the dots in my head, I realized the reason I'd failed every encounter was because of ★Star★.

My grief and fear quickly turned into outrage. I couldn't believe she'd done this to me. She'd made me suffer hunt after hunt, just to take every shiny away from me.

This was the source of my games acting strange, and I knew there was only one way to correct it.

Feeling rash, I rushed over to the PC and hovered over the "Release" option for a few minutes.

"★Star★ was released."

It hurt to let her go, but I didn't want my game behaving strangely with her around.

"★Star★ came back!"

"★Star★ will never leave you."

But she refused.

Resorting to desperate measures, I did the only other thing I could think of.

I traded the stubborn Marowak over to my nearly empty White version that I never got around to playing, and deleted the save file.

"Deleting all saved data... Don’t turn off the power."

"★Star★ will n"

Sayonara, ★Star★.

After deleting the save file, I thought things would start working like they should. Sometimes, I'd replay other Pokémon games just for the fun of it, hoping I'd find other shiny Pokémon with ★Star★ gone.

Almost comically, I somehow thought it would be a good idea to go full circle and try hunting on HeartGold for a shiny starter. I had heard from other shiny hunters that it was an easy hunt, and it was, only taking a few days.

I affectionately named him "Chico."

My first step into the tall grass, and...

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

I had never been so unhappy to see a shiny.

I guess she's been out in the wild all these months. And looking at her sprite, I can only wonder what she's been up to. I wonder how she feels to see me again?

Oh, no.

“Can’t escape!”

"★Star★ used Bonemerang!"

"Chico fainted!"

Of course, Chico was no match.

The game froze after I blacked out.

I figure it was because ★Star★ killed my only Pokémon.

"The save file is corrupted. The previous save file will be loaded."

My save file, corrupted with the loss of my starter's data, brought me back right to this spot that I was all too familiar with. Through frustrated tears, I begrudgingly went to pick a normal starter so I could play the game normally.

“I dare you to love again.”

And I’ve never found a shiny since.

[sebbybooks]

Going Through Lighting

Sebastian Stan x Fanfiction

“If he touched her, he couldn’t talk to her,

If he loved her, he couldn’t leave, if he

spoke he couldn’t listen, if he fought he

couldn’t win.” A.R

Deep breaths Franny.

Deep.

Fucking.

Breaths.

At the risk of sounding completely dramatic I was feeling morbidly sick and had to strongly resist the urge to not shout out my frustrations at the top of my lungs. Maybe I was slightly overreacting, but nonetheless I was still petrified. Considering the fact that I was thousands of feet in the air there was nothing in this world that I hated more than flying. Yet there I was headed all the way to California to hear about a surprise from my Dad that apparently couldn't be said to me over the phone.

I inaudibly let out a string of silent curse words that would make a sailor blush. I returned my focus back to my computer screen to finish one of my favorite films of all time in efforts to relax. I was mindlessly watching An Affair to Remember, a movie that by now I have reduced to memory. It was the scene where Terry was racing to get to the Empire State Building to confess her love to Nickie, before a car came whizzing by and hit her. When I suddenly noticed from out of the corner of my eye that the guy sitting next to me had been watching my laptop screen too.

Seeing that he had been caught spying on me he felt obliged to speak up. "You know I really hate that part. Cary Grant's character waited for hours on end and she never even showed up." The guy to my right said as he slightly leans a little closer causing our shoulders to brush. His cologne fills under my nose and I inhale it slowly. It almost duals as an aromatherapy for my anxiety. Almost.

Pulling my wireless headphones from my ears I shift a little in my seat to face him and smiled a sardonic smile. "Are you kidding me?" I gaped. I pressed the space bar on my laptop to pause the movie fully prepared to defend the actions of a fictitious woman from a 1957 melodramatic film classic. "Terry desperately tried to get to him. It wasn't her fault she became paralyzed after the accident. Nickie was clearly obtuse and too stupid to think that even for a second she didn't wait for him!"

I waited for his rebuttal, but oddly enough he remained tight lipped. We stared awkwardly at each other like it was some weird staring contest neither one of us wanted to lose. Eventually I blinked. As soon as I did I took in his appearance and from what I could see on the outside he was fairly decent. Ok I'll admit decent would not have begun to describe his natural attractiveness. His hair was longer on the top and shorter on the sides. You could see shadows of facial hair and tiny bits of gray stubble around his mouth and jawline.

He wore a pair of fitted tailored ash gray trousers and a crisp white Oxford rolled up to his forearm, he certainly wasn't dressed for a long flight. By the looks of his five thousand dollar Cartier wristwatch I wondered what the hell was he doing back in here economy class. My eyes start to stray further down his body and I quit while I was ahead because I could already see the slight bulge of his crotch. To avoid looking like a complete pervert I nip our meaningless conversation in the bud and I hit play on my movie. Right as I'm placing my earbuds back in I hear the faintest laugh come out of him. I bite back on my instinct to keep quite. "Now what?"

"Nothing. . ." His voice trailed off. "Is this your first time flying?" He asks with a knowing looking. Those bright blue eyes bore into me.

"Flying isn't exactly on my list of things that excite me, but no this isn't my first time." I hesitated. "What was it that gave me away?" I asked purely out of curiosity. I gripped my middle finger and index finger tightly to stimulate feeling back into my hand that's started to tingle.

"For starters you were fidgeting in your seat for the longest time and for about a minute or two you stopped squeezing the life out of your hand while you were talking to me. I figured if I came up with something to say you would get distracted and maybe just for a moment you would think about something else so that your fingers would still have functioning nerves in your hand by the time we landed. " He says, and within an instant I dropped them to my lap. I immediately start to cringe at myself.

One would think it would get easier over time and that I would find better ways to at least deal with my fear of being on airplanes. Being an assistant buyer for Saks comes with the territory, but traveling outside of work I typically liked to avoid it at all cost. A fact that seems to escape my father. When he called me a few days ago with an urgency in his voice that made my stress levels skyrocket. Only to be replaced with confusion because it wasn't like my dad to be so secretive about anything. He asked that I come out to see him right away despite it not being a life or death matter. Considering I was all he had and he was adamant about me seeing him. I figured it was all just a rouse for him to just get me to spend more time with him.

"Thanks." I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, forcing my eyes shut hoping that I would disappear from my inability to act normal on airplanes. For a few seconds I believed he had returned to minding his own business. It was silence, and then, "You don't want to know what my name is?" He asks.

I can feel his eyes on me and I purposely keep my head turned away from him. "If I guess Rumpelstiltskin do I get to keep my first born child? Or can you simply not say your name Betelgeuse?" I couldn't stop myself from teasing him. I tried to hide the grin trying to grow on my face. Was I actually smiling?

"Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." He paused and looked all around him as if he misplaced something. He brought his hands to his chest in a frantic gesture. "I'm still here so nope that's not my name either."

"How unfortunate then." I feigned a sigh. He looked at me as if he had met his match and for some reason I liked the approving look. I easily wanted more. His presence brought a temporary calmness that I didn't want to lose so quickly despite my initial cold shoulder brought on by trepidations from flying. A part of me was actually settled which was something that almost never happened to me on flights. "Francesca. Though every one calls me Franny." I introduced myself. I was still facing forward looking down at my laptop.

"Well it's a pleasure Franny, everyone calls me Sebastian." He said to me. Even the sound out his name in my head silenced the white noise fueling my growing levels of perturbation. After learning the name of the guy who clearly wasn't shamed to admit to liking circa 1950s romance cinematic features such as An American in Paris, To Catch a Thief, and Houseboat. I figured he had taste or oddly was just into films starring Cary Grant. For the most part our conversation mainly consisted of questions that felt straight out of an article that helped people with conversational ice breakers.

Like for instance I learned that he prefers coffee over tea, no siblings, he is an animal lover but has zero pets, he's single, and reads more than he watches television. Oh and that he is single. I had to reiterate that into my brain just to be sure. I made sure to keep my answers to his questions short and sweet because the chances of us speaking again after this flight were slim to none. Guys that looked like him never stayed single for long, and I wasn't interested in competing for his attention alongside the flight attendant who couldn't stop staring at him every chance she got. Which of course he didn't notice and if he did then he was probably use to the attention.

"So Franny is this trip for work or for pleasure?" Sebastian asked.

I was stiff as log in my seat apart from my leg that wouldn't stop bouncing up and down. The pattern in turbulence fluctuated greatly. Almost every ten minutes the plane would jostle which of course in my mind made me think only the worse. "Is this your way of you trying to be helpful again?" I could already feel my pulse spiking.

"Actually it was my way of trying to pry information out of you." This guy was either arrogant or really confident in himself. He was looking down at something on his phone completely unbothered.

"That didn't sound creepy at all." I told him.

"Well I'm assuming it's something really important if it's got you out of your comfort zone." He pushed. All I could think about was that Sebastian had picked the worse time to try and make small talk. I felt the wave of turbulence again and that time it was back to back. Panic was prickling up my spine when everyone was instructed to return to their seats and fasten their seatbelt. We were now experiencing changes in the altitude due to the incoming thunderstorm. Just wanted I needed to hear.

My throat burned. Like I actually felt a burning sensation in the back of my throat. Somehow I still found the ability to muster up sound. "My dad , " I sat upright trying to sit in a more relaxed position. "I think he's lonely and I miss him so yeah here I am." I huffed.

"You're a good daughter." Sebastian nodded as he listened. He didn't know me well enough to offer praise, but suffering through this flight I wanted a damn trophy.

"Since I'm sure you were going to ask me the same I'll go ahead and answer for you." He added. I rolled my eyes playfully as I sucked in a shaky breath. "What's in California?"

Sebastian crossed one of his legs over the other and rested his elbow onto the armrest. He was leaning on it and his body was angled more so in my direction. We were siting so close now that it almost looked like we were sharing a seat. That made the flight attendant who had been gawking at him do a double take in our direction.

His facial expression turned grim and slightly annoyed. I could sense from the tautness in his body language that this was probably a sensitive subject. "This must be parents' weekend." Sebastian's laughed lacked humor. He hesitated on what he was about to say next and he gnawed on his bottom lip for a good fifteen seconds. An for some reason I silently watched him do it.

"My mother went off and got eloped to one of her flavors of the week. Tonight I was suppose to meet the happy couple for the first time. All of this was sprung on me last minute. Finding a flight that left out tonight was finding a needle in a hay stack.” He had as much enthusiasm in his voice as Eeyore. Which was none existent.

"I'm going to be honest with you that sounds awful." I looked at him apologetically. I shook my head at the thought of my dad pulling a stunt like that and not telling me. We might not see eye to eye over everything but we had always been close. Even thinking about it hypothetically dampened my mood.

"Yeah, tell me about it." He glowered. Sebastian rubbed both of his hands over his face and made a noise into his hands that easily passed as a growl or a moan. It didn't matter because now I had both sounds locked into my memory bank. "However, my only bright spot was being able to sit next this raven haired beauty who could use a drink." I was slow to process who he was referring to.

"Hmmm, well now that made me remember I need to dye my hair bright purple." I lied. For some reason I could never seem to take a compliment, especially if it was a flirtatious one. There was no way I could covertly sneak a cursory glance at my appearance to get a glimpse of what he saw. By now I was certain my makeup was splotchy and my lips were chapped from biting them ferociously.

My clothes were every bit of casual I had on a long sleeve black leotard with camel colored high-rise chino pants, and I sported my favorite pair of worn white high tops. When I glanced up at him the tight feeling in my chest was replaced by something entirely different. Indigestion maybe? Sebastian leaned in a little closer and he angled his face closer to my ear. "It would still look sexy on you." He lowered his voice and I can't deny that it was doing sinful things to me.

Not a moment too soon to make matters even more stressful the pilot made an announcement that there was going to be an emergency landing due to the extreme storm brewing in the sky. Which was deemed unsafe and can not be flown above or even around. Mother Nature was really showing her ass tonight. If something else bad was going to happen I would really appreciate if it waited till I wasn't on this flight anymore.

"What's one of your turn offs about a person?" Sebastian casually asked me. My neck turned so fast I swore I broke it. "What?" I coughed.

He tossed a handful of almonds in his mouth while staring off at something ahead. We were about to land and have a layover completely throwing me off schedule. I looked off into the direction he was looking at and on first glance I had no clue where this was coming from. "Franny?" He called out to regain my attention.

"Guys that aren't funny but think they are comedians." I said automatically. Which was a random one considering I had a whole list. "Why do you ask?"

Sebastian shrugged. "Because mine is meaningless eye fucking." He answered bluntly. A couple in front of us immediately turned around in synchronization and stared back at us with a disapproving eye. Sebastian's devil may care act seemed to only trigger them further. When I saw that between was a little boy, feeling embarrassed I mouthed an apology. The mom ceaselessly just shook her head as if we were degenerates.

"Anyway," Sebastian continued like nothing happened. I give him a look. "That woman over there has been eyeing me since I stepped foot on this plane. We keep making this awkward eye contact and I'm grinning back showing all of my teeth because I don't know how else to respond."

So he did notice her watching him.I snorted. "Don't tell me you're shy."

"No. . ." Sebastian paused. "I have shy like tendencies." He could barely keep a straight face at his confession. I wanted to laugh but it was cut short by me being jostled in my seat yet again. I gripped onto the armrest for dear life. All of my tips and tricks to ease my anxiety were failing me. I was headed for full on panic attack.

"Franny?"

"Hold on." I said faintly. Inhaling through my nose and exhaling from my mouth. The tears were coming I could already start to feel them well up in my eyes.

"Give me your hand." Sebastian said as concern filled up his face. This guy knew knew nothing about me apart from me being a total badass when it came to the art of puzzling and that I liked extremely sour gummy worms. We were not friends and I wasn't even sure if we were acquaintances. Sebastian was simply someone to talk to until the plane landed.

"I am not giving you my hand I hardly know you." I said on a exhalation. "You could be a psycho." My voice was a whisper solely on the off chance that someone was eavesdropping and my words could be taken out of context. I wanted to take that chance and trust him but this whole ordeal just seemed so weird.

Sebastian lowered his head closer to me and mimicked my tone. "Or I could be someone who just wants to show a little kindness to the person I'm currently crushing on."

My eyes opened wide and sat there dumbfounded for at least a millisecond while my brain tried to catch up with this cliché I was living in. "Dare I ask but are these recycled pick up lines from middle school?" I quipped.

"Maybe." He answered with a half smile that was making me anxious for all the wrong reasons.

"Normally crushes take longer than an hour to develop." I replied nonchalantly. Sebastian looked up, his eyes locked onto mine. "And yet falling doesn't happen in slow motion."

A nervous laugh escapes from my mouth. I waited to hear a joke or something incredibly inappropriate to indicate that he was just messing with me. My mind was swimming with things to say but they all ended with the same question. What in the actual hell was going on? Seven painfully long minutes dragged on by with my thoughts going back and forth saying do or don't. It's a just a hand Franny and a kind gesture at that. Apart from the modern day wave of creeps what was there to be afraid of? Did I just answer my own question? My musing was interrupted when I heard Sebastian's voice commingle with the sound of feminine laughter.

I looked up over at his seat and low and behold the flight attendant who could barely do her job for salivating over Sebastian the whole flight made her way over to him . That woman was persistent I give her that. She turned her body unnecessarily close into his seat as she tucked an errant strand of brown hear behind her ear. She was obnoxiously fawning over something stupid he said I'm sure. The woman was practically throwing herself on him. Flashing all her pearly whites and batting her long stark black lashes at him. Jesus, there was nothing imperfect about her. She even made her uniform look hot.

I wasn't a jealous person nor did I posses some claim over Sebastian. I am however still human and sooner or later my emotions eventually will get the better of me. Not being able to stand the sound her of lilting laughter. My arm reacted before the rest of my brain could catch up. My actions weren't subtle in the slightest and before I knew it I had my hand wrapped around Sebastian's hand. Their conversation had come to an abrupt halt and I was too embarrassed to see the look on either of their faces. I should've just let go of his hand and acted like a normal person.

It was awkwardly placed on top of his and I instantly regretted the decision when I remembered how clammy it was in comparison to his. Feeling gutsy I finally lifted my head to see that both of their gazes zeroed in on my hand placement. I hated that there was a sense of enjoyment on Sebastian’s face.

I reminded myself that I wasn't competing for Sebastian's attention, but when the flight attendant whose name I do not care to learn looked at me like I was growing a tail from my forehead frowned as she walked away. I couldn't help but give her my best "fuck you too" smile back at her. I was just about to move it away when I felt Sebastian swiftly flip his hand over to fit mine into the palm of his hands.

"How long will you be in Napa Valley?" Sebastian's voice cut through my thoughts as if nothing happened. I was about to say a snappy remark accusing him being a suspect on John Walsh's unsolved mysteries with all of his questions. When I felt the warmth of his hand the moment his fingers unfurled and laced through mine effortlessly . My breath caught when the pad of Sebastian's thumb lightly stroked the side of my hand in a slow circular motion. It wasn't a sensual act we were taking part in and the gesture seemed completely juvenile. I don't think Sebastian was trying to get a reaction out of it either. Truth of the matter was that I couldn't stop feeling like my entire body would combust just from one simple touch.

"Just for a couple of days." I muttered. I was unable to concentrate for that fact he was holding onto me. Was hand foreplay a thing, because this sure felt like it. I felt a twinge of disappointment in my chest because I knew that eventually I was going to have to let go. Gosh did that make me sound crazy? I've known him for five seconds.

"Any chance you'd stick around long enough to grab a cup of coffee with me?"I turned my head to see if he was watching me, but he was staring at everything but me. I studied the sharp contours of the side of his face to see that he was looking straight ahead at the seat in front of him. Could it be? Did I actually make the cool and funny Sebastian nervous?

I scrunched my nose at the speculation. "I don't think you can handle my chaotic energy when I have caffeine." I answered truthfully, which was met with more silence. Sebastian sucked in his bottom lip and quirked his brows in response to what I had just said. Any minute now we were getting ready to land and we hadn't even exchanged phone numbers. "It's a good thing decaf exist." I added.

Sebastian nodded his head slowly and his postured relaxed which suggested he had hoped I changed my mind. " I concur."

"Can I ask you a question?" It felt random and completely out of nowhere but the thought had been sitting on the tip of my tongue since he mentioned it.

"Well it's about damn time you did." Sebastian squeezed my hand and let me tell you the grip was firm. It was putting the kinkiest thoughts in my head and I needed to kill them immediately.

"Are you happy for your mom?" I asked him, I try to steer the conversation from my indecent imagination. It was a question that made him go stoic. His jaw ticked back and forth as he rotated our clasped hands. Sebastian intently stared at the polish on my nails. It was the shade Yank My Doodle by OPI but that was besides the point. It was obvious that he was trying to deflect.

His nod was terse and our eyes connect when he looks up. "She looks for temporary bliss in things or people. Nothing really satisfies her. My mom sees life through rose colored glasses and sooner or later she always ends up disappointed but quickly onto the next ." Sebastian says miserably. "Right now she's clung to a man who owns a small hardware store and has two first names."

I swallow down the lump in my throat. There was absolutely no way the man I had in mind was the same man Sebastian was referring to. I mean there was a lot of men in the Valley that owned their own hardware shops right? "Does his name happen to be Eric Taylor?" My voice came out strangled, because there was just no fucking way.

"Does everyone know this man?" He asked with an entrancing smile that was unnecessarily sexy and so so so unattainable now.

I pulled my hand away like his was made of fire and it didn't nearly hurt as much as the look on Sebastian's face from my sudden action. "I know him alright. He's my father."

[savvyqueen18]

SilveeLocke | Let's Go Eevee ZombieLocke | Pt. 9

Thank you Sara Bareilles for singing “King of Anything” for this first part…

♡♡♡

Part 9: Unique Glimmers

♡♡♡

>Next Part

>Previous Part

>Part 1

>Meet Silviana

>Meet Xander

“Trahp! One last vine whip!”

Trahp extended it’s vines and with a mighty crack, it sent the Starmie flying into the water with a huge splash. The Starmie floated back up to the top with a dizzying look on it.

“Great shot!” Misty pulled back the Starmie into its pokéball. She hopped down from the giant seashell she stood in and walked over to Silviana. With a big smile she held out her hand, “I would like to present to you the Cascade Badge. Very well deserved if I may add.”

Silviana gave her a big grin and gently took the badge from the Gym Leader. She squatted down and gave Trahp a big hug.

◇◇◇

Silviana crouched in the tall grass of Route 5. The grass beside her rustled and she looked at Caliouse, the Charmander had its eyes wide and was quickly jerking its head toward anything that moved in front of them.

Silviana gave him a light pat on the back, “Good job Caliouse,” she whispered, looking to her left she said, “Amare go that direction,” the Psyduck nodded and slowly began to waddle forward. Silviana looked up, she noticed Riot making tight circles in the air not too far in front of her, she turned behind her, “boK choY go to the ri–” she stopped and blinked a few times at the sleeping Bulbasaur behind her, “Nevermind,” she smiled, “you can keep watch here.”

She looked at Caliouse and Caliouse looked at her. The girl gave a flick with two fingers in the direction that Riot was circling. The Charmander took off.

Silviana waited a little until she heard some scuffling in the grass ahead of her before she stood up. In front of her, a Vulpix had its tails to her while it was staring at Amare and Caliouse on its other side. Silviana tossed her last pokéball at the Vulpix, but the small fox pokémon flicked it away with her bushy tail.

The Vulpix turned swiftly and yelled at Silviana before taking off toward the side that Amare was on. Amare opened her mouth and shot sparkling water in the Vulpix’s direction.

“No!” Silviana yelled too late.

The Vulpix was hit by the water and collapsed in a soaking pile of fur.

“Aww,” Silviana hung her head, “Amare, I told you the last time you did that, to not do that… You’re a water type and you’re strong, so it’s going to make them collapse.” She went over and picked up her Psyduck in one arm. She went back to boK choY that was “guarding her bag” and grabbed a potion from it after setting Amare down next to the sleeping Bulbasaur.

She walked back to the unconscious Vulpix that Caliouse was warming up with his tail. He moved when she sprayed the potion on the Vulpix.

“Come on, let’s go before they wake up, I’m sure it’s siblings would be close by,” she walked back to her bag, “and according to the lady in town, there should be more Vulpix past Saffron.”

◇◇◇

“What do you mean I can’t go into Saffron!” Silviana yelled at the Route Guard. Junipur was lashing her tail while balancing on Silviana’s shoulder.

“Kid lower your voice. You can’t enter because there is major construction going on in the city and only residents are allowed to enter and exit, but no outsiders.”

“But this is one of the only ways to get to the next Gym!” Silviana gestured dramatically to the exit into Saffron City.

“Don’t make me force you out. You cannot go through the city and that’s final.”

There was something strange about the man that was blocking her path. He wasn't the nicest, but she couldn’t fault him for that. He didn’t act like he was trying his best to keep people out of the city either. His demeanor just threw Silviana off.

He’s probably had a long day turning away a lot of people… but still.

With a huff, she marched back to the Route 5 side. Grumbling as she walked down the steps, she sat down with another huff. Junipur hopped off and onto the grass, her left ear flicked and she glanced that direction.

“That’s so dumb!” Silviana exclaimed, but hung her head with a sigh, “How am I going to get around…”

“You could always take the tunnel.”

“Xander!” Silviana jumped up excitedly, she ran over and hugged her friend. After a brief hug she gestured with both hands to the Route Gate into Saffron, “They’re not letting anybody besides residents go into the city.”

Xander nodded, “Yea I know, I had to call up on a buddy of mine, he helped me find the tunnel. It travels right under Saffron City! They keep it in great condition, but it’s somewhat hard to see when you’re coming down Route 5.” He started to walk with her around the side of the building.

There was a lot of shrubbery that was blocking the path and Silviana had to duck sometimes to walk past the lower branches. But there was a little structure with a grey paint to it. It was well taken care of like Xander said, but it was very well hidden.

“What a good find! Thanks Xander!” Silviana began to walk toward it, but Xander held out an arm to stop her.

“There’s a catch,” he smiled mischievously at her.

Silviana’s mood immediately dropped, “You want me to battle you.”

Xander gave a hefty “Eyup!”

With a bit of grumbling she walked to the other side of the open grassy area that was in front of the tunnel opening. She turned, her hands on her hips, and said, “Fine, but starters only!”

Xander nodded, he reached into his backpack’s side pocket and pulled out Spark’s pokéball. The yellow pokémon came flying out looking excited and ready for a battle.

Silviana felt Junipur move on her shoulder, she looked to see a hunger in the little pokémon’s eyes. Silviana smiled and said, “Don’t cry when we kick your but again.” She pointed and Junipur ran down her arm and landed in the grass in front of Spark. The Pikachu flicked its ears back but had a look of determination on its face.

“I’m not going to cry! Show them what you learned Spark!” He struck his hand out to the side, “Let’s take to the sky!”

Spark responded with an excited call and zig-zagged up a tree.

“Brace for impact Junipur!” Silviana didn’t know what Xander meant by that, but she watched as Spark bounded down a branch and jumped at Junipur. He seemed to be floating in the air for a moment before striking at Junipur, quick as lightning.

Junipur held her ground, but she had taken a step back, flinching from the unexpected attack.

“Pretty cool huh? I met someone in Celadon that teaches moves unique to Pikachu.” Xander had a smug look on his face and folded his arms across his chest.

“You made it all the way to Celadon?!”

Not responding he shouted, “Alright, let’s really paralyze them! Thunderwave!”

Silviana started to panic a little as Spark let off rippling waves. As they hit Junipur, Silviana could see little jolts of static coursing through her fur.

Think Sil! There’s gotta be- Oh?

As she was watching Junipur carefully, she could see the static effects going away. Junipur took one step forward.

“What? She’s supposed to be paralyzed!” Xander looked on with just as much shock in his face as Silviana had surprise.

Spark’s ears pinned back and he quickly glanced back to Xander, waiting to receive another battle instruction. But the boy just stood there. Junipur was only a couple feet away and lashed its tail with a loud cry. A small bolt of lightning sparked from its body and struck Spark, the Pikachu took it head on. Not seeming to affect it too bad, Spark blinked the attack away in confusion. He looked back to an equally confused Xander.

“I- What just happened?” Xander seemed to have completely forgotten that they were battling. He walked forward and picked up Spark.

Junipur marched back to Silviana noticing that Xander no longer wanted to battle and sat down by her feet. Silviana crouched down to touch Junipur’s fur. The little pokémon turned her head away and lashed her tail from side to side, but Silviana was able to pat Junipur’s head for a moment. Junipur only accepted the single pat before ducking out of the way and hopping on to Silviana’s shoulder.

“That’s odd. I remember my mom telling me that she once had an Eevee that turned into a Vaporeon, but she mentioned that Eevee has a very unique genetic makeup.” Silviana hit her fist into her hand, “That’s it! Because Eevee can evolve into so many different forms, that must be how Junipur could conduct Spark’s attack and direct it back at him in some way!”

Silviana smiled at Xander, “Can you tell me the name of the person you talked to?”

Xander smiled back, “Sure, but three things. One it might not work for you because Junipur isn’t a Pikachu, two we should get you going then if you haven’t been to Celadon! You have quite a bit of catching up to do. Third we definitely have to battle again because I can’t wait to see what you can really show me.”

“Oh Xander. Now I have two things.”

“Mhmm.” He put Spark on top of his head and stretched his hands behind him.

“One, do you want this ticket aboard the S.S. Anne? Bill gave me two.”

“Woah! No way!” Xander grabbed the ticket Silviana held out to him, “Now we can go on a cruise!”

Silviana chuckled and smiled at his enthusiasm, “Second… Do you have any spare pokéballs?”

◇◇◇

Silviana crouched in the tall grass after she exited the tunnel. Caliouse was on her right and Amare was on her left. Once again, Riot was making tight circles above. She looked at Caliouse and signaled with her fingers, the orange pokémon took off into the grass.

“Amare don’t water gun them okay?” Silviana looked at her pokémon worriedly. Amare nodded in response and waddled off.

Silviana waited for the sound of a scuffle to reach her ears then stood up. She cornered the Vulpix once again, this Vulpix had turned to face her. It lashed its many tails and opened its mouth. Instead of a cry a tiny spurt of fire shot out of its mouth.

Silviana blinked in confusion at the little pokémon.

Uh, was that an attack?

The little Vulpix did the same thing, but after realizing that the small fire wasn’t doing anything it took off in Amare’s direction again. Silviana held her breath.

Amare kept her bill shut as the Vulpix leapt over her. A large shadow from the sky swooped down. Large wings blew a gust of wind at Silviana as large talons swept the Vulpix up mid jump.

Riot turned to fly the Vulpix to Silviana.

“Riot you evolved!” Silviana pulled out a pokéball and touched it to the Vulpix, she held the ball as it wiggled and clicked with the success of the capture. She smiled at the large bird that landed in front of her, “Thank you Riot. I think... uh, Josee! Will be a really good addition to the team.” She pet the frills on his head, he didn’t immediately pull away to Silviana’s satisfaction, “Right,” she said, “Time to train for this next Gym! We can’t let Xander show us up. He may be quick, but we’re gonna show him that we’re strong opponents.”

She looked at her pokémon and saw a gleam in each of their eyes. She also saw another gleam in the far corner of her eye.

What the?

She squinted. The six tails of a Vulpix flicked in the shade of a nearby tree, but the fur color was off.

No way…

Silviana sprinted to where she saw the Vulpix disappear.

“Oh come on, come on! Where did you go!” Silviana searched the bushes. She heard the grass rustle behind her and looked to see her pokémon following. Amare and Caliouse were the ones who got there first. Following them was Junipur and boK choY, the little grass pokémon was still holding Silviana’s backpack. Riot landed near them his larger wings made gusts that made her hair fly.

She crouched in front of them, “Alright guys, I don’t think what I saw was just a trick of the light. Now if Xander wants to see us get stronger I say we show him all we got,” she saw determined eyes looking back at her, “We’re gonna have to train quite a bit, and what’s a better way to do that and look for that rare colored Vulpix as well! Let’s go!”

◇◇◇

“Five… hours…” She said into the phone, “I spent five hours hunting for that Vulpix…”

“Well that’s very dedicated my dear, and I’m really glad you sent me all this information on them. Your 213 samples will prove well to my research.” A scratchy voice told her from the other end of the phone.

“Yea,” she breathed, “no problem Professor.” And she closed the phone with a click.

[nickerbeanblue]

Iron Island

We entered the Iron Islands. Triangle and Clarinet wouldn’t have the best matchups in there, but that was okay since they were a little ahead of the team after that fight with our rival. The rest of the team handled the single battles just fine, but when we got down to the last floor Riley was waiting for us so we teamed up. Even then we were fine; we were able to easily matchup with the predictable rock, steel, and fighting types the team would fight.

But then near the end we ran into ace trainers Brenda and Jonah. I’ve had rough dealings with them in the past, so I decided to use Tambora and Kazoo against them since they were my most defensive pair.

I led with Kazoo, Riley his Lucario, and Brenda and Jonah with their Lopunny and Quagsire. Lopunny struck first, thankfully against Lucario, but Lucario hit Lopunny back with force palm and paralyzed it. Kazoo was able to finish Lopunny off with hyper fang, while Quagsire set up amnesia.

Then Brenda sent out her Medicham, so I got Kazoo out of their and sent out Tambora. So Medicham hit Tambora with hi jump kick for 30% of Tambora’s hp. Lucario hit Medicham with metal claw, but Quagsire took Lucario out with mud bomb, leaving my team on their own.

Medicham hit Tambora with another hi jump kick. But Tambora was able to take it and Quasire out with razor leaf.

Then they sent out a Kirlia and a Staraptor. I got Tambora out of there and switched to Kazoo, so he took an aerial ace going in for about 30% of his hp. Meanwhile Kirlia set up calm mind. I had Kazoo get ready to target Staraptor, but before he could Staraptor hit him with close combat, killing him.

Tambora came out for revenge, but she was still weak after that Medicham. With her only attacks being razor leaf and earthquake while a Staraptor was on the board it didn’t look good for her. So she decided to use earthquake, focusing on Kirlia and hoping that her quick claw would activate, accepting her fate. But Staraptor took her out with aerial ace before she could do anything.

I had to decided quickly who to send in; my team was threatened by special and physical attacks on both sides. So in the end Ukulele was decided on to avenge her teammates. She quickly hit Staraptor with thunderbolt, defeating it and avenging Kazoo and Tambora. The Kirlia was still there, but it used imprison for some reason.

There was one Pokemon left on the opposing team, an Hippopotas. It wasn’t a good match for Ukulele. But she had to get rid of that Kirlia for Viola. So she struck with thunderbolt, landing a critical hit and defeating it. Hippopotas hit Ukulele with take down.

Ukulele switched for Viola, so Viola had to take an earthquake coming in, hitting her for 60% of her hp. But Viola was quick so she hit with giga drain, defeating Hippopotas and those evil ace trainers. Which was fitting, considering that now Viola is my only original team member left :(

With Riley there and us so close to the end, we went to finish Iron Island. Triangle and Clarinet teamed up with Lucario to take out the weak Galactic Grunts at the end and we made our way out to lay Kazoo and Tambora to rest.

Kazoo, you made it so far. You were so strong and reliable for Tambora. And even when I had to teach you countless hms you were always great in battle. You defied the odds, but I guess the odds were too tough this time.

Tambora, you were a great starter. You were defensive, strong, and cute. I loved you from the beginning. I wanted you to be with me ‘til the end. Goodbye Tambora.

[ecotone99]

[SP] I See You

I feel like this story could have fallen into a few different categories. This was inspired from a prompt I found on the app Daily Prompts. The prompt was a story starter about discovering you had lived a past life as someone famous.

Please enjoy. It’s the first one I’ve finished in a while.

—————————————————————

She knew him.

She knew him?

Of course she knew him. Everyone knew him. He was famous.

But she knew him. The familiarity wasn’t just because he was one of the most admired, celebrated, talented musicians to ever grace a public stage and had been for longer than she’d been taking up space on planet Earth. It was more than that. It was an intimate knowledge. As she stared at the picture on the screen, she was paralyzed. A crippling fear gripped her like a vice, holding her in place as she stared at the handsome, weathered face. Was it a fear for him? Or was she afraid of him?

What was it about this man that had her so freaked out? And why did it matter all of a su...?

…

Sasha Simons stared at the tv on the living room wall, mouth slack, eyes glazed. She was no longer seeing the man on the tv. She wasn’t seeing the tv or even the wall it had hung on just a microsecond before.

Her living room wall was gone and had been replaced by a wall of glass. Day had become night and rain had replaced the snow that had been falling all morning. The curved, floor-to-ceiling windows, were suddenly lit by white-hot light that spiderwebbed across the panoramic view. On cue, the skies opened. The deluge was deafening as it drowned out the rolling thunder. The shockwave of thunder rattled through the hills around her and vibrated the rivulets that ran down the outside of the glass.

…

She looked from the window to her surroundings. There was a drink in her hand.

…

She didn’t drink.

…

Sasha brought the glass toward her face and sniffed the dark amber liquid. The smell, reminiscent of rich tobacco and old, dark wood, while not unpleasant, made her cough. This made the contents of her cup slosh around and caused a few small drops to splash out and land on the webbing between her thumb and index finger. Without thinking about it, she licked the beads of whiskey from her hand and slammed the rest of what was in the glass in one graceful motion. Her throat burned and she coughed again. Another flash of lightening and…

…

The pretty reporter stood in the middle of the parking lot outside the arena as snow fell around her but did not dare to touch her. Sasha noticed the bodiless arm stage left that held a large, black umbrella high over the woman’s immaculately quaffed hair and flawless face.

“The show starts tomorrow at 7pm. Tickets are sold out but Miranda and Steve will be giving away a pair of front row tickets and VIP All Access passes on our morning show, Wake Up, Denver! Be sure to wake up early for your chance to win. This is Amber Johnson, reporting from the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver. Back to you in the warm studio, Jay.”

The screen split and a middle-aged, man with neat, salt and pepper hair, in a smart, blue suit tried to show Amber and Sasha how far he could stretch his lips across his face before a fissure opened up and revealed all of his teeth at once.

“I sure am glad I got my tickets, Amber. And I know I’ll be seeing you there.”

Amber, like her counterpart in the studio, had begun to explain just how glad she was she had gotten her tickets but Sasha no longer heard either of them.

I’ll be seeing you there

I’ll see you there

I see you…

…

The lights of the sprawling city below looked alive. Sasha leaned her cheek against the thick, cool glass, took a deep breath and exhaled. The window fogged and she quickly wrote three words: I see you

She felt a heavy arm encircle her waist

“Hi.”

His breath tickled her ear, sending a delicious shiver down her spine.

Without prompting, he took her glass and headed for the bar on the other side of the room.

“I’ve got a bottle on the table over there,” her head tilted in the direction of a handful of couches clustered around a large square table. A bottle, right at a the point that would start a half full/half empty debate with the right crowd, sat precariously close to the nearest edge.

Sasha could see his reflection in the glass as he about-faced and headed to the table. So handsome. So not her type. But this worked, this collaboration. The song was good, really good. She felt it in every fiber of her being.

“I think it’s going to be huge, babe!” He handed her glass back to her with a generous amount of booze now in it. “And the whole collaboration thing? We’re gonna hit them out of nowhere with this.” He poured two fingers into his own glass and set the bottle on the floor beside the window. “People are gonna lose their shit.” He reached around her and clinked his glass into hers. “I’m gonna make you famous, babe.” He chuckled and chugged half of his drink in one gulp. “Drink up! We’re gonna celebrate tonight!” He tapped his glass into hers again and downed its contents.

With his hand on her hip she tilted her head back and rested against his chest. “Or maybe I’ll make you famous.” Sasha put the glass to her lips, closed her eyes and drank, draining the entire glass in three large swallows, her breath caught in her lungs, unable to inhale or exhale. She held her eyes shut for another moment as she relished the heat of the liquor, the heat of his hand on her hip, the heat of his breath on her neck as leaned down and pressed his lips and hips tight to her body. The heat between her thighs. So much heat. “Let’s go,” she whispered and took his hand. She turned and walked with him up the stairs that led to the upper level and the bedrooms.

Sasha opened the French doors to the bedroom at the end of the hallway. She reached in to flip the light on and…

…

Dim light came through the curtains on the far side of Sasha’s bedroom. One word, migraine, she thought as she crawled into bed and pulled the covers over her head. How long had it been since she had had a migraine? Two years? Three? A long time by migraine sufferer’s standards. And this one promised to be a bad one if the hallucinations were any indication.

When was the last time she hallucinated before a migraine? Not since she was a kid. God, the hallucinations, though.

Just need to sleep. Need to stop over-thinking.

Need sleep. No over-thinking.

Sleep. No…

…

…”thinking about,” he asked. “You seem really far away.” He had lit them both a cigarette and she took the one he handed her.

Dragging deeply, the excitement of creation, of making something that people might actually love, something that might carry on had her head spinning. He had her head spinning. She exhaled in a rush and turned to her lover.

“It really is good, isn't it?”

He grabbed the edge of the sheet, flipped it off his legs as he swiveled and planted his feet on the floor in one graceful, fluid motion.

“Yes!” He jumped up, “I’m starving.” He stood, nearly perfect. The sheet fell back to the rumpled bed. “You?” He was a rock god in the making. “I think I’ve got some left-over Thai in the fridge.” He had turned to face her, a shit-eating-side-grin, one of the things he was already becoming known for, on his face; his left eyebrow cocked to a point. “Or, I could just eat you?”

And there was that naughty-boy charm she’d been hearing about. Sasha, used to having to be the aggressor in and out of the bedroom, felt an unfamiliar flush in her face.

“Oh! Wait!” His grin widened. The charm turned up to ten just made him that much sexier. “Did I make the bad girl of the pop world actually blush?” He leaned down, moving across the bed toward her, his fist pushing into the mattress. Gravity drew her close to him.

He smelled of cologne and sex and booze. He kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ll be right back.”

Sasha closed her eyes and let her body fall back on the bed as soon she heard his footsteps on the stairs. Exhaustion like she hadn’t felt in years hugged her body the moment it hit the oversized pillows stacked around her. The late night sessions in his recording studio all week had been one thing, but trying to keep up with the drinking and the now the sex? There are some the might still call her by the moniker she had earned when she had first gotten the attention of the people who mattered in this shit show that they called the music business, but she sure as hell hadn’t felt much like the bad girl of the pop world in longer than she cared to think about. They joked with each other about making the other famous but for her, it was more about being relevant again.

And what would that be like? It had been more than a year since she had made any meaningful public appearances. And three times that since the last tour had ended.

Her body relaxed and she tried to remember the exhilaration she would feel again, being on the stage. She slipped into sleep as the crowd chanted. Chanted her name.

Wait. No.

Not her. Not her name. His name. The crowd chanted his name. They had forgotten all about her. It was his name on their lips. It was him that they wanted.

Now she was in the crowd. Right in front. And he was standing over her on the stage. Larger than life. He was looking directly at her. As if she was the only one in the entire stadium. Just the two of them. Her below and him above, he looked at her and her only.

But the people around her didn’t seem to know she was even there. They began to push at her, crush her. Sasha couldn’t breath. The crowd moved in closing off her airways. She tried to struggle but her arms were pinned to her sides as the bodies pushed in tighter around her. She looked up and tried to find him. Tiny white dots floated and swam around her vision. Fear boiled over and she tried to scream.

Sasha’s eyes flew open and she opened her mouth wide to inhale the air that had been deprived of her in the dream-turned-nightmare that her insecurities had mustered out of her subconscious.

Nothing. No air.

A face floated above her. Where she had expected to see a warm, inviting, mischievous and just a bit sexy grin, instead, a cruel, twisted mocking grimace carved into a black hole of hate. And hands were around her throat.

Confused, Sasha brought her eyes to her attacker. They pounded with the beat of her heart until she thought they would explode. She tried to plead. Her mouth moved.

Why?

The thumping slowed and a blackness had begun to creep in around the edges of her vision.

She never heard her killer utter a word.

The darkness swallowed her. …

It was close to dawn before Sasha finally gave up on sleep. She turned the tv on as she passed it headed toward the kitchen and coffee.

Fifteen minutes later, Sasha was sitting at the kitchen bar, her second cup of barely-coffee flavored creamer and sugar held in one hand, her phone in the other. A cheerfully bright bleach blond in an equally bright pink and white skirt and jacket ensemble was standing in front of a map covered in large snowflakes.

“That’s going to do it for the local forecast.” She turned just as the cameras switched to a close up shot of a salt and pepper haired anchor, nearly indistinguishable from the gentleman that sat in the same chair for the evening news.

“Thank you, Gina.” The man said as he spoke into the camera in front of him. “A winter weather warning will be in effect starting at midnight tonight. Keep your tv tuned to Channel 11 overnight and Wake Up, Denver! starting at 5 am tomorrow morning for road conditions and any closures as this storm moves though the city. Miranda?”

A dark haired beauty with too much makeup sat up a bit straighter in her chair as the crew cut to the wide shot.

“Thank you, Gina. Steve.” She glanced down at the desktop, switched her view to her close up camera and segued into the the part that Sasha had been waiting for since she had clawed her way from the horrors of her dreams a few hours prior. The woman at the desk became a bit more animated.

“It’s almost as if the weather gods themselves have rolled into town for tonight’s sold out performance at the Pepsi Center.” The camera switched back to the wide shot of both anchors.

“And when we come back, Steve and I will be giving away two tickets to tonight’s historic event as we say goodby to a rock legend as he winds up his final performance right here in the place his fans say he got his real start.” She paused for just the right amount of time and continued, “I’m Miranda Stevenson.” She looked to her right.

“And I’m Steve Knight. This is Wake Up! Denver and we’ll be right back.”

Sasha picked up her phone. She had punched in the ten digits without seeing them. Her thumb hit the green send button and the phone began to ring. …

Thumping beats assaulted and seemed to change the rhythm of her heart as guitars screeched and screamed. The anxiety she felt in her nightmare returned as the crowd pressed around her. She pushed her shoulders and elbows out as she tried to make herself bigger. After a few seconds that felt like a few minutes, the crowd seemed to collectively exhale which allowed her room to move. The reprieve didn’t last as the man they had come to see made his way to her side of the stage and stopped in front of her. The crowd swelled and threatened to swallow her, to drown her, to choke her.

Sasha barely noticed as she made eye contact with him.

For just a moment, he faltered. It was just a split second. Sasha doubted anyone else had even noticed. But she had. And so had he.

…

The green room, which wasn’t actually green at all, was full of people, alcohol and food. Everywhere, people were talking, mouths full of food or drink or both. Sasha made her way to the bar to the left.

“Did you enjoy the show?” Hot breath on her neck. A warm hand on her waist.

She took a sip of the drink she had just been handed and leaned her head back against his chest. “Best performance of your career.” His grip on her waist tightened and he pulled her to him; his hips pressing to her, the erection instantaneous. She shivered as his lips brushed the back of her neck.

“I knew it was you. The moment I saw you.” He didn’t seem surprised. “I guess an explanation is warranted.” She turned in arms to face him.

“The explanation won’t be necessary. Up and coming rockstar records decades biggest with the on-her-way-to-obscurity pop star hours before she dies in a tragic fiery crash leaving the mountain recording studio.”

He looked her in the eyes. “Wow. You really do look amazing, Sasha. Like it never happened.” His eyes were glassy with drink and nostalgia. “Would it make a difference if I said I was sorry?”

“Tragedy sells. And playing the grieving friend and lover who was only trying to help me revive my career? Brilliant. Martyrdom really suits you. Don’t apologize for being shrewder than I gave you credit for.”

She took him by the hand, “Let’s go.” Sasha led him through the crowded room and out the door.

…

“The weekend weather should hit the three S’s. Shorts, sunglasses and sunscreen. Stay tuned for more on this warming trend at ten past the hour. Steve?” Gina turned to the anchor desk as the camera cut to a close up of a much more somber reporter this morning.

“In other news, tragedy has struck the rock and roll community as official word has it that rock legend Devon Smithfield was found dead just hours after his final performance here in Denver. He rose to fame with the song, I See You, recorded with pop icon Sasha Sin just hours before the crash that took her life. Preliminary reports from the police and the coroner’s office have indicated he may have committed suicide by hanging. We’ll update with more details as they come in. Miranda?”

Sasha hit the red button at the top of the remote and the screen on the wall went black.

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