Scars (An Amourshipping Story)

'News'

I lay on my bed, trying to collect my thoughts.

After Serena's panic attack, I've found myself fundamentally reassessing the relationship we share, and what I know about her.

I had a hard enough time dealing with four months in hospital. One look at her scars tells me that she was in one for a lot longer than I was.

Be that as it may, I know next to nothing about her past. She has told me about the house fire, but only in the most basic way.

And what of her family? I still haven't asked Dawn about them; there hasn't been a good opportunity to bring it up.

I don't know where she grew up, or what her old school was like. Nor of her past friends, her wishes and ambitions. Not even her tastes in music, food and movies.... all the little things that I knew about all of my old friends.

...

Just what have I been doing, for all this time I've been with her and Dawn.

In the distance, I hear the bells signalling the end of classes. With any luck, Dawn will soon realise that neither Serena nor I are around, and return to the dormitories.

My mobile phone starts to ring, cutting my thinking short. It quite startles me, as I've rarely been called since coming to Kalos

"Hello, Ash speakin'...." I sigh, "Oh, Ash! I'm glad I found you. You weren't at any of our usual places, so I thought this would be the fastest way to contact ya." Dawn says through the phone.

"I.....Serena and I left class early. S-She has some kind of panic attack..." I still somehow feel guilty.

The line goes silent. If it weren't for the background noise, I would have thought Dawn had hung up on me.

"I understand, meet me at my place" She responds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After explaining everything to Dawn, we decide to head to Serena's room.

Before we open the door, I feel a hand pull me back.

"Huh?" I turn to Dawn.

"My aunt has fallen gravely ill. I'm afraid I'm going to be heading back to Sinnoh to visit her, and to spend some time with my family." 

"I-Is she all right? When do you leave?" I pout.

"I'm not so sure she's all right, but last I heard she was stable, I'll be leavin' Saturday...." She says.

"Stable.....that's a relief." I smile.

"Yes, but this means I won't be here for Serena's Birthday...." She looks like she wants to cry.

"We'll discuss it in here, she's best off knowing." I smile at Dawn.

Knocking lightly gets us no response, but the door proves to be unlocked, open slightly.

Serena's room is startlingly bare and monotone. there are no decorations on the plain white walls, a plain dark blue blanket, and only a few books, paper, and purely utilitarian items on the shelves.

Serena herself is laying curled up on her bed. She may not be crying now, but her eyes are closed tightly to stop herself, and the tracks left by her tears still sit on her reddened cheeks.

"Hello, Serena. Ash told me about what happened today...are ya all right?" Dawn says.

Serena's eyes open, though only a little.

"I...I'm okay...." She says something.

She tilts her head slightly to look at me, noticing my grimacing before I can hide it.