Sapphire Aura: Prelude

Chapter 10? 12?

GOOOOOSH frikkin darn it i forgot how good this actually was well f for me, but im back and im sorry about the lack of updates in this oops ;p

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On a faraway island located in Sinnoh, a young man wearing a blue trench coat and a scruffy hat looked out over the sea, reminiscing the fateful day one loving family of five-- an heiress, an heir, a queen, the local friendly Aura Guardian and his reclusive brother--separated for safety's sake. He acted brave like nothing had ever happened, while within himself was a turmoil.

While yes, he had found love in Officer Jenny (author's note: i still ship them haha), his heart never sparkled the way it did in the past. Especially not when both his niece and nephew were away. He now had an unborn child of his own (which also resulted in Officer Jenny temporarily getting decommissioned and staying at the Iron Islands) but nothing made him smile genuinely. His heart had shut off to the outside world, and no matter how much he trusted and loved Jennifer, he could never tell her his story.

She would think he was weak and abandon him.

He sighed and stared out into open space. These days, he had been getting more and more depressed, despite the happy occasion coming up--the birth of his child. It wasn't his own child that he had wanted, Riley had realised. It was Sapphire and Aura. Those two cheeky siblings that made the perfect aura duo. Force and agility. Calm and hot-tempered. The impression that Sapphire left on others was that she was a cat--calm and agile, and would think before acting or talking, though when provoked, can get very aggressive, while Aura was her perfect counterpart: a dog--easily angered and forceful, and will act without a second thought. 

That was what he wanted. Balance. Ying and yang.

But he didn't know how to find either of them.

And even if he did... he wouldn't know how to reunite them.

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"Atchoo!" Sapphire sneezed for the millionth time in that day and shivered. "Pass me the water," she murmured. Some time spent unproductively lying down in the forest had made her catch a gigantic cold that she was definitely not enjoying, but what could she do? Gecko was gone. She had been hurt. She wanted to go back to her calm self, and so she picked up courage yet again as she tossed off the blanket on her shoulders, and much to everyone's surprise, stood up with little to no expression on her face.

"Let's head off. We're not going to accomplish anything just by lazing around." She knew that she should rest because she was sick, but her instincts were tugging at her. There was something ahead, she knew. She was feeling a kind of pull towards a particular area in Sinnoh—she didn't know what or where as of yet, but it was where she was headed to.

"But Sapphire, you're sick," Ash objected. "You should rest for this while." Sapphire shook her head. By then, she had silently packed her things, getting ready to move on. She sneezed again, but that was okay in her opinion. "Gecko..." she muttered under her breath. She was going to miss the green guy and his silly antics. But it was true. Gecko would have endangered them if she kept him at their side any longer. She knew his feelings, and she couldn't let them get to her. "I'm fine," she snapped as she swung her pack onto her shoulder like usual. She was ready to go on, totally fine. This was a journey, after all. It wasn't going to be easy, but when you fall, you get back up and continue. She was that stubborn mule in the group. As of now, her schedule was walk, eat, rest, repeat. That simple. But it was effective. She didn't have any distractions.

And so the group followed that schedule for the next leg of the journey, never stopping more than the time given by Sapphire, which was spent productively, as she would say. But even she doubted that she knew where she was heading—Sinnoh was big, and whoever, she was looking for was somewhere that maybe wasn't even in Sinnoh. She had her own doubts, but those were not of immediate concern. What really tugged at her was the trail she was following, the little thread of aura remnants. It seemed to never end. But it was a trail, and one that she could use to find her way. She wanted to give up and just say that they should get back to league competitions and being normal trainers, but she knew that her duty as the lawful princess and Ash as the half-prince deserved to find their place again.