If You Love Something...

She had read stories about people being woken up from a cryogenic sleep. She had heard the rumors that a person could stay alive in a block of ice provided they were frozen quick enough, but never in her life did White think that it would happen to her. It was almost like a dream, in a sense. What felt like a day to her was three years for the rest of Unova.

And oh, had Unova changed. The eastern, northern, and even a bit of the western parts of the region had been covered in a thick sheet of ice that no single Pokemon could ever hope to melt. Pokemon had to be imported from other regions to help the economy, since so much of the native Pokemon's habitats had been destroyed. Hell, Serperiors were considered rare these days, in fact they had been placed on the endangered Pokemon list. It made sense, White supposed, Emboars and Samurotts could easily adapt and survive the harsher environments while Serperiors, being grass types, were not so lucky.  The look on Summer's face when she learned that White had a Serperior, while amusing, did little to make up for the guilt that she felt. Nearly an entire species had been wiped out because she had been stupid. The entire region was slowly being encased in ice and it was all her fault.

Needless to say, White was not welcome in a good handful of the towns and settlements who recognized the Hero of Truth. More often than not White got stones thrown at her in place of a proper greeting if she wandered into certain areas. That was part of the reason why she chose not to travel with Summer, despite the younger girl's constant pleading. White was grateful to the sandy-brown haired Trainer, as she should be, but the poor girl didn't deserve to be pelted with rocks for just being near White.

Of course Summer made frequent visits to White in the only place she felt truly accepted, Nimbasa City. Her "savior" somehow always managed to stay bubbly and optimistic and high-spirited- it was something to be envious about given the current situation Unova was in. And hey, if Summer could venture into the ice-covered wasteland that used to be Giant Chasm, venture into Kyurem's cave and somehow free White from her icy prison, than she had to have something going for her, right? A hidden potential that rested beyond the stupidly optomistic view that Summer had about anything and everything, although that could just be White's "Champion" intuitions kicking in (never mind the fact she had only been Champion for about a month or two).

Summer gleefully continued her journey, and White stayed behind in Nimbasa City. Her parents had clung to her like Remoraids to a Mantine, and Kudari... dear Arceus above Kudari. He had nearly snapped White's poor spine in half the last time he hugged her, shortly after being released from the hospital.

Speaking of the Subway Masters... White looked down at her hand, flexing the fingers and rotating her wrist to look at it from all angles. She hadn't aged a day these past few years, while they had, no matter how subtle the changes were.  The both of them had finally broken six-foot-three (although they admitted that they probably wouldn't grow any taller), and it had become easier to differentiate between the two. Kudari's skin tone had darkened to a more "normal" skin tone -probably thanks to Elesa- and he had barely-visible lines around the corners of his mouth from laughing and smiling so much. Nobori on the other hand... had aged. He just looked older. The way he carried himself, the look in his eyes, even the way he spoke made him seem like he was older than his age of thirty.  When White first saw him, she was actually shocked by how much he seemed to have changed. The naïve part of her mind wanted to believe he would look the same when she recovered from nearly freezing to death, but life didn't work that way.

Which was probably why by the time White was revived, Nobori had a Fiancé. His soon-to-be wife was a beautiful woman in her late twenties- rich auburn hair skimming to her shoulders, a slender frame and perfect, almond shaped golden brown eyes. She worked as Elesa's event planner, apparently, and Nobori's close relationship with Elesa caused the two of them to meet. One thing lead to another, and Nobori had proposed about a month or so before Summer revived White.  Her name was Rebecca Lorence, and sooner or later she would be Mrs. Abendroth.

White supposed that she should be happy for Nobori, happy that he had moved on and found someone new after her little... accident. And they seemed to be happy together, so who was White to complain? More to the point. Rebecca was close to Nobori's age, there would be no seething whispers or accusations of Nobori being a pedophile if he was with Rebecca (after all, a man in his thirties old dating someone who was physically eighteen didn't fit well with the general public), so they seemed perfect. Abso-fucking-lutely perfect for each other. Rebecca obviously loved and adored Nobori with every fiber of her being, and he, without a shadow of a doubt, loved her back.

White should be happy.

...So why wasn't she? She clutched a hand over her chest, gripping the thick material of her black coat as she did. Why did it hurt so much to think of that picture-perfect couple? Sure, she and Nobori had a little something going on between them- a spark that neither could deny was there- and of course there was when they shared their first kiss on the subway... but that was irrelevant. Nobori had someone new now. Someone who wouldn't be so pants-on-head stupid as to go chasing after a human-eating zombie ice dragon, get her pretty little ass frozen and cause more than half the region to go through a second Ice Age.

No, little miss Rebecca with her fancy-shmancy Bachelor's Degree in fashion design was far too smart to do something like that.  White sighed and pressed her temple against the window of her bedroom. He was happy, that was all that mattered.

If you love something, let it go...
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White had been invited to the wedding of course, Kudari wouldn't have it any other way. Elesa seemed to have the time of her life, dressing the former Champion up like a little doll. They must have gone through a dozen different dresses before Elesa settled on one: a dark blue, sleeveless floor-lentgh dress with a rather beautiful white floral lace pattern under the bust and a simple headband with a cloth rose on the side, the color matching the dress.

On the wedding night, however, the joy in Elesa's eyes simmed to be dimmer. Even as she brushed White's cheek with foundation and painted her lips with lip gloss, the older woman occasionally gave White comforting glances. She probably knew about White and Nobori's short-lived romance, Kudari had probably told her all about it. Scratch that, she probably knew about how they felt for each other long before White or Nobori did.

  When Elesa had finished taming White's hair with her trusty brush and iron straightener, Elesa gently placed a hand on White's shoulder.

"You'll be alright." She said reassuringly, giving White's reflection a small smile before putting all her beauty supplies in their proper place.  

"Alright... yeah. Sure..." White muttered as she fumbled with her hands in her lap.  She had faced down worse than this- the man she loved getting married to another woman was nothing compared to the shit she had been through. She had gone through more before she turned eighteen than most did in their lifetime! This would be easy. She just had to make sure she didn't completely break down in front of everyone. Elesa had used water and smudge-proof make up though, just in case the worst happened.
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The wedding was small and humble. A few employees had been invited from Gear Station to attend, for politeness' sake more than anything. Rebecca had invited her entire family to the event, all nine of her brothers and sisters, her parents, and her grandparents from both sides of the family. And then there was White, sitting awkwardly in the front row amongst a crowd of people she didn't even know. Kudari was Nobori's Best Man, and Elesa was sitting in the other row. The model looked so natural, sitting on the other side of the room. Like she had been to dozens of weddings and this was just another mundane occurrence.  

White should have torn that stupid invitation up the second it arrived in her mailbox- told Kudari that something with Summer had come up and needed her attention. But no. White was too much of a good friend for that to happen, and she would die before she played the "jealous and spiteful ex-lover" role.

The crown jewel of the event was, of course, Rebecca. She looked like an angel, draped in her long, shimmering ivory gown. The lace of her veil did nothing to hide how incredibly perfect her red hair looked underneath the lights of the church. Rebecca so obnoxiously perfect and ethereal that White wanted to gag.  She had never hated the woman before now- Rebecca was nice enough and seemed sympathetic to White's situation- but at that moment White just wanted to punch her in the face and ruin that perfect little button nose.

She couldn't look at Nobori either because, Arceus damn it, he looked too good in that black tuxedo. Why was it that White was just now remembering how handsome Nobori was? It didn't help that she was sitting so close to him that she could see his eyes.

He glanced over to White breifly, just taking a few seconds to tear his adoring gaze from his soon-to-be wife to look at White. He had the most amazing gray eyes she had ever seen. Such a perfect and oddly calming shade... and yet all she could do was smile weakly and give a meek little thumbs up. Kudari looked incredibly sympathetic, making sideways glances at the brunette like he making sure she wasn't about to completely lose it.  But she wouldn't. Not now. She would scream and cry and throw things all she wanted when the wedding was over but for now she would sit and smile and pretend to be happy.

When the preacher asked if anyone had any objections to the "lovely" couple being married, White had to fight off the urge to march right up to the altar, push Rebecca out of the way and kiss Nobori like she had never kissed him before.  The scenario was entertaining, and the look on imagination-Rebecca's face was priceless, but White refrained. That wasn't how life worked. She couldn't just kiss Nobori in front of his Fiancé and expect everything to be better again. And the chances of Nobori suddenly deciding he was marrying the wrong woman were slim to none.

Nobori slipped the ring on Rebecca's finger. White closed her eyes and bowed her head, looking more like that was at a funeral than a joyous occasion. She wasn't going to cry, she wasn't. She had to cover her ears when the preacher said those dreadful, fate-sealing words.

"You may now kiss the Bride."

If you love something, let it go...
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The reception was full of cheering and laughter and the sounds of champagne-filled glasses clinking against each-other in celebration for the newly-wed couple. It had only taken ten seconds after the customary first dance before Rebecca was attack-hugged by all of her friends and siblings, and then dragged away to have her ear talked off about how happy they were for her and how beautiful she looked and how lucky she was to have landed a man like Nobori. White snorted and took another swig of champagne (her Trainer card did say she was twenty-one, even if she didn't look it). She had never considered getting drunk before, but figured that tonight was a good night to indulge.  

Kudari and Elesa were probably either talking with Nobori or still on the dance floor. Last White saw of them, they had been dominating the floor with a rather elaborate swing dance routine- when did Kudari even learn to swing dance? More to the point, how was Elesa so nimble in three-inch heels? Eventually White just filed it under "Things The World Will Never Know."

Eventually it was near the end of the night, and White was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol on her system. Why didn't anyone tell her that champagne could hit someone so hard? Okay, sure, she had a glass or two... or six, but what did that matter? Honestly she didn't even expect to stay this long, but it seemed Kudari was adamant about making her stay the entire time, even dragging her onto the dance floor for the Father-Daughter dance.  He was trying his best to make sure White was happy, bless his little soul, but it did little to make her feel any better.

In any case, the end of the night meant the last dance of the evening. Soon enough couples were filing onto the dance floor, already moving to the slow rhythm of the music. It was a calming and rather beautiful piano piece with a bass and cello back-up. The kind of music you listened to when you just wanted to wind down, and boy did White want to wind down.  The plan was to finish her last glass of champagne and quietly leave while everyone was too caught up in the dance, while all the lights were dimmed. No one would miss her. No one would notice a single young woman dressed in blue had left early. The last thing she expected was the Groom to walk up and tap her on the shoulder.

"Miss. White?" Nobori asked gently. Arcues, had his voice always been that smooth? Had it always been that alluringly deep? White blinked slowly and looked up to face him, convincing herself that the feeling of her heart leaping into her throat was the affects of the alcohol.  He held his hand out to her when she turned to face him fully, "may I have this dance?"

"Don't you have your wife to dance with?" White slurred slightly, hoping in the still unclouded part of her mind that the word "wife" hadn't come out nearly as spiteful as she thought.

"She's dancing with her father right now. And I've hardly seen you all night." He frowned slightly and examined her face closer, "are you feeling alright?"

"What? Me? Yeah! I'm feeling right as rain. Honest."

"...If you say so." Nobori said. Although he wasn't completely convince he still offered his hand out to the young woman. "I'll asked again: may I please have this dance?"

His hand looked so inviting... "I'll warn you now," White began as she placed her hand on his. "I can't dance to save my life." Nobori's hand slowly closed around hers as he lead her to the dance floor.

"I don't mind that." He replied.

White was never one for slow dancing, she found it too boring and overly romantic for her tastes. But now that she was in the middle of a crowd of couples. Nobori gently leading her, she suddenly didn't mind. It felt right being this close to him again, and she found herself imagining what it would be like if she had been the one in the beautiful white dress. She shook her head to clear away those thoughts. The alcohol must have affected her more than she thought.  "Miss. White?" Nobori asked, thankfully bringing the brunette out of her thoughts.

"Hmm?" White hummed, looking up at her partner, who looked back at her with questioning eyes.

"Are you happy?" She blinked. What kind of a question was that? Of course she was happy! At least that was the facade she was trying to keep.

"Of course I am! I mean, why wouldn't I be?" She was just able to get the question out before she was swung out into a wide twirl and brought back just as the music reached it's finale. Nobori's arm had found itself around her waist, one hand was pressed against his chest while their other hands were clasped together tightly.

"I don't believe you." He said sternly. Oh Arceus above he was close. Too close. Was the Groom allowed to be this close to a woman who wasn't the Bride?  White's breathing increased as an epic war raged inside her. A part of her was screaming for her to kiss Nobori and show Rebecca who really deserved him, while the other was flailing her arms and telling White that she should be the bigger woman and let it go.

If you love something let it go. If you love something let it go. If you love something let it go.

White glanced around cautiously, the other couples had cleared from the dance floor for the most part, breaking off into their own little groups or gathering around the Bride to thank her for the wonderful evening. No one was watching them... White could easily...

If you love something let it go. If you love something let it go. If you love something let it go. If you love something let it go. If you love something let it go.

Her mind didn't have any hope of catching up with her body as White forced her lips on Nobori's, pressing against them desperately. She needed this. One more time... just one more time. Just one more kiss.  Then she could put the past behind her.

White finally broke away, the sudden display of affection shocking Nobori just enough for his grip on her hand to loosen enough so she could slide her hand free and run it down his face tenderly.

"I love you." Those were her parting words before she pushed away from him, only pausing briefly to  take off her heels and continue running, ignoring the echoes of someone calling out her name. She would have wipe the tears away, but was afraid of tripping and falling if she let go of the cloth in her hands. If she tripped someone might catch up to her and ask for an explanation for her little stunt. That was the last thing she wanted.

If you love something... let it go...