Feathers for Falkner- FINALE (chapter 77)

~Jasmine~

The beach is my only piece of mind…

So with the waves lapping at my feet I relinquish myself, believing, truly feeling and believing for the first time in a very long time that this was the girl I was meant to be. The salty air I breathed made me feel alive, and that was something I had been lacking for far too long. The waved were chilly but not unbearable, and the nighttime city flickering with electrical problems behind me was a sight to see within itself. Sunnyshore was not always so sunny it seemed, not with its stubborn and ignorant gym leader blowing fuses and making things power out more than often. I didn’t mind however, since the blackness of the night made it possible to see the ships coming in the distance—things that the lighthouse once brought Cianwood’s  small town.

I let it all go however. I was thousands of miles away from Falkner and Morty and the other gym leaders. I was free, I was untouchable, and I was whole. Just for a moment even, if it didn’t last it didn’t last, but for the moment I was whole. I was Jasmine, steel trainer and former gym leader of Cianwood—before I was chased away by my own hatred.

I had admitted defeat already, I understood what I had done, I believed that from this moment forth I was getting better.

The beach is my only piece of mind…

Frantic medics worked over my limp body, trying to revive it with—ironically—the thing that killed me. Electricity.

The gym leader in this town was ignorant and stubborn, and he had been determined to dethatch a power line from a pole just off the ledge of a rocky cliff nearby. I watched and felt, letting the sand suck against my bare feet as the thing came tumbling down in a whir of flames. The black night sky lit up, the power line went down, and me—the one girl that dare have her feet out in the ocean during this time of night—was electrocuted to death.

But as I said… the beach is my only piece of mind.

The medics worked over my anorexic and fried corpse as my toes played in the sand, feeling the sea waves lapping at me. I did not try to communicate with them, or reach the body that still furiously refused to move, but rather enjoyed the scene before me. Volkner—the gym leader—was wrapped in a blanket with some larger and stronger looking male at his side—his flame red afro bobbing when he walked around. I sighed, my body breezy and lost feeling, but not bad.

What had been bad was the point two seconds that I had endured electrocution far beyond any pain I had ever experience before in my life. I would take rape ten thousand times over again before that misery even once. Of course that’s physical though—not even electrocution felt as bad as the guilt that still lingered in my mind.

I had killed, I had abandoned, I had lied, I had done so many things that I was not proud of….

The one thing though… the one thing I was proud of was the fact that I had run so far that I actually felt happy—if only a moment. I had reached this shoreline and stood in the water with the lapping salty waves at my feet and stared into the distance knowing that I was a free woman, and knowing that this was my fresh start. I had smiled, just a fraction of a smile, but a smile none the less.

And then karma caught up to me.

Bitter sweet karma.

I watched the medics carry my corpse away into the ambulance—however my face was already covered. They couldn’t heal me, they couldn’t fix me, they couldn’t bring me back.

But at least I was here.

On the beach…

With my only piece of mind.

………..

~Morty~

The day may have been long, but it was surely the most life changing day I had ever experienced. Seeing Gold defeat Lance (now only formerly known as Mr. Kiss my ass) was remarkable and breathtaking and made me realize just how precious this world we lived in was. Lance was stability, he never changed, and yet he was capable of this being able to shatter so simply. He was the perfect example of life and death, flourishing and downfall, the climax and the descend. It was beautiful.

And then that proposal… I was no hopeless romantic but even I had to admit it was pretty heartwarming. Gold and Silver were almost too perfect for each other, in the same sense that Falkner and I were also each other’s better half. We may bicker and argue now and again, and things may escalate to sex too quickly, but it was that that made us the couple we were.

I hugged the bird trainer tightly, breathing into his sleeping form as sweet silence finally came in this small gym-leader household. Wherever Walter Hayato may be tonight… he wasn’t here and he wasn’t fussing over us. I was almost concerned with how pleasant this evening had turned out—it just wasn’t usual for us. Usually Falkner’s homophobic father had some nasty things to say to me, things that would separate us physically, but not emotionally. I was awaiting the snide comments about how gay or perverted I was. It was even a bit expected considering I had his son in my arms now, even though I didn’t have any true desire to do anything nasty tonight.

It was actually hard to imagine that this was the same hot, steamy room that Falkner had devoted himself to me in for the first time so long ago, just before his father had separated us for the longest amount of time. The man had driven a hard line in the sand that night, and I had never been so alone for the weeks that had followed. All of which I imagined horrible things happening to Falkner and horrible fate floating my way while the previous bird trainer sat mocking us for our decisions—our love.

Falkner was not your usual gay; he was very proud and often stubborn about stupid things. He loved his birds just as much (and sometimes it even felt like more) as me, and he devoted himself in all directions to them. He was kind and brave and admirable with a dashing smile that could make even the strongest of hearts melt. I loved every aspect of him, and everything that set him apart from the rest of the people I had come to know in my short lifetime so far.

Falkner had been there for me, without even knowing it he had shown me a sense of importance in the gym leaders union, and later on with more valuable skills like helping him “break” unbreakable birds. I had saved his life physically and he had saved mine mentally in return. The shallow, heartless man I was before this boy entered my life was not the man I wanted to be. Falkner was the change for the better in my world. I couldn’t imagine life without him.

I was nearly asleep, thinking about how perfect things were and just how damn happy I was for the first time in my life. The months that I had known Falkner were probably the most significant months I had ever been through, making me hope that in the future I would only endure many, many more to come. They winked by in a flash and left me breathless when I thought about it, since we had almost known each other over six months now. It felt like nothing—a mere second at the most.

He stirred, breaking me out of the moment I tried to salvage, moaning softly and turning over to face me. It wasn’t normal for Falkner to move so much when he slept—which brought me to believe that he was actually awake. I massaged his hip tenderly.

“Mmm… Morty what’s wrong?” he blinked up at me, barely noticeable under the harsh moonlight coming in through the window.

“Nothing.” I nuzzled him softly. “You’re the one that woke up.”

He took a deep, ungraceful breath and pushed himself up, his head swimming in sleepiness as if he was still slightly dreaming. “Something feels different…”

“Is that a good or a bad thing?” I whispered, tugging in his shoulder slightly, trying to bring him back down beneath the covers. There was nothing I loved more than the way his hot skin felt against mine on a chilly, borderline spring night. I could smell a faint trace of honey suckle drifting from his freshly washed hair, and his skin was soft as the sun was easy on him the last few days.

Grunted softly, disagreeing with my motion and sitting upright, he glanced around the room as if he were looking for something. “Something’s wrong, Morty.” He rubbed his tired eyes and yawned, flipping the blankets off and slipping out of bed and into a pair of sweats that lay on the floor.

“Where are you going?” I followed him, trying not to groan in frustration. Here I was trying to bask in his splendor and glory after a long day, and he had some strange feeling that something was wrong. I grimaced; nothing was wrong, everything was perfect.

“I’m just going to check on the birds…” He said softly in the dark before the sound of his bedroom doorknob squealed to life—I kept telling him to get that thing fixed but he wasn’t bothered by it.

I walked after him, wearing a near identical pair of sweats and heading off the chill that ran up my bare chest and made my nipples perk. “What is this, some kind of sixth sense?” I wondered, catching up with him in the living room and walking swiftly to the back door at his side.

“I guess…” He reached up to grip the string on the curtain, slipping it back smoothly and then reaching down to unlock the door. It was then that I realized just what he was feeling, since I could suddenly feel it ten times stronger and more prudent than I remembered. The silence that so clearly rang out before was interrupted by the sound of Falkner, gasping, losing his breath as if he had taken a hard jab to the gut. His face went white before me, and with a flash he reached for the old locks, horrified at what he saw.

“Oh... no… No!” Falkner through open the back door, stumbling onto the patio with his bare feet and then out into the grass beneath the huge blooming oak tree.

Bathed in moonlight and surrounded by the dancing of violet petals and cotton weed in the wind was the serene body of none other than Mama Bird. Graying feathers ruffled ever so slightly in the wind while her closed eyes held no strain. Her slender and smooth beak was shut with delicacy, the pale skin around her eyelids looking nearly purple under the moon. I stood back, unsure of myself, completely in awe that I had not seen this coming, or rather felt it when it happened.

When had it happened anyways?

My mind replayed the moment we got back to Falkner’s house earlier this evening, after our long day at the Indigo Plateau and having mild drinks with the gym leaders and Gold and Silver. Falkner had gone straight to this lovely old Pidgeot, taken her delicate face in his hands and told her how much fun he had tonight. He had told her simply “I’m so happy.” And that was the end of it.

The last thing he had said to his mother before she passed away…

But she had also looked so happy…

“Morty…” A rough and familiar voice sounded from beside me as I stared down at Falkner who stroked his mothers peaceful face with his fingers. Many birds sat in the trees from above—Pride who watched over the sanctuary faithfully, Jake who was beside the pond and shaking with grief, Lego who had stopped her song in replacement for a solemn silence, and Zephyr… who I now realized was beneath Mama Bird’s limp wing, curled up with his beady eyes full of sadness as Falkner bent over, crystal clear tears swimming in his eyes.

I didn’t know what to do…

“Morty… ” Walter Hayato spoke again, softer this time. “You will take care of my son…?”

I had to turn then, as tears leaked over the edge of my own eyes and onto the damp grass below my feet. Standing in full honor the previous gym leader, the greatest bird trainer that ever lived was before me. His translucent body glowing slightly in the moonlight, his eyes reflecting dull stars as a noctowl breathed over his shoulder, sharp eyed and wise with its master. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t think straight… all I knew was that Walter Hayato was somehow, touched or moved or completely baffled by this incident, so much that he was now accepting me.

I nodded.

Of course I’ll take care of your son…

A feather light touch crept its way into my heart as Walter moved then, shoulders back and chest stuck out like the brilliant birds before him—creatures so naturally respectable and praiseworthy that it was in their bodily structure. Falkner had told me once before, that it was his father who said birds always kept their chest out—even when things were bad.

I stared after the man who had caused me so much trouble in the last months while I had known his son, and I said nothing. This was the moment I had been waiting for right? So why did it feel as if I had lost something much greater…?

Thank you…

The vaporous voice chilled me to the bone as the apparition turned his back and left, sporting what appeared to be a pair of brilliant charcoal wings, wreathing around the great man and scattering the violet petals and cottonweed.  All breath was knocked right out of me, stolen from my chest as his son whimpered just beyond me.

“Rest in peace…” I whispered so quietly that not even the sharp ears of the birds nearby could hear me.

I turned, face soaked in involuntary tears as I realized just what my emotions were doing to me. This was not the way things were supposed to turn out—but at the same time they were. This sanctuary, this home, this life that I was living with Falkner was something so powerful I couldn’t quite grasp it… and I had never realized until now just how much faith and love I had put into being here as well. I realized that it was not just Falkner I had fallen in love with, but it was the whole thing. The honor, the family, the birds themselves. These feathers for Falkner were much more than just birds and traditions—they were everything.

A tiny, strangled laugh reached my ears as I turned back to the man I loved more than anything else in this world, bowed before his beloved Mama Bird with a helpless grin on his face. He knew as well as I did that she had only left this world in knowing that her son was happy. I covered my mouth in order to stop the thwarting noise I made with such high emotions running through my veins. Mama Bird had been waiting for this for a long time—the day she could go peacefully knowing that her son was truly at ease.

I stared across the yard of violet petals and birds that had crept forward uneasily to bask in the glory of their passive elder. My eyes searched, moving with the wind and the pollen in the night until they rested upon a brilliant star-filled ghost—so much brighter than the ones I had seen before.

Mama Bird stretched her long, luxurious wings, showing the rippling muscle that once was her prime. And the sleek shine of her back and tail feathers. She flapped once, throwing her head into the wind and casting me a long look of appreciation. I realized that she had always loved me like she loved Falkner and her other son: Zephyr, who so helplessly sat curled up in Falkner’s arms, trying to cope. My heart swelled with mercy—this pain was nothing of the pain I had seen in ghosts before. This pain was far deeper embedded into my chest. I knew I would never reach it.

Falkner choked on another laugh, glancing back up at me with sparkling aqua eyes. “S—S—she went… P--peacefully”

Gently I knelt at Falkner’s side, reaching out to him and pulling his face into the crook of my shoulder so he could cry on me. That’s what I was here for—that’s what we all were here for.

“Shhh… Sweetheart.” I croaked as Mama Bird’s ghosts wrapped us in an unfelt blanket of feathers. Falkner clutched me dearly, murmuring things I couldn’t quite understand as bird after bird after bird flocked into us, wrapping their wings in a great huddle around the precious corpse of the Pidgeot.

“Sweetheart, it’s ok.” I promised. “She’s still here… Ok? I’m here…”

He nodded, pulling his wet face away from me again and looking up at the starry silhouette that was wrapped in pale violet petals. “I know…” he whispered, meeting his deceased mother’s eyes.

“Everything is going to be ok…”