Amourshipping : Love, Loss & Loyalty

Anxiety

Kalosian summers were notorious for being warm and for their beautiful weather. The natural beauty of the region came from the Summers that he Kalosians loved. Brochures, and advertisements were almost always focused and made around this time of year. The only other time being in Winter. Both showcased the natural beauty of the region.

Noting such a nice, quiet and generally happy atmosphere as the group made their way down the road to Lilac Lake, Serena allowed herself to bask in the warm rays of the sun. The heat felt so nice, so comfortable on her skin as she walked in the open air. Such a warm day was naught but a joy to Serena, whom had experienced such warm days on average, annually. Little thought went into Serena's relaxation in the summer warmth. She was quite happy to allow the solar rays to hit her skin, as she closed her eyes while basking in the beautiful day.

Miette was the same way. She had let her hair down, and allowed it to flow behind her freely. She allowed herself to quietly enjoy the pleasure of warmth hitting her skin. Miette had a preference for Summer to absolutely any other month. The month was by far her favourite, and she was continuously happy and joyous throughout the months of sunshine, heat, scenery and the thousands of other reasons why the blue haired baker found the Summer months irresistible.

Ash on the other hand, was drinking water like he was a dehydrated Quagsire that had been stuck in the desert for three days. Heat like this, he hadn't re-adapted to it yet to enjoy the heat the others were. He was focusing on keeping himself cooled so he didn't overheat. It irritated Ash, as he could easily remember the times he was actually in the Kalos region, and he could enjoy the heat and the warmth. Returning to Kanto had been like returning to a blizzard, and now, the opposite was true. He watched the other two, thinking how lucky they were to be able to enjoy this warm weather.

In spite of that, Ash managed to remind himself what Miette had told him. Her plans. What she wanted to do. He still wasn't sure of the idea... but he had to face a few facts. The first one being, Miette would follow through with her threat if she wanted to. There wasn't a single doubt in his mind she was capable, and willing, to do something like that. But Ash had never thought she would. Maybe the sight of the two of them dancing around each other was starting to frustrate her. Ash knew it would frustrate him. But the second thing was... He had to overcome his own nerves to do that, and that was going to be a much more difficult challenge.

Never had Ash previously had an issue with his nerves regarding much of anything. Sometimes, he felt a tinge of nervousness at taking part in a league match. Sometimes he felt it in a gym battle, although that had become a rarity. But when it came to Serena, it had become a case of practically all the time. It was so weird to Ash that someone could make him feel like this, but at the same time, make him happy by their mere presence. He had to laugh at the mere concept. Two completely conflicting emotions, battling it out on even ground in his head and his heart.

Ash was completely confused. Totally and utterly confused. He knew he loved Serena, but why did that make him feel like this? Like every move he made around her was like avoiding a landmine, or that every word he said was like trying to read aloud a book on calming an Electrode. Serena's personality wasn't even slightly explosive, so why did he keep coming back to this idea of explosions? Was that just what love was? Just an explosion of emotion?

His head filled with thoughts, Ash forced himself to focus in the walk ahead. Lilac Lake wasn't exactly too far away now, at least according to Serena. He decided he really should focus on these thoughts another time, when he wasn't on the move. He sighed. It was just a shame that it wasn't his conscious choice to think about that sort of thing.

"Someone on your mind?" Miette asked Ash, quiet enough that Serena couldn't hear, from her up ahead lead. She wore her trademark smirk, of course. She knew she was right. Why she even bothered asking was beyond Ash.