How Cyrus and Cynthia met and parted for the first time in a long line

[redwoodalchan]

Working Title: Sun and Moon Align
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Cyrus and Cynthia, one-sided CyrusXCynthia
Genre: Drama, character study
Summary: How Cyrus and Cynthia first met one another in Canalave, and how they split up when Cyrus left the city. Excerpted from my long Cyrus-centric fic "Red Sun."
Warnings: Cynthia mentions fear of violent crimes, if that counts. Um... I hope this is a readable standalone story?

 

Cyrus called Murkrow onto his shoulder and went outside, wandering through Canalave's streets. Some students were still out and about, just enjoying the warm spring night. Cyrus wandered aimlessly for a time, until he came upon the Canalave Library. There was a fountain in front of the library, illuminated by a pair of swimming Finneon; and sitting by the fountain reading a book was the most breathtakingly beautiful woman Cyrus had ever seen. She had long, golden hair, and although said hair obscured her face, Cyrus could make out her friendly gray eyes and rosy cheeks. Her fingers were slender and graceful, and she seemed to have curves that perfectly fit the frilly blouse and jeans she was wearing.

Cyrus was at a loss for what to do. He wanted to sit next to this woman, to have a conversation with her; but he just wasn't sure how to do that. If he sat with her, she might think he was weird and leave; on the other hand, if he stood there she would think he was acting like a creep and leave again. And was he even worthy of being in her presence? Did he even deserve the company of someone as beautiful as that?

His Murkrow was staring at him strangely. Cyrus moved his foot around in his shoe a bit. "I guess my feet do hurt a little," he said, and with that, he walked over to the fountain and sat down, his face hot.

The woman looked up from her reading and faced him briefly. "Can I help you?

Cyrus turned to her, staring into her eyes. She jumped up from her seat immediately and rounded on him. "L-look, don't give me any trouble, okay?" she stammered. "I've got a mean, nasty Gible who could kick your ass!"

Cyrus realized that she probably couldn't tell he wasn't much older than she was. "Forgive me," he said. "I'm just a little tired."

The woman stared at him nervously. "Yeah, right!" she said. "Mom and Dad warned me, said the city was full of muggers and stalkers and rapists and nasty creeps!"

Cyrus's face turned hot with embarrassment, but something about the absurdity of that statement struck him. "If that's the way you feel, then why are you here?" he asked.

The woman seemed to have calmed down a little by now. "Because I'm studying here, that's why," she said. "My parents were very clear about this: they told me to go to school here, but never to go out at night. I can't help it, though; I work at Canalave Library until past sundown. I was supposed to meet my girlfriends but they haven't shown up."

Cyrus stared at her for a moment longer, blushing slightly as he took in her beauty. "Do you want me to walk you back-?"

"No!" the woman shouted, sitting back down. "I've got my pokemon. They can protect me. And I'm sure my girlfriends will come soon enough."

Cyrus just shrugged. He turned his head slightly to look at the Finneon, smiling at them as he did so. The two fish looked up at him strangely, and he reached a finger into the fountain to stroke them. They were both very tame, and didn't seem to mind. He suspected that they must be used to being played with, by children and the like.

"Why are you doing that?" asked the woman.

Cyrus's face turned red again, and he removed his hands from the water instantly, clutching the edge of the fountain. "Oh, no reason," he said.

"You like animals?" she said.

"Well..." Cyrus ventured, not sure if he wanted to admit it. Strong boys like him weren't supposed to regard pokemon as anything more than tools—or food.

"Is that Murkrow your only pokemon?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Cyrus. "He's my best friend." He stroked Murkrow lightly on the head, and Murkrow responded by nipping Cyrus's ear.

"That's sad," said the woman. "I have three pokemon already. You wanna see them?"

"Sure," said Cyrus.

Cynthia produced three poke balls from her belt. Out came three pokemon: a Gible, a Roselia, and a Togetic.

Something inside Cyrus's mind clicked. Why did these pokemon seem so familiar? "So... what's your name, anyway?" he asked the woman.

"I'm Cynthia," the woman replied blankly. "Why? What's your name?"

"Cyrus." Now it clicked. Cyrus suddenly realized what was so familiar about a Gible—Cynthia Tsuki had had one. Could this be Cynthia Tsuki, the person whom he had spent so much time writing in high school? The person his father was constantly pushing him to beat because she was a woman and he was a man? "You said your name is Cynthia. Cynthia what?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

The woman raised an eyebrow at him. "Cynthia Tsuki. Why?"

"Cynthia," said Cyrus slowly, "I knew you once. We wrote letters to each other in high school."

A look of recognition dawned on Cynthia's face. "Oh, yeah. Cyrus Akagi." Her voice trailed off. "Wait...you're eighteen?"

"I know, it's a shock," said Cyrus. "But I am. Trust me. It's kind of a long story."

The two of them sat silently for several minutes more. Cynthia seemed to grow more impatient every minute. "Ugh-where ARE my girlfriends?!" she groaned.

"Maybe they aren't coming?" Cyrus suggested blandly.

"But... they just have to!" Cynthia's voice was shrill, panicked.

"Look, why don't you just let me walk you home? I promise not to hurt you?"

Cynthia turned to him with a piteous expression. "Oh, I suppose so."

Cyrus just stood next to her, waiting for her to stand up. He couldn't help but smile a little; clearly he'd managed to convince her that he was harmless.

The two of them walked through the streets. Cynthia, it turned out, was quite chatty, and kept trying to get him to talk. "So," she went on, "you're from Sunyshore, right?"

"Yes," said Cyrus.

"What's it like?"

"It's pretty nice sometimes," said Cyrus. "The lack of cloud cover means that it's warm during the day—in the summer, anyway—but it's nearly always very cold at night." He grinned. "The worst thing about Sunyshore is bathing. There's so little rainwater that a proper sewer system doesn't exist. There's enough water to use for drinking and cooking, but that's about it. Baths in Sunyshore consist of getting sprayed by water pokemon every day or so."

"That's awful," said Cynthia with a small laugh.

"You get used to it," said Cyrus with a shrug.

"I grew up in such a small town," said Cynthia. "It's been a hard transition for me. This city's just so huge and there's so much going on."

Cyrus wasn't sure how to answer that. He stared up at the moon pensively, and Cynthia followed his gaze. "It's pretty," she said. "I've always liked the moon. My family's name means moon, you know."

"That's interesting," said Cyrus. "My parents have always said my name means sun." He felt his face grow hot. He couldn't believe what was happening—that such a beautiful, intelligent girl as this Cynthia was even giving him the time of day!

"So, what do you do around here?" asked Cynthia.

"I work in the Canalave University labs," said Cyrus. "You know—cleaning the floors, taking out the trash..."

"Really?" said Cynthia. "But why? In your letters you said you were an ace student."

"I was," said Cyrus, "but I never finished high school. I ran away from home before I could graduate."

At last, Cynthia led Cyrus down a street to a small apartment complex. "This is where I live," she said. "Thanks for taking me back here." She bowed, and Cyrus nodded in return.

"Anytime," he said, before going along his way.

**

The two saw each other regularly for a couple of years, but by the time Cyrus was twenty, he decided it was time to leave Canalave and find a place he could actually live, since he was nowhere near defeating Gym Leader Byron, a feat he would need to accomplish before they let him buy a house.

Before Cyrus departed from the city, he paid one last visit to Cynthia, who was still working in the library. “Cynthia,” he said, “I’m leaving the city to become a strong trainer and research the legends of Sinnoh.”

“Oh, really?” said Cynthia. “That’s nice. I wish I could go on an adventure like that.”

“You could, you know,” said Cyrus. “Join me. You’re as interested in the legends as I am, and… I like being with you. We’d make good company.”

Cynthia stared at him in disbelief. “What?” she said. “You can’t be serious. I have to finish school.”

“Oh, really?” said Cyrus dismissively. “And what were you planning to do after you left school?”

“Well,” said Cynthia, “it’ll make it a lot easier to get jobs…. Although what I really want is to be a pokemon master. Maybe challenge the Pokemon League…?

“See?” said Cyrus. “You don’t need school for that. Eleven-year-old kids try to become pokemon masters all the time. We could set out right now, and you could battle your way through the gyms and I could do research and help you take care of your pokemon. And then we’d pool the information we’d discovered on the legends. It’ll be so much fun!”

“As fun as that sounds,” said Cynthia, “I still have to finish school. I like it here.”

“You like it here? But why?” asked Cyrus. “What is there to like about school?”

“Well,” said Cynthia, “there’s my friends, there’s the cool labs….”

“Friends who don’t even keep their promises to walk you home after work?” Cyrus sneered contemptuously.

“Well,” said Cynthia defensively, “I’m sure they’re just busy.”

“What do you people do together anyway?” asked Cyrus. “What could any of them offer someone like you?”

“We have a lot of fun together,” said Cynthia. “They always want me to help them study and we go out to dinner together a lot. Of course I always have to pay, but….”

“They don’t care about you,” said Cyrus. “They just want to use your money and intelligence for their own gain. That’s probably the only reason why they even hang out with you.”

“That’s not true!” Cynthia shouted.

“Of course it’s true,” said Cyrus. “I know from experience that it’s true. People can be crueler than you could imagine.” He was staring straight into Cynthia’s eyes now, and Cynthia flinched in discomfort.

“No, no—you’ve got it wrong,” said Cynthia in a faintly condescending voice at last. “People aren’t all bad. I’m not like that. You’re not like that. Even though you’re being kind of creepy,” she added under her breath.

“Exactly my point,” said Cyrus. “That’s why we have to stay together. We can do great things together; I just know it. And nobody will ever neglect or abuse me—I mean, us—again.”

“Cyrus,” said Cynthia, “you just don’t understand. I want to finish school. After that I can go on adventures, but right now, I want to finish school. I’m sorry, but that’s my decision, and I’m sticking to it.”

Cyrus felt his heart sink like a stone. His sadness and anger at Cynthia’s refusal to travel with him—and he thought she, of all people, would understand him, would always be good to him!—felt physically painful. “So be it,” he muttered darkly. “It’ll be easier if I’m by myself anyway. I won’t have to feed anyone else but my pokemon.”

“I’m really sorry,” said Cynthia. “I hope we see each other again someday.”

Cyrus didn’t respond. He didn’t even look back at her as he closed the door behind him with a loud bang.