Note- This chapter happens right after the 49/49B.

Chapter 49C- Stars

Dawn 

Why does everything have to be so complicated now? I thought angrily for the hundredth time since I'd tried to fall asleep tonight. My eyebrows scrunched down as I pulled the sleeping bag up to my chin, wishing I could disappear inside it. Wishing all the weird Butterfree that flew inside me would go away. Wishing that everything would just go back to normal because whatever this aching feeling that I had around Paul was too much to handle. 

I didn't want that at first. Paul had been slowly warming up to me. I could tell. He smiled more now. Talked more. He wasn't Ash Ketchum who talked all the time about absolutely everything and who told me every dream, every happy or sad thought he had, but that was fine with me. I didn't want Paul to be anyone else anyway, though I knew everyone else felt differently. 

I scowled and my expression softened as sadness melted my anger. I knew Paul would hate that I felt bad for him, but I did. I grew up without my dad because of his addictions and Paul had been forced to grow up without his dad because of his parents' divorce. I was glad my parents had never fought in front of me (my mom had made sure of that) and my dad was gone so often that I never really had to see all the problems. Paul? Well, he'd told me about some of his parents' fights that he'd witnessed in that calm, blunt way of his, but I'd seen the coldness return to his eyes during the retellings. It caused him a lot of pain still, even if he didn't admit it to me.  

He pushed away all the hurt when it came to his past. And, till now, it seemed like he'd pushed away everyone who'd tried to be friends with him. 

I sighed. But were we friends now? 

Memories of time spent with him resurfaced in my mind. Paul telling me that the Contest rose was from him. His fingers gently tracing my skin as he rubbed lotion onto my wrist from where my splint made it itchy. How nice it felt waking up cuddled against him. For such a cold person, he was very warm. 

If only other people could see it. 

Refusing to let my thoughts go over what it'd felt like for Paul to be on top of me and the how close his eyes had been for the millionth time, I rolled onto my back in my sleeping bag, glancing over at Paul's unmoving form. He was facing the other way and I couldn't tell if he was asleep or not. No matter what, he was good at being still. Sighing, I looked up at the stars, frowning in concentration as I tried to find constellations. Brock had pointed some out to me before, but I couldn't remember any.  

Still, I let my arms slip out of my sleeping bag and lifted my hands towards the sky, imagining I could arrange the stars, connect them how I wanted, and reshape the constellations into recognizable shapes that I could call my own. 

This one can be a Piplup, I mused, drawing two circles, the flippers, and tiny feet. I had to create some of my own stars for it to work, but it was still fun.  

After Piplup, I drew each of my other Pokemon in the sky, awed by how easily my eyes could imagine the images being real. In fascination, I drew myself (badly, I have to admit) and with a bit of hesitation, I began attempting to outline Paul in the stars. 

I took more time on his drawing. Yes, it was invisible, but as I drew him it helped me remember exactly what he looked like. Who he'd been as a person and who he was now. How I'd felt about him when I'd first met him compared to today. The differences were huge and yet we both looked the same when it came to what was on the outside.  

Had it really only been a few months since we started traveling together? It felt like it'd been so much longer, even if I still didn't know Paul that well. Still, he acted so much differently around me. It was like he'd evolved like a Pokemon. I smiled at how weird, yet true, that seemed and continued drawing Paul in the sky, adding a light smile to his face that I'd come to know so well instead of his normal frown. 

Right when I finished, I heard movement near Paul's sleeping bag. A bit startled, I looked over. Paul was facing me, eyes open, but he wasn't the one who had made the noise. Bagon, his eyes closed, had climbed over his Trainer and made himself comfortable on top of Paul's cushioned sleeping bag, looking absolutely content as he leaned against Paul's chest, using him as a pillow. Bagon squirmed once more before falling blissfully back into a deep sleep. 

Paul, on the other hand, looked annoyed as his narrowed eyes studied his small Dragon Pokemon before seeming to resign with indifference. 

Or at least that's what he'd tell me, though I saw them soften just the tiniest bit. 

I let out a small laugh at the sight and Paul's eyes flicked up to meet mine. My cheeks reddened against my will and I tried to force myself to remain calm, though my heartbeat sped up without me wanting it to. 

"He sleepwalks occasionally," Paul said simply in explanation. 

"I think it's cute," I replied, then realized Paul must have been watching me for a while, "Um, how long have you been staring at me?" 

He didn't reply for a few seconds as he looked at Bagon again. "What were you doing with your hands, Dawn?" 

"I asked you a question first."  

"Not long," he answered bluntly before adding with more interest, "Only for a minute before Bagon rudely distracted you. What were you doing?" 

"Oh." My blush deepened and I readjusted myself anxiously in my sleeping bag, hoping it was too dark for him to tell my cheeks were red. "I was just making my own constellations."  

"Your own?" 

"Yes. You know, just making stuff up. I was drawing pictures of my own since I don't actually know any real ones." I tried not to wince as I remembered how Paul used to treat me when I didn't know something.  

"Would you like me to teach you some?" 

Still surprised by how polite he was now, I answered sincerely, "That'd be nice." 

I watched him nod before he pointed up to the sky a bit to our right. "That one is Arcanis Minor. It's supposed to look like an Arcanine. Do you see the four legs, the bushy tail? His head is that cluster of stars." 

"I'm not sure if I can see that one," I said wryly. Constellation finding had never been one of my strong points. 

"And there's Serperior, which is pretty easy to find." His finger traced a long line of stars. 

"Much easier than Arcanis Minor." I almost sighed in relief as the Serperior easily became visible. One continuous line.  

"Very," he agreed. "And there's Leo Minor, which is a Pyroar. Tauros is over there and below him is Buneary." 

"Oh, there's a Buneary up there?" I sat up and looked eagerly at Paul. 

"Yeah, right there." He pointed, but I couldn't tell where one of my Pokemon was.  

"I can't see," I said, a bit annoyed. There were hundreds of stars up there. This was why making my own was easier. I impatiently scooted my sleeping bag over to Paul's to see where he was pointing better and laid back down. "Ok, where is it?" 

He frowned at me for a second and I saw his eyes measure the distance between us now. Our sleeping bags were touching. I was surprised Bagon hadn't woken up from all the noise. I was even more surprised I was keeping my head on straight by our closeness. 

"Are you going to show me or keep staring?" I asked, trying not to sound flustered. The Butterfree started swarming in my stomach again.  

Paul looked slowly back up at the sky and pointed. "You see that line?" His finger made a curve, "That's her body." His finger made a circle in the air and I stared, transfixed, his fingers long, but not too skinny. "That's her head and I'm sure you can see her ears by now. You're not as slow as you used to be." 

"Hm?" I answered, dazed, still staring at his hand. 

"I stand corrected." I heard him say in amusement. I forced my eyes to look away from his hand and at his face. He was smirking. "Did you see it?" 

"Yeah, I did," I said with as much confidence as I could muster. I hadn't been paying attention to the Buneary, but he didn't need to know that. "Thanks for showing me, Paul." 

"I would say anytime, but the stars aren't exactly visible whenever one wishes, are they?" 

Just like no one can ever see the real you, I smiled ruefully. "I think you just have to have really good eyes to see them all the time." 

"Maybe a Noctowl could. I'm actually not sure which Pokemon has the best eyesight, though Noctowl is my best guess." 

I mentally shook my head at Paul, smiling to myself. I didn't hint very often, and he didn't get my hints, or at least pretended not to, but I knew he was smart. He'd figure it out eventually and I realized there wasn't much point in worrying about it. "Yeah, I bet it would be Noctowl." 

He nodded and stared up at the stars, his eyes focused and strained on something I couldn't see. 

"You alright, Paul?" 

"Yes." He glanced at me. "I'm just tired and thinking about training tomorrow." 

You sure think about training a lot, I grumbled in my head for the millionth time. He trained less than he used to, yet he seemed to think about it more. I was trying to figure out what that meant. Before I could start wondering why, I yawned. 

"We better get to bed. Unlike Noctowl, we're not nocturnal."

"No, but that doesn't mean you can tell me what to do," I teased, my voice sounding a bit weird from being sleepy. 

He raised his eyebrows at me. "By all means, stay up as late as you'd like. After all, you're capable of anything, aren't you?" 

"I could beat you up," I said cheerfully, not sure where all my joking around was coming from. 

He chuckled softly. "In your dreams." 

"No, in real life." 

"Draw it in the stars, Dawn. The false accomplishment of you knocking me into next week."  

"It'll happen, Paul. Just you watch." I stretched my body as I yawned again. 

"Why don't you have a full night's sleep first before you kill me then?" He offered. 

I considered it. "That's a pretty fair trade." 

"You accept?" 

"I do, but only because you showed me the stars." I bumped into his sleeping bag lightly and felt Bagon squirm before falling back asleep. 

"If you wake him up you owe me much longer than twelve hours of life," Paul murmured. 

I laughed softly, my eyes growing heavy. 

"Good night, Dawn," he whispered to me. "Sleep well." 

"Good night, Paul. You too," I whispered back. 

I rolled onto my back in my sleeping bag, more at peace now. My eyes closed and I smiled again and thought, Don't worry, Paul. I can see you even when no one can. You're always bright to me. 

I quickly fell into a tranquil sleep, the stars watching over us.

Hey Readers! 

It's been awhile since I've updated this story. I really enjoyed writing this because it actually shows how Dawn was feeling and how much she struggled with her own emotions. Paul's not the only one wondering what to do. :P

I hope you enjoyed this! I'll have more Dawn POV's to post, so if you like these, lucky you. If you do like this chapter, make sure to comment, vote, look up constellations... I don't know. I'm like Dawn and can't see constellations, though making Pokemon constellations was so much fun.

Pokemon Question of the Day: How would you throw a Pokemon pool party? (That's so random) But really, if Pokemon were real and you could have a pool party, what would happen during it?

Thanks for reading! Have an awesome day! God bless you lovely people. 

-Flips