Hi everyone!!  SK here.

So, if you can guess by the chapter title, our two favourite protagonists are finally meeting up again.  What will happen, I wonder?  I guess you'll have to read to find out!!

Anyway, let's start.  As always, enjoy! :)

Serena

I make my way through the forest, feeling anxious.  I want to find Heliux and apologize.  I feel awful for saying those things, especially after he confessed that whatever meeting this was meant everything to him.  This isn't how the Leader of the Light Fairies is supposed to act.

A few leaves crunch under my feet, and I wince.  As much as I enjoy the satisfying sound that is created by the leaves, it brings me anxiety.  The leaves, usually, only start to die when the Dark Fairies' Colony is approached.  I've barely left the my own, yet the plants are dying all around me.  A cold wind whirls past me, shifting my hair around.  I shiver, my thoughts brimming with despair.  

Something bad is going to happen soon, I can feel it.

I walk for some time, but I can't seem to find Heliux anywhere.  Where has he gone...?

I approach a small clearing and decide to settle for a quick rest.  The trees here reach up to the sky, their bark a rich brown while their leaves shimmer like emeralds.  Their leafy branches create a canopy that dapples the sunlight on the ground below.  The grass is a beautiful summer green, full of life and showing no signs of dying.  Small clusters of flowers sit by the bases of the great oaks, creating tiny rainbows wherever I turn to look.  Their colour patterns remind me of my Necklace a tiny bit.  

I put my foot forward, smiling a bit as the dew from the grass dampens it a little.  In the center of the clearing sits a little babbling brook, a little pool of water that never empties.  There is a large, flat stone sitting next to it, which is a beautiful silver colour with a few flecks of ruby red in the midst of it.  I sit down on it, filled with wonder at the rock's smoothness.  As I sit I think I hear the quiet whispers of forest Pokemon, but I know that is impossible.  The only Pokemon that exist in our realm are the Pokemon that have already bonded with fairies.  

I breathe a small sigh as I listen serenely to the quiet babble of the rippling water.  This little clearing is still brimming with life, unlike the forest that is surrounding it.  I bend down and cup some water with my hands, drinking it and relishing its freshness.  This place is still the same as it was a week ago, when life was still in balance and my emotions were not in turmoil.  I drift into my fantasies until a leaf, the brightest crimson I've ever seen, flies past my face.  I sigh, a different kind than before.  I know this beautiful place will fall too, if nothing is done to stop this.  

The truth is... I'm scared.  I know getting rid of me is one of the first steps of Rin's plan.  In this realm, there is a being of Creation, and a being of Destruction.  The balance is already tilted towards the latter.  If I were to die, well... Rin's job would be a lot easier.  Then I know that he will destroy the rest of the Light Fairies.  As for Heliux, well... once he destroys everything that my Minister holds dear, it shouldn't be too hard for Rin to get to him as well.  

I start singing softly to myself, until another voice sounds through the clearing.  "Your voice is as beautiful as always."

With my heart pounding I turn, gasping just a little when I see that it is in fact Ash standing there.

It's the first time we've seen each other since I rejected his feelings, and I have no idea what to do.  We gaze at each other in silence, endless wonder worn thin by stresses.

This reunion isn't as happy as our first.  Ash approaches me slowly, while I make no moves.  He sits next to me, and I turn my head away from him.  We sit there for what feels like forever; I'd always wished to see Ash again, but now that it's happening, I instantly feel regret for wishing it.  My heart wants to be with him, and yet... I can't.  Finally, he speaks.  

"Serena," he starts, his voice full of emotion.  "What happened that day... it was my fault.  I should've realized the truth, and the fact that you can't be in love.  I'm sorry-"

"No, wait Ash," I say suddenly.  "I... I love you.  I've always loved you.  Right from the day all those years ago when you helped me with my injured leg.  The past few years without you were almost unbearable for me... so naturally I'd be so overjoyed.  I just didn't know you felt the same way about me as I do for you... except you're a Leader now too.  And Leaders can't be in love."

My words seem to hang like cobwebs in the air.  

"So what?" Ash says.  "We can't feel the way we want to for each other because of a rule.  Well, we're the Leaders.  We can change the future if we want to, Serena."

I smile sadly.  I want to cry.  This is everything that I've ever dreamed of, except the timing of it all is all wrong.  

... and that bit about the rules.  We have the power to change it, but should we?  The words that Heliux said to me earlier, the ones about how love caused the first war, are still with me.

Ash holds out his hand to me.  "Come with me into the future, Serena!  Anything is possible, we can do anything.  And even if you say no... just know that I'll always be there for you, and you'll always have the dearest place in my heart.  The choice is yours, Serena."

I smile as I wipe a tear from my eye.  Maybe this will help me.  For all of my life I've played by countless rules.  First it was my mother, who wanted me to always follow her wishes.  Next it was all those reporters and critics who said that I would never accomplish my dream.  Now, it's the world against me and Ash.

I grab his hand, my eyes as bright as diamonds.  "We can go against the world," I whisper, and when Ash pulls me close I don't let go.  I don't tell him I love him, and neither does he to me.  We know it already.  We know it too well.

We pull apart and Ash smiles.  "So, Serena.  There are a lot of things that you need to know."

I nod.  "I have so many things to tell you," I say.  "Starting with our plan to help you escape tomorrow."

His eyes flash.  "I'm interested."

"We need you to have an accomplice for it to work," I confess.  "Is there anyone who-"

"Layra," Ash says instantly.  "Our Minister.  I trust her completely."

I nod.  "Alright then.  We need to get close enough to Rin to enchant something that will put him to sleep for a couple hours.  Well, him and all the other fairies in camp who will try and stop you.  Layra will stay back to survey the situation and keep the enchantment going, while you leave.  I'll have fairies positioned along the way to camouflage your path.  Once we make it into Light territory, we'll open a portal and bring you home."

"That sounds great," Ash says enthusiastically.  "One question, though: why don't we just open a portal in the Dark Fairy Colony?"

I shake my head.  "Not possible," I say.  "Rin most likely has some spell put in place that stops certain things from happening- like portals.  I don't want to take that chance."

"Oh.  Well, in that case, I think that plan sounds good," he answers.  "What time?"

"Any time past midnight when the other fairies are asleep," I tell him.  "Now, you had something to tell me?"

Ash nods.  "Yeah.  I was talking to a spirit and-"

"Wait, hold up.  How!?  You don't have a Necklace."

He shrugs.  "I don't know.  But anyway, he told me some things.  He revealed to me that Drago, the Dark Leader during the war, has been in control of every Dark Leader's body since the war ended.  That includes Rin right now," he says.  "The spirit said that the only way to defeat him was to beat him in a Pokemon battle."  I'm in shock; I had no idea that it was possible for a fairy to cheat death like that.  Still, I need to reassure Ash.

"I know you can do it, Ash," I say in what I hope is an encouraging manner.  "You've beaten the odds before, so you can do it again."

He smiles, looking sheepish.  "Thanks Serena.  Actually, speaking of Layra, have you seen her anywhere?  She left a while ago and since she's been gone for a long time, I was wondering if you'd seen her."

I think to myself.  "No... but, that's strange.  Heliux left a while ago too...."

We look at each other, but it's Ash who speaks.  "Do you think...?"

I shrug.  "Maybe?  Who knows?  I'm definitely asking him when I see him, though."

"Me too," he agrees, then looks at me.  "Do you want to... stay for a while?  So we can talk?"

I said before that I'm done following rules, and I hold true to my word.  I give him a peck on the cheek, and while my face starts to heat up, I nod.  "Always."

Yay happy Amour moment!!  I hope you enjoyed reading it, because I enjoyed writing it ^w^

But yeah that's the chapter.  I hope you enjoyed it!!  I'll try to update a week from now but the future's not set in stone, so... yeah.

Until the next chapter, everyone!! :)