Gunned | SatoSere

Chapter 14 - Bloody Apology

Serena texts Sawyer to meet her out front with the excuse of wanting to get some fresh air by shopping around the streets of Lumiose City, which wasn't a complete lie. He acquiesced to her request and soon the car was parked out front, Serena snuck out the front door while luckily avoiding Ash and any of the upper circle counterparts. For good measure, she donned a fitted shirt, black dress with a white blazer to go over it, the blue pendant hiding beneath the neckline of her dress.

"Where to, Miss Serena?"

"Sawyer, you don't have to keep calling me that," she comments once she settles into the backseat as the car pulls away from the curb.

His eyes glance to the rearview mirror with a kind smile that crinkles over the crows feet on the corner of his eyes. "Yes, yes, we are family, but forgive the habits of a man like me. It comes naturally."

Serena returns his smile and nods. "Coumarine City is just fine. I planed to do some light shopping today, is all."

"Of course," he responds, and for some reason, she knows that Sawyer thinks she'll go against her word. Light shopping and her name don't exactly exist in the same universe. It makes the smile on her face hold as she gazes out the window to the clear summer sky, watching the sea of clouds drift by. The notion of family makes her remember. Her forehead rests against the cool touch of the glass, her eyes closing for a moment and feeling the warmth of her mother's smile before she passed.

You will grow, but your experiences will always be apart of you. Have more confidence and chase after your dreams, Serena. Go for broke. After all, you're your mother's daughter, right?

Her smile fades into a wry curve because it's silly to think that this life is anything her mother would have imagined for her. On the outside, it's a nightmare dressed as a daydream of a lavish lifestyle and shootouts that are more theatrical than anything. She wants to tell all those kids on the other side, that no, getting hit by a bullet is not badass, it fucking hurts.

But in the midst of that nightmare, in the shrouds of their mysterious world, she stumbles into the viridian meadows where Ash blooms like a dream. Crimson flowers dance at his feet, but Serena has never cared. She has never cared that Ash has cradled her soul with blood stained fingertips. She doesn't care that he has demons at his beck and call, a devil's army at his whim. He's covered in scars she wants to skim with her fingertips. She wants to revolve around the moon of his charming smiles and twinkling laughter, and most of all, she wants to know what it's like to be loved by him.

Serena thinks of this when walking through the shops of Coumarine City, weaving through the crowds of people, and thinking about how the eclipses of shadows that pass over the pavement only live on because of what Ash and the others have given. She wants to ask him, desperate to know the path he left behind and whether she herself could be a part of that future in steady steps by his side. She decides that when she gets back, she'll never admit that it was Miette of all people to give her enough courage to face exactly what she feared and loved.

She wouldn't come back home empty-handed either. She pauses by a flower shop, the booth decorated in various bouquets that flourish in endless colors from the setting sun of autumn to the kiss of summer. The shopkeep catches her eye and Serena pauses for a moment because he looks awfully familiar.

"Excuse me," she calls out to the elderly man. The water spray from the hoses pauses and lifts away from a plant, and the man turns to her, his eyes immediately glittering in recognition under his green hat.

"Well, if it isn't Serena!" he greets her cheerfully.

She blinks, her shopping bags shuffling a little awkwardly in her hands. "I know you from somewhere, right?"