Counting Down

Prompt: Soulmate!AU with a timer counting down.
Note: I wrote this a long time ago, but fixed it up some to post here!

Misty's greatest secret was the fact that she was a complete romantic at heart. Sure, she sometimes let things slip, gushing about cute sidewalk cafés with the perfect gentlemen for a date, but if anyone called her out on it, she would become positively fierce with denial. She was a strange combination of a dreamer and a logical thinker, sometimes leading to both sides of her clashing.

The romantic side of her thought the idea of soulmates was absolutely beautiful. That there was a person out there just for her and she would definitely find them. It was already foretold by the timer on her wrist.

The logical side of her wondered about the fancy, almost tattoo-like mark on her wrist that actively counted down to the moment that she would supposedly meet her soulmate. Everyone's looked different, though it was considered quite impolite to actually ask someone about them. No one was quite sure when the first timer appeared, though everyone knew the legend behind it.

The world was in strife, filled with hatred, death, and pain. Arceus searched for a solution to stop the madness, and chose to bring together ones that could love and cherish each other. He created the timers so no one would miss meeting their soulmate.

Some still did though. Sometimes people were born with a 'zeroed' timer, one that would mean their partner didn't exist. Many times, this turned into a case where their other half simply wasn't born yet. Misty herself had one that started out like this, allowing her to know that her soulmate was younger than her, though not by much, or so she was told. Her sisters said that her timer just started ticking a couple months after she was born.

That was all Misty knew about her soulmate, but she was at least glad that she had one. Sometimes timers stayed zeroed, since that person's soulmate was already deceased, or fate was cruel and they weren't born within that person's lifetime.

The romantic side of her made up so many scenarios of how she'd meet her soulmate, and how he'd sweep her off her feet with a well-prepared romantic gesture. He would tall and handsome, with sun-kissed skin and a killer smile. He would be an absolute romantic, and the perfect gentleman.

The logical side reminded her that it was highly unlikely. There was also the fact that her soulmate could easily be female, which would be interesting to say the least since Misty was fairly positive that she wasn't interested in other women in that way. It wouldn't be the first time that happened, where soulmates ended up in a very close, albeit, platonic relationship. In fact, it was common enough where some people would be able to find another person to marry (if that was something they were interested in) while still having their soulmate in their best friend. Sometimes soulmates didn't even feel romantically about one another, no matter the gender, and that was okay.

Misty just hoped that wasn't the case with her. She would accept it however her situation ended up being, but she still had her expectations.

It didn't help that her sisters teased her mercilessly about the fact that her timer was counting down, and it was counting down fast. None of theirs had reached zero yet, but as her 10th birthday approached, Misty's time grew smaller and smaller.

"I bet it's going to be, like, a snot-nosed little brat," Violet teased her, though there was a bit of bitterness to her voice. She was still years away from meeting her soulmate.

"Don't be so mean," Daisy, the oldest, quipped. "Don't forget, people who meet their soulmates early totally have babies early so, like, we get all the cuteness of a niece or nephew without, like, having to push out a kid ourselves."

The three older girls laughed loudly, and Misty scowled at them. She had absolutely no intention of having a child anytime in the next decade. She was only ten, after all.

She looked again at the timer on her wrist, her heart beating painfully. It was down to mere months now. Soon, she would meet the person that she was meant to share her life with, in one way or another.

…

"Come here, Misty." The young girl slowly approached her grandmother's bedside, her entire body shaking as she regarded the old woman. The beeping on the machines monitoring her were maddening, but at least they let Misty know that the most important person in her life was still there with her.

Her grandmother sat up as best as she could, reaching out and brushing her soft, wrinkled fingers on Misty's cheek. "You are such a strong, beautiful girl." Misty's cheeks flushed at the comment. "But you've closed off your heart too much."

"I'll find my soulmate soon," she muttered, eyes dropping.

"You will, but meeting them doesn't mean much if you're not capable of opening up to them. Nothing hurts more than hurting them. It will be hard, but you must give and take, working together to make everything work."

Misty thought about that for a moment, not looking entirely convinced. She narrowed her eyes in thought before asking, "Grandma Rose, how did dad meet mom again?"

Rose's eyes turned wistful as she thought of her late son. "My poor Landon. He was absolutely bubbling with excitement, trying to figure out exactly how he wanted to greet her when he met her. He bought flowers and everything. He met your mother later in his teens, when he was still growing, but all the girls close to his age seemed like mature adults." She laughed. "He was so nervous about his timer as it was counting down that he was pacing back and forth in the park, just staring at it. He wasn't even paying attention when he crashed right into your mother. They were on a hill and both ended up rolling down, slamming into a poor Growlithe. Landon was absolutely stunned. He stuttered and held out the now crushed bouquet he had, but would you know it, the Growlithe had set it on fire. He handed her burning calla lilies, and she looked him in the eye and said, 'My name is Calla.' He was mortified!"

Misty giggled at the story. It wasn't the first time that she heard of her parents' mishap, but it was still one of her favourites. Her father tried to be the perfect gentleman, but ended up failing wonderfully. "What about you and Grandpa?" Now that was a story Misty hadn't heard before. No one had, as far as she knew.

Rose smiled and stared out the window. "My husband. Ours wasn't so eventful. It was quite the miserable day for me. After a mishap at work, the manager fired me. I knew I wouldn't have the money for rent and was thinking of turning to less appealing ways to earn my keep. I was walking home, having missed the bus, and it started raining. It was this icy, chilling rain that froze you to the bone, and there I was, without an umbrella. I hadn't even considered my timer counting down, I was far too miserable and lost. I stopped on a bridge, simply to catch my breath. A car suddenly stopped beside me and the single most beautiful man I had ever seen appeared out of it." Rose looked towards Misty. "He thought that I was going to throw myself off of the bridge, but I assured him that I wasn't. He was so very glad, showing me his timer that just struck zero and I was the only one around. I remembered my own and looked and there it was, a beautiful zero staring back at me. He said that he could feel my pain, and it's very true, that can happen."

Misty heard things like that before, that soulmates could feel a fraction of their partner's pain in some way. They could also feel extreme elation or anger. The absolute worst feeling though was when a soulmate died. They said that the emptiness was so heavy and unending. The thought of someone meaning so much to her frightened Misty a bit. She loved her sisters, and absolutely adored her grandmother, but she mostly looked after herself.

Rose coughed and Misty felt tears welling to her eyes. She was young, but she knew what was happening. "Do you think you'll meet him again, grandpa?"

"I am certain he is waiting for me just out of sight." The old woman smiled. "I'd like you to make me a promise. Do not let your sisters get the best of you. Do not be afraid. Let others in, learn to be kind. Enjoy life, and do not fear the unknown. At least try."

"I…I can promise I'll try," Misty answered, her voice catching in her throat.

"Good. Remember, you are strong alone. You don't need another person make your life worthwhile. You do that alone. They just add to it."

Those ended up being the last words that her grandmother ever spoke to her. Daisy woke Misty up the next morning to tell her that their grandmother had passed away in her sleep, a smile on her face as she was reunited with her husband.

That was when things got hard for her. Daisy, Lily, and Violet didn't mean to, Misty was sure of it at first, but they buried themselves in, well, themselves. They focused on attention, fashion, hairstyles. It was a strange coping mechanism that didn't include their youngest sister. Instead, she became the fourth wheel of a tricycle. The help.

As her counter ticked down faster and faster, it was like her sisters were pushing her farther away.

"How could anyone love a little pest like you?" Lily asked in a moment of anger.

The logical side of Misty knew that her sister didn't mean it, but the emotional, driven side didn't care. She took the Staryu that her grandmother had given her when she turned ten, along with the poor Starmie that had been forced to evolve far too early by her sisters, and she ran. Misty peddled her red bike as fast as she could, hoping that if she went fast enough, no one would see her tears.

Misty didn't have a plan. All she did was peddle and peddle until she couldn't peddle anymore. She stopped at a lake to try and calm herself down. She ate one of the granola bars that she had grabbed, eyeing the folded fishing rod in her bag.

Fishing was something that Misty always loved to do. Her grandmother told her that it taught her patience, but they had always done calming breathing exercising, sometimes even something similar to meditation that Misty had been horrible at. It did help though, or that might have just been the excitement of catching a Goldeen, her first pokemon in the wild.

She traveled for a little bit, staying off of the roads since she knew she wasn't actually supposed to have left home yet. Misty was ten, but she wasn't supposed to leave until April 1st, when her license was officially instated. She was a bit paranoid that someone would find her.

Dread filled up within her when Misty realized she had a second problem. She was setting up her sleeping bag when she noticed her wrist for the first time in what felt like a long time. It was a strange thought, since her timer was with her everywhere she went, but it just never occurred to her that it was going to zero-out soon. Not until she saw that there was less than 24 hours left. The problem was, she was in the middle of nowhere with no other people close to her.

Maybe Lily was right, maybe no one would ever love her and she was meant to be alone.

…

Misty woke up both panicked and excited, something that she couldn't really explain since all she truly felt was melancholy. Was it possible not to care about anything, but also be a jumble of wild emotions? She wasn't sure.

She leisurely drove her bike until she found a river. The current was fairly strong in it, but sometimes that could lead to stronger pokemon that wouldn't normally be found in an area like this to rush by. Maybe she could still make a friend, even if she was doomed to be alone forever.

As she sat, watching her lure bob in the water, Misty felt pure panic and horror rush through her. There was no reason for it, and she couldn't explain it. She fidgeted and looked down at her wrist, throat tightening a bit when she watched it change from 60 minutes to 59. There was less than an hour now.

Yet that hour seemed to drag by painfully slow. She checked her wrist every other minute and nervously tugged at her fishing line. The fear that hit her earlier still welling within her to the point where she couldn't really breathe.

That was, until Misty realized that she really was having a hard time breathing. The air was certainly getting down her throat but it was painful and hard. She gasped for breath and looked down at her wrist, watching as it changed again to 59 seconds. As the seconds counted down, the burning and panic in her got worse.

10.

Something suddenly grabbed at her line.

9.

Misty knew that she just wanted to stare at her timer, but something prompted her to grab the fishing rod anyway.

8.

She tugged at it, almost stumbling over. Wondering what she caught that was so big.

7.

Still, Misty was stubborn, so she kept going.

6.

Something was urging her not to give up, even as sweat started to drip down her face.

5.

She heard a crack in her rod, like it was about to break. That made sense, since she only had a basic one used for weaker pokemon.

4.

With every bit of strength she had, Misty tugged as hard as she could.

3.

Expecting a big pokemon, Misty was incredibly startled when she tugged a person out of the water.

2.

He slammed into the ground and coughed violently.

1.

He looked up at her quickly, his brown eyes locking on her own.

0.

Misty stare incredulously at the boy sitting on the ground in front of her. He was soaked to the bone, gasping for air and cradling a pokemon to his chest. At first, Misty was tempted to look at her timer again, but then she focused on the pokemon.

"Are you okay? Your pokemon, I mean," she said quickly, not quite sure why she added that in.

"Wha - yeah. No!" He leapt to his feet, and Misty found herself staring down at him by quite a large margin. "Do you know which way the Pokemon Center is?"

"That way." She pointed down the path that she knew went to Viridian City. The pokemon was in trouble, she could see that and felt a rush of resentment go through her for the boy. He shouldn't have battled it into this condition, newbie or not. At the same time though, she tried to get a look at his wrist, only to be foiled when she saw that he was wearing gloves.

The boy looked around almost hopelessly and something constricted in her chest. Then his eyes went wide and he darted forward. He set the pokemon, a Pikachu, into the basket of her bike before hopping onto it.

"Wait! What are you doing?" Misty yelled at him as she realized what was happening.

"I'll give it back to you someday!" He yelled over his shoulder as he took off down the road.

Misty gaped in shock, not quite sure what to make of what just happened. She looked down at her own wrist, staring at the 0:00 that blinked back at her. She looked back up when realization settled in.

She had just met her soulmate by fishing him out of a lake, and he had stolen her bike.

Skylight Sparkle