One-shot!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.

Author's Notes: This popped into my head, and I've seen this style, especially from RawkstarVienna and arisu rin, and wanted to try it. Also this is a filler for my procrastination on another fic I so desperately want to start but just (for some reason) can't.

Wants and Needs
what you suspect you need is never necessarily what you want

I.

They met several times over the course of a year. She was so young then - only fifteen. He was twenty three, and never once thought of taking her away to call her his own. He thought of her as that one girl he could train with and talk to, without any repercussions. And she was just that to him.

Naïve and innocent, she thought that maybe he could be her prince. That maybe she'd grow up and they'd get married and have children and die together. So when he called her to talk or battle, she gladly accepted, not realizing the man eight years her senior had no interest in her that way.

At that point, both knew what they wanted with the other.

II.

A few years later, he met someone. A gloriously beautiful woman with the most immaculate name - Cynthia. Lyra knew she couldn't compare to what she could provide him with. Cynthia could give him beauty, fame, money, and most importantly, someone his age. Lyra couldn't bring anything but a title of shame to his life - she would be jailbait, and he the cradle robber.

Their meetings became more and more inconsistent with each passing week - and she knew it was because of the new woman in his life. Still, though, Lyra waited. She waited diligently at their spot, the place no one else knew about. But he never came.

At that point, Lance knew what he wanted and had what he needed, and it wasn't her.

III.

She had long ago given up mentally and physically, but her heart still pined for the day he would call her his undying love. He and his significant other seemed to parade around just to tease and taunt her. Didn't he know of her feelings for him? Maybe he did, but she didn't know and did not dare to ask.

So instead, she went to her closest friend, another redhead. They spent all the time together that she was supposed to be spending with Lance. And against her better judgement, she fell in love with him. And for the first time in years, she was happy. For once, being in love with someone didn't hurt.

At that point, Lyra had what she needed, not what she wanted.

IV.

Lance made a decision, and told Lyra of it. He invited her to their spot, and slowly braced her for his news. He knew how she felt - to the smallest extent. To him, it was nothing more than a petty crush.

She was elated. Maybe this was her chance to be loved back. She had little consideration for the other man in her life - the one who reciprocated everything she had to offer to him. She didn't realize she already was loved. But all she could think about was the older redhead, and not the younger one, who had summoned her to talk for the first time in a what seemed like an era.

He talks with her first to ease her into the subject, reflecting upon their years together. He speaks intimately, and Lyra begins to put everything she's ever felt for him first once again, pushing away her lover of three years. He finishes his last sentence, and reaches into his pocket for a small box, and when he reveals it, Lyra's head is spinning (the last time she has been this happy is when Silver told her he loved her), and unable to control herself any longer, she kisses him. She thought it was meant for her.

Lance couldn't respond. He shouldn't, be he does. But he doesn't feel any shame for his actions. He almost goes as far as presenting the ring to Lyra herself and leaving Cynthia altogether - but he doesn't. He regains control, but not until the damage is done.

He does not refrain from telling her, though. It was a mistake, it should have never happened. He informs her of why he brought her there: to tell her that he is going to marry Cynthia. And with what he needed to say said, he leaves her there, on the dock of the Dragon's Den, wrapped up in his cape and crushed.

At that point, Lance didn't know what he wanted anymore.

V.

A year passed, and Lance and Cynthia were wed. Within the passing of another year, they had child. He didn't see Lyra anymore and had heard no news of her whereabouts or current situation. But he was dying to see her. Ever since that night they had spent that together, he'd been just as addicted to her as she had always been to him. He had drunk her in and regretfully let her go, for fear of moral judgement.

One day, years later, with his perfectly perfect ideal family, does he see her. He sends them off, admiring her from a distance. He wants to go up to her and feel her just once more, but doesn't at first. He doesn't want to interrupt her or scare her - he wants their reconciliation to be perfect, so he thinks of how to approach her and how to tell her the truth.

As he pushes through the crowd of people and Pokemon at the bustling Sunday market of Goldenrod City, he notices her left hand glittering in the afternoon sun. He stops and blinks, as if to reassure himself that it - a wedding band - is not actually there, sitting upon her ring finger. He clenches his fist - it could mean something else, it doesn't necessarily mean she's taken, he thinks. People wear rings there all the time, he rationalizes, for no reason at all. And so newly reassured, he begins his short trek towards her again.

He stops again. His eyes are on her right hand now, firmly being held by someone else's. His eyes follow from her hand up, and they land on the that boy he oh-so despised. He is also wearing a ring, and it becomes evident that Lyra didn't wait for him. She's married now, and unlike him, likes where she's at and who she's with.

At that point, Lyra had what she wanted and needed. Lance could only know.

he continues to flail around in his unknown needs, while she finally found herself content and happy with what she truly wants - what she always had.

Fin!

Author's Notes: Well, this was weird. :/ I'm usually a little more formal about these kinds of things - so this type of writing is awkward and unknown to me. Sorry this sucked.

'Til next time!

Fooboo24