Work Text:
Shauna tried not to panic. The region was essentially imploding around her, but she had to just not panic.
To be honest, she knew Serena was going to be busy, since she was with Ash and the others in the center of everything. Of course they were in the center of everything. The news broadcasts were terrifying, the only thing on the screens at the Pokemon Center. Shauna wouldn’t have been surprised if it was the only thing playing in all of Kalos. She’d already done everything she could, helping to evacuate people from Lumiose City. She wasn’t a battler like Serena and Ash and Clemont. She couldn’t help any more than she already had.
It was frustrating enough that she couldn’t do more than help source snacks and water, help distract some of the younger trainers when earthquake-like tremors hit—more often than she’d like. Shauna never minded before when she wasn’t strong in battle, until it became a clear weakness. Until it wouldn’t let her be by Serena’s side.
She did another lap of the Pokemon Center, spotting her pokemon helping to comfort families with young kids by giving them the distraction of something new to focus on. She was so proud of them for stepping into those roles so easily; they were always meant for the spotlight, in one way or another. She saw Tierno and Trevor, too, doing their best to help. Their eyes kept flicking back to the screens set up around the room, the combined audio loud even over all of the evacuees.
Some kind of beam attack happened onscreen. Shauna frowned, thinking. When was the last time she’d directly talked to Serena? Shauna couldn’t remember when it was, let alone what she’d said. Thinking about that made her chest squeeze.
There had been so many opportunities for her to tell Serena how she felt, but she hadn’t. And now there was the possibility of the region not even existing in a matter of hours, so Serena not knowing about Shauna’s massive crush on her should’ve been the least of her worries.
She couldn’t help it.
Shauna stalled near one of the monitors, catching a glimpse of Serena onscreen. Her normally pristine skin was coated in smoke and dirt; her hair was tangled and wild. She was probably almost unrecognizable to anyone who didn’t know her as well as Shauna did. But she still recognized the strength in her posture, and she would’ve seen it in her eyes, too, had she been facing whatever newsperson was brave enough to be out there in the middle of it all.
Her being on there was fleeting—she was still running, still pushing forward—but it gave Shauna a touch of relief. Serena was still on her feet and fighting. That meant, as effectively as it could, that she was safe.
Another tremor ran through the ground, triggering some of the younger kids to cry. Shauna barely kept her balance, looking again for her pokemon. It was when she did that she saw all of the screens, all at once, fill with static. The lights stayed on. There didn’t seem to be any issues with the medical equipment.
But the feeds were off.
Shauna felt frozen where she was, staring. She wasn’t sure what she was staring at anymore. Somewhere between the nearest screen and the wall. It was one thing to know that she wouldn’t be able to contact Serena while she was out there fighting to keep the region safe. It was another to have what was essentially the one thing holding her sanity in place just vanish.
She felt someone’s hand on the small of her back, another arm around her shoulders leading her off to a corner without many people. One of them, Trevor or Tierno, was talking to her, but it all sounded muffled. Tears pricked in the corners of her eyes. Her hands shook. Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest.
Ivysaur crawled into her lap, its vines wrapping around her, too, like it was hugging her. She held it tight, trying to breathe.
She’d been worried about Serena from the get-go, but no one ever told her that the unknown would be the scariest part. And there was nothing Shauna could do about it. She’d probably get herself seriously injured or killed if she so much as stepped outside.
It would be okay. It had to be okay.
The region would be saved, Serena would be fine, and Shauna would tell her everything.