*Yawn* This is just a two-shot
Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Part 2
Red woke up from a screaming nightmare for the third time in as many days. Charlotte came running, hair mussed and clothing thrown on helter-skelter.
“What’s wrong?”
He gave his half-sister a shake of the head. “Nothing.”
“Nightmares again?”
“Mm. I don’t know why they’re suddenly coming. I mean, nothing of importance has really happened recently….”
Charlotte’s eyes flicker away for a moment, but Red does not notice.
The next morning, he found out why.
Lance was polite and charming, and Red did like seeing him again, but when Lance asked him to go back to Kanto and Johto, he broke down.
He hadn’t cried in so long, but he couldn’t stop the tears.
“Why do you hate it so?” Lance asked.
Red glanced at him, noting absently that Charlotte had wilted out of the room. “I… I just can’t go back.”
“Did something happen?”
Red froze. To tell or not to tell? But he had to give some excuse, and if this one were true, so much the better…
“President Goodman… he… he….”
Lance understood immediately, and he nodded. “Very well. Than I shall not force you to return against your will.”
Red was quite relieved.
After that, they made small talk and talked about pokemon training for a bit, and then Red left, deciding that he had played the host enough to be civil.
“So how is he doing?” Lance asked Charlotte, once Red had left the room and the two Champions were seated together, sipping coffee – green tea for Lance, and nibbling on cookies.
The Cosmos Champion frowned. “Not good, as you might expect.”
“I am sorry.”
“Sorry?” She blinked. “What for?”
“I vowed to protect him, but I was unaware of such a thing happening under my very nose…”
Charlotte took a bite of her chocolate-dipped biscuit. “It is not that, love. You forgot one thing. It took place during the Dragon ceremony.”
“Then…”
“You were absent taking care of the wild dragons, Lance. You could not have deserted your post and shirked your duty. It is my folly.”
“Even so…!”
“Nor could you have felt his distress. You had more proximal things to worry about.”
“But I…”
“Love and duty, Lance. It’s the old adage over again. Which one will you choose?” Golden eyes regarded him quietly over the rim of the cup.
Lance blew out a breath sorrowfully. “I would say love, except I think I’ve failed it – I’ve failed everything.”
“It is easy for you to deal with when your duty is to love him,” She agreed, “But when you choose your dragons, when you balance the weight of ten thousand lives against one…”
“That one life is precious but so fragile.” Lance breathed.
“Exactly. You cannot protect him forever, Lance. I cannot protect him forever either, though we might both wish it. He must grow and learn, for to stay a child is to let Shadow wield you instead of wielding Shadow.”
“I should kill Goodman for what he did.” Lance hissed.
“You should. It will do you a world of good.”
Lance’s answering smile was fever-bright, and he set down the delicate porcelain cup sprinkled with blue flowers before he faded from view.
The next morning, the President of Kanto was dead. The continent spun into chaos and anarchy, and Team Rocket reigned triumphant.
The Elite were missing, scattered to the four winds.
“So it seems that he has become our tool.”
“They are chasing destruction, and soon they will catch it.” Charlotte agreed mildly. “More tea?”
Lance declined with a shake of his head, and turned to Red. “I am surprised he has not awoken yet.”
“Why should he? For two Chosen still stand strong, and the last remains innocent.”
“But is that the right thing to do?”
“That,” Charlotte set her teacup down, “You will have to discuss with Serebii.”
“She has become gentler, so has time finally mellowed her?”
“Odd for one who dances the streams of time, but sense enough for those of us who see and flow and drown.”
“Indeed.”
Red slept now, cocooned in Sleep of Death. They were worried he might inflict self-harm, and it was safer for him to sort through his tangled emotions in the Realm of Dreams, than to wander the earth where injuries would stay and pain was ever-present, especially with the chaos raging outside that would surely bring Destiny to the forefront and send Red spiraling into madness.
Yes, it was much safer this way.
“Will you still love him?”
“Why would I not?”
“He is broken…”
“And so am I.” Lance retorted. Charlotte nodded slowly.
“You need him, and he will need you when he awakes. But it may take years before he feels safe enough to venture out here, and by that time, the world may not be worth saving.”
“I don’t care. I would still love him.”
“I know. I just wanted to make sure.”
They glanced at the yellow bubble, floating in the room, seeing the child curled up to sleep within, and shook their heads. Such a burden placed on young shoulders. Such a farce…
But it was the way their lives had been spun, and it was all they could do and say.
God help them all.
End Fic
Completed 10/30/06
Started 10/25/06
Yeah, angst! Lots of angst!