quick ref post on pmshi events canon to the fk universe (also small lineup of nadia’s trauma in hearing of said events)
(this takes into account that oras/xy events happen a few years after hgss. there’s a mention to the johtrio in kalos piece i wrote back when xy was barely started, that took place at the same time as xy ch4. the timeline for the piece is still being kept, but as the oras and xy arcs are now complete, the piece itself has been discarded as it interrupts the flow of canon. johtrio was 19 in that one, so in the first piece here, roughly four years after that time, they’re around 23.)
Johtrio gets mega stones at Elm’s lab
Silver and Gold fight off a group of Rockets (2 years later)
Snippet of Silver-Gio confrontation (~1 year later)
Silver recovering from a confrontation-w-Giovanni in the hospital (4 days later)
Silver’s release from the hospital in Olivine (couple weeks later)
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right before giratina event in fk verse, and detailing some of the encounters above
another recap of the events above as explained to first child Nadia
yellow reminiscing about her miscarriage caused by giovanni’s interference
small timeline of pmshi events
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(these have typos that i’ve missed over the years that i’m not going back to correct bc they’re so old now. they’re pretty easy to see, like scam instead of scan, or kids instead of kinds. you’ll be able to correct them easily. this is just my acknowledgement that they’re there)
Silver telling child Nadia a false account of his encounter with Giovanni
been working on profiles lately and have a few oneshots i’m writing for a few of the fanchildren. this is one of them, with izzy being approximately seventeen here. as well as what the title states, this is also her first ever mission. the ranger that appears with her is Maya Abari, a top ranger sent directly from the union, and izzy’s former guide to the ranger world, back when she was still new. more information to come soon. hope you enjoy it!
“Ready, kiddo?”
Izzy broke out into a grin, nodding fiercely. “I was born ready. Let’s do this this, Maya.”
“Mm.” Her senior crept closely towards the stairwell, now for sure those they were in pursuit of had reached the top and departed completely. At her feet, her partner, a sleuth Houndoom, took a step forward, waiting for an order before he bounded ahead. He had been trained well.
She still couldn’t be sure of the situation at the top, whether they had been discovered, or they were carrying out their plans. Either way, Maya knew they had to stop this madness. History couldn’t repeat itself.
The ranger placed a hand on her partner’s back, signaling him to stop. The pokemon immediately relaxed, knowing what she meant. She glanced back to Izzy. “Follow my every lead. No one is born ready. We’re all thrown into terror headfirst, and only the ones that come out alive can call themselves somewhat ready for the next one.”
Izzy backed down, the grin fading significantly. The words were disheartening, even though she knew Maya was only trying to protect her. Growing somber, she gave a quick nod. “Okay. You have my word.”
“Good.” Maya turned back to the dark stairwell and began slowly taking the steps one at a time. Her Houndoom followed slowly at her heels. As she heard Izzy’s footsteps from behind, as well as the pitter patter of her Shinx’s paws, the battle-hardened ranger reached down towards the hilt of her belt, where the container holding her stylus sat. However, instead of reaching for that, she instead went a little further back and pulled out a small pill bottle. Even with no light source, she knew the contents by heart, the fat inky grey capsules sitting inside. Maya cast a glance back at Izzy, gave her a once-over the mission rookie didn’t notice, before popping the bottle open, the noise lost over the echo of their footsteps. Her eyes looked forward as she took a pill and popped it under her tongue, letting it settle there. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to use it.
Next, after putting the bottle up, she dug back behind her stylus to grasp at a thin metal pole. She held it tight, taking a few steps forward, knowing it would be her lifeline if things indeed got messy.
A dim light appeared ahead and she stopped short, gesturing for Izzy to do the same. With narrowed eyes, Maya crouched down and moved upward very slowly, careful to make sure she was the only one doing so.
She set her fingers on the edge of the second step to the top, letting her breath float out very carefully from her lips. Her crimson-hued eyes gazed just over the top, grasping the very edge of the scene.
There was nothing to see.
Maya let out a muted hiss and lowered her head, backing down a couple steps before beckoning the others up. “This isn’t the last platform”, she told Izzy in a mutter. “We’re definitely at the top, but this is just a strip. There’s a set of wide stairs, not very much, that probably lead to the main floor. That’s-” She was cut off by a sudden blast of wind, strong enough to make both rangers throw their hands over their faces. When it died down, Maya immediately went to look up again. “Nothing”, she murmured down to Izzy. “But they’re starting, which is bad. We have to go now.”
She stood and toed up the last steps, standing just at the entrance. “Izzy”, she said, not looking behind to address the ranger to her face. “I don’t know how much we’ll be able to go before being noticed. When we do get attention, I want you on the pokemon immediately. Your Shinx is a good matchup for all the bird-types they have up here, but don’t forget about the pokemon we saw inside the tower as well. I want you away from the people themselves. Leave them to me.”
Izzy raised her brows, throughly lost. She understood her part, of course, but what Maya had deemed herself to just do . .
Oh well. She wouldn’t question it.
“Roger.”
Maya nodded. “Good. Then let’s go.”
They burst out of the stairwell and rounded to the next case slowly. Maya had been wrong. Izzy could see how, the view from the other set of stairs was blocked, it created a false set of scene. Instead, the strip made way to a normal-sized staircase, like one you would find in an apartment complex, which then probably led directly to the main platform.
While Izzy was hesitant, giving the new scene, Maya moved forward easily, taking to the steps swiftly, but not just on her feet, it was more like she was rock climbing. Izzy followed, trying to move at the same pace, but froze once Maya reached the top just enough to peek her head over.
Izzy swallowed back a scream as her senior immediately ducked, the spot where her head just was shimmering, the rock from the stair chipped from the attack. Maya cast her a glance, one that said she needed to be ready, before leaning down to grab at her pokemon.
“Houndoom, dark pulse!”
Izzy scrambled up, pulling out her stylus. As soon as she got to her feet, the attack ended, she was on the main platform, and her vision was assaulted by the scene unfolding.
The band of people who called themselves Keys of Saviors were all staring her down. They were an intimidating presence, one she didn’t appreciate. There was no need for introductions. The warning shot at Maya had clearly established these self-proclaimed “saviors” knew who they were, and the opposite was present as well.
Before any of them could call out an attack from the pokemon that was not theirs, she raised her stylus and released the disk, rounding it on a band of Golbat and Geodude.
Maya couldn’t condone this.
They were taking the free will of innocent pokemon. But, more than that, the goal of these people was to call down Raquayza from the heavens it resided in. Keys of Saviors her ass. No wonder the Union had put her on this case.
Their goal was to kill the dragon, after all.
She gritted her teeth, took a daring step forward and whipped out the pole she had grabbed at earlier. With a single, fluid motion she took a few more steps forward and fanned the pole out, revealing several extensions that locked into the other. Houndoom right beside her, protecting her from the pokemon’s attacks, the ranger charged at a random person, swinging her baton with a force that cracked their shoulder, causing a scream of pain to pierce the air. She quickly moved on to the next person.
These weren’t the kind of people to stop after they ran out of pokemon.
Izzy had only taken a couple steps forward, wary of Maya’s advice. The capturing wasn’t extremely difficult, it was just her position made it harder. Plus, she was working herself hard.
Immediately after completing a capture on a Swellow, she rounded on a couple Golem further across the platform. Before she could start, though, rapid movement caught her eye.
Shinx was darting away, caught in a trance by a trembling of the tower. They had started the summoning. But, more importantly-
“Shinx”, she called, a bloodcurdling shriek. Her pokemon didn’t seen to hear her. Izzy didn’t hesitate, putting one foot in front of the other and darting out into the chaos.
Over a bit aways, Maya caught sight of her junior’s movements. “Shit.” With a final roundhouse kick against someone’s chest, effectively dropping them to the ground, she turned directly to the ranger. “Izzy, no!”
Shinx stopped suddenly. Just stopped, so quickly, like he had run into a wall. Izzy took it as a sign and dove forward, curling her arms around him and rolling forward, body thumping heavily against the hard stone, making the breath leave her body twice-over.
Maya broke away from the couple of people trying to go against her. The spot where the electric-type had been just before was now charred, smoking, and the ground dented. She didn’t have time to think. Strong hands grabbed at her forearms, and Maya faced them with a sort of vengeance, lashing out with her baton and her fists, putting both to good use.
Izzy quickly propped herself up onto her knees, still cradling Shinx in an arm. he bounced off onto the ground quick, nudging her side to help her stand. She did so with a bit of a sway, her balance off. Her head snapped up, vision clearly, though, as a familiar bubble of green formed around her, Shinx’s protect blocking the air cutter attack from the left. Her eyes were wide in terror, not because of the violence, but because she had caught sight of Maya.
She was going at people with full force, shattering bones and spurting blood. Izzy had never seen her like this before.
It scared her.
She let out a yelp as the protect’s forcefield shattered, energy particles raining down around her. Not able to locate Maya or Shinx in enough time, she was soon put in a bind, her arms held tight by a couple people. Another came at her on the side, clicking the safety of a handgun off. Izzy gasped in disbelief, not sure what to think.
Again, there wasn’t enough time to do so. Shinx released a discharge attack, electrocuting the one with the gun and causing him to take a knee. Before the two holding her could call on “their” pokemon, a blur appeared and tackled them, throwing her to the ground along with.
The hold significantly slackened and Izzy rose quickly, stepping back a couple paces. Houndoom stood over the two bodies, growling down at them, a victorious gleam in its eyes.
Hands grasped at her shoulders and she flinched before she caught sight of the hair strands, realized it was Maya.
“Don’t move”, she murmured, quickly, then pulled back sharply, leaving her there to gaze down at the ground, not sure if she could move even her eyes.
A scream made her jerk her head up. She turned just in time to see Maya slam the baton into someone’s head, swinging it with a force that surely bent the skull, if not pierced into it. The person was down in an instant. Maya looked up to meet her eyes, still fiery with the lust of battle, but soon drawn out by the sight. Her senior formed words, but Izzy couldn’t catch what they were.
It was too late, anyway.
A firm hand planted itself on her head, holding it in place. She immediately began struggling, but the person holding her kicked out at the backs of her knees, causing her to go numb with the pain. She cried out from the effort of keeping herself upright, only to be silenced when the front of a gun was pressed to her head.
“One step closer and this one is done.”
Izzy looked up, Maya was only a few feet away, she looked ready, she could take this guy, but . .
She could only watch as her senior, her role model, her hero, tossed her weapon aside and stood stock-still.
“Good.”
The safety clicked off.
Maya suddenly charged forward, knowing no matter what, they would take the chance to dismiss one ranger from the world. Izzy looked at her with a panic that made her enraged, at the Keys, at this mission, at herself.
The gun went off with a bang but the bullet only sliced the air, Maya reaching Izzy with enough time to shove her away, tackling the one who had held her down to the ground. She immediately backed off, looked around to see what was left. A few stragglers and another small crowd of pokemon. She could deal with that. She could-
“Shinx!”
Th call of her pokemon caught her attention. Shinx was fired up, sparks buzzing from his cheeks as he turned to glare at the pack of mixed pokemon. She’d have to divide them up to take them on.
Pulling out her stylus, Izzy backed up a little more before releasing the disk. The first set . . done. The second . . okay, yes. The third-
Her eyes widened.
There wasn’t a third.
It should’ve just been a couple of bird pokemon, but they were gone-
A scream pierced the air throughout the platform, surrounding the tower with its intense sound waves. Izzy threw her head back in the direction it had come.
Maya was on the edge. The one from earlier was holding her there, her feet scraping against the stone, fingers digging desperately into the hands around her throat.
Houndoom cut past Izzy in an instant, heading to the rescue of its trainer. As her eyes followed its path, she caught sight of one of the birds readying an attack.
It was going to blow them both right off the edge of the building.
“Shinx”, she called, lifting her styler and casting out the disk to the pokemon. In response, the pokemon threw out another discharge attack, causing the flying-type to pause in its movements, somewhat paralyzed. Izzy preformed the capture with a speed she had never done before, only turning back towards Maya when she had just barely completed.
It was still she same. If anything, she was struggling more, losing more. But Houndoom-
Her eyes locked onto Maya’s partner pokemon. It wasn’t moving. it was with a jolt that she realized Shinx’s long-range attack had caught it up in the mix as well.
She didn’t have time to think, she didn’t have time to do anything, she simply ran. Ran past Shinx, past Houndoom, past all the beaten-down Keys members and hapless pokemon, trying to reach Maya, desperately trying, because the fear in her gleaming crimson eyes was something she had never seen, because her struggling was getting weaker, her face more purple, and because she just wanted this mission to be over with. She had had enough. She wanted out.
But that wasn’t the right mindset to have when you were still in the middle of a fight.
Izzy wasn’t even halfway there when the person let go, when Maya struggled with her uneven foothold for not even a single moment before she was falling. And then she was over the edge.
Over. The. Edge.
Her halt was immediate. Izzy couldn’t believe it. She was gone. She had fallen. From the highest point of the highest tower in the Hoenn region. No, probably the highest tower in the world.
She felt scraping sounds leaving her open mouth. Sounds that didn’t form any kinds of words in any kind of language. The sounds of someone living through true terror.
The person who had done it stepped back and swiveled to face her. “You can’t win”, they called out loudly. Their words were meant for Izzy, but they fell upon severely muted ears. She wasn’t hearing things clearly at that moment. “We’re going to kill the miracle dragon. We’ll kill it, and then nothing will stop the destruction of Hoenn!”
Houndoom, now recovered from its paralysis, jumped up and released a flamethrower, running towards the person spewing nonsense immediately after and readying another attack.
Izzy sunk to her knees.
Behind her, Shinx turned on the last of the Keys members, attacking them and their last pokemon with all its might.
Her hands were shaking. Hell, everything was s-shaking. What had she done.
How many times had she defied orders.
She let out a shaky breath and the tears began to pour down her face.
“I’m sorry”, she called out, tone alight with angst and regret. “I’m sorry! I give up! I give up! You win! Do whatever you want! Just don’t . .” She was sobbing now, head lowered. Her last words were hushed. “Don’t do anything more. Please.”
Her plea was to the wind, the last of the Keys of Saviors having been taken out by the ranger’s partner pokemon. Still, Izzy only lowered her head to the stone and continued to cry, not able to take it anymore.
(last part for those in the pmshi tags! tried something different here, so this is all gold’s dialogue. would’ve been out sooner but i hadn’t had the time to do anything since the end of last week(like friday) so sorry about the wait!)
They stole and pillaged, resulted to lows such as the schemes of flimflammery and violence. I don’t think money was ever their goal, nor power. It was simply to cause destruction, to bring a country to its knees via internal chaos.
No, there probably was a point.That was just an example.
Oh and you would never believe the kids of people. Not quite, they weren’t all criminals to start. Actually, a lot of them were probably about your age, pulled in by fake promises so they could get out of the dirt, survive in the broken area of their lives.
They didn’t even give those spots the chance to heal. Just covered them up with a black uniform, with a scowl and cold eyes.
They took Pokemon and performed cruel experimentations on them. Just like they took the souls of the broken and melded them back together into something dark and twisted.
Silver? He doesn’t really fit. Never really knew his father, he grew up beside Blue instead. The first time they officially met was when he was eleven, and even then, they were on opposing sides of the battlefield.
Oh no no hey Nad come here. Yeah. Don’t cry, please. It’s okay. But it is. Everything is fine. I guess this is a bit much for you to take in.
No, Giovanni was not one of those broken souls. He wasn’t innocent, either. Despite how he feels about a person, Silver wouldn’t act unless he had a good reason. I mean, I’m still around after all these years.
Ah . . . that was a joke. Partially. We were both young and stupid, pissed each other off more times than I can could. Hey -If course we do, Nad. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t. He does. He just didn’t want you to have to deal with everything he went through. Yeah, that’s . . . He loves you, Nad. We both do. We do. Promise.
This world isn’t safe, no matter how much someone may tell you otherwise. That Team Rocket once existed is proof of that. We didn’t want you to be fearful. No, it’s not -then that’s a horrible scare tactic!
Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just, if someone was actually there, living through it, watching the horrors firsthand, they wouldn’t want to ever recount it. They’re much worse than monsters under the bed. Yeah, I never believed in that either.
Promise me something. This is fine, right? That I told you? You won’t get scared? Oh good. You had me a little worried there.
. . . Of course. You’ve had a long day. Let me just go check-oh? Uh, Nad-
Okay. I can do that. I can stay. Hey, hey now it’s okay. You’re okay. I’m right here.
Yeah, we can both go to sleep. Yeah. Just relax. I’m here.
It’ll be okay.
-
Silver was worn out and looked like it when he opened the door. Raed was in bed, everything was taken care of. All that was left was-
He froze, fingers picking at a loose string on his sweater. Nadia and Gold were fast asleep.
For a split second he thought about just crawling in, that just maybe thing would turn out okay. But it was with an expression of hurt that he softly shut the door, walking away.
Nadia had spent a whole day in her room. That had never happened before. Even when she was sick, the rare times she was, she would leave the room for various reasons.
She hurt. Mentally.
She felt like she couldn’t trust anyone. That day, she hadn’t even allowed Haunter to grace her with his presence.
Raed thought she was dead because she wouldn’t answer him. She was sitting right beside the closed door and he was calling for her and she so wanted to reach out and tell him she was okay.
But she wasn’t. A cornerstone of her mind lay flat on her hands, prohibiting her from doing anything until he left, his little footprints echoing like giants tearing the house apart in the depths of her mind.
She could move then, and she crawled over to her bed, lying curled up on it with a blanket over her head.
Gold came in later, walked over and sat on the side of her bed. He asked if she was okay. She asked if he would leave her be.
She heard him shut the door on his way out but it still took three minutes of scamming the room and five times of checking around for her to be sure he had really gone.
She collapsed on the floor, by a window. Outside, there were still some red leaves clinging to a tree’s bare branches. It reminded her of Silver’s hair.
She flopped the other way, shaking her head. There was a marker on the floor, by her desk. Nadia wandered over to it and picked it up with shaky hands.
The wind rustled the few leaves on the tree outside. Her eyes narrowed.
She unscrewed the cap.
She hated him!
Thwap!
Nadia looked down to see the tip had put a black dot on the carpet.
A moment of thought, and then-
She slashed across the floor, leaving a trail of black.
She hated him! Thwap. He lied to her! Thwap. Screw him! Why didn’t he trust her?!
At this point she was screaming, wildly slashing at the carpet, tears streaming down her face.
When Gold walked back in, she was hunched over on the ground, head on the edge of her knees. Black marks were strewn all over her area.
It was at that point she gave up, let her poppi help her, started calming down. She didn’t see anyone else that whole day, but that was okay.
Gold got to cleaning the carpet while she took a nap in his room. And when they both were more coherent, less stressed, less worried, she turned to ask a question.
“Poppi, what is Team Rocket really?”
Gold climbed in beside her, scooping her up and leaning her against him.
One end would always be tethered to the other. That would never change.
Really, it was impossible for the thread to wither, to dwindle, to wear away until it snapped. They were tethered together by a string that wouldn’t snap until death came to one, and even then, it was a clean break.
That would never change. What would would the distance they put between themselves.
She was nine and she deserved to know.
She shouldn’t have to find out from oncle Red. But she did.
And now they were face-to-face with this difference in ideals. Neither wanted to be angry, yet neither wanted to speak.
Oh, but he tried. Told her he just didn’t want her worrying, but she wasn’t having any of it.
The break was a subtle thing. Very soft. Very small.
She knew he meant well. She knew he just wanted to protect her from the horrors of Team Rocket. She knew. So then, way was her mind locking her out from the forgiveness?
They spoke less. When they did, their conversation was very quick, bland. Soon, she began to fold into herself. She lost confidence. She began to doubt.
There was never any screaming. There was never any fights. It was always just him apologizing, ridden with guilt and regret, and her nodding her head like it was all fine, all okay, when in reality she was letting his pleaful words run right through her ears.
Why should she give him her trust? He lied. He lied to her and at that point in her life her nine-year-old self couldn’t forgive him.
He tried to kill the leader of Team Rocket. His father. His father led Team Rocket. There were so many things wrong with those thoughts.
She couldn’t even imagine. His words came back to her. Toxic. The one Red had called Giovanni was so horrid to her dad that he had tried to kill him. He had tried to kill someone. She might’ve been young, but she could comprehend death. She knew once you died, there was no coming back. And she knew that by trying to kill this Giovanni, her dad was trying to change someone’s life, in those moments he held more power than he could ever possibly imagine.
She didn’t even know much about this Team Rocket but from what Red had told her, it was run by awful people. And her dad had a connection to them. That scared her. It made her frustrated that she didn’t know much. It made her frustrated that she was too afraid to ask, not sure if she would be getting the truth, or just another brushed-over lie, just something for her to “get over” or “understand” later in life.
What was she doing?
He didn’t think those things. He had seen his eyes over and over again. He was in pain. He had been ever since that night, no, probably ever since he had told her in the first place.
Maybe it was just her fault. She had asked, after all.
Maybe it was better that she didn’t know. Didn’t know more than she did.
“Haun?”
She looked up, eyes glossy for one of many times already that day. Haunter had his head out from the other side of the tree trunk. She lowered her arms from her knees, bunched up to her chest, and raised her head just the smallest amount. He took the cue and floated over.
“Sorry”, she mumbled, wiping her eyes with her sleeves. “I just-” She stopped as her voice broke, turning her head away.
Haunter simply glided over, looking her in the face once more. She made an attempt to smile.
“I’m okay. Promise.”
The pokemon’s attempt was even worse than hers. But he gave it an effort. She could almost hear words in that notion, him saying, no, you aren’t okay, you are far from being okay, you are anything but.
Could she really help it?
After all, it wasn’t just like she could break the string herself. Only fate could do that.
And no matter what anyone said, no one held that kind of power.
Not because of the comfiness of the spacey house. Not because of all the people milling about. Not even because of all the food.
It was all nice because it was with Red and Yellow.
Nadia adored them both. They were her role models, her superheroes.
Which is exactly why she didn’t understand how they could ask her father to kill someone.
She had caught him alone, coming down the steps to reach the basement floorboards. Red had just hung up and was leaning against the wall when she entered his line of sight.
“Hey Nadi-” He broke off, seeing her expression. “You okay?”
She shrugged. Then, with a few seconds of patience, wandered closer.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
She tugged on a strand of hair. “It’s kind of . . . serious.”
He just smiled, led her over to a small couch, sat them both down comfortably. Above, people milled about, enjoying themselves at the small, pre-Christmas gathering.
“Dad said that . . . in the past, you tried to have him kill someone.” She looked up, orange eyes slightly glistening. “Why?”
Red’s smile was still there when he kicked his eyebrows up. “Sorry, what?”
She closed her mouth and he faltered, realizing she really was serious.
“Nadi, I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“When he was poisoned”, she said, raising her voice just a little. “He said it was someone he barely knew.”
And it clicked. Red struggled to speak, not sure what to say. When he found his words, he later preferred that he had rather say something else. But you can’t turn back time.
“That’s not right.”
“What-”
“I didn’t have him try to kill anyone.” He looked down at her, his frown deepening just a little. “I wouldn’t do that to anyone. In fact, I didn’t want anyone dead in the first place.” He let out a harsh sigh, propping a hand up on an armrest and leaning against it.
“Truthfully, I wanted to be the one to go after him. Silver was the one that insisted he do it himself.” He opened one eye. “Did he ever tell you why?”
Nadia didn’t know how to react. She was still trying to take it all in. “H-He said the person was bad . .”, she said quietly.
Red pursed his lips. Screw it.
“Very bad”, he told her. “His name was -is- Giovanni Paul. He led a crime unit known as Team Rocket. It was . . disastrous for the Indigo regions when they were around.”
“Oncle Red I-I’m . .” She paused, sucked in a breath.
That’s when he got a good look at her through this whole conversation.
She was on the verge of tears.
And he drew in his own breath, scooting over to wrap her up in his arms. Immediately, a spot on his shirt grew deep. He had just been on a rant. He hadn’t realized how much this affected her.
“Who is this Gio . . . person?” She choked out the words, barely able to speak.
He tightened his grip. Was-No. No she deserved to know. She should’ve already known.
“Giovanni Paul was the head of Team Rocket. And Silver’s father.”
She paused. “What? So h-he did know the person . . ?”
“Yeah.” They both held onto each other tighter. “Yeah, he did.”
It was about an hour before they both came out. To those still remaining, they didn’t make a good pair. Nadia looked worn out, Red just plain pissed off. It wasn’t very long before they found Silver. Immediately, the redhead perked up.
“Nad, I was looking for you-”
“Silver. You have some explaining to do.”
He moved his gaze over to Red, saw the other’s threatening look. it didn’t take long. It never did. His eyes widened, jaw dropping just a bit. He looked back at his daughter and stepped toward her but she just moved away, gripped Red’s hand. His expression went from horrified to deathly guilty and sad.
“Why didn’t you tell her”, Red said curtly. “No, more than that, why was I played off as the villain?”
“I’m sorry”, he whispered, looking slightly mortified again. “I-I didn’t . . Nad, I didn’t-”
Her head snapped up, making his pause in his movements to crouch down to her level. “Why did you lie”, she asked, voice breaking.
And now his eyes were glistening. “I just . .”
Blue took this time to stop leaning against the counter, where she had been while talking to her brother. She wandered over and took Red’s other, trembling fist, leading him out of the kitchen. her eyes held a curious spark, but she held all her inquiries back.
Nadia’s eyes were stuck to the ground.
Silver tried to speak once again, but she turned and ran out.
Gold walked in right after, head turned slightly to watch her. He faced the other with a question ready, but froze when he saw Silver.
Tears dripping from his pale eyes, shoulders hunched, limbs hanging limp. He was biting his lips, trying to keep from crying out.
Gold didn’t have to ask. He just had to wait another moment. Let him gather his breath. Those two words were all he needed to get the full picture.
a three, possibly four, part story just explaining nadia’s mood switch and why she doesn’t click with silv so much anymore. once it’s done, the timeline should hopefully be up!
“Dad?”
Nadia paused in her surveying of the carpet, glancing up to the red-haired male on the couch a few yards away. Her orange eyes narrowed slightly, the last of the sun’s rays hitting them square on from the window perched over the furniture. Pale limbs suddenly lost all their tension, and she blinked a few times before looking away.
“What is it?”
Her legs sat sprawled beside her, and she gripped them with her hands, holding onto the fleshy parts and biting into her lip. “Well . . I was wondering if you would tell me something.” She glanced back over, meeting clear silvery eyes, a hint of a questioning gaze in them.
“Sure.”
“ . . Someone told me . . . that you nearly died.” Her eyes had flicked away, but she let them come back, forgetting her lack of confidence in the question for the place of assurance. “But not like, I mean, I know you have been through alot . .” She let herself trail off, although it wasn’t quite enough time for the other to formulate a reply. “I mean the time you really almost died. Like, a serious injury.” She shook her head. “I-I think pappi was there. I think he saved you. Will you tell me . . how that happened?”
Silver had since slid to the floor, sensing something was wrong. At the end of her words, he stuck fast to his current distance, not daring to move closer. It was that one. He knew exactly what she was talking about now.
“Why?”
Her hands balled up into the fabric on her thighs. “Just . . wanna know.”
Curiosity. He couldn’t blame her. Still, it just had to be that one and he . . wasn’t sure he himself was ready for it all. Maybe he could tone it down.
With that in mind, Silver swallowed, casting his gaze down to the floor. After a few moments, he leaned his head back to rest on the edge of the chair, looking towards the ceiling. “There was a person”, he began. “This person was . . bad. Not just in the way they treated others, or in their actions, but in the sense that their existence was toxic.”
“Can that really happen?”
He felt a smile pull on the edge of lips lips as he closed his eyes. “Sadly, the answer is yes. Well, you see, this person was doing . . really bad things.” A brief shiver shook him. He hoped she didn’t notice. “Red-”
“Oncle Red?”
“ . . Yeah. Red wanted me to deal with this person. To . .” He bit his lip, carefully choosing his next words. “Um, Nad I . . he wanted me to kill him.”
Her head tipped. “So he tried to kill you.”
His head shook. “No, he wanted me dead before that . .” His eyes snapped open, and he lowered his head a bit to gaze at her. “You really want to hear this?”
Her head bobbed and he shifted slightly, making room for her to crawl over and sit with his form surrounding her. It made both of them feel a bit more comfortable. Nadia’s thin hands grasped at the edges of his pants, and Silver’s head was bent sideways off the edge of the furniture he was leaned against.
“Neither of us ended up dead. You’re right, actually. Gold, poppi, did save me . .” Nadia could almost hear him smiling, the little light breath he made whenever doing so catching in her ears. “None of it was pretty. You see, this person and I had a connection . .”
“Were you friends?”
Silver flicked his eyes shut, contemplating the thought. It didn’t take him long, just a couple seconds, just a brief moment of hesitation her young mind didn’t quite pick up. “Acquaintances.”
She tipped her head. “What does that mean?”
“We knew each other”, he elaborated.
There was a deep pause, then-
“You can continue”, she murmured, hands gripping tighter at his clothes.
At this point he felt like she was the one keeping him together. Kinda sweet, but not something he really wanted. “It wasn’t an injury, per say”, he began softly. “It was poison. Lots of it.”
“Were you sick?”
“For a long while, yes.”
“How?”
He knew what she meant, but he still asked anyway. “How was I sick?”
“How were you poisoned?”
She wants to know. She said she did. It’s okay. “One of this person’s pokemon . . a crobat . . .”
Nadia tightened her grip, shook her head very slightly. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to”, she interjected during his slight hesitance.
He sunk down lower to the floor, effectively pushing her up against him. “I’m sorry. It’s just hard.”
“It’s okay. . . . Oh, but what did Oncle Red do? If the person didn’t die like he wanted?”
For this, he had to think a little more. Guilt gnawed on the edge of his mind. He did his best to ignore it. “He was responsible for putting this person in jail.”
“And poppi saved you?”
He reached up, laid a hand over his eyes. His head was once again resting on the edge of the couch. “Yes. I was asleep so I can’t say for sure, but he declared he found me not long after and took me to a hospital.” He scooted his hand down slowly, recalling the events in all their grittiness. “If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be here at all.”
“Hmm.”
“Is that enough to satisfy you?”
She nodded. “Yeah, it is. Thank you.” Silver smiled down at her just as she turned her head slightly to look up at him out of the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry I made you sad.”
With a sigh, he gathered her in a hug. “No, don’t worry about it.”
