This was the last place she expected to be during December.
The stone below her was painfully cold, biting in to her legs and rear as she simply stared blankly at the redhead across from her. Everything had happened so fast, she didn't even know what to do. One minute, she was walking the streets with her boyfriend and enjoying the lights. The next heartbeat, she was beating a Rocket who had literally jumped out of a nearby coffeeshop. Normally, she wouldn't have resorted to such violence. However, the second that filth hurled his fist at Silver, she lost it.
She had never felt more embarrassed in her entire life.
"Well," The redhead she had literally thrown herself in jail for was letting out a sigh and leaning against a wall. "I kinda thought I would see this place, but I never expected to be here like this." His voice gurgled out from a busted lip, crimson liquid trailing to his chin. He had managed to bite his own lip open when the man landed a hefty blow to his chin, and the police didn't particularly care if it was fixed up or not.
"Crap," Lyra Soul couldn't even think straight about what he meant. She was too busy trying to replay those crucial thirty minutes and trying to find where she lost it. "I thought you would throw me in here after the League or something. Still surprised you just fed the cops a fake name and let me go on my way."
His eyes were burning into her cheeks, but she wasn't paying attention. The image of the man on the street, looking up at her with such hatred, his hands with bleeding chuckles clutching his swelling eye was enough to distract her. "Oh Ho-Oh..." Her voice was shattered when the words finally slipped out. She felt like she choaking on air, unable to breathe without a sharp stab in her trachea. "I've messed up. I've so messed this up."
A few moments of silence was broken by the creaking of ancient springs. Before she could think, Silver was sitting on the floor with his gloved hands resting on the worn stone. "Hey," She ignored his voice. "Lyra, look at me for a minute."
"I don't want to." She felt like a child for whimpering, but she didn't really have control over her voice at the moment. She tilted her head away and tried to erase that red blotch on his face from her mind. "I just want to sit here."
"Lyra Soul," She could have flinched from the harsh tone, but she was still feeling numb somewhere in her mind. That corner felt warm and inviting, and something inside of her wished she could just fall asleep and forget that the whole thing ever happened. "Look at me."
Reluctantly, hazel eyes stole a glance at the red hair framing his face. She instantly felt sick at the contrast between his blood and his flushed skin. Her eyes were starting to sting, and that meant the dreaded waterworks might activate. She was not about to look weak, not here.
Black-cloaked fingers gently brushed against her cheek, making her let out a grunt of protest. Silver simply smirked before pulling his hand away. "You were pretty awesome out there. I know you feel bad about pounding that guy," He paused as her nose crinkled with veiled frustration. "But I really think it's cool how you stuck up for me."
"That guy was a jerk," She bit her own lip and shifted on the floor, crossing her legs and running her stained hands in her hair. "I couldn't stand how he was talking about you...I just..." Words just floated away as she struggled to find a way to justify this. Truth is, she was darn sure that there was no justifying this. Even if the guy was a Rocket, she nearly knocked him out. That didn't really seem fair to her, somewhere in her mind.
"Lyra," That glove rested against her cheek again, but this time, she didn't protest. "It's alright. You were just doing what you've always done." That glimmer in his eyes seemed so misplaced, that little glint of affection as he looked back at her actions. Was there something she was missing? Something that made pounding Rockets right? Something besides a burning hatred that took over her mind?
Before Lyra could open her mouth, the rusted cell door opened wide. Hazel eyes snapped up to find a man with red hair standing before the two teenagers, his stormy greys narrowed in disgust at her cellmate, but that wasn't on her mind right now. Shame lit her cheeks as she slowly rose on numb legs and dipped her head.
"Ms. Lyra Soul, I cannot believe that such a terrible action was done by your hands." Guilt swirled in her chest as the man looked down on her, his fist rigid and knuckles painted a deep red. "For you to actually attack a man on the street like this," He paused to draw breath as her partner in crime stood up. "I cannot say that I expected anything else."
Shock ripped through her as she lifted her head. Something else was gleaming in his eyes, some sort of silent pride that made her stomach churn. Confusion washed over her as she found a reassuring hand on her back, gently pressing between her shoulder blades.
"Come along, you two." Lance, ex-Champion of the Johto region, lead the way out of prison cell number three-hundred and thirty-seven. The two children passed by men in vibrant blue uniforms before seeing that very man they had attacked resting in the neighboring cell, his head bowed and his feet plastered to the floor.
She didn't know why her mind was whirling. She had done the same thing so many times before, knocking Rocket after Rocket unconscious and leaving them for the local police to collect. She had done this thousands of times, and yet this one instance made her head hurt.
Why did she hate herself so much right now? She had done this so many times. She didn't even bat an eyelash at the blood of Team Rocket, and yet now she couldn't stand that stench. It was driving her mad, this burning self-hatred that had spawned from this one act.
"You know," Silver leaned in beside her as Lance paused to fill something out for the Ecruteak Chief of Police. "I'm pretty sure Ho-Oh wouldn't like this."
"What?" A glimmer of hope rose in her chest at the thought. Perhaps that was it. Was she upset about using Ho-Oh's rage for her personal needs? For borrowing such limitless power for her own usage? "What are you talking about, Silver?"
"Well," A smile broke out on his face, hiding that stream of scarlet behind a flash of white. "Ho-Oh's never liked me much, has he? I bet he'd be seething for defending me like this." That little flame in her chest grew to a wildfire as the smile spread to her own face.
Yes, that had to be it! This was the first time she had used Silver as a reason behind her attack, instead of the safety of innocents or the well-being of Pokémon. This bitter feeling was certainly Ho-Oh's display of anger towards this new motive! She had done the same thing so many times before, so why would it suddenly be wrong?
A quick peck on the boy's cheek managed to bring him into a stupor. "Thanks Silv." Relief flooded her body as they walked out into the flashing lights of plenty of cameras. "That's gotta be it."
A mutter of 'you're welcome' was swallowed by the roar of the crowd. Thousands of people were eager to hear about the bravery of Lyra Soul, for the news had spread like wildfire.
Lyra Soul just hoped she could hold off questions for a little while longer.
Author's Note: You know what? Forget it. BRING IT ON! I'm going to post this thing that I spent a good two hours on! I'm not going to change it just because I think you guys want some fluffy fluff! I care about what you guys think, but I spent too much on this original to just scrap it. Besides, I felt like the substitute was utter crap. It just didn't feel like it came from me. It was forced and rushed, and I felt like it showed. So here you go, the original in all its glory!
First off, Silver is rambling in the beginning. I feel that if they were ever in jail, he would be trying to distract Lyra from having some sort of mental breakdown. So, he's bringing up the past and her giving a fake name to the police at the beginning of her journey, therefore shielding him from police. This actually was not done out of love, it was done out of a sort of compassion towards a stranger. Weaker!Lyra, as she is in the beginning, felt it was a waste of a boy's life to be thrown behind bars for theft. So much for learning a lesson. (As for the name, it has been mentioned in one one-shot. She gave the police the name 'Soul' as to throw them off. She'll tease him by calling him Soul once in a while, seeing as he thinks it's girly.)
As for the events that lead to her capture, a Rocket grunt attacked them while they were out on a walk to admire the Christmas decor. Instead of going for Lyra, he went straight for Silver, the boy he recognized as Giovanni's offspring. The knowledge of a child with red hair switching alliances was very well known in the Team Rocket circle, and so a burning hatred for the stray heir was formed. Lyra, being well-trained in destroying Rocket forces, used the power of Ho-Oh stored within her to save her boyfriend and in turn, make quite a scene. Ho-Oh certainly would not approve of rescuing the 'tainted blood', as you may know from "Irritation".
So, I prefer this one much more than the last one for obvious reasons. First of all, that one was rushed and weak in delivery. I literally just used the beginning and tried to change it up to something stupid to prevent emotions from rising. However, after sleeping on it, I realized that the original's purpose was to raise emotions. Therefore, I killed the whole purpose of the story. Besides, I have a feeling that my one-shots are sorta known for the high emotion and drama. Why take that away?
(This is still due to the prompt I received from the lovely Nighttyger. So Night, I hope that the original is a much better read than the stupid substitute I came up with. I know that this is the one I like more, so I hope that you feel the same.)