Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any related characters. Or DO I? Nope. I don't.

TW: Death

This wasn't supposed to happen. That was all Brodie could think, right then. One second, everything had been calm, enjoyable, even. The next, chaos, pure and undiluted. It was never supposed to happen.

In fact, it shouldn't have happened; their mission had been a simple one, at best, downright boring at worst. A small team of them had been sent out to make a new outpost in Hoenn's flatlands. It was by no means a complex task- just a few of them, dressed in their red and black uniforms, making a relatively spacious secret base with a handful of pokemon. Brodie, honestly, shouldn't have even been there. First and foremost, he was a thief- he didn't work well in groups, at all, and even the five or six of them, total, was making him feel a little irritated. He didn't even have a pokemon that knew Secret Power; his ditto was the only thing that even qualified him to be on this mission. Even then, the only reason he had been there was because Tabitha had spent nearly a fortnight nagging and pleading with him to tag along. (To be fair, he had resigned himself to going by day two; he just liked making the younger man beg a little too much.) Of course, he wasn't there for backup, as there wasn't anything that could conceivably go wrong. He was there to keep Tabitha company, and to keep himself entertained. It was boring to be stuck back at headquarters with no mission, no Commander, and way too much time on his hands.

Of course, the most unsinkable of ships were those that ultimately hit the iceberg. Brodie had always known this to be true. He just wish things had happened differently.

They had been half-way to their endpoint when the ambush struck. They'd been taking a break- the grunts were worn out, and Brodie had been thirsty as fuck. Tabitha had suggested they stop for the evening and set up camp near the river, but hidden in the thick underbrush of the jungle, where they could hide themselves from predators. Brodie had laughed at that. What sort of predator could they possibly have, out here? Tabitha had laughed along with him- they really didn't have any, out here, he'd agreed, but it was better to be safe.

So much being safe did them.

Brodie had been returning from a quick bath in the stream- after all, hygiene was important, even out in the wilderness, like this- when he heard the gunshots. The screams and shouts. The fighting. Half-dressed, he'd bolted back towards camp. He made it just in time to hear the final gunshot. Just in time to see Tabitha's body fall to the ground. Their attackers nearly saw him, but Brodie managed to drop to the damp ground beneath him in such a manner that they didn't detect him in the slightest; it was part of his training, after all. Soon enough, he saw flashes of blue darting away between the plant life, and that was when he made his move, stepping around the bodies of grunts as he made his way to his fallen commander, panic swelling in his chest as he imagined dull, lifeless eyes, cold skin, a body so still it may as well have been a prop- but no. No, what he was met with was a much more terrifying sight, and he dropped to the ground, cradling Tabitha's head in his lap as the younger took short, ragged breaths.

"Brodie," came his Commander's whisper, "oh- oh, God, B-Brodie-"

"Hey, hey, hey," the thief quickly shushed him, "it's alright- you're okay. You're gonna be okay." Quickly, he eyed his Commander's wounds- two shots he could see. The younger man was covered in his own blood, and it was pooling quickly beneath him- a clean shot, straight through an artery. Without immediate treatment, he would bleed out. They hadn't brought medical supplies with them. "It's- it's not so bad, Tabs. You'll be fine, okay?" His voice cracked, and his companion knew it was a lie; they both knew. And he could see the terror in the other man's eyes- no, not man's, boy's. Despite his prowess within the organization, despite his world-weariness, despite his blazing passion and fiery spirit, Tabitha was only seventeen. Sometimes it was easy to forget that. He was too young. He was far too young.

"Brodie," his Commander repeated, "Brodie, I- I'm scared." He could see wetness around his commander's eyes, a wetness that pooled and trickled slowly down either of the boy's cheeks, and he couldn't help but hold onto him tighter, clutching him desperately as if that would prevent him from fading, from disappearing and from leaving Brodie all alone.

"...I am, too," the thief whispered after a moment. Tabitha opened his mouth to say something else, jaw trembling, but Brodie shushed him, gently stroking his hair. "It'll be okay, Tabs. You'll be alright. It'll all be okay." There was no time. There was no time, and nothing Brodie could do. "Someone'll be here, soon, and then everything will be okay. Hey... how about a song, huh? You love music. What do you want to hea-?" The weak hand clasping around his wrist was enough to shut Brodie up instantly, and those watering, murky green eyes bore into his own so intensely that any thought, any sweet lies he had left immediately left him.

"I-I... Brodie, I-I l...l-lo..." The grip slackened; Tabitha's voice died as his body became limp, his eyes dull and unseeing. Drops of liquid splashed against the Commander's tan skin, and idly, Brodie wondered when it had began to rain. The next thing he knew, he was doubled over, choking back sobs as he buried his face in Tabitha's soft purple hair. This was his own fault. This could have been avoided.

"Are you done?" The cold, feminine voice doesn't take him by surprise; he'd known she was there, watching the entire time. How could she not be? She was in charge of the entire operation, after all. Brodie didn't answer her, though, not at first; instead, he merely reigned himself in, trying to put back up the mask he was so used to wearing. It was only when he was certain he had his emotions under control that he looked up, peering at his commander; Shelly stood with her arms folded haughtily across her chest, eyeing Tabitha's body with something akin to disdain, like he was something unpleasant a mightyena had tracked into her quarters.

It took another moment before Brodie was in any shape to speak, and he swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. "Sorry," he said, "I- I guess I just got caught up in the moment. Mission success, yeah? Am I coming back with you, or am I going back to Magma, for now?" As useful of a spy as he had been, after something like this, well, certainly there would be suspicion, rumors whispered of what really happened in the clearing, that day, and he knew it was only a matter of time before someone- Blaise, maybe, or Courtney; definitely Maxie- figured the whole scheme out. After the day's events, Brodie really doubted he would make for much use as a spy in Team Magma. Really, the best move seemed for him to return to Aqua and find a new assignment to throw himself at. Maybe a few drinks.

"Your choice," Shelly answered, "but if I were you, I'd worry about what they'd do to me, after all of this." She nudged one of the dead grunts with her foot for emphasis. "Camp is twenty degrees east and two miles out from here. We'll head back, tonight; they'll have a search team, when he doesn't call to check in. Unless you want to take care of that problem, for us?" Brodie shook his head slowly, turning his gaze back to Tabitha's corpse, and Shelly let out an annoyed-sounding hiss of air before she told him to hurry up, and set off for camp by herself.

It was his own fault, really. All in all, it had been fun... no, good. It had been good, for a while. Tabitha had been good, for a while. But Brodie shouldn't have let himself get attached. His Commander had only been a means to an end, after all, and look where the kid's life choices left him- a bloody mess, all alone, in the middle of nowhere, with no one to mourn him. Or, at least, that was what Brodie tried to tell himself. It didn't help him feel any better, at all, and those eyes- those eyes that had only the previous night stared at him with affection and want and trust- remained nothing short of terrified. And it was all his fault.

"...I love you, too. And... I'm sorry. For evertyhing. But... you don't have to be scared, anymore... okay...?" Hesitantly, he ran a hand over Tabitha's face, gently closing his eyelids before laying his Commander down as comfortably as he could and standing up. He wished he had flowers to give him.

He left with Team Aqua, that night, and when they returned to the base, Archie presented him with his paycheck. The money was good enough to catch the first ferry he could out-of-region, the rest to be spent on alcohol over the coming months. Brodie knew, deep down, it would do nothing; he would never forget. Every night he would still dream, still see the pure, unadulterated fear in Tabitha's eyes as he lay dying in the thief's arms.

But that didn't mean he couldn't damn well try.