"You suck! You cheated! Cheater, cheater, cheater!"
Blue feels a migraine coming on. The youngsters are always the worst, waltzing into his gym filled with unwarranted glass gusto.
"Listen, kid," he says, eyes narrowed, a part of him wondering if painkillers later would be enough to suppress his explosion. For all the good there seemed to be in the world, self-destruction didn't sound so bad. "I gave you a chance even though you didn't have any other badges. Ever wonder why they say the Viridian Gym should be your last of the League?"
"Nobody can defeat my Rattata that quickly," retorts the youngster, cheeks red and eyes brimming. "It's in the top percentage of Rattatas! Not to mention my Butterfree! You cheated, cheated, cheated—" The accusations abruptly morph into a shriek. "Hey, put me down, you big meanies!"
"S'okay, I got him, Blue," grunted Elan, the youngster slung over his shoulder like a large rag doll. Always Elan, his right-hand ace trainer.
Blue nods, but the youngster's screaming continues all throughout his being carried out the gym.
"Who wants to challenge your stupid League anyway! Everyone knows the strongest regions are overseas! Kalos makes Kanto and your dumb League look like hell, and you're the gatekeeper! Hear that? You're like some stupid gatekeeper to a stupid League, and you're not even in it! You're just a dumb gym leader! Plus everyone's probably all cheaters just like y—!" but the door swings shut before the youngster can properly finish his rant.
"Another day, another twerp," sighs Ida, Elan's ace doubles partner. She glances up at Blue. "You know none of that's true, right?"
Just for a moment, his composure slips. Some is, he thinks.
Ida blinks. "Sorry, come again?"
Blue blinks. "Nothing. I meant yeah." He sighs and sits down on the steps. He pinches the bridge of his nose, working his way wider, and he sees stars when he presses against his eyelids.
"Yeah. Besides, what's that kid know? You actually were in the League, and as champion, no less. Ida huffs, and it's cute if not a tad irritating that she's trying to defend him.
Ida means well, and by no means is it her fault, but now he kind of just wants to punch something half-heartedly. Punch because he's still a bit broken, half-heartedly because six years has dulled his pain.
Six years later, the League is still his Hell, and he's the damned gatekeeper separating it, the past, and the memories of his godforsaken rival from the rest of the world.
During the years prior to his journeys, Blue shuffled around in old Oak's lab a lot. He wasn't bold enough to touch the elaborate machinery or PokeBalls, and it was enough to be near their fantastic, whirring auras. To pass the time, he'd rummage through the bookshelves.
One day, he found an old, slightly tattered book whose cover was emblazoned with long words he didn't recognize yet. The title never imprinted on his mind, but the passages (aided significantly by pictures) did.
There was one story in particular about a river that separated their Earth and the Underworld. Said river was named Styx after the goddess who sent help to certain gods during a war. The river, along with three others, met in the middle of the Underworld to create a marsh that was also sometimes referred to as 'Styx'.
It wasn't until much later that he connected the Elite Four to the four rivers, the marsh to the champion, and the Styx to himself.
The truth is he's twenty-three, several years past drinking age, eligible to write a thesis and pursue a degree if he wanted to, and almost 1.5 times her age when she walks into his gym for the first time.
He never pays attention to the gym's challengers because the overwhelming majority don't make it to him anyway. But if the intimidating lighting and the annoying spin tiles and high-leveled Pokemon don't deter a challenger one bit and they sweep through with their heads high and shoulders relaxed, then he's a little intrigued.
The truth is it's much more than how his gym doesn't deter her one bit. It's much more than how she stands in front of him quietly oozing a dangerous confidence in a way that's achingly familiar.
The truth is it's the crimson eyes that first take him by surprise and force him to reponder a lot of things in the span of a few seconds.
The truth is it's the way their battle would've been electrifying on every spectrum possible if he hadn't inwardly been more disoriented than he had been in years, and it's the fact that she barely beats him in a nail-biting ending, and it's the way she aims for blind spots in a way that is painfully familiar, and it's how she briefly cuddles with her Pichu after the battle that reminds him of someone else who cuddled with their electric mouse, and—
…and really, it's the fact that she says, "I'm Leaf, Red's sister," afterwards that makes him chuckle humorlessly and weak-kneed and need to take a moment to sit down.
Maybe he'll write a thesis on the six degrees of separation.
"The gods swore oaths on the Styx. When the war was won, the leader and strongest god thanked Styx the goddess for her help, and promised that every oath until eternity would be sworn on her."
He was eight when Red slipped into his life, and nine when they swore the oaths that would bind them for the rest of their lives.
"I'm going to be the best," declared Blue. It was the beginning of their lives, and in their little town, the air seemed of fresh canvases and life-changing breezes. "We're gonna be the best, but ya know what? I'll still be in front of you. Heh, I'm not gonna lose against anyone, and the only one you can be a loser to is me!"
Seemingly ignoring Blue, Red continued to feed a Caterpie. Blue frowned, but he was already used to Red's silence. So he kept talking, because it was when he was speaking and Red was listening that they were most comfortable in their pastel world.
"I'll get to the Elite Four, beat 'em, and become champion. Since you'll always be slower than me, you'll get to the Elite Four afterwards, butcha won't beat me, but I guess I'll give you a spot in the Elite Four or somethin'. And we'll keep pushin' each other and keepin' each other on our toes." He looked at Red, his eyes bright at the prospect of dominating their dreams. "Deal?"
Red shrugged. Blue's eye twitched. Sometimes Red did get on his nerves. "Swear it."
Red glanced up from the caterpillar in his hand. His crimson eyes studied Blue, and they seared the latter's skin until Blue swore he felt their oath etched into his skin. Blue swallowed. "Swear on your life."
Red looked away and shrugged."I swear on my life."
Leaf is actually Red's half-sister, which explains why her hair is brown and her cheekbones are less defined. After Delia's first husband—Red's biological father—passed away, she met another man who seemed as if he could make everything alright again. But it didn't work out, and he won custody beginning from the moment Leaf was born. He took her to the other side of Kanto. Distraught, Delia told Red she miscarried.
They've been raised separately and only have one biological parent in common, but Blue can't help thinking how strong Delia's genes must be because every now and then, he sees a distinct piece of Red in Leaf. Leaf is many times more outspoken than Red, and she's bright as a SolarBeam in the Desert Resort...but she battles by catching her opponents off guard, and she doesn't waste a word, and she's absentminded and stubborn and enticing and her favorite colors are green and red.
"You always put sugar in ice water," he says one day.
She smiles and lays the empty packet on the table. "What about it?"
"Nothing," he says, leaning back in his chair. A breeze toys with his hair and shirt. "It's just that Red does, too."
"You really know him well, don't you?" she says, stirring her drink.
"I used to." He pauses. "I don't even know if he likes sugar water anymore."
She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "I don't know if anyone knows anymore."
He nods a little because her statement is almost absolutely valid. "So tell me," he says, because they need a change in topic, "why are you still in Viridian?" He smirks. "You beat me weeks ago."
"Well," she drawls, her eyes lazily drifting across the cafe menu a few feet away. "I'm trying to find somewhere to go after I challenge the League."
"You'll be accommodated if you become champion."
"I know," she says, "but even if I win, I won't stay."
Stirring his coffee, all he can think is that Delia's got some strong-ass genes.
"Once, a child was engulfed in the river Styx, held upside-down by his mother by only a heel. He became invulnerable wherever the waters touched him, and he grew up a military hero. However, one battle, an arrow was aimed for his heel, and he bled to death from the one spot he was vulnerable."
Caught in a torrential downpour, stuck in one Pokemon center room in the middle of a route, signals shortcircuited by the storm—it was one of those nights that happened to every traveler. They weren't foreign to Blue, but tonight was different because for the first time in years of traveling, he was stranded with Red.
"If you hadn't challenged me to a battle, we wouldn't be in this situation," said Red as he fed his Pikachu morsels of bread. Freshly showered, they were sitting on the bed and at a loss for what to do next.
"So it's my fault," grunted Blue. "Maybe if you'd lost faster, we wouldn't be in this situation. Ever think of that, you cheeky bastard?"
Red silently continued to feed Pikachu. Blue sighed.
"At least it sounds like you've been talkin' to people more," said Blue, half to himself. "You actually said something to a reporter a while ago. I saw it in a magazine headline. I mean, 'I guess', is far from enough, but it's a start. Guess I'll have to help you with your media presence, 'cause I know you'd fail without me. I can coach you before our Cinnabar gym battles, because Mew knows that you'll stink it up anyway—"
"Shut up," muttered Red, and Blue was effectively shut up because it was hard to talk with somebody else's mouth on his. Eyes wide, body frozen, and slightly horrified, the situation didn't register in Blue's mind until it was over a second later.
"Night," Blue heard Red say. And when Blue recomposed himself enough a few seconds later to turn sharply to Red and demand what the hell he had just done, he saw Red actually settling into the covers.
"Oh, hell no," said Blue, jaw and fists clenched. He yanked the covers off to the side, and grabbed a fistful of Red's shirt.
He wanted to see something in Red's eyes—fear, regret, anything, but all he was met with was Red's signature listless expression. That was the face that pissed him off more than anything.
"Listen here, you bastard," he growled, "you can't do whatever you want whenever you feel like to people. You can't manipulate people or expect them to always go along with your crap, even if we've known each other for years. You emotionless little shit. How are you even human—"
"I don't want to manipulate you," said Red.
It took a while for the meaning to sink in, but once it did, Blue's grip slacked. Red's words and expressions were never his best means of communication, but somehow, his meanings always came through straight and clear to Blue. Bit by confused bit, Blue's anger dissolved. He swallowed.
"Okay," he whispered, and then their mouths were touching again. Electrifying and confounding, the minutes increased in intimacy until all that remained of the hour were whispers, gentle movements, and heartbeats.
Later, Blue would only recall blurry memories, falling asleep in Red's arms, and waking up to find the crimson-eyed enigma gone.
"To your family's battle accomplishments," says Blue, raising his glass. "Two champions is an achievement."
"Two champions who both reject being champion is pretty cool too, right?" says Leaf, clinking their wine glasses together.
"If that helps you sleep at night."
Just then, the waiter comes to take their orders. After asking about the house specials and delegating over the foie gras versus the alfredo, their meal is set, and the waiter promises that their food will arrive shortly and congratulates Leaf despite not having asked for her name.
"Does that get old?" she says when the waiter is gone.
"For you, it might," says Blue, smiling. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I had a few ideas lined up. One is that I go to Unova and chase more gym badges. The other is that I stop chasing gym badges."
"And?"
"I've decided to stop chasing gym badges."
"So what are you going to chase? Knowing you, you'll end up chasing your tail if you're not distracted."
"Funny." Leaf rolls her eyes. "Actually, I've come to like it here in Viridian."
"Really," says Blue, though the idea isn't groundbreaking. She's hinted at and joked about it before, but he has a feeling she's serious this time. His stomach sinks. "And what exactly is it about Viridian that you like?"
"Mostly you." Straightforward, unabashed, confident.
He sighs. "No."
Leaf's mouth slacks, and the humor disappears from her face. "What?"
"I said no."
"Wait, what?"
"You're not even sixteen and I'm twenty-three."
"Hold on, what are you…? You kissed me before my League challenge."
"That was a mistake."
"Are you kidding?"
"I didn't mean it."
"Yes, you did," she yells a little too loudly for proper etiquette, her eyes almost watering.
"Okay, whether I meant it or not doesn't matter. There's too much of a gap between us."
"There are happily married couples twenty years apart and you think this is a problem?"
"We're almost illegal. You're not even sixteen."
"I will be in two weeks," Leaf retorted. "What's the real reason for leading me on? Got bored with girls your age so you pounced on the first teenage girl who beat your gym?"
Blue's anger rises. "I'm not manipulating you."
"Unless the past few months didn't happen, you are." Leaf laughs humorlessly. "You know what, you did seem out of it the first time I battled you. At first I thought it was because I won, but now I remember that you actually had to sit down after I said I was Red's sister."
Underneath the table, Blue's fists clench. "And?"
"You looked at me because I'm his sister, isn't it?" A pause. "Because I reminded you of him?"
"No." Blue desperately needs to punch a brick wall.
"You know what? It makes sense." A shade of hysteria colors Leaf's voice. "How you're always talking about him, commenting about how the way I do this or that is just like how Red does it." And then, realization dawns on her. "You loved him."
"He's an idiot, and I hated him."
"No, you loved him, and for Arceus's sake maybe you still do."
"Whether I did or didn't, I don't see how that matters right now," says Blue, his eyes narrowed. "Maybe I was interested by the fact that you're my rival's sister, but that wouldn't have been enough for me to be romantically interested. I'm in love with you and the stupid little things you do regardless of whether or not Red does them too."
Leaf shuts her eyes and lowers her head. "Then why don't you want me to stay?"
He stares at the tablecloth. "Because you're fifteen and too young and talented to settle down with someone like me."
Pause. "Come with me, then."
He has the gym, he wants to say. He and his grandfather might not have the greatest relationship, but Professor Oak is getting old and Blue wants to stay close in case of emergencies. He'll wait for her. He's already gone on his adventures. He's twenty-three.
"You're only twenty-three."
He glances up at her to see her looking expectantly at him. Her waterlines glitter with saline.
Then a tear slips down her cheek.
It's like the trail it leaves shoots like an arrow into him, straight and true, and shatters a barrier he didn't know he had. As she hurriedly wipes the traitorous saline away, he suddenly thinks that maybe she won't leave him. Red had abandoned him numerous times, but maybe she won't.
Maybe she's someone he'll love this way for the rest of his life.
"Okay."
"A mortal swore to his friend he would keep her safe during the war. When their hideout was infiltrated, he left her behind for the invaders to capture and torture. As punishment for breaking his promise, the Fates ensured his swift death."
He should've seen it coming.
After all, Red was the only person he had ever lost to. In almost every battle, Red casted away Blue's impenetrable armor and exposed his weakness to everyone.
But Blue had always been one step ahead of him, so shouldn't that count for something? He was faster, he got to the League earlier, he was champion first.
But Red was the one whom Professor Oak was congratulating, and Blue was the one who had been cast off to the side with a few condemnatory remarks. What did they know about the way he cared for his Pokemon? How the hell was an expressionless, emotionless guy like Red even recognized for the "love" he gave his Pokemon anyway?
...Nevertheless, Red was the one Oak was leading into the Hall of Fame. Red was the one who hadn't so much as looked at Blue since the end of their battle. Red was the one who destroyed his dreams.
Red was the one who broke their oath.
"If we're really going to go to Kalos, I want you to fulfill one more condition," he says as he wraps his arms around her from behind. She pauses packing, and he imagines the exasperated smile on her face.
"I've already fulfilled, like, five."
"I want you to go see Delia."
He almost hears her smile fall onto the ground.
"Why?"
"Because you can." He doesn't need to elaborate. Because your mom is aging, but unlike mine, at least she's still here. "And I want to visit Pallet," he adds, to diffuse the solemnity.
"Alright," she relents, "but only because you wanted to go to Pallet."
"To ensure safe passage across the Styx, the deceased's relatives would put a coin in the body's mouth. Without the token, the spirit would never make it to the Underworld."
Everytime he made one of these godforsaken trips, he never failed to extensively wonder how the hell Red possibly managed up here.
The cave part wasn't so bad. After years of journeys, everyone became something of a professional spelunker. The worst part was the final two hundred or so feet of outside elevation that was cutting wind, blinding snow, and air pressure that made him seriously consider his chances of not making it back alive.
How long until he reached Red? What was he supposed to measure his progress by? Seconds, meters, warmth lost?
. . .
A millisecond, five hundred miles, frostbite—he'd weather anything to get to Red.
He persevered because there was fire at the end, a fire that always blazed vermillion, though it was common knowledge that red fires were the coldest and blue fires the hottest.
He always reached the cave eventually. And when he did, he was always panting and exhausted and cold and sweaty and nervous. Red would be on the other side, far away from the entrance, and the bastard wouldn't look up until Blue was halfway across the cave and had dropped the knapsack filled with food and survival equipment on the ground.
Blue would stop then and wait, and Red would slowly lift his head and open his eyes. They would make eye contact, and in just one second, Blue would see every bitter, lonely moment Red had endured since his last visit. Then, pity and desperation and "why are you doing this?" would enter Blue's expression, and then Red would look away, and Blue never knew if it was because Red couldn't tell him or if he didn't know.
And that would be it. Blue knew they had their limits, so he sighed, ran a frustrated hand through his hair, and walked away.
He could almost feel the chill again, its daggers pressing against his neck and taking him prisoner and dispelling any true desire to leave, when Red said, "Stay."
Blue took two more steps until he realized he hadn't hallucinated Red's voice.
"Stay tonight," said Red, quieter. His voice echoed through the cave, and Blue kept hearing the words long after the reverberations faded.
Blue closed his eyes. He was close to the exit, close to leaving. It'd be a mistake to stay, to give in to Red again. The number of Red's victories, the amount of his power—Blue realized then that it had been his own fault, that he had accidentally given Red every advantage and bit of leverage possible. It was too late to tear down Red's kingdom now.
Red became the main character of their legend a long time ago.
He shouldn't have done it. But when he found himself striding back and grabbing and kissing Red, and his hands against pale skin and tangled in black hair, it was hard to stop. In minutes, his clothes smelled of pine, rain, and ashes. Before long, Red's scent had engraved the rest of him, too.
"Promise you'll be here tomorrow," said Red, but Blue silenced him with a kiss, a thrust, and pretended not to hear.
All night long, a fire the color of red and the heat of blue crackled beside them.
(The next morning, Blue woke early, kissed Red's hair, left, and never saw the tear slip down Red's face.)
It's an easy time navigating through Pallet Town to find Delia's house. When they're on her doorstep, Blue glances at Leaf one more time. Her eyebrows are furrowed slightly in determination, her lips pressed together, and he loves the open book she is.
He raps three times on Delia's door. A few seconds pass before there is any sort of response, and he should have known something was wrong the moment he thought he heard sniffling and fumbling. Leaf is too absorbed in her own determination to notice any subtleties, but when the door swings open, even her eyes widen and she loses her speech.
Delia's eyes are red and puffy. A sullied handkerchief is in her right hand; the other is over her mouth. The woman freezes as she takes in the sight of the two before her, and recognition floods her tearducts when she raises two trembling hands to cup Leaf's face.
"My dear...my baby Leaf," she whispers.
Leaf's expression softens. She places a hand over one of Delia's, and nuzzles her mother's palm. Her voice is barely audible when she says, "Mom."
"How much is an old woman expected to take?" says Delia, looking faint. Blue softly pulls her against him because he's afraid that, judging by the color of her skin, she'll collapse. Her eyes well up again, and her tears leave blotches on Blue's shirt. "Oh, how...how much…?"
"What's wrong, Delia?" he says, stroking her graying hair.
"Red," she chokes.
"Is he okay?" says Leaf, but Delia weakly shakes her head.
"Sam...Samuel just called," she whispers. "His researchers...found his body."
The researchers found Red's body in a large patch of tall grass on the northern side of Mount Silver.
Parts of his skin were charred, they said. Further analysis determined that the final blow was a dual Flamethrower and Hyper Beam. Red's own Pokemon were all still in their PokeBalls, suggesting that he had been caught off guard. Theories ranged from bitter trainers to revenge from ex-Team Rocket members, but a lack of evidence made it difficult holding any suspect for long. Eventually, the investigation was filed away with the other cold cases.
The funeral was held a week after the autopsy. Considering Red's status as champion, however brief, there was an inordinately small number of people in attendance. After years of secluding himself up on Mount Silver and a lifetime of silence, the world had forgotten about the teenage prodigy.
Blue had been asked to speak, and he did, however unreal it felt. He recalled their childhoods, battles, promises, and tried to sketch them as well as he could to the few others who listened. But when he looked around at the sorrowful faces and black clothing and tear-streamed faces, he wondered if Red would have cried at his own funeral. Chances were that he wouldn't have, and if that was the case, then maybe funerals were just for the living.
The first stop on their journey is Mount Silver. When they ascend the peak by twilight, the sky is clear and soft for the first time, and Blue finds little humor in the fact that it's easier to reach Red after he's gone.
Blue leads them into the cave first. There's a sign up front that says, "In memory of Red, Pallet Town", but the area is otherwise bare because the forensic teams cleared out every possible scrap of evidence. Nonetheless, with Leaf's hand firmly in his, they walk to the back where Red made his living space. They pass a distinctly dark spot on the ground, and he explains that it was where Red fed his everlasting fire. The rectangular part that's unusually smooth and pebble-free? That was where he put his sleeping bag.
Then they fall quiet, and Blue releases Leaf's hand. The area still smells of Red, of pine, rain, and ashes, and they stop to revel in him one more time. Leaf wishes for better places and happy endings for the brother she never met. Blue simply hopes that in twenty-four years of life, Red had a moment worth living before the end.
Then, something on the cave wall catches Blue's eye. He walks over to the sleeping bag area and bends down. There, at the right height to be the first thing Red saw when waking up every morning, was "Blue" etched into the stone.
His throat dry, Blue kisses the engraving. His gaze lingers a second longer before standing up and turning to Leaf.
"I'll show you his favorite spot," he says. Leaf nods and follows him out.
It's a short, easy trek to the summit, especially in this forgiving weather. When they reach the top, the entirety of Kanto and Johto falls at their feet and spreads across the horizon just for them. It's all trees and routes and waterfalls and cities and Pokemon and people and for the first time, Blue thinks that maybe he understands Red, understands why Red let go of the League to be the champion of something far greater.
Just behind the horizon, the sun sets over another chapter of another life. But Blue sees the cerulean skies and vermillion sunset intersecting and bleeding into the next page, and he knows that even without Red, their legend will continue.
-*-x-*-
fic headcanon: after defeating TR, Red was constantly threatened/targeted by vengeful ex-Rockets, so he left for Mount Silver to protect himself and his family/friends. Blue occasionally visited to check up on Red/make sure he had enough supplies. The night Red's intuition said he was going to be in a dangerous position soon was the night Blue visited/stayed. (That was a few days after Blue/Leaf's restaurant scene, so yeah, Blue cheated.) Sure enough, Red was surprise attacked by an ex-Rocket the next day, only a few hours after Blue left.
word count: 4689
I inexplicably fell in love with this challenge/idea and as it turns out, it's become my long-awaited general writing muse :') i guess part of it is because i lost someone relatively close and i had more feels than i knew what to do with. (if anybody's still listening, expect some chaptered story updates sometime soon [it helps that I'm officially on spring break, too])
thank you for reading! stay well, everyone,
-Apheleia