A/N:
Disclaimer – I am not involved with the copyright/s for Pokémon Adventures/Special or any of its affiliates. I am not making any monetary profit off of writing this.
Ruby slowly woke up.
He stretched and yawned, rubbing his eyes, and realized that there were bandages covering his head. Puzzled, he touched the wrappings and looked around. He was not home.
No one was around. He was alone. Something beeped in the silence.
He scrunched his face up, wondering whether he should shout for his parents. After a moment, he chewed his lip and decided that he would look around first, since his dad never liked it when he screamed in the house.
Looking around again, Ruby slowly slid out of bed; he was wearing a gown for some reason. He touched the bandages on his head again too and tried to remember why it hurt there.
There was a giant dragon – a salamence. And Coco had beated it.
Ruby vowed to give Coco a bunch of her favorite pokéblocks once he got back home.
He walked around the room, mouth open. It was big and white, and had some papers and a clipboard on the wall, and a couch and two TVs and everything. One of the doors went outside to a hall – Ruby could tell because there was a window next to it – and ignored it; he didn't want to go out yet. Instead, he went to the other door and opened it after a little bit of struggling, because it was heavy and the door handle was high up.
It was a bathroom. Ruby did his business, and then he found a stool and pushed it up to the sink with his feet so he could stand on it and wash his hands. He also saw a toothbrush and toothpaste there, but the mirror had caught his attention and he wanted to see what was under the bandages. He couldn't remember that for some reason.
Ruby squinted at the mirror, feeling around the bandages until he found a place where he could fit his fingers under it. He pulled, and even though it started hurting more, he kept on pulling. He wanted to see what was under the bandages. He needed to see.
Finally, a little tear appeared. Ruby viciously attacked this weak spot with his fingers, ripping at it until it tore more and more. After a minute, the bandages began falling away and he pulled on them to help them along.
He kept going, and then he saw blood on the bandages.
Ruby gasped, eyes wide. He quickly pulled off the rest, ignoring the pain, and looked up at the mirror.
There were two wide gashes on his head, scary and bright. And he remembered where they came from.
. . .
"Ruby? Ru–" His mother froze, her hand lifted up to her mouth in shock.
Norman walked over, frowning in concern. His wife was blocking the doorway, so he couldn't see into the bathroom. "What is it?"
She stammered, "Norman, Ruby is – he's – we need a nurse!" She stepped away and hurried out of the room, pale.
Norman quickly went inside and was stunned by the sight of his son curled up on the floor, with shards of glass in the sink and his head wounds unwrapped and weeping. The mirror was completely shattered, obviously on purpose and by someone's fist. "Ruby?" he finally managed. "Ruby, answer me."
His son's mouth moved silently, but nothing came out. His eyes were squeezed shut.
Norman knelt next to him, cautiously avoiding the broken glass. Ruby was curled up around his hands, hiding them from view even as they clutched at the bandages that used to be around his head.
He carefully moved his son until he saw the fresh blood staining his hospital gown and the gashes covering his knuckles.
When the nurses came in, Norman said distantly, "Be careful, there's shards of glass on the floor. He punched the mirror with his hand."
. . .
Even ten years later, Ruby still tugged on the glove of his right hand whenever he got the battle jitters.
A/N:
There's no way this fits into canon but screw that, I like this headcanon anyway.