The air on the mountain has never felt more bitter. He remembered why he originally came here. He had never intended this to be a permanent residence for his broken self and his beloved Pokémon. In fact, if he could, he would leave this place in a heartbeat. Some days, it took everything within him not to take one more step off that edge and plunge himself off to the bottom of the mountain, just as the fatal nightmare that continued to haunt him. He had no idea how he managed to get stuck up here for three years, waiting and training in an endless cycle. Some days, it felt as he was simply a ghost, haunting this place for centuries.
But he knew that the true ghost was waiting here for him.
As he held his beloved cap in his hands, his faithful partner rested beside him with narrowed eyes. He didn't speak, he simply twisted the hat over and stared at the seemingly permanent snow that rested in every corner. Sometimes, when he blinked, the snow was instead the ashes from his nightmares. This snow offered a quiet deathbed for so many things, but never for the things he wanted to kill. That one thing that plagued him continued to linger around this cursed mountaintop.
She was there in every breath he took. She was lingering in the corners of his vision. She was there one second and then gone when his eyes focused to the changes in light. She was there in every little second of the day and night, never leaving him alone. He knew that it was his fault. Everything was his fault. The famous boy who gained fame, fortune and everything he could ever want paid the ultimate price. It was here on this very mountain that everything crashed at his feet and left him standing here, waiting for his fate.
This shouldn't have ended like this. He had always imagined the three of them going down in history as the best Trainers in the world, the saviors to a whole region as they rid their beloved home from a certain evil. Instead, he was the only one to be hailed as a hero. His best friend was broken down and ended up settling as a replacement Gym Leader to the one they had ruthlessly overthrown in the name of Pokémon everywhere. It was their destiny to become heroes, but only one would live to tell the tale.
She raced ahead of the duo with ragged breaths. She was so sick of this whole thing. She had just as much—if not more—than the boy with crimson eyes. Instead of being hailed as a hero or celebrated as an Elite Trainer, she was shunned as an imitator or someone chasing after the fame of her counterpart. She had done just as much as him, only she had done it first. Yet, every person in her beloved home, including her own mother, waved her off as trying to copy the success of the boy with eyes of blood.
It wasn't fair! She became Champion, conquered an evil organization and collected valuable data on the many Pokémon inhabiting her home. Yet they chose him over her, simply because he did it after her. It didn't make any sense! All she wanted was recognition, nothing more and nothing less. Instead, her legacy had turned to dust, forgotten and blown away. His achievements had become paved in gold, immortalized and remembered for eternity. She was nothing to him or anyone else. She was simply his shadow, when it was her that was the true hero!
Well, if she wasn't good enough for those rotten fools, then so be it! She wasn't one to stand around and take their insults and rejection. She would leave them to idolize the second hero of the region, ignoring the first trailblazer and her commitment to her beloved home. She wasn't going to stick around to be mocked and ignored. She would either go down in history beside them, or fade away altogether! She wasn't about to waste her life achieving things for ungrateful wretches. Let them have their hero!
Her breath became harsh puffs of smoke as she reached her desired location. Looking frantically over her shoulder, she glared at the entrance of the cave. She had escaped the ravenous jerks that insisted on taking everything from her, but she had no idea for how long. The cold winds whipped her face with her own hair as she looked out over the edge. The clouds swirled around the peak of the mountain as an elegant robe of pure white, shielding it from harm and cold. Her chin lifted as she fought to keep her pride. She wasn't about to become nothing. She would be something, whether they liked it or not.
She took a deep breath as she stroked the leading Pokéball on her belt. Her Charizard, Ignis. He understood her perfectly. He was the perfect partner in every way, loyal, loving, powerful and wise. Every step of the way was lit by his vibrant flames as they blazed through the region. Along the way, she had gained such beautiful friends. Her Pikachu, Chu. Her Persian, Alonso. Her Poliwrath, Poli. Her Nidoqueen, Nee Nee. Her Pidgeot, Quinn. They were more than any girl could ask for in this life. However strong and amazing her companions were, they were overshadowed by a Venasuar, a Pikachu, a Snorlax, an Eevee, a Fearow and a Ninetails. All of the world looked up to the Pokémon of their beloved hero, not hers. Her Pokémon were just some beasts owned by a mouse, nothing more.
All it took was one little step. Then, she would show everyone the truth. She was going to either be a hero or a martyr. Whichever the populace chose was their business. However, she truly wished deep down that she could have been the hero she knew she was. She had done so much for them, but in the end, it was for naught. They had chosen him over her. And that lone decision was the final nail in the coffin.
A shout from behind her made her realize that her time frame was closing, fast. It was now or never at this point. It was up to her to either become a martyr or a nothing in the eyes of the world. Once she made her choice, there was no going back. Her mind swam with the warm memories of ignorance she had held on her journey. She had done so much and expected at least someone to take pride in her and her great deeds. Instead, all her fame was taken by the greed of one she had considered her friend. The betrayal alone turned all of those bright memories into sour fantasies.
She faintly heard them calling her name behind her, begging her to come back to them. A wry smile formed on her face as she heard them scream her name at the top of her lungs. Oh, she loved it when they cheered for her. Alas, this was not to last. She knew that the crowds would cheer his name at the top of their voices, hailing as their greatest and mightiest. That would never belong to her. But, it didn't mean that she had to sit and take such injustice. She would have her dignity and the truth, held in her heart forever.
"I am the great Leaf Flagro. I shall never be the hero I deserve to be. And for that, I leave a curse upon the very name of this region! May they know their great evils and never again have a hero to protect them from evil! For they have mocked and rejected their savior, and instead crowned a follower as their chosen one. For this, I shall forever spit upon the very name of the once great Kanto region!" The winds billowed around her, swirling her skirts until they became a blooming flower at her waist. She was no longer afraid. She was ready for this moment.
"You will remember me forever!"
All it took was that one mistake to break their hearts.
Tears raced down his cheeks as the memories flooded back. The empty mountaintop. The lone white hat resting high on a throne of stone and snow. The footprints leading off the very edge of the mountain. It was all a blur of pain to him, yet pictures as clear as the icicles above his head. No matter how hard he tried, these memories haunted him as her very ghost, driving him slowly off the same edge.
He was Red Cinis, the boy who had become a hero in the eyes of all the world. He was powerful, a true master among men. All of these honors bestowed upon him felt as a crown of thorns, making him bleed with every honor and hail of the crowds. The longer this crown rested upon his head, the deeper his wound grew. He was the boy who became a hero at too great a cost. He was the king of everything he always wanted, but at so great a price as to damage his heart and soul forever.
His grip tightened on his crimson hat as the tears dropped down and became diamonds of misery. He was such a fool. He never wanted any of this! If he had known that his journey would result in the loss of something so precious, he would have stayed home and never even so much as looked at a Pokémon. This was never worth the price he had paid. He had never wanted such treasures at the cost of someone so dear to him. To gain mountains of gold, he had lost the beautiful diamond that had made everything precious. He was a fool! A pathetic, worthless fool!
He felt as if he had screamed her name forever.
The relentless storm above them did nothing to hinder the horrible tragedy that had occurred only seconds before. All it took was that one mistake to ruin their lives forever. They had tried so hard to stop her, to prevent such a thing from happening. But alas, the two of them were nothing to prevent the loss of everything they held dear. They had ran like they had never run before, but they were too late. They had left the cave just in time to find her hat resting upon a towering boulder, the crown of the mountain. They had looked everywhere for her, but the tracks in the snow told them the dreaded news.
They were too late.
He lifted the hat from its proud throne, unknowingly undermining the last chance she had at being something more. Horror covered every inch of his body as the shaking hand let the hat pass to the crying boy beside him. The brunette took that hat as if it were the body of their precious friend, holding it gently between his thumb and his palm. They had never expected her to make such a terrible mistake. This shouldn't have happened. This shouldn't have ever come to be. They were a trio, not a duo. The loss of someone so dear to them was too much to handle at once.
They soon found themselves sobbing on the top of the mountain, wishing with all of their hearts that had been able to stop her. They were left to pass on the nauseating news to everyone back home and to the masses of their region. They had never felt so worthless in their lives as they handed over that beloved hat to the poor victim of such a hideous deed, the dear mother of such a trampled flower. The poor woman sobbed and demanded that the horrible thing never again enter her sight. The symbol alone was too great to bear. If only he had known.
Oh, if only he had known!
He slowly regained some composure before standing up with an emotionless mask. He was here for one reason, to stand in the wake of his mistake and face the ghost of his victim. He was forever doomed to stand against this dying sky and wait here. He couldn't go down and face the cold facts of her death. He couldn't handle such a thing. Being showered with praise and affection was a hollow ritual to him. The love of the masses meant nothing to him anymore. All he wanted was to reverse those terrible mistakes and regain the true treasure that he had lost.
Small paws followed him as he made his way to the edge of the mountain. Below the grey expanse of clouds and white ashes, a cold form rested in a coffin of snow and ice. While her body may rest in such a cold prison, her spirit still lived on and haunted him with every step he took. She was in every breath he took. She was the ice that stabbed his heart as he slept. She was the bleached ashes that swirled around him and suffocated him. She was the reason he haunted such a desolate wasteland as the peak of Mt. Silver. He was here not by choice, but by duty.
Their whole existence was poisoned by this one terrible mistake. This was something irreversible, something that they could never regain or replace. It was all his fault that she was gone. He had pushed her off the edge and into a grim demise. It was his fault that the world would always remember his name and never recall a Trainer that came before him, a girl with an inner flame brighter than the sun. She was the flame that renewed the dying region and let it bloom with a long awaited spring. He was simply the rain that poured over the burnt lands to coax the lands to begin anew.
Forever, he would remember her as the greatest mistake of his life.
Author's Note: A LeafGreen!Headcanon one-shot inspired by the song "Centuries" and a conversation about Kanto headcanons with a lovely person.
In LeafGreen!Headcanon, Leaf Flagro was the one to accomplish great things, while Red Cinis came after her and did everything a second time. Just as a save file is overwritten, Red's achievements became the news that swept the world. He became a Pokemon Master, holding the world enraptured and becoming the most famous Pokemon Trainer in history. She faded out of memory, left to rust as her friends became so much more. She couldn't take such a sadistic twist of fate. She would choose the outcome of her destiny, not the mindless masses. And so, Mt. Silver became the last place anyone saw the beautiful brunette.
I finally settled on some last names for Red and Leaf as I was writing this. Using the beautiful language of Latin (and so, the Google Translate), I found them both names fit for a hero—or a martyr. Leaf's last name is Flagro, which translates to flame, blaze, be on fire and be the victim. It is a fitting name for a girl who blazed through a region before her flame died abruptly, leaving nothing but embers behind. Red's last name is Cinis, which means ashes, embers, ruin, destruction and grave. He started his journey after Leaf, stepping on the embers and ashes left in her wake. He was the boy who achieved greatness at such a high price, that his greatest desire turned into his ruin. He became a lingering ghost, holding on to the precious memories of the one before him.
...Why do I insist on writing such things?