For Shootsdown Challenge. Takes place in the same AU as my other fic, 'in his arms'.
She gave his head a nudge with the tip of her gun, and watched with blank eyes as he stirred. "Wake up," she ordered, not bothering to be gentle.
He did so obediently. In the beginning, she might have been gentler, and he might have protested at having to open his eyes and get his brain working before the sun was even up, but those times were long past, and neither of them were naïve, innocent children anymore.
She missed those times of being naïve, innocent children. Missed dressing up and performing with pokémon in front of a large cheering crowd. Missed beauty. Heck, she just missed pokémon in general.
There wasn't much point in getting her head back in the glorious past, though. She was a soldier now, fighting for a fragile cause, against selfish people who decided that everyone dying is a worthy price for some twisted goal. She handed him the cup of hot liquid that might be either herbal tea or a gunk of hot, liquid radioactive gunk. He knew just what it could be, but he downed it anyways. No being picky during wartimes.
"See anything?" she asked as she cleaned her gun, just slightly awkward with her prosthetic left arm. The two of them were lucky to have their own guns. A few partners were only assigned one rifle between them, like Miss Senior and the blond guy, Volkner. She hadn't seen them for a long time. Rumours flying around whispered of their deaths.
She didn't want to believe that rumour, but she had accepted it, and continued to move on.
"No, nothing," the person once known as a cheerful coordinator named Kenny shrugged back. Just like she now goes by as 'Zoe', so does he, called 'Ken'. They're not kids anymore.
"Then let's go back to camp," she said, beginning to pack up.
Something easier said than done. Like her, Ken had lost a limb when a faulty shell had exploded near him. His Empoleon had saved his life, but died doing so.
He didn't watch his partner die in front of his eyes because of that man-made disease, writhing in pain, bleeding from every hole in their body. Just like she did, watching Glameow so helplessly.
Acting as a human crutch, the two of them began to climb down from the rocky mounds that were their lookout position. It was hard work, and they were sweating heavily at the base of the small hill.
That didn't stop them. They continued to walk back to base. She made a joke about how they were perfect for each other, with one limb missing. He grinned, reminding her of Kenny, the boy that loved beauty and performing more than anything.
At the entrance of the base, before they entered, he reached out and took her right hand, the one that could still feel and move as she willed. She felt something round, circular, metallic being pressed into her hand. "When this is all over," he said quietly, before hobbling inside.
She waited till he was gone from her sight before opening up her fingers to reveal a ring. Arceus knew where he got it in wartime.
It's the most beautiful thing she has ever seen.