AN: A short drabble on Ruby's scar and what it means to him. The idea came to me as I read The Average Life of a Pokedex Holder by Melodious-Nocturne3 and was furthered when I read the fic Chasing Phantoms by Akumugan. I recommend both of those fics.

This short oneshot was written close to midnight on my phone and without having been Beta'd or properly edited yet, so any feedback and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated! It's not exactly my greatest work, but I'm mostly just proud of the fact that I got this written at all, honestly.

Disclaimer: Pokemon is not in fact mine, nor is Ruby.

He hates his scar.

He still remembers, no matter how hard he tries to forget. He remembers their faces when they saw it, the pain it caused him when the salamence clawed his head open, what it represented throughout his life, what it continues to represent.

He remembers commanding his pokemon, standing bravely in front of his best friend, his crush, guarding her. He remembers her fearful crying when she saw him, not because of the attacker, but the ferocity in which he fought. He remembers staring at his wounds in the mirror, raw and red, thinking of his father who left him behind and the little girl who was more afraid of him than a wild pokemon. Afraid of him and his love for battle.

He hates change, but it was because of this scar that he changes who he is. Because of what it once meant, what it still means.

(He had been fierce, too fierce for her, more terrifying than even a dragon, and both those things cost him everything in the end.)

He remembers how she adored contests, how she once cooed over his pokemon, displaying a world beyond the battles he has always known. He remembers learning to sew, figuring out which berries made the best pokéblocks and how to brush fur just right so it would shine.

He swears to never hold his pokeballs with the intention of battling, to devote himself to beauty and the fading memory of the girl he loves.

(Love? Does he still love her, even though it has been years since he saw her? Yes, he decides, he does. This is for her, after all, this change he goes through.)

He hides the scar underneath his hat because the hair on his head will never grow over the scar tissue, his hair too stubborn for him to style it over the rough skin. He tells them that he hides it because it's unsightly, because he is less handsome with it exposed. Reduces the appeal of the the trainer and his pokemon by extension.

He doesn't tell them that it's because he hates seeing their fear as they stare at it, the pitying and unnerved expressions they wear.

(What child would have such horrible scarring? What kind of person would bear such wounds and even survive at that age, so young a boy?)

He doesn't mention he hates seeing it in the mirror, reminding him forever of what he has lost, who he used to be and what all of it cost him in the end. The friendship he had that he himself destroyed.

It reminded him that on that one fateful day, he was the only monster she had feared, and his scar was the only proof he had of the times.

His reminder of his own brutish ferocity was the only thing he had to remember that precious but short time in which she was in his life. That which scared her was all he had to remember her by, the only proof it truly happened, that it was all real.

He hates his scar because of what it reminded him of.

(She left because it was me she was scared of.)