This oneshot is set maybe eight months or so after the end of Blood and Bond. Trigger warning for discussion of a parent-child relationship that is clearly emotionally abusive and implicitly physically abusive.
"There's a college?" Saylee said in fascination. "Really?"
The guard nodded. "Sure," she said. "Can't speak for Kanto—I'm sure you'd know more about that than me, ma'am—but all prisons in the rest of the Fairlands have one. In regular prisons, it's so once they get out, they've got a better chance of getting a decent job, y'know? Prevents repeat offenders. 'Course, almost none of the people in here are ever getting out—at least, not before they're pension age—but the warden figures it's a good idea to keep 'em occupied. People who've got hobbies and interests to get on with cause less trouble, y'know? And, well, it means that if they do cause trouble, we've got something to take away from them. Some of them clock on the fact that it can be hard to punish somebody once they're already in prison for life, y'know?"
Saylee nodded, listening in some fascination. This was her fourth visit to the Johto Maximum Security Institute, and she considered her chats with the prison guards while she sat in the waiting room to be an important learning experience. International human rights laws were coming down hard on the labour gangs that had been Kanto's main form of punishment for the past eighteen years, so a prison that met international standards was currently under construction. Saylee figured she'd have to contact the wardens of JMSI and a couple of regular institutions soon to find out how they were run, but speaking to the people who worked with the actual prisoners day in and day out was important too.
"I have to admit, I'm not sure that three free meals a day, a bed and an education are going to work as punishments in Kanto," she said. "People might start committing crimes just to get in."
The guard laughed. "Well, the trade-off is having someone telling you when to wake up, when to sleep, when to eat and shower and piss, and watching you do every one of those things," she said, "as well as only seeing the same three or four rooms for weeks and months on end, having no control over which one you're in when and being crammed in 'em with other people the whole time. I mean, I work on a four-days-on, two-days-off rotation and that's enough to make me stir-crazy!"
Saylee's next question was cut off when the door to the visitation room slammed open and Silver came tearing across the room, not quite running but walking fast with his head down and his hands fisted.
"I, uh, think we're done here," the guard at the door called as Saylee chased after Silver.
"Hey, kid, hold up," the guard that Saylee had been speaking to called. "I'm gonna have to escort you out and stamp your flight pass."
"Silver, are you okay?" Saylee asked as Silver stopped next to the door, waiting for the guard to unlock it and let them through. He nodded, but didn't look up or speak as the guard led them back to the entrance and scanned Saylee's flight pass in her computer.
"Safe trip back, ma'am," the guard said, unlocking the outer door to let them out. Saylee and Silver stepped outside onto the dock and helipad that were the only way in and out of the island prison.
"Silver, what's wrong?" Saylee asked, crouching in front of her little brother. He was staring fiercely down at the ground and resolutely refusing to meet her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he muttered. "Just fine. Can we go home now?"
Saylee nodded and stood up, releasing a young Charizard. "Do you remember the way back to Goldenrod, Charlotte?" she asked. Charlotte had only evolved a week prior, the first of Chaz' "children" to reach her full evolution after months of dedicated training. She was barely large enough to carry two humans, even small ones, but was so excited about evolving that she'd begged to fly Saylee around just to feel the air under her wings.
"Yep!" Charlotte said, crouching down to allow Saylee and Silver onto the harness on her back. "Did you have a good visit with your mother, Silver?"
"Shut up," Silver muttered, climbing onto her back. Saylee caught Charlotte's eye and shook her head before climbing on behind Silver.
The flight back to Goldenrod, and the subsequent train ride to Saffron and flight to Viridian, were all made in silence.
"What's up with him?" Blue asked when they got back and Silver immediately ran into his room, slamming his door behind him.
"I don't know," Saylee sighed, giving her boyfriend a hug in greeting. "I still don't really know how to talk to him about his parents. He's never in a good mood after visiting her, but something she said must've really struck a nerve this time."
"Wish he'd just stop visiting her," Blue grumbled, hugging her back. "I know she's his mum, but it's not like she's ever done anything good for him."
"I know, but I can't just decide for him that he can't visit her," Saylee said, stepping back and looking up at the clock. "Trust me, I wish I could. Do you think he'll come out and eat dinner?"
"Nah, but I bet if we leave some food out, he'll sneak out and steal it when he gets hungry," Blue said, heading through to the kitchen. "So Daisy had a day of trying out fancy recipes and ended up sharing out the results because she made more food than she could ever eat. You wanna try this lasagna stuff?"
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The next morning, Silver still hadn't come out of his room. The lasagna they'd left on a plate on the kitchen counter had been eaten, but the nine-year-old was nowhere to be seen.
"Silver?" Saylee called, knocking on his door. "Do you want to talk about it?"
There was no response.
"C'mon, Silver, talk to me. I'm worried about you."
Still nothing.
"At least let me know that you're alive in there?"
Ringing silence.
"If you don't say anything in the next ten seconds, Silver, I'm gonna have to come in just to check on you."
Saylee counted to twenty under her breath, and when there was still nothing, she opened the door.
Silver's room was pretty bare; the boy still had incredibly sticky fingers, but it was mostly food he tended to steal, and he didn't seem to like accumulating a lot of things. His pokégear and the fossil that Byron had given him were both sitting on top of his desk, a few random items of clothing were strewn about the floor and his bed with the Fullsteel Alchemist bedcovers was an unmade mess, and Silver himself was nowhere to be seen.
"Silver?" Saylee called, checking under his bed and then stepping back out into the hall. "SILVER? Where are you?"
She checked the bathroom, living room, kitchen and even her and Blue's room, but there was no sign of Silver, so she went out into the hall that separated the living area from the training room where most of the Pokemon stayed, her and Blue's offices and the Viridian Gym battlefield. She could hear a battle going on inside, and the screen next to the doors had the details of a challenger on it; Kanto's gym system was still fledgling, based on those in Hoenn and Sinnoh, but the prize money was enough to keep all the Leaders busy during battling hours. Silver won't be in there… he never watches Blue's battles, she thought, entering the training room instead. "Has anyone seen Silver?" she called, looking around for any sign of the little redhead.
"No, why?" Tyra asked, leaning out of the swimming pool.
"I can't find him anywhere," Saylee said, looking around. Tyra, Siren, Alec, Mag, Zeb… all of his Pokémon are here, so where is he?
Tyra looked around and abruptly spat an icicle across the room. Saylee heard a yelp and turned to see that the target was Perun. "You better not have been bullying him again, asshole," Tyra yelled. "I warned you and your pink buddy what I was gonna do if I caught you at it again!"
"Bring it on," the Pikachu snapped irritably, starting to spark, "and see how well it ends for you!"
Saylee stepped in front of Perun. "Do not go fighting each other without supervision," she admonished him, "and you'd really better not be bullying Silver. But he was acting odd after he visited his mother in prison yesterday," she added, looking back around at Tyra. "None of you have seen him?"
"Bet she said some shit to him," Siren commented, sharpening her claws. "You sure I can't slice her up even a little?"
"Tempting, but no," Saylee said, looking around. "Zeb, Sheska, Yvonne, Sumiko, I need you four to go fly a search pattern. Come back immediately and let me know if you see Silver—or Suicune, Entei and Raikou, they'll probably be around wherever he is. Hopefully he won't have gone far—he left all of his Pokémon and his pokégear behind, after all…" The Crobat, Skarmory, Yanma and Fearow all nodded and flew out of the hatch in the roof. Of course, he doesn't need his Pokémon with him to protect him, not with the Beasts, Saylee remembered, biting his lip, and all three of them can run very fast...
Her fears were, thankfully, unfounded; it took less than twenty minutes for Sumiko to return with news. "He's headed up the path west," she reported. "I didn't see him, but I saw both Entei and Raikou heading up that way, and they weren't moving very fast, so I figure they were keeping near him."
"Thank you," Saylee said, stroking the Fearow's beak affectionately. "Tyra, Siren, do you two want to come with me to fetch him?"
"Sure," Tyra said, hauling herself out of the water. Siren nodded. Saylee picked both of their pokéballs out of the rack on the wall and returned the two Pokémon before running back through to the home part of the building to grab her coat and shoes.
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"Silver!"
Silver froze at the shout, looking warily over his shoulder. He would never, ever, ever admit the immense surge of relief that washed over him when he saw Saylee running up the path.
"Thank goodness," she said, stopping to catch her breath in front of him. "I was so worried when I couldn't find you anywhere… where are you going?"
"Nowhere," Silver muttered, suddenly feeling stupid. He looked down, too ashamed to meet her eyes. "…Sorry I worried you."
"Don't worry about it," Saylee said, crouching in front of him. "I was worried anyway. You've been acting down ever since we visited your mother yesterday. Are you okay?"
Silver opened his mouth to automatically say, "fine", but stopped. She's gonna be pissed off at me for freaking her out over nothing… he thought and chanced a glance up. She doesn't look pissed off, he grudgingly allowed. He shook his head.
"Silver, what did she say to you?" Saylee asked. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'd just like to know if I can help you."
"I…" Silver looked back down at his feet, unable to look at her while he confessed. "I just wanted to know if you'd come looking for me," he blurted out.
"Of course I would," Saylee said in surprise. "I mean, I just did. I was scared that something had happened to you, or that somebody had said something to make you run away… have Blue or I done something? Or is it…" she growled in frustration and Silver stepped back nervously, but when he looked up, she wasn't scowling at him, but looking over her shoulder. "Tyra said Eric and Perun were bullying you," she said, glaring over her shoulder in the direction of Viridian Gym. "I know they're still getting over losing…" she trailed off, anger turning to sadness as she looked back down. "It hurts, I know that… but they have no right to treat you like that just for not being… not being Red. You haven't done anything wrong."
That did it. Silver lunged forward and hugged her, trying not to cry and failing.
"Hey, it's okay," Saylee said, hugging him back and stroking his hair. "Will you tell me what's wrong now?"
"She was always ignoring me," Silver cried. "She was always working on Team Rocket… I wanted to get Dad back too, but she ignored me all the time… so I ran away, and I asked her yesterday, I asked her if she came looking and she…" he shook his head. It hurt just to remember.
"Of course not, you stupid child! Don't you know how few people we had left and how much work we had to do? I didn't have anybody to spare to go find you, you selfish child!"
"She didn't even try, she…" he caught himself, trying to pull out of the hug. "I'm sorry I ran off, it was stupid and selfish and—"
"It's not stupid," Saylee promised, not letting him out of the hug. Silver collapsed back into it with very little resistance. "It's okay. I understand. You were just scared. But I'm not your mother, okay?"
"I know," Silver sniffed. "You're my sister. And, uh, for what it's worth…" he leaned back to wipe his eyes and Saylee let go of him, sensing that he wasn't about to bolt. "I'm probably a really crappy brother compared to Red, but you're, uh, not a really crappy sister."
Saylee smiled at him. "You're the best little brother I've ever had," she quipped. "Have you had breakfast? I checked on you before I went to get anything to eat myself and I'm starving?"
Silver shook his head, letting her take his hand and lead him back down to Viridian. "I, uh… I don't wanna visit Mum anymore," he said hoarsely, swallowing down the end of his crying jag and already hating himself for having one. Doesn't make me weak, he told himself stubbornly. Saylee's cried a bunch since she found out Red was dead, and she's not weak. Crying doesn't mean weakness. "All she cares about is whether or not I've heard anything about Dad. And she says all sorts of shit about you and gives me shit for not killing you in your sleep yet."
Saylee shook her head with an angry scowl. "That… woman," she growled, quashing Silver's brief, involuntary flinch of angryatme. "That's fine. While we're being open… I didn't like taking you to see her, because she always makes you so upset, but I didn't want to make that decision for you. Not that I'm not willing to take you there if you decide you want to visit her again," she added quickly, "but I think you might be better off without her."
"Yeah," Silver said, giving his sister's hand a squeeze. Saylee smiled and squeezed back. "I think I'm gonna be okay. Can we have waffles?"
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Because I just started reading Emilianite's Folded—which is really well-written and has crazy cute artwork so you should definitely read it too—and I started having so many feels about her Silver that I just had to oneshot about my own precious angry baby boy. I'm saving up a few oneshots to post over the summer break between Calamity Calls and Dimensional Destruction, but I just had to post this one because I can't even hold all my Silver feels today.