A/N: I started this chapter wanting it to be an examination of Green/Blue and/or Gold/Crystal (so many slashes in quick succession! Wait, that sounds so wrong…) through the eyes of Silver. As I wrote the story quickly took control and refused to stop being a character study of Silver. So what we have here is a passing mention of Oldrival and Mangaquest exact one (1) time each.

This confirms for me once more that I write plots wayyyyyyy worse than character studies.

Silver has the darkest and so most interesting (for a writer) backstory. So watch out for all the angst.

I don't know where the series will go next, I hope it's somewhere with better lighting.

OK, now. Less pointless rambling, more pointless story (if you can call it that).

XXX

The Hard Way

Now that he had time to reflect, Silver wondered why he wasn't a villain.

He was sure, if he had chosen the path of darkness and ambition, he would have gone far. He had the gift. He was talented. Cunning and shadiness came naturally to him. He had no qualms stealing, threatening or otherwise committing morally questionable acts to achieve his goals. He seemed cut out to be a villain.

And now he knew villainy ran in his blood. Silver saw in his father a magnified version of himself. The cunning. The ruthlessness. The cold efficiency. His father showed him what he could become if he so chose. Awesome and terrible and monstrous.

In addition to his inborn villainy, he had the tutelage of another villain, no less terrible. From him his talents received expert sharpening. More importantly he learned to see everything dispassionately. Everything, everyone, every Pokémon was a tool, a means to an end, a weapon. Silver learned to be cold and hard, like his icy mask.

Then he put his talents and skills at the service of yet another villain. In that half-year he became more and more entwined with the dark side of the world. He learned that there were no means that could not be justified by a sufficient end.

He even looked the part of a villain, with his flowing scarlet hair, fierce grey eyes and penchant for dark clothes and Dark Pokémon.

Silver thought back to his past, and decided that it was only because he could see light that he did not descend into darkness completely.

When he tried to remember the days under the Masked Man, all he could recall was endless cold and darkness, punctuated by the precious time he spent with Blue. In the seemingly inescapable darkness she never gave up hope, always shining like the light at the end of a tunnel, small but inextinguishable.

Undefeatably cheerful, she refused to treat him impersonally like their master had wanted her to. It was the simple things that he remembered the most. A kind word. A pat on the shoulder. The gloves she gave him, embroiled with his name, were a reminder that he was a person, unique and capable of hope. These simple things were all that kept him from succumbing to the darkness.

When they finally escaped, all those long years later, he saw her face for the first time. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever set his eyes on, and he doubted anything would come to take its place. At that moment, he decided that he would use his lifetime protecting her to return the favour. He felt that he got the long end of the deal.

Silver did not see her as a lover. She was more important to him than that. She was his sister. His mother. His friend. His guardian. His light in life. Someone dearer to him than himself. To treat her as a lover would be to bring her down to equal footing with him, and it did not feel right for Silver.

And then they started drifting apart.

Blue went back to Kanto to find her root. Slowly she met new friends. She had her own adventures. She found a new purpose in life and let her heroic nature surface. She redeemed herself and became a hero.

Silver, meanwhile, was still rootless and haunted by his past. He found himself working for a villain, doing the same things he had been done under the Masked Man.

He was happy to see Blue escape her troubled memories with the help of her new friends. Fine people they all were, every one of them: naturally heroic Red, stoically caring Green, gently strong-willed Yellow. They had good upbringings and the healthy, happy childhood that Blue should have had but did not. Silver felt that by being with them, Blue somehow reclaimed her past, and became a better person.

Yet he could not help but feel that by going to the side of light where she belonged, Blue had left him in the shadow. Now that his only companion in darkness had brightened her life, he was left alone in the dark. Blue had never stopped caring for him, but he felt they no longer belonged to the same world.

Blue had found her redemption, while Silver faced losing his only light and going down the path of villainy again.

That was until he found his own friends and could see light again.

Gold was like the sun, bright and fiery and unrelenting. He reminded Silver that there could be another way of life, the heroic way. It could be hard and rewardless at times, but it was Right. Fighting alongside Gold gave Silver the chance to be a hero.

Crystal was like the stars, not glaringly bright like the sun but still spectacular in her own way. Like the stars, she gave him directions even in the darkness of night. She reminded Silver that sometimes abiding to rules can be more important than getting what you want.

With them, he embarked on a journey that led him to his past. On the way he was reunited with his beloved sister, and got to see her overcome one last haunting shadow; he got to meet his seniors personally, and he was glad he could call these wonderful people friends. With so many bright lights surrounding him, his shadows had nowhere to hide and disappeared.

When he confronted the unmasked Masked Man, he felt that he was staring at his personal demon, instead of an old Gym leader. He had to win this one to leave his dark past behind for good. And he did.

Silver felt that his reunion with his sister was more than physical. This time he stepped out of the shadow and joined her on the bright side. He had secured his place beside her for good.

This realization was why, when he saw the way Blue look at Green, he did not feel the horrifying threat of losing her again; or when he heard Green call her "Pesky Woman" with well hidden affection, he was merely angry with Green for calling her names, and did not had an attack of jealousy. Instead, he was glad for Blue for finding her own happiness. It was only that he felt a little lonely at the thought of Blue not belonging to him exclusively anymore (had she ever been?).

It was also heartening for Silver to see Gold and Crystal grow attracted to each other. Their bickering and arguments may be noisy, but it was a small price to pay for Silver to see that people can still love and form meaningful relationships with each other in this dangerous and often harsh world.

He felt that he could finally be happy.

And then his past, this time one that was even deeper than the last, caught up to him.

Now he knew where he came from, how much darkness he was heir to. "Prince of Evil". It was clichéd and tasteless, yet described his heritage perfectly.

In his consternation and despair he found it downright unfair that Blue turned out to have perfectly normal and respectable parents, while he discovered a root that he wished to have no part with. His rational part knew that no one was to blame, not even his father, because without him he would not even be there to blame anyone. But in such situation reason had a feeble voice.

Once again he doubted whether he could ever truly be on the heroes' side. Was that where I am supposed to belong? Am I even supposed to belong anywhere?

Once again, his friends saved him.

It was so much that his seniors allowed him a place among them. They forced him to be among them and kept him there even as he faltered and doubted himself. They showed him how he was not merely the sum of his past and lineage, but his own person. They taught him to accept and make peace with his identity. For that he was eternally grateful.

Silver reflected on how ironic the word eternal sounded given their present situation. Eternal they might well become, he and the four of his seniors. Eternal like stones. They were stones.

Why was it that every time things seemed to change for the better, something worse happened?

Silver was bitterly thankful that at least Sis was with him. Now he never had to worry about parting with her.

And he knew that his two other friends, and probably others, would do everything in their power to help them out of their predicament. He knew because if it were Gold or Crystal who were turned into stone, he would do anything to save them.

Before they come, he had all the time in the world to ponder why he was a live-sized statue waiting for rescue (that might not come) instead of doing what he was the most suited for: being a villain.

He decided that it was because he chose the hard way, the way of a hero.

And when he finally returned to life, held firmly the embrace of his tearful friends, he knew he chose right.