Today's been one of those 'ehhhh' days. It really has. But that's okay, because I have my trusty laptop and my muse is ready to go! Or at least, I think she is… she's sort of sitting in the corner sleeping right now. But work is work, as Crystal said last chapter, so here we go :D This was requested by someone anonymous, I think, so… yeah. If you're reading this, here's for you!

A/N: this one goes back to my roots of angsty fiction. So I've got a lot riding on it- also, this one is connected to the 22nd one-sentence drabble, 'Hollow'.

Disclaimer: I own egg rolls, but not Pokemon.

12. End:
He holds her limp body in the rain, simply saying over and over, "This can't be the end, it can't be; wake up Sapph, wake up!"

22. Hollow:
When she finally breathes and leaves him, he can't help but break down and sob, anything to help fill the empty hole that consumes his entire heart; chasms that yawn and swallow everything that ever existed.

Ruby, for the life of him, could not understand why Sapphire asked him to come out hiking with her. He would do anything for her- push her out of the way of trampling Donphan, walk through flames for her, he would even gladly battle with her (albeit grudgingly)- but she should have known better than to ask him to walk in the cold, pelting Hoenn rain.

"Ruby! Hurry up!" Sapphire sat on a branch, her legs dangling from a tree. He scowled at her, muttering how these expeditions were going to kill him one day, and picked up his pace- "We're twenty, and we're still exploring this forest?" he demanded when he leveled with the jungle girl.

"Don't be a spoilsport, Ruby, you know this is fun." Sapphire pulled herself up and leaped to the next branch. Ruby couldn't help but notice the way the branches gleamed a sickly silver in the light of grey clouds; thunder rumbled ominously overhead and he pulled his raincoat a little closer to himself.

"At least wear something that's protective!" he yelled at her as she pulled ahead. "Don't you dare catch a cold! I know how you are when you're sick!" To be honest, he didn't really mind staying at her house to take care of her- Arceus knew how many times he had done that in the time that he had known Sapphire. She often got cranky, snapped more than usual at him and her insults got a little more creative, but in the end Ruby knew that she didn't mean any of it.

She waited for him, this time hanging from a branch as she grinned cheekily down at his scowling visage. "Oh, don't be such a wet blanket, Ruby. This is perfectly safe. You've known me for about ten years now-"

"Thirteen," Ruby corrected automatically.

"Whatever, Prissy Boy." Sapphire stuck her tongue out and launched herself off the branch.

"At least taunt me on level ground!" Ruby shouted after her, but as usual she ignored him. He trudged on, trying not to think about the soggy mud that was clinging to his shoes. He was twenty three now, and he really shouldn't be bothered by these small little things, but he figured that it was one of his innermost traits. It was something that he suspected wouldn't change for a while, if ever.

His mind turned back to Sapphire, and he smiled to himself even though his wet hat flopped against his ears, reminding me of the uncomfortably cold storm he was walking through. There was another trait that wouldn't change, he reflected- even if they ended up never actually settling with each other (honestly they were so explosive somebody was bound to implode sooner or later), he would always be protective of his best friend no matter what happened.

It had always been that way, hadn't it? Ever since they had been young kids, all the way up to adulthood, Ruby and Sapphire had always been a package; they'd always been together as one. He'd heard from the loose-lipped trainers at his father's gym that the old matchmaker up in the mountains had predicted a long time ago that their fates would be intertwined; he smirked. Yes, well, was saving the world from two legendaries together enough for intertwining fates?

Red and blue- to him, those colors always seemed to go well together. He honestly didn't know what he would do without Sapphire, and that was a scary thought even for him.

Speaking of scary- Ruby was drawn out of his reflections when he realized that he was walking aimlessly through the forest with no guide or sound to tell him where to go. The only thing he heard when he stopped was the swishing of raindrops falling onto the thick canopy of leaves, but there was no twigs snapping under weight or delighted whoops coming from ahead. He felt something cold run down his back, and he mentally cursed- rainwater was not a pleasant thing to have trickling down an exposed back.

"Sapphire?" he called, but there was no answer. Ruby mentally began to panic. "I didn't take a wrong turn," he said aloud, turning a full circle to glance at his surroundings. "At least, I'm pretty sure I didn't."

Dang it! This was the reason why he hated hiking. Ruby scowled as he pulled out a Pokeball containing Gold's recently evolved Ataro; they'd traded a while back because Ruby had lost a bet with Gold. At first, he'd been rather reticent to the idea of letting Coco leave his side, but he was having so much fun grooming Ataro that he could actually-

Again, Ruby was snapped out of his thoughts by Ataro's chittering from up a tree. "What?" he asked a little snappily- couldn't anyone think in peace around here? He felt another chill run down his back, this time not from rainwater, as Ataro looked away from him and out at an expanse of foliage, pointing and chittering in an extremely agitated manner. Ruby approached the tree, forgetting that his sneakers were sinking in mud. "What is it?" he asked.

Ataro looked at him with an almost impatient look before leaping off the tree and jumping onto the next one, looking back at Ruby as though to say What are you doing? Follow me! Ruby frowned, scratching his head as he wrung out his cap; his sneakers squelched in the mud again but he barely paid attention now.

Just then, a bright light flashed and Ruby heard the familiar roar of Sapphire's Rono. Ataro began jumping up and down on the tree branches, its chittering increasing in volume and speed; Ruby began to fear the worst. "Sapphire?" he shouted, but again there was no response. Ruby decided to go for a different method. "Ataro!" he shouted, and the monkey looked at him, eyes wide as saucers. "Lead the way- and hurry!"

At least Gold had trained his Pokemon well to be obedient- the monkey took off, swinging lithely from tree to tree much like Sapphire had been doing five minutes earlier. Or was it ten? Ruby grimaced, cursing his irresponsibility.

He noticed then that Ataro had stopped on a branch about a foot away; Ruby slowed down because he noticed the ground sloped downwards. Sure enough, when he skidded to a stop and gingerly eased himself further using a vine to steady himself, he saw a sudden drop. He surveyed it, noticing that had it been any other day, this slope would have been perfectly safe; but today the mud provided no steady footholds or anything at all to hold on to. His eyes scanned the scene-

"Arceus, no," he gasped, and leaped off the cliff he had been standing on and sliding into the mud, not even caring that his red and white shirt was now completely stained with mud. He righted himself at the foot of the slope and slogged through the mud to where Sapphire lay and Rono stood protectively. "Sapphire?" he croaked. "Sapph-"

He had always thought red and blue went well together, but all the red coming from Sapphire did not look like it suited her.

Ruby thought fast, leaning down to try and cradle Sapphire in his arms and carry her out of here. "Pilo, where's Pilo," he muttered, scanning the Pokeballs she had at her waist. Sapphire tried to say something, but Ruby glared at her. "Don't say anything," he ordered, more out of panic than anger. "We're going to the Pokemon Center and no matter how much you hate the cleanliness of that place we're going-"

"Ruby." Sapphire's voice was soft, broken- it didn't have the quality of strength that made Sapphire Sapphire and it broke Ruby's heart. She wasn't breathing, he noticed- it was so shallow that it was barely noticeable. She had always been full of life- is full of life, Ruby sternly reminded himself- past tenses weren't acceptable at this point. Sapphire tried to move, but pain wrote itself all over her features and Ruby bit his lip, wishing he could do something to make it stop. "Ruby, I-"

"Stop." Ruby choked back a sob as he searched for Pilo's Pokeball. He found it and released it; the dinosaur looking creature burst out of its Pokeball and immediately geared up for flight. "Sapphire. Just don't talk. You'll be okay."

She reached for his hand, fingers shivering as though they were barely holding on to something tangible. "I love you," she whispered, the raindrops seemingly choosing to stay away from this tender, whispered confession. "I'm sorry-"

Ruby wanted to scream at this point; what could he do? He gently laid Sapphire down on the back of Pilo before hopping on and recalling both Ataro and Rono, biting his lip nervously as he did so. "Pokemon Center," he told Pilo, and the Flying Pokemon leaped off the ground and soared into the air without missing a beat. He turned back to Sapphire, whose eyes were half-closed and her breathing shallow. "Sapph, hang on."

Her eyes fluttered open again, and he noticed with distress that her vibrant blue eyes were dulled to the color of unpolished gems. He took her hand and held it tightly. "You're strong, and I love you, and you need to hang on for that," he told her, meaning every single word he said. He pressed a tight kiss to the back of her hand, wishing he could transfer some energy to her and wishing for the life of him that she was somehow pulling an elaborate joke on him.

Several seconds passed, and Ruby realized that it was cold. Sapphire's hand was… cold- Arceus, no.

Her eyes were glazed, staring off somewhere behind Ruby- Pilo let out a cry just then as the realization that Sapphire was no longer in the world hit. Ruby sat there in a daze, cradling Sapphire's body to his. The tears came to his eyes, but they weren't the normal tears he'd cried when he was twelve- these came from a deeper place, from the depths of his soul. His chest ached and his throat closed up; he couldn't breathe and neither did he particularly feel like he wanted to. There was an empty chasm yawning from his heart to his mind, trying to erase everything he ever remembered about Sapphire and Mew, it felt like someone had just hit him in the head with a hammer and then attempted to suffocate him, because Ruby felt so lightheaded.

He held her close still, trying not to believe it. "Joke's over," he said quietly. "Right? It's a joke?" He tried to laugh. "Wake up." His voice caught in his throat. "It can't be the end, not for you and me, and we still have to beat Green with only just one Pokemon because-" He choked on his words now. "-because we're the best team," he finished painfully. He leaned his forehead against Sapphire's. "Just wake up," he whispered, "please."

She didn't move and Ruby eventually looked away, but not before closing her open, lifeless eyes. Pilo looked at him from out of the corner of its eye- Ruby shook his head. "Go back to Birch's," he said dully. "It's only right that I-" and he shuddered, "-that I tell him his daughter's dead."

He'd always thought red and blue looked good together, but he was starting to think that red and silver looked really good together. Silver, like the raindrops, but raindrops weren't silver anymore, were they? They were devoid of color- they were empty. Yes, Ruby thought bitterly as he put his head into his hands, red and empty- that was exactly how it was and how it would be.

Ah? Yes? No? I felt like I could definitely do a better job, but beggars can't be choosers. I now have to learn about how Pennsylvania was formed- YAY ME. Let me know what you think- did you cry? Did you hate it? Do you hate me? I hope not D: But yes. Drop a comment in the reviews section- click the link down below- you know you want to do it :D