He had himself; only himself.

The one who was left behind.


Even if Yancy was garbage and completely worthless, she would still fight for the last sake of her pride;

Even if Rosa and Nate were enemies for the sake of the world, they would still laugh together at missiles falling from the sky;

Even if Hugh was an enemy of the heroes, he would still be a savior;

-Well then; what was he?


There was always something different about the boy who sat in the corner, in the freshman class. Rumors were passed around, how all of that boy's friends had suddenly disappeared. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the boy was kind and shy (maybe "cute" would be used to describe him as well), many of his classmates would've shunned him.

But, he was kind, smiled a lot, and was polite towards others, so he was accepted in their life.

(Ignored.)

Yes, sometimes, around Halloween, many of his male classmates would jokingly wring their arms around him in a playful manner, and he would laugh quietly at their antics, but other than that, he kept to himself. There was a calm feeling that came along being with him; that was certain, for the boy gave off a sense of tranquility.

He garnered a lot of female attention, due to his impeccable manners and princely looks, but there was something about him that made no one want to disturb him. He was beautiful. Like a portrait. He was always sitting in the corner of the room, staring out of the window at the clouds, and he would make gentle faces at what he saw in the sky. He looked serene; so no one dared bother him, because it was such a strange sight.

No one was ever serene and gentle in the face of war. He was, to put it simply (because there was no other word to describe him), a piece of art.

(The art of destruction and pain; the one painting no one could ever fully comprehend.)

Sometimes, his classmates wondered how a boy could seem so mature.

(Sullen.)

One time, a girl had walked up to him shyly and tapped him on the shoulder, asking him if he was sad, after noticing the way he looked at the clouds.

Curtis flashed her a smile, shook his head no, and when the girl walked away, went back to looking at the clouds. His classmates noticed that whenever school was over, at three o'clock, he would smile and take out a thermos filled with tea, and silently sip it. Curtis drank tea. That made sense. After all, he was literally the Prince Charming at his school. Of course he would drink something as refined as that.

(A prince on a white horse; but never a knight in shining armor; not the Hero of Ideal's knight- and he would never be. But he would try. He would try.)

"Hey Curtis! Tell us something about those friends of yours! Y'know, the ones from your childhood!"

They wondered about his life. After all, it was a rather touchy subject, and Curtis would often say that he missed them, so many people were wary of how the boy might react. Maybe unfavourably?

But then Curtis would laugh and tell small bits about his childhood, often gazing up at the sky, as if his friends could be found there.

(And for all he knew, they might as well be; after all, then they could be with him all the time.)

And when the day came that he stood on a stage with Hugh, he wished those days from his childhood would return.


Personally, he disagreed with Rosa and Nate, just a tiny bit.

Sure, they might claim that three o'clock was tea time, and might've probably convinced Yancy to think so too, but sometimes, Yancy admitted to him that she thought it would be a much better time for cloud-watching. Sure, their parents might have drunk tea at this time, but there was something about clouds that appealed to her more than tea. Yancy wondered aloud at how Rosa and Nate held a fondness for tea, even though the two didn't drink it; Curtis remembers one time that Rosa and Nate had been invited to a tea party by them, only to have the strange two kids refuse politely.

And Yancy told him to keep her thoughts a secret, because she felt that Rosa and Nate might yell at her if she thought differently, winking as Curtis smiled to himself at the absurdity of Yancy's words.

(Yancy, Rosa and Nate, huh? The three of them? Not me? When did she have the time to talk to them?)

But he kept on smiling, because Yancy was his childhood friend, Nate his best male friend, and Rosa was his second best friend, so he found no way to say anything demeaning about them. After all, he did care very much for them. Rosa especially; she had a personality that Curtis could fall in love with, and he vowed that if he were to ever fall in love, it would be with someone much like her, but definitely not her; she had Nate already. Yep. He thought that one day, he would be the Nate to his Rosa. And then he wanted to slap himself for using his friends as a model for his romantic life.

"That cloud looks like a shoe!"

Curtis found himself rolling his eyes at the cloud Yancy pointed out, clearly not understanding why she was great at journalism when she had little creativity whatsoever, but then he paused and thought about himself. He chose to abandon the thought process. He had a feeling the thoughts would backfire on him.

So he found himself a generally shy child, whose best friends were either extremely popular (Yancy) or extreme outcasts (Nate and Rosa).

Curtis had an affinity for the arts. He sung (rather well, to the point where he was offered many opportunities to star in some show), wrote poetry (but for some reason, while Rosa and Nate did the same, they would never show him their poems), and drew, but sometimes he felt like his thoughts were a bit morose. Too morose. But he was just a kid who was just alone. He needed morose thoughts to accompany him.

(Always alone.)

Looking up again at the cloud Yancy had pointed out, he noted that it looked like war.

Yancy laughed at him, saying that war couldn't be a cloud, and how would he know what war would look like, and that cloud just looked like death to him, huh-

Curtis just shook his head and looked at the clouds.

Three o'clock was cloud watching and poetic justice.


When the new kid, Hugh, transferred into his class, he noticed how tense Nate looked. Nate's eyes kept on darting to Rosa, who was doing exactly the same thing, except glancing at Nate. Curtis sat in the corner, twirling his pencil, and he sat there, watching everything. After all, if anything, Rosa and Nate couldn't do anything during class time, could they?

"Can Yancy come with us?"

(Why not him? Why Yancy? Was there something wrong with him?)

And thus, when it struck three and Yancy was pulled out, Curtis realized that Yancy was partially wrong as well.

(It wasn't the time for dreams.)

Hugh sat into the seat next to him, silently gauging him, before holding out his hand. Curtis shook his hand, smiling at the newly transferred boy.

{It was, not that either of them knew at the time, the first agreement to an alliance.}


When Hugh had spotted Rosa and Nate, and told Curtis and Yancy about Team Plasma, he was looking at Curtis with something that Curtis couldn't describe. There was something called ambition in Hugh's eyes; but not the kind on his or Yancy's eyes, or even the ones on Rosa or Nate.

It was, to say the least, intense.

Curtis could tell, from the way Hugh spoke to the way his fists were clenched, that Hugh hated Team Plasma and that he hated the Rebellion, for which Rosa had helped in.

Hugh had asked them both for help. Yancy had lowered her eyes and looked away, not wishing to respond, which led Curtis to shake Hugh's hand first. There was something wrong. Yancy was supposed to shake. Instead, she shook her head and stated that everything was too confusing, which made Curtis confused. Didn't Yancy want to help? Then again, Curtis thought silently, maybe this isn't the right way to do anything at all.

It didn't help that two years later, on a day where Yancy said she was wondering what the true meaning of ideals was, she was sent to Team Plasma's castle and was declared missing.

Curtis stayed in his room for about a month, only letting Hugh accompany him, because he was sure Hugh would know the same pain as him.

Curtis and Hugh formed an alliance.

They would destroy the ones who took away Rosa and Nate.

They would avenge Yancy.

They would create not just a rebellion, but a revolution.

(But secretly he was just afraid of Hugh leaving him as well; did they really have to destroy so many people?)


It was surprising, to say the least, when Hugh had calls him abruptly over the X-Transceiver and tells Curtis to meet him pronto at the Entralink. In fact, it was at three o'clock in the morning when Curtis quickly teleported to the place mentioned, clothes haphazardly thrown on and eyes barely open. Hugh smirks and twirls his sword around, and Curtis wonders what is so important to wake him up at this time in the morning and he feels like killing Hugh because Curtis was not a morning person, but Hugh just stares at him.

Wonderful.

It is in this dazed half-dream that Curtis thinks what he hears is just part of his dreams:

"I've taken over Team Plasma."

The words to start his nightmares.

(But it was better than having nightmares about being alone.)

(Didn't everyone except for Hugh leave him?)

So he smiles; he smiles and shakes Hugh's hand.

A supposed friend is just merely an ally.


At night, sometimes he dreams about a girl with messy hair, grinning cheekily at him, and he wakes up feeling happy. Even if it was all directed to someone else (Curtis now knew the boy to be the Hero of Truth; Hilbert, and he doesn't want to, but Curtis realizes that Hilbert would be a much better match for Hilda anyway than he would be), Curtis now has a purpose. He has a purpose, and he feels glad in that he's not the only one determined to fulfill it. So he wakes up, determined, to accomplish his goal.

To protect Hilda.

Of course, there was Yancy, Rosa, and Nate as well, but he sort of takes that as a given, seeing that Hugh's plans were to save the three of them all along. It kind of pains Curtis just a little bit that he has to save the Hero of Truth as well, because the boy was clearly the love rival (which had an unfair advantage), but Hilda would definitely be sad without Hilbert, so he just sighs and also takes it as a given.

He was pretty sure Hilbert staying alive would please Nate as well. Knowing Nate, he probably was attached to Hilbert in some way or form.

Curtis doesn't tell Hugh about his encounter with the five; the boy would clearly fly up there using his Pokemon and take out his sword to personally slash their throats, and that is something Curtis clearly doesn't want. So Curtis doesn't mention the obvious alliance between Neo and the Rebellion, but he makes sure that Hugh does not find out from his behaviors.


Even if Hilbert and Hilda were just dolls placed into a failing humanity, they were still more humane than the rest of them;

Even if this world crumbled today, Hilbert, Hilda, Rosa, and Nate would just take comfort in it all;

So what was he?

-Simple.

He wasn't garbage. He wasn't the enemy. He wasn't a savior.

But he was, and he is only, a loner. And he will use that to his advantage.


A/N

...

I JUST REALIZED I SUDDENLY SWITCHED FROM PAST TO PRESENT TONE. MY TEACHER WOULD KILL ME.

So...I have decided that I'll put people from other regions in this story as well...is that okay? I think Yellow will definitely be a part of this story, because if those four were reincarnated then Yellow kind of has to be as well...