Prompt: Hero and Ash for "I'm sick of being USELESS."
When he went to investigate the thumping noise he kept hearing, the last thing Ash expected to find was his idol banging their head against one of the wooden gate posts in the park.
He walked over, curious and more than a little concerned, and called out to them.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
They paused, just long enough for him to think they might answer, but went right back to banging their head in.
He frowned, and slipped his hand in between Hero and the post while they had their head drawn back. His frown only deepened when he took the opportunity to get a better look at Hero and noticed how disheveled they were.
"Hero?" He asked. "Are you feeling alright?"
They just stared at them, eyes half-lidded and red around the edges.
"Hero?"
"…..'Mfine…"
They thumped their head against his hand and Ash winced, not so much because it hurt, but because the plating on his gauntlets would surely leave a bruise on their forehead. He watched them slide down the post with growing concern, their legs crouching and their back curving until he was sure just a single push would send them toppling to the ground.
"You don't look fine." He said.
They didn't answer, and he leaned down to better speak.
"Mind telling me what's wrong?"
They looked at him again, and Ash thought he might get his answer, but they just turned around and settled on the grass, back against the post and eyes staring into the trees.
And then he got his answer anyway.
"You remember, way back, when we were fighting Sepulchure?" They asked.
He nodded. Those were strange and threatening times. He'd grown from a boy to a man then, figuratively if not physically.
"That was easy. We just had to get the orbs and stop him. And then Wargoth came, and he was pretty easy too, when we figured that we had to merge him and the Professor back together. But…."
"But…The Rose?"
"Yeah." They said. "The Rose. They're not easy at all. I don't really know what to do with them. I mean if you think about it they're the same kind of threat as Sepulchure or Wargoth were, a big bad evil guy at the top of a huge army trying to wreck the world. But, at the same time, they're way different. When I made a move against Sepulchure or Wargoth, I knew it hit them, and I knew it made a difference, no matter how small."
"…..But with The Rose, I don't know if I am making a difference. No matter what I do it feels like everything is the same as it was when I started, and any moves I make only amount to just me flailing around being useless."
They looked down, and Ash suddenly realized that they'd started crying. He put a hand on their shoulder and sat down next to them as the tears flowed.
"I'm sick of being useless, Ash." They said. "But I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
He didn't quite know what to say.
So he just sat there with them in silence.