Warning: I do not own or claim to own Pokemon or any of the original characters from the show in any way shape or form. My own OC's are mine though, sorry.
Second Chapter! we're starting to move, soon up will be a short arc of Keeran at 5 and what she experiences in the weeks surrounding her 5th birthday. until then though, she's still four.
The biggest tragedy of my young life happened when I was four.
Both my mom and dad were leaving for a mission for the first time ever. Now, that's not to say I had never had a babysitter before, usually a grunt got babysitting duty as punishment, but usually one or both of my parents were still in the complex if I needed them for something my bored and unknowledgeable babysitter didn't know about. For the first time since my birth though both my parents were leaving for a mission though, so that meant it was just my babysitters and grandpa.
And grandpa Giovanni was the last person I wanted to go to for help. The only reason I went to him is when I messed something up so badly that everything became complete chaos, and even then whatever babysitter I had went to him, not me. Those were probably the only times he was anywhere near proud of me. Like when I was 3 and I caused a charizard to burn down a poke center near his gym. It was funny afterword since no one was hurt, but that's another story I might tell some other time.
No, both my parents had left, and neither one would return.
It was a simple re-con mission. Go to a volcano in Kanto, disturb the areas Pokémon, take data and observe, and cause some random chaos, then return home and wait for the results to see if they differed from the last time Team Rocket was there.
Except it didn't go as planned.
The volcano erupted.
And my parents, the only people in the world who really truly loved me died.
That was the only time I ever saw my grandpa falter.
I was surprised to find him in my room, it was far past my bed time and I had gone to sleep like the good little angel that I was. He had woken me; the light through the door when he entered was enough to wake me. I was waiting for my mom and dad to come home and give my proper good night hugs and kisses. I sat up as he sat down, sitting on the edge of my bed, his back to me.
I remember every word of our conversation.
"Grandpa?" I had asked, confused. The man never came to my room if my parents weren't there.
"Their gone." He had stated, as if that were enough to make a four year old fully grasp the situation.
Who's gone?" I had asked innocently. Then he finally turned to face me. He looked older than he had ever appeared before. Every wrinkle, every line was accented in the dim light of the room as he fully made me understand. He handed me a set of rings on a chain. I knew those rings.
They were my parents' rings.
I took the rings on their chain carefully in my tiny hands in wonder. Mom said she kept them on no matter where she went beside on missions and even then she wore them on a chain around her neck. Daddy always kept his rings on too unless on a mission, and then he gave them to mom to hold onto until the mission was over. I had noticed it and knew it even at four years old; it was as set in stone as it was that grandpa never came to my room for anything good happening to me.
This time was no different.
"A Pidgeot, I mean Midge," He had adapted, using the name I knew my father's favorite Pokémon by. "Flew here just an hour ago with these, She barely made it back. Everyone that went on that mission with Rachel and Silver is gone." He attempted to explain, fumbling over his words so that I could try and understand.
"Gone? Gone for a little bit longer? Or a long time longer?" I asked, still confused as to what he was trying to tell me.
"No Keeran, they won't be gone for a little longer, or a long time longer. Your mom and dad, my Rachel and Silver aren't coming back. They are gone forever. We'll never see them again. It's just you and me now." He told me, looking away from me and in the opposite direction, out my window into the dark moonless sky.
I soaked in what he had said, finally getting it as I started to cry. "Their dead." I brutally stated as only a child could as I crawled out from under my covers and onto his lap when he didn't answer. "Grandpa? Their dead forever and their not coming back." I had stated, sobbing so hard that I could only just barely be understood.
"That's right." He had answered, holding me for maybe the fifth time in my life, rocking me as I cried and he watched out the window. He may not know it but I saw his tears. They were few, and far in between, but they were tears.
And he cried.