whoops forgot to celebrate 40% complete so here yay 40.5% complete! and here i thought last chapter was long, but i just angsted so much in this, i think its one of the longest chapters
i might add an epilogue cos well whaddaya know i've got an extra packet with hard vocab
but back to angsting
T-T Green bby
801. hue: a shade of color
The oranges and yellows of the firelight were beautiful, but the shade of warmth and vitality in Red's eyes and cheekbones was probably the most beautiful color of all. After nearly fifty exhausting hours of white and white and white and then blue and purple sunsets (pink was the warmest color he saw – about the hue of his weathered pokeballs), such warm lights were simply overwhelming.
Green must have been passed out for at least a couple hours, since he could remember seeing the sky darkening (he vaguely remembered collapsing around noon, eyes burning from cold and brilliant white snow). But when he cracked open his eyes for the first time, Red was staring straight at him from across the fire he was curled up dangerously close to. Red must have been staring at him the whole time, because as Green stared shell-shocked, he could see Red shoulders slump in relief. Green's eyes flickered to the fire, to the sky outside and then back to Red's thin cheeks dashed with the warm colors of coursing blood and life, and his ruby eyes.
802. relinquish: to surrender or release
It was a wordless reunion – all the cursing and scolding Green had planned was forgotten. Green just lay on the ground, quietly sobbing with his face in his hands, while Red stared. Green missed Red. And he'd just about relinquished everything a couple hours beforehand, ready to join hands with Arceus and skip off and just… leave. And forget. He'd felt too tired, his heart too exhausted and his body giving in to mortal weaknesses. Too tired to think, too tired to care, too tire to live.
But Red was there with him now, and it didn't matter if Red saw him crying because they were together and together was all that mattered.
803. tributary: a stream flowing into a larger river
When the tears slowed and all that was left were puffy eyes and small hiccups, Green uncovered his face and sat up slowly. Red handed him a cracked cup of hot water. Green shakily reached for the cup, and retracted his hand sharply upon making contact with the cup. It was so warm, so shockingly warm that his blue fingers felt like they were being burned off from the touch.
It seemed like every touch was another reminder of the warmth and beauty of life, and it was so overwhelming. Green had let another hot tear slip down his wind battered face, and that one tear became a tributary to another series of tears.
804. mystical: having a spiritual sense or importance
Red had then gotten up and sat next to him, and taken his hands. Green remembered how Red's hands had become surprisingly calloused, although unhealthily thin. But his hands were warm, and as he rubbed Green's frozen ones, Green had no way to disguise the tears that trickled down his face relentlessly. He blankly watched through blurry eyes as Red enclosed warm, steady hands over his own shaking, bloodless ones.
Green remembered everything from that day; how his fingers stopped trembling, how Red's stare seemed to carry so many apologies, and how the sun set in the mystical blanket of clouds shielding the peak from view. How he had chastely pressed dry lips to Red's warm hands, how Red had squeezed his hand, how Red had held him closely as Charizard flew to Pallet in dying rays of sunlight.
805. staple: a basic or principal item, especially of food
Green had still been living in the professor's laboratory, trying to make way for Daisy and her husband. When Charizard swooped down, Green had held onto Red. Red reciprocated the gesture, before gently pushing him away.
"Please, I can't, Red… Red, you don't know what your mom feels, what I feel, what we all feel, Red don't…" Green felt moisture in his eyes yet again.
Red stared, before shaking his head slowly. "I can't." Green felt his heart ache as he stared at Red's thin arms, his too skinny cheeks, his badly cut hair. Red stared back, his eyes soft and regretful, but his mouth set in a resolute line.
Green could almost hear his heart shatter like glass. Red didn't want him. He fought back a choked sob and shakily tried to regain his composure.
Green gripped Red's wrist tightly. "I – I'll get you a bag of rice, you need some staple food… uh, take a couple blankets too, and all of the potions…" Green struggled to keep himself together as he looked under the doormat for the key, and then pulled Red in. Charizard waited outside.
806. maneuver: to direct through a series of movements; to manipulate into a desired position
Red was a little hesitant, but Green showed no signs of letting go. Red let Green maneuver him around the lab, and to the pantry of the studio place that had set up. Green let go of Red to grab the fifty pound sack of rice, and Red thought of running for it. He turned to dash away, but Green's tortured eyes held him there – those dull green eyes, begging him to wait.
807. ramshackle: about to fall apart or fall down
Charizard grunted as the rice bag was heaved onto his back (Red had taken the sack from Green's shaking arms), and stared curiously as his trainer willingly followed Green back into the lab. They emerged a second time, Red carrying a bundled up blanket with all kinds of things stuffed inside. Red cautiously mounted Charizard, who waited for Green to back off so he could take off.
But Green didn't move anywhere – he walked up and hugged Charizard, who awkwardly hugged back.
"Take care of Red," he'd whispered. And then he'd let go, and backed off, and watched the dragon disappear into the inky sky. He might have seen Red glance back, but it could have been a trick of the misty clouds settling in over the town.
"I love you." Green choked out these three words, and his ramshackle heart, now a tiny remnant of the house of cards he'd originally had, toppled over for good.
808. internecine: pertaining to conflict within a group; mutually destructive
He wandered back into the lab, aimlessly fingering the equipment, trying to invoke memories of the happy past. He should have been starving – he really was, but he had no desire to eat. Instead, he sipped a mug of the professor's horrendously bitter coffee and rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out what the internecine strife between him and Red and Leaf had done to him.
809. hearten: encourage; give strength
The shattering of a plate slipping from his hands brought him back to reality. Latias raised her head up to look at Green, who was staring blankly at the broken pieces of porcelain, some scattered in the sink and others on the ground.
"Grreen? Grreen, you're crying…"
Green rubbed his eyes, laughing hollowly. "Oh, you're right."
Latias stared. She set aside the orb for a moment and flashed through Green's thoughts. An intrusion on privacy, but the brunette needed it – she'd never seen him so lost. Upon reaching his recent flashback, she set aside his thoughts and spoke quietly.
"It's ok to be sad…"
Green looked up – he'd squatted down to pick up the shards, one of which had pierced his foot.
Latias continued. "Think of you now – put the past behind, it hurrts, it hurts so much to lose someone, but you have to keep going, because there are people that need you now, people that want you to be there. Red wants you to be there."
Green felt a little heartened. True, he'd come up the mountain quite a lot after the first encounter, and although Red had never come down, at least he hadn't run off to another cave. And just recently, things had started to come together, with him finally confessing and Red admitting it too.
810. sluggish: lazy; lacking energy
Latias' voice rose gradually in loudness. "You aren't allowed to waste your life, you have to spend it wisely, love who you love, and live! Grreen, you can think back, but you can't walk back, you must walk forrward! You-" she sighed, her voice dropping back to a soft murmur. "You've done what you can, and Red has promised to come down when he is defeated, or in a year's time. It's not your fault."
Green sluggishly wiped off the blood from the cut on his foot. The bright red was entrancing, but Latias' words struck him deeply. He'd never forgiven himself for being so cruel, and although Leaf had gotten back on good terms with him and Red had never accused him anyway, he hadn't let himself forget what he'd done. The hot droplets of water fell freely, but his voice steadied.
"Thank you Latias. Thank you."