"Goodness and Light" for the community

[pokemod]

Title: Goodness and Light

Author: Haruka_Malayo

Rating: T

Verse: Games, Gen IV/Johto

Characters/Pairings: Ethan/Silver, with Lyra/Ethan/Silver friendship

Summary: AU, based off HGSS games, Pokemon world without Pokemon, English language basis (English names, no honorifics). It’s Christmastime in the zombie apocalypse, and all Ethan wants is a tree.

—

Ethan had been lost in a fantasy, drumming his pencil against his desk and staring off into space, when the Cherrygrove Police Department had given the order to evacuate the school.

He had filed out with his class, everyone chattering and checking mobile devices and not treating the situation like an emergency at all, since it never was. There was no storm approaching — sky was typically blue for this time in April. Maybe there had been a school shooting in another town nearby. Ethan wasn’t sure what would cause the entire school to be shut down with no explanation, but nothing ever happened in sleepy little Cherrygrove. He’d be back to trig functions (sadly) in a half hour tops.

He had been about to exit the building with Morty and Faulkner when he had gotten a text. “MEET ME AT MARILL.” Lyra never texted in caps, so Ethan had known it was serious. He had pocketed his phone and, at the last second, had left his line of fellow classmates while leaving the school, bolting to the student parking lot.

Marill was the name of Lyra’s bright blue Bug, named after some fluffy thing in a video game she had played once upon a time. Lyra had waited just long enough for Ethan to throw himself into the shotgun spot before putting the car back into gear. “Oh, by the way, watch where you step.”

“What do you —“ Ethan had then noticed that Lyra’s father’s hatchet was at his feet, and his entire set of shotguns was in the back. He had just enough time to look out the back window at the last fleeting image of his school before it disappeared beyond hills and trees, topography that would soon become his enemy.

Lyra and Ethan had been neighbors “forever;” although Lyra had chosen to go to high school in New Bark at the private academy, they still hung out all the time. Folk who didn’t know Ethan’s secret assumed they were dating. They were joined at the hip, which was why Lyra had driven all the way to Cherrygrove to pick Ethan up once she had heard the news.

Ethan had figured he would be back to math class shortly. He never returned.

—

Silver Cleyera had always been the best at everything. Emphasis on ‘had.’

In those early outbreak days, he had holed himself up at home with his mother, waiting for his father to get home from whatever meeting or trip he was on. He never did — good riddance — but his days of straight-A student, all-star archer, and perfect son were done. Mom was near-worthless against masses of dead, writhing bodies, so Silver had escaped with the pocket knife his father had given him, the only item resembling a weapon he owned.

He received a handgun at the Viridian City Police Department from Sergeant Oak, as well as being assigned to help another family in the area. When the family all died during a breach, he was then assigned to another family by Sergeant Oak. And then another. And another. Finally, he gave up, stole the last remaining Jeep in the city, and hit the road, heading west before the Sergeant could stop him.

The police in Viridian had always said the rest of the country was off-limits. It made sense, considering that three quarters of the town was now gone thanks to those brain eaters. Silver drove through the nearby fields, to the mountains separating his region from the next, crossing over the Tohjo range named for the hidden waterfalls underneath it. Nobody lived out here, so the undead he encountered were few and far between, only increasing once he was over the range.

He figured he’d have to drive all the way to Goldenrod City to find survivors. He was wrong. There were three of them over the mountain — a spitfire girl named Lyra was their leader. They had managed to survive for two months, outlasting everybody else in New Bark Town. Instead of assigning him chores, Lyra welcomed him into their fold.

Silver would have stayed anyway, even without Ethan. Lyra and her small compound were worlds away from Viridian, where everything was regulated and official. But here, in New Bark Town, Lyra and her artificial family picked berries and shared supplies, fighting fair and being honest and working together to keep the diseased ex-humans away. He liked it.

But then there was Ethan, the plucky high-schooler he had almost ran over his first day in New Bark. That charming smile was lodged in Silver’s mind, and no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t go away. Apocalypse, and with it certain death, was no place for romance — and though Lyra had outed Ethan to the entire group several times, Silver’s sexuality was still submerged deep in his subconsciousness.

He’d never date Ethan, considering that the world was ending, so he’d settle for being friends. So they were, Ethan, Lyra, Silver, and Ethan’s mother. Summer was fine, fall yielded a plentiful harvest that Ethan’s mother was able to can, and then, winter arrived — and with it, the promise of a new year, whatever the hell that held.

—

“I already told you,” Silver said as he re-dragged the tinsel back upstairs to the loft. “We are not celebrating Christmas.”

“Oh, come on —“

“No.”

“Yes.”

“I told you no! What do you want to do, Ethan? String up lights and attract zombies with the electricity we don’t have?”

Pause. "Actually, that was sounding like a really good idea --"

"You heard the man." Lyra stood, arms akimbo, at the bottom of the stairs. "Can't attract the walkers. The answer is no."

"Aw, maaaaaan." Ethan slid back down the bannister in his house, landing next to Lyra on the first floor. "I was hoping that we could do something."

"First of all, any celebration we have that has a lot of lights or noise will get us unwanted attention," Lyra noted. "Second of all, you didn't even ask Silver if he celebrates Christmas or not. We did, a long time ago."

"An entire lifetime ago," Ethan grumbled.

"I rest my case."

Well. Now was the time for Ethan's secret weapon. He gave Lyra the look they described as the perfect pout. "Come on..."

Lyra was unfazed. She had seen this pout thousands of times: when they were kids and he wanted the last cookie; in middle school when she had to bail him out of detention; in high school when he needed a lift in Marill. She knew what to expect.

But Silver didn't.

The older red-haired teen walked right in on Lyra looking away from Ethan and Ethan with a well-done puppy-dog face on. Ethan turned right toward Silver, big brown eyes wide for maximum effect. "Silver..."

Oh, dear. Silver ran a hand through his hair. "The last time I celebrated Christmas was five years ago," he said. "It was the last time my dad was home for the holidays. Since then, nothing."

Ethan's pout faded just enough to be sympathetic. "You -- you haven't celebrated in five years? That means you have to celebrate this year!"

"Ok, ok, ok --" Silver held out his hands. "We'll find something to do. No lights, no noise, but something."

Ethan pumped his fists in the air, perfect pout forgotten. "Yes! Okay, I hereby dub myself Leader of the Christmas Committee. I will plan everything for this celebration, down to every little detail --"

"You realize that tomorrow is Thanksgiving," Lyra noted, looking at the wall calendar. "If you want to plan one holiday, you might as well plan another."

Ethan's eyes went wide for a different reason. "Seriously?!?"

--

The biggest draw in New Bark Town, pre-apocalypse, had been the science lab on its fringe. Not long ago, Professor Elm had set up shop there as a biology lab, and had invited Ethan and Lyra's classes for field trips several times. The Professor had left for a trip just before chaos descended, and now his lab was used as a storage facility. Where else would you find huge refrigerators and generators, perfect for storing food through the winter?

Nobody in Lyra's group had known when or where the madness had started. All they knew was that people were dying, then coming back to life as bloodthirsty monsters. If you died normally, as long as your head was cut off and you were given a proper burial, the monsters couldn't get you and bring you back to life. But if you were alive and you were bitten by one of the monsters, well...then you became a monster yourself.

Lyra watched it happen to her parents, early in the morning before school. Thank The Lord her father was the most prolific deer hunter in New Bark Town.

She had found Ethan's mother cowering underneath the kitchen counter, trying to make her deceased husband leave with a kitchen knife. A double tap to the forehead had been all Lyra needed, but it was shortly after that when she loaded up Marill to get Ethan. She shot, hacked, and slashed her way to Cherrygrove and back, and then they stayed locked up in Ethan's house until she could teach Ethan and his mother how to fight. Ethan's mother was best with a hatchet; Ethan did best with any type of gun, though he kept holding a rifle like a pool cue when he was first using it.

Silver had always used the bow and arrow, retrieving arrows and re-using them. Lyra didn't question how he knew how to use it, or how he could be so silent and deadly with it. He was already silent most of the time, though, so she figured she better not ask questions.

--

Ethan's Thanksgiving "celebration" had included a mini-parade from the group, to simulate the one held every year in Goldenrod. That part was nixed by Lyra, but they were still able to have a small dinner consisting of a deer Lyra had shot and skinned, plus some canned vegetables.

They talked over the course of dinner about what their next course of action should be. Ethan's mother said it would be good to find additional civilization, possibly go to Goldenrod and see if there was a better system set up for survival there. Silver had stayed quiet through that talk, remembering Viridian and all of its problems. They were all dead by now, he was sure of it.

Lyra had been in favor of going to Goldenrod, but after winter was done, and for everybody to go together. Ethan's only plans were to find a Christmas tree that would fit inside the house, to which Lyra kindly smacked him upside the head. After some more pondering, they decided to stick with Lyra's plan: decide when the weather broke in the spring.

After that, Ethan had pulled out all the greenery and tinsel he could muster. The plastic mold Frosty went on the front steps, unplugged but still festive. Wreaths went on the doors around his house and Lyra's. Stockings were hung from the chimney. And when night fell, the houses still looked and sounded the same to outside forces.

"You did good, Ethan," Lyra said, giving her best friend a high-five. "Really good."

--

The problem with Ethan was that he got ready for Christmas about thirty days too soon for Silver.

No matter where Silver went during the days that passed, Ethan would be following, singing old Christmas carols, humming things about baby Jesus under his breath and how Santa was going to give them all rifle cartridges for Christmas. After a “Keep religion out of this, I never believed in big white Jesus” from Silver, Ethan kept his songs to tidings of comfort and joy.

There was only one element of their celebrations that was missing: a tree. Before the zombies had descended upon their world, plastic Christmas trees had been all the rage, but neither Ethan nor Lyra’s families had owned one. “This means I have to find a real Christmas tree, and before December 24th,” Ethan rambled. “Or else, Santa won’t have anywhere to put our presents.”

“He’ll have the stockings --” Silver stopped himself. “And you do realize there’s no Santa, right?”

“Mm-hmm. Shun the nonbeliever.” Ethan grinned as he walked by, going to go find an extra axe. “Shunnnnnnn...nah.”

Silver huffed, going back to his guard duty. The four of them rotated guard duty during most times of the day, standing guard at the tallest point in the city: an old water tower that they used for clean water and which made an excellent vantage point. Silver could see the entire area around Ethan and Lyra’s houses, no obstructions.

It hadn’t hurt that the four of them had felled all of the surrounding trees, making it much easier to see.

The only time all four of them were down from the water tower was during dinner, held every night before sundown. It doubled as a team meeting, and all of the doors were locked so no monsters could come in. Zombies were strong only in their beginning stages, and were as dumb as rocks. In addition, New Bark Town benefited from being near a body of water, as well as being relatively rural. Cherrygrove was approximately a half hour’s journey to the west, and any other zombies were dealt with as needed.

Silver figured any other zombies further west would have picked up the trail to Goldenrod. They still saw zombies -- all the time, in fact -- but a little less so these days. It wasn’t uncommon for them to be eating dinner and Ethan’s mother to fire a full round outside the window, but two months ago you would have to fully interrupt dinner to gun down an entire group.

It was almost becoming more peaceful. Maybe Lyra was right. Maybe they needed to move on, to find their way to Goldenrod, once the winter passed. Silver bet she still thought their arrangements chaos. This was more order than Viridian had, that was for sure.

He climbed down from the water tower as Lyra relieved him, then got dragged by Ethan to sing Christmas carols while looking on the outskirts of (what was left of) town for a tree. “You better be singing quietly,” he said as he strung his bow, then put the safety on, ready to fire at will but not before he was ready.

Ethan grinned, somewhere in the middle of Ding, Dong, Merrily On High. “Of course.”

Silver stuffed his feelings back into his throat again. He knew which way Ethan swung, but if Lyra had ever mentioned anything to him, it had gone right over his head. As far as Silver knew, Ethan considered Silver a friend and only that.

That was the problem, though. Silver had always been the quiet, unassuming one, unable to deal with his family’s issues. In another world, he would be rebellious, power hungry, probably stealing from grocery stores and murdering people in cold blood, desperate to get his father’s attention. But in this world, his family was gone, he was far away from that world, and he was now spending all of his time with an incredibly extroverted boy who loved attention -- and hugs.

Silver shared everything he could with Ethan, including aspects he had never told anybody else about, like how bad Viridian City really was. He had never told him about his father. That would be saved for another day. And he had never told him the secret behind his sexuality. For all Ethan knew, Silver had a girlfriend back in Viridian. He planned on keeping that stoic appearance forever, or at least until they got to Goldenrod and he could find somebody else to like.

Acquaintance had turned to like had turned to love. Silver just had no way of showing it other than to be sarcastic, and then on occasion to lend an ear to Ethan.

“Silver! What do you think of this one?” Ethan yelled, on the fringe of the forest that surrounded New Bark.

“I think you’re a fucking idiot,” Silver yelled back, ears cocked. Not only had Ethan yelled out loud, which would attract anything in the area, the tree in question was at least five times Ethan’s height.

“So what? It’s the only one we’ve found --”

Silver closed the distance between them and put a gloved hand up to Ethan’s mouth. “You don’t think, do you?” he hissed.

Ethan’s eyes widened in surprise. “Sorry,” he murmured through the glove, and Silver removed it. “Didn’t mean to.”

“You never mean to,” Silver said, then turned without a sound, drew his bow, and fired. Off in the distance, something heavy sank to the ground. “And that’s why you need to learn.” He left Ethan behind, but it was just a deer -- more food.

It hadn’t snowed yet; the thermometer had said earlier that the temperature was a good few degrees above freezing. Silver figured they would have some time, but hoped for a White Christmas for two reasons. One: it would finally get Ethan to shut up, despite how cute he was being about the entire ordeal.

Two: zombies freeze.

--

December 24th arrived, and Ethan still hadn’t found a goddamned Christmas tree. Silver learned this the hard way when he came down from his watch to find Lyra ready to take over for him, stating that he was missing.

“You fucking idiot,” he muttered under his breath, shouldering his bow and taking a full quiver, running out into the snow with the new boots he had stolen from the nearby store. The sky was turning colors, red as the warning sailors used to give. This time, he didn’t mind yelling out into the vastness, newly fallen snow eating any echo he could use to his advantage. The trees that Ethan had been considering for a Christmas decoration now stood towering above him, burdening snow, a holiday picture of peace that didn’t match Silver’s emotions.

He would have seen Ethan from the water tower if he had went out of town. And yet, he was still missing. When was the last time he saw him? Right before he went up for watch -- Ethan had been working on a popcorn strand with his mother at the house. Ethan had invited Silver to help, but he had said no. He was already starting to regret this.

He readied his bow, just in case, second nature now. Any little noise would set him off, but he told himself to take a mental step back. Heaven forbid he shoot Ethan. Heaven forbid he have to shoot Ethan, if the boy had been bitten while out looking for his God fucking damned Christmas tree -- Silver swore he would hate this holiday forever if anything had happened to Ethan.

He bit his lip. He hated caring about Ethan as much as he did.

He heard the crunch behind him, but for the first time since the zombies arrived, Silver hesitated. Then, he spun with his normal speed and raised his bow, aiming at whatever had caused the noise but not shooting -- not yet. He expected to see the familiar black-and-yellow baseball cap, the heavy red coat, the bright smile announcing for all to hear that he had finally found his Christmas tree.

His eyes widened. He knew this man. But it wasn’t Ethan.

“Sergeant Oak?”

But the Sergeant who had once had wise words for Viridian’s community only had groans and hollow eyes. His police hat was gone, and his uniform was soaked through. Flesh sagged off his bones as he stumbled across the clearing, arms outstretched, mouth open. This was no longer Sergeant Oak.

Silver drew his arrow close, aiming it and firing without another thought. Kill first, think later. The arrow thudded into the Sergeant’s chest, good enough to slow him down but not good enough to stop him. Silver drew another arrow, aiming closer to his head, finally considering that this man who had once led Viridian City could have also become the zombie that ate his best friend. He blinked back tears the best he could, unable to wipe them away.

“I swear to God, if you killed Ethan --”

BANG!

The noise shocked Silver enough that he let go of the string, but his bow arm dropped; the arrow hit the snow. Sergeant Oak stumbled forward and tipped, hitting the bank with a thud. Behind Sergeant Oak was Ethan, both hands on a shotgun as he looked up and above his assailant at Silver.

He put his gun down, back into its holster. “I’m sorry, I --”

Silver marched forward, notched an arrow into his bow, then shot Sergeant Oak in the head at close range. Then, he shouldered his bow, not bothering to retrieve the arrow just yet, and walked toward Ethan. Before the boy could move out of range, Silver grabbed him and pulled him in, muffling his mouth against his coat. The woods became quiet again, the threat gone for now.

“You idiot. Stop yelling.” And then, the tears he didn’t knew existed spring out of nowhere, and he was the one burying his head in Ethan’s coat, bow safely strapped to his back, one hand along Ethan’s scarf, feeling the other boy inhale and exhale in surprise. “Stop...yelling...it only gets...you into trouble.”

A sigh. “I’m sorry I’m so much trouble.”

“I told you. Stop yelling.”

“I’m not --”

Silver pulled away just enough to maneuver, and then, his lips were on Ethan’s and the wood was quiet once more.

--

There would be no Christmas tree that year, Silver told Ethan. Ethan didn’t care any more.

He laid next to Silver, in the bed he had used for years, safe from the world for now. Lyra was watching guard that night, much like the shepherds in the old Christmas story. For a long time, they stayed awake, Ethan recounting his stories of when the world had changed, how he and Lyra had made their way, and precisely when he knew he had fallen for Silver. Unlike Silver, who had fallen hard and fast, Ethan had fallen in slow motion, as the leaves fall in autumn, bit by bit until meeting their fate. Silver said it didn’t matter, that gravity had taken its hold nonetheless.

They woke up to Lyra banging on their door. “You two dressed?”

Silver opened it. “What do you take us for?”

“Two horny teenage boys. Get out here. I got something to show ya.” She left then, leaving Ethan to scramble for decent clothing (which only made Silver smirk more).

Once ready, the two went downstairs and out the front door, stopping short. In front of them was a regular-sized artificial Christmas tree, with bulbs, tinsel, and dimmed lights on it. On top of the tree sat a star.

Lyra crossed her arms. “You idiots. Someone in town had to have one. I fought five zombies trying to drag this home, though. Still has all the shit on it. You think it’ll light up?” And with that, she motioned to the battery generator.

“After all that time you were making a fuss about the tree --” Silver just shook his head. He was about to say the entire deal had been worthless, but then realized he wouldn’t be standing so close to Ethan if Ethan hadn’t started looking for a tree in the first place.

Ethan stared in shock, mouth open. “But -- you said we couldn’t --”

“Oh, be nice and appreciate a gift,” Ethan’s mother noted, coming up from behind and slapping him on the back. “I have cookies and presents inside.”

“Presents?”

“We...may have taken a bunch of frou-frou stuff from the other houses,” Lyra said as she threw the switch, turning the tree on. The multicolored lights gave the snow underneath a rainbow glow, and the star at the top sparkled and glittered. “See? A perfect tree for you two.”

Silver smirked. “If we ever get married, she gets to do it.”

Ethan’s face lit up just like the tree. “Eh?”

“You know. In the future. If there is a future.”

Ethan just grinned, stuffing his hands into his pockets and looking back at the tree with his family. “I don’t know, Silver. If we continue this way, the future couldn’t look brighter.”