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Until We Meet Again (PG-13, White, Black, N) for kmchwr
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kmchwr
Title: Until We Meet Again
Author:john_egbert
Rating: T for Teen
Verse: Gameverse (Generation V)
Characters: White, Black, N
Summary: White (with a little help from family) manages to track N down to a hospital in Castelia. Reunions, friendship, and illegal breaking and entering ensue.
A/N: I should note that this fic is not B2W2 compliant, as I’m not currently far enough in that game to write for it. (What can I say, I’m a slow gamer.) I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!
When the phone rang at three in the morning, White almost didn’t answer it. She was tired, weary down to her very bones from battles and Champion’s duties and the endless, pointless search. But instinct won out eventually (it could be an emergency, after all; if she slept through some natural disaster or Pokémon attack she’d never forgive herself) and she groped exhaustedly around on her nightstand until she found her phone.
“Hello?” she mumbled.
“Hey,” Black said from the other end of the line. “Come on down to Castelia City as soon as you get the chance. I think they might’ve found your guy.”
Suddenly, White wasn’t sleepy anymore.
---
The trip from Opelucid to Castelia took just over an hour on her swanna’s back. White spent most of that time alternately desperately hoping her brother was right (and imagining the wrath she’d rain down on his head if he’d dragged her all this way for a false alarm) and wishing she’d brought a thicker coat. Winter was just beginning to set in, and it was cold this early in the morning, even with Mintale purposely keeping a low altitude for her benefit.
The sun was just beginning to rise as they finally landed, a hint of pink brushing the dark sky above them as Mintale swooped to a graceful landing on one of Castelia’s many piers. It didn’t get any warmer, unfortunately; White was pretty sure she had icicles hanging off her body. She shivered, desperately rubbing her hands against her arms, and decided she was going to kill her brother no matter what.
“Good job, Mintale,” she said, and recalled the swanna back into her pokéball. “Go back to sleep, all right?” The poor girl deserved a nice rest after that sort of flight.
White sighed and unclipped her phone from her belt. After a few wrong numbers—stupid numb fingers, gloves would’ve been nice too—she finally managed to get Black’s number in. It rang once, twice, three times, and just when she was right about ready to throw the phone into the ocean her brother finally picked up.
“Hey,” he said, sounding tense. “Where are you?”
“I just landed in Castelia. I’m on, um…” she glanced around, “Pier nine, it looks like. Over near the Pokémon Center. Where should I be?”
“The hospital.”
“The hospital?” White nearly dropped her phone. Was that better or worse than the police station? “Is he going to be all right?”
“I don’t think he’s hurt too badly,” Black replied. “But they won’t let me in and I can’t get any information out of anyone, so for all I know they could be zipping him into a body bag right now. I’m sure they’ll let the Champion in, though, so the sooner you get here the better.”
White shuddered. “Yeah, thanks for putting that thought into my head.”
The hospital was a familiar destination; it was one of the best in Unova, and she’d been there several times before when she’d gotten a little too reckless in her pursuit of Team Plasma. Even in the relative darkness it was easy enough to pick the proper route out.
“Alright,” she said, “I’m heading over now. Anything I should know before I get there?”
“Nah,” Black replied, “I’ll fill you in once you show up. I’m in the lobby on the first floor, so you’ll see me as soon as you walk in, ‘kay?”
“Yeah,” she said, shoulder slumped to protect against the chill. Her earlier anger had drained away, leaving nothing but a nervous sort of weariness. What if it wasn’t him in there? Or it was him, but he was badly hurt? Or if he didn’t want to speak to her at all? White bit her lip. No use dwelling on it now. She needed action, not pointless worry.
“Black?” she said, softly.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. I mean it.”
She couldn’t see him, but she could practically hear the smile in his voice. “No problem,” he said. “That’s what family’s for, right?”
---
Black waved to White as soon as she walked in the door. The heat was glorious, though, and she took a moment just to close her eyes and enjoy it before she walked over to him. Thank you, Arceus.
He was standing in a corner of the room—a wise choice, as the plastic chairs in the lobby were far too small for any reasonable teenager to sit comfortably in—looking every bit as exhausted as she felt. White felt a sudden pang of sympathy and affection for him; his job might not be as glamorous, but he and his team didn’t work any less than she did. And even after battling all day down in Nimbasa, he was still willing to spend hours standing in a hospital watching over a boy he’d never even met.
“Hey,” he said as soon as she approached. “So, I’m pretty sure the entire hospital staff thinks I’m some sort of nutcase or something, thanks to this whole screw-up.”
“What did you do?” Maybe she was going to have to take back that sympathy.
Black raised his hands in a defensive gesture. “Hey, hey, I didn’t do anything, a’ight? But if a guy shows up at half-past midnight asking to see a patient who he shouldn’t even know is in this hospital, without any sort of proof he even knows the person, it’s natural they’d get a little suspicious. I’m pretty lucky they didn’t kick me out altogether, really.” He glanced around carefully, making sure there was no one near to overhear them (not that it was much of a danger at this time of night) and dropped his voice to a whisper. “I haven’t seen the police or anything, though, so at least I don’t think they know who he is, either.”
White breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s one good thing, at least. How did you even hear he was supposed to be here, anyway?”
“One of my challengers yesterday evening was a park ranger who worked out in the Desert Resort. He mentioned while we were battling that his team had pulled an unconscious man suffering from severe dehydration out of Relic Castle. He said, and I quote, that the person he rescued had “ridiculous-looking green hair”, and, well.” Black shrugged. “I figured that sounded like someone you might’ve mentioned to me once or twice before.”
They both grinned at that; even White had to admit that one or two hundred times might’ve been a more accurate description. Still, she was glad she had brought it up so often. Black was a powerful figure in Nimbasa’s subway battling scene, second only to Ingo and Emmet in terms of both strength and status. While his choice of challenge might not have granted him as much fame or prestige as hers’ had, Black had far better access to information, gossip, and leaked knowledge than White. It was an old saying in Unova that all news passed through the railways first; White just hoped it was a true one.
“Okay, then,” she said, and nodded. “Let it be fully known that I hereby acknowledge you as the best brother in the whole entire world.”
Black covered his mouth with one hand, trying and failing to look modest. “Oh, do go on.”
“So I suppose it’s up to me from here on out?”
“Yeah.” Black nodded. “Unless you want Amanda to just brute-force us in.”
As strangely amusing as the thought of Black’s ferrothorn tearing through a hospital was, White was hoping for a plan that didn’t end with them both stripped of their titles and facing twenty to twenty-five years in prison. She shook her head.
“Nah. Tempting, but I’ve got this under control.”
White strode over to the front desk, straightening her posture and working a commanding smile onto her face. Being recognized as the Unova Champion was far more how she presented herself than her actual appearance, and right now that was she needed.
“Hello,” she said, stopping in front of the receptionist. “By any chance, might you have admitted a young man with green hair at some point this past evening?”
“If you’re with that other boy,” the receptionist said, looking down at his computer screen, “then you can tell him that there is absolutely no way—” he glanced up, and immediately all the color drained out of his face. “Ch-champion White!”
Every moment of work that had gone into becoming Champion was worth it in moments like these. Inside, White was smirking triumphantly; outside, she only smiled politely at the receptionist and said, “Pleasure to meet you, mister…” she glanced at his nametag, “Jones.”
“Ah… yes, of course, pleasure to meet you as well!” The man’s face was snowstorm-pale and only getting paler, and he was twitching in his chair like he couldn’t decide whether to stand or stay seated.
“Anyway, as my brother apparently discussed with you, it’s a matter of extreme importance that I be allowed to see the patient you admitted earlier, if indeed you did admit him. We’ve reason to believe he may be a key witness in a sigilyph-poaching operation, you see.”
It was a bald-faced lie, but at least it sounded true. Sigilyph were often poaching victims due to their exotic coloring, limited habitat, and popularity among collectors from other regions. Plus, it would serve as a handy explanation for why he’d been found in Relic Castle. (Something she was rather curious about herself.)
“Your… brother?” He looked between the two of them: Black standing about ten feet back and grinning openly, White in front of him with a polite smile. When they were together like this, the similarities between them were obvious, and White could see the recognition in his eyes.
“Oh…” he said faintly. “Oh. He didn’t tell me that.”
White couldn’t help but feel a little bit of sympathy for the man; after all, he’d only been trying to do his job.
“Honestly, would you have believed him?” White leaned over the desk and gave the man an amused look, lowering her voice a little. “It’s not a problem, I promise. I know he can be a little…overbearing sometimes, and I’m sure you did what you judged to be best.” She perked up, clasping her hands together, and raised her voice again. “So! How about you just show us the way and we forget this little bit of silliness ever happened, yes?”
Mister Brown nodded so enthusiastically White was half-afraid his head would fly off. “Yes, of course,” he said. “Right this way, please, Miss Champion and guest.”
He led the three of them out of the lobby, ignoring the open stares of the patients there, and into an elevator. Fifth floor, just like Black had said, and then they were stopping in front of room 513.
Mister Brown wrung his hands nervously. “He’s right in here. He’s still, sleeping, though, so I’ll have to ask you respect that…”
White giggled. “I promise not to damage your patient in any way! He’s not a suspect or anything like that, and even if he were I wouldn’t bully an injured man.” Though, if this was the right person, she was going to have to work very hard on resisting the urge to slap him.
“No, no, of course not! I trust you fully.” The man wiped a drop of sweat off his brow and stepped back from the door. “I’ll be back in the lobby if you require my assistance.”
“Thank you so much,” she said, smiling warmly, and then she pulled Black through the door and shut it behind them.
There he was.
“N…” White breathed. Her hands felt sweaty and her throat was bone dry.
Despite everything: the midnight flight, inconveniencing her brother, gaining access to a patient’s room under false pretenses, she hadn’t really expected it to be him. Some part of her had assumed it would be a false alarm, sorry, bro, go back home to her own bed and sleep off the disappointment and frustration and rage until it didn’t hurt so much anymore.
Already, after less than a year, N had become like a fairytale to her, a myth she believed in but never expected to encounter. And now her fable was laying unconscious in front of her, dirty and disheveled with IV drips trailing from his arms.
“This is him?” Black asked, sounding skeptical. “The guy you’ve been going absolutely fucking insane over losing?”
She couldn’t quite explain it: his helplessness, his innocence, the way he managed to wrap your heart around his pinky finger without even trying. Instead, she said, “You should see him when he’s awake. He’s got eyes like a box-full of baby eevee, I swear.”
As if on cue, N’s eyelashes fluttered.
“N?” White asked, softly. Suddenly, she was unsure of herself. N had run away, after all, and she was sure he would’ve been able to at least send a postcard if her really wanted to see her. Would he be angry to realize she’d tracked him down like this?
“…White?” N asked, dazedly. He was blinking in the dim light, looking soft and frail and terribly confused. “Is… is that you? Where am I?”
White didn’t speak. Her throat felt as though it was about to drop in to her stomach.
“Hey,” Black hissed, and shoved her forward. “Don’t tell me you’re going to go all tongue-tied now.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and dug her elbow into his ribs, (it was the sisterly thing to do) but she had to admit he was right. Her steps slow and shaking, she crossed the room to crouch at N’s bedside.
“Hey,” she replied, and tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Yeah, it’s totally me.” She wasn’t quite sure how to follow that up. “Um, surprise?”
N’s brow furrowed and his face pulled down into a frown. “You shouldn’t be here!” he hissed, sounding frantic. “What are you doing here?”
White jerked back, stung. She’d told herself to prepare for a reaction like that, but somehow it still hurt. This was N, after all, not some random stranger off the street. They might have been enemies for most of the time they’d known each other, but White still cared for him more than she’d admit.
It was Black who spoke up first. “Hey!” he snapped, striding towards N, “Are you kidding? After all I went through trying to track you down, this is how you’re going to act?”
“Er.” N blinked. “Sorry… but who are you, exactly?”
“Ah,” White stepped in, “N, this is my brother, Black. Black, this is N.”
“You have a brother?”
“Yup! He lived with our dad, so I didn’t get to see him as much as I liked when we were younger. He’s awesome, though; he works on the Battle Subway and he’s really good.” She knew she was rambling, but better mildly embarrassing family stories than her brother trying to get into a fight with N.
“Well,” N said, “If you’re her brother you should have known better! I expect White to be impossibly reckless, but if she gets arrested I won’t forgive you!”
White blinked. “Wait, arrested?” He wasn’t supposed to be worrying about her getting arrested; she was worrying about him getting arrested.
“Haven’t you seen?” N chewed nervously on his bottom lip. “I’m a wanted criminal, White. There’s posters up for me and everything. If they find out you came here to visit me instead of turning me in, you could be in a lot of trouble.” He gave her a soft, sad look. “I’ve caused you enough trouble already.”
“Oh, N.” He’d probably be a little alarmed if she tried to hug him, so she managed to keep herself from just throwing her arms around his shoulders. Instead, she just patted him on the top of the head, taking the opportunity to straighten out of a piece of hair that had been sticking out. “That is the stupidest, sweetest thing I have ever heard in my entire life.”
“Huh?” He looked hopelessly bewildered.
“Trust me,” she said, “It’s not me you have to worry about. If my meetings with the other regions’ champions are to go by, there is a long and honored tradition of getting friendly with reformed criminals. It’s a little embarrassing, really; I feel like I should’ve kept on hating you just to break the trend.”
“Would’ve saved me a whole lot of trouble, too,” Black grumbled, but he didn’t sound all that upset.
“I promise I’m not going to get arrested or stripped of my title or anything like that for meeting you here. Okay? It’s you we should be worrying about—you’re the one with his face on the wanted posters, after all.”
“Really?”
White nodded.
N sighed in relief. “I’m very happy to hear that. At least I won’t be hurting you. Nevertheless, I am a wanted criminal.” He glanced around the room, as if only now noticing where he was. “Perhaps I should see about leaving before anyone else discovers me here.” He slid his legs out from the covers and moved as if to stand. The moment he tried to put his weight on his feet, however, his legs slid out from under him and his knees buckled, sending him falling to the floor.
“Whoa!” Black moved in and grabbed his shoulders, while White quickly wrapped an arm around his side. Together, they carefully lowered him back into bed, trying not to rip the IVs out of his arm as they did.
“You’re in the hospital for a reason, you know!” Black snapped, sounding half-exasperated and half-worried. “You think you can just waltz out of bed whenever you feel like it?”
Despite her own worry, White couldn’t help but smile. It was easy to tell that N was growing on Black already, just like she knew he would. N had a sort of easygoing honesty; it made it impossible to get truly angry at him, no matter what terrible decisions he made.
“I wasn’t… I wasn’t expecting to be that weak,” N murmured, his face pale.
“You collapsed in the bowels of the Relic Castle,” Black retorted. “I think it’s safe to say, that you are, in fact, that weak right now.”
N nodded reluctantly. “Zekrom wanted me to go. That place is old, older than him maybe. I don’t know what attracts him to it, but it was obvious he was very eager.”
“Was Zekrom also desperate for you to dehydrate yourself?”
“Black,” White hissed. “Stop it.”
“No,” N shook his head, “It’s my own fault. I was being reckless.” He smiled at White and Black both. “Thank you both for caring about my wellbeing.” He shifted his weight, looked nervously at the IVs and at his own shaking legs. “I’m sorry to ask you for anything else, but could you maybe help me out of this place? I’d call on Zekrom—” he patted the single pokéball hanging from his belt—“But I have a feeling he’d be…kind of conspicuous. I’m happy to see you, White, I truly am, but I don’t think it’s safe for me to stay in this place”
“Erm. About that.” White looked desperately to her brother. He just shrugged and gave her a look. The meaning was clear: You tell him.
White took a deep breath. “N, I want you to turn yourself in.”
“What?” The look N gave her was one of utmost betrayal, like she’d simultaneously broken his heart, destroyed all his earthly possessions, and kicked a baby skitty just for good measure. It took all her willpower not to relent.
“Listen to me, N,” she snapped, grabbing his shoulder. “I’m not saying that to try and get you in trouble, okay? I’m the Champion, I’ve got political power, and everyone involved in hunting down Team Plasma realizes you weren’t the one making the plans. You go to the police first, turn yourself in and say you want to cooperate? With my help, you could get off with a few years probation.” She couldn’t tell if she was getting through to him; the look on N’s face was guarded and drawn. White pressed on. “They could use your help big-time in tracking down the people who actually were out there hurting Pokémon—they’re not going to sabotage their own efforts by throwing you in jail. I wouldn’t let them if they tried,” she hissed viciously, more to herself than anyone else.
“But,” Black added, stepping forward into the conversation, “You keep running and eventually they’ll find you. What do you think happens if you get into a fight with the police using a Zekrom? White’s good, but there isn’t a person on this planet who could bail you out of those charges.” Black frowned and cracked his knuckles. “You’ve already made my sister cry enough, you know.”
“Hey!” White snapped. “I was never crying!” She’d totally cried, multiple times, but N definitely didn’t need to know that.
Black ignored her protests. “So.” He stepped forward, looking down at N. “What do you say?”
For a long moment N glanced between them, looking more like a trapped Pokémon than a human being. Finally, he looked down, his gaze focused on his hands.
White’s heart dropped into her stomach. He was going to say no, she knew it. She recognized a ‘sorry to disappoint you’ face when she saw one.
“Okay…” N murmured. He looked up, nervous but determined. “Okay, you’re right. I’ll turn myself in.”
“Eh?” For a second, White could only sit there, stunned. “Really?”
N nodded.
This time, she didn’t hold back. White threw her arms around his neck, drawing him into a tight hug. N rested his head on her shoulder, face buried in her shirt, and if she felt a little bit of dampness on the corner of her sleeve, well, she wasn’t going to say anything. For a moment the two of them sat there, White half-kneeling in order to hold him properly.
Black coughed. “Well, then,” he said awkwardly, standing off to the side.
White grinned. “Oh, you big baby,” she said, carefully untangling one of her arms in order to take his hand. She yanked him forward, dragging him down next to herself and N. “Get into the group hug already. No one’s around to judge you for it.”
Black sighed and grumbled, but nevertheless kneeled down next to White and threw one awkward arm around the two of them.
“So,” he whispered into her ear. “Are you finally happy?
“Yeah,” she said, leaning her head against his. “I am.”
(They all were.)
kmchwrTitle: Until We Meet Again
Author:
john_egbert Rating: T for Teen
Verse: Gameverse (Generation V)
Characters: White, Black, N
Summary: White (with a little help from family) manages to track N down to a hospital in Castelia. Reunions, friendship, and illegal breaking and entering ensue.
A/N: I should note that this fic is not B2W2 compliant, as I’m not currently far enough in that game to write for it. (What can I say, I’m a slow gamer.) I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!
When the phone rang at three in the morning, White almost didn’t answer it. She was tired, weary down to her very bones from battles and Champion’s duties and the endless, pointless search. But instinct won out eventually (it could be an emergency, after all; if she slept through some natural disaster or Pokémon attack she’d never forgive herself) and she groped exhaustedly around on her nightstand until she found her phone.
“Hello?” she mumbled.
“Hey,” Black said from the other end of the line. “Come on down to Castelia City as soon as you get the chance. I think they might’ve found your guy.”
Suddenly, White wasn’t sleepy anymore.
---
The trip from Opelucid to Castelia took just over an hour on her swanna’s back. White spent most of that time alternately desperately hoping her brother was right (and imagining the wrath she’d rain down on his head if he’d dragged her all this way for a false alarm) and wishing she’d brought a thicker coat. Winter was just beginning to set in, and it was cold this early in the morning, even with Mintale purposely keeping a low altitude for her benefit.
The sun was just beginning to rise as they finally landed, a hint of pink brushing the dark sky above them as Mintale swooped to a graceful landing on one of Castelia’s many piers. It didn’t get any warmer, unfortunately; White was pretty sure she had icicles hanging off her body. She shivered, desperately rubbing her hands against her arms, and decided she was going to kill her brother no matter what.
“Good job, Mintale,” she said, and recalled the swanna back into her pokéball. “Go back to sleep, all right?” The poor girl deserved a nice rest after that sort of flight.
White sighed and unclipped her phone from her belt. After a few wrong numbers—stupid numb fingers, gloves would’ve been nice too—she finally managed to get Black’s number in. It rang once, twice, three times, and just when she was right about ready to throw the phone into the ocean her brother finally picked up.
“Hey,” he said, sounding tense. “Where are you?”
“I just landed in Castelia. I’m on, um…” she glanced around, “Pier nine, it looks like. Over near the Pokémon Center. Where should I be?”
“The hospital.”
“The hospital?” White nearly dropped her phone. Was that better or worse than the police station? “Is he going to be all right?”
“I don’t think he’s hurt too badly,” Black replied. “But they won’t let me in and I can’t get any information out of anyone, so for all I know they could be zipping him into a body bag right now. I’m sure they’ll let the Champion in, though, so the sooner you get here the better.”
White shuddered. “Yeah, thanks for putting that thought into my head.”
The hospital was a familiar destination; it was one of the best in Unova, and she’d been there several times before when she’d gotten a little too reckless in her pursuit of Team Plasma. Even in the relative darkness it was easy enough to pick the proper route out.
“Alright,” she said, “I’m heading over now. Anything I should know before I get there?”
“Nah,” Black replied, “I’ll fill you in once you show up. I’m in the lobby on the first floor, so you’ll see me as soon as you walk in, ‘kay?”
“Yeah,” she said, shoulder slumped to protect against the chill. Her earlier anger had drained away, leaving nothing but a nervous sort of weariness. What if it wasn’t him in there? Or it was him, but he was badly hurt? Or if he didn’t want to speak to her at all? White bit her lip. No use dwelling on it now. She needed action, not pointless worry.
“Black?” she said, softly.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. I mean it.”
She couldn’t see him, but she could practically hear the smile in his voice. “No problem,” he said. “That’s what family’s for, right?”
---
Black waved to White as soon as she walked in the door. The heat was glorious, though, and she took a moment just to close her eyes and enjoy it before she walked over to him. Thank you, Arceus.
He was standing in a corner of the room—a wise choice, as the plastic chairs in the lobby were far too small for any reasonable teenager to sit comfortably in—looking every bit as exhausted as she felt. White felt a sudden pang of sympathy and affection for him; his job might not be as glamorous, but he and his team didn’t work any less than she did. And even after battling all day down in Nimbasa, he was still willing to spend hours standing in a hospital watching over a boy he’d never even met.
“Hey,” he said as soon as she approached. “So, I’m pretty sure the entire hospital staff thinks I’m some sort of nutcase or something, thanks to this whole screw-up.”
“What did you do?” Maybe she was going to have to take back that sympathy.
Black raised his hands in a defensive gesture. “Hey, hey, I didn’t do anything, a’ight? But if a guy shows up at half-past midnight asking to see a patient who he shouldn’t even know is in this hospital, without any sort of proof he even knows the person, it’s natural they’d get a little suspicious. I’m pretty lucky they didn’t kick me out altogether, really.” He glanced around carefully, making sure there was no one near to overhear them (not that it was much of a danger at this time of night) and dropped his voice to a whisper. “I haven’t seen the police or anything, though, so at least I don’t think they know who he is, either.”
White breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s one good thing, at least. How did you even hear he was supposed to be here, anyway?”
“One of my challengers yesterday evening was a park ranger who worked out in the Desert Resort. He mentioned while we were battling that his team had pulled an unconscious man suffering from severe dehydration out of Relic Castle. He said, and I quote, that the person he rescued had “ridiculous-looking green hair”, and, well.” Black shrugged. “I figured that sounded like someone you might’ve mentioned to me once or twice before.”
They both grinned at that; even White had to admit that one or two hundred times might’ve been a more accurate description. Still, she was glad she had brought it up so often. Black was a powerful figure in Nimbasa’s subway battling scene, second only to Ingo and Emmet in terms of both strength and status. While his choice of challenge might not have granted him as much fame or prestige as hers’ had, Black had far better access to information, gossip, and leaked knowledge than White. It was an old saying in Unova that all news passed through the railways first; White just hoped it was a true one.
“Okay, then,” she said, and nodded. “Let it be fully known that I hereby acknowledge you as the best brother in the whole entire world.”
Black covered his mouth with one hand, trying and failing to look modest. “Oh, do go on.”
“So I suppose it’s up to me from here on out?”
“Yeah.” Black nodded. “Unless you want Amanda to just brute-force us in.”
As strangely amusing as the thought of Black’s ferrothorn tearing through a hospital was, White was hoping for a plan that didn’t end with them both stripped of their titles and facing twenty to twenty-five years in prison. She shook her head.
“Nah. Tempting, but I’ve got this under control.”
White strode over to the front desk, straightening her posture and working a commanding smile onto her face. Being recognized as the Unova Champion was far more how she presented herself than her actual appearance, and right now that was she needed.
“Hello,” she said, stopping in front of the receptionist. “By any chance, might you have admitted a young man with green hair at some point this past evening?”
“If you’re with that other boy,” the receptionist said, looking down at his computer screen, “then you can tell him that there is absolutely no way—” he glanced up, and immediately all the color drained out of his face. “Ch-champion White!”
Every moment of work that had gone into becoming Champion was worth it in moments like these. Inside, White was smirking triumphantly; outside, she only smiled politely at the receptionist and said, “Pleasure to meet you, mister…” she glanced at his nametag, “Jones.”
“Ah… yes, of course, pleasure to meet you as well!” The man’s face was snowstorm-pale and only getting paler, and he was twitching in his chair like he couldn’t decide whether to stand or stay seated.
“Anyway, as my brother apparently discussed with you, it’s a matter of extreme importance that I be allowed to see the patient you admitted earlier, if indeed you did admit him. We’ve reason to believe he may be a key witness in a sigilyph-poaching operation, you see.”
It was a bald-faced lie, but at least it sounded true. Sigilyph were often poaching victims due to their exotic coloring, limited habitat, and popularity among collectors from other regions. Plus, it would serve as a handy explanation for why he’d been found in Relic Castle. (Something she was rather curious about herself.)
“Your… brother?” He looked between the two of them: Black standing about ten feet back and grinning openly, White in front of him with a polite smile. When they were together like this, the similarities between them were obvious, and White could see the recognition in his eyes.
“Oh…” he said faintly. “Oh. He didn’t tell me that.”
White couldn’t help but feel a little bit of sympathy for the man; after all, he’d only been trying to do his job.
“Honestly, would you have believed him?” White leaned over the desk and gave the man an amused look, lowering her voice a little. “It’s not a problem, I promise. I know he can be a little…overbearing sometimes, and I’m sure you did what you judged to be best.” She perked up, clasping her hands together, and raised her voice again. “So! How about you just show us the way and we forget this little bit of silliness ever happened, yes?”
Mister Brown nodded so enthusiastically White was half-afraid his head would fly off. “Yes, of course,” he said. “Right this way, please, Miss Champion and guest.”
He led the three of them out of the lobby, ignoring the open stares of the patients there, and into an elevator. Fifth floor, just like Black had said, and then they were stopping in front of room 513.
Mister Brown wrung his hands nervously. “He’s right in here. He’s still, sleeping, though, so I’ll have to ask you respect that…”
White giggled. “I promise not to damage your patient in any way! He’s not a suspect or anything like that, and even if he were I wouldn’t bully an injured man.” Though, if this was the right person, she was going to have to work very hard on resisting the urge to slap him.
“No, no, of course not! I trust you fully.” The man wiped a drop of sweat off his brow and stepped back from the door. “I’ll be back in the lobby if you require my assistance.”
“Thank you so much,” she said, smiling warmly, and then she pulled Black through the door and shut it behind them.
There he was.
“N…” White breathed. Her hands felt sweaty and her throat was bone dry.
Despite everything: the midnight flight, inconveniencing her brother, gaining access to a patient’s room under false pretenses, she hadn’t really expected it to be him. Some part of her had assumed it would be a false alarm, sorry, bro, go back home to her own bed and sleep off the disappointment and frustration and rage until it didn’t hurt so much anymore.
Already, after less than a year, N had become like a fairytale to her, a myth she believed in but never expected to encounter. And now her fable was laying unconscious in front of her, dirty and disheveled with IV drips trailing from his arms.
“This is him?” Black asked, sounding skeptical. “The guy you’ve been going absolutely fucking insane over losing?”
She couldn’t quite explain it: his helplessness, his innocence, the way he managed to wrap your heart around his pinky finger without even trying. Instead, she said, “You should see him when he’s awake. He’s got eyes like a box-full of baby eevee, I swear.”
As if on cue, N’s eyelashes fluttered.
“N?” White asked, softly. Suddenly, she was unsure of herself. N had run away, after all, and she was sure he would’ve been able to at least send a postcard if her really wanted to see her. Would he be angry to realize she’d tracked him down like this?
“…White?” N asked, dazedly. He was blinking in the dim light, looking soft and frail and terribly confused. “Is… is that you? Where am I?”
White didn’t speak. Her throat felt as though it was about to drop in to her stomach.
“Hey,” Black hissed, and shoved her forward. “Don’t tell me you’re going to go all tongue-tied now.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and dug her elbow into his ribs, (it was the sisterly thing to do) but she had to admit he was right. Her steps slow and shaking, she crossed the room to crouch at N’s bedside.
“Hey,” she replied, and tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Yeah, it’s totally me.” She wasn’t quite sure how to follow that up. “Um, surprise?”
N’s brow furrowed and his face pulled down into a frown. “You shouldn’t be here!” he hissed, sounding frantic. “What are you doing here?”
White jerked back, stung. She’d told herself to prepare for a reaction like that, but somehow it still hurt. This was N, after all, not some random stranger off the street. They might have been enemies for most of the time they’d known each other, but White still cared for him more than she’d admit.
It was Black who spoke up first. “Hey!” he snapped, striding towards N, “Are you kidding? After all I went through trying to track you down, this is how you’re going to act?”
“Er.” N blinked. “Sorry… but who are you, exactly?”
“Ah,” White stepped in, “N, this is my brother, Black. Black, this is N.”
“You have a brother?”
“Yup! He lived with our dad, so I didn’t get to see him as much as I liked when we were younger. He’s awesome, though; he works on the Battle Subway and he’s really good.” She knew she was rambling, but better mildly embarrassing family stories than her brother trying to get into a fight with N.
“Well,” N said, “If you’re her brother you should have known better! I expect White to be impossibly reckless, but if she gets arrested I won’t forgive you!”
White blinked. “Wait, arrested?” He wasn’t supposed to be worrying about her getting arrested; she was worrying about him getting arrested.
“Haven’t you seen?” N chewed nervously on his bottom lip. “I’m a wanted criminal, White. There’s posters up for me and everything. If they find out you came here to visit me instead of turning me in, you could be in a lot of trouble.” He gave her a soft, sad look. “I’ve caused you enough trouble already.”
“Oh, N.” He’d probably be a little alarmed if she tried to hug him, so she managed to keep herself from just throwing her arms around his shoulders. Instead, she just patted him on the top of the head, taking the opportunity to straighten out of a piece of hair that had been sticking out. “That is the stupidest, sweetest thing I have ever heard in my entire life.”
“Huh?” He looked hopelessly bewildered.
“Trust me,” she said, “It’s not me you have to worry about. If my meetings with the other regions’ champions are to go by, there is a long and honored tradition of getting friendly with reformed criminals. It’s a little embarrassing, really; I feel like I should’ve kept on hating you just to break the trend.”
“Would’ve saved me a whole lot of trouble, too,” Black grumbled, but he didn’t sound all that upset.
“I promise I’m not going to get arrested or stripped of my title or anything like that for meeting you here. Okay? It’s you we should be worrying about—you’re the one with his face on the wanted posters, after all.”
“Really?”
White nodded.
N sighed in relief. “I’m very happy to hear that. At least I won’t be hurting you. Nevertheless, I am a wanted criminal.” He glanced around the room, as if only now noticing where he was. “Perhaps I should see about leaving before anyone else discovers me here.” He slid his legs out from the covers and moved as if to stand. The moment he tried to put his weight on his feet, however, his legs slid out from under him and his knees buckled, sending him falling to the floor.
“Whoa!” Black moved in and grabbed his shoulders, while White quickly wrapped an arm around his side. Together, they carefully lowered him back into bed, trying not to rip the IVs out of his arm as they did.
“You’re in the hospital for a reason, you know!” Black snapped, sounding half-exasperated and half-worried. “You think you can just waltz out of bed whenever you feel like it?”
Despite her own worry, White couldn’t help but smile. It was easy to tell that N was growing on Black already, just like she knew he would. N had a sort of easygoing honesty; it made it impossible to get truly angry at him, no matter what terrible decisions he made.
“I wasn’t… I wasn’t expecting to be that weak,” N murmured, his face pale.
“You collapsed in the bowels of the Relic Castle,” Black retorted. “I think it’s safe to say, that you are, in fact, that weak right now.”
N nodded reluctantly. “Zekrom wanted me to go. That place is old, older than him maybe. I don’t know what attracts him to it, but it was obvious he was very eager.”
“Was Zekrom also desperate for you to dehydrate yourself?”
“Black,” White hissed. “Stop it.”
“No,” N shook his head, “It’s my own fault. I was being reckless.” He smiled at White and Black both. “Thank you both for caring about my wellbeing.” He shifted his weight, looked nervously at the IVs and at his own shaking legs. “I’m sorry to ask you for anything else, but could you maybe help me out of this place? I’d call on Zekrom—” he patted the single pokéball hanging from his belt—“But I have a feeling he’d be…kind of conspicuous. I’m happy to see you, White, I truly am, but I don’t think it’s safe for me to stay in this place”
“Erm. About that.” White looked desperately to her brother. He just shrugged and gave her a look. The meaning was clear: You tell him.
White took a deep breath. “N, I want you to turn yourself in.”
“What?” The look N gave her was one of utmost betrayal, like she’d simultaneously broken his heart, destroyed all his earthly possessions, and kicked a baby skitty just for good measure. It took all her willpower not to relent.
“Listen to me, N,” she snapped, grabbing his shoulder. “I’m not saying that to try and get you in trouble, okay? I’m the Champion, I’ve got political power, and everyone involved in hunting down Team Plasma realizes you weren’t the one making the plans. You go to the police first, turn yourself in and say you want to cooperate? With my help, you could get off with a few years probation.” She couldn’t tell if she was getting through to him; the look on N’s face was guarded and drawn. White pressed on. “They could use your help big-time in tracking down the people who actually were out there hurting Pokémon—they’re not going to sabotage their own efforts by throwing you in jail. I wouldn’t let them if they tried,” she hissed viciously, more to herself than anyone else.
“But,” Black added, stepping forward into the conversation, “You keep running and eventually they’ll find you. What do you think happens if you get into a fight with the police using a Zekrom? White’s good, but there isn’t a person on this planet who could bail you out of those charges.” Black frowned and cracked his knuckles. “You’ve already made my sister cry enough, you know.”
“Hey!” White snapped. “I was never crying!” She’d totally cried, multiple times, but N definitely didn’t need to know that.
Black ignored her protests. “So.” He stepped forward, looking down at N. “What do you say?”
For a long moment N glanced between them, looking more like a trapped Pokémon than a human being. Finally, he looked down, his gaze focused on his hands.
White’s heart dropped into her stomach. He was going to say no, she knew it. She recognized a ‘sorry to disappoint you’ face when she saw one.
“Okay…” N murmured. He looked up, nervous but determined. “Okay, you’re right. I’ll turn myself in.”
“Eh?” For a second, White could only sit there, stunned. “Really?”
N nodded.
This time, she didn’t hold back. White threw her arms around his neck, drawing him into a tight hug. N rested his head on her shoulder, face buried in her shirt, and if she felt a little bit of dampness on the corner of her sleeve, well, she wasn’t going to say anything. For a moment the two of them sat there, White half-kneeling in order to hold him properly.
Black coughed. “Well, then,” he said awkwardly, standing off to the side.
White grinned. “Oh, you big baby,” she said, carefully untangling one of her arms in order to take his hand. She yanked him forward, dragging him down next to herself and N. “Get into the group hug already. No one’s around to judge you for it.”
Black sighed and grumbled, but nevertheless kneeled down next to White and threw one awkward arm around the two of them.
“So,” he whispered into her ear. “Are you finally happy?
“Yeah,” she said, leaning her head against his. “I am.”
(They all were.)
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ah before that i'm sorry if i caused you any trouble while writing this! i must say, you are a really good writer!! i enjoyed the smoothness of the flow of the story and all the emotions fit into place! i liked the concept of black and white being siblings (i honestly never welcomed that idea before but now--) aahhhh you managed to stimulate all my emotions toward pokemon thank you just dshg thank you.....///
it must have been really hard for white to contain all her joy upon reunion with N!! aahhh you contained that really well with your words!!
i really truly genUINELY enjoyed this thank you very much!! ugh just who are you i want to thank you properly!!!!! ;________;
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ouo
You make the characters are so expressive and there wasn't a single moment that I thought felt slow or unwieldy in the story.
It was all quite engaging and active! Even were all they were just talking I was /still/ interested. A lot of times I get a bit bored with speech and skip through parts. >> Not with this story though. <3