Red gently tightened his grip, a hand moving to Silver’s red locks to caress him as he sobbed. He knew he made the right move when he hugged him, and now he simply held him tight. If anyone understood what this was like, it was Red, and back then he had been alone. He knew how much that hurt.
Gently Red began to rub Silver’s back a bit in his hold on him, shushing the poor, sobbing boy. What mattered most now was that Silver calm down. “You’re welcome,” he murmured back, keeping his voice low.
Useless, meaningless, a weakness. Something any enemy could exploit so easily. “Senpai… I… Why…?” Why offer him comfort, why offer him company…? He couldn’t be saved, he accepted this, he knew this.
But he was happy, if only for a little bit, somebody was paying attention to him, somebody seemed to care about him
“Now why would I do that?” Red mused in reply. He was just getting to know him; having never spent much time around the Johto kids, Red never knew much about them… But Silver was an interesting boy, especially this one.
He perked up when tears sprung to Silver’s eyes, a tiny frown creasing his lips. Red sighed. “Oh, come here…” Carefully he approached the trainer and wrapped his arms around him, being as gentle as possible. It was a defensive maneuver; he felt the other was going to break at any moment. “Silver, it’s going to be okay, promise…” He whispered.
Silver felt the tears hot and wet roll down his face, little tragic, broken boy. He could hear his father’s words once more, Don’t grow attached. Don’t grow attached. But gloved hands clutched at the elder trainer’s shirt as he wept.
It was too late, a simple kindness and he was already attached. He wanted to be held, he wanted for just a moment to be shown somebody, anybody cared about him. Arms wrapped around him made him feel safe and secure for the first time since he was small.
“Hey.. Hey don’t mention it, really,” Red tried to smile for the boy, and gave him his best grin. “It’s all gonna be okay. You’ll see. You’ll break free, and once you do you and your Pokemon will be free as Butterfree,” he mused.
He snickered a little at his own, corny joke. “Jokes aside, I really do mean that, friend,” he continued. “It’s all going to work out in the end.”
"Senpai…? You would do well not to be my friend, not to grow attached to me. Not when I die brutally in every timeloop.“ he warned quietly.
”:But… I thank you.“ he whispered again, as tears had sprung to grey eyes. "It’s nice… To have somebody care about you.” Little broken redhead so terrified of being alone, but unable to hurt others and thus shoving them away.
“You…” Red blinked. Of course, Silver had said something like this earlier… But he died? That was how his loops ended, with death? He suppressed the shudder that came up at the thought. That had to be awful…
His gaze wandered to the Crobat above as well as he listened to the redhead talk, and he nodded. “I will, or at the least I can try. Your father…that’s no way to treat a Pokemon, not at all,” he muttered. Oh how he would wring Giovanni’s neck for words like that.
“Thank you, Senpai. I am content then… Knowing they at least won’t suffer. I can be free to treat them how I wish to, I’m not a cruel trainer… But I didn’t allow them to grow close to me.” he explained
"Now I don’t have to be cold towards them… Thank you… Thank you, Senpai.“ he whispered, the gratitude in his eyes and voice as he smiled tenderly at the elder trainer.
Silver taking his hand was a bit unexpected. “No prob,” he quietly replied. He was still calling him senpai, and dammit, it was getting to him, little by little. He didn’t like it, but at the same time thought it was precious that anyone would call him that.
But Red averted his gaze when he answered Silver’s question. “Well, I uh… Not exactly,“ he bluffed. "Let’s just say I was…very stupid in my attempts at freedom…”
Silver gazed at the elder trainer and gave a soft, sad smile. He was actually pretty happy if he was honest. “Senpai… I should warn you, I die… pretty often. When I die this time… My partners will you look after them?” he pleaded
"Father said to use them as tools, use them and throw them away, but I can’t do that…“ he whispered, gazing at the Crobat that flew around. above their heads. "I don’t want them to suffer when I am murdered.”
“You will be. ‘May not be so easy to get to that point, but…” He smiled sheepishly. “Well, look at me I suppose. I got out of my literal hell, and I’ve recovered quite nicely from a lot of aftermath… And I’m a trainer once more.”
He looked away for a second, stewing thoughts over before he looked back to the redhead boy. “If you want, Silver, I’ll help. You don’t have to be alone in this.” He murmured.
“I’d really like that.” he admitted, reaching out and even though he was trembling in fear he took Red’s hand, squeezing it gently. “Th-thank you, Senpai.” he added quietly.
For the first time in a while, this tragic redhead had hope. That maybe, just maybe he could escape this. That he could be a trainer once more. “Senpai… Did you ever suffer death in your loops and resets?” he asked hesitantly.
The reset factor… Red didn’t quite know what to tell him. His own was the breaking of his “prison”, when the cartridge that bound him somehow broke, releasing him into the world. But that wasn’t going to be the case for the redhead. Far from it, he felt.
He blinked at the nickname. “..I do not prefer ‘senpai’,” he stated at first, nerves quaking his voice. Being called an upperclassman may be a term of endearment or whatever, but he didn’t quite feel it. Pokemon Master or not, he was no inspiration to others.
“And…the reset factor…” He paused a moment, clearing his throat. He tried to find the words, the courage to speak, but his throat felt as dry as a Sandshrew’s back.
He sighed, and looked the other in the eye. “…I’m not entirely sure. It varies by the case, and for you…” He stopped to look into Silver’s eyes - raw, brimming with emotion - and picked his voice back up. “…I would suppose you have to disrupt these events somehow. I can help you figure out how.”
His own reset button, the reset factor what could it be…? He couldn’t understand why this had happened. He wanted to be free, to live his own life again. “Senpai… I’ll break free.” he swore quietly.
"I know I will one way or another. I’ll free myself and stop these infernal timeloops from happening. Maybe then… I can finally be happy, finally be free to be a trainer.“
Red looked away, just a little, at the other’s gestures. With what he was about to say, he didn’t want the trainer to lose his smile. It was too precious. It wasn’t like anything he had ever heard about the redhead, not at all. He wished he didn’t have to be the bearer of bad news.
“No problem, Silver…” He shyly replied, voice growing weak and feeble. He took a deep breath. He had to tell him… There was no doubt in his mind he knew what was going on, and the poor boy had the right to know.
“So…” He began again. “About what’s going on. I knew the same, before, and… I hate to say it, and I mean, I really hate to say it, but…” Another deep breath, to relax his fears. “…Silver, you’re stuck in a time loop. Time is repeating over and over for you… It resets after certain events, only to start again.”
He looked away. He wouldn’t dare stare into Silver’s eyes after that. He couldn’t. He knew it had to be hard to take. He wouldn’t bear seeing him lose that smile. Not now, not after that.
”…“ A timeloop forced to live the same events, but what was the reset key…? ”…Then what’s the reset factor?“ he spoke slow, somehow he was strangely calm, he felt like… He’d had this conversation before.
”Red-sama… Or would you prefer senpai? How can I stop these time loops? Make them end and gain my own life…?“ he was honestly concerned and he wished to know the answer. How could he possibly gain his own life… To be his own person? It was officially his greatest desire now.
”These loops.. It is possible to escape right….? I’m not to be stuck forever, am I…?“He gazed at the Crobat who was flying about, keeping watch and his heart ached.
”…“ Silver knew he was likely to use that Pokémon soon and for some reason that made him want to burst into tears. ”Senpai… Please. Tell me… Tell me there’s a way!“
It was beginning to dawn on Red what the familiar feeling was, just from Silver’s words alone. Now he knew why the feeling pulled at him, and the aching sense of familiarity dug into him painfully. He knew what this was. He fought back the beginnings of nausea at the thought.
“Silver… That’s not stupid. At all. I… I don’t know how to even begin explaining this, but…” He swallowed hard, an imaginary lump forming in his throat in memory. “I have a feeling I know what you’re going through. And it’s not… It’s not pretty. Not at all.”
He looked away for a moment, biting his lip. How could someone else be going through that? Being caught up like that… He knew it wasn’t healthy. He knew what it did to you after a while. He remembered going nearly insane…
“I’m glad somebody knows and understands.” he admitted as he gave the other his full attention, a very small smile turned petal lips upwards. “So long as you don’t think me crazy… I don’t care about the details. ”
A pink hue to his cheeks as he offered the small smile to the elder trainer. “Thank you… For believing in me, Red…” he stated, taking Red’s hand gently, squeezing it if only slightly. Silver’s heart warmed if only slightly
