Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Silver hated working with N. But he’d been tracking this one evil creep from Johto to his assumed base in Unova, and the Head of Interpol herself said they’d do the raid together.

Gross.

Sometimes they knew exactly what to expect when bursting in on some wannabe evil team’s base. Most of the copycats followed the usual MO, so their bases were usually full of: exploited pokémon, exploited 18-to-25-year-olds going through quarter life crises, piles of money, a bunch of ancient relics contributing to some half-baked scheme involving bothering powerful pokémon, and something linking it all back to Team Rocket.

Giovanni would have so much more to answer for if Silver hadn’t rejected his legacy and taken the stupid interpol job.

Silver had been expecting more of the same, and he hadn’t been entirely wrong. They’d found scraps related to Jirachi, Arceus and Giratina (a little weird considering they were in Unova), a pretentious old man monologuing about power and the exploitable bonds between humans and pokémon that would not stop insisting his pyroar could kick Feraligatr’s ass even after one hit proved him wrong, and then Silver realised he was the only one paying attention to the leader of Team Whatever (it wasn’t worth remembering). 

N was a freak, but that wasn’t why Silver hated working with him. N wasn’t at all uncomfortable talking about his own past as the figurehead king of Team Plasma or his terrible father. It was more than a little bit much to bear. And this time, N was staring in that intense ‘I need everybody to know I can do advanced calculus in my head’ way at a wall.

“What,” Silver sighed.

“I heard a sound that, based on the layout and materials of this room and my estimation of its decibels, could only have come from behind that wall,” N replied.

Silver also hated working with N because even some ten years after being reintroduced into society he couldn’t understand that when they were in a hostile environment, shorter sentences are better, and stop mumbling.

Feraligatr looked at him. Silver nodded, and Feraligatr punched the wall so hard it started to crumble.

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” N said. “It sounded like a child.”

“There are no children here,” the pretentious old man said from where he sat handcuffed on the ground, “only monstrous beings of potential use to me — I mean, the betterment of humanity.”

“You sound like my father,” N remarked.

Like that. Bitch shut up nobody needs to remember shitty evil fathers.

“It’s already done,” Silver said. “Feraligatr —”

Feraligatr was already tossing aside rubble with an uncharacteristic franticness that told Silver everything he needed to know: N had been right. And if the evil bastard was really hiding children in walls, human or pokémon, this was far from the standard fare they had to deal with.

There were four of them. Four human children, huddled together. The oldest and tallest was a dark-skinned boy of about seven, holding his hand over a similarly aged olive-skinned boy’s mouth, as a girl who might be his twin tried to pull the oldest boy’s hand away and the blonde one gasped at the sight of Silver.

The oldest one reached immediately. He shoved the others behind him, stepping forward, arms held out like someone so tiny could possibly hide three similarly sized tiny things, let alone protect them. Though his little clench fists were shaking uncontrollably in terror, the boy was glaring up at Silver, brown eyes promising to match any pain inflicted on his loved ones.

It reminded Silver of meeting Gold for the first time, but where that had been terrifying and drawn out Silver’s worst side in self-defence, this was reassuring. Silver glanced at the children behind the boy and saw something similar in them, too. No matter what had been done to them, they were determined to fight.

All Silver had to do was let them know the fight was over.

“We’re here to help,” Silver said. “C’mon.”

The blonde looked at the others, the girl shook her head and whispered something, her probable twin whispered something else, but the oldest one just kept glaring while trying to shield the others.

N had walked up to Silver’s side by now, and if Silver found his extreme height and unnatural gait discomforting then he assumed the kids would hate it too. But N said something in a language Silver hadn’t yet learned to speak and the children started to relax, and, well.

Maybe being partners with N was good sometimes too.

*

At the nearest police station, Silver started paying a bit more attention to the case.

The pretentious old man was from Galar and named Leonidas. His passport showed he’d entered Unova through legal methods three years prior. The evil team he’d put together was called Team Yifferent and he had some fixation on combining humans and pokémon or the bond between them or something confusing and impossible.

They hadn’t had to battle a few hundred grunts, so it was quite clear that Leonidas had neither the charisma nor the clarity of message necessary to achieve the cult-like effect he’d been going for. N was accurate in his Ghetsis comparison; Leonidas, it seemed, wanted to be king of something. He would rant about his divine right, but not clarify exactly to what.

But Silver had long since given up on understanding the motivations of old bastards.

The children were harder to get anything out of. The nearest police station had turned out to be Virbank, so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. There was at least a soft room that didn’t look like something out of a gritty noir film; nothing special, just pastel colours, plush carpeting, and couches for the kids to lie on without even their shoes off.

“No toys,” N observed, “what a shame. I wanted to show them how to dunk a train.”

Silver barely caught himself before he asked ‘What the actual fuck are you talking about.’ Right. Don’t swear in front of children, even if you’re not sure they can understand the language you’re speaking. And don’t ever ask N to explain himself unless you want to be hit with the full force of his bullshitery.

They were a strange looking collection of children. Looking at them more closely, Silver could see the olive skinned boy and girl he’d thought were twins probably weren’t even siblings; the boy’s hair was thin, straight and black, the girl’s dark brown in thick waves; his face sharply angled even with his young age, hers very round; his eyes grey, hers green. But the boy was still clinging to the girl, who seemed to reluctantly tolerate it despite cooties. The blonde one was freakishly cute in a way that activated all of Silver’s paranoid instincts, which only flared more intensely when he noticed the thick white medical adhesive covering their left cheek. He couldn’t hazard a gender guess, just be vaguely put-off by how much the kid reminded him of Blue at that age, looks, mannerisms, all of it. Except their eyes were an intense purple. And the oldest one — well, Silver’s impression hadn’t changed, but the intensity of the kid was all the more noticeable in a well-lit room. Silver could’ve sworn the kid’s eyes had been brown before, but now they were a deep blue. Okay.

The blonde one looked up at them. They waved at the sight of them. The oldest one grabbed their arm, pulling it down and hissing something. The blonde just looked confused.

The oldest one suddenly demanded, “What are you doing with us?”

So they could speak the common language. Or at least, that one could.

“We’re keeping you in this room until we can find out more about you,” N replied.

“Don’t make them sound like prisoners,” Silver said. To the kids, he said, “I’m Silver. That’s N. We’re kind of like police. If you tell us about yourselves we can try to find your families.”

“Nooooooooo,” the olive-skinned boy whined, “I hate Dad!”

“We all hate Dad,” the olive-skinned girl replied, “you’re not special.”

“Is Leonidas your father?” N asked.

All the kids gagged with disgust.

“I don’t think I have a dad,” the blonde said. They grabbed the oldest’s hand. “Nova’s my family, though!”

Nova, apparently he was called, looked touched and confused but still hugged the blonde close and glared at them. “You’re not splitting us up.”

The blonde gasped. “But can you find my other brother and sis— I mean, Carmen?!”

“Maybe,” Silver said. “You’d need to tell us about them. And yourselves.”

“Well,” the blonde said, “I’m not sure what my name is right now because I haven’t decided but my brother is called Crow and his hair is ugly and he got out to find us help so did he send you?”

Silver glanced at N. N seemed to be confused by the information gaps, or maybe just didn’t want to answer.

“We were told about Leonidas by someone, it might have been him,” Silver said. He couldn’t know that for sure; Green Oak had tipped them off, saying it was secondhand from one of his lab assistants. Better to let the kid keep believing for now. “Anyone else know their name?”

“I’m Athena Smythe,” the girl said.

“I’m Arez,” the boy said, “but I don’t have a last name because I don’t have a dad, okay?”

“Okay,” Silver said. He looked at the one he already knew was called Nova, to see what he’d do.

“…does this mean Old Man Yiffy is going to jail?”

It took Silver a moment to process. Team Yifferent. Old man. Leonidas. “Yes.”

“Then. Fine. ’M Nova.”

The blonde looked at Nova, who nodded encouragingly. “Oh, okay! I decided. My name’s Lao.”

“Thanks,” Silver said. “Do you know where your parents are?”

“I just told you,” Arez cried, “I don’t have a dad! And Athena’s my twin so she doesn’t either!”

“And we don’t have a mum, either,” Athena added. “Just each other.”

“That’s right,” Arez said, “and we’re real twins.”

“Definitely,” Athena said.

So that was suspicious as hell, but Silver would look them up later to see what they could find. He looked at Lao and Nova. “And, you two…?”

Lao looked down and mumbled very quickly, “I don’t know my family’s name or who my parents are or who they are or where they’re from but my mum’s dead and I don’t have a dad. But the only family I need is my brothers and Carmen so that’s fine.”

Lot to unpack there someday.

But Nova glared right at Silver and said, “That old bastard murdered my parents.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Silver said.

N doved right in with, “Is there anything you want to tell us about what’s been happening to you?”

“Oh my god,” Arez sighed, “Leonidas is the worst.”

And then Arez started a rambling, highly disjointed account of how the old man in the other room talked his terrible father (strange to hear a six-year-old repeatedly say those exact words, mixed in with frequent ‘abhorrent’, ‘villainous’, ‘malicious’, just, very weird choices of words) into letting him take Arez and Athena away to tests their ‘abilities’. It wasn’t particularly coherent, but occasionally Athena or Nova would say something to explain Arez’s more bizarre word choices (‘tapeworms’ came up a lot in a metaphorical sense, and Silver did check, yes he was six) and eventually they got the general idea. It made Silver light-headed and nauseous, but yeah, he got the general idea: the bastard hurt kids to test his theories on pokémon.

Sometimes Silver remembered being left alone in Team Rocket bases with one of the admins, and he never wanted to remember it.

He couldn’t stop staring at the bandage on Lao’s cheek. It was clearly fresh. They must’ve changed it shortly before the raid. And if Silver looked closer still, he could see a slight twist in Lao’s smile, like it was hurting. But the kid kept smiling anyway.

Silver didn’t want to let these children out of his sight.

There were millions of legal protocols involved in getting evidence from children, using children as witnesses, and how children should be cared for while they searched for their families. With how little information they had to go off, it would be months, and they couldn’t just leave the children in this room for that time.

N brought this up in a hushed, too quickly mumbled whisper while dragging Silver towards the door and staring at his phone.

“So?”

N looked at Silver like he was the stupid one. “Between tournaments, your husband cares for children as a living, does he not?”

“Pokémon children.”

“I don’t see how that would matter,” N said. “Darmanitan was a far better parent than Ghetsis. Some things transcend species.”

The shit N came out with like it was wisdom was just, fucking bizarre. “And what? Hilbert’s thing with all those baby eevee doesn’t count?”

“Please stop calling him Hilbert. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Fine. The Hilb.”

“You know perfectly well his preferred name is Black, however you do have a point,” N said. “Basic training wasn’t preparation enough for this situation.”

Silver glanced at the children, noticing Arez was leaning forward and staring at them intensely, almost as though he could hear… But there was no way. “Run it by the boss. He’d take it better coming from you.”

“Oh, so you do agree?”

Silver hated sharing his sincere thoughts and feelings with N. It always made him smug. Still he said, “I don’t think any random foster family would get what they’re going through.”

N took his comment as permission enough and left the room. Silver thought about following, making sure N wasn’t spinning the story too weirdly behind his back, but ultimately all he could think about was how terrible it was that these children had been left alone for so long. His presence couldn’t be anything comforting to them, probably the complete opposite, but Silver still couldn’t leave them.

He fought the urge to sigh as he pulled out his own phone and started texting Gold. It took several attempts to compose the text, and even though it was eleven at night and Gold was probably sleeping in their temporary housing he hated, Silver couldn’t stew in his feelings for too long or he’d talk himself into remembering how Giovanni had made him a broken husk of a person incapable of truly loving or helping anyone, and if that’s how his father had been, how much damage could Silver do?

Turns out the evil bastard kidnapped some kids.
What would you say to looking after them for a bit?

To his surprise, Gold replied almost immediately.

I’d say I love you and yes

Silver closed his hand around his phone, wishing it was Gold’s hand, and did his best not to look at the kids.

*

Nate was some ex-actor who’d apparently been a spy for Interpol since he was 12. He was also now, with many remarks about his being an ex-actor and also 26, the Director of the Anti-Pokémon Exploitation division. N had apparently worked very closely with Nate’s twin sister during Team Plasma’s relapse involving Kyurem, so it was no wonder they got along well.

Silver had suspicions that Nate and Rosa were also Black and White’s younger siblings, but he’d never cared to look into it more than ‘wow, these Unovans really look alike’. But seriously, sometimes Nate straight-up called himself ‘Black2’, what else could that mean?

Nate had also personally recruited Silver when they’d been in Alola around the same time.

Being a cop had been one of those things Silver’d throw around to piss off Giovanni so much he’d abandon him for a few more years. It wasn’t like he was particularly serious, until he found out about Interpol and realised it was basically like being a detective and a spy rolled into one.

Silver had read way too much manga to get the idea out of his head.

Nate was all for it, kept bringing up what had happened in Alola (which hadn’t been anything special, Silver wasn’t there in time to actually help with anything, he’d just decided to team up with that Gladion brat for a bit in the Battle Tree), and asking if Gold knew and wondering how quickly they’d be able to find the kids’ families.

Nate, however, did have one thing to say.

“Four children would be too much, you’re, what, 27?”

“29.”

“And you’ve been married for what, six months?”

“Six years.” Or as Gold wouldn’t stop saying, ‘sex years’.

“N and Black should look after some of them,” Nate said. “It’s probably a good idea to take two each to lessen the codependence factor too.”

Silver thought about being pulled apart from Blue when she was the only comforting figure in his life. “I think they would be more comfortable if they stuck together.”

“You’re not wrong, but we have to think about the long term too,” Nate said. “We’ll make sure they see each other a lot, don’t worry, we just need to show them they can be split up and nothing bad will happen or they’ll be too dependent on each other.”

“Hm. I guess.”

So basically, Silver left their shitty temp housing ten hours ago expecting to be back within half that time with nothing but satisfaction at beating up another evil bastard. Then he went back with two children feeling completely terrified of what he’d signed up for.

Nova and Lao held hands the entire way. Nova had growled and straight-up threatened Silver and N when they explained what would happen, up until Arez told him to shut up. Lao, on the other hand, had stared intensely at Silver, especially at his eyes, then said, “Your soul’s a pretty colour.”

That weird-ass comment made Nova relax a bit. “What about our pokémon, then?”

It hadn’t really connected in Silver’s mind that the four pokémon they’d found belonged to the children, even though it had been testified by Arez and Leonidas. He’d been thinking about too much other stuff.

“They’re being looked over by the nurses at the Pokémon Center,” N replied. “They need to be treated overnight but will be fully recovered shortly.”

Gold was waiting for them outside the apartment building. Somehow he’d found the time to carefully style his hair and put on the loud red and yellow outfit he’d worn in his last television-aired pokémon battle.

What a loser, Silver thought as his heart ached with relief.

“Gold!” Lao shouted. “I saw you on TV!”

Ah, so that’s what Gold was going for. He grinned at Lao. “Hi! Nice to be famous even in Unova.”

Lao shook their head. “In Ekrew— Eureka— Ecruteak City.”

“Oh, you’re from Johto?”

“Uh-huh!”

Nova was watching them with the usual intense glare, especially as Lao ran up to Gold and took his hand, asking incessantly about Gold’s pokémon. Gold answered every question, leading Lao inside as he did.

“What’s with that look?” Silver asked.

“Nothin’,” Nova replied. “Hate when he does that.”

Silver filed those two pieces of information away. “You should come in and sleep. We’ll get your pokémon first thing tomorrow.”

“Good,” Nova said, and walked inside on his own.

Gold was holding the elevator open even as he kept his eyes fixed on Lao. Every hint of how broadly Gold could spread his care made Silver feel better about this decision.

*

Silver woke up with Nova standing over him. It took every grabbable part of his self-control to not scream or shout at the little creep.

“You said we’re getting our pokémon today.”

Silver glanced at the clock. 5:51am.

“Sun’s done rising, that means it’s today.”

“I guess,” Silver replied. “You did sleep, right?”

“Yes,” Nova said. “Hurry up.”

It was easier to just do what the kid said. It’d show he meant it when he promised them something, even if they took it to overly literal extremes.

Looked like the sun was still rising when Silver opened the curtains. Gold groaned as he struggled to wake up.

It took a lot of persuading to convince Nova to eat before they left. Silver was sure if it wasn’t for Lao whining ‘Broooother, I’m hungry’ at just the right moment, they never would’ve convinced him.

They made it to the Pokémon Centre before the Trainers had started clearing out. Silver hadn’t thought about their recognisability. He hadn’t been in tournaments for half a decade, but he did take over the Viridian Gym sometimes when Green was following Red all over the globe, and he had been kind of famous, in a way, and Gold was definitely famous, in a big way. Gold walked confidently through the crowds as always, waving them aside and Lao ahead of him, and Silver started to follow but — Nova was frozen.

“What?” Silver asked.

“Nuthin’,” Nova said, but his eyes were wide and his lip quivering.

“Gold is a very popular Trainer,” Silver explained, “people around here don't see him often.”

Nova muttered something under his breath.

Part of Silver wanted to snap, Do you want your damn pokémon or not? The worst part of Silver, which lingered so close to the surface that he could apparently be irritated by a child being scared of a crowd because said child was exactly the reason they were at the Pokémon Centre in the first place.

Silver breathed in deeply and suggested, “We can wait outside.”

Nova shook his head, but still wouldn't move.

“Nova,” Silver started, but he had no idea what to say or do.

An unfamiliar pokémon cry disrupted him; high-pitched and echoing. A dark claw, long and black and possibly shadow but also possibly solid, coiled along the ground and up Nova’s body in an embrace as the tiny pokémon slid across the ground. A mimikyu, in a particularly tattered and faded pikachu outfit, squeaking and jumping as Nova collapsed to the ground and hugged it.

“Mimic,” Nova said, “I’m sorry.” He touched one of its drooping ears (maybe?) and said, “Your disguise got busted and I haven't even helped you fix it.”

The mimikyu clearly didn't care at all, it was far too excited to be with its Trainer again.

Definitely a strange choice of pokémon for a seven-year-old, but what about the situation (and the kids themselves) wasn't strange? 

Lao joined them seconds later, running over hand-in-paw with a riolu that was about the same size as him. He gave an excitable shout that Silver only realised wasn’t gibberish when Nova said something similar-sounding back in a much calmer voice.

Silver knew bits and pieces of a lot of languages, but he couldn’t recognise enough to place even the stereotypical sounds of it. What the hell was going on with these kids?

Gold came jogging over a moment later, telling Lao, “Don’t go so fast! I’m so old, I can’t keep up, you’re too fast for me!”

Lao was so small there was no doubt in Silver’s mind that Gold could outpace the running kid just by walking a little briskly. He wondered momentarily what Gold was doing lying to the kid like that when they were trying to establish trust, surely, until Lao laughed and started quickly saying, “Lulu can run faster than a car! He helped me! Everyone’s slower than Lulu!”

“Oh, really?” Gold said. “I bet Lulu’d be even faster on my skateboard.”

Lao gasped like he’d never encountered such genius in his entire life. Silver felt an overwhelming wave of foreboding dread.

Right when they were about to leave, there was a deafeningly loud shout of Nova’s name. Silver’s first instinct was to flinch, but he fought it to shift closer to the kid, ready to push him back to Gold in case of trouble. And there he saw, approaching from across the courtyard, Arez running in a blaze ahead of an irritated looking Athena, N with his usual calm, and Black looking the most anxious Silver had ever seen him. And Black was one of those types who’d work himself into anxiety over, well, name anything.

“What,” Nova said as Arez skidded to a stop in front of him.

And Arez started speaking so fast it was difficult to follow. Silver tried to listen for a bit, but once he realised Arez wasn’t angry or going to attack Nova, it was really hard to stay engaged for the ranting about toy rooms and eevee and father-hating and what they’d eaten. But Lao immediately slid over, nodding along and gasping like he was the one Arez had wanted to talk to, while Nova mostly nodded or gave vague ‘mmhmm’ ‘okay’ ‘uh-huh’ kind of reactions. Silver glanced up at N as the others finished their approach.

“Hello Mr Silver,” Athena said, and Silver didn’t know what to do with the formal tone or the poise of her posture that reminded him of endless stuffy meetings, “thank you for saving us.”

“Ah, sure,” Silver said.

Black approached Arez, softly saying, “Don’t you want to get your pokémon?” 

“Yes,” N said, “you should get your friends.”

“— and there’s one with bows on it but they’re not bows they’re its flesh and — wait, what about my popplio?”

“Come on,” Athena sighed, marching towards the Pokémon Centre and grabbing her brother on the way. 

“Hang on,” Black said, frantic, slipping between them apologetically to chase after the kids.

N, however, just watched the group run ahead, before crouching down to ask Nova’s mimikyu, “Do you truly wish to wear a disguise or is it simply to make yourself more palatable to humans?”

The mimikyu turned in some way, like it was looking at N. Nova glanced up at N in the same moment and growled, “Fuck off.”

Silver felt a rush of positive emotions that went directly to his heart.

“Ah,” N said, standing up straight. “I see.” His eyes dragged over Lao and the riolu for another moment before he turned to Gold and Silver. Gold, who had his fist stuffed in his mouth to keep from laughing, quickly extracted it and stood up straighter.

“Oh yeah right,” he said. To Nova, he said, “You probably shouldn’t talk to people like that.”

Nova looked angry for a moment, then quickly down and away. Silver felt like he blinked and then suddenly, Lao was standing in front of Nova, tiny fists clenched and glaring up at them all with the intensity of a thousand purple suns. It really was more cute than anything, but Silver did his best to take it with the intimidation intended.

“People shouldn’t talk to Nova or Mimic like that!” Lao growled.

For a moment it took Silver back, further than he’d ever want to go, to Blue standing over him and how she never showed a trace of fear even when it was Giovanni she was shouting down on his behalf, and the ice cold fear that filled him with may have consumed Silver completely, if not for Gold’s voice smoothly cutting through with a firm yet calm, “That’s not what he meant.”

Lao’s glare softened slightly, and so did the cold.

“Yes,” N said, “it may have sounded as though I presumed to know the heart of this mimikyu, though I would never do that again.”

Lao’s anger became a pout, became a huff, as he turned and crouched in front of Nova, talking very softly in that strange language while one of his hands stroked Mimic’s ‘ears’.

“Hm,” N said, “I see.”

But the moment was distracted by another loud shout and Arez running over, tightly holding a Love Ball. Athena was walking with Black, who must’ve immediately figured something was up, because his eyes were darting around and his lips were in a slight scowl.

And just like that, there was no trace of anger in anything Lao was doing. The brightness, the smiling, the cuteness, all intact, and all of it directed at Arez.

Silver asked N, “What do you see?”

“Who they are,” N replied. “Or rather, what they are.”

Silver watched as Nova stood up again, shoulders still slumped and still avoiding anyone’s gaze, and as Lao’s smile only got wider and he started a strained giggle, and he remembered the disbelief when Lao had proudly told them right away that Nova was his brother. Silver knew exactly who they were too; two children, forced into something bigger than them, building walls against a cruel world they never asked to have any part in. Building a wall to keep their hearts away from anything that wasn’t each other. One with cold anger, the other with blazing fury.

They were what children who gave up on adults became.

That clearly wasn’t what N meant, though. N was reacting to the language they spoke, to the strange things they’d said as a puzzle to solve with logic, and it was a puzzle they should solve. Who were these children before an old man kidnapped them?

Silver couldn’t bring himself to ask a question like that.

“Perhaps,” N said, “I should explain it to you.”

And that brought Silver from the blending of past and present with a resounding oh crap of realisation of what all this actually meant. It meant N Harmiona actually knew something Silver didn’t.

“Or I can ask them,” Silver replied.

“I don’t think they’d tell you,” N replied, “but you can try.”

“I’ll figure it out,” Silver said.

“You won’t, what they are is too far from your experiences,” N said. “But I understand your pride is delicate.”

Lao fluttered his eyelashes at Arez as he snatched the Love Ball right from his hand.

“Nah,” Silver said, “I know who they are.”

And of course N ruined the moment by looking at Silver like he was stupid and insisting, “No, you don’t, you’re human.”

Silver raised his eyebrows, staring at N. “And what are you?”

N smirked. “Ah, but you’ll figure it out, won’t you?”

And that was more than enough N for one day. Silver walked past him, over to where Black was trying to intervene on Arez’s behalf (though Lao had long since given back the Love Ball) but Arez was talking too loudly and Gold was clearly too amused to actually help, to Nova, who was backing slowly away from the drama.

“Hey,” Silver said to Nova, “you ready to go?”

Because if Nova wanted to go, Lao would immediately follow.

“Yeah.” Nova frowned at Lao for a moment, before he started walking away.

As Silver predicted, Lao almost immediately noticed Nova leaving and loudly gasped, “Aniki!” before chasing after him. His riolu was apparently interested again now that action was involved and chased after them too, at a leisurely jog.

“Oh shit,” Gold said, quickly rambling, “good seeing you Hilb, good luck, see you soon kids —” as he started running after them.

“Wait!” Arez cried. “When’m I gonna see Nova again?!”

“It won’t be long,” Silver told him. They’d need to follow up with the boss. And probably try to find their actual families. And definitely speak with whoever tipped them off. “See ya, kid.”

Silver walked after the others, keeping his eyes fixed on Gold, halfway down the street and trying to tease Nova into running.

N loudly said, “Call me when you’re ready to ask for help.”

“N,” Black sighed, rolling his eyes.

Once they’d returned to the temp house, Lao quickly set about showing his riolu everything while Nova searched through the kitchen cupboards.

“Hey buddy,” Gold said to him, “need anything special?”

Nova didn’t respond. He frowned thoughtfully at a large mixing bowl before shoving it back in and opening the next cupboard.

“’Cos it’d be easier if you just told me.”

Again, Nova didn’t respond.

It made Silver angry, seeing the kid being so disrespectful to Gold, but he figured the best thing he could do was find the kid a damn sewing kit and a box or something. If the kid didn’t trust them enough to even admit to needing something, well, maybe Silver could remember how that felt. Maybe he could remember the pride in being independent, in being so focused on not needing anything especially not from adults he hadn’t realised how deeply fucked up and broken living like that had left him until Gold — 

Silver breathed in deeply, and found a box of case files to empty on their bed. There were about thirty of them, all in A4 binders, so the box was strong and well-made and a decent size. As for a sewing kit, well, Silver always kept a small one in his bag when he was travelling. Usually taken from hotels, so it wouldn’t have yellow thread, but it was probably enough. He took them out and down the hall, to where the kitchen overlooked the living room, and set them somewhere he was sure Nova would be able to see. 

When Nova noticed the box and went over to it, he actually paused and mumbled, “Thanks.”

It shouldn’t have been surprising, but all Silver could think about was how when he was that age, he would’ve shouted at the adult for patronising him.

While the mimikyu was hiding under the box, and Nova was sewing up its disguise, Lao ran up to Silver and said, “Excuse me!”

Silver glanced down at him. “Yeah?”

“When’re we finding Crow and Carmen?” Lao asked. “I have Lulu to help me now so I can do it any time.”

Nova hissed, “Pixie.”

Lao gasped, tilting his head to the side, and quickly said, “I can go find them anytime, in a completely normal human way with no magic involved.”

Nova groaned.

“Okay,” Silver said. “Let me find them for you.”

Lao narrowed his eyes slightly for a moment, but his smile grew brighter and he chirped, “Okay! Thank you!” before sitting close to Nova and talking in a quiet voice.

So he didn’t believe Silver, and if Silver couldn’t track down these people quickly, he’d probably have to deal with the kids running off together and doing — what, magic? To find people? Ridiculous.

Did the kid actually think he could do magic?

*

Though Silver had planned on being the one to track down this Crow and Carmen, they showed up before he got the chance to do much digging. Silver called Green Oak (fighting through the reluctance and irritation of talking to Green with the thought of keeping the kids from running off), told him briefly that they’d found children from his tip-off, got hung up on, then barely ten minutes later there was a knock at the door and Green was there, swaying slightly and pale, but quickly doing his best to give that cocky grin and hideously annoying two-fingered salute he did.

“Yo!” Green said.

“If you’re gonna vomit, don’t do it on me.”

“Ha! An Oak’s too sturdy to lose any lunch!” He gestured behind him, and Silver noticed the tall teenagers hovering behind him, each as blonde and pale as the other, but one a muscular teenage boy with his hair cut messily around his shoulders, and the other a wiry teenage girl who looked like she’d never had a haircut. “We were in the neighbourhood so thought we’d better swing by, since you found the kids.”

“Yes,” the teenage boy said, “please let me see them right now.”

The teenage girl hissed, “You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“I will embarrass myself a million times over if it means getting to see my Pixie and my Novie sooner!” the boy passionately cried.

Silver could only say, “Then you’re the Crow and Carmen they keep mentioning?”

“Yeah,” the boy said, “Crow Hotfire — fuck, no, it’s Hotfi — fuck, it’s Hiatsui —”

“It doesn’t matter what your made-up edgelord surname is,” the girl interrupted. “Yes, he’s Crow, I’m Carmen, can we please see them?”

It’d taken them speaking for Silver to approximate their ages. Crow must’ve been thirteen, his voice rough at the edges like it wanted to break but couldn’t fully commit to puberty yet. And Carmen, with her calm sarcasm, had the unmistakable edge of someone who’d hit 10 and recently discovered that was an option. (Silver knew that instinct very well.) Both were tall and stood with straight posture that made them look even taller, and both had a tremble in their voices under all the edge that gave away just how much they were used to being told ‘no, go away, I’m busy’.

“Yeah, they’ve been asking about you enough,” Silver replied, “thought Lao was gonna run off and track you down himself.”

Carmen sighed, “That’d be right.” In the same moment, Crow started crying.

Just because Silver let them inside didn’t mean he had to sit through the reunion. He stayed long enough to see Lao joyously screaming “NII-TAN!!! NEE-CHAN!!” as he ran to Crow, and Nova bolting after him until they were in a weird sibling cuddle pile. He didn’t really want to eavesdrop on whatever they talked about, so Silver dragged Green back outside.

“Aw, c’mon,” Green said, “I didn’t let those two infiltrate my lab for an entire month to not see the payoff.”

Silver just raised his eyebrows.

“One of those things, you know,” Green said, flicking his hand through his fringe dramatically, “you become a world famous researcher from a long line of world famous researchers and people won’t stop coming to you for help with their problems.”

But there would be no reason for them to hang around the lab for an entire month if it were as simple as asking Green for help. And, actually, if it was as simple as asking for help, it was bizarre they didn’t just go to the police. Usually, when people hung around Green like that, it was because they were hoping to meet with — oh.

Silver flatly asked, “They wanted Red, didn’t they?”

Green spluttered. “Of course not! What use would he be?! Who could want help from that unreliable shit when I’m right there, huh?”

Red and Green weren’t actually legally married, but every now and again a frantic Junior Trainer from the Viridian Gym would call Silver to declare they’d eloped again, and Silver would have to take over the Gym for a bit. Or Gold would, if he found out that’s where Silver was going, but Silver preferred to do it himself.

“Do you know anything about the situation?” Silver asked.

“They were mixed up in that Team Yifferent thing in Galar,” Green replied, “then the leader escaped and that’s where you come in, I guess. The leader left those two behind, and you know how useless the Galarians are, so they came to find me. Not Red. It was me they wanted help from. Because I’m the greatest Trainer in the world.”

“Sure you are,” Silver replied, knowing that the actual greatest Trainer in the world was Gold, and finally being okay with that. Also because it was funny to see Green, a man in his early 30s, still bristle at the implication. “Why didn’t you call me as soon as they showed up?”

“Took a while for them to tell me anything,” Green grumbled. “Not because of me! They’re the problem. Intensely secretive until I started showing them my tech.”

Green had taken over Professor Oak’s habit of making insanely advanced technology like it was no big deal, and luckily, was even better at it than Oak. Silver respected Green a hell of a lot more than he’d ever respect that old man, and at least Green made things that would help other people instead of stupid overly complicated encyclopedias. Green’s weather-proof, waterproof, dive-proof, and extremely Pokémon-proof GPS electronic maps alone had already saved hundreds of lives and that was impossible not to respect. What the fuck did a PokéDex ever do for anybody, inferior Oak?

“Cool,” Silver said, “and they only told you about the missing children a couple of days ago?”

“Yep, pretty much,” Green replied. “I s’pose there were hints but they were incomprehensible even to a super-genius like myself, so they can’t have really been trying to tell me. Then they realised I already know the bigger secret and just came out with it.”

Silver frowned. “The bigger secret?”

“Uh, yeah, the dainisa thing?”

That was a word Silver had never heard in his life, but Green said it with such certainty that Silver would recognise it. He couldn’t even confidently place the origins of the word.

“What, interpol didn’t brief you about ’em?” Green asked. “C’mon, they must’ve, it’s so obvious once you know.”

Silver’s need to know what the fuck Green was talking about fought his need to not give Green the satisfaction of knowing something Silver didn’t that was apparently some big important secret.

“Yes,” Silver said, “they told me.” He cautioned, “I didn’t think it was relevant.”

And thankfully for Silver’s ego, Green bought it.

“I dunno,” he said, “sounds like that blonde kid’s the lost princess. Purple eyes? Pretty obvious, really?”

Okay what the actual fuck. Where the hell still had royalty?! And Lao! Cute little Lao who just wanted to run around with his riolu and hug people — a princess?!

“The boss didn’t say anything about that,” Silver said. Which… was true. Wait, was this the same thing N apparently knew but Silver didn’t? Who the hell would tell N a damn thing about some secret royalty bullcrap? Nate wasn’t stupid enough to do that! Nate knew what a blabbermouth N was! And Nate knew Silver could keep anything a secret, even under pain of torture.

“Maybe I’m wrong, I didn’t get a good look at the kid,” Green said. But the fact that Green was speculating that he could be wrong meant he was almost completely sure and wanted to show Silver up even more than normal. “Anyway, I’m sure Crow and Carmen are gonna wanna bring ’em back to the lab.”

So, this could be it. Silver had done his bit to protect the kids and reunite them with the people they were looking for. But they were other kids, not adults, and okay, maybe Green and Red would take over, but, would Red ever talk to them? Would Green ever stop talking about how great he thinks he is? Would they really be okay?

Or was it that Silver wanted to be the one to make them okay again?

“I don’t think they’re old enough to be looking after these kids,” Silver said. “It’s fine if they stay here.”

Green tilted his head to the side, eyes narrowing as he surveyed Silver sceptically.

“Not here exactly,” Silver corrected. “With Gold. In Johto. He likes the idea.”

Green continued the look, but before he could say anything, the door opened. Lao peered up at them, at first curious, then with stubbornness as he cried, “There you are!”

“Hey,” Silver said. “What’s up?”

Lao grabbed Silver’s hand and started trying to pull him inside. Silver followed slowly, allowing Lao to guide the way, over towards the couch where Crow was sitting tensely, and Nova’s face was buried against Carmen’s shoulder as she hugged him. He was clearly crying, but Silver knew better than to acknowledge that.

“You have to let them live here too,” Lao said, pointing. “’Cos Nova doesn’t wanna go but we need them ’cos we’re family and we’re not meant to be apart!”

Silver was a second away from agreeing when Carmen interrupted.

“But Crow wants to go on a journey around Galar,” Carmen said. “You know that’s been his dream for a long time, Lao. And he couldn’t because of Leonidas.”

“We can’t be apart!” Lao cried. His grip on Silver’s hand tightened, almost painful, from the sharpness of his nails. Silver wondered if Lao would let him cut them before he scratched himself.

“I want to go back to Galar, too,” Carmen said. “Do you think I’m going to find my parents if I stay here?”

“You don’t need parents!” Lao cried. “Just us!”

“I need my parents,” Carmen said. Her voice was starting to shake with anger, as she started to say, “Just because your mothers —” But even in the heat of the moment, she clearly couldn’t finish saying it. Instead, she said, “Stop being a spoiled princess.”

“I can’t help what I am!” Lao shouted. He tugged insistently at Silver’s hand. “Let them stay!”

“They can if they want,” Silver said.

“They can come with me,” Crow suggested. “I’ll look after them, I already did, I looked after them the whole time —”

“Until Leonidas chased us away,” Carmen said, “and you didn’t look after us, you kept feeding us PopTarts and Bagel Bites.”

“I can look after them!” Crow insisted. “I’ll read a whole-ass parenting book!”

“I don’t wanna go,” Nova whispered. “I don’t, I can’t.”

“Then I’ll go around Kanto, or Johto, whichever!” Crow cried. “Maybe our parents are there, right, Carmen?!”

“No,” Carmen said, “they’re obviously not.”

“I don’t wanna,” Nova insisted. “Stop it.”

“Novie! I can’t give up on you!”

“You’re making this too black-and-white,” Carmen said. “All you’re doing is upsetting everyone because you’re too melodramatic to compromise.”

“Why should I compromise when it comes to love, Carmen?!”

“Because if you love them you’ll stop pretending you’re capable of looking after them!” Carmen cried. She gestured at herself. “You think I like this any more than you do?! But we can’t have everything!” She looked down, almost definitely crying, but her long hair covered her face from view. It couldn’t cover the shaking of her shoulders. “Stop making me say this kind of crap! Face reality!”

And even though it meant pulling away enough to reveal his own tear-covered face, Nova sat up straighter, reaching up to cup Carmen’s cheeks, saying something soft and reassuring that made her shoulders stop shaking.

“Fuck,” Crow said.

“We’re kids,” Carmen said. “We shouldn’t have to give up our dreams to look after other kids. Just because some adults sucked.”

Nova said, “I don’t want you to.”

Lao pulled away from Silver, running over to Crow. He hesitated at the edge of the couch, and asked, “What’s wrong with Pop Tarts and Bagel Bites?”

“Everything,” Crow admitted. “I’m so sorry, Pixie.”

Lao looked confused, but Carmen was looking more composed. Composed enough Nova let her go, and sat beside her on the couch, wiping his face on his sleeve.

“Crow,” Carmen said sternly, “I promise you, it’ll be better this way.”

Carmen’s opinion must’ve been worth a real lot. Crow took one look at how serious her face was, sighed heavily, and dropped from the couch to Lao’s side.

“You should stay here,” Crow said. “She’s right, I do wanna go back to Galar. And I can’t… I can’t do better than Bagel Bites. And, you’ll be looked after here. With everything you deserve.” He looked desperately at Silver. “Yeah?”

Silver nodded.

“But…” Lao looked from Crow to Nova. “But, but, Nii-tan…”

“Listen up,” Crow said, placing one hand on Lao’s shoulder as the other reached behind him to grab Nova’s hand, “no matter where I am, you’re still my little brothers and I’ll still be here any time you need me, okay?”

Lao nodded with confidence. Crow twisted to look at Nova. Of course, Nova looked suspicious.

“I promise,” Crow told him. “Don’t you remember how annoying I am? Nothing’ll stop me.”

Nova looked away, and nodded too.

Lao asked, “Does that mean we should tell them about magic?”

Sighs everywhere.

If it had been Nova saying it, Silver would’ve immediately concluded he was being fucked with. But Lao stared at the others in a mix of confusion and irritation, and the other children were completely avoiding looking at each other.

Silver very carefully asked, “Magic?”

Green cackled. “Aha! I knew you didn’t know, you liar!”

When had Green started lurking by the door? Fuck!

“We’re dainisa so we can do magic,” Lao said. “You’re human so you can’t.”

“Hm, yeah,” Nova said. “That’s pretty much it.”

“It’s not pretty much it,” Carmen said. “You of all people shouldn’t say that.”

“Yeah, right,” Green said. “Especially when some humans can do some magic when they bond enough with their pokémon. Like Mega Evolution, or Z-Moves, or that thing Red’s weird cousin Ash does with his greninja.”

Silver had never met Ash, but nothing he’d heard ever made him want to.

“So…” Silver pieced it together in his mind. “Dainisa is a species? You’re part of it?”

The kids all nodded.

“So’s Red,” Green said. “That’s why they wanted to meet him.”

“No, that was because Red’s a legendary hero,” Carmen said. “We didn’t know.”

Green’s eye twitched, and he said more insistently, “They wanted to meet him because he’s a dainisa too.”

“And N,” Silver realised. “He’s actually literally not human?”

Green snorted. “Clearly.”

Silver looked at the kids and didn’t know how to process the seriousness with which everyone was looking at him. The idea itself wasn’t that strange. Silver had seen serious weird shit his entire life, and it was like Green said; Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, Ash Ketchum, all their own weird brands of deeply unreal that would easily make more sense if one accepted magic as real. Silver couldn’t stop wondering… Why was the existence of this humanoid species of magical creatures a secret? But that was an entirely inappropriate question to ask children in these circumstances. The answer would probably be the exploitation of magic, or an unwillingness to share it. Not great stuff to talk about with kids you’re trying to get to trust you.

So Silver settled on saying, “All right. Is any of that magic going to make this easier?”

“Yes,” Carmen said. “Not for a while. But yes.”

How suspiciously phrased. “What can your magic do?”

“We all use magic differently, it comes to us in one or two innate abilities but we can channel it into other things, if we’re really good at it,” Carmen replied. She smirked slightly. “Why? What do you think my magic can do?”

“Tell the future.”

Carmen just smiled mysteriously. But Silver had spent enough time around Celebi to recognise the energy of something that existed comfortably in its own version of time, so he really didn’t need any other confirmation.

Seems like a lot of power for a kid, he found himself thinking, before remembering that when he was ten he was homeless and stealing pokémon as a combined attempt to stop Pryce, destroy Team Rocket, prove himself as someone of value by becoming the most powerful Trainer in the world, and mostly trying to make Lance shut the fuck up.

“I can help you get back to Galar,” Silver decided. “And if you need any information to find your parents that magic can’t give you… I can help with that, too.”

“I dunno,” Crow said thoughtfully, “if I teleported here, d’ya reckon I can teleport back to Galar?”

Silver glanced at Green. He nodded, looking queasy again.

“Yeah,” Silver said to Crow, “and if you can do that I don’t know why you’re worried about being able to see these two if they stay with Gold and me.”

“Because he sucks at it,” Carmen said flatly.

“I don’t suck!” Crow cried. “I just need a strong passion in my heart to do it right! And might get lost! But there’s no passion stronger than needing to be here for my family so he’s right it’ll work and I’ll be fine and —”

Carmen interrupted, “Which is exactly why you couldn’t get back in to save them from Leonidas.” To Silver, she said, “He can only do it over about twenty metres. For now.”

Crow was scowling, but grumbled to Silver, “Maybe we’ll need some help. A bit.”

“Don’t discredit me,” Green said. “I’m way richer than this guy. And I can give you better equipment. All he can do is give you info from the cops. Do you really want anything from the cops, Crow?”

“Ew, no.”

“I’m not a cop,” Silver insisted. “Look, you can stay awhile, we’ll figure out what you need, and… yeah. It’ll be okay.”

Was it stupid or smart that Silver’s instincts turned out to be ignoring the whole magic thing as much as possible to focus on the actual children he was dealing with? It was probably an extension of self-preservation. Think about what you can do things about, put aside the things you can’t.

The kids agreed, Green reluctantly agreed too, and they started talking it out. Carmen continued to be the composed one with a very practical kind of intelligence, Crow continued to get emotional in ways that masked the fact that he was also surprisingly smart and had apparently memorised the geography of Galar, Kanto and Unova, Nova kept staring at Silver when he thought Silver wasn’t looking, Lao kept asking about Bagel Bites… 

Ultimately, Carmen and Crow agreed to stay for a couple of days. Silver would search for their parents (Daniel Eastman and Izbuja Moreau, interesting names that distinctly had nothing to do with hot fires, and one that worryingly had a lot to do with the creepy old man they’d just arrested) in the Interpol database and pass on any information (though he feared the worst, and would have to grapple with what to tell them if their parents happened to match any of the unidentified bodies various police had come across). They took Silver and Gold’s numbers, and Silver would keep them updated on where they were (they couldn’t stay in Unova forever), or any information that came out after they left. It was sad and grim and Silver was aware it was both, but he had to keep his emotions behind glass to focus on what he could do and also he didn’t particularly want to feel them as he was encouraging the separation of the family these kids had forged for themselves. Nova looked relieved at the idea of eventually moving to Johto, so that was something, at least.

Also, when Crow started loudly exclaiming about how long Lao’s nails had gotten and Lao didn’t hesitate to let him cut them, Silver thought about how having them around would make things a bit easier for a bit. He was determined to be trusted enough to get to do things like brush their hair or cut their nails or tend to their wounds, but knew there was no way to force that trust.

All of this was gonna be so annoying to explain to Gold.

*

Of course, Gold had much more issue processing the reality of magic than Silver did. Gold had seen just as much weird shit as Silver had, but Gold had also spent some periods of his life in traditional schooling. He’d also not been raised with a world-view shaped by a criminal’s ideologies about why pokémon abuse is okay actually, and therefore hadn’t had that moment of realising everything he’d ever known was a lie before.

“Are they like, half-way between pokémon and humans?” Gold insisted. “Is this a missing link of evolution thing?”

“I dunno,” Silver said, frowning. “I didn’t think humans evolve?”

“Not that kind of evolution,” Gold said. “Wait. Is this why Lao keeps saying weird shit about our souls? Can he literally see our souls?”

“Apparently.”

“This is so wild,” Gold said. “Is it because of Lulu? Maybe? Do they bond with pokémon and that gives them magic? Like how Mega Evolution works or whatever?”

“I don’t know,” Silver replied. “I thought there were more important things to talk about.”

“You’re right, there are, this is a huge part of why I love you so much by the way, but also I’m really freaking out that there’s apparently a secret species of people like this and wait why are they a secret?!”

“I don’t know,” Silver said again, “I thought it’d upset them too much if I asked.”

“I love you,” Gold declared, “but you’re killing me right now.”

“Red’s one of them,” Silver replied, “and N.”

“Holy shit,” Gold gasped. “Is that how Red does inhuman shit like stand on a mountain in a short-sleeve jacket?! And is that how N is — N?!”

“Probably. We can ask them for more info. I don’t wanna upset the kids with it.”

“I love you,” Gold said again, much more fiercely. “I wish this was a bigger deal to you.”

“It’s a big deal,” Silver replied. “I just… I dunno.”

It was so hard to care about an apparent magical society when all he wanted was to make those kids feel like they could be safe again. The more Silver spent time with them, the more he desperately wanted them to have an easier time adjusting back to society than he and Blue had. Lance hadn’t been a good mentor. They’d both been lost and aimless and confused for so long, then Blue found her parents and they did their best but so much damage had already been done and she kept acting guilty that she got to have a family while Silver’s family was Giovanni. Everything had hurt so much for so long it became easier to be numb. Silver didn’t want to see Lao lose that bright spark of curiosity and excitement, and he didn’t want to see Nova withdraw any deeper within himself. He wanted to see who Nova was when he wasn’t scared. He wanted those kids to be safe, dammit.

Saying any of that was too hard, but Gold’s frustrated confusion became a serene smile in a way that told Silver he understood without it needing to be explained.

“Okay, you’re right,” Gold said. “I’ll try to freak out less about the fact that magic is a thing that’s real. Even though this is huge information and I can’t believe Red didn’t tell me!”

“Has Red ever actually told you anything about himself?”

“Yes! Of course!”

“Then, what’s his last name?”

Gold laughed uncomfortably. “Okay! So he didn’t, but that’s not the point!”

“Go to sleep, idiot,” Silver said. “Maybe you’ll cope with it better in the morning.”

In actuality, Gold had a much larger freak out in private the next morning, but immediately cut it out the second he saw the kids and — and Silver really loved Gold, too. Gold didn’t need to have a fucked up past to know that understanding the basics of the world they lived in was nothing compared to making children feel safe.

*

To Silver’s enormous relief, the information he found about Carmen and Crow’s parents suggested they were alive. Someone matching the description of their mother had been sighted in Lumiose City, mentioned in a report from Professor Sycamore about the ongoing investigation of ex-Team Flare members. Apparently she was interrogating Malva in the ex-Lysandre Cafe when Sycamore went for a routine visit.

The father, more conveniently, had been arrested in Unova. Alongside Colress. Of course. And most conveniently, Nate knew Colress very well.

Nate eyed Silver suspiciously when he mentioned the notorious mad scientist’s name. He slowly asked, “Do you think he’s involved in the Team Yifferent bullshit?”

“Maybe?”

Silver quickly explained about Carmen and her father, Daniel Eastman. He was concerned that there was some association between Team Yifferent and their father, given that they had the same surname, but before Silver’s thoughts could spiral too far into the realm of ‘fathers are terrible’, Nate was rolling his eyes.

“Oh, that guy,” Nate scoffed. “Yeah, he was giving Colress money and working with him on some machine. Colress said the way he was with technology was like magic.”

Probably literally magic, if magic could work with technology.

“What was the machine they were making?”

“I don’t know, I never know,” Nate replied. “Something that violated the rights of every living creature in the name of science, I’m sure.”

“And you think this was Colress’ idea?”

“Probably? It’s hard to tell?” Nate shrugged. “He’ll do anything for money and science. I don’t think it necessarily means anything. But we can probably let his kids talk to that Daniel guy. We found him in one of Colress’ white science vans and he didn’t seem to realise he was doing crimes.” He laughed. “Hey, hey Silver.” He cackled pre-emptively before pitching up his voice. “‘Damn Daniel, back at it again with the white vans’.”

Silver just stared. “I’m going to talk to N now.”

N was, of course, insufferably smug. Even after Silver pointed out that he was, in fact, wrong, because Lao did tell him what was up.

“Like all humans you only see what confirms your existing base assumptions,” N said. N Harmonia said. “Of course, I have already spoken extensively with Athena and Arez about what it means to be a dainisa and —”

“Shut up,” Silver groaned. “This why you keep sayin’ you can see the hearts of pokémon?”

“Yes, I have a magical gift that would be best described to an anime fan as ‘empathy’,” N replied. “Though it does not function like the ability to empathise with others.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Silver muttered. “So, what, you can read feelings?”

“And thoughts, sometimes. Though usually I must be touching whomstever I am trying to feel the thoughts or emotions of.”

“Cool, don’t ever fuckin’ touch me again,” Silver said. “Look, I dunno if Arez and Athena are close to Carmen or Crow or whatever but we should probably get them all together before they leave. To give them some closure.”

“They haven’t mentioned a Carmen or a Crow,” N said, “but Arez was telling Black about some Hotfire that it took a while to establish was a person, not a fire which was hot.”

“Yep, that’s Crow.”

“What a strange name,” N said. Natural Harmonia Gropius said.

“Whatever, I’m gonna get Carmen and Crow a visit with their dad, you — I don’t care what you do.”

Barely two minutes of conversation and Silver was already at his breaking point for enduring N’s smugness.

“You should ask them about the jyju,” N said, “if you want to get to the bottom of this.”

“So long as these kids are safe, I literally don’t care,” Silver replied. “Later.”

Silver barely registered N smiling at him as he left. It wasn’t that N was a bad person, it was that N was an infuriating person who had come out of the entire Team Plasma thing still insufferably smug and superior. Like part of him still actually believed he was a king. Ridiculous. Didn’t he know the correct response to finding out everything your terrible father raised you to believe was a lie was drowning in complete self-loathing to the point of developing a chronic inferiority complex you expressed primarily through anger?

Well, maybe not correct. It made Silver’s chest hurt in sharp bursts like being stabbed when he imagined Lao or Nova doing the same.

How was Silver already so endeared to these kids after two days?

With Nate’s endorsement, it was easy enough to get Carmen and Crow into a holding cell with their father. Their reactions to the ‘I found a guy playing with technology who might be your dad, he’s in jail by the way’ all but confirmed it was likely the same guy.

Of course, Silver left them alone once he heard Crow shout, “Dad!” and the similarly tall-and-blond man responded, “Crow!”

It was hard to process everything that had happened, and everything that was still happening. But hearing the genuine affection and relief in the man’s voice at the sight of his children… It was good. A warmth that was distant and made Silver ache a little, because it was a warmth he could only get voyeuristically. Giovanni had all the paternal instinct of a gun. There were no moments of softness or affection Silver could remember. Giovanni would insist they existed, that he did love Silver, but there had never been a moment where it was so obvious in his voice that it created a warmth in Silver’s chest.

But if Silver had gotten involved with Interpol for anything, it was to make the world better for other people. To make sure nobody else had to live the way he’d lived. And okay, a little bit about claiming back some control in a terrible and chaotic world that so frequently hurt people.

It was just, nice to see a dad who could juggle being a criminal with loving his children. Who by all accounts, had no idea where they were or what that Yifferent old man (who was his much older brother) had done to them. Whose greatest crime seemed to have been trusting his brother to babysit his children, then getting mixed up in actual crimes while trying to find them.

It was unsurprising when Carmen and Crow came out of the room just as determined as ever to find their mother, and to have their own lives. Silver could only speculate what their father had said to them, but he was certain it was affirmation of how important being children and having the chance to live would be.

*

Something about meeting with their father seemed to make Crow more willing to accept that he, being 13, was a child. Which in turn translated to an increased willingness to let the actual adults take care of Lao and Nova, and more time expressing his excitement over going on a Pokémon Journey to them. Silver had thought it would lead to tantrums, but mostly Lao kept saying “If that’s what you really want…” like a long-suffering lead in a bad romcom.

(Carmen later explained that Lao had had no formal education, and had in fact learnt most of the things he knew from a combination of daytime TV and Crow.

“He takes everything Crow says way too seriously, even though Crow won’t admit when he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” she added with an irritated scowl. “You’re going to have to explain a lot of things to him over and over.”

Silver faintly remembered a time when Gold had informed him that receiving something via threat was in fact stealing and it’d taken Silver a minute to process that because he was so used to Blue calling it ‘a beautiful woman’s blessing’.)

They decided to have a farewell to send Crow and Carmen off, and of course invited Athena and Arez, which unfortunately meant inviting N, but… 

But all of it was worth it to see the moment of Nova and Lao teaming up to convince Athena that Carmen and Crow (mostly Carmen) would be back. The conviction in their little voices as Lao said, “It doesn’t matter where any of us are, we’re always together, because our souls are linked” and Nova seconded it with, “They’d never abandon us” was overwhelming.

The kids all believed in and trusted each other so much. Silver was beyond determined to make sure they knew they could trust him and Gold that much, too.

*

About three days after Crow and Carmen left, Lao became fast to declare love for every one and thing. The first time had been a declaration that he loved the berry-filled stew they had for dinner. Then it was immediately followed by declaring “I love you then” when Gold said he’d cooked it. And then it just kept happening. It was kind of cute unless it was annoying. And Silver couldn’t fight back the irritated voice in his mind whispering Stop being so fake, you brat.

Of course, Nova wouldn't stop glaring at them suspiciously. Especially when Gold tried talking to him. Silver had thought Gold would find it upsetting but he didn't.

“To be honest, I think Lao saying he loves me already is much more worrying,” Gold replied. “Anger is the most common way trauma is expressed.”

Silver blinked away his confusion. “Strange thing for a professional Trainer and Breeder to know.”

“Oh yeah, I read a bunch of books about childhood trauma a while back,” Gold said. “It was super depressing.”

“Then why did you do it?”

Perhaps there was something in his past Gold was burying. Some pain Silver has never seen and always assumed never existed, because he was always too wrapped in himself to properly notice — 

But Gold stared at Silver incredulously before replying, “Dude. I wasn’t kidding about doing anything to help you. No duh that includes studying.”

And just like that, Silver remembered Gold casually saying that, back when they were twelve. Silver could still feel the blood-poisoning fear that’d had him shouting something equal parts stupid and vile at Gold once again, and Gold had earnestly said “Stop being a bastard when I’m trying to help you!” then somehow managed to get more earnest when he said “I’ll do whatever it takes to help you, so let me help already!”

And Silver didn’t let him, he’d helped himself until he couldn’t any more, but Gold was there when that point came and he never left and all Silver could do was reach out and squeeze Gold’s hand tight, brushing his thumb over the wedding ring he still couldn’t believe Gold had let him put there.

Where would Silver be without Gold?

Gold smiled, squeezing back. “What can we do, though? You can’t just say ‘Aren’t you being too happy’ to a kid. What if he thinks we don’t want him to be happy?”

Silver tried to consider the possibility that Lao was genuinely happy, but he couldn’t shake the thought of the left corner of Lao’s smile twitching in pain. Lao still hadn’t let either of them look too closely at the bandage. It was the only time he’d show any negative emotion, before swallowing it in apologies and even more declarations of love. Nova was the only one allowed to tend to Lao’s wound, which was a frankly repulsive thing to ask of a seven-year-old. It seemed to be healing bizarrely well, but Silver couldn’t get a close enough look to be fully confident, and Gold’s attempt to take them both to a doctor was met with accusations of betrayal and abandonment.

“Maybe it’ll take some time,” Silver said.

That wasn’t a solution at all. But neither was forcing a kid to show the emotions some book said he should be having.

At breakfast the next morning, Lao declared that he loved the Teddiurs-a-Rings because Gold had gotten them for him. Even though it was pretty bland as far as cereal goes.

“Fuckin’ hell,” Nova muttered.

But Lao’s smile only widened, even though it meant the left corner of his mouth spasmed, and he said even more loudly, “I love Unova milk!”

So maybe Lao was in part doing it because it clearly irritated Nova? Hopefully? Was he old enough to understand being a dick on that level? No, of course he was, Blue had been the exact same way her entire life.

Gold said he’d started looking into child psychologists in Goldenrod, and Silver decided to leave it up to the one of them who’d actually read a book about the topic of trauma.

They had to stay in Unova for a while longer than was preferable, to make sure the fostercare paperwork was processed correctly. Silver wondered why they had to bother with paperwork when half the world let children wander around on their own from age 10, and he didn’t think Lance had ever done any paperwork to take in him and Blue, but okay, sure, Silver was an interpol agent and had to do things appropriately. And maybe part of him thought about doing it properly would be an extra security in making sure the kids would never get taken away from them, and could choose to leave freely.

If Silver were really honest with himself, he’d admit another part of it was delaying having to move Lao and Nova away from Arez and Athena.

On any given day, Silver would come home to be told Lao and Nova were at Black’s, playing with his ever-expanding collection of eevee. Usually he went with Gold to pick them up, Arez would throw an extremely verbose tantrum about Lao and Nova leaving (especially Nova), Lao would insist his own happiness then as soon as they got home lock himself in his and Nova’s room, and Nova would glare.

Gold tried talking through the door to Lao, but Lao would shout “I’m fine! I love it here!” while obviously crying. And Silver would try talking to Nova at the same time, but Nova would hear Lao and freeze up then shut down.

It was every other day. It was exhausting. Silver couldn’t even manage his own emotions, let alone figure out how to tell kids what to do about their own. Or figure out how to get them to open up, or stop lying, or anything… 

Every night Gold said, “We’re one day closer to them trusting us!”

And he was right. Silver knew it, knew it’d take time, knew they had to reliably be there and listen and all that crap. All the crap Gold and Crystal had done for him, then Gold’s mother did all over. Silver knew what was happening, understood it, related to it even. But Silver also just wanted to be trusted already so he could stop seeing the kids hurting.

Though the assumption that Silver Sakaki, child of Giovanni, Team Rocket’s Prince of Darkness, feral bastard who’d spend years taking out his anger on his own pokémon and everyone who dared to speak to him, could ever figure out a way to make some kids happy when he’d gotten over-attached to them because they reminded him of himself and Blue… Bit unrealistic.

Sometimes Silver wondered about just going out and buying them things, and Gold glared at him. Which, fair, that’s what Giovanni used to do when he found out Silver was upset, though realistically Giovanni had probably stolen most of the things he’d given Silver. Well, not even personally; he’d have told someone else to steal it while they were out stealing pokémon. Giovanni never would’ve taken the time to personally steal something for Silver which… Good, but, also… Not good. If you’re gonna buy love at least take the time to personally buy the thing. Or personally steal it.

After a couple of exhausting days of this, Nova stopped freezing up when he heard Lao crying. Silver noticed it right away; in the moment Lao slammed the door, Nova didn’t flinch. He stared at the door, eyes a vibrant brown that only intensified as he looked up at Silver and Gold.

“Don’t talk to him.”

They both asked, “What?”

Gold followed it up with, “If he’s upset, we should ask him why?”

Nova didn’t say anything.

“I mean it, I don’t understand why we shouldn’t talk to him,” Gold said. 

When Nova only continued to stare, Silver added, “We’ll do what you say.” Gold protested, but Silver powered on through. “You know him better. But if you don’t explain, we won’t know why.”

Nova looked at the door. “You distract him from why he’s really upset.”

Which… it was familiar. Silver tried not to think too hard about it until he’d slid over to the door and, with mind spinning and the words sounding distant, he tried to keep himself steady as he called to Lao, “Talk to us when you’re ready to.”

Lao sobbed, but didn’t say anything about being happy or love.

Silver returned to Nova’s side. He sat down, felt himself blink a couple of times. Felt himself ask, “Are you okay?”

Nova sat down too. He didn’t say anything, but he leant against Silver, so hesitant Silver didn’t feel it at first. Honestly, if Silver had felt more present in his body, he probably would’ve jerked away from sheer surprise. As it was, he did nothing, and that must’ve been what Nova needed, because he wrapped himself around Silver’s arm like it was some kind of soft toy and clung tightly and pressed his face against Silver’s upper arm.

Silver didn’t know what exactly he was stopping himself from remembering. It could’ve been any number of times when he’d avoided how angry he was at Giovanni by focusing instead on a strange nuance in something Gold or Crystal or Lance had said. Or how long he’d spent calling his pokémon weak to avoid confronting who the actually weak one was.

Most of Silver’s life had been about distracting himself from what he was really feeling. That was how he’d survived. He never felt like he was lying, he had genuinely been angry or upset all those times, but the scale he reacted with — that was all how he wanted to react to Giovanni, but never got a chance to. And Lao had to be out-right lying, it wasn’t the same thing, but he was using that in some way to ignore what he was really feeling, what a mature and complex thing to do, and Nova — Nova looked right through it all and recognised it for what it was.

If you keep being distracted from why you’re really upset, it’ll keep upsetting you more.

Silver felt his body more as he breathed more steadily, as Nova clung to him, and as Lao’s sobbing became more honest.

“I’m tired,” Nova finally said. His grip on Silver’s arm stayed just as tight.

“Yeah, I bet,” Silver replied. Imagine being seven and the most emotionally intelligent person in the room. 

Gold asked, “The kinda tired where you wanna sleep?”

Nova shook his head.

“What about the kinda tired where you wanna watch anime with Silv?”

Nova hesitated. He said, “Yeah, but I wanna say, Arez’s the one who called him out.”

“What?”

“You’re looking at me like I did something good but I didn’t know what to do either and Arez is the one who said that, about, the distraction? He didn’t say it right, he was a real asshole about it actually, but that’s what he meant, and he’s right.”

One of those things Nova was clearly too upset about to explain properly. Silver got enough information. Arez had started an argument, he’d said something insulting, Nova found a grain of truth in it and decided to polish it up. Not that you polish grains, you wash them, but mixed metaphors aside (because that was a way of distracting himself), Nova was still the most emotionally intelligent person in the room and feeling bad his little epiphany came from an argument with some annoying brat was just more proof of it.

“You call him an asshole a lot,” Gold observed. “Do you actually like Arez?”

Nova rolled his eyes. “He’s not the kinda person you like.”

Silver didn’t understand what that meant, but Gold laughed like he did. And Nova’s grip on his arm loosened slightly, like he was relaxing, and there was a tiny smile on his lips that only grew when Gold said, “You’re funny!”

(Silver would later ask Gold what it’d meant, and understand immediately when Gold smirked and said, “Green.”)

“You know, you don’t have to hang out with him if you don’t want to,” Gold followed it up with, sounding more like an adult. “Maybe you feel like you have to because you went through a lot together, but… you don’t, y’know?”

Nova nodded. There was something tense in his lacking response, but it could be as simple as not understanding what Gold was talking about or wanting the conversation to be over. Which, big mood.

“All right, cool,” Gold decided. “You go watch anime with Silv. I’m gonna check on Lao.”

Again, Nova nodded. He slowly let Silver get up, and didn’t complain at being guided towards the living-room, so it was probably fine. Silver tried to be casual as he asked, “You ever seen Pro-Team Omega?”

“One episode,” Nova replied. “I like Tauri-Rescue.”

What a good kid.

Whatever Gold said to Lao must’ve been fine, or worked even, because Lao came out and wordlessly curled up against Nova, watching Pro-Team Omega too.

It wasn’t until hours later that Silver started to feel like he was fully in his body again. There’d been this persistent buzzing in his head that seemed to make his entire brain vibrate. It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling.

It was really lucky that once again Silver had been able to function through the buzzing. And that Nova had needed him to shut up and just sit there, but… But what if he’d needed more?

Once, when they were teenagers, Crystal had insulted Silver in the heat of an argument, and Silver’s brain hadn’t stopped buzzing for a week and he could barely do anything until the memory of whatever she’d called him faded and he could choose to ignore it again. Just like he’d learned to ignore the things the Rocket Admins called him. Silver still couldn’t remember what Crystal had said, but he could remember disjoined pieces of that week. Sneasel shaking him with such increasing intensity his claws cut Silver’s flesh and he barely feeling it. Lance endlessly making him drink hot things he couldn’t taste. Not knowing if he’d eaten. Worse, not knowing if his pokémon had. Someone programming a schedule into his PokéGear to remind him to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, shower, all that, and following it for months afterwards. The fog still being there as he slowly, slowly, started acting like an actual person again. The dawning hatred as he realised how weak he’d been, over some insult he couldn’t remember, and the attempted burying of the memory of that reaction, too.

It’d happened again a few times after that. Gold made it less, well, scary, but it wasn’t something Silver ever wanted to have to face about himself. It was just a weak thing that happened, and it’d inconvenience people for a bit because they chose to look after Silver. They chose to. They didn’t have to.

Silver’s pokémon could look after themselves. They’d rather he do it so they can be demanding and spoilt, but they were fully capable. And everyone else who depended on Silver, well, they could look after themselves better without Silver around, probably. So really, the whole ‘my brain might short-circuit and stop functioning’ thing wasn’t that much of a problem, because the only person really hurt by it was Silver.

People (Gold, Crystal, Lance, sometimes strangers on the street even) had been telling Silver to go to therapy for years. But Silver had never taken it seriously because, again: the only person hurt by his weakness was himself. And that was already an improvement based on how he used to be.

But what if this whole thing had gone differently? What if it happened again? What if Silver stopped being able to function around kids who couldn’t look after themselves?

He couldn’t let that happen.

Even so, it took Silver longer than it should’ve to bring the topic up with Gold. He felt so confused and small, thinking about how he needed help, and not knowing what to do, or how to fix it, or even if anything could possibly fix it. Hadn’t he lived most of his life just fine? Did he really have to stir up trouble because of some kids who, the next day, looked and acted like nothing at all had happened?

On the third day of stewing in those feelings, Nova got scared of an old man evil scientist on Pro-Team Omega and reacted by scrambling across the couch to cling to Silver. And Silver realised, he hadn’t caught Nova glaring at him or Gold once in those three days.

It wasn’t that they were acting like nothing had happened. It was that the kids were used to living day by day because that was the best way to survive living with a maniac. 

That night, after the kids were asleep, Silver asked Gold, “Do you ever feel like you’re not in control of your body?”

Something about the way Gold looked at Silver said so much more than the “No” conveyed. Nothing Silver could put into words, though.

Silver didn’t know what to follow his question up with. But that was fine because Gold asked, “Is that how you feel when you — y’know. Those times?”

“Yeah. And I started to feel it around Lao and Nova and… yeah.”

“I think I know what it’s called, if that’d help,” Gold said. “Y’know, from those books I read.”

“Books? I thought it was just one.”

Gold shrugged. “’S a complicated topic, Silv.”

Silver looked out the window. It was too dark to make anything out. “What’s it called?”

“Dissociation.”

It was a word Silver had heard a couple of times around witnesses who weren’t giving them enough information, or too much useless information.

“Did the books tell you how to stop it?”

“Eh, not really. They told me some things, like, that schedule thing we do? And when I ask you stuff about what you do notice? Or what parts of your body you can feel?”

“Fuck,” Silver whispered, “you’re really too good to me.”

“What?” Gold laughed. But not like he found it funny, more like it was so sad he didn’t know what else to do. “Silv, it feels like I’m doing nothing. You’ve been through so much and I have no idea what to do, or what it’s like, I wanna do everything to help you and I’m always so fuckin’ angry there was nobody helping you before, but all I can do is lame shit that barely helps while you’re suffering and fighting it so hard.”

“It doesn’t barely help,” Silver said. “It feels like the only things that’re real.”

Gold’s arms wrapped around him. Silver felt Gold’s face press firmly against his chest, and processed it quickly enough to hold Gold tightly as he shook.

“I’m sorry,” Gold choked. He wasn’t crying, just shuddering. Silver would feel it if he was crying. But he was close. “You’re the one actually, going through it, I don’t… You deserve to be the one getting upset, and comforted, and stuff, I’m sorry, shit.”

“It’s fine,” Silver insisted. He didn’t know he’d made Gold feel so weak. How could he forgive himself? “I didn’t realise… I was, I was just thinking, I wanna do stuff about it, so it doesn’t happen again, but I dunno what to do.”

“Therapy, probably?” Gold replied. “I dunno, Silv. I dunno.”

“Will you help me figure it out?”

Gold scoffed, looking up at Silver, eyes red and narrow but still no tears. “Of course I will, Silver.”

Silver pressed Gold’s face back into his chest. “You don’t even realise you’re the best husband ever, do you?”

“Uh, no, I can’t be, ’cos that’s you?”

So, Silver took over looking into therapists in Goldenrod. There were a lot. That wasn’t too surprising, given how every couple of years some Evil Team would try to destroy the entire world or killing entire regions of people, and how much bullshit Silver’s dear dad pulled in the meantime. But the fact there were a lot was good, Silver told himself, because in the likely event he ended up wanting to punch someone in the face for asking about his feelings he could change to another one. Same for the kids, though it was hard to imagine Lao punching someone in the face. Nova would absolutely punch, but somewhere more strategic, most likely.

Silver had gone into the conversation thinking he wanted better for those kids. And he still did, but there was something about Gold that always made Silver want to be better for himself, too.

*

The day they were moving back to Goldenrod, Black brought Arez and Athena over. It was at Silver’s suggestion, but as the kids shouted with varying emotions at each other in the middle of the front lawn, Black still came up to Silver with an anxious look in his eye and checked, “This is okay, right?”

“Yeah,” Silver replied. “Lao ‘n’ Nova’d be angry at me if we left without seeing them today.”

Black nodded. He watched for a moment as Arez tugged at Nova’s arm, and Nova looked away in complete disinterest, and Lao shouted at Arez to leave Nova alone. “I hope N hasn’t been too weird at you about the dainisa thing.”

“He has,” Silver said. Black sighed. “You knew it too?”

“I’m one,” Black said. He scratched the back of his head. “Well… half.”

“What?”

“I’m half-human, half-dainisa.”

“That’s a thing too?”

Black rolled his eyes slightly. “It’s not common, but yes.”

“You can do magic?”

“Not like N can,” Black replied. He nodded at Athena, who’d stopped laughing to help drag Arez away before he and Lao started fighting. “Definitely not like Athena can. She can manipulate water, and she won’t stop trying to do water-shows and getting it everywhere. So of course my samurott adores her and tries to fight me whenever I tell her to stop.”

“And Arez?”

Black shrugged. “Most of us don’t have magic this young. I didn’t use any until I was sixteen.” He sighed. “And then most of us have pretty useless magic. Like me.”

Silver stared expectantly.

“I mean, you know, things like being able to amplify sounds, or always know which direction is north, not, things people need magic to do,” he said, quickly and nervously. He looked around. “Anyway! You’ve packed everything?”

“Yep.”

“You sure you don’t want us to help?” Black asked. He looked to the sky. “Reshi can fly faster than any plane.” He smiled. “It’s a matter of pride for her.”

It was easy to forget Black was the Hero of Truth, the one chosen by Reshiram, who still followed him around to this day, demanding scratches and offerings of freshly-baked poffins. Especially when Black would so casually refer to a creature of legend that shaped the entire culture of the Unova Region as ‘Reshi’.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Silver replied. He glanced over at the kids. Lao was now calmly braiding some flowers into Athena’s hair while she did the same to Arez. Nova was handing them the flowers. It wasn’t entirely clear where he’d gotten them, but it also wasn’t entirely clear what his magic was. “Gold thinks doing normal things is the best idea.”

“I mean, maybe,” Black muttered, “but they’re never gonna be normal.”

Part of Silver was instantly offended and ready to fight, but most of him was just. Too tired after weeks of seeing how true that was. He’d taken the kids in because they reminded him of himself and Blue. A month in and he was already signed up for therapy because he couldn’t keep ignoring the parts of himself that weren’t normal.

Gold came back with the movers, and it wasn’t as dramatic as Silver had worried. Arez ranted about how much cooler Unova was than Johto, Lao snapped that Johto had apricorns like that was some selling point, and Black mused “We’ll visit them in the summer anyway,” and that was probably why it was much smoother than Silver had anticipated.

But when they were in the car, Gold’s attempts to psyche Lao up about how rare cars were fell flat. Lao stared out the window, holding hands with Lulu, and the only thing he said the entire trip was a completely flat, “I love Johto.”

It made Silver far more worried than he’d ever been before.

Silver had expected Nova would be the one it was difficult to connect to. He hadn’t known it would only take a few words, some hugs, and otherwise entirely normal behaviour. But Lao, who’d declared he had a pretty-coloured soul, who had relentlessly smiled and been cute, was the one who kept crying and refusing to speak to them and lying about loving things.

Gold was right that every day Nova trusted them more, and he kept saying the same would be true of Lao, but time kept passing with Lao crying more frequently and lying less convincingly.

Three days after they moved, while Gold and Nova were buying school supplies and Lao was helping Silver unpacking boxes, Lao declared that he loved Silver (implied to be because Silver gave him berries for Lulu), and Silver asked, “Why?”

Lao stared at him. Not like a stantler caught in lights, not like he was scared or surprised, but like it was obvious.

“’Cos love is my power,” Lao said.

“What’s that mean?”

Lao turned away, and said something in that language.

“I’m gonna learn that language,” Silver said. Mostly to be contrary, but actually, he should.

“No!” Lao cried. “Humans can’t speak it!” He started ranting with clear terror in the language, realised Silver didn’t understand, groaned in frustration, and cried, “It’s ours and Mama says all humans are blinded by Moonlight, so, there!”

The only ‘Moonlight’ Silver knew was the Fairy-Type healing move. Not the thing to focus on. “I thought you said your mother died.”

Lao froze, this time exactly like a stantler caught in lights.

“She did,” Lao said. “And it’s not, that thing Nova said, that it’s technically not a lie ’cos I had two, I don’t, so I don’t, stop it.”

Lulu growled and stepped between them, fists raised and teeth bared.

“Lao, I need to know so I can make sure she doesn’t try to take you back.”

But Lao was shaking, his left hand raising slowly, until it rested on the back of his neck, behind his hair. It was something Silver had seen Lao do once before, when he was adamant he was four, not an idiot, and perfectly capable of washing his own hair.

“Lao…”

But Silver didn’t get to finish whatever he’d been able to say. Lao took a step back, Lulu took one forward, Silver barely raised his arm in time, and the punch landed. Silver was first surprised by how much it didn’t hurt. Then decidedly not surprised by Lao’s panicked gasp as he pulled Lulu away and they started to run.

Silver probably should’ve been angrier, but it didn’t feel like the bone had even fractured, he could move his arm fine, and he knew riolu were overly sensitive to the emotions of their Trainers. How stupid could you get, not backing away the second a riolu starts defending its Trainer?

He had to go find Lao.

There was something about the whole thing — a mother who told Lao to hate humans, who he clearly hated and feared yet still followed the beliefs of — well. Obviously Silver could relate.

It wasn’t a good time to start dissociating again. He had to get up. He had to move. He had to find Lao.

It still took him a minute of swearing at himself to get to his feet and start chasing Lao down.

He found Lao halfway down the street, in too much of a rush to have even put on shoes, still running. It was lucky Lao was only four and Lulu was still too weak to carry him. The second Lao saw Silver, he stood in front of Lulu and cried, “Don’t!”

“You’re not in trouble,” Silver said.

But Lao only clenched his little fists harder, feet shifting as he got ready to fight. There were tears flowing freely from his eyes, his brow furrowed heavily, and Silver was positive he could hardly see. Yet he still stood there like Silver was an evil he’d give everything to fight.

“Don’t hurt him,” Lao growled.

“I don’t want to,” Silver replied, “I don’t wanna hurt either of you. I wanna do literally the opposite but you won’t let me.”

Lao’s glare didn’t shift. “What’s the opposite?”

“I wanna take care of you.”

Lao shook his head.

“I do, I promise.”

Again, Lao shook his head.

“Come back to the house,” Silver asked. Barely remembered to add, “Please.”

“No,” Lao replied. “I’m tired of waiting for you to hurt us.”

It was what he’d expected to hear, yet it destroyed Silver’s heart more than he’d imagined.

“I don't want to hurt you,” Silver said, “not ever.”

Lulu started to growl, but before he could do anything, Lao started shouting.

“That's what every adult said!” Lao cried. “That’s what Mama said! That’s what Dan said! That’s what Leonidas said when he was cutting my face! You’re gonna hurt us!”

What had Lao’s mother been like, to have a four-year-old saying things like this? Silver hadn’t even coaxed out a name and he already hated the bitch with a fury he hadn’t felt since last time he’d been face to face with Giovanni.

Silver didn’t want to project too much but it was hard when his mind was already foggy and this furious child was looking at him like he was a monster. And maybe he was on some level, no matter how much Gold had tamed him, because Silver had been passed around between monstrous adults who always hurt him and told him how much it was his fault and how weak he was for causing them to hurt him. Nobody had done anything as bold as cutting his face, but every day they’d hacked away another part of Silver’s heart and told him how much it was his fault, how much he deserved it, and how weak he was.

And maybe Lao needed to hear what Lance had once told Silver. Silver had been too old, too jaded, too independent, to be able to believe it. But Lao was young and Silver had seen how fiercely he loved. So maybe it would still help him.

“I mean it,” Silver said. Much quieter, much less grandiose than Lance had said it, and he meant it, so much, it ached along every scar on his heart. “If I ever hurt you, it’ll be an accident and my fault. Not because of something you did.”

Lao started shaking. He hiccuped, sobbed, and demanded, “What about Lulu punching you?”

“You were upset and I got between you and your pokémon,” Silver said, “Lulu just wanted to protect you. I understand that.”

Lao’s brow became ever so slightly less furrowed.

“Lulu can sense auras, right?”

Lao nodded.

“And you can see souls?”

Lao hesitated, but nodded again.

“Then look at my soul whenever you want,” Silver said, “anything that makes you understand I mean it. I never wanna hurt you, or Lulu, or Nova, or Mimic, I just. I just want you to be safe.”

“Nova said it’s rude,” Lao said.

“As if I’d know that,” Silver replied, “I’m human, right?”

Lao laughed a tiny little bit, then pouted.

“Let’s go back,” Silver said. He offered a hand to Lao, and Lao took it loosely, his other hand tight around Lulu’s paw.

Better than nothing.

Back in the house, Silver led Lao to the bathroom. Lao was subdued, mostly non-reactive as Silver washed his face and feet. No cuts. His eyes were puffy, his body still shaking, but when Silver asked if he wanted hot chocolate Lao nodded.

With Lao sitting on the couch, hand trembling subsiding around the smallest mug that still looked too big in his hands, Lulu cuddled up against him, colour returning to his face, Silver crouched in front of Lao and tried to trust his instincts.

He didn’t have proof that Lao’s mother was anything like Giovanni, but maybe he wasn’t too far off. So if it could help… 

“Lao, do you know who Giovanni is?”

Eyes wide with terror, Lao nodded.

“He’s my dad.”

Lao gasped. He almost dropped the mug. Silver reached forward, helping him steady it, then pulled away again.

“Yeah. So I know what it’s like to have a bad parent,” Silver said, “and all I want is you to be safe. I don’t need to be your dad, I don’t need to be someone you even like, and if you’d be happier and safer somewhere else you can go there. But I know what it’s like, so that’s why I want you to be safe.”

Lao looked down. He took a long drink. Murmured something to Lulu that Silver couldn’t understand. But Silver’d wait, as long as it took, until Lao was ready to talk.

And it didn’t take long. Lao asked, “Did he really kill people? And pokémon?”

“Yes,” Silver replied. “I’ve seen him do it. And I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Lao nuzzled against Lulu, almost spilling his drink again. He said, “Leonidas cut my face because I wouldn’t pull souls out for him. ’Cos I think that’d kill people. Right?”

“That… sounds like it would, yeah.”

Better not to think about the horror of all that right now.

“But, I can still look at your soul?” Lao asked.

“Yeah,” Silver replied, “but don’t pull it out.”

“I don’t even think I can,” Lao replied. Then he very quickly said, “I can’t see anything except souls when I look at souls and all I see are colours and I don’t know what all the colours mean but I kinda know and it makes me really really tired and it makes my head hurt.”

“Does your head hurt now?” Silver asked, thinking of all the crying.

“No.” He held the mug out to Silver. “I finished.”

Silver took it and set the mug on the floor.

“Won’t Gold be mad?”

Silver shrugged. “He’ll be fine. We’re talking.”

Lao laughed a little bit again. It didn’t seem fake, but Silver didn’t know why Lao found that funny, either. Kids.

“Can you tell me anything about your mother?”

Lao’s smile fell. But he said, “Her name’s Amaya Yamaguchi” in such a timid little voice it was like he wasn’t used to people not recognising the name. He added, “The Minathia.” Then, with a heavy sigh, “Queen of dainisa.”

“And she hurt you?”

Lao hesitated, but nodded.

“Then she’s never coming anywhere near you again,” Silver said.

“She’s the most powerful dainisa in the world,” Lao murmured, “except for me ‘n’ the Sun but I don’t know who that is, honest, so don’t ask me anything about it.”

So whatever ‘the Sun’ was, Lao definitely knew who or what it was. Context clues alone made it clear it wasn’t the literal ball of flames in the sky, of course, but Silver had been caught off guard a lot in the past month. So who knows.

“I don’t care how powerful she is,” Silver replied. “I told you I want to look after you. If I’m looking after you by keeping her away, I’m gonna do it.”

Lao looked up again. He met Silver’s eyes, desperate and earnestly searching for something, and Silver had no idea if Lao was looking at his soul or whatever was going on but he just desperately hoped Lao could see how much he meant it. When tears came to Lao’s eyes, Silver worried he’d maybe looked too angry and scared him, but then Lao whispered, “Maybe I will love you.”

And, holy shit.

“I’m doing it whether you love me or not,” Silver replied. “I’m gonna prove to you there’s good adults in the world.”

Lao once again cuddled against Lulu until his face was hidden, but Silver didn’t miss the giddy little giggle that sounded closer to how Lao had been when he’d first found him.

Gold and Nova came back with a mountain of books that were nothing to do with school supplies, and if Nova found anything weird about Lao cuddling up against Lulu while talking to Silver about all the colours in his soul, he didn’t say anything. He walked over and started showing Lao books. Gold raised his eyebrows at Silver, and Silver shrugged, exhausted, not sure how to even start explaining.

But all Gold did when Silver explained as they cooked dinner was demand, “Promise me you’re gonna arrest his mother somehow.”

And Silver was overwhelmed all over again by how much he loved Gold.

*

There were a few mentions of an Amaya Yamaguchi in the interpol database. Apparently she had a knack for illegal travel and inserting herself into local political tensions wherever she went, yet the mentions were buried in arrest reports or information packets. There was no folder on the woman herself.

Silver knew he was a very petty person who could hold grudges over the tiniest things. Which he thought meant it was all the more confirmation of how deeply dedicated he was to these kids that he only hesitated a little bit to think about N’s smugness before calling him.

“What’s a Minathia?” Silver asked right away.

“The leader of dainisa,” N said, “why is that relevant?”

“Lao is her child and we need to make sure she doesn’t come after him or any of the other kids,” Silver replied. “So what do you know about her and how the whole thing works?”

And one of the things that made N tolerable was that he did have some sense of when to stop being smug and answer questions. “The Minathia is the leader of the jyju. That’s the council of the sixteen dainisan royal families, who live all over the world helping keep dainisa secret from humans.”

“And why’re you secret in the first place?”

“Humans have historically tried to kill dainisa and hiding ourselves has been the only way to stop it,” N said, adding a very curt, “allegedly.”

“Why’s it only alleged?”

“I’ve never seen proof of it.”

“Okay,” Silver said. “Do you know anything about Amaya Yamaguchi?”

“She has telekinesis, the Yamaguchis live in Ecruteak City, but she’s usually in Saffron,” N replied. “She also funded Ghetsis.”

“So what I’m hearing is, you’ve been trying to catch her for something for a long time,” Silver said.

“That’s accurate,” N said. “I thought she was the one we would find running Team Yifferent. Ghetsis’ wire transfers linked back to their same bank account Team Yifferent used. But it turns out that was Leonidas Eastman’s, and he is one of Amaya’s grunts.”

Silver glanced at the door. In the silence, he could hear Lao exclaiming to Nova in that language, and Mimic’s high-pitched chatter.

“Lao said she hurt him,” Silver said, “I need her destroyed.”

“We’ll manage it, but I need more time,” N said. “Most dainisa would cover up anything for the Minathia. There’s nothing we can legally use, and I’ve been informed illegal means will not end well for me.”

“Guess you do have a history of terrorism,” Silver casually recalled.

“Yes, thank you,” N huffed. “I don’t know how long it will take, but if back me up we should be able to convince Looker to provide surveillance.”

“Yeah, of course,” Silver said. “You keep an eye on Arez and Athena though. These kinds of people would consider them the easier target.”

“Athena has assured Arez many times he is far too irritating to be kidnapped, but I will keep it in mind,” N replied. “Athena seems to be trying to figure out how to tell me she is a member of one of the sixteen royal families. I wouldn’t be surprised if Arez were also.”

Silver would have to ask Nova about where he fit in.

“One more thing,” Silver said. “Lao was saying his power is love? And that humans are ‘blinded by Moonlight’? Do you know what any of that means?”

“Not the first part, but the second is true,” N replied. “Dainisan legends state that the Moon casts light which blinds people and pokémon alike to their own desires and destinies, leading them astray.”

“So when you were a terrorist —”

“Revolutionary, actually, and yes,” N interrupted. “It could be argued I was blinded by Moonlight. Though at the time I was under the impression I was the Sun — the counterpart, you understand. The one who gives life and liberation to all dainisa and pokémon alike. Bonding with Zekrom was supposed to be the final task to allow me full access to my divine solar powers but, I was mistaken.”

Listening to N talk about thinking of himself as a kind of deity… it was so hard not to laugh.

“Okay,” Silver said quickly, “I think I know what I need to know. Let me know what I can do to help catch Amaya.”

And Silver knew he had grown a lot as a person because it was a few seconds after he hung up the phone that he started laughing.

*

Later, when Silver was tucking Lao and Lulu into bed, Lao asked him, “Why do you wanna learn Dainisan?”

“Because it seems like you like it better,” Silver replied.

“Oh… yeah, I do.”

“But if you don’t want me to, I won’t,” Silver said. “N explained to me that humans haven’t ever been nice to dainisa.”

Lao nodded, bit his lip, and glanced at Lulu. “But if Lulu had done that to Mama or Leonidas, they’d hurt us both.”

Silver rolled down his sleeve to show them the bruise. It was dark purple, and Lulu whined. “Don’t worry. It hurts a bit, but it’ll get better.” He reached out slowly, but Lulu didn’t dodge, so Silver gently scratched the top of his head. “Kick anyone’s ass if they try to hurt Lao, got it?”

Lulu barked an affirmative, and licked Silver’s hand as he pulled it away.

“Gold’s gonna come read you a story in a minute,” Silver said. “He’s really excited about some picturebook about a caterpie, but don’t pretend you like it if you don’t, okay?”

“Okay,” Lao mumbled.

“You saw how many they bought,” Silver said, “we’ll find something you like.”

Lao nodded, a blush high in his cheeks, and said, “Dizjylua.”

“Hm?”

“That’s how we say goodnight. Dizjylua.”

Silver watched the shapes of Lao’s mouth closely, replayed the sounds in his mind, and repeated, “Dizjylua.”

He left the door open as he left, nodding to Gold, before heading into Nova’s room.

Nova was already in bed, curls strewn across the pillows. It’d be hell to brush out the next morning, but his eyes were falling closed, then he’d shake his head and open them again, only to have them close again quickly. Silver started to approach, then paused when he saw the glow of Mimic’s eyes under the bed.

“Night, Nova,” Silver said softly.

Nova mumbled, “Gold wanted to read.”

“You can read together tomorrow,” Silver said. “Go to sleep.”

As his eyes fell closed again, Nova sleepily mumbled, “’Kay, Dad.”

Silver didn’t know if it was an accident, or Nova thought he was someone else, or what, but… 

It felt right.