Work Text:
Volo examined the carvings in front of him. These ones, he had seen many a time before, to the point to know what they said by heart. What they meant , though, was a different matter entirely. Perhaps someday he would crack the code, and-
"Papa, I can't see!"
Volo looked down to see the adorable pouting face of his daughter Hikari, her expression mirrored by her Togepi clutching at her head (although he suspected the Togepi wasn't all that put out, and was just mimicking the girl). He chuckled and lifted her up to the height of the carvings, letting her do her own examination. Hikari looked at them for a moment before turning her head toward him quizzically.
"What do they mean?"
"'The Original One left this world, its creation complete, to enter a long slumber.'"
"Ohh…" She looked back at the carvings, tilting her head slightly. "They sure are weird…"
"It's using the Unown as their alphabet." He pulled out his notebook and began writing to demonstrate. "See? This is your name in the Unown alphabet."
Her eyes widened in wonder as she watched him write. His heart swelled with pride at this; maybe she would gain the same appreciation for the ruins of this land as she grew older. Discover its secrets for herself, and maybe take it farther than he ever could in his short lifetime.
"Found what you were looking for?"
Volo looked up to see Seren striding towards them.
"Mama!"
Hikari abandoned her newest fascination to run up and cling to Seren's legs. They chuckled and lifted her up into a hug.
"Did papa show you something cool?" Hikari nodded eagerly.
"It was a thing about, um…" her small brow furrowed in concentration as she carefully said the name "Ar-ce-us!"
"That is cool!" Seren gave Hikari a small kiss at the cheek to which the young girl giggled. "Are you ready to go see the Pokemon now?" She nodded even more excitedly, somehow not giving herself and Togepi whiplash from how quickly her head went up and down.
"I wanna see the Cherubi!"
Volo looked in concern at the girl. That was quite far up the mountain, if he remembered correctly. There'd be alphas of various types in the way, and while he and Seren could probably dodge them well enough on their own, with Hikari here…
Apparently Seren shared the same concern, as they chuckled nervously at the exclamation.
"Are you sure? It'll be a long walk…"
"Sure I'm sure!"
Seren glanced at Volo, who shrugged. He was far from happy about the possible dangers in their path, but denying Hikari… not only would it be hard, she probably wouldn't speak to either of them for a week. That'd be the death of him.
Seren sighed and shook their head. "Fine, let's get going. We'll have to go quickly to get there before dark."
As Hikari cheered, Volo silently thanked Arceus that he had been able to resist the pleas of his other children to come along.
The journey up the mountain, surprisingly, was uneventful. It did take a bit longer than it would have with the help of the nobles, but few Pokemon cared about their passage, and the ones who did were easily driven off. It almost felt too easy, but Volo didn't dare pay mind to that thought - he wasn't too superstitious, but he'd rather not jinx himself.
Unfortunately, it took a lot less than he thought to bring misfortune. Seren abruptly stopped and crouched, bringing Hikari down with them. Volo copied their movement and inched a bit closer to them.
"What is it?" He whispered, to which he only received a finger pointing just ahead their path in response. He looked in that direction and silently cursed.
An outbreak of Gible, at least twenty of them. And at their center, an alpha Garchomp. Vaguely he recalled the gatekeeper mentioning an outbreak in the area, but at the time he didn't think they were going too far up…
He glanced down at Hikari, who only looked curiously at the group. She had been taught and told often about how dangerous Pokemon could be, but had never seen it herself - the only ones she had encountered were the ones in the pastures and around town, who were hardly aggressive. Add that to how often she played with her father's Garchomp, and that left her with not enough wariness for this situation.
"There's grass around them. As long as we stay quiet, we should be able to sneak past them." Seren looked pointedly at Hikari. " Don't make a sound."
Hikari nodded and mimed buttoning her lips, beaming up at her mother with an innocent smile. Seren turned forward again and began making a path through the grass, keeping a close eye on the group of dragon Pokemon.
Every movement of the Gible increased the growing tension - just a glance in the wrong direction and they were in trouble. Maybe a few they could handle, but this many - this many meant trouble, even with strong Pokemon with a type advantage on their side.
They were halfway across, with Volo beginning to think they actually might make it, when disaster struck.
"Ahh-CHOO!"
Time stood still. Hikari held her hands over mouth, her eyes wide as she realized just how much trouble her sneeze had possibly caused them. The Gible stared at their hiding spot in the grass. Slowly, the Garchomp turned as well, a growl building up as it searched for the sound of the noise.
Maybe if they kept still enough, the alpha would lose interest and they could move on-
And then the Gible charged.
Everyone moved at once. Seren whipped out the Azure Flute and called upon Wyrdeer, charging directly into the fray to distract them as best as possible. Volo grabbed Hikari's hand and sprinted to the nearest hill. He hoped the Gible wouldn't be able to chase them up there. At the very least, it would give them a better vantage point.
They reached the hill without incident. The cries and attacks of Wyrdeer distracted the small Pokemon effectively. He lunged up the hill with little effort.
Then he felt Hikari's small hand slip from his own.
He whipped around to see her tumble back down the hill, screaming all the way, towards the attacking Pokemon. Just as he started to move to rescue her from the melee, the Garchomp turned their direction.
And charged.
His body moved.
He hardly controlled it - his mind filled with memories - a similar Garchomp charging right towards him - mother pulling him away just as it swiped - his eye suddenly gone black - other eye searching for father - he's already gone, gone, lying on the ground not far away - mother pushing him away, telling him to run as the monster struck again - now she's gone too, he just runs, runs, until he cannot anymore - father, mother gone, only, only-
No no no no no no NO-
No time to run.
No time to fight.
Only can protect
And so he did, throwing his body in front of hers, turning, enveloping her in his grasp, so no way for it to -
Pain. Searing pain. His back was on fire. Dimly he heard himself scream, the sound of a PokeBall opening at his waist, the dual cries of Togekiss, a roar of pain from the Garchomp, and then - nothing.
Only the faint whisper of wind as Wyrdeer was dismissed, and the heavy footfalls as Seren dashed towards them.
"Volo…!"
They collapsed on their knees behind him, hands hovering over the wound before carefully peeling away the fabric and removing his kimono from his back. Given by the hiss they let out - and by how it felt - his back was in nasty shape.
His grip tightened on Hikari. No need for her to see something like this.
She wriggled in his arms, looking up at him with tearfilled eyes.
"Papa..?"
"It's going to be okay," he reassured. "I'm okay. Gonna be just fine." He swallowed back tears of pain. "Just a scratch, won't take-" he hissed as Seren applied a poultice to his back, "won't take long to heal at all."
"Papa…" She clutched at her Togepi in her arms, itself looking shaken. "Papa I'm sorry…"
"Now what are you apologizing for? Everything is going to be fine, nothing to be sorry for." He loosened his grip on her temporarily so Seren could wind bandages around his torso. "Probably can't see the Cherubi, sorry about that. I know you were looking forward to seeing them."
Hikari shook her head and reached up to brush her small hand against his cheek. Her tears spilled over onto her cheeks. He raised a shaky hand to brush them away.
"Done… Can you get Arcanine out?" Seren pulled away. "I'm not fond of the idea of you walking at the moment."
"Yeah.. yeah, I can do that…" He fumbled for Arcanine's ball, releasing her when he finally found it. She growled in concern. "I'll be ok girl, don't worry. Can I get a ride from you though?" Arcanine lay on the ground and looked at him. He clambered on clumsily with Seren's help, then gestured for Hikari to sit in front of him. Better to keep her close by for now.
He faded in and out of awareness during the trip back down the mountain. Vaguely he registered arriving at base camp, someone taking Hikari from him (ignoring his weak protests), someone moving him into a cart, lying him down, Seren climbing in next to him, Arcanine being returned to her ball…
And then nothing.
Next time Volo awoke, he was staring at a white ceiling. Blinking a few more times, his vision came into focus, noticing a screen in his peripheral vision.
So he had made it back to Galaxy Hall.
He turned his head to the side, his head still foggy. Hikari was sleeping in a chair next to his bed, her Togepi snoozing in her lap. The few minor scratches she had sustained were already healing, much to his relief.
His body still felt heavy. So might as well sleep a bit more . No need to wake Hikari.
"Papa…?"
Well, there went that plan.
Apparently however long she had taken the nap was long enough, as she stirred into wakefulness. She rubbed at her eyes sleepily and looked at him for a moment. Her eyes widened.
"Papa!!"
She flung herself from the chair to him, causing a sharp bolt of pain from his back. He suppressed his yelp, managing to disguise it as a cough.
"Easy there Hikari, still pretty sore."
She pulled back, abashed.
"Sorry, papa…"
Togepi chirped from its spot on the floor, having fallen when Hikari made her leap onto the bed. Hikari leaned over the side of the bed and pulled Togepi up with her. Once it was settled, she snuggled up to Volo.
"..I thought you weren't gonna wake up, papa…" she whispered. "You were asleep for so long.."
"And leave you and mama and everyone without me? Never." He wiped away the small tears that were falling from her eyes. "It'll take a lot more than that to get rid of me." He looked around. "Where's your mom?"
"Mama's taking care of- Mama!"
Speak of the devil. Seren walked from around the screen, pausing when they saw him awake. Volo gave them a lopsided smile.
"Hey."
Seren didn't respond, instead running to the bedside and enveloping him and Hikari in a tight hug. He awkwardly patted their back with his free hand.
"I'm okay, I'm okay…"
They looked up at him and sniffed, the beginnings of tears forming at the corners of their eyes. Volo looked at Hikari.
"Can you give me and mama some alone time?"
Hikari's face fell. "But…"
"Go play with your siblings. Just for a bit."
She slowly nodded and clambered off the bed, Togepi hopping off after. Watching them run off, Volo pulled Seren closer, onto the bed. They clung onto him like he'd disappear if they let go.
"Hey, it's okay, I'm alive.."
"Volo…" Their words were muffled, their face buried in his chest. "I… I was so scared…"
"I know, I'm sorry, I'm here now. It's okay."
"It's not okay!" They looked up at him again, their face streaked with tears. "You could have died ! What were you thinking ?"
He blinked. "What was I thinking? I was thinking to protect my daughter. Should I not have?"
"That's not what I meant and you know it. You could have sent out Togekiss, you could have ran with her, you could have-"
"There's a lot I could have done." He let out an aggravated sigh. "I panicked , okay? Give me a break."
They stared at him. Slowly, their breathing started to calm.
“...I’m sorry. It just…” They took a deep breath. “I was so scared I was going to lose you. That our kids would grow up without their father.”
He cupped their cheek and lifted their face until they met his eyes.
“I would never, never … I’d rather spend all of eternity and a day alone in the distortion world than leave you behind.” He leaned in and gently pressed a chaste kiss to their lips. “Even if I had to fight my way out of hell itself, I wouldn’t die and leave you behind.”
“Volo…” They pressed their forehead against his. “...I love you. You know that, right?”
“Of course, though I still love to hear it every time. And I love you.”
“Please… don’t scare me like that again.”
He looked away.
“...no promises there. If you or the kids were in danger… I’d do it all over again, a million times.”
Seren sighed.
“Well… at least be careful then. And try to think, at least.”
“Again… no promises.” He hesitated a moment. “...to be honest… it brought up some… bad memories.” He raised his hand to his covered eye - still scarred, still sightless. “I don’t want them to go through the same thing as I did. Ever.”
They blinked, then their eyes widened.
“Oh… oh. ” Their hand covered his own. “Volo, I… I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”
“Don’t be.” He laughed bitterly. “I don’t talk about it often. For obvious reasons.”
He looked at them again, his heart softening. To have them so concerned for him, to the point they wanted - no, needed him there…
Arceus, he was lucky. How did he get such an amazing second chance, with everything he’s done?
“Thank you.”
Seren looked at him in surprise.
“For what?”
“For being here,” he kissed their cheek, “for giving me such a wonderful family,” another kiss on the other cheek, “and for being you.”
Their face flushed a bright red.
“Volo…” They buried his face in his chest and groaned. “Do you really have to be so sappy now …”
He laughed.
“Sorry, sorry.”
“You’re not.”
“I’m not.”
And why should he be?
No way he’d apologize for loving his spouse, never in a million years.