Work Text:
The Laquium Core has finally been eradicated, and Laquium as a whole is finally gone from Laqua. The previously nightmarish place is now a paradise again, pokemon from all around finally returning to their favorite place.
Rayquaza, Zygarde and Pagogo are staying behind as well. Liko's partner in everything is now gone, left behind in the place where it belongs, even if it doesn't feel right to them. The girl is crying, definitely anguished by this loss, and Dot and Ann are comforting her as they get to the Brave Asagi.
With the adrenaline dying down, everyone can start feeling their injuries a lot more. Roy feels the deep cut on the lowest part of his left cheek bleed, alongside other bruises and cuts that he got during the fight. Right next to him is Ult, whom he holds up and helps move with care; the boy probably has a twisted ankle based on how he winces, and he also has a cut that starts on his left eyebrow and ends on the top of his right cheek, going across the upper part of his nose.
Mollie receives all of them in front of the airship’s doors, already guiding all of them to the infirmary. They all allow Liko to go first, because she has a deep gash in her arm and a bruise in her eye, and then they start stepping in based on the order in which they arrived.
Roy and Ult are last, both boys entering the room together. Roy helps Ult sit on the infirmary’s bed, insisting that Mollie sees him first.
The nurse first cleans the cut on Ult’s face, not apologizing as the kid winces, focused on her job. When it's clean, she puts a big, long bandage on it, something that looks like technical medical equipment.
“Alright, what else?” she asks Ult, who looks away and refuses to answer, probably out of pride. “Roy, what else?”
“I think his ankle is twisted or something,” Roy tells her, his voice hoarse and quiet from all the yelling he's had to do today. “The left one.”
Mollie takes a look at Ult’s left ankle, confirming to herself that it's twisted — it's a bit swollen and bruised — before putting the boy's leg all the way on the bed. She rummages through the cabinets until she finds a compressing sock, helping Ult put it on.
“I’ll put ice on it tomorrow, it's too late now,” she says, “keep it elevated tonight though. Now, Roy, let me take a look at you.”
Roy sits on the bed next to Ult, definitely noticing how quiet the other teen has been. However he says nothing, instead turning to Mollie as the woman starts cleaning his wounds as well.
“I bet you're tired,” she murmurs, trying to make some sort of talk. She's not used to these two being so quiet, especially around each other, and she doesn't like this one bit. “You had fun?”
“Yeah!” Roy answers, mostly out of habit. He's tired, dirty and beat up, definitely didn't have fun, and the event isn't something that he'll be forgetting any time soon. “It was fun, right, Ult?”
“Meh,” Ult contributes, shrugging, “could've been better. I wouldn't consider it fun, we all threw up like twice.”
“Ah, yeah…”
Laquium smells sickly sweet, and as more of it kept spreading, it smelled even worse. Roy remembers that the first one to throw up was probably Amethio, and he himself threw up at least once or twice. Ult also vomited, but Roy lost count of how many times very quickly since he was focusing on more pressing matters.
“Make sure to drink water then,” Mollie suggests, putting a bandaid on Roy’s face and moving to patching his legs up. “You could get dehydrated.”
Each of them has more bruises and cuts in different areas: Liko has hers in her face and legs, Dot has theirs on their neck and shoulders, Ult has his on his face and arms, and Roy has his on his legs and arms. Overall, all the teens suffered greatly from the attacks, and now they're feeling it.
“Take some painkillers if you need,” the nurse speaks again, handing them a bottle. Roy must've zoned out, because his injuries are all patched up now. “Only one every four hours, take them with water and for the love of Arceus don't chew them. I’ll check up on every one of you tomorrow again, go to sleep now.”
The moon is high up in the dark sky now, but it's closer than ever from the Brave Asagi. Roy puts Ult’s arm around his own neck, helping him move around without putting much pressure on his twisted ankle.
“Hey,” the red haired boy says, a small smile and blush on his face. “Wanna come sleep in my room? That way you won't have to take the elevator.”
Ult blushes as well, looking away from Roy in shyness. But he still nods, leaning closer to the other boy, “whatever. Let's grab water first.”
They go to the kitchen, seeing no one inside as they much expected. Roy lets Ult go only after he's made sure the boy is supporting himself on something, and takes a water bottle from the fridge. After that, he goes back to supporting Ult, and they both leave to Roy's room.
It's oddly peaceful in the bedroom, with his team all asleep in their pokeballs and Cap probably sleeping with Friede in the man's room. Everyone else is quiet, meaning that they're all probably sleeping now, which they're about to do as well, with Ult already sitting on the bed.
When Roy sets his bag down on the small table in his room, he notices a pokeball rolling out of it. It's open and broken, and it moves until it falls from the small desk.
“Oh,” the boy whispers, his voice upset. He takes the ball in his hands, and it feels overly light as now there's nothing in it, “right…”
He puts the pokeball back on his desk, trying to not think about it further, and sits down next to Ult on the bed. However, it's impossible to contain his pain further, especially with how Ult looks like he's about to cry as well.
They've both come so far, seen so much in the span of a few months. Their relationship has changed as time has passed and so have they, now barely mirroring the people they were when they first met.
The first sob leaves Ult's mouth, and the boy covers his mouth with his hands. However, Roy doesn't allow him to keep all that in, pulling him into a side hug as he lets out a sniffle of his own, wanting Ult to know that he's not alone, especially not now.
They've gained so little from their adventure, no material things and only tight bonds as a reward from their efforts. Yet half of those efforts are gone with how much they've lost, most prominently now that the black Rayquaza is out in Laqua again where it belongs — the thing that united them is now so far away, so high in the skies, that they’ll probably never be able to reach it again.
“I'm sorry,” Roy apologizes, now sobbing. His head is pressed against Ult’s, and there he leaves a soft, tearful kiss before letting out another sniffle, “I'm so sorry, Ult…”
“What for?” Ult demands, sounding a bit angry — that's just how he sounds when he cries, frustrated because he hates the feeling of snot and tears running down his face. “You— you have nothing to apologize for, you idiot.”
“I brought you into this,” the other answers, his voice quiet even if his cries are uncontrollably loud. “I made you do all this…”
“You didn't make me do anything…!” Ult whisper-yells, now really angry. He turns enough so that he's looking directly at Roy, a scowl on his face adorned with a worried frown. “You think— you think you can make me do things? You can't, I— I came here ‘cuz I wanted to!”
And, as dumb and pathetic as the statement sounds — as it's constantly interrupted by sobs and sniffles —, Roy can't help but let out a wet laugh and a smile, even through the thick tears that won't stop coming out.
“You're right,” he says, wrapping his arms around Ult. The boy is taken aback at first, but eventually also wraps his arms around Roy’s body. “I could never force you to do anything you don't want to…”
“I'm too smart for that!” the other whispers again, this time more clear as he's not sobbing audibly anymore. He yawns, eyes closing and shedding some tears, “let's go to sleep,” he says, “I'm tired.”
Roy nods in agreement, laying down on his bed and allowing Ult to practically throw himself over him. “Goodnight,” he murmurs into the night sky, his eyes already closing on their own.
“Good mo— woah!” one of the boys exclaims.
Roy and Ult both step into the airship’s reunion room, seeing some others already there. Roy gasps and puts a hand over his mouth, and Ult only looks at the scene with wide eyes.
“You look great!”
Liko has cut her hair short, probably done by Orio based on how the woman is holding some scissors, now a bit shorter than neck-length. It looks good on her, and she lights up a bit now that someone's saying it — she still doesn't look particularly pleased.
“Thank you,” she says, blushing a bit and looking away. Attention is something that still makes her shy, especially praise over her appearance, “I had to cut it…”
The right side of her hair had been cut by one of those Laquium tentacles during the battle, to the length that it is now. They hadn't really had time to notice until now, and the look change really suits her.
“I told you it would look great,” Orio reassures the girl, pulling back one of the chairs. “Ult, sit down, Mollie told me to put ice on your ankle.”
The casual scene brings warmth to all their hearts as Roy settles Ult into the chair, sitting right next to him. They're all still tired and shaken from yesterday, most of the crew isn't even awake, but they're fine now.
“I dreamed of Mr. Lucius and Rystal,” Liko says, a smile on her face. “They seemed so happy, even Mr. Gibeon…”
They’ll all be alright, they have those three looking over them wherever they are now.