Chapter 66 - Interlude XI: Pyre

Sabra is so distracted by the sight of the hospital going through its final immolation that she almost misses the young trainer sitting on the wet ground nearby it.

The top half has already burned itself out, while the smoldering bottom illuminates the boy and the bags sitting next to him. Vermilion Gym's Third rears her manectric Sheen to a stop, then dismounts so she can approach the trainer as her people fan out to search for other survivors that may still need help. They just finished hunting down and catching the onix that was cracking streets and building foundations, and are working their way back along its path of destruction to help who they can.

The people who evacuated ensured that the fire wouldn't spread, but few trainers are here now: it's clear there's nothing left to save.

The boy is staring at the hospital, gaze distant and body slouched over his knees. There are two bags and various pokeballs and medical equipment sitting next to him, and the sight of them fills Sabra with foreboding as she gets close enough to talk. "Are you alright, trainer?"

He turns to her, and even with his wet hair in his face and the dim light, his expression is one that Sabra has seen a hundred times before, and Arceus permitting will see a hundred times more. That blank, empty look of someone in deep shock.

"I couldn't stop them," the boy says, and she suddenly recognizes him by his voice. It's Red Verres, the trainer that helped catch all those abra and decided to wholesale them, then took a few of her classes at the gym. "I'm sorry."

"Who?" Sabra asks, and looks at the bags again. One she doesn't recognize, but the other is Vermilion Gym standard, and the foreboding spreads through her chest. It wasn't his friends, surely? If it were Oak and Juniper, wouldn't they have all gone in together? "Who went in there, Verres?"

"Aiko Sakai," Verres says, voice low, and turns back to the blazing hospital. "And your Second."

Sabra spins back toward the hospital, denial and horror warring in her as she imagines Jack somewhere in that burning rubble. No one could still be alive in there, not unless… "They could be safe, they could have tunneled under, or—"

"No," Red says, and Sabra looks back to him. He's still staring at the fire, voice low and expression blank. "I sensed it, when the floors fell in together. Their pokemon survived, for a bit. Now they're all gone."

Pain pierces through her chest as Sabra closes her eyes. Jack, you brave fool. Vermilion's Third gives herself a moment to grieve, and when she steadies her breathing and opens her eyes again, it's as its Second. "If you'll accompany me," she says voice steady, "We'll ensure you're at a safe location while the city re-stabilizes. Leader Surge will want a full debrief, after."

The young trainer doesn't even look at her. Just gets to his feet, looks at his friend's belongings, and starts to gather them up. "I can't. I have to tell the others."

Sabra does the same with Jack's things, strapping his bag to her chest and filling its empty pockets with the pokemon he left behind. "I'm sorry about your friend, Verres." She vaguely remembers the girl from classes too, usually there with Blue Oak. Short dark hair and an intense concentration, like she was soaking up every word of the lessons. "She was a hero."

"Yes," Verres says, still in that flat voice. "Blue will be proud of her."

"But Surge needs to know—"

"I don't care. You'll have to restrain me if you want to stop me."

Sabra turns to the boy in surprise and sees he's already walking without her. He's in shock, she reminds herself to keep from snapping at him in a tone of command, nerves frayed by the long night. Instead she takes a deep breath, immediately regretting it as her nose fills with the scent of ash.

Her quick strides move her in front of him before he gets far, and she lowers herself to one knee so that she can more easily meet his empty gaze, barely feeling the water seep through her pants, which were just starting to dry. He doesn't move as her hands firmly grip his shoulders, nor when she pulls him into a hug.

It's awkward, with the extra bags. Their clothes are still damp from the rain, and the boy has an extra pokebelt on, one of its balls pressing uncomfortably against her hip. But she doesn't let him go, even when he fails to respond.

Surge has always told her that she relies too much on commands to be commanding. That if she loses the ability to connect with people, she'll forever be someone that can only take the mantle of Leader, rather than being one without it.

"Just because it hurts, doesn't mean you did the wrong thing," she murmurs against his ear, eyes closed as her own past feelings of guilt swirl inside her, filling her with pain and nausea, letting it speak her truth and hoping that it resonates with him. "We don't always get to know."

It takes a minute for the trainer to thaw, and the boy to return from wherever he went. She holds him as he shakes, tears lost in the dampness of their clothes.

Eventually they part, and Sabra takes his hand to lead him to her patient manectric. She helps him into the passenger saddle, then mounts behind him and turns to look at the hospital. The night after she became Vermilion's Third, Jack took her out for drinks. Confided the survivor's guilt he carried, said he had made it a source of strength, pushing him to help others. His biggest worry, he said, was what would happen if he felt he had done enough... and his biggest fear was that he never could. That he would carry it to his grave.

Her hand rises in a final salute, throat tight, then comes down to command Sheen forward.

The boy keeps his gaze down, back bag resting against her front one, and neither of them look back as another part of the building caves in, sending a rush of sparks and smoke up into the cloudless night.