"Just what the Hell was that?" Klaww referred to Gem's less-than-impressive performance with the kind of calm tone that makes a child's gaze stick to their feet or the floor in shame. Gem was no different; his eyes never left the white ground as they headed toward the edge of town without haste.
"Master, I can explain…" he trailed off just in time for Klaww to cut in.
"I sure hope so. You weren't even that bad when we first started. This better be good," the warning was firm.
"It is, trust me. I'll just start at the beginning, when I first left my parents..."
xxx
Dark violet stumbled and trudged through fluffy white, eliciting a curse unrecognizable to any human language.
"I don't know who they think they are…" the young ghost muttered in his native tongue, kicking a good amount of the snow in his unknown path before going further. He heard his mother calling him back with blunt harshness, bellowing something about it being the fifth time he'd pulled this stunt and making some sort of threat to punish him when he came back.
But he wasn't coming back this time.
His ears were being blown back and filled by the winter wind, allowing him to easily ignore her fierce shouts. He only had a faint idea of where to go, but the promise of getting away from her and the rest of his family was enough to make him go on without a complaint. He would regret nothing and miss no one. Ever.
By the time he lost sight of the cave he'd left from, he couldn't even begin to feel his feet, he shivered like a frightened Sunkern's leaf, and he could almost feel his eyes beginning to crack. The wind did not let up, nor did the snow become any thinner. He couldn't see, he couldn't smell, he couldn't feel, he couldn't hear, and he couldn't have picked a worse time to leave, but it really didn't matter. He wasn't about to wait a whole season for the frost to melt. Not in that horrible excuse for a home.
Right after he bumped headfirst into a leafless tree and got knocked down for the tenth time that day, he faintly heard something drop down from it, a little too close for comfort. With his senses crippled by the cold, there was no telling who or what it was. But then it-or rather, she-spoke.
"Hit your head pretty hard there, huh?" the apparent Pokemon giggled. Gem could just barely make out what she said, but from what he could hear, it sounded as if it belonged to a female about his age.
"Urgh, yeah…" He tried to pull himself up to a stand, but was too numb and exhausted to even come close. The poor attempt ended with a groan and a sneeze.
"You don't look too good…" the voice sounded a bit more concerned this time. "Why don't you come stay with me for a bit until the blizzard passes over?"
"Blizzard…?"
"You didn't know? There's a blizzard coming tonight. See those clouds?"
"I can't see a tree right in front of me, let alone the clouds…" Gem groaned, scraping himself up to sit.
"Oh… Well then, you should definitely wait to go anywhere 'til the blizzard's gone. I've got room in my cave not too far from here," the stranger offered.
"Better than staying out here," Gem nodded. Something smooth and even colder than the wind wrapped around his hand, helping him to stand up. It was the claws of a Sneasel.
"My name's NightScratch. What's yours?"
"I go by Gem."
xxx
Decades passed and Gem was still in the same cave NightScratch had brought him to. During that time, he'd had to strain his claws digging to expand the living space to accommodate two of its newer inhabitants, who were also Sneasel. They'd left the cave over a year ago, however. Now Gem was on his knees, hovering over the mother of those two as she lay dying. He held her hand in his, at an utter loss for words. The cave and forest were just as silent; even though it was summer there wasn't a single bug buzzing, nor were any birds chirping. Even the gentle breeze typical of the area had ceased. All that could be heard was NightScratch's uneven breathing as she struggled to speak.
"Gem…" she rasped, "I'm so sorry…" Her featherlike ear twitched weakly and she coughed. The Sableye shook his head in disbelief at the sound, his mouth dry, useless, and ajar. "You've been… the best husband I could ever ask for…" Her catlike, icy blue eyes distantly stared into his now watery emerald ones, lacking the energy and life they once held. "Tell the kids I said goodbye…" she managed, gasping harder with each passing second.
"I will," Gem promised, his voice threatening to crack.
"I love you, Gem…" she whispered, smiling feebly. Her spouse squeezed her hand just a little bit tighter as he leaned down closer.
"I love you too."
The distance between them closed and their lips connected for the last time. Indigo-furred limbs grew limp and cold. Icy blue eyes glazed over. Gasping breaths were replaced with quiet sobs…
