#brotp: brothers with split destinies

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Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where you send me requests according to this marvelous card! (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled. Green deltas are for requested prompts, which is none rn, as my inbox is empty.)

[SPOILERS FOR SWORD & SHIELD’S ENDGAME START HERE].

"Let the adults take care of it," he said.

"Comatose" is a weird prompt, and yet I somehow came up with two prompts. One of them was Hop-centric and I'm absolutely gonna write it one of these days, but I wasn't sure if it fitted that well. The second one is, well, this. It came to me shortly after figthing Eternatus, when Hop says this in the hotel: "And still Lee's... well, he's being Lee. Insisting on having a Championship Match with you today. It's a bit much, isn't it? You're sure you're up for it? I'm not even too sure about him. He was out cold and hurt pretty badly himself during all that mess". So this focuses on a weird interpretation of the prompt, but considering I do focus on a comatose state here, just from weird POVs, I think it counts. It was really fun to write from the perspective of Gloria and especially Hop. I'm absolutely self-indulgent in making some edits in there to what's actually happened in canon. I like having some wiggle room to work with, y'know?

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Calm After the Storm

Summary: After the adrenaline and dopamine that come with winning a battle, comes dealing with some immediate casualties. It turns out that, sometimes, adults can't take care of everything. Gloria and Hop learn their lesson on the field, in an elevator, a corridor, a hotel bedroom. (Or: a self-indulgent depiction of a scene Hop alludes to before your battle against Leon).

Fandom: Pokémon Sword & Shield

Wordcount: 3.1K words

Event hosted by @badthingshappenbingo​.

AO3 version available here.

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Sighing in relief, Gloria picks up the still-smoking ball she’s thrown onto Eternatus. Who knows what could have happened to the people of Galar if they had failed to defeat it… But that was her fear, an anxiety that didn’t get to become real thanks to their combined efforts, and now, she gets to smile with Hop and thank from the bottom of her heart the Sword and Shield from the legend who came to save their region. They’ve done most of the job, after all; and if she had a way to truly thank them, she’d have absolutely gone to the end of the world to do so.

Still, Zacian and Zamazenta leave shortly thereafter, forgetting to take the sword and shield they got invoked by. Hop grins wider than he’s ever had despite the dark rings under his shining eyes and messy hair strands, and she can’t be much more different than him at the moment. She puts away Eternatus’s ball in her bag and goes to hug her best friend as tightly as possible. In the ruin-like top of the tallest building of Hammerlocke, they forget about the darkness that almost engulfed them and everyone they’ve ever cared about and those they know only from view or say. They’ve made it, they’re both safe, and they can now go sleep for three days…

“Wait.”

 Hop, whose expression suddenly drops, lets go of her as he notices Charizard flying towards them. If they’re both washed over by flows and flows of relief, his brother’s most famous partner really isn’t, draconic features frowned. The poor guy, who still bears some bruises and scratches from weakening Eternatus with the rest of his team, is trying to tell them something.

“I think we’re forgetting something,” Hop tells her, worry rapidly painting all over his face. “We got so caught up in that fight that…”

“Now that you mention it, I do have that feeling too… Wait!”

That Charizard is…

“Lee!!”

 Hop rushes in the opposite direction to Charizard, pushing on his legs as if they had never experienced the raw power of Eternatus looming over the entire region. Gloria follows suite, her heart skipping a bit as she ignores the pain in her feet, the purple half of the Master Ball Leon tried to throw before crackling under her sole.

When she stops, she sees her friend shaking his brother laying face-first on the floor. It seems like either Hop or Charizard has dragged him there in a hurry after Eternatus broke out of his attempt at catching it, leaving him in quite a pitiful state. There’s quite an heartache to have over seeing the Champion in such a disgraceful, painful-looking pose; and yet nothing beats the cries of urgency breaking out of Hop’s throat.

 “Lee, answer me!”

Gloria kneels to her friend’s level, making sure she isn’t accidentally stomping on anyone’s limbs. For a moment, the only sounds are Charizard’s wings flapping, Hop catching his breath and the peaceful wind blowing the dark red clouds away.

“He’s not waking up!” He says as he looks at her, restless and breathless, before going back to looking at his brother. “Lee, dammit, stop sleepin’ like that you big Slowpoke!!”

 In silence, she starts inspecting Leon. He’s got bruises all over his limbs from what she can see, cuts and scratches that sometimes are decorated with dried blood, and she doesn’t dare point out how… exhausted he seems. They all are, truth be told, but there’s something about seeing such an energic grown-up lying on the floor unable to wake up and get on with his day, that simply aches.

 Watching Hop trash around like that pains her just as much. The relief and joy they felt until they remembered about the third party who tried saving Galar before they had even gotten there in the first place is now gone, eaten away by brotherly instincts. She grabs him by the sleeve, shaking her head, as he stars at her, helpless.

“I don’t think he’s going to wake up anytime soon, Hop.”

“W-what are you…”

“We can’t do anything about it ourselves, can we? Let’s just bring him to someone who can.” She tries smiling to ease the distress in his eyes. “I’m certain the Champion’s just as tired as we are.”

Gloria knows that isn’t entirely true. Leon didn’t just fall asleep when all of this mess was going down, as he couldn’t have with how noisy and adrenaline-inducing Eternatus’ appearance was. However, this alone doesn’t give her the impulse to straight-up tell Hop about it. Nobody is going to leave this world today, she knows it, but in the meantime, can she really blame a boy for being worried about his sibling?

 “Yeah, you’re right,” he finally says as he gives his Dubwool a Repel and summons it out of his ball again. He smacks his cheeks and tries smiling. “Mind giving me a hand? Lee’s kinda too heavy for me to lift on my own…”

“No problem.”

She calls for her Cinderace to help them out, entrusting her first companion with being delicate when handling their Champion.

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Going down from the top floor of the tower is slow. Neither of them is speaking: they’re both too tired and too speechless for that. Gloria doesn’t even know if her words would make things better or worse: what is she supposed to say, in that kind of situation? Instead, she just stands her, fumbling with her

Hop’s eyes never leave his brother, even when he blinks, lying on his Dubwool who shows little signs of still being amongst them aside from his chest rising and falling. Dubwool himself is very static: it may be the fatigue of the wild day they’ve all experience, it may be the worry of his Trainer transmitting itself to him, it may be something else.

 There is no Macro Cosmos employee to fight against them and no music in the lift that people she had never met before were praising to them something like an hour ago. She glances, from time to time, to Dubwool, to Leon, to Hop, and everything else feels too silent now that tension has died down. If there was too much noise before, there is now too little left of it.

Yet, Gloria prevents herself from humming to pass the time. It just doesn’t feel right to suddenly break into a song when there is so much on all of their hearts, even if it’s to alleviate that weight, so she remains silent. She doesn’t like any single bit of the aura of mourning this gives to the situation, the heaviness of the air, the tapping of their feet echoing as they impatiently wait for the elevator to go down. Nothing about this feels right.

 It should’ve been a time to celebrate. They should’ve been chattering away like birds, discussing the tournament, the Gym Challenge, stuff kids are supposed to be hyped about, right? They’ve just saved the world. They should feel nothing but relief and happiness; and yet, she can only see Hop ball up his fists in his pants’ pockets, silent, head hanging down with his eyes fixated on one person.

If she was trying to convince herself earlier that Leon may have fainted, but could have just fallen back asleep when they were fighting Eternatus (that barely makes sense, but she supposed that, if you were tired and a heavy sleeper enough…), the fact he’s reacted to nothing until now, not even the monstrous cries of Eternatus, the vigour of Zacian and Zamazenta, the frantic screams of his brother or being moved around, can only tell her he’s comatose.

And that word stings her tongue.

 “Y’know, that’s kinda stupid, when I think about it.” Hop suddenly says, trying to draw a smirk on his face.

“What do you mean?”

“I know Lee’s gonna be alright. He’s always been alright, even if he’s scared Mom and Dad before. I’m sure he gave Sonia heart attacks while on their Gym Challenge. There’s no reason he won’t be now, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Lee’s the undefeated Champion of Galar, and yet, I’m scared for him and all… That’s dumb, I know it, but… But I can’t not worry! He should’ve woken up by now, right?”

She doesn’t know quite to respond. Mom often says fear can be an irrational feeling or reaction… but it doesn’t sound like a rightful explanation.

 “He’ll be fine, sure, but when?”

Gloria doesn’t have an answer to give him, or, at least, no answer that’d sound truthful yet optimistic. Hop shakes his head and goes back to being silent, putting the hat falling out of his brother’s head back on top of it. Over and over again.

 When the elevator’s doors open, she lets go of a breath she’s held for too long.

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 Truth be told, Sonia didn’t plan on watching the championship unless Hop or Gloria made it to the finals. She was somewhat blissfully unaware of the surprise cancellation, only learning it when she saw the two kids running past her and into the Slumbering Weald, barely getting an explanation on the situation from them. Thus, she only flew to the bubbling, buzzling Wyndon when learning about what had happened with Eternatus and the Chairman and all that jazz. It’d still serve as study material, even if she had other reasons to attend…

A surprise was waiting for her there and, like most surprises in her life, it wouldn’t be a good one.

 What she finds in Wyndon is people stuck between shock and relief and an aura of worry. People speak amongst them, some recognize her, and she tries her best to sneak her way into the hotel where Nessa told her to go. Her friend was fairly vague in her wording, mentioning she could be interested in what had unfolded for her research. Her voice sounded less confident than usual and she could hear, from the other side of the line, the discussions amongst themselves of other familiar voices, mostly Leaders’. The only thing she was able to clearly distinguish was, however, Milo asking Nessa if she wanted a drink. How mindful of him.

That’s only the first layer: she’s allowed into the hotel fairly easily for being the new regional professor, much to her wallet’s relief considering how pricy and luxurious this hotel seems to be, and plans on heading to the floor Nessa told her the number of. However, instead of going through with it, her eye immediately spots Hop on an inferior floor, pacing in the corridor, taping his foot whenever he stops, hands deep inside his pockets.

 When she engages the conversation, he seems far less optimistic than she’s mostly seen him be. He seems somewhat evasive, trying to escape a conversation, as if time’s running out. She can only point that out.

“You look like you’re in a hurry, Hop, what’s wrong?”

“Lee’s not waking up.”

The sentence pinches something inside of her.

“You can’t possibly mean this man is sleeping peacefully when he’s meant to battle Gloria as soon as possible, right?”

“That’s because he’s not sleepin’.”

 Before Hop can add anything, Sonia opens the door behind him, an alarm ringing in her head with a bloodcurdling shrill. That’s what was giving her the weird feeling about this entire situation! Of course he’d have called to tell her how excited he was about this entire thing, he’d have posted about it on his social media, and if not him, then it’d have been Hop.

Sonia doesn’t remember having ever seen Leon comatose, or having to worry about that before, so she busts open the door and gets her fears confirmed in an explosion of silence.

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Hop’s sitting on a chair, waiting. He got tired of pacing, and so did the hotel staff, so instead he’s sitting on a chair next to a bed. At some point, there was Sonia with him, before she had to go do something else. At another, there was Raihan pretending not to care (and really being bad at it). At yet another, there was Gloria yawning her jaw out. Time’s been slow. He knows these people were there for less than an hour each.

Actually, it’s only been something like three hours at most. Time’s just been really, really slow. He fiddles with Dubwool’s Ball in the meantime, ears wide open for the smallest sound, fingers impatient. It’s night outside, which he sees through the mostly-closed curtains to the black sky and little yellow dots from the never-sleeping Wyndor.

 His eyes flutter with the wind. It’s hard to stay awake now that the fatigue of the past few days settles down and the adrenaline of saving Galar is fading away. It’s too calm to stimulate him and yet, clutching on the hope that his brother really is sleeping, he doesn’t want to disturb his rest. He hopes Gloria has managed to find a way to fall asleep and that she’s having some beautiful dreams while he stays here, as a vigil.

He puts away Dubwool’s Ball for a bit and just stares at his brother. Lee looks oddly peaceful, lying like this in a comfortable and silky-soft bed, despite the circumstances he’s found himself in and the crease his eyebrows are making. It’s odd to see him without his signature hat, or his cape, or even just being the Champion. It’s weird seeing him that way after spending so much years only seeing him through the screen of the telly. For once, he feels like the stronger sibling.

That should’ve satisfied him, or at least given him some joy, but all he can think about is how wrong it’s rubbing him. It’s not meant to be. Not that way, at least.

He yawns like a Snorlax, sustaining his head up with faulting elbows. He can’t exactly see Lee’s little injuries here and there as most of his body is covered by a blanket, even if the band-aid on his cheek already says a lot; and so does seeing his uniform displayed on hangers in the room and his cap neatly put on a bedside table, untouched, its crown pattern hidden in the shadows. He can’t turn on the lights more than just the lamp on the table in case Lee opens his eyes and gets blinded by the brighter ones of the ceiling. The darkness doesn’t help him stay awake, but it just has to be that way.

He’s no Champion of Galar, and he may never become one unlike what he’s promised to himself ever since Lee became the undefeatable; yet it’s like he’s the one in charge tonight.

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 A gentle shake on his shoulder makes him slowly open his eyes, clarity coming to him in a burst. It takes a while for him to truly come back to the surface, as if his sense were numb with tiredess. Finally creaking an eyelid open, he notices there’s someone else awake, lit by the gentle morning sky seeping through the curtains..

“Hop?”

He releases a sigh of relief. That’s finally something good and worth rejoicing over.

 “Lee?! Since when have you been awake?”

His brother looks a little confused, and the dark rings and bruises haven’t entirely disappeared, but nonetheless, he smiles.

“Not much… You should go to bed, Hop, it’s late.”

His yawn gets interrupted by Lee getting back on his arms, exposing a couple bandages on his forearms in the process. He jumps wide awake, as if he had never felt comatose in the first place.

“What are you doing?!”

“I’m gonna go on with my day,” he visibly winces when tucking away the strands of hair that have stuck themselves all over his face. “I’ve slept for long enough.”

“W-wait, don’t get up!”

 It’s the pain in his bandaged shoulder, of which he can see a bit of under the right sleeve of the sleepwear they gave him, that actually makes Lee lie back down, not his words, and he knows that.

“You’ve been out cold for a while, and you’re hurt and stuff, you shouldn’t be moving!”

“I didn’t know you became a doctor while I wasn’t looking, Hop”, his brother laughs as he scratches his head.

“Very funny, Lee,” he laughs back, “but that’s what the doctors said while you were knocked out. You’ve really made us worry!”

“Hah… I passed out before Gloria and you saved the day, right?”

 The tone drops in mood. It’s like rubbing salt in a wound he thought was closed.

“…Yeah. Charizard dragged you to safety after he protected us. I guess you really saw nothing of that…”

“I haven’t, I’m sorry. I should’ve taken care of it myself.”

“I was terrified to see you get knocked out like that… And you wouldn’t wake up! It’s like you didn’t react to anything around you!”

Lee scoffs. “I really was out cold, huh… Well, don’t worry, it’s all good now. Gloria and you have saved Galar and everything’s back to normal, right?”

He nods.

“Good. It’d have been terrible if either of you had gotten injured. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he tries getting up again, slower, gentler, and it’s still not okay because he’s still wincing at each move he makes, “I have a match to dispute against this year’s challenger…”

“You’re not in a condition to have a battle, Lee!”

 His brother stares at him for a few moments, silent, before smiling again.

“If I stay here, will you go get breakfast?”

“For you too or just –”

“For you. You’re tired, go back to sleep.”

Hop can’t prevent himself from proving the point by yawning. He’s sore from the weird position he’s fallen asleep in…

“Okay, okay; but you stay here, right? Otherwise I’m gonna send you Sonia or Raihan!”

Another chuckle ensues.

“Wouldn’t want to be scolded at by Sonia, I must have scared her us enough. See ya later.”

“See ya, Lee,” he says as he gets up, almost falls from how wobbly his legs are, and gets out of the room.

 There’s undeniable irony in the fact that, right before leaving the room, he notices Lee has fallen back asleep. Seems like the comatose state didn’t constitute as proper rest. Better get some food and sleep before he follows.

On the way out, he spots Sonia, who enters the room right afterwards. Passing by her, then in the corridors, he stops in front of a window giving onto the busy streets of the city. The heart more at peace, he finds that the sun has never shone this bright in Galar.