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[attr="class","spiral"]Never let anything take you by surprise twice.

A third revolution comes about and he's still powerless to fight it. Like a hay fever dream, Fernando is ousted scene by scene, replaying them as both audience and cast member. His hand twitches at the sight of his Garchomp being reduced to mere ashes. But in despair, he does not share the same grievance that comes with priam conrad's remembrance. These Pokemon mean nothing to him, much like the faceless employees that make up Silph's payroll. Some may leave their mark on the company but they are the select elite.

The one's worth remembering are the ones that survive.



Navel Tower comes undone in the folly of one shortsighted enough to force Jirachi's hand. Tethered to his own recollection, Fernando too is sent fumbling into the cascade of the tower's crumbling imperfections. They descend into the open embrace of the ocean below, a pledge to an end and more importantly a resolution to never see the mark of next year.

"..."

For every action, for every event, for every choice made in Hoenn's overarching timeline, there is a wish tag to represent the outcome. They fly into the hands of those present and Fernando is no different. One slaps him in the face and another gets caught between the nook of his elbow. In it, it reacts to the same placement of the original wish tag, prompting him to tap into his true desire.

Elysia.

The thought blossoms from an incessant want — one he had repressed as a need unfulfilled and as a promise unkept.

In another world, untattered by discord, he would've wished for a chance to live out his life studying runes in a small study in Sootopolis. In this world, he could never be so selfish. As sure as Rocket's campaign to siege Verdanturf, Fernando had pushed the same buttons as Boris, forcing the wish tag to bend to his will. And, in his short sightedness, it corrupted his wish against him.




They had cut a deal to end SILAS BLACKWELL' scourge.

Betrayed by his top brass, cornered into an ambush, apprehending Silas was supposed to be child's play. His head would roll across the dust streak he left on Dahlia's desk. But Fernando could never walk into danger with confidence. He's too picky, too caution, too afraid of leaving anything up to fate. That's why he takes great lengths into using the same Jirachi against them, pulling out one last wish as a show of good faith from Rocket's leading underboss.

And when the time came and the wish took form, it turned on him, bestowing Silas with the power of MEGA EVOLUTION.

The Team Rocket Boss had trained for that moment, and with it, pushed back until his heart gave out from the artificial gift.



That had been war. Weapons, no matter how small, were to be used on the offensive. Jirachi's wish tag was squandered with no subsequent conclusion as to why the wish had 'failed'. Even as it sits nestled underneath Fernando's skin, he has no answers. Only one question remains as a new wish tag reacts to mishandled runes:

What do you wish for?

Elysia?

His mind defaults to the easy answer. It's an answer heavy with deceit, lying to himself about fulfilling it if the chance ever came. But he's beyond that now, too deep into his own ambition, too scared to stray from the unfamiliar.




"Lillian?!"

He snaps out of his thoughts when he hears her scream for him. It's so easy to miss with the wind howling with his descent, drying out his mouth and eyes, but he hears it. "Lillian!" The wish is ignored in lieu of something more important: what he already has. Fingers hook in-between her own as their palms are pulled into an embrace. What does he need when she always has his back?

Together, they stabilize each other well enough for either of them to reach for a Pokeball.



Fernando smiles.

What does he need? What does he wish for?

Another Lillian comes to mind but that's impossible. It's a miracle she's followed him this far. And, even then, it doesn't address the core issue.

He closes his eyes once more, unfazed by their predicament, before laughing to himself. He'll be okay. As long as she'll still stand by him.

[attr="class","spiral"]Lillian falls, limp, into the next capsule of time. It is the first to be unfamiliar to her. One of many events piled in a manila folder back in Fernando's room. Navel Rock. The appearance of Ho-Oh. The sun that melted the wings from an overzealous man and decided, to hell with it, to punish the rest for watching it do it. It is a bit of history she doesn't regret missing.

Almost doesn't regret missing.

She sees Fernando, not the one who's certainly falling just the same as she is right now but the real Fernando. She knows what happens here. Knows Fernando likely doesn't mind it too horribly much (in the way he doesn't mind most things) but it's still sad to watch the Garchomp go. Perhaps even more sad because of it. To know the trainer has grown too hard to mourn and so the pokemon passes without being grieved. The thought pulls fresh tears from her eyes.

His coldness allows him to function, allows him to be the man she so admires, but in times like this she misses the boy she knew first.

When he calls her name she thinks the sentiment is making her hear things. Fernando doesn't call her name like that. Not so brightly. Not since they were kids. But then she hears it again, and again, and even if it is her hearing things she can't help calling back.

"Fernando!" she shouts, turning in the air to try to find him, "Fernando!" she screams it into the wind, throws her hands out into the air, and miraculously finds him. They hold hands and again she thinks she must be hallucinating. It's such casual intimacy (outside of their current predicament), so tender and wholesome in a way they haven't been in what feels like a lifetime. She has to blink hard to keep from crying again. Has to squeeze his hands tight in hers.

Silph Tower's ruins come to mind unbidden. Her nostalgia bubbles up in her chest. She notices a bit of paper caught between their hands and makes a wish without thinking -- desperate to hold onto this.

I wish we could go back. I wish we could be different.

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