Not At Peace

Prologue

~Gold's POV~

My arm raised, shielding my light brown eyes from the sun. I could already feel sweat on my brow, my black hair sticking to my head and growing warm beneath my gold-and-black cap. The ground was so hot I could literally feel the heat rising up from it. Then again, that could also just be the sun.

Summer. One of my personal favorite times of the year. Surprisingly, not a lot of people liked summer because of the heat. I'd always been able to tolerate the heat better than I could the cold, and I liked finding ways to 'beat the heat' anyways. But today I was just gonna enjoy the sunshine.

I looked forward and spotted my destination. A playground, complete with slides, bridges, monkey bars, a merry-go round, tunnels, and best of all, swings! I immediately pelted towards the swings, hopping on one and swinging back and forth cheerfully, enjoying the sensation of the air blowing around me. It felt just like flying!

"You are such a child."

My eyes opened and I glanced around, smiling as I spotted my short-tempered redheaded friend.

"Hi, Silver! Wanna join?

"No," I heard him reply, his arms crossed. He must be boiling in that dark outfit he always wears.

"You're no fun!" I laughed, "Isn't it a great day?"

"No," he repeated, "It's too hot."

"Well, you shouldn't have worn that dark outfit of yours then."

"Gold."

I knew that tone, and I knew what it meant. I was about to get an earful. I slowed my swing to a stop, and looked at him directly.

"Yeah?" I said, feigning ignorance. I was good at that.

"How long?"

I cocked my head to the side, "How long what, Silv?"

Silver scowled at the nickname. "How long are you gonna play dumb this time? And don't say you don't know what I'm talking about, because you and I both know that you do."

I tried to keep the facade. "Honestly, Silv, I-"

"I said don't!" he snapped, "How can you just sit there and pretend everything is okay when you know damn well it's not! And that it never will be! Are you really that dense?!"

My smile was gone as my head dipped down a bit. "No. I know that. I just... Is it really so wrong to pretend that everything is okay, even if just for a little while?"

No response. I looked up and Silver was gone, just like I knew he would be. He'd served his purpose, dragging me back into reality.

It was silent without him there. I was so sick of the silence. I strained my ears to hear children's laughter, busy streets, chirping Bird Pokémon, even the annoying sounds of buzzing Bug Pokémon. Only to be greeted with sheer silence.

And again I was reminded that everything was not all right. That Silver was just one of my hallucinations, whose purpose was to drag me back into reality when I pretended for too long that things were normal. That I wasn't in fact the last living being in the world.

But I was. I didn't know why, but I was. Not a single person or Pokémon was left here, except me. My eyes stung and tears swept down my cheeks as I knelt in the wood pieces that made up the ground.