Solace

By Lord Agravane Undead

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters within.

With thanks to Sakura Alexia for ideas, input and the story title.

Cyrus wasn't afraid of anything.

He prided himself on having no emotions and as fear was an emotion, he didn't feel it at all.

If anybody would have asked Cyrus what he was afraid of, he wouldn't have been able to have thought of an answer. The truth was, nothing seemed to scare him. Anything, anything at all that could have been frightening to other people, Cyrus could come up with a logical explanation of why he wasn't scared and why it was irrational to be scared of such a thing.

So why was it now, after 21 years of being alive, he had suddenly encountered something which had awoken a feeling in him; a feeling that was, perhaps, the emotion of fear?

It had happened earlier that morning. Cyrus had been out walking with his new friend, Cynthia. They had been taking a stroll through Amity Square. It was a pleasant day, apart from the fact it was extremely windy.

Cynthia had been talking to Cyrus about Pokemon when a particularly strong gust of wind had assailed them and caused Cynthia to lose her balance. She has stumbled and Cyrus had instinctively reached out to help her. As he had glanced towards Cynthia, the wind had blown her hair back off her face, revealing her eye which was usually covered by her fringe. Or at least where her eye should have been. To Cyrus's astonishment (if he could feel such an emotion), there was no eye there, just a scar, running diagonally across where it should have been.

Cynthia has turned red and hastily brushed her hair back over that part of her face. Cyrus had waited to see if she said anything about her missing eye but when she didn't, he had assumed that she didn't wish to mention it again, so he had simply asked her if she was alright (from stumbling).

Cynthia had replied yes, she was fine and after a moment, she had resumed the conversation about Pokemon. Cyrus had walked alongside her, listening to her and trying to put what had happened out of his mind.

Which should have been easy; after all…Cynthia's missing eye was now covered again and she didn't seem to want to speak about it. But, even with his lack of emotions and social skills, Cyrus could tell she was upset. Cynthia had kept forgetting what she was talking about and after about five minutes, she had suggested they return to her place, as she didn't like the wind.

So there they were now, sitting in Cynthia's living room with an awkward silence between them. Normally, Cyrus would have been daydreaming about machines and wouldn't have noticed the silence. But this time he noticed because he knew Cynthia was unhappy.

Cyrus played with one of the buttons on his jacket, thinking about Cynthia's long fringe on her right hand side. He had never really paid attention to it before; just assuming that Cynthia liked the sort of hairstyle that covered one eye. Now, it seemed a logical thought that she had grown it that way specifically to cover up the scar and missing eye.

Cyrus pulled at his button, feeling as if he had to say something. He was worried about upsetting Cynthia but by keeping quiet, perhaps that would upset her more?

What if she is trying to guess what I'm thinking? Cyrus thought. What if she guesses wrong and thinks that I think she is ugly and that I don't want to be friends with her anymore?

This would not be a good thought at all. Cyrus decided that it was time to speak up.

"I don't think you are ugly because you have a missing eye," he said.

Cynthia stared at Cyrus, absolutely shocked.

"I don't," Cyrus insisted. "And I still want to be friends with you". He hesitated for a moment; had he said the wrong thing? "Would you still want to be friends with me, if I had a missing eye?"

Cynthia rubbed her neck, trying to regain her composure. "Yes. Yes of course I would".

"Good," said Cyrus. He tugged at his button again. "But, I feel sorry if I saw it and you didn't want me to see it and it made you feel unpleasant emotions. That was not a good thing to happen".

Cynthia sighed. "It's alright. I guess you would have seen sooner or later anyway. It…isn't something I could keep hidden for ever, after all".

"What happened to your eye?" Cyrus asked. He was curious to know how Cynthia had lost it but when he saw her frown, he wondered if he shouldn't have asked.

"It's alright if it's private and you don't want to say," he added quickly.

"Oh no, no, I can tell you," Cynthia said. She settled back, leaning into the soft cushions on the settee and then she began her tale.

"A few years ago, my friend Robin and I were exploring by Acuity Lakefront; searching for wild Pokemon. It was snowing heavily and we became lost, wandering off the main path and into the forest nearby. There we accidentally disturbed a Weavile, which became angry as we were invading its territory".

Cyrus was surprised (as much as a man with no feelings could be). "You found a wild Weavile? They are incredibly rare. Did you capture it?"

"Sadly, no," said Cynthia. "It attacked us viciously before we could even ready our Pokemon. My friend finally managed to drive it off with her Monferno but not before it had struck me in the eye with its sharp claws".

Cynthia self-consciously brushed her hair over her face, even though it was already covering her scar. Cyrus shuffled his feet, feeling uncomfortable. He wanted to say something to make Cynthia feel better but he wasn't quite sure what.

"We escaped and made it back to Snowpoint City," Cynthia continued. "My friend took me to the hospital there, where they treated our wounds. But my eye was so badly damaged that they couldn't save it".

"What a useless hospital," said Cyrus. "Humans should be spending more money on medical technology and less on pointless things, such as wars and soap operas".

Cynthia smiled a little, despite herself. "They weren't useless, Cyrus. They did the best they could. It was a very serious wound".

"Yes but still…" Cyrus continued. "How is it that we have space flight and we could easily set up a colony on planet Mars but we don't have the technology to replace a missing eye?"

"Eyes are very complex," Cynthia gently pointed out.

"Not really," said Cyrus. "I think that it would actually be simple to create a perfect working cybernetic eye and transplant it successfully into a recipient".

"Cyrus…"

"Providing that the injured person or Pokemon still retained a fully functioning optic nerve, such an eye could be easily inserted into the socket and connected up…"

"Cyrus," Cynthia began again. "I know that you're trying to make me feel better but…"

"Of course, with the limitations of modern technology, such an eye may only have monochrome vision," Cyrus went on. "However, if it became possible for scientists to culture rod and cone cells in an artificial environment, then they could…"

"Cyrus, it would actually be more helpful and make me feel much better if you were to give me a hug," said Cynthia.

Cyrus blinked. "I don't understand. How would such a gesture help you?" A hug wouldn't make Cynthia's eye magically grow back, after all.

"It just would, trust me on this one," said Cynthia, smiling at Cyrus again.

"Very well then," said Cyrus, anxious to do anything to cheer Cynthia up, no matter how strange it seemed to him. He awkwardly put his arms around Cynthia, bringing his hands to rest on her back. Cynthia returned the hug, moving closer to Cyrus and putting her head on his shoulder. Cyrus thought that she felt nice and soft in his arms and he could feel her breath tickling his neck.

"This is making you feel better?" he enquired.

"Very much so," said Cynthia, who did indeed, sound much more cheerful.

Cyrus continued to hold Cynthia, contemplating the two things that had caused him to feel the emotion of fear that day. One was having to deal with a delicate and emotional situation. And the other, much worse one (in his opinion) was seeing somebody who he cared about, unhappy.

Cyrus reached up to stroke Cynthia's hair, glad that he had been able to overcome his fears.

The End