Author's Note: A bit of FranticShipping upon request. It was based off a picture, which I have done my best to include at the bottom. Unfortunately, I can't upload it as a title image without permission. I hope you enjoy this short, sad piece.

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Washed Clean

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When he woke up, he didn't recognize where he was. The gentle tug of the ocean's tide pulled on his legs as his drenched skin sunk into the sand. Yet, he didn't move. He didn't want to move.

He felt washed clean. As if somehow the sun had burnt away all his excess, all the unnecessary frills he hid beneath. The sand had smoothed his skin, soaked up the blood from his wounds.

He did not remember the blood. He did not remember the wounds.

Where was he, anyway? He didn't know. As far as he could tell, he'd never been in this place before, never swam in these waters.

He tried to remember what had happened. That was when he discovered that he could not remember anything at all.

Staring at the sky, he recalled the shapes of the clouds. That one is like a wailord, that one like a milotic. And that one, that one is like a… what is that one like? Another thing that has been torn from his memory.

He sat up and notices that he was very sore. Groaning, he looked at his arms, his legs. Peculiar; the lines on them looked like scars, or stretch marks that had faded over time. Like the hands of a god, or something like a god, had picked him up and crushed him, shaped him into what he had become. Except, he didn't know what he had become. Or what he had been.

His head flopped lazily to one side and he saw the girl. Covered in sand, covered in scars, but she was beautiful.

He reached out and weakly squeezed her hand, then let himself drift off to sleep. Memory or not, this would be a clean start. He had been washed clean, and the only thing he could remember was the image of two gems, sparkling like the sun.

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When she woke up, Sapphire remembered everything. But for just a little while, she curled into Ruby's side and pretended that she couldn't.

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Author's Note: The picture on which this story was based can be found at [www-dot-pixiv-dot-net/member_illust-dot-php?mode=medium&illust_id=9737800]. Obviously, you replace the [-dot-] with a period.