PD: Doctor Jones

He alighted on the white ground, wings spread wide and robe fluttering around his ankles. I stared. Nick smiled down at me and extended a hand to help me to my feet. I took it, tearing my gaze away from his eyes and to his wings. Great, white angel wings.

"I thought you'd have black wings," I said tactlessly.

Nick's smile was quickly replaced with a frown and he smacked me upside the head. "I come all the way here to talk to you, and what, you thought I went to hell? Wow, I guess I really did misinterpret those last few moments." He huffed at me and turned on his heel, raising his wings to take off again. I all but tackled him, fighting feathers and a tangle of limbs to wrap my arms around his chest.

He flicked me off with one of his new wings.

"Nick, I—"

"Relax. I was kidding." He grinned at me again, closing his eyes and cocking his head to one side, like he used to do. I approached him again, cautiously but hopefully. I knew this was a dream, I wasn't stupid. Plus, my dreams had been invaded so often that I could very easily tell them from reality, no matter how real they looked at the time. Maybe this was just more divine intervention. A chance for real closure.

I reached up and placed a hand on either side of his face, wiggling my fingers through his charcoal hair. He jumped in surprise and looked down at me. I smiled helplessly. "You look younger. I think you are younger."

"I was wondering why you were suddenly taller," Nick said, gently prying my hands off his hair. "Well damn. If I got younger, I want those years of my life back to redo."

"It's... a little late for that."

"I know." His expression fell, but just for a moment. He dropped my hands and seized the front of my hoodie. Well, his hoodie. "What the—you didn't."

"It—It's not the one you were wearing!" I yelped, shaking my head. "A-At the funeral, your parents caught me, and—!"

This was too surreal. Angel or hallucination or conscience, I was given a chance to talk to Nick again, and all he could do was laugh at the fact that I was wearing one of his oversized hoodies. I burned in embarrassment. He clapped me on the shoulders and I flinched on reflex, but to my surprise, my burns didn't hurt. Neither did my chest. Even for a dream, that was a little surprising.

"Just don't go idolizing me too much," Nick said proudly, tilting his head back with a haughty grin.

"A little late for that," I deadpanned. He drooped, wingtips brushing the ground beneath us. It reminded me a little of that black and white world, glowing softly and illuminating the world for us, but we weren't in that place. Or any other place any of the psychics had ever taken me. I looked around for the first time, a little confused. "...So, wings. I don't see a halo over your head."

"It's a little more complicated than that," he said Mareepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "But hey, no horns."

"Why is it so easy to talk to you now?"

"Because this is how you remember me."

"...Are you a memory?" I asked in a small voice.

Nick shook his head. "Nope. You're not that creative, anyway." My heart did an odd little flutter in my chest. "So... How's life?"

"You're so weird. That... That's all you have to say to me after all the things I said to you?" I asked, looking down at my bare feet. "Up to the end, I was confused and hurt, and I said—"

"Hey. I knew you were hurting. I wasn't exactly in a land of rainbows and sparkles myself." He tilted my chin up, forcing me to look at him. I responded by scrunching my eyes shut. "Oh, you little brat. Fine. Be that way. I just wanted to come back, talk to my old buddy, thank him for a couple things, and I'm turned away. How cruel!"

"You're certainly playing it up," I said and cracked an eye open.

"I can afford to, now. I don't have anything to worry about anymore." Nick let go of me and beamed, though there was something unhappy about it. Or perhaps legitimately sad. Catching my eye, with a bit of a waver in his voice, he said, "I found Matthew."

How odd that for both of us, Matthew was the one that reinforced the dead. The funeral had been just that day, and it just then hit home that he was dead. And gone. Not the funeral, not the corpse, not the sense of loss, not the pseudo-angel before me. The fact that he had finally found his dead little brother.

I sank to the floor, hands pressed to my chest. It felt like I'd just lost him again. It seemed like all I had done the last couple of days was cry and snap at people, and here I got to do it again. Just great. I hadn't grown up at all, I was still just the same indecisive crybaby I'd always been.

"Hey now, don't be like that. It wasn't your fault."

"But—"

"The psychics and ghosts weren't trying to pin the blame on you. They were just as scared as you were." He knelt down beside me and placed an arm around my shoulders, pulling me against his side. I looked up as one of his white wings curled around me.

"It's not that. You're just... gone. A-And I'm still mad at you for hurting Hanna, for ruining her. She's still not speaking to me. I just don't want to be mad at you, I want to be able to talk to you normally and have this feel weird. I miss you. The real you, the one before Matthew died."

"Sorry to say," Nick said softly, "but it wasn't as if that me up and disappeared. Yeah, for awhile there, my grip on reality was... faint, at best, but I was still me. Unhappy and angry and lost, but it was still me under all that."

"I never liked that you."

"And you think I did?"

"How can you sit there and talk so rationally about this?" I snarled at him, shrugging off his arm. I glowered at him. "You were the one who died. You were the one who was thrown away by Sinnoh. You were the one who was turned into what you became. You should be the mad one here!"

"I was wondering where that spine went," he said mildly, retracting his wing. "And there we go. Try to keep that part, okay? You'll go far if you could get past that."

"I don't want to go far!"

"That's not what you said at my grave," Nick said, quieting me. "Jeez, don't make me feel like the bad guy here. I was just sort of coming to terms with that," he groaned, flopping onto his back (nearly whacking me in the head with one of those stupid wings). "I'm sorry for what I did. I am so sorry, and I hate myself because words aren't ever going to fix it or make anyone feel any better about it. And now I can't even do that anymore. I tried so hard to push you away, and now I can see it just hurt you more."

"And now I feel like the bad guy," I muttered darkly, drawing my knees up to my chest.

He chuckled without much humor. "We match! We can be bad guys together. Totally soul mates."

"Well thanks, soul mate, for up and dying on me!"

"It wasn't completely on purpose," Nick said with a fake wounded tone I could see right through. I maintained my anger. "...What was I supposed to do!"

"Not run into the nuzzle of death with arms spread, for starters!"

"My arms were around Chase, weren't they—?"

"That's not what I meant!" I burst out. "You did that on purpose. You left me to sort out the mess you left behind, all by myself. Hanna can't help, she hates me now, and Vai nearly died. Half the rest of my surviving friends are in the hospital, and I'm still trying to get Kostya to speak to me on a regular basis! Ike is blind and Carlita can't walk, and I can't even bear to look Des in the eye anymore, and—"

"Calm down. You can handle it. You've handled worse," Nick broke in, reaching over and tugging me down to the ground with him. I growled and thrashed, but he wrapped me up in his arms and wings. I settled for biting him on the shoulder, but that only made him laugh. "You'll be fine, Zach. I've seen you come out of worse unscathed."

"No, I usually bleed because of it."

"Regardless!" he declared, "You will do fine. You'll be fine. Your team will heal up—they're strong little beasts, that's for sure—and wounds heal."

"They leave scars," I mumbled.

He would not be swayed. "Scars add character."

I stayed silent, unable to help but think of Alice. She said she'd resist scarring just because she put her mind to it. If only it were always that simple.

"...I'm sorry you gotta clean up my mess. I am. But you're the only one I'd trust to."

"I don't want to have that much responsibility. ...Or power." I shuddered as I thought of Lola. I had killed her. Not with my own hands, but with a weapon, of a sort. Her death had still been my fault. "I shouldn't have it. I can't handle it. I'd become corrupt, or let my anger take over, or—"

"The fact that you're worrying about that is a little reassuring. It means you won't fall into those traps. You'd be an awesome Champion."

"...I'm scared, though," I admitted.

"...Thank you for taking Fargo and Harlan," Nick said quietly, changing topics. "Just... Thanks. So much. I'm glad two of them, at least will be alright."

"M-More than that! Vasudeva ran off, and, uh, I saw your Mothim and your Arbok at the funeral, and I think your Rhydon ran off..."

"It's fine," Nick said with a strained smile. "I knew I would be leaving you all behind. They're strong. They can... take care of themselves. But if your bloodthirsty Luxray even thinks about hurting Harlan, I will come and haunt you both."

"I-I'll make sure he won't."

We lapsed into silence, but it was fairly comfortable. Companionable. He kept me in his arms, much to my continued embarrassment (and squirming), but it wasn't totally bad or awkward. Hugs were nice, anyway. I felt like I needed more of them, especially if I was really going to face Sinnoh as its Champion after this.

It was weird. Like most of my life. We didn't talk about the secrets or meaning of life, we didn't even touch on any real issues. Just that he was sorry and I was scared and angry and we didn't even approach the friendship bit. Although really, maybe actions did speak louder than words.

I was half dozing when he finally stirred and released me. I tried to grasp the reality of the bizarre dream world again before it slipped away in either direction, and Nick helped me to my feet. I must have swayed a bit, because he held my arms and kept me upright. "Hey, wake up. No falling asleep in a dream. Dreams within dreams are too crazy, trust me."

"Why are you leaving?" I asked at once.

"I have to. You can't sleep forever. And I can't stay forever."

"But—"

"No buts. I don't make the rules, but this time around, I'm a little keener on following them. Let go of me."

"No," I growled into his sleeve. He simply picked me up, albeit with a grunt, and tossed me off once I was off balance. "You haven't done that since I was a kid."

"And what do you think you are now?" he asked critically. "Don't look at me like that. I really have to go now."

"...What'll we do without you?"

"You'll manage, and you'll survive. Thrive. Something like that."

We both jumped by a very sudden drop in temperature. And then, a Froslass materialized with a cloud of frost, a thin, silvery halo over her head. She tugged on Nick's sleeve and said, "Trainer, you are pushing your time limit."

Nick caught my look and gave me another bright grin. He seized Lassie by her thin shoulders and whirled her around to face me. "See? Death isn't so bad, really. You lose me, but one day, you'll get me back."

"L-Lassie?"

"Oh." Not the warmest of welcomes, or greetings, or reunions. Or anythings. She pressed both of her tiny paws against her mouth, looking pained.

"Don't be like that," Nick chided.

"He did not see me at my best," she mumbled dismally.

"Who cares?" This time, Nick didn't jump, but I still did. Kamala waltzed out of thin air, one hand on her hip. The Medicham gave me a very judgmental look.

"Hey now, back. It's getting a little crowded here," Nick ordered, but his psychic gave him a flat look.

"I have things to say to him," she said. Lassie hissed at her, but Kamala sneered right back. Got along as great as ever, then. Maybe death didn't change as much as I'd thought. She jabbed a finger in my direction. "You. You ought to fix things, all of the things we could not. If you don't, or choose not to..."

"Kamala, stop it," her trainer groaned, throwing his arms around her and reigning her back in. "I'm really sorry about this. We're still working out the kinks—they've been without a trainer for a couple years now, and—Lassie, stop it!" The Froslass whined and stopped freezing Kamala and I to the ground.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Somehow, I'm not surprised. I'm really not."

"But you are running out of time, Trainer," Lassie reminded him again.

"Just a little longer," he pleaded, ducking around behind them to hide behind me. "We need proper goodbyes this time around. Come on guys, be nice to me. I'm still new here."

Kamala rolled her large eyes. Without another word to me, she vanished again. Lassie stuck around a little longer, glancing at me shyly from time to time. Nick gave her a stern look, and with one last nod to me, she disappeared and the temperature gradually began returning to normal.

"Is... everyone together like that?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, in most cases. It's not so bad. But life is better, so don't you be getting any ideas!"

"I won't. Hanna still needs me. Others do, everyone does."

"Good. ...You take care of her, alright?" Nick said, turning me around to face him. "You make sure she doesn't fall, too. Keep her on track. She doesn't have to ever stop hating me, I've accepted that, but make sure she doesn't dwell on it too much more."

"I will," I promised.

"And you stay on track, too. No more getting distracted or angry or whatever it was you were worried about."

"I'll stay on track," I said with a wry smile. "That stuff's all over with, anyway. I failed, but it's still over."

"You didn't fail! Humans still exist, don't they?" I shrugged, but he pulled me into a hug all the same. "You saved everyone."

"Except you."

"I'll be fine. I didn't need saving, not like that. I'm with Chase, I have Matthew, and I have enough of my team here with me, sadly enough. And in a century, I'll have you."

"Woah, no. I don't want to live that long," I said, wiggling in his grasp. He laughed and held me tighter. "Maybe a couple decades."

"More than a couple."

"With all the abuse my body's been through? I'll be lucky to hit twenty."

"You better hit ninety, at least."

"I'll shoot for sixty."

"Eighty!" Nick said with a squeeze that bordered on painful. "And no less! You better live a long and happy life, or I will kick your ass next time I see you. Hanna, too, and all of your new friends. Especially your team."

"I'll try, but no promises. If I slip and fall off a cliff—"

"Shh! You'll jinx yourself!" ...Probably, knowing my now-infamous luck. Nick's smile became something sadder as he held me out at arm's length. "I'm seriously pushing my time limit now. I only came down to... say goodbye, I guess. Wish you luck. Make sure you wouldn't wimp out on anything."

"I won't," I said, blinking back the sudden stinging in my eyes. "Nick, you were—"

"Don't say anything you'll regret later," he warned.

"I've never regretted our friendship. Not really. And I'm sorry I said you weren't my friend in front of the white thing."

He shook his head and told me, "It's okay. I wasn't really a friend in those circumstances, even if I sorta meant well. I didn't deserve to be called a friend."

"That's not true! That's just... cruel. I didn't want you to die like that."

"It happens. Don't dwell on it, don't let it shape you, okay? Keep moving on with your life, do amazing, be unwavering, treat your teammates and friends right. Change Sinnoh for the better." He pulled me into one last hug and I wrapped my arms tight around him. "Just be happy, okay?"

"I'll miss you," I said, voice muffled by the fabric.

"Maybe I'll come haunt you, anyway."

"No, you stay up here. Stay with your team, and Matthew. Lord knows you're lost without him." I was the one to break the hug, otherwise I had a feeling neither of us would've been able to let go of the other. I stepped away, just out of his arm's reach. I smiled bravely, though my chest hurt again. Which was weird, because my ribs were okay. "Bye, Nick."

"Bye, Zach." He raised an arm to wave goodbye, just as the world around us suddenly started to dim. Before he disappeared completely, he jumped and shouted, "Oh! Become a doctor, too! I wanna be able to sing that song when you get up here!" I didn't have time to reply before I woke up, staring up into very worried Camerupt eyes.

"What's wrong?" Des asked, licking my face. "You were crying."

"Just a... dream." I pushed him away before he could lick me again, and covered my eyes with my other arm. I grinned, trying to stop crying. "Goddamnit."

"What?"

"Now I have to become Champion and a doctor."