Alternate title: Finally A Chapter... And Even More Waiting.
~
Silver exuded an aura of power and slick confidence that Zenith recognized from many, many overzealous fans and rivals. Yet, he also had an indescribable charisma, with the kind of disposition that led her to believe he was extraordinarily cunning. Barely a few years older than her, there was no way he could have made it to the top of the Paradise without incredible talent.
She regarded him with a glance, but didn't make any moves to get closer. "The pleasure's all mine. So, you're the one my cousin Luna mentioned who helped out with digging up some old records?"
"That's me. I'm surprised one of the famed Sawyers would honor me so by bringing me up. Come now; we made some pretty stunning discoveries. My team was happy to help fulfill the Young Master's request." Louder, he added, "Continue about your day, everyone. The Young Master returned to our humble home to collect some research the tech department has organized, and we wouldn't want to interrupt that, now would we?"
Quickly, the crowd began to disperse; it was clear Silver's words held a lot of weight. "So, you're quite the charmer, huh? It's pretty obvious everyone around here respects you, too."
"If you really want to put that way, I'll take it as a happy compliment. The President and her people have built this place up from the ground and kept everyone within safe. Thus, it's only natural everyone looks up to us," he replied wryly and led her to a corner of the third-floor lounge, a small stack of printed papers and various article clippings compiled together within a manila folder. "Take a look inside."
Zenith complied, sitting down on a comfortably padded chair and carefully opening the folder, laying out the different documents and a few older pictures on the table before her. Some of the headlines documented the start and important turning points of the famed war, while others were legal or medical files for some of the old noble families.
It was the collection of pictures that really drew her attention first. One showed a group of three brothers, all looking to be about in their thirties. They each had dark hair and eyes, with tan skin and matching clothes bearing the insignia of a widely-branching tree. Vitalis was written in faded sharpie on the back of the picture, along with a date.
Over twenty years ago now... That fits the timeline. Mages hadn't been forced to flee the mainland yet, but it should be close to the start of the last war by then. Magic was already a touchy subject, but it wasn't downright illegal.
A few other pictures showed the same trio of siblings at various ages, sometimes alongside other family members. Parents, cousins, grandparents, but never any spouses or children.
"Notice anything weird? These three were considered some of the most handsome and kind bachelors of their time, especially among the mages. The fact that they were from a noble family made them even more popular, and yet, none of them ever took a wife or bore children. All three of them were killed in the war before they could settle down, right around the time President Lusamine established Sanctuary, our Paradise's former title and humble roots," Silver explained, pointing from picture to document in a linear fashion.
Zenith nodded, following his index finger. "That's odd- I remember from my lessons years ago that, before the war, the descendants of powerful families like that always married young and continued their legacies. It wasn't until after everyone was forced to come to the Paradise and magic became more a curse than a blessing that most of the remaining families, the ones who hadn't perished, stopped having kids or married into less powerful families to dilute their magic."
"Exactly. These three were an anomaly for their time, and it also gave mages a hard hit during the war, because they were three of the strongest fighters we had. All three were trained aura guardians with powerful teams, and their magic was incredibly potent for both offense, defense, and support. The two younger brothers had a special bond with Kalos' two signature legendaries, and it was rumored that the eldest brother was given the blessing of Lord Arceus himself... It was considered a terrible tragedy when they died, but faded from significance quickly. After all, almost all the most powerful noble families were eliminated during the war, and the Vitalis brothers weren't the only ones who had connections with legendaries. As of today, only a fraction of the noble lineages still remain, two of those being the Sawyer and Skyler families that are all but merged.
"However, when we heard the news you sent over about an acquaintance you met who seemed to contradict all of our historical records, my curiosity was piqued, so I dedicated a part of my team to helping out the volunteers and members of the history department who were trying to uncover the mystery."
"So somehow these brothers tie into it, despite all documents saying otherwise?" Zenith guessed.
Silver smiled. "Exactly. My, you are quite the bright little star, just like your mother always said..." He shook his head and quickly turned back to the sheets on the table, pulling a few out from the bottom of the pile. Zenith's gaze traced him thoughtfully. Is that... envy? I've been detecting red flags since the first moment I met him, but there's something he's trying not to let on. I've seen secrecy, false flattery, many things in many forms.
She skimmed through some of the records he pulled out, handwritten notes jotted in the margins. "Before tragic death in the war, eldest brother spent a number of months in the Kanto region undercover... Trace evidence of his magic in various locations confirm this... After his return to Kalos, missing persons report filed in Pallet Town, Kanto, for his alias, fitting his appearance... Birth information for...!!! No way..."
Approximately eight months after the eldest brother left Kanto and returned to Kalos from his mission, none other than Ash Ketchum was born. Which, on its own was pure coincidence, something Zenith herself thought until Silver handed her an extremely difficult to discern image.
"We managed to dig this up from the background of an old newspaper clipping about a house fire from this town during the time Sir Vitalis was staying in Kanto. Using image enhancement technology, we were able to get a much clearer image. Take a look."
A second version of the blurry picture was stacked behind the first, with many of the details refined. Sure enough, clear as day, were a pair of adults- a man and a woman- holding hands and trying to help out in the situation. The woman looked to be in her early thirties, with pulled-back brown hair and fair skin, and aside from age, was nearly identical to the picture Crystal had once showed her of Red, and by extension Ash's, mom. Meanwhile, the man in the photo was practically Ash's spitting image- rather, Ash was his spitting image.
He had thick, black hair that spiked out at the sides and narrow brown eyes, standing tall and strong. Dark stubble covered his chin, making him look as if Ash had been put through some sort of age progression software.
...You're kidding! I had a suspicion Ash had to be descended from a family to get magic as strong as his is naturally, and many of the facts pointed to that being true, like him and Red only being half-brothers and Ash not knowing his dad... But being an undocumented inheritor of one of the strongest mage lineages without anyone ever knowing!?
"Seems like your friend is quite the bigshot in disguise. He had infinite potential, yet he lost everything the second his dad was out of the picture..." Silver swept everything back into the folder. "It took us quite some time to finally piece everything together. And yet, without the proper training or knowledge, both his gift and the knowledge is essentially useless."
Zenith's brain was reeling. There it is again. The trail off, the topic switch, the sudden brazen movements and aversion of eye contact. Arceus, too much is happening at once. But Silver sees something in Ash, in his story, something that moments ago would've been considered impossible. Earlier he sounded jealous, but then he sounded oddly sympathetic... Empathetic? Does he relate? Now he's dismissing it all, possibilities he dubs futile. Something's up, or else how could he get this far, try this hard?
Silver shut the folder and pulled her chair out so she could stand up. "I hope you're satisfied with the results, Young Master," he said.
"If Ash really is the descendant of the Vitalis family, then what kind of magic does he have?" She asked, wanting a concrete answer before she left.
The corners of his lips twitched, betraying a smile. He leaned in to whisper close to her ear before pulling away. "Wouldn't want everyone to hear, now would we? It'd be troublesome if news like that got out before anyone was ready."
Stunned, Zenith stayed silent.
All she knew was that keeping an eye on Ash was now the least she could do.
~
As it was, Zenith wouldn't be able to use her phone until she returned to the mainland. Something about electronics functioning on different frequencies to avoid detection by non-magic folks. Still reeling from all the information she had learned and curious without wanting to pry too badly, she excused herself and flew up to the top floor of the library.
She and Star spent some time looking up at the massive glass barrier between the library ceiling and the entire ocean. It took a shake of her head to refocus and hurry over to the computers, doing a few searches before finally finding something that made everything in her head click.
I knew Silver looked familiar... Even sounded familiar... His odd tells, his habits, his temperament, having to claw his way up...
Her eyes stayed locked on a news article from some years back about Team Rocket's boss before their leader disappeared. An untouchable mafia boss named Giovanni, everything about him screamed cold-hearted and cruel.
Infamous boss of a powerful organization, crime lord extraordinaire... the perfect recipe for an absent parent. I guess it's only natural he turned out the way he did, the same way I and my sisters did... Desperate to prove ourselves, critical of every mistake until we were perfect, only wanting the love a parent can offer and being denied it time and time again, until each of them was lost to us, and picking up the pieces ourselves, determined not to make the same mistakes.
The only difference between us and him is that we finally got a good ending with Mom. Looks like Silver never got that chance.
She closed the page and shut the computer down.
I would be jealous, too.
Zenith made her way over to where Star was admiring the skylight and lifted her up.
Even if our dads both beat us. Even if our dads both told us we'd never be good enough, cut us with every scathing word. Even if our dads both neglected us. Even if our dads both disappeared into the wind, never to be heard from again. Even if neither of us ever got a satisfying conclusion, instead of a dangling semicolon or set of ellipses telling us our story has yet to be completed.
"Come on, Star. It's about time we head home."
~
Because Silver sad backstory was plot relevant. Hope you enjoyed the drawn parallels, and the information regarding Ash's dad! Now Zenith knows what kind of magic Ash has, too. Have you figured it out?
Happy summer break to all those it concerns, and I'll be seeing you in the next one! Goodbye for now,
Kaia