Twilight Always Falls
Part 6
“There you go Finny! Your Eevee’s all healed and raring to go!” Joy of the Viridian Pokemon Center said happily, setting the excitedly chirping Pokemon on the counter. “Oh boy! Maybe now I can beat my sister’s Espeon!” the little boy piped as the Eevee leapt into his arms, nuzzling his master affectionately. “Tomorrow though, it’s so late I’m about to close down for the night!” Joy reminded him cheerfully, pointing at the Pokeball shaped wall clock above her head. “Okay! Come on Eevee, time for bed! Thanks Nurse Joy!” Finny yipped overzealously and waved appreciatively to Nurse Joy, who smiled and waved back as the little boy and his Eevee dashed out the door, the tiny bell she kept there jingling to announce his departure.
Chuckling quietly to herself, Joy flipped off the computer at her desk, gathered her keys into her hand, and stood up, pushing her chair underneath the desk and turning to a nearby Blissey. “Blissey, could you lock the front door for me please?” she asked gently. “Bliss! Blissey Bliss-ey!” the Pokemon replied, bowing respectfully and accepting the mass of metal suspended on a key chain bearing her resemblance. Joy heard the satisfying click of the front double glass doors lock, and the gentle rustle of the curtains being drawn across it, turning back around at the muted clacking of the plastic, hand-painted ‘Closed” sign against the cold glass. “Thank you very much Blissey! Is nighttime watch awake yet?” Joy asked picking up her coat.
The pink Pokemon placed her paws upon the egg that rested in her pouch and half bowed, half nodded the affirmative, smiling warmly as she held up the keys previously given to her. “That’s okay, I’ll be down in a sec, why don’t you go start the car and warm it up? Looks like it’s really cold out tonight,” Joy refused politely. Blissey nodded again, bowed fully, and exited the Pokemon center through the back entrance where she knew Nurse Joy kept her car parked.
Joy made one last check that all electrical equipment was operational, intensive care units were stable and that everything that need be off at night was, ignored a puddle of spilt water as she patted the Chansey assigned to watch the center at night and take any emergencies and headed for the door. “Take care of everyone Chansey!” She called brightly, but gasped at the reply she got. “C-Chaaanseey!” Her hand never touched the doorknob before her Pokemon’s shrill cry rang out in the silence, whirling around to find that the water she had just ignored had taken a life of its own, standing in a huge ominous pillar between her and her Pokemon. “W-What on earth?” Joy sputtered, backing into the doorway as the polymorphous figure slowly began to solidify.
It shimmered with a cerulean light briefly, then flashed white, revealing a distinctly human figure in its wake, dressed in a long black coat, pants, shirt, boots and gloves, with a tiny red ‘R’ symbol embroidered over his heart, stern face framed by shoulder length silky blue hair, and emerald eyes narrowed bitterly. Their eyes met only for a split second before Joy tore hers away, pointing to the strange man that had appeared so suddenly, with obvious ill-intentions seeming to radiate from his thin, yet muscular and toned stature. “Chansey!” Joy commanded, and not even bothering to call out an attack, the Pokemon knew what to do.
The intruder turned gracefully over his shoulder, black coat sailing almost majestically after his movements, and with a flick of his wrist, sent a tiny cloud of green and sparkling powder toward the Chansey. The Pokemon blinked twice, and his offensive stance drooped, as well as his eyelids, collapsing with a sigh of pleasure and fatigue to the floor. “Chansey! Who are you? What do you want from me?” Joy demanded, and was about to open her mouth to interrogate further, until she watched the stranger disappear into thin air, only to reappear directly behind her.
He stifled her scream before it even occurred to her to do so, wrapping an arm roughly about her throat, and clamping a gloved hand firmly over her mouth. “Don’t scream,” were his only instructions, and though Joy found it odd that such a beautiful voice spoke them, she nodded, and allowed the man to lead her. He stopped after a few steps, releasing her from his grip, but left his arm outstretched, a long, thick green vine erupting from the base of his palm and entwining that around her neck instead. Joy gasped and looked up to the man in veneration, but he merely sighed and looked away, as if ashamed, and jerked the vines about her neck roughly. “Make a sound, try to escape, anything and I’ll break your neck,” he hissed, still looking away. Joy, still too terrified to speak, merely nodded, and followed the tugs about the part in question.
The man in black led her to the emergency exit, where he placed a hand on the alarm, closing his eyes remorsefully. Vivacious blue electricity crackled about his palm for a split second, and the door swung open, no alarms sounding, and the door itself making naught a sound as it slowly opened. “Go,” the man ordered, and Joy stepped out obediently, knowing what was going to happen as soon as she got outside, and knowing there was no way to stop it.
Joy bowed her head in despair and followed the man into the woods, attempting vainly to keep up with his swiftness, until he stopped, wild emerald eyes darting skittishly about, gripping a band of metal fused about his own neck. Seeing nothing he deemed out of the ordinary, he retracted the vines, and Joy dropped to the ground, panting, her head still bowed in submission for what she knew was inevitable. “Take off your shirt,” the man ordered dully, and turned his back, crossing his arms over his chest patiently.
Joy sighed and complied with his wishes, removing the form fitting pink and white blouse that was part of her nurse’s attire. She tossed it gently into the dirt at her feet and reached behind her back, unhooking her bra and removing that as well, saving the man the trouble, and stood majestically and callously to her full height. “Okay, I’m ready, just please, spare my life, I beg of you. Do whatever you please, just don’t kill me, I have duties to too many Pokemon and people to die,” she pleaded softly.
The black clad man turned over his shoulder, a confused and utterly shocked expression on his face, but it was quickly replaced by a furious red blush, visible even in the dim moonlight filtering through the trees, and the twisted features of embarrassment at seeing Joy’s naked breasts. “W-What are you doing?” he asked quietly, cupping a hand over his peripheral vision and turning away sharply. Seeing his reaction, Joy covered her chest quickly with one arm, reaching down to retrieve her uniform to do so more completely, and looking quizzically to the still furiously colored man in front of her. “You’re…You’re not after sex are you?” she asked with a smirk, “You’re even blushing!” “Of course not! What on earth gave you the idea I was going to rape you? Er, don’t answer that… But, please, put your bra and this on, and give me your blouse,” the man replied, tossing the young woman a soft white shirt. “Never met a modest murderer,” Joy mused. “Well, murder is my sin, but if modesty is too then I am guilty as charged,” came the snide reply, and the young nurse couldn’t help but chuckle.
Joy quickly dropped her clothes again to catch the garment, redressed, and picked her pink blouse from the ground, approaching the man cautiously, and tapping his shoulder gently. He turned around, grateful to see her dressed and accepted the garment she held out to him gratefully, nodding appreciatively. “Thank you, not everyone is as cooperative as you, now will you listen calmly to what I am about to tell you?” he asked. “Tell me your name first,” Joy whispered tenderly. The man winced and looked away, as if he were ashamed of his name, as well as the various miracles he had performed to get the woman he sought after out of the Pokemon center undetected. “M-My name?” he started to which Joy nodded firmly, ”If you must know… It’s James.”
Joy nodded quietly, and wrapped her arms about her waist in a delusive attempt to warm herself against the winter chill, clenching her teeth to ward off her shivering. “Oh, I’m sorry, you must be freezing, here,” James said tenderly, removing his long black trench coat and draping it around Joy’s shoulders, “I hope you don’t mind wearing that damned ‘R’ for just a bit, and this should help too.”
Joy didn’t move or answer as James moved behind her, and closed her eyes with a smile as she felt his hands run through her tight and regulatory looped hair gingerly, and with the utmost precision, removed every and all of the hairpins that held it in place. She stifled any sound that would indicate how much she was enjoying the dark, handsome man’s halcyon touch, and relished his seemingly professionalism, as if he had many years of experience with hair. She felt a pleasant shiver run down her back as he gently tucked the electric pink mass into the back of the white cloth she now wore, his fingers grazing her bare skin only briefly before he withdrew them, smoothing the wrinkles out of his oddly warm coat. Joy smiled and looked back up to James’ mournful and subdued emerald eyes, her own glittering as she gazed upon his handsome features. “Better?” he asked softly. “Much, now tell me what’s going on,” she began, wrapping James’ cloak around her more tightly.
James took a deep breath, and looked up to the stars wistfully, and Joy couldn’t be sure, but she swore she saw a glint of a tear in his eye as he spoke with deathly clarity. “I’m going to get right to the point, I didn’t come here to rape you, but I was sent by Team Rocket to kill you. I am an assassin for them, a creation if you will, and though my orders are to murder ruthlessly, it is not within my context of acceptable behavior to take lives without their knowledge of what they have done, and often simply because my master thinks they may be a nuisance later on. I do not deem any human being or person worthy of death, which is why I brought you out here. I must bring proof of a kill back to my master, and if you’ll trust me, I can help you escape with your life. Apparently you have talked to the police recently about the conduct and credentials of the Viridian city gym leader, Giovanni, as you had a recent influx of extremely injured and many near death cases in Pokemon returning from a battle there. He is, in fact, the leader of Team Rocket, and he fears your suspicions may be considered valid, therefore putting him out of business and exposing him to the authorities, so as a result, he sent me to get rid of you before that should occur. Now I must tell you, with your freedom comes a few restrictions: you must never tell anyone you saw me, after I’m done I will be but a figment of your imagination, and you must also never tell a soul what I have told you, or what you suspect, and the truth about Viridian Gym. Believe me when I tell you that if Giovanni caught word you have told the police, it would mean the most definite and swift end of your life, and a long excruciating end of mine. Now, do you trust me?”
Joy smiled, a sudden warm feeling of light sweeping over her, as if she had been rescued by a gallant knight astride a noble snow-white steed from the jowls of a snarling dragon. She almost expected the beautiful and almost ghostly apparition that stood before framed in majestic moonlight to sweep her up into his strong arms and carry her off into the sunset, just like in the movies and books she always loved as a child and an adult about finding true love, and managed a smile, nodding to James firmly. “I trust you, James,” she said reverently. James nodded, but his expression never faltered as he flicked his wrist ever so slightly, a blade extending from the base of his palm where the vine had once been, looking up at the gasp from Joy. “Slash attacks do have their advantages,” he explained, “Now, this is really going to hurt, but I promise it will ensure your safety, I humbly ask for your trust. Please give me your arm.”
Joy complied, and freed one arm from the confines of the coat, retaining a hold on it at her neck in want of its warmth and holding the other out to the man in front of her. She felt a slight blush as James took her hand in his, and touched the thin, nimble blade to her milky skin delicately, hesitating ever so slightly before only drawing a small trail of blood. “Go ahead James, I see what you mean, and I know you won’t kill me,” she assured him, and looked away, wincing as she felt the metal slice through her flesh more deeply than before.
The hot, mercurial, trickle of blood down the sensitive inner portion of her forearm caused Joy to go pale, her knees weakening ever so slightly, but she straightened them determinedly. Joy looked back, and watched James gather the blood that dripped before it hit the ground in her Nurse’s blouse, finally deciding to press it against her profusely bleeding arm. “It’s not too deep, it shouldn’t leave too much of a scar, but I suppose a little white line is better than death,” James remarked dully. “Yes, life is precious, too bad it looks like you gave up on it too early,” Joy replied.
James looked up from his work, his emerald eyes meeting Joy’s, for the first time that night with a hint of bitterness to them as he tore them away, tossing the blouse into the mud for added struggling effect. “Life has given me nothing but pain, I don’t trust it anymore, all I know is what my master tells me to do, and getting around it any way I can. Brace yourself,” James snapped, and Joy barely had time to reply before a burst of embers from James’ hand seared into her flesh. She shrieked in pain, but held her arm firm in James’ grasp, her smiling eyes meeting his once again, finally seeing the wounds that ran so deeply within his soul.
They had a haunting beauty about them, as if he were singing his part of a duet all alone in his silky velvet voice, his partner’s beautiful melody absent from the now hollow and dead music. He had searched for his partner that much was evident, but it was painfully obvious to Joy that they were nowhere to be found, and James had been chained down as he watched them slip from his grasp. “I-I’m sorry,” James whispered brokenly, disrupting her train of thought. “It’s alright James, I should be sorry for not seeing it sooner,” Joy replied, to which James raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Seeing what?” he asked softly. “That you have a broken heart,” came the reverent answer, and James closed his eyes remorsefully, looking away.
There was a disquieting silence between the two, as James gritted his teeth, as if he had been suddenly reminded of something so excruciatingly painful he had shoved it to the far reaches of his mind, never to be injured by it again. He looked up at last, and reached into the pocket of the coat Joy still wore, clutching the bundle of bandages, ointment and gauze so tightly that when he unraveled it to tend to Joy’s arm, she could still see the indents his fingers had made into it. “I-I managed to cauterize the wound somewhat, and that should staunch the bleeding enough to get to a hospital and get it fixed up properly, and I didn’t burn you badly enough to leave too much of a scar,” he said at last. “Thank you James, now, did you plan on getting me anywhere, or just leaving me here for the Pokemon?” she replied jokingly.
James was silent as he finished binding Joy’s wound, finishing it off perfectly and snugly, his field first aide skills impressing even the seasoned Pokemon Nurse. He tied it off firmly, and patted her arm affectionately once, then with a sickening hiss, the blades burst from his palms in a blinding movement as he first pounded the pink Nurse’s blouse into the ground, then tossed it into the air. A meek cry of aggression exited his lips, echoing perfectly with the unwelcome sound of ripping fabric as he slashed at it, catching it artfully and unfurling it to check his work. The shirt hung pathetically from his grasp, torn, bloody and covered in mud, with very realistic looking slashes throughout the entire garment, startling Joy with how much it looked like she had been murdered in it. “My master tells me to leave no evidence, no body, no nothing, just bring back a memento to prove I did it. This is what I usually do, he believes it, and I don’t have to kill anyone, but the day he finds out everyone he’s sent me to kill is still alive, I’m doomed for an eternity spent in agony, do you understand? You must not let anyone know of our meeting, I don’t exist,” James hissed vehemently as he spoke of ‘his master’. “I understood the first time, and I promise,” Joy breathed.
James smiled vaguely, and Joy felt her heart skip a beat at his beauty, stifled by a broken soul, and felt the hot blush return to her cheeks as he placed a hand on her shoulder, two fingers of his other hand on his forehead. “I’m taking you to Cerulean city, it should be far enough, and you can settle in with your sister or whatever it is there,” he said smoothly, and Joy nodded, “Close your eyes, and don’t move.” The Pokemon nurse obeyed, and felt only a slight heave of her stomach and an odd wailing of energy, her eyes squeezing shut even harder than before.
She nearly shrieked in terror as she felt the floor fall from beneath her feet, only to find it there again a split second later, stumbling forward only to land in the strong arms of James. She gasped and righted herself as soon as she could, lingering only for a moment in his tender embrace, clasping a hand to her mouth as soon as she could back out of it. She looked up and blushed furiously as James chuckled and tossed his mane of long blue hair amiably, the slight smile that never got any larger than the barely noticeable curve it was then soothing her fears. “You okay?” he asked gently, and genuinely concerned. “Y-Yeah, just got my equilibrium thrown off a bit by that…That-“ “Teleport,” James finished sorrowfully.
Joy’s eyes widened in empathy, and concern, looking up to the silent man in front of her, an idolatrous gaze shining in her deep blue eyes. “You-You use Pokemon attacks, don’t you? That puddle of water… Acid Armor! And the green powder, was only sleep powder,” Joy whispered in consternation. James sighed and looked away, holding up his wrist gingerly to show her the vines he was also able to use and confirm her suspicions indefinitely. “Bullseye, in every regard of your assumption, it’s all true,” he muttered. Joy’s hand flew up to touch the thick green stalk that danced gently, suspended in the air just above her head, but it shied away as soon as they met the slick plant material, burying itself in James’ coat once more.
James retracted the vines swiftly, and turned away, his own cheeks crimson with humiliation rather than embarrassment, and when he finally spoke again, his voice was so low Joy could barely hear it. “I don’t blame you for being disgusted, and I’m surprised you didn’t run away screaming the second you saw the blades from my slash attack,” he whispered, “We’re inside the Pokemon center, I’ll go now.” Joy gasped as James put two fingers to his forehead to execute a second teleport to take him out of her life forever, grabbing his wrist roughly, and attaining only an apologetic emerald gaze. “No! James, no, I’m not disgusted, just, a little confused, and horrified, but curious, what happened?” she asked softly. “Giovanni happened,” James sibilated abhorrently, “He-He wanted to turn me into the ultimate assassin, so he modified a little DNA, jammed it in my neck, and next thing you know, I’ve murdered one man, and I feel dead. I lost a girl I’d known since I was ten, the only person who ever understood me, the girl I vowed to stay with forever, who was my best friend, and I used to love more than anything in the world, left with a cold cell, collared and chained like a wild animal, and the only thing I have that’s even close to a friend is a psychotic half-Pikachu, half human…”
The Pokemon Nurse felt tears sting her eyes as James spat his tale to her as if it had a foul taste, and found it sad he spoke in the past tense of someone she knew in her heart was alive and hurting somewhere. “Don’t let her go James,” she whispered, handing him back the coat as she realized they were inside. “She was wrenched from my hands too long ago for me to ever find her again,” was his bitter reply as he accepted it, putting it back on. “Find her James, I know you still love her, and I know she still loves you, a woman would have to be a complete and utter idiot to love any other man after loving you,” Joy said fervently. “You’re wrong, I don’t love her anymore Joy, I won’t let myself, I don’t even want to love her, and I hope to god she’s forgotten about me, but I have to go, good luck…Nurse Joy…”
“James wait!” Joy called, reaching out for him, but in a flash of psychic, blinding light, her blue-haired savior was gone. She stood, perplexed, for what seemed like hours, reacting only at the shriek from the resident Joy as she rushed into her arms, babbling something about a new music compact disk she had purchased and was dying to listen to with her. “And it’s just soooooo cool! You have to hear it!” she babbled to which the other pink haired woman sighed, detaching the squawking shrieking mass at her hip. “Alright alright, go set it up somewhere and I’ll listen, be there in a second,” she promised.
Her relative leapt into the air excitedly and dashed off, leaving a relieved for the moment young woman, who exhaled the breath she had been holding since she had been taken from the Pokemon center. She pressed a hand to her chest wistfully, and inhaled the fragrance of the plain white shirt James had given her to wear, her mouth curling into an impish grin as the slight scent of roses reached her nose. She sighed and turned to follow the other Joy, which she had long ago forgotten the relation to, turning over her shoulder one last time to view the final spot she had seen the beautiful man. As she flipped off the light the other Joy had switched on, she smiled vaguely, knowing she would never see James again, but in no respect remorseful about it. Though she wished him well, and hoped with all her heart and soul he would find the woman he loved again, one thing was certain; Joy would never forget the haunting beauty and tortured emerald eyes of her knight in shining armor.
@->->-
James looked up to the moon through the thick canopy of trees balefully, wrinkling his nose at the silent serenity of the full disk and huffing to himself, watching the white cloud of his breath hang for only a moment in the icy air as he jammed his hands into his coat pockets. “Ah what does she know?” he muttered distastefully, furrowing his brow deeply, “James LeBlanc and Jessie Burkely died the same day oh so long ago.”
James smirked at his melodramatic tone, suddenly realizing exactly what his words meant and sighing deeply, closing his eyes only briefly as the tall shadow of a Rocket Base located in the most remote regions of a forest James had not been informed the name of. They were bothered by nothing there, which was why Giovanni chose it to conceal his creation and though he rarely visited from either Viridian or Saffron, they were the rare occasions when he did that James was truly afraid of something.
James felt the fear again as he stood in the shadow of his prison, a sick feeling deep in his gut that he knew very well as he sensed the familiar but malevolent presence inside of the building. He gasped in terror, and nearly turned over his shoulder to run, but knew that the punishment for doing so would be far worse than anything he could possibly endure from a happy master. Whimpering slightly, and inaudible to anyone but him, he set his jaw determinedly and placed his foot firmly in front of the other as he forced himself to press on.
He found himself thinking to the few people he had allowed himself to be friendly to, and wondered if he truly cared about them, and if he did if they would be wrenched from his grasp just like Jessie and Meowth had been. He frowned as he realized he hadn’t so much as even thought about Jessie until that moment, and when Nurse Joy had mentioned his shattered heart before he had let her go, and discovered, that he did indeed miss them. He shook the thoughts away quickly, knowing they were gone, and resuming his previous endeavor of sorting out his feelings toward anything, or anyone else.
Callie, the Pikachu girl, he deducted, had been almost like a friend to him during his ordeals. Her childish mannerisms, her seemingly wise, yet innocent and rather deep advice, and a furious tenacity to prove that any situation could be made pleasant gave James’ lonely and broken life a tiny shred of meaning; and it meant the world to him. Deirdre he also decided, was the only scientist who was kind to him, and bandaged his wounds, held him after Giovanni had finished beating and berating him, truly cared about him and Deirdre, he found, was waiting for him by the gates, arms wrapped protectively about herself, head bowed, and lavender hair spilling in a disheveled heap over her convulsing shoulders. His face contorted with concern as he stopped for only a brief moment to gasp, gaining the attention of her tear-filled and reflective eyes. “Deirdre? What’s wrong? What happened?” he asked jogging up to greet her, genuine concern his driving force. She looked up as soon as she heard his voice, throwing open the gate she had long guarded unlocked and rushing into his arms, throwing her own about his neck with a sob of anguish. James gasped, but reluctantly held her back, smoothing her tangled and limp hair soothingly as he lead her inside the gate, pulling it closed and locking it behind him with the keys the young scientist gave to him.
“James, I…I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop him, it’s just so awful,” she sobbed, and James felt his stomach twist. “Who? What? Tell me Deirdre!” he demanded softly. “James, I-It’s Callie, she killed another scientist today, a girl, named Amelia, and Giovanni was alerted before I could do anything about it,” she sobbed to which James allowed his jaw to drop in disbelief. “W-What happened to her?! Is she alright?!” he demanded pulling the incapacitated young scientist away and looking deeply into her panicked eyes. “They haven’t done anything to her yet, but I overheard Giovanni say he wanted to get rid of her,” she answered solemnly.
Deirdre’s words had no sooner left her lips than James was gone, pressing his fingers furiously to his forehead to perform a quick teleport down to his cell, leaving a cold, dazed, and utterly lost young woman in his wake. James reappeared down in the laboratory where he dwelled to loud sobbing, and he was instantly at Callie’s cell, banging his fist against it when he noted it was empty. He looked up to the experimentation area of the lab, and snarled under his breath as his eyes met with Giovanni’s, tacit hatred sparking like lightning between them as James took a menacing step forward to see the Pikachu girl curled into a tiny ball on a metal examination table. “Leave her alone you heartless son of a bitch,” James growled, advancing slowly.
Giovanni looked up from Callie, a sickeningly good-natured grin plastered upon his thin lips, gently cradling a syringe filled with a clear liquid as he placed the hand thoughtfully beneath his chin. “I’ve turned your collar back on, there’s nothing you can do to stop me, now go back to your cage like a good boy,” he quipped softly and turned to return to his work. “I said leave her alone!” James roared, knowing what Giovanni intended to do and flinging his arm outward and thrusting his vinewhip at blinding speed to wrap around the older man’s wrist. He only had time to feel the thick stalks of the attack before James yanked them back with a furious cry of aggression, sending them both crashing to the floor with a yelp of pain.
The came no more attacks, for James sank to his knees afterward, screaming in agony as the electricity that was punishment for using a maneuver out of line seared through his body with the furious tenacity and righteousness for redeeming the act. Giovanni merely chuckled, and sat up, rubbing the red and stinging marks now around his bruised wrist tenderly, smiling crookedly as James coiled into the tightest ball he possibly could on the ground, moaning in sheer agony as the last traces of the punishment left him. “M-Mr. James?” Callie inquired weakly, sitting up slightly. The blue-haired youth managed to look up, and smiled gently at the worried expression contorting her deformed features as she leapt from the table to land deftly at his side, wrapping her arms about his neck instantly. “No! Don’t do that! Please Mr. Boss-man, don’t hurt my pretty Mr. James anymore!” she pleaded tearfully. “I’m okay Callie, really, don’t worry about me,” James replied softly as he sat up.
Callie burst into tears and hugged James more tightly as he held her closer, glaring daggers at Giovanni and gathering her gently into his arms, standing to take her into his cell for the night and narrowing his eyes bitterly. “Haven’t you done enough to her?” he hissed abhorrently. Giovanni merely smirked, and turned to leave, shrugging off the matter casually. “She was a complete mistake, and I do intend to get rid of her, you can’t protect the little wretch for much longer James, don’t think you can defy me,” he answered coolly, to which James was forced to bite his tongue, “Someone lock him up, and James darling, give me what I asked for.”
James snarled and flung the bloody shirt to the awaiting man, and carried Callie into his cage, making no move to struggle or protest as his collar was securely locked back into the bolt on the wall. The little Pikachu creature in James’ arms whimpered almost inaudibly as the door was slammed maliciously shut by a miscellaneous scientist, and the blue-haired youth gently lowered himself to his cot on the floor, wrapping the thin blankets about her shivering body tenderly. “It’s so cold,” she whispered, pressing herself closer to her friend. “Shh, don’t talk Callie, just go to sleep, it’ll be alright I promise,” James assured her, and ran a hand through her silky hair once.
Callie seemed to calm at his touch, and James held her closer, letting his own weary eyes droop with the warmth of her body and rhythmic breathing, stroking the crimson blots upon her cheeks affectionately. “Oh thank god, he was going to kill her,” Deirdre’s soft voice said, suddenly audible. James looked up, his stern expression never faltering as he regarded the scientist harshly, looking away from her kind and gentle smile. “She’s dying anyway,” he muttered bitterly. “What?!” came the gasped reply and James shook his head disapprovingly. “What is she Deirdre? What created her?” he asked, never taking his eyes away from the sleeping creature in his arms.
Deirdre drew in a deep breath and swallowed hard, the tears she forced away still apparent in her voice as she spoke after pulling a chair to the side of the cell to provide herself with more comfort. “Well, she, um, she was a very early beta testing version of the twilight project, where we decided to use a Pokemon and increase its power and intelligence with human genes. As you can see, it did not end well, and we had to put the other one down, a Vaporeon boy, because he became violent and a danger to himself,” she whispered solemnly. “That’s what’s killing her, the different forces in her body, the human, and the dominant Pokemon ones. Each wants to assume the main control, but they’re trying to drive out the foreign things in her body, and they’re both equally strong. Sooner or later, they’re going to completely obliterate each other, and its starting,” James murmured almost inaudibly, “She’s going to die soon.”
Deirdre let her tears fall, burying her face in her palms bitterly and collapsing forward into her lap exhaustedly. “Oh god no… Not more blood on my hands, not anymore,” she sobbed softly. “That’s what killed Butch, but why hasn’t it killed me?” James asked, oddly placid. “I…I don’t know, perhaps you were strong enough for your body to accept the transformation, or maybe it really is killing you too,” Deirdre answered bitterly. “M-Mr. James has a beautiful…S-soul,” Callie’s hoarse and shallow voice caused James to close his eyes remorsefully, and Deirdre to gasp. “What’d you say?” the violet-haired young woman asked tenderly.
Callie’s pink and yellow eyes opened only slightly as she sat up against James’ shoulder to grin mischievously at the young scientist, huffing haughtily at her look of utter confusion. “James is strong, a-and the soul who sings with his I-is found… He loved, and was complete, so-so he can’t die, he can’t be hurt,” she answered softly. Deirdre flinched visibly as she watched James frown deeply, the muscles in his jaw and neck rippling under his skin as he clenched his teeth firmly and looked at the little girl harshly. “Callie, Jessie’s gone, and I told you I don’t love her anymore,” he assured the creature in his lap. “Now that’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard, sure you told me but I know that’s not what you feel… I felt your body just now when I mentioned her…Every muscle in your body just, twitched, and ya got tense…” she stopped to chuckle slightly, “Like the first time you saw her I bet, when you heard your soul mate’s song…”
There was a disquieting silence as James sighed deeply and looked to the barred window of his cell angrily, and Deirdre’s sniffing back of any further tears before Callie broke it with a cry of pain. “Callie!” James cried, genuine concern apparent in his voice. “J-James please…Please tell him, my beautiful Flame’s child, tell him I love him,” she whispered, her eyes closing not of their own accord. “Who is he? What is a flame’s child?” was the response and Callie looked into James’ dull moss green and subdued emerald irises remorsefully. Her expression was oddly lucid after her eyes opened once more, glassed over, and her breathing grew shallow, reaching up to stroke James’ cheekbone gently with a claw. “You’ll figure it out, I know you will, because you’re going to get out of here, you’re going to-to sing… And I know your song will be the best one,” Callie whispered.
James and Deirdre glanced to each other briefly, their eyes meeting only for a split and terrified second before returning to the dying creature. “She’s talking nonsense,” Deirdre breathed fearfully. “Her body’s giving out on her, she’s not going to last much longer,” James replied furiously, clenching his fist in front of his face bitterly, “Damn you Giovanni… Damn you straight to hell.” Callie sighed peacefully at James’ infuriated seething, and closed her eyes one last time, wrapping her arms about his neck to hug him as hard as she could, kissing his cheek before her strength faltered, and she collapsed into his lap. “Thanks for loving me Mr. James, I’m gonna go to sleep now, will you be here when I wake up?” she asked brightly. James managed a small, but warm smile and nodded, brushing her hair away from her forehead and cradling her in a more comfortable position. “I’ll be here Callie, I won’t ever leave you, I promise,” he whispered firmly. “Promise me one more thing,” she continued, struggling for the last breath she so desperately wished to retain. “Anything,” James assured her. “P-Promise me y-you’ll… Protect the world from devastation, unite all peoples within our nation, denounce the evils of truth and love, and extend your reach to the stars above.”
James clasped a hand over his mouth in consternation, gasping sharply as the realization of who the little creature he had befriended was, and why she had seemed to know him so well. “Oh dear god,” was all he could manage to croak, “Jesus Christ…She knows the motto.” Callie smiled warmly, and chuckled softly, her body finally relaxing as she drew in one final breath to speak. “Next time you send that bastard who took me away blasting off again…And…Find...Her,” she sighed, and with a soft, tranquil exhalation, allowed the fires of her life to quietly die away.
“No,” James breathed as he felt the lithe body in his arms gently let go, and watched her chest cease to fill with breath, “Callie no, you…You should have been able to see him again…Your, your Flame’s child. God even I could see how much you loved him, it’s not fair, why must that rotten son of a bitch destroy so many people?” Deirdre shook her head in disbelief at James’ soft and almost mournful words, and at the most emotion she had seen him show toward anyone or anything since the day he had killed Clyde in cold blood, covering her mouth with a free hand, and using the other to wipe away her tears. “J-James, I don’t understand,” she said timidly, “Who was she talking about?”
James shot an acidic glare toward the young trembling scientist and picked Callie’s body up gently, noting her cheerful smile even in death, and shifting with a gentle rattling of his chains to hide himself in the shadows of his cell, his spiteful eyes never leaving their victim. “You of all people should know, and you’re worse than he is, a spineless coward,” he hissed abhorrently. “James, please don’t say that, I had no choice!” she retorted, her frightened voice shakily rising. “Of course you did, liar, you didn’t even have to courage to stand up to a psychotic old man! Callie’s blood is on your hands, and so is the blood of the boy who loved her, and so is Jessie’s, Meowth’s, and Butch’s, Cassidy’s, and mine… It’s on your hands, and Giovanni’s, you were merely the helping hand at the end of his wrist with the intelligence and the mentality to be beaten back and to become a mindless slave of insanity! How could you Deirdre? How dare you rip so many people from their hopes and their dreams to crush them in your palm with Giovanni’s hand over yours to give you the strength you needed to fully destroy it,” James hissed from the darkness, his green irises illuminated with furiously blue psychic energy and the pallid moonlight, casting eerie shadows across his well-toned, defined features and pale skin.
Deirdre restrained her sobs, biting her lip apprehensively as she listened to James’ contemptuous and oddly irrational sounding words, until she realized he spoke the truth. She looked deeply into his eyes and saw nothing but malice and hatred directed at no one but her spewing forth from the very depths of the soul of the man she loved with all her heart and soul, and had murdered. She was empty, a puppet, an accessory to madness, merely the means and the motion for putting Giovanni’s plan into work, and she had done nothing to stop it, even when she had berated herself for allowing Butch’s death at her hands.
Deirdre stood up suddenly with her sudden knowledge and acceptance, upsetting her chair as she rushed to the side to the cell, gripping the bars madly and barely even caring that her heart was thundering so hard in her chest it felt as if it would burst. “James please, tell me, tell me that’s not true!” she sibilated fiercely. “It’s all true and you know it, now get out,” James replied bitterly. “How many times have I told you that I won’t go if you ask me? James, I love you! Why won’t you believe me!?” she pleaded, sinking to her knees with her sobbing. “You love me… Ha, that’s a joke! If you love me so much why did you do this to me?! Why did you kill James?” he replied, his tone even, and composed, “Unrequited love hurts doesn’t it? I hate you Deirdre, and the organization you stand for with every shred and fiber of my being, now get the hell out of my sight before I decide to risk a little pain from this damn collar and kill you.”
Deirdre screamed in frustration at James’ final response and slammed her fist into the cold metal of the bars of his cell, splitting the skin on her knuckles open with the force, and not even bothering to stop to see why her hand was hurting so much, fled the room where she realized she had just lost her life. She sped away from the feeling of ill-being and times long past centered in the lab, the memories of James as a free and happy man, and the look of pure ecstasy on his face when he had told her in the elevator that he had admitted to Jessie what she had feared for as long as she had known him was true. She ran from the bitterly green surge of envy she had felt sear her mind and soul the second she saw exactly how happy being with Jessie had made him, and what she wished he would see in her. James looked at Jessie with such love, adoration, respect, and kinship Deirdre had longed for all her life, and since the moment she laid eyes on the beautiful blue-haired man, she knew she could be happy with no other.
The blind young woman had been so confident that with the experiment, she could draw him to her, but she had only ended up pushing her beloved further away, until at last, she knew he was gone. Her sobs reached a hideous crescendo as she continued to run, knowing her legs would carry her to her room situated on the ground floor of the branch of team Rocket headquarters they’d moved James to, and coming to the anguished epiphany of realization that she, had killed James. The man she had fallen in love with so long ago, the carefree and jubilant, though at times seeming just a little dense and clumsy, but all the more charming because of it person was long gone and dead, murdered by the organization he had faithfully if not regretfully served, and a woman who loved him. She realized too, that Jessie, his best friend, his one true love, had been slain by the Twilight Project as well, and Deirdre had been the one who had taken James away from both Jessie and Meowth for her own selfish purposes.
She reached her room’s door after what seemed like hours of running, throwing it open and slamming it shut after she had entered furiously, screaming at the top of her lungs as she slowly sunk to her knees. She clutched the sides of her head savagely, tearing out a few strands of her curly light purple hair viciously, and throwing them to the floor, and ignoring the soft trickle of blood where her long and carefully groomed nails had cut into her scalp. She stood up suddenly, and looked to the small kitchen area provided for her in her temporary accommodations while working on the project and smiled, the glint of a dirty butter knife from the sink inspiring her.
She walked briskly over to the counter and drew the knife with the thickest handle, the largest blade, and the sharpest serrated surface, wrapping her fingers about the cold black rubber coated end slowly and deviously. She drew it from the rack with a giggle and turned it in the dim light reverently, the flash from the metal blinding her momentarily as she plugged the sink and furiously twisted the knob to turn on the water. “No more, no more death, no more pain, no more suffering, the last blood on my hands will be my own,” she whispered brokenly, placing the tip of the knife on the soft flesh of the underside of her wrist.
Deirdre took a deep breath and closed her eyes, clenching her teeth and listening to her conscience as she quickly slashed through her skin, blood spurting out only briefly before steadying to a crimson flow. She quickly switched the blade into her other palm, tearing at her other wrist with a frustrated cry of sorrow, and a soul that had lost its way in life. She cried harder as she thrust her arms into the full sink, standing completely still and reverent save for her convulsing shoulders, watching the blood fall in a mocking scarlet cloud to the perfect white bottom of the basin only to explode in upon itself and further fill the sink with its hue.
She wept for James, and for not a body, but a soul she had so brutally mutilated, and played with before destroying it, and her tears were for Jessie, and Meowth, the other two souls so attached to James that she had inadvertently destroyed as well, scattered to the wind never to be complete again. She cried for herself, the girl who had wanted so badly to make something of her life, who had failed in one regard by consenting to join Team Rocket, and then erasing any meaning or goodness she had left to hold on to. Her life had no meaning, no purpose, and had been inexcusably used for evil so often it could never be rectified. She felt so dirty, and used, that she could think of no other escape aside from death to finally clear her mind and body of her sins, and she cared not what happened to her afterward, she simply could not stand the betrayed and hateful emerald eyes of the man she once loved.
Deirdre allowed herself to sink wearily to her knees after a time, looking down to the bloody water in the sink and noting it was so laden with her life essence she could no longer discern the features of her hands. She drew them out and collapsed upon her side with a splash of crimson tinted water, turning her wrists over to watch the blood seep out of the deep slashes and spread in a pleasantly large and diluted pool. Smiling and closing her eyes as she realized she had indeed cut them deeply enough to result in death, and that she had bled too extensively to be saved by any means, Deirdre allowed the last breaths of life to begin leaving her chest.
She felt the warm wetness of her own blood, and the water she had left on and that had long since created a small pool on her kitchen floor and sighed warmly, finally feeling her dying mind at ease. “Goodbye James, and I’m sorry, perhaps we’ll meet again someday, Callie, I’m going to take care of you, wherever you are, because I’ll be joining you in just a moment, I’m so sorry for hurting you, and I hope you can forgive me…Giovanni, may you rot in hell, forever to listen to the tortured screams of the people you destroyed… James, I-I know you still love J-Jessie, and-and I hope you can find her, I know she can make you h-happy again, and happier than I or anyone ever could… I just want to see you s-smile again…”
Deirdre finished her last words to the world to the deaf, blind, mute, and uncaring walls and floor of her kitchenette, exhaling one last time peacefully before she allowed the warm and inviting light to overtake her. She smiled upon the sullen figure of James, who sat with a venomous glare cast to the full and beautiful moon outside his cell, arms crossed bitterly over chest, and still refusing to cry over Callie. She touched his cheek gently, and he closed his eyes softly, almost in reply, and the young woman smiled more broadly as she knew no more, letting the light seep into her being completely and lift her spirits. She felt a final surge of bliss she had once felt during life, and it comforted her, and she allowed herself to depart completely, leaving all her pain, her sorrows, behind in her wake, and another soul in pain, crying up to whomever or whatever would listen, begging to be taken back to the path of light. She ignored it, feeling the strength it possessed, and knowing that once the soul could find the light again, it would be the great downfall of the twilight that had fallen and darkened so many lives. Twilight always falls, she recalled, but beautiful and comforting dawn always follows soon after the darkest hours of the night, and so it would again.