Twilight Always Falls

Part 8

There's no time for us

There's no place for us

What is this thing that builds our dreams yet slips away from us?

Who wants to live forever?

Who wants to live forever?

There's no chance for us

It's all decided for us

This world has only one sweet moment set aside for us

Who wants to live forever?

Who wants to live forever?

Who dares to love forever?

When love must die

But touch my tears with your lips

Touch my world with your fingertips

And we can have forever

And we can love forever

Forever is our today

Who wants to live forever?

Who wants to live forever?

Forever is our today

Who waits forever anyway?

@->->-

The thick odor of cigar smoke permeating the room caused the cream-colored cat to hack slightly, huffing air harshly through her nose and shaking her head rapidly in a vain attempt to clear it; for the foul stench pestered her keen senses further, and she was forced out of the lap she had been forced to occupy. The man released her willingly, and chuckled to himself as he watched his Persian skitter out the door hissing once and sneezing, laying her ears back as far as they would go angrily as he puffed another breath of coiling gray mists her direction and was gone, the door shutting of its own accord behind her. “Heh, stupid cat,” he chortled lightly and swiveled brightly about in his large chair to face the dawning horizon just visible outside his office window. Pressing his palms together thoughtfully, he leaned forward gently, looking past his haggard reflection and out to the world where his brainchild was free and subservient under his complete control to strike fear into the hearts of the people. “I have power now,” he whispered to himself, “It finally worked, vengeance is finally mine! I will be feared.”

Giovanni could no longer repress his exuberant and throaty laughter and allowed himself to do so merrily and freely, propping his feet up gently of the glisteningly white windowsill nonchalantly. The wicked smile of sheer pleasure never left his translucent lips as he returned to his work, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck prickle with the impending rush of eerie psychic power and almost sensual pleasure. He knew that he had sent his assassin to kill a shadow of the past, and felt that once his last string to the outside world had been severed, James would submit to him, and be made his for eternity.

The odd sound of energy finally permeated the silence in the wake of the insidious laughter, wailing to a high and rapid crescendo before diluting back into silence in a mere fraction of a second, and Giovanni smiled once more. He turned to face the young blue-haired man he knew would be there, and as a precautionary maneuver, furtively hit a small button beneath his desk to activate the metal restraints about his neck. “Hello, sir,” James greeted warmly with a smirk, which Giovanni promptly mirrored. “Why good morning James my dear! Have you brought me what I asked for?” he replied, slightly confused as to why the conversation had begun so cheerfully.

James said nothing and lowered his eyes deviously, hope burning in his heart as he gently propped his elbows on his very baffled looking employer’s desk, staring intently into his eyes with a defiance Giovanni had never seen behind the strangely glittering irises. “And what if I haven’t? What would you do then?” he asked mockingly. “I do not like your tone James, please, just give it to me,” Giovanni responded hastily, holding out his hand. “And what makes you assume I have it you cowardly old man? Maybe she got away! She escaped from you, the infallible Giovanni right? She is quite the resourceful little thing isn’t she? That’s only a few of the countless reasons why I loved her, why she was my best friend, and why I didn’t kill her,” came the virulent and scornful answer followed by a shocked and weak gasp. “You wouldn’t! You defiant son of a bitch, how dare you!” he screeched, and even the nimble bodied chimera had no time to react before Giovanni’s enraged fist collided with his face and sent him reeling back into the wall. The older man howled in fury and slammed James’ back as hard into the surface it had just roughly crashed into as his aging body would allow, not caring that his prized possession cried out in pain and crumpled to the ground, electricity writhing about his body. “Damn you! Why, James?” he screamed, kicking him in the side as the crackling of the collar’s defenses subsided.

James suppressed another cry of pain, and managed to lift his body from the ground, ignoring the thick dripping of blood from his nose and the corner of his mouth and merely looking up with narrowed and utterly hateful eyes. “Because you…ugh…You never had me under you control,” he answered softly and didn’t flinch as Giovanni picked him up by the collar of his coat and pinned him to the wall. “NO! That’s not true! Stop fucking with me!” he snarled, to which James only smirked and laughed. “Oh you wish you dirty bastard. I never killed any of those people. The only blood on my hands is my own,” he replied sneeringly and in an oddly composed tone. “Shut up!” Giovanni roared and slapped his victim across the face, sending him to the floor. He looked back up quickly and resiliently, but was only met by the tiny abyss of the barrel of a gun pointed directly between his eyes and the small deathly click of it being cocked. James scowled bitterly at the man above him and shook his head, looking away in disgust then from the twisted face and finally wiping the blood from his own face with the sleeve of his coat and only when he refused to answer did Giovanni speak again. “Well? Say something! I know you couldn’t have let everyone go. Please dearest James, this joke has gone quite far enough,” he said at last and the chimera turned to face him. The flames of hate could almost be seen behind his fierce and wild emerald eyes as he stood slowly under the cold metal of the gun barrel, smiling as he felt his frustrations, his sorrows, the pain and torment he had endured from one man all shatter within his newfound strength. He realized then it had been himself that had been subdued, he had told himself to forget, and he had, but since the previous fateful night he had found a brilliant beacon to lead him back to his long forsaken path of light. He took a defiant step in the righteous direction, finally finding the courage to say something he had longed to for his entire experience as the Twilight project and smiled, pointing an accusing finger in the pleasingly terrified looking Giovanni’s direction.

“This is no joke you sick tyrannical old fool…I never killed anyone, ever! Every time you sent me out, I had them give me a shirt, I cut them a bit and healed them as best I could, soaked it in blood, and took them to a safe place, every last one of the people you sent me after is living and breathing and going on with their happy lives. They may have a scar, but they all enjoyed life, and I gave back to them what you wanted to uselessly throw away! I am NOT your bringer of death, your upholder of apocalypse! I am NOT yours to begin with! I never was, I always had my own mind, and thanks to me, I’ve now SAVED more lives than you could possibly remember! The Jennies you sent me after, the Joys, all the Pokemon researchers who were close to discovering anything you didn’t like, Jessie, they’re all alive… And you were wrong! Wrong, damn you, wrong! You thought you had me crushed beneath your pinky! You thought Deirdre and Callie would be the last straws, you thought I was a weakling, and that’d I’d give up! But who’s the weaker person Giovanni, someone who can be oppressed and overcome it, or someone who must oppress to feel complete? In the end, you lose, even if you kill me, lock me away for the rest of my life, you’ll have to live with the knowledge that you failed, and that you’re forever damned in the eyes of so many people,” he snarled rancorously and Giovanni could do nothing but stare, “YOU LOSE!”

He dropped the gun slightly and released it, looking away as he cupped a hand over his mouth slightly and paced stiffly back to his desk, opening a drawer and tucking the weapon neatly inside. He sat down at the deep red table silently, and folded his hands in front of his face with his index fingers raised protectively over his twisted mouth, looking at the still tensed and apt to strike James balefully and with flames of hate flaring behind his empty irises. “I…I can’t say that I’m not disappointed,” he began, slowly moving his hand beneath the desk. James noticed the discrete movement, snarling and lunging forward with a cry of, “NO!” before stopping directly in front of the sadistically grinning older man as he felt the first volts of electricity course through his body, his scream of pain echoing in the deathly silence that followed the raging blue blaze that engulfed the young man as he fell with a sickening thud to the ground. “I tried James, I really tried! I loved you, I made you a better person! You were a failure before! Why would you forsake me?” Giovanni asked evenly, a trace of genuine hurt and disappointment in his voice. “You broke my soul, you filthy….son of a bitch… You killed my best friend, and you did it all because you…you just…ughn…You just wanted…to-“ James’ pained speaking was again cruelly cut off by a swift course of electricity through his body and a blood-curdling scream, Giovanni’s expression carved from cold and indifferent, uncaring stone as he gazed at the convulsing chimera at his feet, kicking his ribs sharply.

The motion was reacted to with a spattering of blood from James’ mouth and a desperate gasp for a painful breath, air barely able to enter the youth’s burning lungs past his suppressed screams of agony and clenched teeth. “You fool, you utterly imbecilic bastard, that is NOT the reason you betrayed me! Now tell me!” Giovanni roared, again picking the limp body at his feet from the ground and brutally slamming it into the wall. James cried out weakly in pain, ignoring the stream of blood from his mouth and nose trickling thickly down his face and gripped the hands pinning his shoulders in a weak attempt to alleviate any of his agony, looking murderously into the cold and black as twilight eyes in front of his own. “I-I never betrayed you…” James began softly, his eyes drooping and voice lowering with pain, and his body losing the struggle for consciousness, “I simply realized that I’m not what we both thought I was. Jessie made me see that…I..Ughn…I just needed to…Stand up for myself, and realize that I couldn’t live like that anymore. I’m not a strong person, I never was, never will be, but everyone has the ability to survive… Everyone has a reason to go on… And now that I realize that I know why I’m still alive…” Giovanni’s perplexed gaze softened ever so slightly as James grinned mischievously, an air of defiance and victory lacing his entire countenance and backed away from his chimera, letting him slump to the floor with a final gasp of relief at his feet, kneeling and cupping his chin in his palm to force the blue-haired man to look him in the eye again. “And why do you go on living if this is so terrible? If you really are such a free spirit, if I never had you? Why?” he sibilated abhorrently. James merely smirked harshly, raised a single index finger in front of his face mockingly, winked, and answered, “Now that, is a secret.”*

Giovanni’s bellowing in absolute fury caused James to wince and look away, almost cursing himself for being cocky at the end, and knowing that it would more than likely spur an unpleasant end for himself. The chimera, however, cared little then what his fate should be, for a shimmering phoenix, some mythical and all-knowing creature of light had burst in freedom from the binding chains he had put about his own heart, lighting his way in the forest of darkness at midnight, as if he had finally found the path of light for only one brief moment at the end of his life to comfort his torn and battered soul. He no longer felt as if he had betrayed his best friend and himself, instead knowing he had finally avenged Callie’s and Deirdre’s deaths, and rectified the mistake Giovanni had made so long ago by beginning the Twilight Project by standing up for himself for once in his life. The fire of the electricity screamed through James’ limbs once more, but no sound exited the lips of the body it wracked as it fell to the floor one last time, calmly and complacently lying and waiting to be relieved of the last shreds of pain, and James smiled. “Don’t cry anymore Jessica, I’ve already been healed, all I want now…Is for you to live,” he whispered longingly and closed his eyes, feeling his own hot tears run down his cheeks; not tears of sorrow or despair as the first had been, but rather, James realized, tears of pure joy.

Light had found his soul once again, and the young man felt saturated and cleansed by it, his sins and scars of the past fading and bursting into nothingness with a flurry of desperate sparks, never to be rekindled into the hellfire of hate that had once consumed him. James had chosen his own path, he had seized control of his destiny, and he was finally satisfied with the knowledge that he had proved the tyrannical old man wrong and that, contrary to what he believed, he had never been under his control. “Take him to the lab, I’ll deal with him there,” he heard Giovanni’s seemingly distant voice bark, and he suddenly felt his limp body being lifted roughly. Light danced before his blurring vision and he reached out to the warm inviting points of light with a genuine smile playing on his lips, the second that day of the first ones he had allowed himself and closed his eyes, welcoming the embrace of darkness that was for once, kind and benevolent.

* Please excuse the blatant and inexcusably irritating Slayers reference! ^_^;

@->->-

The day had dawned hours before the sunlight had found two people in a strange apartment, clinging to each other, the only memories they had left as they sobbed their sorrows freely amongst friends. In opposite corners of the room stood two women, both with tears of sorrow in their eyes, one for family, the other for a shred of a memory, a flash of icy blue hair and a liquid black miasma in the hazy residue of a fantasy she thought was so real. It was so fantastic she could not help but feel she had indeed held the other half of her mutually shredded and rendered soul in her arms, but when she had awoken from it, she could remember nothing but his haunting and tormented emerald irises and splashes of vibrant color. The cold ice of his hair, the black miasma of his body, and then, the blinding white of a feeling of falling as she had heard of the malevolent crimson that had spread beneath her own feet, darkening the fissure she had been so sure was the embrace of love and happiness once again.

Jessie’s icy skin barely felt the scalding tears slide down her cheeks at the choked sobs of Misty and Brock from her couch, whispering the name of the ebony haired boy lying mangled in the morgue of the local hospital, brilliant hazel eyes once opened wide in acceptance of death, now closed to the world forever. They faded however, as her gently gazing sapphire eyes fell upon the soul standing silently in the corner opposite her own refuge, deep mahogany hair falling over her mournful eyes, arms crossed over the body that had once bore a child, that had once held the same boy in her arms, where a heart was now torn and bleeding. The flame-haired young woman reached out to her, wiping twinkling diamond tears from her crystalline eyes as she took a step forward to speak. “Delia…Delia I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault! Please, you need someone to blame right now, it should be me,” she whispered brokenly, to which the young woman looked up. “Oh Miss Jessie, it’s not your fault, you were found in your own bed, with traces of sleep powder on you, it was done to keep you away, you couldn’t possibly have-“ Delia trailed off, looking away. “I could have stopped it, but…James couldn’t have killed Ash, it wasn’t his fault! He wasn’t real Jessie get a grip, he wasn’t real…” she thought to herself then spoke, “No, I…I guess I just want to blame someone, and there isn’t anyone to.”

Misty looked up at last from burying her face into the warm comfort of Brock’s muscular chest and wiped away her tears, pressing the now orphaned Pokeballs into her chest for comfort away from the only soul left in her once complete world. She kissed the red and white spheres reverently, and held them out to Delia, tears falling freely and unattended down her cheeks as the woman made no attempt to take the gift. “Please Ms. Ketchum, I know Ash would have wanted you to take care of them,” she began, but a hand held up forced her to stop. “No Misty, it was very sweet of you to offer, and to think of me, but they’re really of no use to me, I-I have Mimey, and he’s all the help I could ever ask for, please, you were Ash’s best friends, he’d want you to go on and do great things with them! He’d want you to do what he can’t accomplish now…” her refusal was broken with a soft sob of a soul lost in the sea of darkness forever as Delia Ketchum again turned her face from the world.

Jessie, almost in response, snarled loudly in her mind and cracked her knuckles apprehensively, reaching the now looser feeling hands to the coffee table where her keys to freedom sat and stopping when she again heard Misty’s low voice. “Brock… What’ll we do? Pikachu…And-And now Ash I-I can’t do this, my parents…” She trailed off and Brock could only run a hand through her hair reassuringly. “I know Mist, it hurts, I lost my mother, remember? But no matter what, we’ll stick together, I promise I’ll never leave you, I promise you that,” Brock answered and Misty replaced the words on his lips with her own, kissing him softly until, exhausted from a sleepless night and hours of crying, the duo allowed their weary bodies to drift slowly down to rest.

Jessie didn’t even feel the tears down her cheeks, nor hear herself tell Delia she needed to be alone for a while, and she would be back as soon as she had cleared her head. She barely felt the cold bite of the metal of keys in her hand, and walked mechanically down the steps, subconsciously taking a longer route outside, and realizing only then she had grabbed her long suede winter coat out of habit and had thrown it about her shoulders haphazardly. She stepped outside into the bitter wind that had been blowing for an eternity, whipping through the dimmed embers of crimson fire hair and cutting deeply into her raw and exposed psyche, the loss of so many people at what she deemed her own hand condemning herself to a life of misery. “Now I too, have shed my own blood upon the ground James, we’re both sinners, we’re the same, now we can be together again,” she whispered, and was lost in a flurry of souls passing by on the street. The stream carried her out into the world, away from the epicenter of tragedy to a place of solitude where she fought to break free from the vicious cycle of torment, the torrential flow of eddying souls, and her own tainted psyche. She found her own place of light and stayed, wishing madly for the ability to travel backwards in time, wishing for her soul to be renewed, and life to be lighted once more. She wished upon a tumultuous dawn for the past to change, but all that welcomed her, was an oddly comforting splay of pastel lights upon the horizon, which wrapped their tender strains and pallets about her heart and whispered in her ear, that sovereign dawn had once again risen.

@->->-

My life goes on in endless song

above earth's lamentations,

I hear the real, though far-off hymn

that hails a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife

I hear its music ringing,

It sounds an echo in my soul.

How can I keep from singing?

While though the tempest loudly roars,

I hear the truth, it liveth.

And though the darkness 'round me close,

songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm,

while to that rock I'm clinging.

Since love is lord of heaven and earth

how can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble in their fear

and hear their death knell ringing,

when friends rejoice both far and near

how can I keep from singing?

In prison cell and dungeon vile

our thoughts to them are winging,

when friends by shame are undefiled

how can I keep from singing?

When the light once again found James’ tired and red-rimmed eyes, he opened them experimentally, only to find they slammed shut almost immediately afterward of their own accord, and he barely heard the groan of pain that accompanied the involuntary movements. “Good to see you’re finally awake, precious,” Giovanni’s thick and abhorrent voice called softly from somewhere in the infinite void above his head and James merely turned his cheek to it, “Oh come now, you don’t have to be that way, wake-up!” A harsh cuff across the face drew a gasp of pain from the chimera’s parched and burning throat and the blanket of water he had so comfortably and blissfully ignorantly rested beneath lifted, and he found he could open his eyes.

They met with the fiery irises of a smirking demon, framed only by the blackness that was his body, a faction of it extending toward him with a brilliant star point of light glimmering in it. “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt, just yet, then it will be the most excruciating pain you’ve ever felt tearing through your being. You will feel as if your soul itself were being split in two!” The strained and fatigued voice was followed by demonic peals of hollow and victorious laughter and an arrow of burning agony finding its mark in the side of James’ neck, vomiting forth its toxins into his body, seeping the noxious venom of hatred and utter betrayal into the very essence he once thought purified. He made a weak attempt to cry out in protest as the vile black dragon of poison roared and clawed its way through his veins and body, a pain more excruciating and numbing than any he had ever felt, but found that no sound would dare exit his lips.

The first of his pains had been of a union, a purging of old to make way for the new, wiping clean the slate of happiness and free will to cast it into flames that consumed it with a darkness beyond twilight. He had submitted to it, and accepted the black charred demon into his soul with open arms, and the pain had ceased, replaced by a black and hollow-shelled, chimerical, and nameless evil entity of himself, driven by madness to forget. Light had been the remembrance, and it had pierced the ebon pitch violently and suddenly, causing it to buckle, scream in frustration, but crumble away with the steady floe. The soul had fought a valiant battle and won, but as it felt the second and vengeful ripples of sheer agony course with an electric fury through his body, he thought it just might tear him limb from limb. It was not the pain of loss, as James had felt the sting of many times, nor was it the first pain of fusion he had suddenly remembered, but an unraveling, an undoing of a past mistake, a shredding of an existence that should never have been. The chimera could do nothing but clutch at his chest, willing it to stay together, trying valiantly to keep his body and mind from exploding in a super nova dust cloud of glittering black and white fragments in the vast space of his personal purgatory.

Giovanni laughed as James’ eyes seemed to shrink in terror and pain, breath struggling to fill his chest, and face already deathly white with sweat just beginning to bead upon the barren tundra of his forehead and turned to go, waving him off with a hand. “Farewell my pet, you shall die here, for no hospital shall go unguarded, this room with not be left unattended, you will perish with your own lonely thoughts, whatever they may be and the knowledge that you could have been something great, but you threw it away, and betrayed the one person who loved you! Goodbye! James Leblanc! Farewell, good journey to your miserable end, and I hope hell is hot enough for you,” the man said with tears in his eyes and the metallic slam of the door to the labs finished his sentence with a mocking thud, leaving James alone in the darkness.

Pain consumed his soul, and he could just barely hear his own gasping above the roar in his ears, and the steadily increasing desperate thudding of his heart and not the door. He managed a small scream, but it did little to stay the dragon as it tore through his body, heart, mind, and soul with an insatiable hunger for the goodness he had only recently discovered still dwelt within his being. The poison ripped him apart, rendered him empty and helpless in his last moments, the wishes of the sadistic tyrannical man carried upon every drop as it mingled with his blood, searing his internal structure and scalding his mind. “No…” he breathed, “It…It can’t…It won’t…End…How you desire…” The dragon bellowed madly in protest of the words of insubordination and bit down upon his vocal cords to abate them, but it was forced away with a snarl of frustration and another scream of defiance. “NO!” James hollered to any that would hear, “He’s wrong! He’s always been wrong! Team Rocket is wrong, doing this to me was wrong! I won’t let him win, I told him he had lost and I meant it, there’s still one person who loves me, and though I have no heart to return it to her, my last breaths of life shall have her name upon them.”

With a great amount of difficulty, James raised two fingers to his forehead, not caring how much pain it would cause him to execute a teleport even without the collar he only then felt absent about his neck, and closing his eyes to focus the energy in the correct places. Life for him he knew was ending, but he knew also how he wished it to end, and how it should have ended in the first place, realizing only then Jessie had not been able to say goodbye to him when his death had been staged over a year before. Curses for the black-souled demon, the bringer of death Giovanni, exited his lips, and a prayer that his beloved’s soul was still beauty and light as a gentle feeling of weightlessness lifted his spirits to carry his body away. The torment had ended, and the light was fading, but the darkness again was one of peace, a tranquil stream of time ebbing gently away and taking him along with it past the dark looming, gray and twisted gates of death. A light flashed, and nothing was left in the dark lab save for an empty table, and the small sounds made by the various experiments that were not so lucky to be received by death kindly.

Jessie sat on her favorite rock by the edge of the lake in the park that the café she had shared lunch with old companions overlooked only the previous day, coiled into a fetal position with her forehead resting on her knees, crying as hard as she would allow herself. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she breathed quietly between sobs, “James, or at least whatever that was last night, made a promise to me, but he can’t be alive!” She knew only that he had somehow been involved in the death of young Pokemon trainer Ash Ketchum, and the thought that he could have betrayed her, the thought that he really was Giovanni’s ultimate weapon every Team Rocket member knew he yearned for, bore down upon her soul with vicious tenacity. She cried, yet the reasons why still floated lazily about in her brain with a mocking and hazy mist shrouding the clarity of truth. Jessie looked up at last and growled softly to herself in frustration, knowing her tears were for Ash, but also for something she could not decipher, which in turn made her tears run harder, and her ears nearly deaf to the small sound of a great deal of energy behind her.

Red hair sailed in a crimson sunburst of flame as Jessie whirled around to face what she knew what would be there, her brief smile fading into a gasp of terror as her eyes locked instantly with the pain glazed emeralds of James’. He managed his own sad smile in her direction and sunk to his knees, arms wrapped about his body to hold it together and breathing heavily in a desperate attempt to fill his lungs completely. “J-Jessica? I…Kept my promise…” he managed to whisper, and collapsed to the ground. “James!” Jessie cried, leaping from her perch and rushing to his side, kneeling and cradling him gently in her arms as she gently brushed the sweat matted blue hair away from his fevered forehead, “James answer me! James!” “I…I came back, just like I promised, I never want to hurt you again…” was his only response, and Jessie held him more tightly to her body. “No, you never hurt me James, Giovanni did, it wasn’t your fault, but now you’re really back! I thought last night was a dream, but now I know its not! James, we’ll be happy again, we can stay together forever!” she whispered joyously. The chimera let his tears fall, shaking his head gently as he struggled to open his eyes and laying a hand gently upon Jessie’s wet cheek. “I can’t stay long, but please…Just hold me for now, I just need to feel you,” he said softly, and Jessie pressed her own hand over his on the side of her face, closing her eyes reverently. “Why can’t you stay? I’ve missed you so much, I can’t lose you again…What’s wrong? God your hands are like ice,” she protested weakly. “I’m dying Jessica,” came the simple response, to which the young woman gasped.

Jessie shook her head in disbelief, the severity of the words that had just been spoken missing her ears and shooting an arrow of fire straight through her heart instead, and though the red blood clouded her eyes as it sprayed from her chest, her tears and small scream of anguish seemed to rinse them from view. “No! You can’t! Why? What happened?” she begged tearfully, gently lifting James’ limp body into her own. “I’ve betrayed the man who thought he was my creator, and when a creation becomes a vagrant of its own free will, then it must be gotten rid of, so he poisoned me. But please don’t cry for me Jessica, I don’t want to see you cry anymore, I came here because I wanted to see you one last time,” he explained quietly and Jessie could only stare. She shook her head as if to clear it, and while one hand remained holding James as close as she could, she clenched the other in fury, and would be satisfied only if she knew Giovanni’s soul were also being crushed in her furious grip.

She looked back down into the calm and complacent eyes of the man she had seen only in her dreams, then lost every morning again as if to spite her original loss once more and closed her own reverently. She knew he had come to die with her, but smiled as she realized she must not let it occur. The sins of the past she severed from her conscience as she helped James from the ground, placing one arm over her shoulders as she led him away from the small clearing. “No James! I’ve finally gotten you back, and I’m not going to let this end the way Giovanni wants it! I WON’T! I’ve just sat by and watched for all of this! I’ve been a weak and pathetic idiot! And if there’s anything I hate more than weak pathetic idiots and Giovanni it’s people who just sit around, dwelling on the past and waiting for things to happen! You have to make your own life, forget about what happened to you years ago and make a damn future for yourself! I’m not going to let you die James Leblanc! I let myself die when I let you go, and I never should have done it!” she proclaimed, to which James smiled up at her. “You haven’t changed at all Jessica,” he whispered painfully, but with an air of fondness that caused the young woman to mirror the small grin. “I’ll take you back to my apartment, then we’ll get help from there,” she answered starting as quickly as she could in the direction. “But Jessi-“ “Don’t question it, save your strength it’s a long walk,” she cut James off and strode boldly forward, to which James could only smile more.

The duo made it to the front steps of the small apartment building with relative ease but James found his body would not comply with his wishes to move any longer, collapsing safely out of view in the deeper reaches of a lesser-used stairwell. Refusing to be beaten once more, Jessie gathered her fallen dark angel into her arms, just barely able to support the entirety of his weight with her strength, and through an incredible act of sheer willpower, was able to reach the door of her apartment, rapping harshly only a few times.

A gasp and the face of Delia Ketchum welcomed her at the door, and the impassioned young woman shoved her aside, barging into the room with a mere grunt of, “Move, clear off the couch.” Misty and Brock, who had since woken up, but still remaining in each other’s arms looked up with bleary eyes as Jessie herded them away guardedly, laying a black clad figure down where they had been gingerly, and smoothing his sweat dampened blue hair away from tightly shut eyes. “James? James can you hear me?” she whispered through the last remnants of tears and the blazing emeralds the duo knew all too well opened only slightly in acknowledgement. “Jessie what’s going on?” Misty asked groggily, still clinging to Brock closely as she craned her neck to see the face of the figure in Jessie’s arms.

A synonymous gasp of terror exited two throats as the pale, ghostly face of what, in their minds, had to have been an apparition looked weakly up to them, a slight smile playing on the lips of the soul they had only recently mourned the loss of. “James?” they breathed reverently in unison. “It can’t be…” Misty whispered to herself. “Jessie, you told us-“ Brock began harshly, until the quiet and tender answer silenced and stayed his beginnings of fury. “I know Brock, I thought he was gone, but last night, he was here. He-he told me what had happened, how Giovanni used him as an experiment, his personal puppet, and we were all made to believe he was dead,” she said mutedly, gently slipping her hand into James’ as she spoke. “But…But I escaped, I kept my promise, I couldn’t-“ James had to stop as his body was seared with the fires of the poison in his veins, breaking his speech with a small groan of pain, “I couldn’t keep my promise to never leave you again, but at least now I can say goodbye, and-and to you two, to say I’m sorry.”

“What does he mean?” Misty dared to inquire timidly, “What happened?” “He’s been poisoned, Giovanni’s trying to get rid of him, we have to get help,” Jessie answered firmly, but was stopped when the only response she got was James barely managing to reach up to touch her pale cheek gingerly, cupping her chin in his hand lovingly as she looked back at him, closing her eyes at the pleasant sensation and holding his hand against her skin as if she were afraid she would never have the blissful joy of it again. “Jessica you can’t, Giovanni has agents everywhere, when he wants someone dead, you know as well as I do, there really isn’t any hope, please just stay with me… I c-came here to be with you in the end, I…That’s all I ever wanted…To be with you…” James trailed off mournfully as sleep overcame his senses, clouded his vision, and forced his eyes to shut with two lone tears trailing down his white cheeks.

Jessie allowed him to sleep, lowering him gently with a small exhalation of relief onto the pillow placed beneath him as Delia returned with it and a blanket, knowing the man that had been carried in earlier was gravely ill or wounded, handing the soft material to an obviously extremely grateful Jessie. She watched in quiet reverence as the young woman wrapped the shivering form on the couch lovingly in the soft folds of plaid fabric, smoothing his sweat soaked cerulean locks from his face and kiss his forehead lovingly, then replacing her lips with the back of her hand and a terrified silence as she realized how high the fever ran. “This is him, isn’t it? Your old partner, your best friend, the man you love, the one in your locket,” she breathed quietly, daring to break the quiescence, and Jessie could only nod tearfully, “And you’re losing him all over again.” Jessie allowed only a tiny sob to permeate the silence that followed Delia’s reverent statement, resting her head gently against James’ chest as she clung to his hand, kissing it gently through her tears. “And I don’t think I can bear losing him again, not again, I still love him more than life itself, we can’t just let him…” she whispered mournfully, trailing off and looking up with tearful eyes to the trio watching over her through the same cleansing waters of pain. “Jessie, we-we can’t, he was right wasn’t he? The hospitals will be guarded, won’t they?” Misty said with difficulty, and young woman turned back to her fallen angel as she realized the truth. Both Misty and Brock made a feeble move to comfort the sobbing soul holding close a dream that crumbled away at her touch, but were stopped by a hand each upon their shoulders, and a shimmering eyed shake of Delia’s head as she led them away. “No, let her have the last moments alone with him, this is the end of both of their lives,” she whispered, and, understanding, the two younger people softly quitted the room after the parent of their old friend. They left alone a pillar of light in the darkness, a lone candle shining with a valiant futileness against the gales of fate, shining her light upon the newly whitened and purified soul in her embrace and willing both flames to stay lit for eternity. Though she knew that they shared one being, one soul, one flame, and it was slowly dimming to the placid and dormant crimson embers of eternal peace, she cursed fate, pain, and the winds that seemed to cut so cruelly deep into her psyche to extinguish her passionate fires as twilight fell outside the clear crystal glass paned window; and Jessie cried.

She let her light burn into the early hours of the dark morning, listening to James’ labored and painful breathing, holding his inert hand, wincing in empathy each time air entered or left his chest and gently mopping his fevered forehead with a cool cloth. The formerly white pillow ran a malevolent and mocking scarlet with blood, and he would cry out occasionally, calling her name, as well as a few she had not heard, wondering exactly who Callie was, and if the Deirdre he apologized to had been the one she had also known from Team Rocket. She spoke to him gently, though she knew he could not hear her tender words of love from deep within the chasm of his nightmares, and the fitful slumber continued until James sat bolt upright with a small cry of fear, glazed emerald eyes wide open in terror, arms reaching for something intangible and unattainable before calming himself as he felt a pair of benevolent arms around him. He quieted, and swallowed hard as Jessie gently laid him back down, smoothing his sweat soaked blue hair away from his face tenderly once again while tucking the disturbed blanket about his trembling body as he squeezed his eyes shut and twisted his face in pain. “Shhh, calm down sweetheart, it’s okay, it’s okay,” she soothed, and James made a furious attempt to retain the hold he had once again gripped upon consciousness. “J-Jessica?” he whispered hoarsely, disturbing even himself at the meekness of his voice. “I’m right here, don’t strain yourself, just rest now,” came the firm answer, and James smiled weakly for only a brief moment, raising his eyes to meet sapphires as the warmth that was the angelic hand caressing his cheek permeated through the ice. “So cold,” was all he could initially manage through his chill paralyzed and bloody throat. “Shh, don’t talk, you’ll be alright, just save your strength,” Jessie instructed lovingly, mirroring the mournful but grateful gaze she looked into. “I’m glad y-you’re here, there’s no one I’d rather be with now,” James commented softly and brokenly, reaching his own scarred and burned hand to mirror Jessie’s affectionate touch that still remained upon his skin.

James wiped the tears that fell away with his thumb and sat up slightly, a sad smile on his face as Jessie closed her eyes, pressing his hand against her cheek and nuzzling into it affectionately. “And there’s no one I’d rather be with than you, James,” she answered, reverent and sincere, but looking away with a small sigh and a sad chuckle, “But you must think I’m pretty pathetic and silly, huh? For waiting around for you, doing something that I used to hate about other people?” James shook his head lightly as Jessie allowed his hand to gently lower back onto the couch with him, finally opening her eyes at his gentle and oddly comforting voice. “I never thought that, ever. Jessica, Jessie, Jess, you’re the strongest, bravest person I’ve ever known in my life,” he answered sincerely, and Jessie could only smile in response.

Hearing him use the twice-shortened nickname she had allowed only James and Meowth to use, and simply the fact that he was finally speaking like the man she had fallen in love with caused a spark of passion to be ignited within her soul as she leaned down to kiss him on the forehead and embrace him tightly. “Oh James, I knew you’d come back to me, I knew you would,” she sobbed quietly. James made no attempt to mitigate his own tears, pushing Jessie away slightly to simply allow himself the long denied pleasure of looking into her eyes, his soft expression of a soul and mind finally at peace with himself and the world mirroring the tearful sapphire gaze he stared back into. “Oh Jessie please don’t cry. I-I never break promises, especially not to you, you were my light, my savior, I realize now, it was thoughts of you, dreams of you, that kept me alive. You gave me hope Jessie, you helped me live… Please don’t cry,” he whispered, running a hand for as long as he could through her hair, his eyes finally being drawn away from the gorgeous face by a gold glint at her neck.

Rubies and emeralds seemed to whisper a fond welcome back as he gently lifted the heart shaped and rose encrusted locket from her chest, opening it gently to once again view the images he had lovingly put there what seemed like lives before. “Y-You kept it,” he breathed in disbelief, “I didn’t think Giovanni would have the decency to give it to you, but I’m glad you saw, I wanted you to have it.” Jessie nodded as she took James’ cold hand in hers again, simply needing to hold it, smiling down at his sickly form as she lovingly reapplied the cold cloth to his forehead. “It’s what gave me strength, even after I thought I would never see you again. I felt so safe with you, like I was only Jessie if there was James to go along, just being near you made me feel like I could take on the entire world, and it was comforting to know that I had something close to your heart close to mine,” Jessie stopped with a small chuckle, “I’ve never taken it off since that day, the day when you...” Jessie trailed off, heeding the painful request of her throat and the inevitable tears that she could feel once again return to wash away her sorrows. “I think we both died that day Jess,” James broke in solemnly, and Jessie nodded, looking back down to her slain hero with tear filled eyes.

Long blue hair shimmering in the pallid silver moonlight, the glazed but somehow still managing to twinkle emeralds set in the tundra pale face, and a noble expression of quiet and dignified acceptation of death gave James an aura of heroism Jessie had never seen about her old friend before. She stroked his cheek in comfort as he was forced to shut his eyes in pain, turning his head to cough the blood that had once again gathered in his throat to the pillow, noting with little fear that it had gotten more difficult to breathe as time had passed. Jessie too, noticed the struggle for life giving air, letting her tears fall from her cheeks to the black void beneath her, shaking her head in almost disbelief as she rested it against James’ erratically moving chest, gently clutching at the black garments still about his body. “James, please don’t leave me, please hold on… Part of myself died when I thought you had, I can’t lose you again, I’ve lost you too many times, please don’t die,” she sobbed, realizing only then how little her begging could do for the wild scissors of the fates that came so close to the once vibrant strand of her beloved. “Jessie, I-I promised you once, a long time ago, that I would always find a way home, but home’s not a place, but a feeling, a place in a heart, and my home is in yours, as long as you hold me close, the memory of what I was, of the love we shared, then I can’t ever leave you, and I can always keep that promise. You were always home Jess, always,” James whispered quietly, his voice growing softer, slower, and breaking with tears as he went on, “Y-You won’t forget me will you?” Jessie drew a small sharp breath, and nuzzled into his neck affectionately, her words ringing empty and poignantly cutting like an icy wind through the soul in her own ears as she whispered into his ear, “I’ll never forget, James, never as long as I live.”

Heat from the scalding tears that ran freshly down James’ cheeks sharpened his slowly dulling senses for only a mere moment before he closed his eyes gratefully, his mind spinning with a billion different colors as he allowed the black void that seemed to famished for his soul alone to claim it once more. He reached up to touch Jessie’s cheek one last time, exhaling peacefully his last words to her before slipping into the blissful silence of the infinite oceans of his own psyche, “Don’t let James go Jess, he’s been gone a long time now, but always remember… He’ll love you forever…” Jessie slowly shook her head once more, unable to hear much less comprehend her beloved’s words, shimmering crystalline tears falling and losing their brilliance in the black fabric beneath them. Kissing his lips gently, she returned the affectionate gesture of a stroke along the cheekbone and snuggled close to his still shivering body as if to share her warmth and keep him in her world close to her heart forever, breathing in the scent she could still remember from the time she had first heard the admittance of the mutual sentiment that had permanently altered her former comfortable reality of callousness into a euphoric reverie of love. “No matter what happens, no matter how long it is before we can live together in peace. I still love you, I always have, and I always will,” she whispered tenderly, and lay still, “I love you, James.”

Jessie thought perhaps if she just laid perfectly still long enough, matched her once strong and powerful breaths with the shallow and irregular ones she could feel beneath her breast, that her heart would also follow suit, and stop beating with his once it did so. “Stop it,” she told her body, “Stop living, stop working! Damn you Jessica, why do you always have to survive?” She squeezed her eyes shut, willing both lives to end, crying as hard as she possibly could until she thought her chest or head might burst, and wishing madly that they would.

And the heart that pumped the very essence of her being complied with her wishes and exploded into a thousand or more fragments, not breaking, but shedding its outer layer of black. She saw the pure raw essence of what both she and James were once she knew that his ice had broken with hers, and could not even manage a scream at knowing of the twisted mass of anguish it had become. She rose from the quivering soul, her eyes murderous and even, tears spilling out from them, still clutching the black death shroud about her angel as if it would help heal his pain, staring with blind eyes filled with rage to a distant place she knew only from a dream. Hissing virulently the name of the demon responsible, “Giovanni…” The need for blame vanquished any rational thought Jessie could fabricate, and fire laced her vision as she tenderly stroked James’ cheek once more, and stood, bending down for one final kiss from his lips, turning away quickly as she headed for her bedroom, knowing she would never feel his loving emerald gaze again.

“We’re a team James, Jessie, James and Meowth, best friends forever, right? Did you forget that?” she asked as she perched gently on the edge of her bed, opening the tiny drawer nearly hidden in the nightstand to reveal a delicate and elegant six shot handgun, “I bet, I did too, I think I forgot that more than anyone and I’m still sorry, but now I have to be the strong one, because it was never me, it was never you, it was all of us.” Strength had been her virtue, weakness her sin, but in the darkest hours of the morning as Jessie loaded the intricately decorated weapon with only two bullets, running her hand affectionately over the enameled amethyst Arbok, her beloved and deadly Viper, she was unaware of the tears on her cheeks, or the noble expression etched in her features that begged for vengeance. “I swear James, this is the last time we’ll be hurt, and the last time Giovanni can hurt anyone else. This is for us, for Ash and Pikachu, and for Butch and Cassidy, and everyone else he killed,” she whispered to herself, and tucked the petite gun neatly into its holster she had miraculously been able to hide beneath a Team Rocket uniform.

From the doorway she blew a kiss farewell from her palm to James, still sleeping feverishly with his nightmares on her faded blue couch and closed the entrance soundlessly behind her. It slammed a knoll in the darkness, shutting out the pain dwelling in the room, closing her love and her feelings away for one last stand of heartlessness in the face of a greater evil where a heart could be torn to shreds be simply being in its presence. She left her soul with the dying, happy with the knowledge she would never return and the one soul she had reunited would traverse the eternal dawn arm in arm with itself, playing, dancing with the light instead of darkness forever to rejoice. She felt the strength of the new union, in contrast to the pain James had felt with his and stripped him of it mentally, willing his soul never to awaken, to go on ahead and wait for her; and she knew he would. She had heard what Delia Ketchum, the mother of a dead son, had said about the end of both their lives, and made her final decision. “I’ll end my earthly life again, and we can be together, where the world will be kinder to both of us,” she whispered to the stars as she started the car she was barely aware she occupied, and started the engine, knowing her destination all too well. The forest of darkness whipped past the windows in a flurry of ink spatters and light, blurring as Jessie pressed the pedal beneath her foot furiously close to the old carpet beneath it, and as the building came into view, she formulated the plan she knew would bring both her soul, and the twisted blackened one of the man she loved retribution with blood for eternity.

@->->-

“James? James is that you? Oh my god! I thought I’d lost you forever! Ha ha! I finally found you! Come on buddy, they’re waiting for us! Let’s go! Come on James, hurry up!”

The pale silver and white disk of a wise, omnipotent, and strangely close moon, illuminated James’ face as it rose above the top of a vast expanse of hills that seemed to stretch out for eternity before him as he watched. He shielded his eyes from the brilliant light casting eerie sliver shadows around the hills, and barely felt his expression shift to one of awe as he witnessed a spark of light born upon the metallically colored landscape, blazing a trail through the cold darkness with a triumphant white flame leading it onward. A screech and a loud fluttering of wings drew his attention away from the spectacle as a jet black raven sailed from an unseen location below him and narrowly missing his face, landing neatly upon the branches of a lone small tree alongside the platinum path radiating light the man only then realized he stood on. It meandered for endless miles before him, bits and pieces of it visible only because the hill he stood upon was slightly higher than the rest, a harshly cold but gentle wind blowing the black coat he could not remember not wearing daintily about his figure as he stared intently at the black bird. “Hey James! Quit dawdling! Let’s go!” He looked up, swearing he heard Jessie’s irritated voice call him from somewhere unreachable and through the peaceful whistling of winds. “James!” “Jessie?!” he called back experimentally through cupped hands and whirled back around at the sound of a goaded sigh.

He gasped in consternation as the woman in question placed her hands angrily on her hips with a loud huff, her iridescent flowing white dress shimmering lightly and cordially with the movement. “There you are! I’ve been looking forever you idiot!” she reprimanded good-naturedly. “But I’ve been looking for you! I-I thought I’d never see you again,” James answered bewilderedly. “Well I suppose in looking so hard, we just got lost all over again and again! Come on now, we really have to go! They’re waiting for us!” the young woman in front of him quipped cheerfully; grabbing his hand and prancing merrily onward down the path. “But Jess! Where are we going? Who’s waiting for us?” James managed to inquire as they passed the tree under the harsh glare of the raven. “You don’t know? Oh Jim, you really are dense aren’t you? All we have to do is reach the end of this road! I thought you knew that!” came the still bright reply as Jessie consigned to walk slower next to her friend.

James cast her a small smile over his shoulder as he felt her hand slide into his, but it faded as he looked down to them to find hers was slightly covered by the heavenly white dress she wore, looped elegantly about her middle finger in medieval gown style, while he still wore the jet black gloves he vaguely remembered from somewhere. It seemed more a union of light and dark than simply holding Jessie’s hand, an unholy fusion of good and evil more than affectionate contact with the woman he called his best friend, and when he noticed Jessie herself seemed to radiate light, while he seemed to drink and corrupt its goodness, he looked away to the path he knew he should not walk. “So what happens to us at the end of the road?” he inquired as nonchalantly as possible, swallowing hard his suspicions. “Eternity I suppose, this path may never end, or it could end so abruptly, we’d never know we’d fallen from it! All you have to do is keep walking, never look back, and head toward whatever it is waiting for us!” Jessie replied as gregariously as ever, squeezing his hand as gently as she spoke when she looked back over to him, “Are you afraid?”

James managed to nod slightly, banishing the tears from his eyes and looking down to the black boots he wasn’t sure he moved leaving a sickly ebon and oily trail behind him. He stopped suddenly, and pulled his hand away from Jessie’s mournfully, looking away from her genuinely hurt and almost betrayed expression and her hand lingering in the air where it no longer felt the familiar warmth of the black gloves that had once been empty in her palms. “James, what-“ “Jessie I’m so sorry, I can’t go on. I-I just want to stay here forever, with you… Can’t we stop? Just give up? We don’t know what’s down there, but we know here’s safe, you have no idea what darkness I’ve been through to finally find you again. I need to be at peace, it’s been a long road, I’m ready to move on,” he interrupted quietly, finally looking up to his angel, the too familiar feeling that to even think of doing so was forbidden sinking into his stomach. “Are you sure that’s what you want?” Jessie queried calmly, to which James looked at her with a serious and thoughtfully confused expression, “I have a hard time believing that you just want to be with me!” “Of course that’s what I want, I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life,” came the sincere and tearful reply followed by a good-natured laugh in response.

The red haired woman smiled companionably, and gently punched her friend in the shoulder, wrapping her arms about his neck briefly with a chuckle before looking into his eyes seriously, gently leaning forward as she brushed a non-existent stray blue hair across his cheek and behind his ear. James met the small movement forward with his own, and it was just enough to allow their lips to touch gently once, Jessie pulling away slightly to ensure the feelings were mutual, wrapping her arms back where they had been once it was confirmed by James as she finally allowed herself to be lost in a passionate kiss. “They say love conquers all… Does it James?” James kissed her back with tears streaming down his cheeks, finally realizing what he had left behind when he had forgotten, holding her close and vowing never again to let go.

Jessie pulled away slightly, embracing her beloved tightly to rest her chin on his shoulder, nuzzling into the sweet scent of his luxurious blue tresses and kissing his neck gently, then whispering into his ear. “What would you do if I said I wanted to give myself to you? That I wanted you to have my body, my soul, and my heart forever?” she whispered, taking James’ hand to place it on her breast over her steadily beating heart. “I would take you, and in return, I would give you my body, my soul and my heart forever, so that we were one,” he answered softly, placing Jessie’s hand tenderly over the crimson ‘R’ embroidered upon his own heart. “Blood, sins, James you are evil, longing and hope, Jessie you are good, this cannot be…” “This letter has seared into your heart, I cannot take it, you forgot what you were, what you are,” she reminded him mournfully, and James nodded. “I know, I am blackness, you are whiteness, I am evil, you are good, our union can never be complete, and I cannot walk this path of light with you. I once did, but my destiny has been chosen by another, and cannot be altered,” he replied with tears in his eyes, looking up to the pearly white clouds beginning to dance upon the surface of the moon as he held Jessie more tightly to his body, his hand never leaving her heart. “No…You’re wrong. We do not walk the path others choose for us, we do not walk our own paths, we do not walk paths at all. For a path leads to a definite end, which a life never has, and we walk where we choose, we travel the path of darkness, or light, or both, or sometimes neither one at all. One half of your soul is still light, the other merely shade which you can only see as dark, I have shone my light upon you James, can’t you feel it? Why did you reject it? You came to me once, and you left, and now you walk toward death with me and accept that we cannot be together? The threads of fate are named so for a reason, they can be changed, you don’t have to walk this route, but it all lies in what you believe can be so,” Jessie whispered again into his ear, and the path faded from view as James watched. “The path you saw was to death, it is not your time, you have a choice now, love or hate, life or death, light or dark? You accepted another’s path as your own, but you have seen your own soul, and you may now redirect it.”

He clutched his angel tightly as if to verify she would leave him again, tracing delicately with two fingers up her back until they found the gossamer wings once again, and the second time, his beloved held him back, feeling her euphoric tears fall. “You remember now,” she breathed, “I have already given my entire being to you and tried to take yours, but you could not see me, because you didn’t believe.” James cried, not tears of sorrow as they had been for what seemed like his entire life, but glittering tears of joy that rolled from his cheeks to sear through the dark air triumphantly, landing on the now entirely silver ground, streaked with innumerable paths in varying degrees of brilliance. “I’ll never disbelieve again, ever. I choose my destiny, I am in control, but what made me think otherwise?” he managed to ask. “The tormented soul who was so convinced he could break yours assumed it was already broken, and so did you, but now you know it isn’t. You know who you are, you know your path, and you can change it now, look up James, my soul mate, my best friend, my everything, the beautiful man I love, you can forget and liberate yourself, and we can be together forever,” Jessie answered cupping his chin in her hand and directing his eyes upward.

James was not afraid as a golden arrow of light shot forth from the heavens to pierce through his skull between his eyes, but he did not close them as he felt it lift his body gently from the ground. “Now you’ve kept your promise James, now you’ve come back to me…” Jessie let him go, rather unwillingly, spreading her wings to catch the winds, listening to the gentle and finally friendly voices carried upon them and sending their cryptic but coherent message to her beloved as the golden light blazed dazzlingly through his body. It tore away the black miasma of fabric about his body as he closed his eyes with the pleasant warmth of it, his body relaxing as the light stripped him of his sins and pain. The pain he had seemed to carry with him eternally he felt ripped savagely away to be replaced with the light, seeping into his being and spreading out into his veins to cleanse them of the poison he knew he lay dying of. The stream of gold flowed over him like a torrential river, tossing his blue hair majestically about his face as it carried bits of the blackness away to be consumed by the now greater force as James opened his blazing emerald eyes to look longingly into the source of his strength, and found himself staring back. “Thank you Jessie, I should have believed myself when I said I believed in you, but you’ve managed to help me save my own soul.” He looked down placidly as the black boots and the choking ebon about his thighs vanished into the same iridescent white Jessie wore, and the cloak bearing the bleeding R was gone as well, leaving his chest bare with a pair of majestic angel’s wings exploding from his shoulder blades with a sunburst of golden embers which showered upon the land and illuminated it in their warmth.

The grim landscape became the field of flowers as the world watched, the very same one James remembered from what seemed like a dream within a nightmare, and the blackened tree became the sweetly scented Sakura raining its blossoms down upon the hill and sending a cloud of them triumphantly into the sky. “You did it James!” he heard Jessie cry, and with one great flap of her wings sent herself soaring into the sky and straight into his open and awaiting arms. He accepted her with exuberant laughter and a quick kiss upon her lips before falling a mere few feet to the ground, still holding her tightly as she joined in the mirth and sent them both rolling over each other down the hill. They stopped at the base, still clinging to one another gratefully, joy in their hearts, upon their lips, and tears of pure elation streaming down their cheeks, ignoring the flowers coating their bodies as they leaned in for a long and impassioned kiss. “I love you Jessie,” James breathed once they had broken away. “I know James, and I love you, but you have to go back now,” she replied, tenderly stroking the back of his head as she pulled him close. “I don’t want to go, I’m dying, it hurts so much, and life is pain, please let me stay, I want to stay here with you!” he protested softly. “But you can’t live in a false reality either. You’ve managed to save your soul, now you must save your body, and complete your heart. Wake up James,” Jessie said forcefully. “No-No please don’t make me, I don’t want to go! Jessie, please stay!” James cried as he felt his comfortable world crumble about him. “I’ll always be with you, and we can be together, but you have to wake up, James, wake up!” came the disembodied answer and the chimera said no more as a shooting pain of consciousness tore through his body. “Wake up James!” His golden paradise faded and shattered, hurling him backwards into the abyss of blackness, silvery tears swept up as they fell to be carried away in the opposite direction while he watched in dismay, reaching for the thing that had been just out of his grasp the entire time, and finally knowing how he could reach it. He let himself fall, feeling the dragon roar back to life in his body as his senses heightened and returned to consciousness, crossing his arms reverently over his chest as he felt himself return. “I love you so much James, I’ll always love you, please believe me, I know you know I do. You have to free us; we both have to break away from this vicious cycle. Start it, so that we may come around to a full circle. Dawn must shine its light upon us…James… Wake up!”

A hoarse scream of terror cleaved its way into the silence of the room as James sat bolt upright on the couch upon which he lay, upsetting the warm mass of fur perched upon his stomach and startling the young girl and boy watching sentinel over him. “Jessie no!” he managed to shriek before his throat constricted, widening his eyes with the sudden lack of air as he fell back, coughing blood violently to the already soaked pillow. “Misty, try and calm him down!” Brock commanded curtly, attempting to restrain the thrashing man in his strong grip. “Shh, James, it’s okay, quiet now, shhh, it’s alright, you’re okay,” she whispered tenderly running a hand through his sweat drenched hair, fighting back her tears as his screams of pain died down, “Brock he’s getting worse.” She sighed mournfully as James found he no longer had the strength to struggle, lying calmly with his mouth open wide and gulping for even the tiniest breath he so desperately wanted. “Jessie, I-I… What happened?” he choked through the thick coppery crimson, clenching his teeth in agony, but slowly opening his glazed eyes as he felt Misty’s tender touch upon his cheek as she wiped away the blood. “Shhh, James, you’re very sick, you shouldn’t try to talk, just hold still,” she said tenderly, smoothing away the cerulean matted to his pale and burning forehead and frowning as she looked back up to Brock, “So much blood, and he’s so hot. I wish there was something more we could do for him, he’s suffering.” Brock shook his head and wrung out the sopping cloth that had been cooling the fever Misty spoke of until the man had awoken, gently reapplying it to be welcomed only by a dull groan as James took in as large a breath he could muster before speaking. “I-I want to walk this path, I don’t want to live like this anymore, I-I can’t do it… I can’t,” he muttered feverishly, writhing gently in pain, and barely feeling a feline presence leap from the ground next to him, “Jess…Wait for me…I can’t reach it. Where are you?”

Meowth resumed his silent vigil next to his old friend, purring gently and nuzzling into the damp warmness of his body gratefully, tears sliding down his fur and barely hearing Brock’s or Misty’s voices. “He’s dying Misty, there’s nothing we can do,” Brock said quietly, and Misty could not reply. “But it’ll be best…Fer James I tink,” the feline began carefully, breaking the uneasy silence, “He-he won’t hafta hoit anymore. I can’t stand ta see ‘im sufferin’ like dis! It hoits me too, and even though I wish like hell he could stay wid us, make me an’ Jess happy again, he’s been through too much, and he desoives ta be free.” Misty let her impending tears fall and nodded, stroking James’ pale cheek gently with a thumb before reaching down to pet Meowth in comfort, only slightly comforted by his muted purring in response. “What happened to him? Did Jessie tell you?” she asked softly, and Meowth nodded. “What Giovanni did ta James, is inhuman… Inhuman… I-I always knew dat da boss wasn’t real right in da head, always talking ‘bout dominatin’ da woild, but…But I neva eva tought dat he’d go dis far. He was always experimentin’ wid genetics, tryin’ ta make an “ultimate weapon’ and I know he tried enhancing Pokemon wid human stuff, but James was da foist human he tried to combine wid Pokemon,” Meowth related somberly, staring hard at the twisted face of his friend the entire time.

Misty clasped both hands over her mouth with a horrified and disgusted gasp, shaking her head in disbelief and not even bothering to wipe her tears away as she buried her face in Brock’s chest. He put an arm around her comfortingly and scowled, his own sympathetic tears rolling down his cheeks as he drew back in fear of the lethal weapon in front of him. “Y-You mean he was experimented on?” he ventured timidly. “Dat’s exactly what I mean, James was meant ta be a killa, and I dunno if he did what he was meant fer, but alls I know is dat he disobeyed Giovanni somehows, so dat’s why he’s gonna die. He always uses dis poison he made himself… A powerful combination of Arbok and Victreebell venom, a hemo and neurotoxin all at once, designed ta kill real slow and painful. Dat’s why James can’t breathe real well, and why he’s coughin’ up blood, cause a’ da internal bleedin’ it causes and it affects da area of da brain dat controls breathing… Sorry ta get technical on ya but…But all da cases I saw didn’t go quietly, and-and it was usually because dey drowned in deir own blood ratha den da poison’s woik…” he trailed off quietly with sobs, pressing closer to James as if he could somehow ease his pain, “I neva tought I’d hafta see Jimmy like dis! I-I neva thought da boss would… If I’da been smarter, if I’da seen it… James, please don’t die on me pal!”

Misty and Brock could do nothing but quietly cry themselves, the irony of just a few days before wondering what had happened to the comically incompetent Rocket trio they’d grown so accustomed to being irritated by permeating their reeling minds as James once again opened his eyes weakly. “M-Meowth?” he managed to whisper quietly and coherently, smiling as he made eye contact, “Hey pal, it’s been awhile.” Meowth brightened at hearing his voice and with a small cry of elation, leapt closer into his arms. “Oh James, don’t try ta talk, I’m here, now it’ll be okay! You’ll see!” he cried blissfully, overjoyed to feel James pet him gently. “W-where’s Jess? I need to see her…I-I need Jessie,” he whispered painfully, barely able to speak with what little air he could manage to fill his lungs with. “Jess…Jess isn’t here, she left a message sayin’ she was goin’ fer a walk, and she’d be with ya again, can ya hold on till then?” Meowth replied, his voice once again vibrant at coherent speech from his dying friend.

James, however, didn’t feel his eyes widen as he struggled to sit up slightly, nor the, what should have been, excruciating pain, collapsing back to the couch as Misty and Brock worriedly pushed him back down. “No James, you really shouldn’t move, you’ll just make it worse,” Misty reprimanded kindly, but the blue-haired man ignored her requests, turning to Meowth harshly. “Meowth, does Jessie still sleep with her gun in the nightstand drawer?” he asked as firmly as he could. “A’ course she does, especially afta leavin’ Team Rocket, why?” came the confused answer, and James shut his eyes in frustration and looked away with a quiet oath. “Shit, go check and see if it’s still there, and if it isn’t, tell me what is there,” he commanded, a weak finger pointing toward the room in question. “Uh, okay,” the cat conceded, leapt gently off the couch and trotted to the bedroom.

James relaxed once more after his friend had gone, moaning under his breath as he realized exactly how far he had let the poison tear through his body, and remembering only then his beautiful angel from his dreams. “Jessie, please don’t do what I think you’re doing, it won’t help Jess, it’s just going to bring more death, and I now I know why I protected life, I’m going to get mine back, I don’t want to die anymore. I want to stay with you forever…” he thought to himself, welcoming the icy cold of the cloth Misty dabbed lovingly across his forehead. He knew what his dreams had all meant, and cursed himself for ignoring them and the messages of strength his own soul had been trying to send him for years. He harnessed his natural power, found the ability he had withheld from Giovanni’s knowledge for fear it would be exploited, and smiled broadly as he was suddenly aware of the rose he had picked from his reunion with Jessie still in his pocket.

He drew it out as Meowth returned, and touched the wilting lifeless petals gingerly, the brown leaf crumbling under his more powerfully omnipotent grasp, and as he watched the remains of the once vibrant life fall to the ground, he smiled victoriously and looked back to the cat, acknowledging his return. “James, da gun’s gone, and-And dere’s only four bullets left,” he wheezed breathlessly, and the stricken young man looked back to his flower. James clenched a fist furiously around the stem, ignoring the biting of the thorns into soft flesh and the warm stickiness of the blood seeping into his palm as he growled menacingly to himself for passing out when she had been by his side, wishing he could have told her to stay with him, and that he had decided to stay with her. “I knew it,” he breathed to himself, looking up to the group by his side, “I knew it! I know where she is, and she fully intends to come back in a body bag. If we don’t do something and fast, she’ll get what she wants.” “No! We can’t let Jess leave us! But James, I gotta take care of you! I ain’t leavin’ yer side. Perhaps dat sounds cold, an’ it prolly is, I don’t care…Jim, I can’t let you die…When-When I couldn’t even get ta say goodbye da foist time…It…It hoit so bad,” Meowth protested sternly in a tearful voice, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly and looking away. “Meowth, old friend, listen to me,” he looked back up at the tender voice and touch of James, tears wetting his already soaked fur again as he accepted the dead rose held out to him, “Giovanni kills the mind before he kills the body, dangling death as a reward in front of their faces until they beg him for mercy so hard his ears bleed. He makes people want to die, like this rose. He severed me away from my life blood, you and Jessie, my only family in the world, just like this flower’s been cut from the bush. I thought I could never come back, because once a flower is cut, no matter how much you regret doing it, it’s going to die, I thought I was a different person, I thought I was his monster, but you see…” James trailed off, letting Meowth hold the rose gingerly in both paws as he cupped one palm about the dead and mournful blossom, the other gently touching the tip of the stem where it had been severed.

All three present stared in childlike wonder as a small spark of vivacious green light from James’ finger burst through the veins of the plant, filling them with a pure essence of life derived from those who came from it, and as the mysterious chimera caressed and coaxed the rose to revive and rejuvenate with a loving fingertip, it stood once again proudly a rich deep emerald green and ruby red. “Miracles can happen. I brought myself back, I’ve breathed life back into my soul, because it wasn’t Giovanni who destroyed me, he merely set the destruction in motion, and I killed myself, but now, I can bring myself back to life. I’m the only one who can save Jessie, and she was the only one who could help me save myself,” James explained reverently, and Meowth could only drop the lush and very much alive rose to leap into the pair of arms he thought would never embrace him again, crying as hard as he would allow himself. “James, oh James, ya came back ta us, it’s really you!” he whispered into his ear, and James smiled. “Yes Meowth, it’s really me, I’m back, I kept my promise,” he replied with tears obvious in his voice as he cradled the Pokemon close.

Misty and Brock watched the poignant reunion with tears in their eyes for the soul they had practically witnessed being salvaged, disbelief and wonder etched into their joyous smiles. “I-I have an attack, I hid it from Giovanni because I was afraid if he knew then he would turn to drastic measures, beating me, or sending me after more dangerous targets, but I practiced and I perfected it. Recover, I can heal myself with it and go after Jessie, but before I do, all of you have to promise me one thing,” James said quietly, looking up to the duo that watched sentinel. “Anything, we’ll promise,” Brock answered firmly, nodding the affirmative. “I don’t want you to follow me, and if we make it through this, you guys will still be our friends. I don’t expect you to forgive me for what I did to you, but I-“ “James, no, you didn’t do anything to hurt anyone, and we’ll stick by your side, and who knows, maybe someday someone will find a way to turn your body back to normal! Ash…Ash is at peace now, and we want to help,” Brock assured him tenderly, mirroring James’ smile as he caught sight of both his and Misty’s hopeful and encouraging expressions. “And we promise, we’re your friends now, you and Jessie. We want to help both of you find each other again,” Misty pledged determinedly and James nodded in agreement.

He closed his eyes slowly with the conceding as he looked forward, placing one hand to his chest and gently easing himself into a more comfortable sitting position, the smile never leaving his face as his hand began to glow with a silver light. “Hold on Jessie, I’m coming, don’t die on me Jess, don’t die on me,” he thought to himself, initiating the life saving maneuver with a small gasp of astonishment. He felt the light plunge into his chest, wrapping him in its warm benevolence, gently raising his head in ecstasy as he felt it braid and entwine in a playful ballet about his body, tossing his hair about his face with a wind that cooled his body and cleansed the blood and sweat from his clothes. He heard a soft loving whisper in his ears as he slowly opened his eyes, smiling gently at it and the rapid ebbing of pain and cleansing from his body, heart, and soul, inhaling one last time deeply into his clear chest as the ropes of glistening light closed about him tightly before bursting into a thousands points of brilliance. They dissipated quickly, leaving in their wake a healed body, glittering eyes opened wide once again with a defiant smile playing on the no longer pale lips. James looked up to Meowth and the two humans behind him only briefly, winking slyly to them before closing his eyes to concentrate and pressing two fingers to his forehead, gathering the energy for a long teleport, and as he vanished from sight, all three present swore they heard his valiant thoughts in their minds. “Hold on Jessie, don’t do anything rash, it’s going to be fine, I’m coming for you, I’m coming. I need you back, Jess I… I love you.”

@->->-

“It’s almost morning sir, James should be dead by now, he didn’t look very strong and you used the most potent mixture. Isn’t it about time we retrieved the body? The research crew needs the lab by-“ the brown haired scientist began quietly, her voice sounding harsh and grating in the dark room until it was cut off sharply. “Shut up Darcy, I really do not want to hear of it,” Giovanni replied in a low growl, his eyes never leaving the window of his office where only the obscure horizon and the blotchy blackness of trees was visible. Darcy’s face fell and she sighed, setting her clipboard down on the desk and rubbing her bloodshot eyes, attempting futilely to replace the strands of hair that had fallen loose from her tight bun. “Would you rather I left you alone then sir?” she asked exasperatedly, realizing only after the words had left her mouth how insolent they sounded. “Yes yes, get the fuck out of here, but do try and get some rest,” Giovanni answered harshly, and with a small heave of relief under her breath, the young scientist gathered her affairs and quietly quitted the dim smoky office.

The older soul watched her go with a sneer on his lips, repressing his fury as best he could as he turned with an almost inaudible snarl back to his window, gazing up to the slowly sinking moon and placing one withering hand upon its panes. “Why…Why do I always fail? What happened this time? I was so fucking sure I had James controlled! He was never that strong-willed before… It must have had something to do with Jessie. The little slut probably fucked him, told him he should belong to her and not me, and like the idiot he is James believed her, well, the little Mareep can have his herder in hell, I’ll just have someone competent get rid of her,” he hissed vehemently to himself, freezing in his stance as his ears barely detected the small click of a gun being cocked behind him, a wicked smile coiling his thin lips. “Oh you’re very observant, I am a strong-willed person, but James doesn’t belong to me or you, you sick bastard, he’s his own man, and a beautiful soul like his can’t ever be killed by the likes of you!”

Hollow peals of laughter followed the firm and determined statement, the man they emanated from turning over his shoulder slowly to look the crimson haired beauty before him directly into her fiery and vengeful sapphire irises. “Oh Jessie, always the hot head, here to avenge your dying lover? How very droll! Oh the irony is just so perfect, just as I was plotting to kill you too!” he chortled amiably, and Jessie raised the gun steadily to his forehead with a cruel smirk. “Ha ha ha, quite humorous. True, I did love James when you took him away from me, I never stopped loving him, and I still do, but the irony in this is not that you want to kill me, oh no, it’s that I have two bullets in this gun, boss, one for you, and one for me and that’s all the retribution I will ever need! So you see, I will be the one taking my life, you took James’, and well, we’ll all say we had a part in yours! One sick little murder triangle don’t you think?” she replied brightly, the infuriated tone of her low voice reflected darkly upon her face. “Indeed it is Jessica Musashi Burkely, indeed it is, now tell me, has our dearest James passed on? Or didn’t you have the balls to stay with him? I bet he doesn’t even know you’re still pining away for him does he?” came Giovanni’s harsh reply, to which Jessie could not help but laugh spitefully at. “Jessica Musashi Burkely does not pine, and yes, James will die thanks to you, he may even be gone now, it’s best if I don’t know, that way perhaps we can race each other to wherever we’re going now! Now, I don’t want him to beat me now do I?” Jessie’s sinister reply came loudly and snidely, her eyes lowering abhorrently as she leveled her pistol with Giovanni’s skull, her finger only barely squeezing the trigger before a knoll in the rushing of blood in her ears stopped her finger cold. “Jessie no! Don’t…Don’t do it! Jess please stop!”

She turned her head to look, hand still trained at her target, but the cold fiery fury drained from her eyes and mind as they met with the figure of James, still dressed in black, but almost shining with the same silver light he had seen in her. “J-James? You’re alive! And you’re alright!” she whispered, a euphoric smile spreading across her face as tears welled in her eyes. The adoring beam was returned, but as James felt he could leap into the pools of azure gazing as lovingly into him as the first time he realized he could tell her the secrets of his soul, time seemed suspended to him as Giovanni leapt at his chance, lunging in her direction viciously. “Look out!” James cried as soon as the connection was made, and Jessie wheeled around to face her adversary.

The gunshot resounded clearly and finally throughout the bare walled and dark office of the secluded Team Rocket facility, there was a flash of crimson, grunt of pain, and a muffled shriek of consternation before anything was coherent. The gun clattered to the floor, spinning wildly until it came to rest in a spattering of blood on the ground, and James breathed in. He exhaled the breath sharply as his stomach twisted, eyes following the scarlet trail until he finally knew what had happened, his eyes skipping the entire route as he looked up. “Well…James. Looks like… I win after all!” Giovanni managed to hiss, delighting in the chimera’s cry of anguish, standing defiantly with both hands wrapped tightly about Jessie’s throat, ignoring her nails clawing frantically at them for want of air, and the thick oozing of blood from the bullet wound in his side. “Jessie! Let her go!” James snarled, his stance subconsciously growing more aggressive, his eyes tinting blue with psychic powers. “J-James…Go! Run, save yourself. Please…” Jessie choked, her last sentence cut off by the gnarled hands as they tightened again, crushing any supply of air away with a final gasp for breath and a plea for one life to live. “No James, stay, I’ll kill her soon, but make one move and she dies now! Come back to me, and perhaps this little fiery beauty can go free,” Giovanni taunted, kissing her roughly on the cheek.

James felt his hair begin to bristle with fury and building power, clenching his fists and closing his eyes at his beloved’s ragged attempts to breathe and small cries of pain, each one causing the rift in his precarious self control to run deeper. “Don’t touch her, and I said let her go! I want her back, give my best friend back to me!” he snarled loudly, holding out his hand as if to receive something. “Oh you want her back do you? Why James? Be controlled by me, or by her? Does it really matter?” he asked seductively, his lips grazing the pale skin of the woman within his grip. “I will not be controlled by anyone! All I want is my Jessie, my family, my best friend, and the woman I love back! I know why you picked me for this, because I didn’t stand up for myself, I let myself be pushed around, I was your twisted little marionette, but not anymore! So many people had to suffer to save me, Callie, Deirdre, Ash, but they sacrificed themselves because they saw something in me I didn’t, and so does Jessie,” he snarled in reply, eyes lowered vehemently as he stepped slowly forward. “And what would that be?” Giovanni snapped indignantly, holding Jessie higher as her body slackened weakly. “They saw me,” James said simply, “Sometimes it’s the people around you who really know you better than yourself. Once I began to see, then Jessie fell in love with me, and-And I fell for her, and it was the tiniest glimpse of my own soul that saved my life. You still lose old man, now give her back!”

Jessie’s eyes slowly slid shut, tears of joy sliding down her cheeks and her clenched hands growing feeling heavy as her world swirled with black, suddenly able to breathe just slightly as the choking hold about her throat gave just enough to allow it, Giovanni staring blankly into the emerald fire before him. It told him why he had lost, but its words rang hollow and meaningless in his ears and heart, as if speaking in some holy tongue of a forgotten deity sprung back to life by the will of a soul yearning for vengeance and retribution. It was not for revenge, he realized, closing his eyes to hide his bare being, but for happiness and love which he had never believed could conquer anything until he had been proven wrong for the last time. “Of course, one must love oneself to love another, but this cannot be! I will not allow him to beat me! Not now, not when I came so close!” he thought to himself, opening his eyes once more with a sadistic grin. He allowed the only weakly struggling woman a small breath of air, reveling delightedly in the painful sound of it, as well as the incensed bristling of the tactfully advancing man in front of him with a small chortle of amusement. “So self-righteous, I truly truly envy your ability to overcome this James my dear, but I’m afraid it won’t be so easy,” he mused, replacing his hands with an arm about his captive’s throat. “Ugn, James…” she managed to groan, gasping in pain as the hold tightened and found herself unable to fight any longer. “Stop it right now! Your fight is with me! Let Jessie go now and finish this you coward!” James ordered angrily, his fury only fanned by the defiant smirk upon the old man’s lips. “You really want her that much do you? Well then, I suppose now I am forced to concur. You can have her back on one condition,” he answered smugly, stroking Jessie’s pale cheek tenderly with a thumb. “God damn it get your hands off of her! What condition? Whatever it is I’ll do it just let her go!” Giovanni’s smile never faltered as a pain of agony shot through his abdomen through the bullet wound, placing his full palm against Jessie’s cheek at the panicked retort and kissing her forehead gently. “You may have your little whore back,” he began softly, James’ eyes widening in terror, “when you see her in hell!”

“NO!” James lunged forward toward the still grinning Giovanni as his face set into a hard cut scowl at the woman in his arms, and with a blindingly fast movement twisted Jessie’s neck savagely to the side. All James heard was his own screaming and a dull snap as his beloved was dropped violently from the fatal grasp, sinking to her knees unwillingly, eyes staring blankly as she was suddenly unable to feel. He reached her side in time to catch her before she crumpled to the ground, calling her name as loud as he possibly could and cradling her motionless body in his arms gently, unaware of Giovanni dropping to his own knees and finally clutching his bloody side. “Jessie! Jessie no… No, don’t leave me, not now, Jessie I…” James whispered desperately, tears in his eyes falling upon her ashen cheek as he caressed it soothingly with his bare hand. She managed a small and mournful smile, but though she wished she could reach up to touch his cheek gently, wipe away his tears and tell him not to cry, that she was so happy he had finally found himself and that she would cherish him forever, all she could manage as she felt her eyes slowly close with her own tears finally falling, was a small final whisper of, “I…love…You.”

James drew a sharp ragged breath at the tiny and unbearably soft last words, tear-filled emerald eyes wide in horror as the breath quietly left his beloved’s chest, running his hand along her cheek and through her hair one last time, holding her limp form closer to his body and not feeling the rivulet of tears intensify down the sides of his face. “Jessie? No… Jessie…” he whispered, cradling her head beneath his chin and burying his face for only a brief stolen moment in her silky tresses, “No… Jess please don’t go, please… please don’t die, stay with me. I love you, I need you.” James held her tightly, tears streaming down his cheeks from staring and frightened eyes, and only when he placed one hand over her still heart to find no rhythm, and heard no response to his pleas, did his soul finally accept the truth of the loss of a part of itself. “Jessie… NOOOOO!” James screamed, clutching her close and squeezing his eyes shut, willing his seemingly eternal pain to end, wondering why every time he found a part of himself, the other had to die.

Giovanni’s pained laughter resounded malevolently throughout the silence as James gathered Jessie’s body into his arms, kissing her lips one last time regardless of the small trail of blood leaking from her nose and mouth and standing, blue hair gently tossing with an unseen power. The sound permeated through every fiber of his being, ignited the fires of hate that had been forged by the man himself within his soul, and as he realized that he was holding his beloved Jessie again only in death, his tears ran silently as their source met with another. “You killed her,” James snarled bluntly, taking a single step forward, “You murdered her!” “And so what if I did?” came the strained reply, “My only goal now is to make you suffer, so that I win. I will not lose… Not to you, not to anyone, but especially not to the likes of you! I have never lost!” “It’s too late for that! You lost the second you thought a human life could be yours! You are manipulative and sadistic, and this is what you have resorted to… Tell me Giovanni, does this make you happy? To see others hurt, see them suffer, watch them die? How can seeing this help anything at all?!” James demanded, his voice breaking with tears as he looked to the pallid face of the woman in his arms, peaceful smile still on her lips in death.

Giovanni thought for a moment, to his desires for control, power, and the feeling of being complete he had only felt while he thought he had his ultimate weapon, and all the power in the world. He raised his eyes and opened his mouth to answer, but his words were stolen away, the sight of Jessie lying limp and very much dead at his hands, a scarlet condemnation upon perfect snow in the arms of the man she had sought revenge for abruptly blurring and all he could see was the blood. Not his own, but those of others upon his hands, Callie’s teeth sank into his side, and he heard her familiar snarl in his ear and the vindictive insults in her native tongue, accompanied by her flame’s child’s triumphant cry and a crackling of electricity, Deirdre’s soft mournful voice berating him at last, all their faces mocking him, and finally Jessie’s voice rang a knell in his darkness, refusing to vanish even as he buried his face in his bloody hands. “NO! Damn you, this is all your fault! Yes it makes me happy to see those who I deem worthy suffer, and you are no exception! I am fully aware of how many suffered at my hand and I feel no remorse. I can honestly say that snapping your beloved Jessie’s neck in front of your very eyes was the most pleasurable experience I have had in far too long!” he replied menacingly, looking up with shadows dancing across his pale face, and a smile on his lips.

The glass shattered, exploding into a dust cloud of glittering silver with a splash of blood, leaving behind not a reflection, but a clear rendering which ignited with cold blue fury. “You bastard,” the cerulean image sibilated as low and abhorrently as possible, then screaming at the top of his lungs, “You sick, maniacal, heartless BASTARD! I…Will NEVER forgive any of this! NEVER!” The icy fire engulfed the body, enclosing it in a sacred barrier, protecting two shadowed forms, one soul, one mind, one tormented conscience longing for the peace of darkness to enclose it forever, and the earth trembled in fear. Giovanni did not move as he watched James disappear from the malevolent amorphous form on front of him, blue psychic energy striking the ground with bolts of his fury, tossing his hair majestically about his face as he cast a stare as cold as the light which enveloped him at the man he deemed worthy of his insurrection. “I have seen my own soul, Giovanni, and it is beautiful and good, you cannot corrupt a human life, and you are not some divine being capable of that as you would like to believe and have others believe, the only one who has that power is the holder themselves. A human being with any kind of soul or life force can only bring destruction upon themselves. Your error, Giovanni, lies in your beliefs. You are not a god, and you cannot command people who you think so little of like one! I allowed it to happen, but only because of your manipulation and torment, which is your only talent! You took so many lives, and not one has ever been able to gain retribution from you! Callie was my friend and she loved the boy you took her away from and he loved her, you took Deirdre who loved me, and Butch and Cassidy, all people dear to me, but now, now you’ve taken the only thing I had left. Jessie was the only woman I have ever loved, the first person to see me as a person too, my first real friend, the only person to see the scars on my skin and heart and cry with me, instead of criticizing me and telling me I deserved them… Jessie meant more to me than life itself, she was my best friend, my family, my only love, and now that she’s gone, I have nothing left to lose so,” James spoke reverently, stopping only to steal what he knew would be the last kiss from Jessie’s lips then raising his head defiantly, “That makes me an extremely dangerous person!”

A blue aura closed upon the quaking building, blinding Giovanni with its brilliance and hiding James from view as the Earth itself seemed to heed a covenant with him, buckling at his will to obliterate all who would stand against him. “Impossible,” the older man breathed, managing to stand at last and staring boldly into the brilliance, “This can’t be! James don’t. Oh you fucking idiot you wouldn’t dare! No don’t! Stop it! STOP IT!” He fell to his knees, suddenly ashamed of his own brutally hostile sounding tone and the bloody atrocities of his past in the wake of the angelic form before him, clutching the wound that poured his life to the ground as he found himself staring into the fiery soul of the one he could not destroy. “This is for everyone you hurt, Giovanni… Die with the knowledge that no one will ever forgive you for what you’ve done, I am not a hypocrite for doing this, and that I will die now as well, knowing that I have done the world a favor, and I can finally love Jessie in peace. You… Lose…” James’ clear voice cut through his mind with a split second of excruciating agony, then nothing as his vision exploded into ravenous flames, then faded slowly to white with a dull wail of energy. “Yes…Yes now I lose, this is a fitting end for me… James is strong, too strong for his own damn good, and if he has Jessie then my mission would be incomplete, but where there’s a will there’s a way, I really do lose every time… Why should now be any different? I’ve lost once more, and this is the final time. I lost, I lost…” his own last thoughts echoed with those of another as the explosion hurtled his conscience into the black abyss with nary a scream nor cry of pain as the other’s words finished, “Meowth old friend I’m sorry, I can’t come back but I know you’ll understand. Jessica, I love you, I’ve been in love with you since the day we met, even if I didn’t know so then, and I swear to you I’ll love you forever. You complete me, and I couldn’t bear to live without you, I’m sorry, I’m not strong like you. I always wished so hard to be like you, but I know now what I really wanted was to be with you. Always. This will kill me Jess, I know it, but I don’t want to live anymore, not without you, not alone, and not with the guilt of everything I’ve done, I only want to be with you! I can walk this path now, I can reach the end, wait for me Jessie my love, I’m coming with you. I love you…”

A flash of light against black velvet, a blood red curtain falling over the glittering infinity of stars, a split second of a cataclysmic roar, then nothing. Trees shied away, shielding themselves and their brethren futilely from the steely dawn fabricated of fury and sorrow as the world itself seemed to mute itself in terror of the agony carried upon the roaring eruption. There was a brilliant flash of blue, a shrill wail of the power carried deep within a source unknowable as it died away, then naught a sound again, as the rosy fingers of the sun stalled themselves and their joyful lights for a stolen moment of grievous reverence for one lone soul.

Through the wall of flames there stepped an ebon specter protected by a gentle blue aura as it forged through the blaze, a quiet and stern expression that would not waver etched upon his pale face. Tears escaped the blazing blue emeralds set into the porcelain framed with blue locks that caressed his cheeks in mock comfort, lost in the greater force of the crimson that tossed gently about the two bodies within the enclosure. Soon clear of any danger, the figure dropped to his knees, the cerulean power completely draining from his visage as he gently laid the figure in his arms upon the ground, and unable to support himself upright any longer, James gently ran his hand along Jessie’s cheek once and collapsed to the ground at her side, his eyes never leaving her face. “Why…Why am I still…?” he whispered to himself mournfully, tears still streaming unfelt down his cheeks as he pounded his fist into the mud, “No…” James struggled to get up with a groan of pain, closing his eyes and looking away as he gently gathered Jessie into his arms, too ashamed of himself to look upon her. “God I can’t even kill myself for her without screwing up!” he hissed softly, holding her close and burying his face in a single hand to cry, “I’m so sorry Jessie, I’m so sorry!”

“She died for you James, she loves you…”

The tears were no longer felt, the heat of the flames lost, and the silent serenity of the forest melted into nothingness as a voice rang clearly through the quiescence. “I know, and I love her. I love her more than anything, I always have! I shouldn’t have forgotten, I should have died too…” James answered quietly and a tiny glimmer of blue light caught his eye. “She wanted you to live… Sometimes others know one better than oneself, did you yourself not say that?” Jessie’s pale face illuminated a benevolent and warm cerulean as the particle lighted there daintily, soon followed by another as she was embraced once more. “I did, but I wanted to die, I wanted to be with her…W-Who are you?” James answered timidly looking up into the paling sky inquisitively. “You admit it then! You did not want to die, you merely wanted to be with her, a pure and honest wish from a pure soul is not unheard, and tears of your creatures are not the only sacred and magical things in this world…” “I-I remember… Ash, and Mewtwo… But I’m not really a Pokemon, I can’t do anything, I’m not even human anymore,” the blue-haired man whispered mournfully, closing his eyes as he shook his head. “You love each other, and they say love conquers all, does it James?”

James gasped at the voice he suddenly remembered from the path of light, wondering if he were still dreaming as he finally felt a single tear roll down his cheek, and certain it would be blood, brushed it furiously away. When he brought his hand away from his face, however, he found himself strangely comforted by the brilliantly sparkling blue that dripped from his fingertips. It melted away with a loving caress as the benevolent voice was no longer audible, warming the frigid air around both souls with one last instruction to the chimera, “Hold her close James, close your eyes and share yourself with her, become one once and for all.” The instructions were obeyed, a sweetly scented silver and blue mist slowly beginning to drift about James’ body as he closed his eyes and made a wish on the final star of the night, and the first one of his dawn. “The tears… The tears brought him back, but… But the story is about Pokemon tears isn’t it? I don’t understand, but if you can hear this now, please, I love you, come back to me. I love you, Jessie.”

An answer to an earnest prayer from a pure heart born upon the peaceful sorrow of long awaited dawn engulfed the small clearing, dimmed the raging fires of hate which gently ebbed away carrying the memory of an evil unspeakable, and a pain unbearable. It wrapped its tendrils lovingly about the two bodies chosen to receive its power, and held them close, wiping the tears of sincere love and grief into oblivion as it took a life force into its being, to make it one with itself. The soul’s wish was heard, and by the ancient covenant with the creatures of earth, it was granted to one who had finally seen a part of his humanity few others had been aware of.

Gold energy streaked through the sky, and melded to the blue, entwining with it as it closed one last time and burst, shrouding the two people in a curtain of dawn’s benevolent light, and James ventured cautiously to open his eyes. He felt the soft touch of the morning light upon his skin and heart as he released his vise grip on his beloved, and before he could wonder why he was still crying in sorrow for her, a small gasp escaped his throat as he timidly touched her cheek to find the rays of light dancing with warmth upon her formerly ashen skin. No words dared follow, for as the brilliance of the magic began to fade having finished its spectacle, James pressed his palm fully against the soft skin as a final tear landed there. “I love you…” A glimmer of gold, and James closed his tear-filled eyes mournfully, shaking his head ruefully to himself, but he was forced to look back up as he felt a tiny almost undetectable breath enter Jessie’s chest. “Jessie…” he breathed in disbelief, and almost in reply, she squeezed her eyes shut harder as if the light hurt already, and then they fluttered open experimentally. James’ breath caught in his chest as his beloved’s eyes searched blindly for only a moment before coming rest with his gaze, and she smiled gently at him, reaching up to brush away his tears with her thumb. “Hey James. Why-Why are you crying?” she whispered gently, a wide smile spreading across James’ face, making no more attempts to mitigate his euphoric tears as he embraced his love tightly. “Jessie! Oh my god, Jessie, you’re alive!” he cried through his sobs, “They’re tears of happiness now. Oh Jess, I thought I’d lost you.” “I can’t lose that easily!” she replied, her own tears of joy falling as she threw her arms about James’ neck in return, “And neither can my love for you, James. You’re everything to me even still, you mean the world to me and I love you, and I don’t care if you don’t-“ She was silenced by a gentle finger across her lips as James pulled away slightly, smiling lovingly at her, wiping the last of the tears from both of their cheeks, and leaving his hand cupped adoringly about Jessie’s chin. “Jess, how could I forget us? I love you, my beautiful rose, Jessica Musashi Burkely, I love you more than anything else in the world,” he whispered, the soft reverent words replaced by Jessie’s lips upon his own.

The kiss lasted only a few brief seconds, Jessie breaking away to rest her chin on James’ shoulder and whisper in his ear, “Now you’re back, my love, I knew you’d come back to me. I love you so much, James.” The blue-haired man smiled in response, and nuzzled her cheek affectionately as he gathered her into his arms, lifting her as her grip about his neck tightened. “I promise you, I am back now, and we can start over with our love fresh in our hearts. I’ve won Jess, once and for all, and I’m going to change my twilight into a new dawn for both of us,” he said valiantly, turning to the golden and pastel splattered dawn with a new hope burning behind a genuine smile and a pair of renewed emerald irises. Leaning down for another coveted kiss from his beloved’s lips, nothing more was said as he carried her still weak body from the clearing, and forgetting what he had left behind in the burning pile of wreckage, dimming to elapsed and deadened embers in the morning’s light.

A small wind blew through finding the two souls gone, and nothing but the moving residual feelings of their love and hope chasing away the last shreds of night as it carried upon its way. The love of other souls carried with them could also be felt, their guiding light and protection leading them onward to their own reckoning as human beings, and the discovery of the power of emotions which both had vowed only to use for good. Love had conquered all adversities, slain the dragons of hate, and saved a soul from the blackest depths of itself, and though each had many to thank for their salvation, they were comforted in the knowledge that the sacrifices had been very willing. Drawn to madness, and back again, as James stopped after cresting a small grassy knoll overlooking the mountains guarding the world bathed in a golden halo of sacred light, he closed his eyes and silently thanked whomever was there to listen.

He finally believed what had been told to him by his own heart and soul, as the part of himself that lived in a separate being, and as he felt the crimson cloak of silky hair billow about his body, he was comforted in a sudden feeling of finality and familiarity washing over him. Sitting down upon the grass beneath a blossoming Sakura tree, hailing a soft rain of flowers upon them, Jessie sidled closer to him, and he wrapped an arm protectively about her waist and pulled her closer. Content just to sit in each other’s arms, James looked to his field of flowers and a path bathed in the holy golden light of the world’s dawn and his personal one, and smiled, knowing his twilight had fallen for the last time and his dreams had become reality at last.

Epilogue

@->->-

Five people stood about three simple headstones amidst a slight layer of snow, silently watching and praying for the happiness of three souls so ravaged in life the only peace they had been able to find had been through death. They were engraved with a short, meaningful saying each, and the names: “Ashton Satoshi Ketchum”, “Deirdre Meredith Rogers”, and “Pikachu: pet of Ash”, followed by two dates. “Mrs. Ketchum, I hope you can forgive me, I-I never meant for Ash to be killed I was only-“ James began as Delia stooped to arrange the flowers she had placed on her son’s grave. “I know James, you were only trying to save the woman you love, and Ash was just so full of hate after Pikachu was taken. He wasn’t even really my little boy anymore, he’s-He’s happier now, and I really believe that, especially after what you told me about what really happened to Pikachu,” Delia answered with a sad smile, placing a hand on James’ shoulder. James smiled and nodded back as Jessie slipped her gloved hand into his, huddling close to him for warmth watching solemnly as Misty and Brock mutually placed a small bouquet of white roses James himself had grown personally and given them for the occasion.

“I’m so sorry this all had to happen Ash, but I know you and Pikachu are back together again, and you’re happy. Team Rocket’s gone now, thanks to James, and they can’t ever hurt anyone again, so rest in peace, and we’ll meet again soon,” Misty whispered reverently, her tears melting the snow where they fell. “Yeah buddy, and don’t do anything stupid while we’re not there got it?” Brock commented amiably, which drew a chuckle from Misty as she wiped her eyes. “Yeah, cause we won’t be there to save your ass like we always do,” she added and stood, turning around to face the others, “Goodbye Ash, I’ll miss you.”

Jessie smiled and received the younger girl in an embrace, stroking her ruddy mane affectionately as she cried into her shoulder, Brock choosing to change the subject and turn to James. “So what are you two going to do now? Staying here?” he asked gently. “Nah, Jessie and Meowth are moving out of the apartment, and we all have a place set up for us in Pallet, right by the ocean. Professor Oak was nice enough to get it for us, and he’s going to be taking a look at me, seeing exactly how this transformation was done, and he said just maybe, he could reverse it, “ James replied wistfully, then lowering his voice and whispering, “And I think maybe, I’ll ask Jessie to marry me.” Brock laughed and slapped James affectionately on the back, as he turned to the graves with the others, winking and elbowing the older man in the ribs. “I’m sure she’ll agree without haste!” he said as softly as he could. “Yeah, but the shock is taking a while to go away, the ordeal may be over, but the scars take some time to heal,” he commented softly, looking up to Jessie. “But they aren’t wounds we can’t recover from,” she said as Misty pulled away from her, “They’re all self inflicted, and I don’t blame myself anymore for what happened, so I’m on my way to recovery.” “As am I,” James added, putting an arm about Jessie’s shoulders for one last prayer for Deirdre, Callie, and Ash, “I let my hate consume me, it was all I could see. Giovanni made me believe that I was wrong, that I had brought it all on myself, and I’m sort of known for blaming myself for things. I thought it was him changing me, and in a way he was, but he was making me inflict it upon myself, but now I realize I’m still the person I always was, and I can heal.” There was a small silence as the snow began to fall harder, coats were wrapped more tightly about shoulders, and Jessie and Misty were both held by loved ones as the reverie of final goodbyes was broken. “We’ll all heal from this, and it’s over now, all we can do is grieve and move on,” Delia whispered quietly, “It’s getting cold, all of you may stay at my house as long as you like, and I guess Jessie and James have to until their place is ready, but aside from that, I’ll enjoy the company.”

All present nodded in agreement and turned to go, leaving the graves and pain behind them, Jessie smirking as he philosophy began to filter into the live of others, and overjoyed to be walking with her beloved James’ arm around her again. They talked easily, and the three spirits sitting in the branches of the bare Sakura tree chuckled to themselves as they piled into the car, and waved though they could not be seen as it drove away. “Wow, James really is a great guy! And he and Jessie make such a cute couple, don’t you think so Pikachu?” Ash asked brightly. “Pika! Pikaaa chu!” the Pokemon answered happily, nodding with a vigor Ash had sorely missed. “That’s why I loved him, but he and Jessie really are meant for each other, their story is over now though, we should leave them be, come on Ash,” Deirdre said wistfully, turning to go. “No, their story is far from over, because this one is epic, and it’s a story of true love! Those can never really end!” the little boy proclaimed with a finger in the air. “Oh there you go again, you really have a great imagination did you know that?” the violet-haired woman muttered amiably. “Pi, pika pikachu pika pikapi pika!” Pikachu piped slyly, and received a swift but non-aggressive decking. “Of course I wish I could have been with Misty! But I’m glad she found someone to love in Brock, I always felt sort of sorry for the guy…” Ash mused thoughtfully, his attention only wavering from the sky when Deirdre yanked gently on his sleeve. “Come on Ash, its time to go, we can still watch over them, you know that,” she said kindly, and the boy nodded. “Sure, come on Pikachu!” “Pikaaa!”

The three souls departed, unaware of the devious pair of emerald eyes that watched from the car window, turning away as James chuckled and placed his hands behind his head. “Goodbye guys, and thank you,” he whispered to himself, turning back to the conversation. He answered that he had been laughing at nothing when asked, and nothing more was thought of it as the conversation returned to its previous course, and the small car wound its way along the infinite highways to its final destination beneath the watch of a few benevolent souls. It sped to a new beginning for all inside, for all had conquered their personal twilights, and dawn was awaiting all who would accept it, in the depths of a believing heart.

Fin