What the Wind Carries [Pokémon Black and White 2 fanfiction]

22| Prisoners

Everything was dark. I was wrapped in a cocoon of black, blissful unconscious. Then all at once, the blackness lifted and I was thrown back into the real world. Where... where am I? My eyes fluttered open, and I saw a wooden wall inches from my face. I immediately felt a burning sensation around my entire neck. I could hardly swallow, when I did it hurt immensely.

   I tried to move my hands, but couldn't. They were bound together in front of me at the wrists. I slowly and painfully rolled onto my back and sat up, deep aches shooting through my sore muscles. I was in a small wooden cell with a metal door and a small porthole window a foot under the ceiling. The room oh-so-slightly shifted from side to side, and it dawned on me that I must be on the ship Nate and I saw. Then everything came flooding back. Nate has shielded me from the Liepard's attack!

   "N-Nate... where... where are..." I wheezed, not able to finish from the pain it caused.

   "Rosa? You're... finally awake." The pain-filled voice of my brother responded.

   I turned, trying to avoid moving my neck and saw my brother curled up in a far corner of the cell, facing away from me. "You... okay?" I wheezed, walking on my knees over to him.

   "Uh, define 'okay.'" He said, weakly laughing. I reached him and tried to roll him onto his back with my tied hands. When Nate realized what I was trying to do, he protested with a cry of pain. "No, don't! They'll open up again!"

   I ignored him however and managed to roll him over. My face went white. His wrists were bound like mine and he held his restricted hands tightly to his stomach. Nate's hands were red with... blood. Under his hands I could see poorly-wrapped bandages. As I thought, they were also dyed a deep red.

   "Oh... oh Arceus..!" I gasped, feeling disgusted and shocked. Sure, the injury to my neck was painful, but that didn't even hold a Litwick to how much pain Nate was in. I looked at my brother's face and knew my assumptions were correct. His eyes were squeezed shut, his face was streaked with tears and he was breathing short, shallow breaths through clenched teeth. He looked so helpless that I began tearing up myself. My little brother in so much pain, all because he tried to shield me... It didn't just break my heart, it shattered it.

   Okay, okay. Calm down Rosa. Calm. Down! I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself, only to get another lungful of the metallic reek. Ugh, it smells awful! I thought, feeling bile beginning to rise in the back of my throat. I choked it down and steeled myself for the task I had to do next.

   "Nate, move... m-move your hands," I said, my throat seizing occasionally as I talked. "I-I need to... s-see how they... look."

   "No!" he cried.

   "Move them!" I yelled, feeling like my throat shredded in the process. Nate then nodded and unwillingly moved his hands away. I tried to assess the damage, doing my best to block out his cries as I did so. It made me feel awful, but it had to be done. It thankfully wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The slashes weren't as deep as I expected, and they could most likely be fixed with stitches. Me moving Nate seemed to have made them begin bleeding again, however, and what blood came from them was sluggish and dark.