I opened my eyes to see myself sitting on a wooden chair with my hands tied behind me, with what felt like my skin was breaking and blood was covering my entire hands...
My surroundings consisted of nothing but darkness and a light hovering over me. Nothing could be seen further than a few feet from my spot
One look down and I can still see the blood that was splashed on me earlier, from a stab that went through the man who was holding me by my aching wrist that were now tied down to a point where I almost lost feeling
Looking around, I could see Calem sitting next to me, covered in blood like it was the color of his gown "Calem!" I tried getting free "Wake up!" He groaned in his sleep, slowly opening his eyes
"Sophie..."
"What were you thinking!? You were in bed rest! Look at you!" He chuckled weakly
"That's all you're going to say..?" I frowned, knowing what he meant by that. I wiggled my hands through the rope, knowing it hurt. I could feel that the rope wasn't tied well to keep me stable
"There's no time to worry about that! We have to get out of here before you bleed out to death!" I groaned "you're such a fucking idiot! If you told me about everything you knew, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"I'm sorry..." I shook my head, jumping off my seat multiple times "I never mean to hurt you... I didn't think you cared" I didn't know how to respond to that. He knew there was allot of things I didn't care about, but doesn't he know that this journey has slowly started making me act differently? I've actually gone completely insane since I've started traveling... this is too much. There's so much I don't understand about how I'm feeling... I mean, I've always wanted to change and become more like a person with feelings, but now... Calem, I understand now why he's so different, why the Defenders are guarding him and hate him so much, why he was emotionless... it's too much to take. He's always smiling when I'm around, and to think he's actually a murder?
"That's not important right now... we got to get you back to that hospital! Agh! Why would you leave!?"
"You..."
"Just because I ran away!? This is your life we're talking about!" He kept his head down, not moving a muscle
"My life... is meaningless" I stopped pressing and looked at him staring at nothing blankly "I grew up feeling nothing... there was nothing out there that could make me feel. Even cutting myself felt nothing" I looked over at his arm, seeing scars everywhere. Now that I think about it, even at the hottest areas, he's always wearing his jacket
"I heard you and Shauna talking when I was in the bathroom" he shivered, frowning at himself
"It was hard for me to tell you anything... because I..." he looked down further "I was afraid you'll leave" blood gushed from his body
"Stop slouching! Right now!" He shakily sat a bit higher, looking weak and tired "we can talk about this later. What's important is right now! If only Z was here... or at lease B. That way it'll be easier on us to leave" from the corner of my eye, I noticed B hanging on Calem's gown. I gasped before I was rudely interrupted by the sound of a man chuckling. We both looked up, Calem shaking, to see a figure walking out the darkness and into the light. A tall man in all black, with the black Rattata on his shoulder from earlier, approached us with a gun in his hand and cigarette between his lips
"You two won't be leaving anytime soon" he took out his cig and blew a large smoke "you two caused allot of trouble... and for that, we already know what we want to do with you"
"Fuck off!" I glared "who are you? The leader of this stupid gang!?"
"Huh, so you already figured it out? You must be pretty wise to find that out so fast" he shrugged "my name is Wayne, I'm the leader of the Shadowed Rattatas, and you were the little girl who took down the bit of my gang, so I'm sure it wasn't that hard for you to find out who I was"
"I didn't do shit! You have no proof! I beat up that one guy, but that's only because I defended myself! Why should I be explaining myself to you? We weren't involved!"
"Your friend there killed my grunt in that alley, did he not?" I glanced at Calem looking at nothing "how do you expect me to believe anything you say? The grunt you beaten months ago told me who you were" he walked up to me to take my chin and turn me to the side twice to look at me in all angles. This quickly pissed me off and made me really wanted to jump him
"Don't... touch her..." Calem whispered, not having enough energy to talk properly. The man didn't look like he heard him
"Serenity..." he looked deeply into my eyes, softly rubbing his nasty thumb on my lower lip "what a beautiful name for the girl highly known as the co-leader of Team Rocket Max" Calem flinched and slowly looked at me. I bit my lips, trying not to look at his reaction "I've heard your name so many times in the black market. After the news spoke of your name, you're the talk of them again. Who knew..." he took a chunk of my hair and smelled it "you are quite the looker" I slammed my forehead on his, forcing him off me
"Get off me! I want nothing to do with you! That was in the past! All though, I won't mind doing the same thing I did to him to you!" He smirked, rubbing his forehead and sucked in another smoke
"I really like you... but because of what you and your friend did, I already decided on a punishment. I lost some of my team because of you, or should I say... you" he looked at Calem starting to breath heavily. The man forced his foot on Calem's shoulder to make him sit against the seat, making him groan loudly in pain
"Calem!" I gasped
"Don't think I didn't see what you did. I have cameras all over the allys in Lumiose... you killed them all" my eyes widened in realization
"these people were killed and injured, for the sake of that girl" memory girl spoke in my head. Calem... he was there that night, but he wasn't even covered in blood! How did he slaughter all those people without getting any evidence behind him?
Calem didn't even answer him, just shook in his place, glaring at the man "you killed them all... laughing at their pain" his smile in the alley when he killed that guy... "You were smart to cover up what you did!" He pounded on Calem's shoulder, Calem didn't even make a noise from it. He didn't keep his eyes off Wayne's eyes "that's why you're going to suffer just like they did..." Wayne pointed at the blood on Calem "I heard you're wounded... since there's full access to your organs, they should be able to sell for allot of money" I flinched
"Selling his organs?" Wayne looked back at me and backed off
"Yes. We'll make sure he's in miserable pain when we start taking away every well function organ he has. This isn't anything new, but we always try to be nice and put the people we kidnap to sleep so we won't hear so much screaming. This boy is going to feel everything we give him. Look at him... he doesn't even look scared. How twisted he is... it's too bad. He's a skilled serial killer if I do say so myself. I would had accepted him to my gang, but because of what he did. You... on the other hand" he smirked at me
"I'm not interested. I have a good life, so stay out of it. I disbanded my old gang and left everything behind. I'm not going back" he snorted
"A good life? What's a good life? Being around people who don't understand you?"
"You don't know me... I don't care what people think about me. Everything I am is for my family, and I am nothing without them. You will never persuade me, so fuck off and let us go" he grabbed Calem's head, shaking it like a rag doll, causing my gasp
"You're lucky... you get access to be part of the most dangerous gang in Lumiose, pain free. You didn't do anything but defend yourself, why should I be mad at that? It's your boyfriend that should suffer" he pushed Calem's chair in the floor
"Stop!"
"I hate to make you worry, but he deserves everything that's happening to him. He's psycho... at least I have some modesty, this boy looked like he enjoyed what he did... slicing my team in pieces... just laughing" I didn't say anything
"Just let us go... please" the cry of Absol roared on the wall below the stage. Sharp sounds of slicing through metal could also be heard. I narrowed my eyes confused, trying to see through the darkness. Wayne faced the darkness, nodding to nothing in particular
Soon enough, all the lights around us lit up, showing we were standing in the middle of a stage, the entire area being a abandoned looking auditorium with only a few seats being around as the wide areas had blood scattered all on the floors. A dozen older men were standing around, watching us like they were watching a movie
My eyes glanced at the walls where I heard Absol crying out in a large cage filled with other shiny looking Pokémon and...
"Eve!?" I could tell it was my Eevee, because of the ribbon I wrapped around it's neck "Eve! Why!? Why are you here!?"
"I-It followed me to the alley... when you ran away..." Calem coughed. I shook my head, seeing that it got bruised up under missing patches of its white fur "Sophia... don't worry about me. It'll be best if you take Eevee and leave me here... at least my organs will be worth enough to bail you out this place"
"I suppose that's true" Wayne fixed his groomed greasy hair and dropped his cig on the floor, stomping on it "if that's what you prefer, you can always leave and leave the boy here, since you didn't do anything wrong" he walked off the stage, letting a grunt approach Calem and take his shoulder
"Don't touch him!" I shouted. I kept looking back at my Eevee passed out in the cage. First it was Pichu that got beaten up, then Fennekin... now Eevee?
Wayne ordered a grunt to get Eevee out after putting Absol to sleep. I shook my head, seeing the man throw Eevee on the floor like trash
"Take what you like and leave, if you like" he licked his lips "but before you go" the back of my arms were removed from the seat and another grunt forced me on my feet, dragging me to where Wayne was waiting on a big comfy chair
"W-what are you doing?!" I yelled. I kept looking back at Eevee, and Calem with his shirt about to get ripped open by the grunt handling him "Calem!"
"I won't let you leave until I get a small taste from you" Wayne said, staring at my lips
"What did you say!?" I struggled to get out of the grunt's grip "let go of me!"
"Because you're the big talk in the black market, you're very valuable... huh?" He winked. My face heated up fast "I won't do anything to you, but I bet you'll cost me a lot of money if I sell you"
"What happened to letting me go!?"
"What happened, I wonder..." I shook my head, getting overwhelmed with everything that's going on. Calem is going to die, and my poor little Eevee is passed out on the floor, about to be sold for money if I continue to let this happen
"You've crossed the line!" I shouted, wiggling fast and hard "don't touch them! Don't you dare take another move!" The grunt was struggling to keep me still
"Hold her down!" Wayne shouted "she's too valuable! You can't let her get away!"
"I-I'm trying! Boss-" I got myself free, and climbed his body, sitting on his shoulder and grabbed his head, twisting it all the way to the side, cracking his neck and made him fall back where I jumped to stand in front of him, hearing him fall flat on the floor, dead. The room was dead silent after that. Wayne was frozen in shock. I smirked and cracked my knuckles
"I told you... I won't mind doing the same thing I did to my former boss, to you" grunts from all directions came running towards me. B, who was hanging on my skirt since earlier it jumped on me, threw me a knife. The first person closest to me, I stabbed in the throat, others next on chest, leg, face, and arms. The few who didn't get killed instantly still tried coming at me, though blood gushed out like a popped ballon, I forced them on the floor and stomped on one of their heads until they stopped moving
"She's crazy!" A grunt shouted, holding onto his bloody arm. A simple glance was enough to make him quiver and fall on his knees. I was amused, taking his shoulder gently, like I was going to spare him, and casually stabbed him in his chest, throwing him back as his eyes rolled to the back of his head
"Oh my..." Wayne stared at me wide eyed. I looked back at the grunt holding Calem's shoulder, frozen on the spot, and Calem staring at what I just did...
"Get off him, right now!" The grunt lifted his arms, opening his guard and allowed me to throw the knife straight to his head, stabbing him for a instant kill "you knew who I was..." I grabbed Wayne's throat, putting force into it "did you really think this wouldn't happen? I was trained by the best grunt of Team Rocket! I was a Co-leader! You hurt my friend... you hurt my Pokémon. Have anything to say for yourself?" He stared at me, using his hand to force my hand away
"A gift... you are" he chuckled "so beautiful, yet so deadly" I lifted his gun to his forehead "like a rose with thorns"
"Damn right" I shot him in the head without hesitation. I stared at his dead body for a long while, thinking of a way to see how I can face Calem after this
I grabbed a phone in Wayne's pocket and dialed a number "hello?" Romeo answered "Wayne, what do you want? I told you I'm not going to get involved-"
"It's me" the phone went silent "apparently the boss can't take anymore calls, so I decided to make a last one. Clean up the mess, will you?"
"H-hold on a second!" He typed on a keyboard quickly "okay, I found the location to where you are"
"Good"
"What happened..?"
"We'll see if I want to talk about it... get it done, soon. I don't want traces leaking back to us"
"Us-" I hung up and destroyed the phone on the floor, looking back at Calem still staring at me. I rushed to his body, laid him on the floor, and removed his gown to look at the damage.
Many stitches popped off the knot, leaving his wound wide open. Not that much blood was leaking out due to formally stopping the blood before, I got my sewing kit from B and started stitching him back up
"Sophie..." he coughed
"Stop moving, you'll make it worse" I can't seem to do this carefully enough
"You're shaking..." I was shaking, and I couldn't stop. Everything happened so fast... "Sophie... look at me" I couldn't... I didn't care about what he did, but him seeing me felt wrong. I kept this a secret from everyone, even the person I trust the most... he saw my true colors, and they were dark
"I can't..." I took a deep breath and started sewing him back together "just worry about healing up and don't you dare do anything so reckless again. I can take care of myself, as you just saw"
"It doesn't matter, I..." he was shaky to lift his freezing hand to take my cheek "I wanted to protect you... I'm sorry..." he frowned "I'm so sorry I let him touch you like that" I sighed with a smile
"Calm down, we're fine now. Okay?" A bang came from a door, slamming it against the wall. I guarded Calem to keep others from hurting him more. Dozens and dozens of people in protective plastic suits came running through the door and started examining the place, along with taking care of the bodies
One walked up the stage and faced us. I stayed in front of Calem, waiting to see what this person will do "stand back!" I lifted B in the air in front of me "I'm not afraid to use this!" The person bowed, confusing me
"Master Romeo send us"
"R-Romeo...?" Calem asked
"Calvin, you know that, remember?" He sighed "take my friend to the emergency room" he nodded and got some other people to grab a gurney from the wall, covered it with a blanket, and gently placed Calem on top. He groaned softly, laying flat on the bed "take care of him"
"What about... you?" He asked. I took out my hankie to remove sweat from his forehead
"I have to stay here... for now. After what I did, I can't just go so easily. I have to make sure everything is gone" he reached his hand out to me as he was rushed away. I waved and jumped when hearing the cage that was holding my Eevee break. Absol became free and grabbed Eevee, bringing it closer to me. It laid motionless, still breathing...
"Eve..." I came down and took it in my arms "I'm so sorry..." all my Pokémon now knew suffering... what fate was brought to them in order to deserve it..?
~
Now you know the truth about Calem! And now you see Sophia's true dark talent...