Chapter Nine: Father and Daughter

"Since when did this turn into a battle to the death?"

She ducked as another Air Slash came in her path of her Pokemon, almost grazing her skin, and it was when she yelled at her Gallade to retaliate with a Brick Break of his own that she realised that her lips were chapped.

"Although I agreed with your terms," her father answered, ordering his Pokemon to evade the attack, "we are from the military. It would do you good to remember that."

In all honesty, she had known that something like that would happen. Both of them were smart people; they had seen it coming, and they were willing to do it if it meant getting the other side to listen to them.

"Leaf Blade," she muttered, narrowing her eyes and watching as her Gallade plunged at the Skarmory above him in a flurry of leaves. The birdlike creature stood still for a second, thinking that he could take the super-effective move, but she had other plans.

As soon as her opponent faltered, Lillian pointed at the weak spot on the underside of the dual-type's belly, and Gallade's arm shot out to punch at the bird's steel-like flesh.

"A feint..." A distant frown played on Damien's lips, and he wiped away some of the dust that had settled on his face from the attack. "While it was well executed, my Skarmory's defence is high. Besides, you would remember that I was the one that taught you that move."

Lillian glared at the ground. Her father was right in a way—he was a general for a reason. While he was unnecessarily violent and ruthless, he was a brilliant strategist and fighter, and that was why he was ranked near the top of the Hoenn military.

"Air Slash." His voice was sharp as the bird swooped down, landing yet another hit on her Pokemon and leaving bruised skin where it was once white.

She made a quick assessment of the situation. While the Skarmory had taken some hits from her, he was far less tired than the Gallade in front of her, and that was a bad thing.

"Swords Dance," Lillian muttered. She was really clutching at straws now. "Then use Brick Break one more time."

As if sensing her stress, the creature turned back to glance at her. His red eyes were calm and stone-cold, just like the man who had given him to her, and she could tell that he was questioning her decisions—but she had no choice. Brick Break was the most effective move she had.

"Take it." Damien was more than prepared for her moves now. His Pokemon swooped down to land an Assurance just as she'd finished attacking, and the Skarmory crashed into her Gallade with enough force to kick up another cloud of dust.

She'd known from the start that she was fighting a losing battle. Her father was right; he had far more experience than her.

"I don't believe that, as a military general of the most violent region, that you'll stop at sending me back to Sinnoh." Lillian raised an eyebrow. "After all, I've defied you again, haven't I? First, I ran away, and now, I'm challenging what you believe in."

When she didn't receive any response, she peered up at the cloud that blocked her father from view and prepared another Pokeball in her hand.

As high and mighty as she liked to pretend to be, she wasn't above playing dirty.

"I'm sorry." She kept her voice low as the mass of filth cleared. "From the moment this started, I knew that there was no chance I could beat you in a regular battle, so I cheated and pulled you into an emotional fight instead."

Damien didn't reply for a moment—and he stared at her from his place on the ground, pinned in place by her Beautifly's Psychic and suffering a wound to the head from a more discreet Bug Buzz.

"If you want to kill me, then do it fast," he sighed at last. "If you were able to play dirty out of desperation, then it means that I must have taught you well."

"You did." There was no humour in her voice, and she squatted down so that she was closer to her father's level. "And I thank you for that. It was why I was able to do this and know that you wouldn't have been able to defeat me like this."

His voice was even as he answered. "How did you find out, then?"

"I never found anything out," she muttered. "I always knew. You're a general known for not wasting any mercy on anyone, but you're also a father. No matter what, you wanted the best for me, didn't you? Your 'battle to the death' analogies were a lie."

"That's true." A low chuckle escaped his throat. "So that was the emotional fight you were referring to."

She let her gaze wander the ground—the look in his icy eyes were too hard and painful to read, and glaring at the ground as if it had somehow wronged her seemed much easier. "You lost Mother in war and your son hates you. You wouldn't have done anything to endanger me in the first place."

There were a few more seconds of silence.

"Leone had it worse," she said again. "You snapped after she died, didn't you? Became convinced that putting your son through so-called training far too harsh for his age was the only way he was going to survive in the world?"

"Arceus, I know I ruined him." He shook his head. "He'll never forgive me for what I put him through. I already know that."

Lillian narrowed her eyes. "I'm not the one you should be telling it to," she muttered. "I was older, and I decided to move to Kalos before everything happened because of the war." She paused for a moment. "I still won't forgive you, but I understand your actions."

"That's all I need," he assured. "I never even expected any of my children to 'understand' in the first place."

He waited until she fell silent—the slight bouncing of her heels being the only indication that she was listening—before speaking. "While I appreciate that we're having this talk, you wanted information from me, didn't you? Keep the documents."

"Thank you," she responded. "And another question. Were you ever planning to let Kalos know this, or were you just going to drag on this war for as long as you possibly could?"

He closed his eyes as if her words gave him a headache. "I already told you that we couldn't confirm anything," he murmured. "Besides, I'm not the boss of it all. I'm a general, but I'm not the one who decided to start this or do any of the research."

She pursed her lips, deciding to sit down and cross her legs, and she still kept her eyes on the ground. "Is there anything else?"

"...the documents contain everything else," he conceded. "But why are you going so far to do all of this? Is it because you're in a relationship with that Kalos soldier, or is it because of something else?"

"You met Aiden before in meetings, didn't you?" The name was unfamiliar on her lips, but she kept the facade up. "We weren't dating. You don't need to know the specifics of it, but everything was all just for show."

It was then that her Beautifly let go of him with his Psychic—and Damien steadied himself with one hand as he pulled himself to a sitting position. He remained quiet, blue eyes boring into her and unearthing every bit of information he could, and it was clear that he was waiting for her to continue.

"I did it because I wanted a normal life," she confessed. "You allowed me to live in Kalos, but that was before everything happened. If I didn't do anything, then I felt that nothing would have changed in the first place."

"Though I pretended to date Aiden, I think I admired his brother more." A bitter smile played on her face. "He may not have been anyone special, but his life was more ordinary than most, and I longed for that kind of stability. Of course, I could tell there was something going on with him, but I didn't know him well enough to ask him about it."

Her father took in a deep breath. "So he was the one you were interested in?"

"Kind of, but not really," she muttered. "I don't know if I had, well, romantic feelings for him. In the end, though, he got killed by a Hoenn soldier before I could talk to him properly. It was too late."

She felt the blatant lie spread like acid across her lips. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, but she could tell that revealing Avis' true identity wouldn't benefit anyone.

"I see." She couldn't read the emotion in his tone. "I can tell that you're not telling me the whole story, but I won't ask about any more. I can tell that you paid a lot of attention to him, though, and that's something you only do to people you find worthy of your attention."

"I guess that's true." Lillian let out a long, shaky exhale. "It doesn't matter now, though, since he's dead." She pulled herself to her feet when she finished. "Well, I guess I should get going. You'll let me leave now, right?"

Damien's face still had the emotion of drying plaster, but his words were gentle. "Yes. But before you go, I have a favour to request of you."

"What, you still want me to kill you?" The black-haired girl scrunched up her face as she finally stared at him. "Why are you so bent on dying in the first place?"

"When you've killed and hurt so many people, things like that happen." He rolled his shoulders in a gentle shrug. "The more twisted a person is, the more he or she starts to have a death wish. I don't think I'd want to be killed by someone who isn't my family."

The lapse of silence was different from the previous awkward moments before it. It was gentler, even if it didn't make sense, and had a sort of mellow edge to it. She treasured the precious few moments she had to think—the quiet between them was somehow meaningful, and she appreciated it.

"I still abide by own rules, Father." She stood as straight as she could. "And I have two of them. One of them is that I will never kill another human, no matter who they might be."

When he looked more disappointed than she'd expected, she forced herself into a position that was more or less the same as a soldier standing at attention, fixing her gaze at him and trying to look as harsh as possible.

"You are not going to die yet," she uttered. "If you can start feeling remorse, then do something about everything that you've done. I may have grown up and left the family, but Leone is still out there. Do your duty as a father and look out for him, at least."

"He doesn't regard me as his father," Damien stated.

She rolled her eyes. "It's not about what he thinks. He's just hurt. You don't have to reconcile with him, but I just want you to keep an eye on him and make sure he's safe. That kind of thing."

He stared at her for a long time, lips settled in a thin, hard line, and she couldn't tell if it was the look a captain gave his soldiers or the look a father gave his daughter. She'd seen enough of both that she couldn't differentiate between the two.

"Thank you." A rare smile formed on his face. It wasn't big and vibrant like Aiden's, but it was somehow just as relieving. "I think I needed to hear that."

"You're welcome," she replied stiffly. "All I did was speak my mind. I think most people fear you too much to do that."

Her father stood up, and his frame loomed over her. "I think I'll get back to my work now. You can do whatever you want—you won the battle, after all—but I have a piece of information that you might find useful."

"What is it?" she asked, her posture loosening a little as she turned to him in curiosity.

"The knight you were pretending to date. I assume you're still friends with him." He nodded towards a corridor behind them. "He's in here now. Takeo brought him back as a prisoner. I don't know what he's up to, but I know that he's being kept in the third room down that corridor."

Her eyes widened at the knowledge. "Shit—you let Takeo deal with him?"

She left before he could do anything much, but there was one more thing that got through to her before his voice faded away completely.

"Lillian," he called. "Not all of your plans will succeed in the end."

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!! i think this is the first chapter i wrote without any breaks :0

this was meant to have some avis action in it too but i changed it last minute because lillian deserves to have a chapter to herself ayy

Thank you guys so much for 4.6K reads and 725 votes!! :0 You have no idea how much this means to me <3