Chapter Twenty-One: What Humanity Deserves

"Aiden, I know you're kind, but this is pushing it." The older man glared down at him with a scrutinising expression. "This is the girl that's the talk of the town now. Kalos' military isn't a charity."

"I wasn't expecting you to allow her to stay, but..." At that, Avis looked down, finding the ground much easier to stare at than his captain's disapproving glance—even though he knew the words weren't directed at him but his brother—and he let his words slip out in Aiden's mumbled voice. "If you look at it from another angle, she can be used for questioning."

There was a pause, and the soldier stared at him with skepticism in his grey eyes. He held his breath, choosing to do something that his meeker brother wouldn't and holding his superior's gaze as the silent battle drew out in mid-air.

"Fine," the man said, and Avis' next breath drew a shuddering sigh of relief. "I'll give you a chance, then. You need to learn to toughen up."

Once again, that wasn't advice meant for him, but he forced a nod and sharpened his gaze, bowing and letting his frustrated grip on his sword tighten just the smallest bit. "Thank you, sir. I'll keep that it mind for future occasions."

He left as quickly as he could—the atmosphere in the room was choking him, and he wondered just how Aiden had managed to stand the man's constant nagging for so long. The captain meant well, he was sure of that; but he was so obnoxious in his protective ways that he couldn't find it in him to appreciate that.

"Hey, you know the girl you brought back?" One of the other knights noticed him shutting the door with a sort of unexpected vigour. "I think she woke up. She's being questioned now, so you're free to listen in."

He wasn't in the mood to reply, but doing so would go against his dear brother's image and he couldn't drop the act now.

"She's well enough to talk?" He raised an eyebrow in response, thinking of the crimson liquid that had trickled down the side of her head just a day ago. "That's fast. I think I'll go and see what's going on; how about you?"

The man shrugged at him. "She doesn't seem to have suffered from anything internal," he answered, sliding his sword into its leather sheath. "And I'll pass on that. I have guard duty in a while, so I won't have time to come with you."

He nodded, watching as his colleague disappeared behind one of the Headquarters' many walls and leaving soon after.

Of course, the building was just a mere replacement for the one that had been destroyed just two days ago—but he wouldn't mull over that for too long.

§

"I—I think that all this is just a misunderstanding."

Avis had to admit that he was impressed by Lillian's acting.

Her golden eyes were wide and unblinking, the shock in them so cleverly present enough to fool everyone but him, and her mouth was set in a loose, distressed line as she spoke. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about. I was just delivering something when—"

"And how are we supposed to believe that?" the man across her asked. His face was tired; it looked like they had been at it for ages, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Lillian's perseverance and craftiness could tire people out like that.

"Because there won't be any evidence," she insisted, a guileless expression plastered on her face. "I did nothing wrong. You have to trust me."

And, in a way, she was right. While breaking into Kalos' headquarters was something unthinkable, the girl had done it for a good cause.

The two of them bickered back and forth for a few more minutes, and he stood paralysed by the door as he listened—the girl's skill and charisma was almost captivating; enough to goad him into mulling around the entrance instead of leaving.

Soon, however, the black-haired girl seemed to win the conversation. She looked innocent enough, harmless and injured with no tension in her shoulders, and the soldier gritted his teeth, looking off to the side before standing to leave.

"I can't dig out anything from her," the man muttered as he passed him. "It's too hard to find anything when she's showing no signs of lying at all. Regardless, we'll keep her for a few more days until we're sure that she's not tricking us."

He exited before Avis could even gather the words for a reply.

"So this is the Kalos Military Force," Lillian spoke as soon as he was out of earshot, face was sunk into an impassive blank—and he thought for a moment that she was just making an observation—but his opinion changed in the next two seconds. "If they can be fooled like that, then it's no wonder that we're still being attacked."

She refused to speak any more after that.

§

"Aiden? Why are you still up?"

He jumped a little at the voice. After all, it was one in the morning and he was concentrating on staying awake more than anything, so he couldn't be blamed for being startled.

Avis jerked his head up, hands flying to the sword by his side just as he'd been taught a week ago, but they slid off the blade's hilt as he realised that it was just Yan.

"Guard duty," he stammered out, unable to control himself as he stumbled a few steps back. The girl looked different than he remembered; she was much more solemn without her usual gentle smile or unguarded expression of pain that he hated, and he almost didn't recognise her in the waning moonlight. "How about you? Shouldn't you be at the shop right now?"

The girl responded by pressing her lips in a thin line, grey eyes slanted at him as if they knew something he didn't, but she didn't elaborate on the untold story her face spoke.

"I have a delivery to make," she replied instead, petting the Skiddo beneath her. "Why else would I be up this late?"

She seemed cross for some reason, and he decided that it was best not to question that—so he just shrugged and shot her an awkward smile. "Be careful, then. I heard that Hoenn soldiers are especially present in the night."

"I've been running errands like this my whole life," Yan shot back, her voice snappy as she gathered up the reins of her Pokemon. "I saw you and remembered that I needed to tell you something, but I'd rather do that when Lillian's here too."

"Actually, Lillian's nearby. I could just help to tell her—"

He was cut off by a crashing noise somewhere in the building, and his posture went rigid as he looked back. The Headquarters looked normal, almost eerily still in the calmness of the night, but—

"I have to go," Avis apologised, not waiting for his friend to answer and breaking into a sprint. Somewhere behind him, he could hear a muffled response that he couldn't quite make out, and the clip-clop of Skiddo's hooves assured him that Yan was leaving.

He tried his best not to pale when he reached the military's hospital.

His first reaction was to draw his sword, trying not to look at the crumpled forms around him—and he drew a sigh of relief when he noticed that they'd just been knocked out.

But that thought dissipated just as he looked up to see their assailant—Lillian held an open Pokeball in her palm, and the Gallade in front of her had a soldier in his iron grip.

"I'm not going to kill you." There was a sickening crack that resounded around the ward, and the knight let out a low hiss as the creature dropped him to the ground. "This is as far as I'll go. I trust that you're not going to tell anyone without this."

The Pokemon loomed over his frame, holding a blade to his throat, and before he could even choke out a response, Gallade had slammed the flat of his arm into the back of his head.

Avis could only stand and watch the scene unfold in front of him. Sure, he'd seen much more gruesome scenes before; one that involved too much blood and death for someone his age, but something in Lillian's scowl made it all the more terrifying.

Perhaps it was the usual calmness that she carried herself with or her small frame. He'd known that she was determined all the while, but this was something that bordered on ruthless and it made his stomach churn with nausea.

"Well?" The girl looked up, the tense frown on her face giving way to the more impassive expression that she tended to wear. "Let's go. We'll get caught otherwise."

"But I have work—" he started, and his gaze drifted to his unconscious comrades on the floor. "Fine, but what were you even thinking? The military is doing you a favour by treating you while you're injured. You didn't have to injure them."

Lillian raised an eyebrow at him, and her tone was scathing. "I thought you didn't care about your brother at all," she commented, watching as he turned away to hide his expression. "Every moment I stay there is another moment that they suspect me."

There was another pause before she continued. "Want to know why I didn't just kill them?" she asked. "I told myself never to kill anyone. No matter how much pain one might be in, it's no worse than death. In death, everything is all over and you don't have a second chance."

Avis flinched at that, thinking back to the deadline that was arriving far too soon for his liking, but he brushed that aside and followed her out of the makeshift building.

"I'm on guard duty tonight," he muttered, stopping her from walking any further as they approached the gate's exit. "I'll let you go, but what are you planning on doing after this?"

"Maybe I'll go back to Terminus Cave," she hummed, and she shrugged at the frown that adorned his face. "Having you along would be interesting and good for backup, but I'll be more careful this time. If I see any danger, I'll run."

She stared at the ground, masking an amused smile at his reaction. "You have guard duty, don't you? Well, since you seem to like it so much, I'll leave you alone."

Without waiting to see his response this time, she disappeared out of the gate.

§

Green eyes flashed in the light as they inspected the situation at hand, and the boy responded to his enemy's ruthless lunge with a neat sidestep before making his move, pressing a knife to the Hoenn soldier's throat without missing a beat.

"Who are you, and what do you even have against me?" Fabio raised his free hand to cover his mouth as he yawned. "Oh, right. I don't really care about you, so you can die like your other friends there."

He lowered the knife and stabbed the blade of the small weapon into his opponent's chest, not even blinking as he hit an artery by accident and some of the blood spurted onto his face—it wasn't like it mattered; he was already covered in the crimson liquid.

"You're Faust, aren't you?" The man coughed up a clump of blood, and he shot the mercenary a weak glare. "I—"

"What's that?" the teenager taunted, watching as the soldier fell to the floor with a blank stare sliding over his glazed eyes. "Didn't catch what you said, but never mind."

In all honesty, he wasn't in the mood for doing anything. He'd talked to Yan and gotten some information about the Hoenn base, but he'd spent all night trying to pinpoint their exact location and he was tired and pissed off.

Sure, he didn't feel like killing anyone, but he didn't feel like sparing anyone either. Besides, it was more efficient to kill off his enemies, so he couldn't blame himself for his actions at all.

He didn't get why murder went hated by humans. It was gruesome; he would agree with that, but humanity was a race that was truly disgusting. He couldn't see much good in a race that had pushed him to the very bottom existing.

Fabio twisted backwards, driving his blood-coated knife into someone else's throat and watching as his Aegislash sliced another's head off his shoulders. He'd have to give Hoenn some credit for being prepared, at the very least.

He could see the army start to thin. It would just be a few more people until he could get to the Hoenn base and do whatever the hell Lillian asked.

Of course, he never saw the figure behind him—the only one out of his field of vision—and he startled as someone slapped a cold, gloved hand over his mouth, and it was when he was wrestled to the ground that he was able to see the man that had caught him by surprise.

"You're—" He recognised the boy. Of course he would recognise those yellow eyes that appeared sickly in the moonlight.

The first thing he thought of was to reach for his knife, but that'd been knocked out of his hand and he was being held in an iron grip. Aegislash was nearby, but a Ninetales leapt in his way and there was no way he could reach in time.

He wasn't able to think any further when the blow to his head came. 

§

okay I lowkey hate the captain mm he's literally my least favourite character in the entire book for uh

reasons

that are to come

:^^^^^DDD

lmao fabio is as salty as I am he's just like "kill everyone lol" 

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