I looked up at the alarm clock sitting by the bed, which glared at me with numbers spelling out two in the morning. There was no point in going to sleep if I hadn't done so already. Besides, with Musharna keeping Joy company, I couldn't risk another nightmare.

Of course, the other night, I did sleep with Rudi, and the nightmares stopped, so a part of me wanted to sneak into his room and cuddle beside him once more. Something told me I wouldn't have them if I was beside him. It shouldn't be much of a problem, except for the fact that his sister was sleeping on the bed next to the sleeping bag I was in.

I had a feeling she'd come in yelling the minute she found out. Sometimes I wondered why it bothered her so much, but I wouldn't have been surprised if she knew about Rudi and Gila. If that was the case, she had all right to be wary that I'd do something, despite being close friends with her.

I shook the thought out of my mind, averting them to a different subject.

"Tomorrow, you and I have to get out of here, so I can show you something," Lethe's voice echoed in my head.

That was the deal we made to get him to talk. No one knew about it. I didn't even want to go through with it, but I wasn't sure I had a choice. I quietly snuck out of the sleeping bag I was in and changed into my Swanna costume. Wherever we were going, I had a feeling I'd need it.

My hands grabbed my old mask with the built-in lens from the side table as I snuck out of the room, slipping them on to see. I was lucky Rena was a heavy sleeper, otherwise there'd be no chance I'd make it out. As for my sleeping Pokémon, I carefully returned them into their Poké Balls, hoping I wouldn't need any of them but Swanna. After all, this thing wouldn't take long. That was what Lethe promised.

I carefully shut the door and tiptoed through the hallway. The entire time, I could hear a little voice in my head warning me this was a bad idea. If Lethe wanted to show me something, I could've seen it by myself, or brought someone else with me. As to why Lethe needed to be there was beyond me.

No. Lethe was my brother. Family members didn't backstab each other. Sure, I'd seen Rudi and Rena argue way too many times, but that didn't mean that they would betray one another. I just had to learn to trust him. Siblings were supposed to trust one another... Right?

By the time I got to the glass room, I noticed that Lethe was sleeping. His beanie was nowhere to be found, and he had seemingly knocked the single blanket on the ground while he was cuddling with the pillow in his arms. It was kind of odd, seeing him sleep like that, but I just shook my head as I pressed the three-digit code into the cell lock.

Once entered, the glass door slid open with a five minute timer. I took a deep breath as I walked in and gently tapped Lethe on the shoulder. He didn't wake. I exhaled before I shook his shoulders a bit.

That was all it took for Lethe to throw the pillow that was in his arms and bolt up into a seated position.

"C'est quoi ce bordel?" Lethe cursed.

My eyes widened at his profanity. "Since when did you learn Kalosian?"

Lethe looked at me with wide eyes before relaxing a bit. "Merde, sorry about that. Mom was fluent in it. She liked to cuss in Kalosian a lot. Picked up a few phrases from her. Better question is what are you doing here?"

I crossed my arms. "Keeping my end of the bargain. Though, if you try to pull anything, I'll make sure that you're locked up for life."

The seventeen year old nodded his head. "Got it."

We snuck out of the room, and I quickly pushed the code back in to shut the door, which still had two minutes remaining. If I'd let it go down to zero, the whole building would be notified.

Lethe stayed behind me as I grabbed Swanna's Poké Ball from my belt. There wasn't any way around it. We would need a way out of here, and Swanna was our way out. Hopefully this wouldn't take too long. Being that it was about 2:30 in the morning, we had less than four hours before anyone could think about waking up.

I wasn't told what this whole thing was going to be about. Apparently there was something Lethe wanted me to see, but we couldn't let anyone else come along to see or know about it. Lethe said it would make more sense when we got there. Then again, I was also breaking him out of here. As long as I got him back before anyone woke up, then no one would know.

If one person knew I was breaking him out for the sole reason of just looking at something, I don't know what would happen. Hilbert would probably break my arm or something, so I couldn't destroy our chances of winning again. Joy didn't trust me now. Seeing what I was doing right now, I couldn't imagine what she'd think if she caught me. Rena would just flat out kill me. Hilda, well, I wasn't sure what she'd do, but I was sure she'd make me regret it somehow. Out of anyone, there was one person that couldn't know.

"What in the Distortion World is going on?" Someone asked from behind.

Lethe and I froze before I took the courage to turn around. Speak of the Giratina. Of course, just as I was thinking I didn't want to see him out of anyone, he had to be the one to show up.

I took a deep breath as I saw Rudi standing there, glancing between Lethe and me. He was still in his Musharna pajamas, meaning he must've just gotten up for some reason. His face dropped as he saw me.

"Sylvia, what's going on?" Rudi carefully asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Lethe pulled me behind him. "She doesn't have to answer that, bird brains."

"Lethe!" I hissed.

Rudi looked at me, choosing his next words wisely. "Sylvia, what's going on? I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this, but why is he out of his cell?"

My brother crossed his arms. I still stood behind him, scared to see what would happen if I got between them. The tension was rising, and I could tell both of them were holding back to prevent any kind of physical fighting.

"Really, you expect her to tell you? Then I guess you've told her everything then?" Lethe asked, "Because if I'm not mistaken, you never told Sylvia anything about you and Gila."

Rudi opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Lethe took this as his opportunity to grab my hand and pull me away. Only, I didn't move. I stood there, looking at Rudi.

"I didn't want you to know because it was in the past," Rudi finally whispered. "I didn't know it at the time, and I let myself get distracted. She disguised herself and tricked me into thinking she could be a friend, but she ended up using me in more ways than—look, I'm not proud of whatever happened back then. It's been years since that's happened. I've changed since Gila tricked me into thinking she could be someone I could love, but it wasn't anything close to how I feel about Sylvia. Sylvia will always come first."

Once again, Lethe interjected before I had the chance. "That still doesn't make up for the fact of what you did to her. You're not good enough for Sylvia. She deserves better than you. Especially since you and Gila—"

"Tais-Toi!" I screamed, causing both of the young men to flinch.

Rudi quickly recovered to looked me in the eye, looking a bit shocked as he must've forgotten I was there for a moment. "That was the second biggest mistake I've ever made, right after letting you go in Kalos."

Lethe stepped beside me, holding my wrist in his hand. I tried pulling away from him, but I realized it was no use. Despite being younger, Lethe was stronger.

"Is it though? Because people should have a choice of what they do. You never gave Sylvia any kind of choice," Lethe snarled.

"How in the Distortion World would you know?" Rudi asked. "You weren't there."

"It my job to know everything because I'm her brother," Lethe claimed.

I looked down, not liking where this was going. After learning about having some sort of living relative alive, I planned on telling Rudi, I really was. He of all people deserved to know. After everything that we've been through, I was going to tell him, but it never came up. It never came up because I still was shocked as to what happened and didn't want to face him yet.

Now, he had to hear it from someone else.

"That's not true," Rudi softly said, before his words gradually grew louder. "If you were her brother, then why were you never there for her?"

"To keep her safe," Lethe argued, "I work for Team Oblivion. Could you imagine the things they'd do if they found out she's the only family I have? They'd kill her, or maybe worse! Trust me, I know what Team Oblivion is capable of doing. The only reason Sylvia's been safe is because of me. Everything I do is to keep whatever family I have left safe because I value my family, and I'm willing to make the sacrifice into keeping my family happy and safe. Not like you would understand. You went missing for two years, leaving Sylvia and your family heartbroken."

I looked up, seeing Rudi looking completely broken. He didn't know what to say. I wanted to say something on Rudi's behalf, but the words didn't come out. From what I knew, Rudi left because he couldn't handle the pressure of being Braviary Man. After the secret went out, everyone knew who Rudi really was. I tried warning him, but Rudi didn't listen.

If I said a word, Lethe would have the upper hand. I didn't want that to happen. Lethe was just making things worse every time he opened his mouth.

All I wanted to do was help Rudi. There was nothing I could do.

"I was dumb," Rudi whispered. The air seemed to thin around me as he hung his head, knowing what was going to happen. Not once did I ask about his side of the story because I was afraid of what would come out.

Now, I didn't have a choice.

"I left," Rudi continued, "because I had not only let my arrogance get the best of me by telling everyone who I was, but I had just let the girl I loved go.

Rudi looked up at me, "When we had our first fight, I promised you I wouldn't let anyone know who you were in those stories I'd tell everyone. I kept that promise, and I still will until you're ready to come out. That's not why I left. Weeks after our fight, I got a note from someone at some rally, threatening that they would hurt you if I showed my face again. That's why I called you that day. It wasn't to fight, or even break up with you, I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright.

"But you were angry, and you had every right to be after I told you what had happened here. You broke up with me, and when you did, I realized what had to be done. I shouldn't have done it. I should've just ignored that threat. I got them all the time from Team Miasma, but they were always about me. No one ever threatened you or my family, so I went into hiding, making sure no one would follow me or could track me.

"Sylvia, I was scared. I didn't want you to get hurt again. Back when we fought crime back then, you were always the stronger one. You made every member fear you, and you did it all without losing who you really are. Sure, there were moments you were scared, but you never showed them that. In those moments, I realized I couldn't afford to have you be scared again, and that scared the living shi—" Rudi stopped himself before he could finish the curse word, taking a deep breath. "It scared me more than anything because all I ever wanted to do was keep you safe.

"You don't have to understand now or ever, but everything I did was to keep you safe and happy. I thought that if I left while you were in Kalos, you'd move on and forget about me," Rudi finished before looking at me with a look I'd never seen in his eyes before. It was a mixture of emotions. A part of him seemed relieved, while he mostly looked scared and sad.

I wanted to run over to him, wrap my arms around him, and let him know everything was going to be alright, but Lethe pulled me back, glaring at Rudi. "That doesn't make up for the fact that you hurt her. If I were you, I'd leave right now because I'm doing the job you could never do. We'll be back in an hour. If you think about following, you'll only jeopardize her safety."

Before I could say a word, Lethe dragged me away. I looked back at Rudi, trying to think of something to say. Nothing came out.

Even if I could say something, I didn't know where to begin. Because everything Rudi just said hit me.

It was then I let myself think about that day for the first time, mainly because I never wanted to. Rudi was right. He wasn't the one to break up. I was the one to call it off. The long-distance relationship wasn't working, and with me going to med school shortly after, I thought things weren't going to work out. At least, those were all the excuses I told myself, so I could let him go.

Things weren't going to work out because I was scared to know what would happen if people saw me as Swanna Girl. I hated being a superhero. All I wanted to do was heal Pokémon. Was that too much to ask? All I wanted to do was help Trainers and their Pokémon.

It was at that moment I realized what I hated most about being Swanna Girl. It wasn't being noticed. It wasn't that I couldn't help Trainers. The thing I hated most about being Swanna Girl was that I enjoyed it more than anything I'd ever done. I hated how much I enjoyed being a superhero as it wasn't what I had planned. But, between the adrenaline and knowing that I had made a difference, along with knowing no one would ever know, it was just exciting and different from my mediocre life.

Rudi wasn't like that. He embraced being Braviary Man. When I broke up with him that day, I convinced myself that it was for the best. If I stayed with him, it would only lead to hardship, and I'd be forced to be the thing I hated most.

Being blocked by my own thoughts, I hardly noticed the moment we were outside. Everything became a blur the minute we left Rudi standing there to the moment we stepped outside. I was somehow returning Swanna into his Poké Ball, making me realize that somehow, I had managed to get him out and get Lethe and me out of there.

"Sylvia, I'm sorry if I started any trouble," Lethe apologized.

I bit my tongue, doing everything I could from lashing out at him, when I noticed something move in the distance. I turned my head, but saw nothing. When I looked back at Lethe, I noticed him placing three Poké Balls on his belt.

"Lethe, where'd you get your Poké Balls?" I asked, remembering Wendy taking care of them.

The boy took a deep breath as he looked down. I followed his gaze, finding myself staring at a Zorua. My eyes widened. If there was one thing I knew about Zorua, it was that they were the ultimate pranksters of Pokémon.

If Lethe had a Zorua, then there was really no point of keeping Lethe contained, or separating him from his Poké Balls.

"Sylvia, I hope you know everything I do is to keep you safe," Lethe muttered. "That was why Mom and I could never see you."

Before I could ask what he meant or even think about arguing that statement, the boy grabbed something from his pant pocket and stabbed me right in the arm. I felt the quick pain of a needle cutting through my skin as some sort of liquid was injected.

Shock had but a moment to strike me as, everything started spinning, quickly spiraling away into blackness.

Author's Note:

Look! I finally found a picture of Rudi! Well, at least the best I can do for now. Think that wraps up for a majority of my OC's, minus the villains. One of these days, I'll find a picture of Gila and the others.

Question time: I want to hear your thoughts on the break up. Do you think Rudi did the right thing at the time? What did you think of Sylvia's reasoning at the time? Can't wait to hear what you all think about it and all that jazz!

We are nearing the end everyone. Thank you so much for pushing through and reading this far. It means a lot. Hope you're all enjoying it. Take care everyone!