My eyes open to Hau standing over me. I roll over and groan, drifting right back to sleep. In the back of my mind, I can hear voices murmuring in the darkness. Hau gently shakes my shoulders, bringing me to the surface once again. Ms. Wicke stands at the foot of my bed, Hau's eye brows lift as he waits for a response.

"What?" I moan.

"Sorry, I tried to hold them off as long as I could, but you need to give your statement now," Ms. Wicke says quietly.

"Statement?" I yawn.

"Police statement," Ms. Wicke declares sternly.

I burry my face in the pillow and mutter a curse. I'm so tired I can't even think, let alone give a statement. My chest aches as stress overwhelms me, I'm guilty of something, I'm sure of that. Thinking of the repercussions turns my stomach, it's so overwhelming that I shut down inside.

As I rise to my feet, the strong urge to vomit comes over me. My mouth salivates uncontrollably as I dash across the room to the doorway. My eyeballs feel like they are going to pop out of my skull as I retch and heave violently. The pressure of my contractions causes my vision to blacken and tunnel.

I cough and gag between hurls. Dizziness follows from the lack of air as I struggle to control my vomiting. Everything begins to go black. I try fighting it, but I can feel myself fainting.

I'm brought back by the coolness of a damp rag on the back of my neck. Hau's hands gently press the cool rag against my skin. As my vision straightens out, I can see a very small pile of vomit on the floor next to me, so small I almost missed it.

"Let's bring her to medical," Ms. Wicke says to Hau as she looks down on me.

"No, I'm fine...Let's just get this over with," I say, almost immediately regretting it.

Police escort Hau and I to the main offices of Aether Paradise, where they separate us. Hau is led to a meeting room, while I wait next to an officer in the lobby. My gut aches when I see the press gathering outside.

A handful of Aether Advisors stand outside, conversing with the reporters inaudibly. They get into a yelling match when one of the reporters tries, unsuccessfully, to pull the door to the lobby open. I feel a bit better realizing the lobby doors are locked.

Suddenly, I hear angry shouts coming from the hallway, as they grow louder I recognize the voice.

"But my research! Do you have any idea who you are arresting?"

I watch Faba buck and yank as two police officers escort him through the lobby. He glares at me over his shoulders as the police drag him to the door. His cuffed hands strain as he is met by the unrelenting press gathered outside. I nervously cover my face with my hand, that could be me next.

"Officer, would you maybe consider moving me to a more private location?" I ask politely as possible.

"Better get used to having no privacy," the officer scoffs.

I feel myself flinch at his remark.

"Ya, I remember you! I'm looking forward to seeing you and that shit punk boyfriend of yours behind bars. It took them 18 hours to put the fire out. It's still smoldering!"

Queasiness settles in again when I recall the events of yesterday afternoon, I'm still processing the fact that I burned an entire town to the ground less than 24 hours ago.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Excuse me?"

"Was anybody hurt? Please tell me...I need to know."

The officers face softens a bit, he seems to be considering the remorse in my voice.

"A few Team Skull members had minor burns-"

"And the officers?"

"Just a few bumps and bruises."

"Send in the girl," mutters a staticy voice over the radio.

The officer escorts me down a long hallway. We pass a large, glass executive room and a few regal looking offices before entering a much more modest wing of the facility. We make an abrupt stop at a rather plain looking door. He knocks and we stand in silence, waiting. My heart beings to pulse sporadically and my palms leak beads of nervous sweat.

My throat tightens when I see the officer on the other side of the door.

Nanu looks at me unenthused, his wrinkles seem much more pronounced than usual and a forest of greyish-white stubble covers his face.

"Thank you. I can take things from here," he says, closing the door behind us.

After a few moments go by, he locks the door and jiggles the handle, ensuring its bolted tightly behind us.

He offers me a seat at a small, round table. His droopy, tired eyes stare coldly into mine as he chews the inside of his cheek.

"Do have you anything to drink?" I plead, I don't think I've ever been so thirsty in my life.

He unscrews the lid of his large thermos and pours a generous amount of steaming hot coffee into the metal lid, filling it to the brim.

His face remains emotionless as he carefully slides it across the table to me. He watches blankly as I gulp the scalding liquid. It burns all the way down, in more ways than one.

"More," I beg, returning the lid to him.

His eyebrow raises slightly.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asks, giving me a subtle hint that concludes my suspicions about the coffee.

"Well from the looks of things, I'm fucked anyway," I reply bluntly.

"Nobody here is fucked. Have some faith!" he says, pouring me a second, much smaller snoot.

After I finish my drink, he pulls out a tape recorder and inserts a fresh tape. My name is written across the label, along with the date.

Nanu's eyebrows harden, he gives me a very serious look as he slides a small pile of papers across the table to me.

"Please tell me you've always aspired to be an actress," he says quietly.

Feeling a bit confused by his remark, I look down at the papers he passed to me.

It's a script.

_______________

Ms. Wicke and I stand silently in the elevator. My stomach growls loudly, as I awkwardly stare at the floor.

"Don't worry, I had some food sent to the sitting room," she says softly, her magenta eyes dart anxiously in my direction.

She seems so shaken up by everything that's happening. I feel like I should try and say something to comfort her, but I'm far too tired to find anything optimistic about this situation.

I step out of the elevator into the sickeningly elite room. Like the rest of this place, white everything, with the exception of gold embellished moldings and an accent of fine wood on the furniture. A few, strategically placed, exotic plants softens the coldness of the overall harsh esthetic of the room, but the charming greenery and warm wood accents aren't fooling me.

Despite the polished and noble outward appearance, a large stain tarnishes this home, it could be painted black as far as I'm concerned.

Gladion looks very out of place amongst all of these fine, delicate things. His body is slumped forward as he perches on the edge of the firm sofa, face zeroed in on the news report. His glassy, blood-shot eyes are sunken into his skull, encircled by thin, bluish-black skin.

He shifts, resting his chin on his bandaged hands. I take a seat next to him, turning my attention to the news report that has him so captivated.

"With the long acting president of the large tech conglomerate presumed dead, shareholders are scrambling to come out ahead at the exchange as stocks plummet. We are now going live to our business correspondent in Unova."

"As you can see behind me, it's a total mad house here at the exchange today amidst the controversy swirling around the Aether Foundation and its affiliate companies."

"Can you tell us what this means for the future of the company?"

"It's hard to predict at this moment as information is still being relayed to us as it surfaces. But with stocks plummeting as quickly as they are, we could see some major upset in the market over the next couple of days."

"Do you think this could have a long term, negative impact on the Unova economy?"

"Again, it's very hard to predict, but if this company does go under, we could see major upset to the Unova market as well as global markets. There are talks of possible bail outs as the company is largely considered a too big to fail asset. The board has yet to elect a new president and I think a strong choice in leadership could restore trust in the company."

Gladion angrily clicks the remote and the screen goes black.

He turns to me, placing his hand lightly on the middle of my back.

"You should eat something," he says softly, showing me the platter of food on the coffee table in front of us.

"Where's Hau and Lillie?" I murmur, tearing off another chunk of bread from the loaf.

"Lillie is in medical."

"Is she okay?!"

"I think she'll be okay. She has a fractured wrist but I'm much more worried about what's going on up here," Gladion replies, tapping his finger to his temple.

"Yeah, last night...well, it was..."

"Fucked."

"Yup."

"and Hau?"

"Crashing on a couch near medical. He refused to do anything else...nobody is allowed in there right now."

"Why?"

"We have a special guest," Gladion says, giving me a rather peculiar look.

"Seriously..."

"Yup," Gladion remarks, looking incredibly annoyed, "The staff found him passed out in the hallway last night."

"What are they going to do with him?"

"I suggested tying his legs to an anchor and dumping him into the ocean. My advisors didn't like my idea."

"Your advisors?"

"The company's advisors," he says, correcting himself, "Well, I hate to cut this short, but I haven't slept yet."

"I have a hard time believing I actually slept, I think I need to find something to prop my eye lids open."

Gladion smiles softly, "You can join me if you like."

I hesitate as I take my first step onto the wide staircase. Despite its bright and welcoming appearance in the afternoon sunshine, I can't shake the sounds of Lillie's screams.

"If this is too much, I can have the staff prepare you a guest room. I don't like it either, but it's been years since I slept in my own bed."

"No, I want to be with you," I say, taking his hand.

"C