Chapter 1 - The End
"It's just down here." Serena leans against the elevator wall, a steady well of fear rising in her chest. Her only indicator that she was descending was the quiet groan of the elevator and the sinking feeling in her stomach. Calem places a hand on her shoulder, smiling. The elevator runs quickly, but it looked to be a long trip down.
"Don't worry, neighbor." Calem says, as if saying that would stop her from freaking out. Nothing could now. "Geosenge Town will be fine. We'll stop Lysandre, and everything will be okay. Nobody else will die, least of all us." He had that dark look in his eyes again, the painful struggle he'd tried so hard to hide from her since Lysandre's Lab.
"If we lose, though…" Serena struggles to keep her composure. She can't be weak. Not now, with Calem depending on her. She dragged him on this mad journey in the first place – if she showed weakness now, she invalidated every struggle they had to endure, every difficult choice they had to make.
"We'll find a way." Calem says, his false confidence painful to hear.
"I hope so."
They were silent for a long while, only the grinding of the elevator in the background between them. It was a dark, eerie sound, and Serena half-believed it to be some bleak omen being foretold, dooming either her or Calem. She was exhausted – she couldn't remember the last time she'd slept. It must have been before she raided Lysandre's Lab.
She saw Xerosic's corpse sliding down the wall again, three bullet holes in the scientist's body. His face more of a mesh of blood and brain than any recognizable feature.
"Serena, listen," Calem turns to her. He wrung his hands, and Serena sees his weight bobbed from one foot to the other. "Before we end all of… this, there's something I've wanted to tell you for the longest time. I-"
The elevator halts and the doors open. Serena smiles at him. She didn't want to hear it.
"Best tell me later."
Darkness at first. Serena let her eyes adjust. To each side she made out a few high ranking Team Flare members, watching them carefully and ready to fight if needed. She was expected. Up ahead stood Lysandre, head held high and hands behind his back. Ever a man of style, his posture is perfect and his clothes impeccable. Hair styled and gelled, suit pressed. Like a man at a professional interview or appearing before the public. Serena swallows her anger. The devil himself appearing before her in an Armani suit.
"Lysandre!" Serena calls to him, "This is insane!"
He stares back as the two trainers approach. Serena could feel her fear rise with every step, every hair on her body standing in protest. When they stop a mere twenty feet away from him, she was fighting to keep from trembling.
"Serena, you are such a beautiful young woman." Lysandre cooed softly. There was no threat there, no call for violence. He spoke as if to a daughter, and Serena felt his emotion grip her. "You've grown so much, in so little a time." A long pause and the two stare each other down.
"This country cannot be saved." Lysandre breaks the silence, "I used to weep that I would have to hand off this broken world to you, the future generation. Our politics are a sham, fueled by rhetoric, spectacle, and nonsense. Our military might usurps and controls lesser nations. Our modern, western culture dominates, destroying alternative thought and action. I want to... No, I must save us all. It is my duty."
"And your solution is a slaughter?" Serena fidgets with the end of her loose shirt. She was a child before him, and she could not hold his gaze. "Professor Sycamore's got the military involved. The National Guard is on their way, and when they break down the doors to this facility…"
"They won't arrive in time." Lysandre sighs. "I did not send out that message on the Holo-Caster without accounting for resistance. It is with great joy that I can state that the only soldiers this country will have once I am done with it will be dead ones."
"Violence isn't an answer!" Calem shouts, breaking his silence. "You can't just kill everybody to solve our nation's problems!"
"Says the murderers!" Lysandre shouts, enraged as quickly as lightning strikes. His demeanor shifts completely from how he addressed Serena. "Did Xerosic deserve to die? Or Celosia or Bryony?" Calem froze, unable to respond. "Your government dogs will invade this place, guns firing, and will murder all of my men to stop me! Yet you say violence isn't an answer!" He pauses, his outburst stilled for a moment. "I can only expect hypocrisy from lesser beings. Serena," He turns to her. "I find it hard to believe that as perfect a specimen as you would join with mongrels who cannot comprehend greatness!"
"Please, just stop this!" Serena pleads. "It doesn't have to be this way. Sure, there's evil in this country. There's a hell of a lot of it. I've seen so much of it first-hand while traveling throughout Kalos. I saw men and women sleeping in the streets, abused and neglected by their fellow countrymen. I've seen thievery and pain, betrayal and greed. I… I've killed people to get to where I am now, to stop you!"
"You understand our struggle-"
"But I cannot agree with this!" Serena continues, "Most people are good! They don't deserve to die! Most are trying to make this world a better place. And it's a slow process. Sure, there's setbacks. There's always problems, but that's no excuse to just end it all and start over!"
"I have seen nothing but pain and corruption in this country." Lysandre shakes his head. "You do not treat the gangrene festuring in the arm, for it cannot be cured. You lop the limb off and hope you've lopped off enough to ensure it spreads no further. The only way to ensure that good is protected is to purge this land with fire. But I have argued my case enough.
"I cry only for the Pokemon, as they are the only true innocents." Lysandre's head is down, clenching his fists. Serena stares at him, backing away as she scans her surroundings. To her side she sees Calem doing the same, his expression nervous and unsure. "Now, as they have always been throughout history, they have become mere tools, furthering the corruption of man. It is unforgiveable. Human murderers, rapists, and thieves. Politicians and businessmen and military men. All manner of scum will use pokemon to further their evil ends."
"You speak of murderers, but you want to wipe Kalos clean of life?" Serena shouts, unable to hold back any loner, "You're just a hypocrite, Lysandre! You're the same as the people you're desperately trying to kill!"
"You are wrong, Serena." Lysandre paused, and Serena thought she saw a glimmer of wetness in his eyes. "I am worse."
"Lysandre?"
"I have committed far more than mere murder, Serena! Even your sins cannot compare to my own!" Lysandre's eyes widen as if crazed. "I do anything to accomplish my goals. Murder, thievery, the abuse of the innocent, the abandonment of all that is good. I bear the sins of mankind, and once the end has passed, there will be no place left in Kalos for my evil. What I have done is not forgiven by the world I am ushering in!"
He goes silent, drawing a pokeball. He presses the button softly, and his Mienshao appears at his side. Calem, always a quick draw, lets his Sylveon out and steps back to survey an oncoming battle. But something feels wrong. A pokemon battle isn't enough, Serena knew. Not when the country was at stake.
"I admired you from afar, Serena, much as Calem does. Much as so many others do." Lysandre smiled, tilting his head back. A tear ran down his face. "Always, you dazzled me. From the very beginning. You have made me doubt. You have made me fear. You have made me wish that I was better than I am."
"Lysandre, I…"
"I regret what I am about to do more than anything else, but I will not be stopped." Lysandre's gaze sharpens. "Mienshao, the girl." Serena feels her chest tighten. She steps back, fumbling for a pokeball as the pokemon leaps at her.
"Serena!" She hears Calem shout, but the Mienshao is already at her. Just as she lets fly a pokeball, its paw strikes her stomach. A resounding thud as she's forced back just a step, then the Mienshao spins, its right leg catching her side. Serena groans heavily as she is launched to the side. A few feet away she hits the laboratory wall, the back of her head impacting heavily against steel. Her vision flashes, then blurs. Then comes the ringing in her ears. To the side she barely registers her Lucario, just released, jumping at the Mienshao. Behind the scuffling pokemon, Lysandre raises his arm, a gun in hand.
"Calem!" Serena shouts, and Sylveon jumps for its trainer.
A loud bang and the firearm smokes. Sylveon falls to the side. Calem screams, somewhere distant. Serena struggles to stand, her legs wobbling and uncertain beneath her. Unable to focus, unable to think. She lurches forward, trying to step but instead falling against a desk, gripping what she can to keep herself up.
"I pray this ends for you soon." Lysandre says, then fires his handgun three more times.
The first bullet strikes Calem's right shoulder, nearly spinning him about. The second enters his stomach. The final one bullet impacts right between his eyes. Calem falls to his knees, but the light in his eyes is already gone. He slumps over.
"No!" Terror. Panic. Fear. Lysandre turns to her, his handgun raised. To her side, she sees Lucario rushing for her, but Lysandre's Mienshao jumps onto its back, wrestling the poor thing into submission. Lucario screeched and whined, clawing at anything to get at Serena, but it couldn't get free.
Lysandre hesitates, his gun trained on Serena only fifteen feet away. His mouth was open. She knew him. He had so many things to say, but no words to use. Serena closed her eyes, and Lucario's frantic scrabbling at the steel floor seemed so far away.
"A perfect world awaits." Lysandre says finally, and pulls the trigger.
An eruption of pain from her shoulder, and Serena is forced into a spin, toppling her over. It was all over now. Her vision darkening, she falls towards the ground.
She never made it down.
A deafening roar and she feels herself flung sideways. A blast of fire erupts from the entryway. Motion and violence as Team Flare members stuggle to react. Dark shapes march in with guns. Armored pokemon pounce and red-suited men fall to the ground in blood and agony. After a moment, the chaos dies down. The military men set up a barrier as the remaining Team Flare members rush to the opposite side of the room, towards Lysandre.
"Halt, Lysandre!" A booming voice calls. Serena pulls herself forward, gripping a desk leg. She peered from underneath to see better. To the side she sees Calem's body, lifeless and staring up at the ceiling. Blood leaked from the hole in his forehead. The rest of him looks so natural, as if the fatal wound was just clever make-up. She looks at it for a long while, uncomprehending, before gazing back at the soldiers.
"Soldiers!" Lysandre laughs, sweeping his arms wide. "Truly a miracle that I am unsuprised! Unfortunately, there's nothing left to be done. Yveltal's already been processed. Sycamore's young prodigies have already failed. The end has come." To his side, Mienshao steps up to Lysandre, prepared to fight. Lucario lay unconscious nearby. Or dead. Serena couldn't tell. "The hammer is set to fall."
"Call it off, Lysandre, or we'll blow this place to hell." The commander's voice seems to crack just a little. He's scared. Serena could feel it too. It had been so long since she hadn't felt scared. Always, the terror in the back of her mind, festering in the bottom of her stomach and threatening to burst forth at any moment. Not since Tierno and Trevor disappeared, not a trace to be found. Not long after that, Shauna tearfully gave up. It was too much for her. It was her loss that stung her the most, Serena knew. If only she could have seen Shauna one more time… But Calem and Serena pressed on. Shauna's fears were confirmed, and now Calem was dead.
"As always! The government responds with force when the people rise up!" Lysandre shouts, enraged. "There is no freedom in Kalos! Juridical violence is the only answer your kind have for people like me!"
"Lysandre!" Walking up between the soldiers, Serena sees Professor Sycamore, a terrified look on his face. "Please! Let's end this!"
"Men!" The commander points, "Aim!"
"Yes, let's!" Lysandre laughs, eyes wide. Fear, adrenaline and euphoria.
"No!" Sycamore shouts, "Lysandre, you have to see reason!"
"There is no saving Kalos."
Guns fire, and Serena curls herself up, holding her head in her hands. Around her the room begins to shimmer. Everything begins to shake, and Serena felt the energy build below her. Calem's lifeless body seemed almost to glow.
"It begins!" Lysandre shouts, and blinding light fills the room.
"Kill him!" Somewhere, the military commander issues the order.
Through the light, she barely sees Lysandre's shadow as he falls.
"The machines!" Someone yells. "Shut them off!"
"We're too late!"
Serena clutches her head, screaming as the walls begin the collapse. The light shines through everything. She sees nothing. Feels the blood soak through her shirt. Calem is gone. Lucario is gone. The soldiers are gone. Lysandre is no more.
Everything fades away.
Author's Note: This is the edited version of my first chapter. Chapters 1-12 are all edited, as I originally started this story months ago and then later decided to come back to it. I hope you enjoy it!