deception

Ye this got super fucked-up so viewer discretion advised for graphic violence and stuff. Um. I'd like more evil horror AUs based on the material we've got, all I'm sayin'.

Lillie's eyes widened as she felt a sharp jolt go up her arm, then shuddered as the jolt slipped away just as quickly. Then there was screaming as blood stained her pristine, white dress, gushing out in all directions, soaking the bag that once cradled that monster for months. She thought she helped him, nurtured him, protected him from what she thought was harm.

She thought…she thought Nebby was her friend…

Moon elbowed the Aether employee and wiggled out of her grasp, rushing to Lillie's side while the girl sunk down to the ground, aghast. Guzma only had his hands on Gladion, his usual brash self reduced to that of a whimpering child, so it would've been easy to break free. But the boy stood in horror, unable to move, tears streaking down his cheeks. Hau was in the other Aether employee's grasp, flailing and screaming to be let go so he could help his friend.

Long ago the tapus prophesized some type of catastrophe that would befall Alola, but for the set-up to be created by children, to be caused by their pain and anguish…oh, how fate was cruel. No relative could be guaranteed to be safe anymore; no friend could be guaranteed to be trusted…

Someone began to quietly sob as rain began pouring down on all of them. Raindrops splashed upon Lusamine's corpse, so ugly and sickly and pale compared to the beautiful, statuesque being that was once her. Some would say that the skies were crying for all of them, but this wasn't pity or sadness. This was joy, sadistic and shallow as it washed away all of their purity, their innocence, their hope. Alola was no longer a place for the idealistic. It was just like any other godforsaken country now, corrupted by the selfishness and manipulation of others. Soon space and time would be ripped open once more, and they would be subject to whatever wrath the Ultra Beasts struck at them.

And Nebby was the catalyst for that.

The Lunala's wings were soaked with blood, but he didn't mind. He arched his head high in the air like a Meowth as his neck was scratched by his true owner. Lillie broke into tears as Gladion finally ripped himself of Guzma's grasp and ran to her, hugging her tight. The blood wouldn't stop pouring out from her shoulder and arm; if she made it out alive, there was no guarantee that she'd ever be able to use it again. Her eye, too, was half-ripped out and bleeding from the socket. Just like Mother's long ago. She wore a glass eye and never spoke of it, but she only cried with one eye.

"When did you both become so beautiful?"

Gladion punched the ground. Those were her last words before Nebby tore right through her, just like how she was about to tear through the space-time continuum to see her fanatic research come to fruition. She was selfish, and painful, yet did she deserve such an abysmal end? Guzma would've been done in for, too, had not Moon's Decidueye shot through the air to stop Nebby from striking him.

And now even Moon's pokemon were too hurt to help them. Damn it all, they depended on the poor, new girl to solve their problems too much.

Suddenly there was a loud shout, followed by the first Aether employee smacking Guzma in the back of his head with the handle of a gun. The Team Skull leader collapsed to the ground but not before kicking a cloud of dirt in front of their enemy's face. The one they all trusted, the one they thought was their friend. "You bitch!" he howled, glaring at their deceiver. "You were the one person in Aether that I thought was kinda cool! How ya just stab your boss in the back, after everything she done for you?! You got no respect! You got no loyalty! I thought you cared about the world and children and pokemon and junk!"

She laughed. Her glasses fogged up with the rain, and Gladion wish he had the strength to run up to her and punch her pretty, little face. After Father had left them, she was the one that held the family together. Hugged Lillie when she was lonely. Bought him his glasses and prescriptions when Mother was too sick to help him. Helped him escape with Null. Helped Lillie escape with Nebby…

For once Guzma was right. She was just as monstrous as Mother was in the end, if not more so. There was no loyalty in those cold, olive eyes of hers. She laughed louder again, and he cringed. "The world, Mr. Guzma? Really?" she asked, still in that soft, sweet tone she always used. "Why would I care about the world when it never gave me anything? Lusamine was onto something when she wanted the Ultra Beasts' power, but she only wanted beauty."

"And what do you want that we possibly can't give you?!" Plumeria was restrained by Faba and three Team Skull grunts that had defected from the group. Even she was bruised up by the whole ordeal. They underestimated how strong Aether had become in just a few short months. They were pitiful, but at least Big Sis knocked down several employees and broke Faba's nose before they finally immobilized her. "What do you want that you want to throw away everyone's love for you, Wicke?!"

"None of you never loved me!" It was the first time Gladion ever heard her snap. Despite what she tried to make herself, she only sounded weak. Sad, frail. Panicked. "The world never loved me! All my life while I've lived here Alola's bragged about being so warm and loving to everyone, but I've always been an outsider! I've been used and beaten until I can't stand it anymore!

"And now…" Wicke wiped her glasses, and now there was only a hollow look in her eyes, "we're going to enter a new world. We'll unleash the Ultra Beasts, and they will pass judgment on us. None of us are innocent, not even the children. They'll grow up just like us. We'll ignore them and use them, and they'll succeed us in our footsteps."

Guzma lost his edge again, and he sagged his shoulders. "I never wanted them to be like ya boy. I wanted them to be cooler."

"You wanted them to help you," Wicke corrected. "You wanted to use them to help solve your problems. But it all backfired, didn't it? Gladion left you and then you kidnapped the princess and now they both hate you, don't they? Everyone hates you just like everyone hates me. You were never loved, either. That's why I thought I could use you…but I guess I was wrong."

Nebby began to advance forward, but she stopped him with a hand. "No, Nebby. I can take care of this one myself. He's too worthless for you to waste your time on."

The barrel of the gun brushed against Guzma's hair, and he made no motion to look away as it pressed against his forehead. It was the last straw. Lillie screamed again, and Moon turned her away, and Hau kept wrestling with the Aether foundation as the rain began to pour harder. It felt hopeless, but Gladion forced himself to run and snatch the gun away from Wicke's hands, firing straight up into the air. Everyone ducked while the bullets rose and then fell, smashing against the ground with a SMACK-SMACK-SMACK.

Then he felt a hot flash across his face and blood pour from his nose, and he fell to the ground next to Guzma. Wicke stomped onto his back with her foot and he cried out in pain, but he bore it and clenched his teeth. He wouldn't let everyone's fight be in vain. "You're nothing but a fucking liar!" he hissed. "Old Man Guzma might be a renegade and a klutz and a criminal. He doesn't know how to use his inside voice while grocery shopping, and he'll steal candy in his pockets in the most conspicuous way while you're watching! And he fucked up by joining you and Mother in this Ultra Beast plot! If Old Man Nanu doesn't arrest him after this, I might just do it myself.

"But that doesn't mean I…we hate him! Me and Lillie and Big Sis Plums became attached to him, and even Moon and Mala- Hau became friends with him! There's hope for that big, stupid lug yet! There was…there is hope for you still. You…you never told us you were in so much pain…"

He felt so foolish in thinking that such juvenile words could bring her back. He thought that with a melodramatic rainpour and some kindness, he could help Wicke come back to them. Even if she…murdered Mother. Even if she hurt Lillie and him. Even if she wanted to hurt them all along. Mother hurt them, and Lillie still wanted to help her, didn't she? Even if he didn't want to bring her back, he wanted to try, at least for Lillie's sake.

She kicked him in the face. Then she crouched down and cradled his face in her hands, and while they stared at each other, he thought he saw a faint glimmer of their Wicke, of the shining star that was once her. But then there was nothing, and she only wiped some blood from his nose. "Oh, Gladion," she murmured, "if only there was someone in the world that could help me."

And then there was nothing. He faded in and out, and from beneath the sky he saw Wicke and Nebby and everyone in Aether and the defected Team Skull grunts disappear in a flash of light. And from beneath his puffy and bruised face, he kept feeling rain and tears and kept hearing sobbing and screaming. Over time he kept feeling someone hugging him, different someones, and he only half-sat stiffly, not reacting to anything or anyone.

He wanted to hate her. Her and Mother. Yet through all his pain and suffering, he couldn't. They were both gone from this world, and there he and everyone else was, utterly obliterated from trailing behind their path. Broken. Beaten.

Hopelessly, utterly alone.