Chapter 10

Two Paths to One End

Rain

A/n: Not dead, just a real slow update time as I've been working on "Defiance". Since that project is almost done I thought I'd come back to this one for a little. Written to "Ecstasy"

She had trusted him, explicitly. Baring both body and soul, and she had thought he had done the same. His betrayal was a thing of subtle evasions, illusions… And it was all shown in a heartbeat, by accident, by a stranger.

He stared into her eyes, the old man dressed in black with a crimson shown only on a badge over his heart. The man before her wore the badge with obvious pride. The marks of his old trade were shown in a mess of scars that criss-crossed his face, the lines of old cruelty had not been worn away by almost a decade of life spent as a civilian.

He took in her pale face, her trembling hands. He saw her shattered innocence, and the small smile of greeting on his face pulled down into a frown. At last, as silence built between them, as tension and horror mounted in her eyes, the old man opened his mouth. Not to reassure, but to voice his shock.

"He didn't tell you?"

X

The punch was a mockery of an attack. While the rage was quite genuine, the attack was feeble. Lifting a hand, he blocked the hit. Caught the fist in his palm and the boy nearly stumbled at his feet for having the attack halted. Samuel cried out, ordered Ash to stop, then yelled at Giovanni when the ex-Rocket clenched his hand over the boy, digging his finger's into the boy's knuckles in such a way that the child sank to his knees with a pained howl.

"Leo!"

Calloused hands rasped his wrist, tried to wrench his grip off of Ash. But it was of his own will that Giovanni let go and stepped back. And even then… even then he only retreated to better deliver a parting kick that left Guen's child sprawled out on the rocky ground. He was about to move forward then, to finish what he started. His rage coiled hotly in his gut, setting a red mist over his vision, and he was one breath from unleashing it in full...

Then someone was standing in front of him, and the sight of that face, twisted in an expression so unfamiliar it was alien, stilled Loenardo Giovanni's hand.

"Get out of my way, Sam."

"No."

The sight of Samuel's anger, a rage nearly as deep and dark as his own, shocked Giovanni out of his madness. Snarling a few oaths in his native tongue, he turned away, stared at nothing while he fought to regain control over himself. Wisely, the Professor went to Ash, helped the boy find his feet and looked over the child's injurys. It wasn't bad, Giovanni's counter attack hadn't been strong enough to break bones or leave any other type of lasting damage. Sick to his heart, Samuel figured that the gloves Ash always wore would hide whatever bruises might form.

As for the kick, it winded Ash, and had forced him back, that was all.

"Alright," Samuel growled. "I want an explaination, from both of..."

"Go to Hell." Giovanni rasped. "You, the boy, and your damned explaination can go..."

"Despite what... she did to you, you've no right to take it out on Ash. Ever. Or am I talking to Raphael? Because, if I am, if ever I see Raphael in you, no matter the forum, no matter your reasons... I'll force you to leave."

That threat was enough to steal Giovanni's breath, and the profane heavy reply gargled in his throat and died. He saw, from the look of rage in Samuel's eyes, just how far he had fallen. Gnashing his teeth together, Giovanni unclenched his fists and nodded.

"If I'd fallen that far, you'd have all the right in the world to exile me."

Weary, Ash got to his feet and turned to Professor Oak.

"Who's Ralphael?"

The professor didn't answer. Sure that Ash could stand on his own he hid his shaking hands into his pockets and with a jerk of his head indicated that they were to go. By the direction of the gesture, they were heading to the professor's house. Silence, tense, charged, fell between them as they began the long walk to Oak's.

At last, unable to take the extended quiet, Ash asked again. But Professor Oak acted like he hadn't heard, and so Giovanni answered him.

"He was... my father."

X

"So, he kept you innocent, I thought that wasn't in him. To protect someone... so selflessly. I guess he wasn't as cold as I thought. 'Course, if he was that cold I'd be a dead man." Smoothing his mostache, absently cloathed in colors normally worn by villans, he stared at her. His black eyes were hard, but not totally unsympathetic. "He gives me, the one's who've had too much, he hides them away, makes 'em disapear. He's hiding you... but from what?"

"The Rockets were after them." She whispered. "They moved against them too often, he was shielding m-."

He laughed, hard sharp barking laughs scraped agaisnt the walls of a throat gone harsh from years of screaming commands... Or perhaps he had screamed for darker reasons, perhaps he'd screached his hate, as a Fearow would shriek it's rage in a battle. He crossed the distance between them, his polished black boots moving soundlessly on the fillthy boards that served as the room's floor.

"He's moving against them at last, I see." Black eyes glimmered with amusement. "Then you're Guena Silmore."

"How do you know who I-" She bit her lip, remembered how he told her to tell no one who she was. Yet, this man, this stranger, seemed to pick her identity from her thoughts despite all her attempts to hide it. Yet, her attempts, were only physical, little more than a change of cloaths, a discarding of all her wealth. Anyone with a mind could see she wore the blue jeans and t-shirt with obvious discomfort. She flushed in shame at her shortcomings, then flinced as he touched her.

"Your family, has earned his hatred. Yet one's earned his respect, even his love." A caloused hand caressed her cheek, making a mockery of affection. "Who'd of thought he'd sink so low as to court one from the family that'd kill us all."

Then it clicked, his "contacts", his "buisness associates", the times he'd sent her from the room when certian men had entered. The cold glint in his eyes as he shrugged off loses that would have broken other buisnessmen. The slight mocking tone to his voice when he spoke of vauge plans, plans with no substence, of how he'd regain his losses with profit.

And how they always came through, no matter what.

No matter who died, who suffered, Leonardo Giovanni always seemed to come out on top. Some of the killings, the disapearances... how benificial they had been. Not that she'd have even thought of it when he was there, when he was there she was lost. Lost in his charming smile and warm eyes.

Her hands shook, as in this place, in this gritty dark space that was a thousand times more real than the opulant wealth... Reality hit, and it hit hard.

"How long?"

"All his life." That hard voice hissed, black eyes warm, taking pleasure in her pain. "He's his father's son, after all."

X

Pain, and loss made the brat tractable. It put a cap on the boy's endless endurance and enthusiasm.

Even if it had been an enthusiasm for vengence it was annoying. The quiet -perhaps a precurser to depression perhaps not- was a relief to his aching ears and trobing head. As they had walked, Persian had finally caught up and seeing Pikachu had purred. The mouse, having missed the fight due to its sloath, had answered with a happy "pika". Oblivious to the tension, Pikachu and Persian took up the rear, the yellow mouse riding the larger normal type as a human might ride a Ponyta. They talked, quietly, at least tactful enough to keep thier voices down amongst the mixed and tense human company.

It was a long walk, and he'd spent most of it glaring at Ash Silmore's -never would he think of the boy as Katchem, that would give the interloping bastard whod' taken Guena away from him more than he deserved- back. Rock smoothed to grass, and at last thier destination loomed before them. He'd had time to think, time to mull, and while his temper wasn't as hot as it had been earlier it had cooled somewhat.

Or rather it had cooled enough so that he didn't fantasize of pulling his gun out of it's holster and shooting Ash in the back.

It had been hard to think coherantly at first. To see the living, breathing, symbol of Guena's betrayal of him to another man, right in front of him. It had been hard, and it hurt, it hurt like hell. It still hurt, yet despite himself he picked out little things in the boy's motions. In the quick steps, the inquisitive -though dulled of enthusiasm the curiosity was still there- glances. All trade marks of Guean, a younger Guena, the woman who'd loved him.

Not the old embittered, cold woman she most certainly was now.

Not fair, his concience sighed, like a disquiet ghastly in the back of his mind, she might be that way towards you. But not to Sam, else he wouldn't have anything to do with her, or the brat.

As if that helped any.

Despite himself, he chuckled at his loss. It was an instinctual sound, of a man who belittle everything below him, even if it was himself. To that noise Ash turned. His gaze was hot with accusation, anger, and it became a shudder as Giovanni cooly stared him down.

Give me one reason, just one, and you'll die.

Pehaps reading the promise in those empty eyes, Ash shivered, perhaps it was from the chill breeze that came down from the mountains and brushed thier backs.

X

"It's going to rain, isn't it Mime-y?"

Her Mr. Mime knew what that meant. Out he went, to check the weather with sense that she didn't posses to confirm what she had guessed. He came back a moment later, and nodded. With a series of familiar motions and sounds he asked if she wanted to wrap the plants up outside. Autumn stomrs could sometimes be fierce and cold, and that combination could wreck damage on her garden. She nodded, but shook off the large hand that fell on her shoulder in silent intreaty to join in a flurry of activity. Fecthing the potted plants and bringing them in, of wrapping the more ground bound ones in thick fabrics to keep them warm...

"No Mime-y I'm not feeling too good right now."

That large head with it's impossibly cheary face tilted to the side. Blue eyes went wide, with concern, and she smiled. Some how she smiled, despite the scent of rain in the air.

"I'm alright, I'm just going to lie down. If I'm asleep wake me when Ash gets home."

X

"Are you sure, that you'll be safe?"

"I'd be more conserned about yourself, missy." The gruff ex-rocket said with a grin. Her charm in the nine months she'd spent with him had worn on his hardness. He kept up a facade, and she allowed him it with a teasing smile to tell her that she saw right through him. "He's thrown from the trail. Black with bloodlust and hate, he's focussing on the Magma's like I thought he would. Still, for the love of God, don't get caught. He figures you betray him, he'd kill you for the insult of it alone."

She nodded, from what she knew of Leo.. no Giovanni, she'd expect no less. She'd learned more of him every day, even from thier seperation. You learned a lot, she had discovered, from hiding out in the open. Pretending to be a Rocket in training, garbed in the baggiest of uniforms until her pregnancy had been impossible to hide... Then she'd hidden, living, no surviving in the moist darkness of Old Will's cellar.

Curious, he spied the weeks old babe, resting in her arms. He opened his mouth, to ask who's it was. Not his, by any stretch, but rumors held she'd been caught between the Boss and another, and had chosen niether. Or had she? Had she chosen one, and now fled Giovanni for fear of the repercusions of her choice?

He closed his mouth, and curled his lips into a grin.

"The lies are set, best run along now, girl. run, don't look back."