"Where are we going!" I cried with delight as he grabbed me by the hand and we hurled up the staircase back to floor ninety-nine. Cheren threw the door at the top open and then closed again as quickly as he could.
A split second—just enough time to lock N on the other side—went by before we heard a banging rampage from behind the door.
"We're getting out of here!" Cheren declared with a lustful voice. Freedom shown in his eyes and his smile was bigger than I had ever seen it.
"I knew you would come rescue me!" I yelled as he led me to the other end of the hallway to the next set of stairs. All the elevators had stopped working and Cheren locked the only door going up the stairs. We had time… but we could only go up.
None of the grunts worked on the last two floors so our path was clear.
"Rescue YOU?" Cheren snorted a laugh. "I'm rescuing myself!"
And that's when I realized that he had been here the whole time… being held hostage just like I had. Anger flared in my chest. How dare they do that to my friends!
Capturing me was one thing… I was a threat… but Cheren? That was just evil. We were almost to the end of the hallway when a huge door creaked open. I narrowly avoided it, but was caught unexpectedly by a pair of huge hands. I screamed in terror as Cheren's hand was torn from mine. He whirled, rage darkening his already dark eyes.
"Let me GO!" I screamed as Ghetsis shook me with all his might. My head rattled and I tried my hardest to claw at his eyes.
"STOP!" Cheren wailed as the other sages blocked his path and he was being herded back down the hallway.
I heard a faint buzzing sound and Cheren screamed. His figure disappeared between the mass of cloaks and kingly attire. My heart sank and I started kicking and scratching and throwing myself around like no ones business.
"YOU BASTARDLY GIRL!" Ghetsis roared and shook me harder. "YOU CAN NOT ESCAPE!"
My heart felt like it was going to be shaken straight from my chest. "CHEREN!" I yelled as they yanked him to his feet and dragged his limp body. I couldn't see much more, and with his defeat I went limp and waited for Ghetsis to stop.
"Ghetsis!"
I was amazed… completely and utterly shocked by how quickly I felt safe. It was instant, exactly when my brain registered the fact that N had broken through the door, I was safe.
"N…" I groaned as Ghetsis released all of me except for my arm. He gripped it too tightly, making my skin turn a ghostly white.
Once N was close enough to us Ghetsis threw me into his arms.
"TAKE HER BACK TO HER ROOM!" he snarled and raised his hand to hit N. I flinched at N's feeble attempt to get away. He hid my face in his chest and his fingers curled into my hair.
"Look me in the eyes boy." Ghetsis demanded. I peeked out at him and his ring covered fingers were curled into tight fist. He clenched his jaw and pulled his arm back.
"STOP!" I ripped away from N and bowled myself into Ghetsis with all my strength. His fist managed to skim N's shoulder but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.
"I will decapitate you." Ghetsis wrapped his fingers around my neck and squeezed. "Do NOT interfere!"
I tried to swallow but it got stuck and I gasped for air.
"Ghetsis!" N begged.
His fingers grew tighter around my throat. For a split second I wondered if he COULD decapitate me. When you're in the moment like that… seeing stars from the lack of air, it seemed very possible.
"FATHER!" N cried.
And suddenly the hand let go. I gasped for air and fell to my knees, my throat throbbing with effort and my chest heaving.
"I told you not to call me that." Ghetsis hissed. "Now get out of my sight while I punish your little pet."
N stared horrified at his father for a long moment. I looked up at him with pleading and my arms trembled. Please… please, my eyes begged.
"N—No." N finally whispered.
He was raked across the face so hard it made blood spurt from his nose.
Tears swelled in my eyes and I fought the dizziness away. I stood to my feet and stumbled into N. I threw my arms around him and clutched the back of his shirt, sobbing. Stand up for yourself! I wailed silently.
"No!" N repeated, holding his cheek with a cupped hand.
Silence fell over the room as the majority of the grunts stared at us in shock. The whole hallway of floor ninety-nine was flooded with a crowd of wide eyes. I understood there look of disbelief.
They where shocked, not only because N's former rival was clinging to his shirt sobbing, feeling blood drip in her hair, but because their King's own father had hit him. No one raised a hand to the king without being executed.
N stared around, fighting back tears in his own eyes. He took in a rasping breath and cleared his throat. His lips were red from his dripping nose before he raised an arm to wipe away the thick, salty smelling blood.
He cast one devastating look at his father before speaking. "Back to work Grunts…" his voice was raw.
"That girl is going to the guillotine!" Ghetsis demanded.
N shot him a look of disbelief and tilted his chin up. Ghetsis was ignored as N pulled me along, his long fingers curled around my shoulders and not letting me go. I blinked, feeling refreshed now, and so proud of N it made new tears escape my eyes.
The grunts made a path with no delay for N to walk through. He didn't look anyone in the eyes as he walked with me.
I on the other hand… got every furious, bewildered, sorrow-filled, and pleading stare that they had to offer. Only a handful or so looked sorry for me. The elevators went on, the grunts dispersed, and Ghetsis slammed his huge room door. I wasn't sure how you could slam something so great, but he did.
N didn't bother going into the elevator for one flight of stairs, so we walked silently down the dim corridor to the next magnificent hallway. This one was familiar and I realized the staircase had ended in a door that only opened into the small storage room that I never paid much attention to. I knew it was one of those doors you could only open with a code or a key by the way N stalled at it, his shaky fingers working over the lit up keys.
My hallway was quiet and full of light, with no sign of the havoc that had gone on just above us. The huge window at the end showed the high daytime sun and few thin clouds. I sighed a shaky breath and came to a slow stop just before reaching my own huge door.
N looked down at me with cloudy eyes. Dried blood was clinging to his face and smeared across his cheek, while fresh blood still dripped. I could see now that he had not only a bloody nose, but a neat slice in his right eyebrow. He sniffed up the blood as it threatened to pour.
I grabbed his hand. "Come on. Let me show you what to do."
None of us said a word as we entered my room, which felt slightly heavy and thick. It was almost humid, but N was too stressed to notice. My eyes flickered around, trying to catch a glimpse of Crypt, but knowing he was perfectly hidden somewhere, waiting for his turn to appear to me.
He would be very worried and upset with what happened… judging by the way the room felt I knew he could already sense the trouble. I flinched; it was only a matter of time before N did notice something odd about my room's atmosphere…
We climbed the spiral staircase to his floor quickly, my hand still in his, and the other clutching the railing. I felt kind of dizzy, but didn't let it bother me. N kept sniffing the blood back up and I knew that wasn't good. I used to get bloody noses often as a kid and my mother had always told me to lean over and just let the blood come out.
I had never been in N's bathroom, but it was surprisingly normal, looking much like mine across the hall downstairs. Gold faucets and royal blue towels and marble floors. It was simple, but the smell of men's cologne filled the air.
"Come here." I pulled him along to the sink. "Stop sniffing it back up, that will just make it get stuck in your sinuses. Lean over and let it come out on its own."
He obeyed silently. It wasn't often he was so silent… so I was afraid that this time Ghetsis had really hurt him. My hand stroked his shoulder once or twice before I grabbed the smallest towel off the rack and rinsed it in warm water with the second sink.
My fingers probed gently along his forehead and I could see he was really in pain. "Ghetsis didn't break your nose did he?" I whispered, applying very slight pressure to the cut in his eyebrow.
N shook his head. "I don't think so." He sounded nasal, and coughed once. Blood spattered the counter and he groaned.
I pushed his hair back behind his ear and looked at his troubled face. He glanced up at me and something more than sorrow passed through the emerald depths of his eyes. I felt my heart swell for him as I wiped his cheek clear of the dried blood. He blinked twice and then pinched the bridge of his nose.
I figured asking him if he was ok wasn't exactly the right thing to do at a time like this, when it was obvious he wasn't ok, but I couldn't stop myself. I asked anyways.
"Are you?" he replied weakly, rather than answering.
I nodded and swallowed. This was a lie, but what was I going to say? My throat felt tight and my heart was thudding awkwardly. "I… I'm proud of you N." I rinsed out the small towel and left it on the sink next to me.
"What?" he peeked up at me through his lashes again. The drippy-ness of the blood has stopped now and he was able to raise his head to look at me. He stayed over the sink just in case.
"You stood up to Ghetsis."
"He's going to hit me later… when the grunts aren't around." N's voice was barely more than a whisper. My heart was breaking for him.
An eighteen year old with practically no life experience but was a king and had an abusive father than hated him. I wasn't sure how many times I had repeated that in my head. It just all seemed too impossible… something you only ever hear in the newspapers from regions and regions away. Unova had once been a sane place… I wasn't sure what happened to it now.
Or was it just me?
I pressed my forehead against N's arm and sighed. "Stand up to him… don't let him hit you." I said. "He can only do so much… those grunts fallow you, not him. I'm sure you could threaten him with that."
N just shook his head, knowing he would never really do that. I felt helpless. What were you supposed to say to someone like that? Too powerful to ignore and too under his father's shadow to stand up for himself. This was impossible.
"I'm sorry… Touko…" N said suddenly.
"For what?"
"I'm sorry… that Cheren is here."
And now I was stuck. I pulled my face off his arm and looked away, trying to find it in me to be angry at him for keeping Cheren here as well as me. Cheren didn't deserve it… I didn't, but he especially was innocent. Cheren had only ever tried to stick up for me and never give up. That was his downfall in the end it seemed…
But was that it? Was this really the end? I found it hard to believe so.
"Are you very angry with me?" N asked, trying to look me in the eyes. He rubbed his sinuses gently and then touched the slice in his brow. He flinched.
"I just don't think its fair…" the last thing I wanted to do was upset him any more than he already was. "Why are you keeping Cheren here? He was never a threat."
"He would have had everyone who knows you try and get you out… He would have done anything to break you free and not even team Plasma can hide from eight gym leaders." N wouldn't stop staring into my soul. I was surprised to find that I wasn't mad about this. It was no longer N keeping me here because he was afraid of me beating him… he was keeping me here now because he needed me, regardless of what he said.
I shook my head slowly. "This is so wrong…"
He bowed his head. "I… I'm sorry…"
How could I do this to him? Leave him and escape with Cheren just to beat him in the end and stop everything his life has ever been? How could I betray him like that? Of course it wasn't like I had a choice… but he was suddenly my friend and given the chance to run again, I wasn't sure I could do it.
Could I face N in battle again one day? Could I set fire to the rain? And more importantly… could I ever think of him as the enemy again? I knew the answer to that and hated myself for being so stupid.
My ribcages fluttered with butterfree as I realized I cared more about him than I ever should have. Friend or no friend… Mienshao or no Mienshao… he was still trying to liberate pokemon. It was wrong. So why did being with him feel so right?
I touched his hand very softly and he looked up to meet my gaze. I didn't have anything to say at the moment so I just stared into his eyes.
"Are we still friends?" N choked. "You are my only friend… I—I'm sorry I—
I squeezed his hand and bent forward to put my face back into his bicep. He cut off mid sentence and I sighed. "We're friends."