Chapter Eleven – Love and Loss

Rosa's heart ached, though there wasn't any immediate fix to this that she could see, and she could only imagine how horrible and broken Cheren felt right now, which only made her heart ache more. Nothing she could say, and nothing she could do, would be able to mend him. Cheren, like N, loved Hilda. Why Rosa ever suspected he didn't was beyond her; the two had been childhood friends, after all, although apparently his affections had gone beyond platonic awhile ago.

But Cheren was a good guy—no, not just a good guy… he was a good person. Everything he did, he did for other people. True enough, he never had any obligation to help Rosa and her best friend, Hugh, when Team Plasma sprung back up from defeat. He had a school and a gym to run, and since he was new to both at the time that Team Plasma returned, he really didn't have to do anything for her.

Now, a year later, he was the same good person that Rosa fell in love with, albeit he didn't return the feelings. That was okay with her. Surely she couldn't complain now, knowing what she did, and she certainly didn't consider this a victory in the slightest—who could? A girl was dead because of Team Plasma—or maybe just because of the Shadow Triad—and that terrified her.

It was the fact that Cheren wanted so desperately to protect N from the knowledge of Hilda's death that made Rosa's heart ache the most, though. N was Cheren's rival in love, after all. Rosa wouldn't ever know who Hilda would have picked, if she picked either of them, but the two boys must have known that they both harbored similar feelings towards their hero. And Cheren knew that N loved Hilda, perhaps even more than N knew himself, and he still wanted to help him… to protect him.

Rosa's fist clenched around Arcanine's fur as the small group headed on to find N. Cheren was so good…

He slumped against Arcanine's neck with his eyes pressed shut, and Rosa wondered whether Cheren had fallen asleep. He needed it, that was for sure, but somehow he doubted that he'd be able to get any sleep for awhile—at least sleep without nightmares. Rosa had been having nightmares since the day Ghetsis almost killed her, though thankfully N and Reshiram had saved her from that fate.

They didn't exactly talk about that day, though, so it was only in sleep that she relived it. After N saved her, Rosa stopped Team Plasma and Ghetsis, as Hilda had two years before, and N gave her the chance to be friends with Reshiram. But she couldn't deny the bond that N and Reshiram had, so when she fought and captured the dragon, she returned it to N without hesitance. It was only right.

She tried to remember the happy memories, like that one, rather than the one of the icicles circling around her and closing in, but it was hard sometimes—harder now that everything seemed so much worse than before.

Even Rosa could admit that she put on a bit of a façade. She wasn't nearly as brave as she pretended to be, and if not for Hugh's stubbornness and obsession with getting his sister's Purrloin back, maybe he would have been the one to stop Team Plasma.

It hurt… everything hurt so much…

Rosa leaned her head against Cheren's back, and he moved slightly, though not wincing away from her as he had earlier. "Are you okay?" he asked, and tears sprung to her eyes again. As if he could really ask her that… obviously he was hurting more than she was. But that only went to show how much better he was than her, how much more she wasn't worthy of him.

"Just tired," she squeaked back, her voice not working as properly as it should have.

"Me, too. I think I'm going to take some time off when I get back home."

His tone indicated that he was joking, which Rosa considered a step in the right direction, but she could only take him seriously. Time off would do them both some good. She would go back home to Aspertia and stay with her mom again… maybe Cheren would return to his home in Nuvema, too, and let someone else worry about him for a change without having to worry about anyone else. It sounded… nice.

But that was assuming they both made it out of here.

Arcanine's ears perked up, and its body went stiff. "What?" Rosa muttered, picking her head off Cheren's back and looking forward. Even with Ampharos giving off its light, Rosa still couldn't see beyond a six-foot radius down into the pitch black tunnels. There was nothing but Rattatas and Zubats scurrying around down there, anyway, though Arcanine had stopped reacting to those long ago.

It was not scurrying that attracted its attention, but something that sounded like scrapping metal against either the floor or walls. Rosa furrowed her eyebrows and stared into the darkness, where she could make out the form of something coming towards them.

The Shadow Triad didn't have any intention of letting them go, did they?

"Shit," Rosa whispered sliding off Arcanine's back and grabbing a Poké Ball. "Ampharos, come back."

The light faded away with Ampharos, leaving Rosa, Cheren, and Arcanine in complete darkness. Rosa took a step back and patted Arcanine. At least it could see in the dark, but seeing as how the Bisharp were dark-types, they probably could, too… which left the humans at a disadvantage. But extinguishing the light stopped the Shadow Triad, however many of the Shadows were there, from finding them as quickly.

And if they split up…

"Sorry," Rosa told Cheren, finding his hand and squeezing it. "At least one of us should make it out of these damn sewers, right? When you get outside, find Reshiram… it should be there somewhere waiting for N to come out, but if it sees you, it'll come—take it and go to the police. I'm going to go get N."

"Rosa, what—"

She squeezed his hand again, and he stopped talking. "Sorry," she repeated. "Arcanine, go. Get him out of here safely."

In the darkness, it was hard to even make out a shape, but it made Rosa feel slightly better about her decision, though she couldn't say why. She dropped Cheren's hand, and with a burst of air as Arcanine turned around, the Pokémon and the man she loved left her behind.

There was no time to linger on her choice. She grabbed another Poké Ball—without Arcanine, none of her Pokémon had a type-advantage on the Bisharp that she knew were coming—and faced the approaching Pokémon. She had defeated the Shadow Triad many times… and last time, at the mountains, Umbreon had been enough…

"Come on," she whispered.

Umbreon did not keep close to Rosa as she thought it might—and she was proud. There was no need to worry about her.

Something clanked not too far ahead of them. "Toxic, just like last time," Rosa ordered in hushed tones, and the Umbreon went on ahead even further, disappearing completely in the darkness. She squinted, hoping to see something—but what she saw wasn't what she expected.

The shapes of the Bisharps—there was more than one, but she couldn't tell how many—moved around Umbreon, deliberately ignoring it. Even when Umbreon turned back and tried to get a hit in, the Bisharp just pressed forward towards Rosa. Did they… not want to battle? Why were they ignoring Umbreon?

Rosa's eyes widened, and she turned. "Umbreon!" she called as she sprinted away from the approaching Bisharp. "Umbreon, come—"

She couldn't see the stairs in front of her, and down she went along the fifteen steps. At the bottom, she groaned and rolled over, everything aching. I need to get up, she thought, pressing her eyes shut as the pain seared. I have to get up.

But instead, the smooth edge of a blade curved against her forearm, and she remained nearly paralyzed in pain on the ground. Her screams echoed through the tunnels, every rational thought fading from her mind.

I'm going to die. I'm going to die here, just like Hilda.

Just like Hilda, but this time, wouldn't someone come looking?

When consciousness returned to Hilda, the pain came quickly. She moaned, pushing herself up with her one good arm, and stared at the cut on the other. It was still damp with blood, though the bleeding had almost subsided. Unless she wrapped it, though, the cut could open back up—and considering how dizzy she was, she had probably already lost a substantial amount of blood.

The only light in the room in which she was currently held was a candle on the other side of some bars. It wasn't much, but it was enough that her eyes got used to it quickly. But, with her dizziness, she was still a little disoriented, and when she reached for the hem of her white tank top, she missed the edge. It didn't help that her hand was shaking.

"Stop shaking," Hilda muttered to herself, but now that tears welled in her eyes, it was even harder to see.

She was such an idiot. This whole thing shouldn't have even happened if she just waited for her Pokémon to be healed. Why did she have to go outside? Why was she so curious about the Shadow Triad—when she knew that they were the enemies? Everything that had happened to her in the past however many hours… she deserved it.

And no one knew where she was… if only she had told someone that she was coming home.

How long had the Shadow Triad been watching? Had she been followed from place to place, tailed without her knowledge all along? Maybe if she had just gone home first, rather than stopping in Aspertia, everything would have been okay. But, no… she had always been a free-spirit. She would have gone somewhere alone again.

But if all they wanted was to get her alone, why hadn't they captured her in one of the other regions?

No, they were counting on Hilda stopping here. In the other regions, someone always knew where she was. She kept in contact with Cheren and Bianca for a little while—she hadn't told them she planned on coming home, or when, so the last time she spoke to them was a month or so ago. And she made some friends in the other regions, too, who she contacted from time to time. While in Sinnoh, Candice knew she was there, and when she left, she told her—while in Johto, same with some new friends—while in Kanto, too.

The Shadow Triad wouldn't have done anything while other people were watching, too…

Now, it was too late to go back. They caught her by her own stupidity—logic had never been Hilda's strong-suit, anyway. That was always Cheren's. If he had been there, he would have stopped her from walking outside until her Pokémon were healed.

Now… her Pokémon weren't anywhere to be seen within this cell, and she was completely alone.

Hilda finally managed to grab the hem of her shirt, and she tugged, hoping to rip it apart. But she couldn't even move her fingers on her right hand anymore—but she didn't know if that was because the Pawniard dug so deep into her skin that it damaged her muscles or if the pain was just too much for her. Either way, that left her only to tug with her left hand.

After a couple of minutes, she gave up without any success and realized there was another way. She pulled off her black vest and wrapped the whole thing around her wound, and it stung even worse now that something was touching it.

A door opened as she finished wrapping, light pouring in as a person carrying a lantern entered. "Champion Hilda, welcome."

Hilda sat up straighter against the wall and smiled at the Shadow. He was carrying a tray, along with that lantern, but he didn't do anything with it immediately as he entered.

"I'm going to assume you're not going to tell me where I am or what you want from me, so I'll save you from thinking up excuses. Just think about what you're doing," Hilda pleaded. "Team Plasma already lost to me once, and I won't lose again. If you think this is the right thing—that this will help you—you're wrong. You can still let me go."

The Shadow set the tray down just within Hilda's cage—that was what it was, wasn't it? "Make this last," he told her, and he left the room.

It wasn't very much, just bread and water, and it didn't last very long at all. Hilda didn't want to eat it—mostly because she feared it was poisoned—but her hunger overtook her as the day passed into the next. She wasn't satisfied when it was gone, but at least she was alive, meaning they hadn't been trying to poison her.

No, they planned something worse.

The day turned over into the next… which they turned over into the next again. The Shadow Triad never returned to the room in which she waited. Every attempt she made to escape failed… and she grew weaker with every passing hour. Her stomach growled, and her throat craved water. And on top of all that, her arm still shook with pain.

Eventually, one had to give up. Hilda never planned to stop fighting, but her body worked differently than her mind. She was too weak. She hadn't eaten or drank anything in days, and she was fairly certain that her wound was infected.

No one was coming for her. Not her friends, not the Shadow Triad…

She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. But this time when they closed, they never opened back up.

Author's Note: I really enjoy writing the juxtaposition between Hilda and Rosa. I actually planned for the scene with Hilda to take place in a later chapter, but it fit much better here, mostly because of Rosa's situation.

Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon. Whoo! Don't forget to drop a review if you feel so inclined! I appreciate it!