CHAPTER ELEVEN
Silver stared up at the top of the tent, releasing a small sigh. How familiar this was, how utterly typical. The same kind of tent, with the exact same material, in the exact same boring blue. Like walking into a house you thought you were going to abandon for good, only to find that it's the only place you have to live until the new one is built. He'd just gotten off watch duty, an irate Grant replacing him, and now he couldn't sleep. He heard a murmur from the tent next to his, and he rolled over, pressing his ear to the coarse wall of his tent. "Keri?" He muttered.
He heard some rustling movement, then, "hey Silver."
He smiled, feeling like a little kid who'd gone camping with his friends, and couldn't get to sleep long after everyone else had told him to... or at least he thought that's what it felt like. He'd never been camping with friends. He frowned at that thought, but pushed it away, muttering, "I can't sleep."
"I just woke up. I would have thought that sleeping in a real bed for six years would change my ability to sleep on everything between Pokecenter beds and rocks, I guess not," she whispered.
Silver chuckled, glad that they'd set up their tents so close, and a little worried that someone else was probably listening. He decided he didn't care. "Pokecenter beds and rocks are a little too similar," he muttered, then smirked as she burst into quiet giggles.
"Want to test that theory?" she whispered.
"I don't think we'd get much sleep." He murmured.
He heard Keri shift position, "Yeah..." he frowned at her tone as she continued. "I'm worried about Sterling."
"Me too. I'm sure she's okay though... She's got Emily, who's as smart as she is, and Ethan. He seems like a nice kid, he's good with Pokemon from what Sterling told me. Viox said she told Emily what to do if something like this happened, and Sterling is smart, she'll figure out what to do." He frowned at the words... he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.
It was quiet for a long time, and he started to worry that maybe she was just trying to get back to sleep, finally, "what if we find them..." he heard her voice catch, heard her take a deep breath... and before he even heard what she was going to say, felt a deep panic settle in his chest. "What if they killed her, Silver?"
Even at barely a whisper, her voice broke. It took him too long to unzip his tent, for him to shoot a glare at Grant as he began to protest, for him to crawl into Keri's tent and wrap her in his arms. Like he could protect her from her own mind. Each action had felt like forever to him, like he couldn't do it fast enough. Whose stupid idea had it been to make them all sleep in separate tents anyway? She buried her face in his shoulder, crying silently. Her body shook, and he held her closer, tighter. The thought had never crossed his mind, that she could be dead. Now it took the foremost spot in his thoughts. What if they were searching for bodies, walking into a trap led by the false belief that someone wouldn't kill children. He felt a shiver run down his spine. It was stupid to let himself believe something like that for even a second. He should know better, far better. He couldn't stand the thought though, her bright eyes devoid of life... just the idea alone was enough to make bile rise in his throat. He pushed away the image. "Keri, she is not dead. "
"I'm sorry." She mumbled into his shirt, then she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head against his chest. "I shouldn't have said it. Things will just be worse now."
Silver marveled at her for a second, how she could be so in control of herself, how she so easily held her emotions back when the situation called for it, yet now she seemed exactly like he had first met her... vulnerable, a little self conscious, free with her emotions. Almost like two different people. "No they won't. Everything will go according to plan, and we'll be home in a week at the most." He stroked her back, and suddenly a thought popped into his head, "hey, since when did I become the optimistic one?"
Keri turned in his arms and leaned against his chest, "maybe you have a point." She murmured.
Silver sighed, not entirely sure what to say... "No, I don't. We aren't going to be okay until we see her and get her home, safe. Trying to pretend otherwise isn't going to help. I believe with everything in me that we will find her, and she will be okay, she'll be alive, but I'm not going to be alright until I actually see that." He let his hands slide down her arms and curled his fingers with hers.
.~.~.~.~.~
The Doctor rubbed his hands together in the cold, trying to warm them with the friction. He knew it was futile, but he did it anyway, making an effort to bring some more feeling into his hands. "Negative twenty degrees, thirty five below with windchill." He muttered, looking around the camp. It had been here, of that he was positive... he could feel the trail, it had been here very recently.
"Ian, what are you doing?" A boy, fifteen years old, Ian guessed, strode towards him quickly. "It's freezing out here, where's your coat dude?" The boy shivered, snow whipping at his face.
He glared at him, the right side of his top lip twitching slightly. "I don't need one. If the cold kills me, then so be it. It won't though," he said, then muttered, almost so the boy couldn't hear, "colder than ice."
He shook his head, eyes suddenly showing a wariness for the man. "Hess is on the phone for you, he says there's a problem."
Ian nodded and stepped past the boy. The renovations were going quite nicely, the communications building was already set up, and they'd immediately gotten a direct link to the castle. He listened intently to the crunching of the snow beneath his boots. He enjoyed the sound. Actually, he enjoyed all of it. Locked up in that dungeon had done something to make him greatly appreciate everything outside of it. Down to the image of his footprint in the snow, to the feeling of the wind whipping across his skin. It was all new, all beautiful. And he was going to use it as best he could.
He opened the door of the building and walked inside with deliberate slowness, knowing that the waiting was driving Hess insane. Absolutely insane. It made him smile, to cause this small discomfort to the man. He picked up the phone, sitting down in front of the screen. "Hello, Andrew Hess."
Andrew nodded. "Ian Kane. Doctor, we have a problem."
"So the boy said. What is it?"
Andrew frowned, annoyed at Ian's slow and calm demeanor. Being locked in that cell had done some good for his patience, but it seemed that it hadn't been enough. "One of the children escaped. Little girl, six years old. She's a little tall for her age, with bright red hair and silver eyes. She's got some experience with Pokemon, and had one on her when we took her. Harmless Bonsly. The boy we captured also had a Pokemon but it's missing now. We believe that she has it, it's a Growlithe. One of our guards saw her escape with a blond man, on a Lapras. By now they should be on your side, and since you have the best trackers with you," he paused, a smirk sliding onto his face. He knew Ian would like this part, he always loved this part, "we want you to track them down and... Terminate them."
Ian ran his tongue along his bottom lip, small smile staying in place on his face. He kept his eyes on Andrew's... "Of course. Quick and bloody. Although the blond man, he was here when we took over the camp. I'm going to interrogate him once we catch him." He set the receiver down as he turned away from the computer. Hess... Ian shook his head. If his information was correct, that was Giovanni's granddaughter. Her death would be quick, that was positive, but not without pain. Giovanni would pay, in full, for the last thirty years. And Ian would take anything that would hurt Giovanni even in the slightest, and use it.
.~.~.~.~.~
Emily took a sip of the soup, wary of whatever was in it. She'd stayed up all night, going over whatever she could in the books. She'd learned so much from just reading two of them. Legends about the castle, some things about training, medicine that could be made. She'd also learned more about the man who had written them and his son. "Killed because he could talk to Pokemon..." she whispered, glancing at the pile of leather bound books. She felt a shudder run down her spine. She had to keep Ethan's secret, it was even more important now. The man kept talking about Binding, and she'd practically memorized every fact about that she could. There wasn't much about how it was done yet, but there was enough on what it was. Connecting a human and a Pokemon permanently, using each other as a life source. They would live the same amount of time, but if one of them was killed the other would die unless they could bind to another Pokemon or human within a few hours. So far the man called it a myth, but the fact that his son could speak to Pokemon proved it's truth.
She ate some more of the soup, pushing the thoughts about Binding away. She wished she could understand more of the things in the books, but she'd gotten most of it... "I wish Ethan were here," she whispered, looking out her window. She'd found a legend in the books about a man who made a rope out of his clothing, and climbed down the castle onto a pokemons back, and the Pokemon took him far north, where it dropped him off in a deep forest, and another, a bird, froze him solid, and he stayed frozen for years until a group of villagers found him and rescued him. He'd later saved the village by fighting a dark Pokemon, even though he knew that it would kill him. The legend said that the sword he had used to fight had gained a special power from his sacrifice. Emily wondered what it would have been like, to fight the dark Pokemon. Probably terrifying... she wondered how anyone could go to fight like that, when they knew they were going to die. She wrapped her arms around her knees, setting her soup on the table next to the bed. She wasn't hungry anymore.
After a few minutes she heard a scratching sound, and sat up straight, heart pounding. She looked around her room, suddenly frightened. What had that noise been? Was something in her room? She pulled the blankets on the bed up around her, backing into the headboard. She almost screamed when a little purple head appeared from the foot of her bed, but instead she released a breath of air in relief. Just a Ratata. She pushed her blankets off and the Pokemon climbed onto the bed, scurrying to her and dropping something, then turning and running away. She saw it disappear behind the bookcase. She looked at what it had dropped, and picked it up. It was a piece of paper, a heavy one. She unfolded it and looked at the writing. "Go to sleep. Ethan."
.~.~.~.~.~
David wondered what this boy was doing. He'd torn up the paper plate they had sent their food on this time, and written on it, then he had given it to a Rattata and had laid down to sleep with an Abra floating over his head. He'd thought that Ethan was odd before, but this was getting really really weird. He tried to walk to him, but bumped into a force field. He looked at the Abra... something was going on here and he wanted to know what.
Ethan slept peacefully, curled under the thin blanket... as soon as he was dreaming the Abra helped him focus. He searched for an opening, and found it quickly. It took the form of a window, he pushed it open and stepped through it onto a carpeted floor. "Ethan." He jumped at his name, looking around. He walked through the room and shoved open a heavy door, finding himself in a warmly lit hallway. He shivered as his bare feet touched cold flagstones. He waved, seeing Emily standing on a staircase that was down the hall a little ways. She ran over to him, wearing a pretty dress, green with little gold buttons. "We're going to the ball." She grabbed his hand and walked down the stairs with her, "I remembered I'm dreaming this time, I heard you come in. I thought this would be fun."
He smiled, stopping and hugging her tight. "I miss you Emily. Your dress is pretty."
"You look nice too Ethan," she giggled, pointing out that he was suddenly wearing a nice, but old fashioned, suit. "I found out a lot of stuff in those books, and there's stories about the castle and a whole bunch of stuff about Binding in them. I found some really cool legends too. This is one is about a thief who dressed up and pretended to be a lord so that he could get into the castle and kidnap the princess during a party... He wrote down lots of stories like that. The guy who wrote the books, he wrote down a whole bunch of stories that he thought might be true."
Ethan grinned, then suddenly remembered what he had wanted to talk about. He needed to tell her, before they went off to play. "Emily, there's a boy they put in the same room as me. He's been hurt really bad, and he says that he's going to get hurt more because the people here are trying to get him to tell him something, and he doesn't know what they want him to tell them. We have to get him out of here Emily, he's really scared."
Emily stared off for a second, thinking. Why would they do that? Maybe they didn't have enough rooms? Even though it was a castle? Whatever the reason, she agreed with Ethan, "you're right. Sterling will bring help, but we have to find a way to let her know he's here too. Can't you talk to her like you can to me?"
Ethan shook his head, "no. I tried, she's too far away. I'm really worried about her. What if she just got captured, or what if she got stuck in the snow and froze?"
She shook her head, a slight frown on her face, "Sterling is tough, like you and me. She'll be okay. And you gave her Pepper, so she could stay warm. I bet she's already gotten help, I bet we're going to be rescued tomorrow and we can go home and I can help you with your math homework again, and we can go see what was in the basement you wanted to show us."
Ethan flinched a little, "the basement is the whole reason we have this problem."
"No it's not. We got captured once, because we weren't prepared. Next time we'll be prepared, and you can show us. Sterling will bring her Pokemon, and you can bring yours, and we'll train them so that we can sneak down there after school and see what it's like," she said, grinning. The entire time they had been talking, they had been walking along, and they stopped outside some large doors. Emily pushed one open, and grinned as she walked inside.
Ethan followed, staring around. The hall was lit with what looked like thousands of candles in every size and shape, with people in masks dancing around, and there was a huge table of food and drinks. The candles lit the stone gray walls, making them look blue in places where they weren't covered by colorful tapestries. Emily grabbed his hand again and pulled him over to the wall. "Here," she whispered, "we'll watch." After a few minutes, she pointed, "there he is, the thief!"
Ethan watched, fascinated. The thief wore a black mask over his face, and a blue cape that hid his body. He had on a red and white suite, and he was dancing with a young woman who had deep brown eyes. He whispered something in her ear, and they danced towards the door. "Come on, lets follow them Ethe! You're going to love this, really!"
She ran ahead of him and he darted after her, ducking around people dancing and out the door after her. She grabbed his hand again, just as he tripped over a rug. Emily fell down with him, laughing. "Come on Ethe!" she said, standing and helping to pull him up, "you have to see how the story goes, no time for tripping over rugs!"
They spent the rest of the dream following the thief and the princess, knowing they were completely unseen. Ethan was happy just to spend time with Emily, even though he knew it wasn't real, it felt real enough that he could forget for a while that he was really locked in a room in the castle. And she was right, he really liked the story.
.~.~.~.~.~
Michael sipped the hot chocolate, glancing around the cabin. Sterling had fallen asleep on the couch, completely exhausted. She was covered in what looked like a handmade quilt. He had tried to fall asleep in his sleeping bag on the floor, but couldn't relax at all. Jason was completely knocked out, he wasn't even snoring. The nice old woman who lived here had gone to bed in her room a long time ago, telling them that they could eat or drink anything in house. She hadn't even blinked at them being there, like visitors out in the snow was the most natural thing in the world. She'd greeted Jason like he was her own grandson. He turned at he heard footsteps, smiling at her. Mrs. Winter had on a pair of dark blue pajamas, a bath robe, and a pair of fuzzy pink slippers. "Couldn't sleep?" She asked, glancing at Sterling and then at Jason.
He sighed, "yeah. I never can when stuff like this happens. I don't think I've gotten a good nights sleep in months. Sorry if I woke you up."
"No, you didn't. I haven't been sleeping well either, knowing that the castle has been taken over by that thug," she stifled a yawn and walked over to the kitchen.
Michael glanced at her curiously, and she smiled at him. "Nothing happens in that place without me knowing about it. Unsurprisingly there aren't very many prisoners, only about one hundred, maybe a few more... Add in the people from Team Rocket who switched sides, and you have around one hundred fifty people. That's why it's not guarded very well, forty of them went off to take over Shiver Camp, the rest stayed behind and have to work to make sure the place doesn't freeze," she pulled some stuff out of the fridge, and began chopping vegetables. "Cook. Clean. Only about twenty stand guard, the rest do chores. Not the trade out they thought they were getting, but they seem to think it will be worth it."
"I know better than to ask how you know all of that," he said before taking another sip of his now cold coco. "Sterling managed to get out, with help, but after that they're not going to make it possible for them to even try whatever they did again."
"You're talking about your little girl. And the boy. You told me earlier." She shoved the vegetables aside and leaned against the counter.
Michael frowned, "she's not mine, but yeah. I know Sterling's parents, I know Emily's mom, but I don't know when they're getting here... or what I'm supposed to do."
"I'd guess that you're supposed to keep Sterling safe, and wait. You seem very sure that they're going to show up."
Michael nodded once, "I know they're going to show up. Viox doesn't give up, she pretty much just tears at whatever mission she's been given until it's impossible for her to complete it, or she's taken off it. I don't know a lot about Silver and Keri, but I'm pretty sure that they'll kill people if they have to."
Mrs. Winter gave him an alarmed look, "I'm not sure if the fact you're being serious, or the fact that you spend time with these people, scares me more. What about your friend Jack?"
Michael shrugged. "I'm pretty sure he's got this all figured out, but he acts so crazy now that it's hard to really figure out what he's thinking. Or maybe he was always nuts and I just didn't notice before. I think that it's this whole castle thing that's driving him crazy though."
"It's the connection." A voice from the floor muttered.
Michael and Mrs. Winter both stared at Jason, who was sitting up in his sleeping bag. He looked at them both. "What?" He asked, looking back and forth. "If you guys are going to wake someone up while talking then you should at least let them input. Mike knows what I'm talking about here, the connection, binding, whatever the hell you want to call it. He talks to his Dragonite girlfriend in his head, whatever. Anyway, we basically go where we're supposed to, except Jack and Hannah are supposed to be in different places. Hannah is supposed to be wherever they are right now, he's supposed to be here. At least that's what Shadow says, and since he's stuck in my head, it's hard not to listen to him. Are you making omelets again? I'm starving, want help? You're going to love this Mike, she makes the best omelets ever. I swear."
"Omelets." Michael stated, not sure if he was irritated or dumbfounded.
"Yes, I just went from the whole connection thing to omelets. I'm hungry. Besides, Jack will show up in a couple days. I guarantee it. Shadow is going crazy, but since we're basically stuck together, well, we compromised." He yawned, standing up and scratching his head. "Mrs. Winter knows about that well enough, she can tell you. I'm going to the bathroom," Jason said as he walked down the hall.
"I don't want to know." Michael said.
Mrs winter shrugged, and went back to making food. "Good, because I'm not explaining that mess."
XOX
Keri around Silver and Keri being a Rocket mixed is weird and hard to write. On the one side, she's calmer, level headed, and will literally shoot you(okay, that's really a sort of inside joke thing I need to write out) if you get between her and what she wants. On the other side, she pretty much just wants to break down and cry, and can. Emotions were something of a luxury she hadn't really used on other missions, you get the job done and at any cost. And you don't think about it, you just do it. But it's her daughter. It's Silvers daughter, and as much as she wishes that it could just be another mission, it isn't. As much as they all wish it were just another mission, it isn't.
Also, how Mrs. Winter knows everything about the castle? I have no clue. There are ghosts in that place, and eventually I'm going to write them all out. But not here and not now. She's used to Jason though, she's known him for a few years, although that doesn't make him any easier to explain.
Thanks to RedHerring1290 for reviewing Chapters One, Two, Three, and Four.
Thanks to Dodectron for reviewing Chapters One and Two.
Thanks to SuperSaiyanPrincess for reviewing Chapters One and Three.
Thanks to xUNGracefulxAssassinx for reviewing Chapter Two.
Thanks to Dark Phoenix54 for reviewing Chapters Two and Three.
Thanks to Punki-x-Munki for reviewing Chapter Three.
Thanks to Mirage for reviewing Chapter Three.
Thanks to kissinglink for reviewing Chapter One.
Thanks to blackwingsdescend for reviewing Chapter Five.
I also offer my thanks to Farla, despite her unnecessary rudeness, for reviewing Chapter One.
