For the first time in a very long time, Poppy was in a place where she felt truly safe. So, of course, she overslept.

The sun was already in the sky, and Belle's bed was vacant and neatly made. This struck Poppy as unnerving, so she put on an old dress of Belle's—warm and brown and a bit torn at the hem—and her cloak and skittered into the kitchen. Pearl offered her a cup of tea, but all Poppy could focus on was the lack of a bubbly blonde in the room.

"Where is Belle?" she asked.

"She left a long time ago," he answered. "She went to the castle to see if they would let her see Crystal and Gold if she asked. I told her it was foolish, but she wouldn't listen. And your hair is a mess." Bold and unembarrassed, Pearl smoothed out her hair—the very same thing she'd wanted to do before. But even thinking about the night before, when he'd held her…even thinking about it made her cheeks blaze.

A thundering knock came on the door. Pearl left her to open it—in the doorway was a frazzled-looking woman with a doughy face who must have been a neighbour, for she clapped a hand on his shoulder and said, "Pearl, thank goodness! You know that my boy is a city policeman? Yes? He was out patrolling the city's bounds with the other men, and they saw things in the distance, and they reported it, and the guards at the tower on the outskirts with the scopes and things said it was an army approaching! Well, I'd like to think that if they were close, we could hear their synchronized steps, the marching and the drumming, so they must be far away, but my boy came home to warn his mama, and now we're telling the neighbours, so please, Pearl, use caution." Her expression darkened. "They may be growing closer, even with our own men keeping them at bay."

Pearl nodded. "Thank you so—" Before he could finish, the woman had vanished, off to warn everyone else she knew. Pearl stared off after her, almost as if in a daze.

"Pearl." Poppy couldn't keep the raw fear from sharpening her voice. "If there are enemies on their way—" she didn't even know who the enemies were anymore, "—won't Belle be in danger? She's at the castle, and that's where the Sinnoh and Unova men will want to go, to get to the king."

Pearl snapped back to reality and jumped into his shoes. "You're right. You're absolutely right. They'll want the king, and Crystal, if they find out she's there. Belle will want to protect them, foolish girl. We have to get to her."

Poppy sped alongside him through the streets, not sure what exactly they would say to palace guards and how they would get inside the castle. But she couldn't lose someone else. Not anyone else. Not Belle, who had shown her so much kindness even when Poppy had given Belle every reason not to trust her.

About halfway to their destination, Pearl's shout halted her. "Poppy! Your feet!"

What? What could he have meant by that? Confused, she glanced down and found he was right. Her feet were a mess. Bare, bruised, bloody, and a frightening purple colour. She'd forgotten to put her boots on.

"Oh," she said, and this only.

"We should turn around!" He slowed.

She waved him off. "No, I can't feel it—"

"That's because they're going numb from the cold!"

"Well, you shouldn't care!" Were they not just running to get to Belle a moment ago?

"I care more than you think!" he yelled, stopping. She saw in that instance something shifting and shining in his eyes, something she could read easily. It was open, unbroken, bright, flaming. She could tell that his eyes were full of that care. Too much, too much. Poppy sprinted to get away. He was wrong, he was wrong.

She could hear him call out to her—"Wait!"—but she didn't stop until she could really feel the pain in her feet and the cold air was sharp in her lungs and Pearl had sped up and caught her from behind. He held her once again, her back facing him, and he leaned his head on her shoulder. They both struggled for breath.

"Please don't run away from me," he said, something like desperation sliding into his voice. "I couldn't bear it if you were gone. And just a little while ago, I didn't know you, and you've showed yourself to me."

"Please don't do this," she said breathily, loud enough for just him to hear.

"I don't want to lose you, Poppy. I don't. I care about you too much, too suddenly, for you to run away because you're afraid that I will, if you don't first."

It hadn't even crossed her mind, but that was why she really never became attached to people. Let them in and it will only hurt more when they leave. She realised then that she didn't want to be without Pearl either.

"I'm not going anywhere without you." Her voice very quiet.

"Well, I'm glad that's settled." He did sound genuinely relieved beneath his amused tone. "Now let's storm the castle."


Gold pointed to something behind Crystal, and she had barely turned around before a body slammed into her and hugged her in a vice grip.

"Crystal!" Tanzanite squealed. She smelled sweet and familiar and friendly, and it was exactly what Crystal needed. Behind Tanzanite was a lanky boy with nice green eyes.

Belle threw her arms around the green-eyed boy as well. "Wally! How in the stars did you manage to get here?"

"It was a wild ride," Wally said, "but you'll be pleased to know that Black, White, and Cheren are in our company. But they, along with Red, Silver, and Lyra, were with Corvus and his advisors, when we left. It seemed like a battle of wits and diplomatic things and such to me."

"Cheren is here?" Gold asked. "Where is he? I need to find him. I need to find my brother."

"Well, there's someone else I think you'd also like to find…" Tanzanite paused. "Yellow is not dead. She ran away to Unova and we found her and she is very much alive. She just got separated from us back there in the madness."

"Yellow…" Belle's brows furrowed. "We thought she was dead?"

"Yes, it's all very confusing, isn't it?" Tansy replied, amusingly bemused, and held her hand out to Belle. "Tanzanite, at your service, Bianca."

"Bianca?" Gold questioned.

Belle waved it off. "Conspiracy theories. Go find Yellow." Brushing past Crystal, Gold did as he was told.

While it was comforting to have so many familiar faces around, the gravity of a situation just behind her weighed her down as if she had swallowed rocks. The reason she'd forced guards to remain outside the doors to the chambers, the reason her hands were shaking, was Sapphire.

Crystal brought the sorry little huddle of peacekeepers into the bedroom to explain what was going on. Sapphire's water had broken over an hour ago; she had gone into labour two months premature. Of course, she was too stubborn to think that it had really happened.

"I am not in labour!" she protested when Crystal clarified the situation. "Stop givin' me those pitiful faces! I'm gonna join the fight!"

"You can't make blood with a stone, Your Majesty," Tansy said gently.

"If ya throw hard enough ya can!" But Sapphire stopped short and began breathing quickly. Another contraction. Crystal was worried for what would happen when they happened more often; if medics had been worried for Sapphire and the baby's health before, the early labour might make it all worse.

An eternity passed before Crystal heard footsteps barreling down the hallway outside, and turned just in time to see Gold and Yellow appear in the doorway.

"Hello!" he said to the guard, who had stopped him. "I'm a duke of Hoenn, and this is my wife!"

He ran right past the guard, not even bothering for admittance into the room. Yellow stomped after him. "Will you please quit calling me your wife?!" Her younger brother—the taller one, Pearl—and a girl with dull eyes followed close behind and flocked instantly to Belle.

"It's easier than explaining you!" Gold shot back absent-mindedly as he stood before his aunt.

"You could have just said I was a maid sent to help the queen," Yellow grumbled. Crystal reached out and took her hand, relieved beyond words to see her again. Amid the chaos of the day, she was continuously finding and losing people.

"Perhaps…" Tansy started. "Perhaps you could help, Yellow!" Her eyes widened, as if she'd just discovered something incredible. "You've read books about medicine! And you helped me when I was ill! You may be able to do something for the queen!"

The very thought of tending to a monarch seemed to daunt Yellow wildly. "I suppose I could try…"

"How do you know what sorts of books were in her house?" Gold asked suspiciously.

Tansy blushed. "I like books! And because I do, I know which herbs might help! I'll see if I can find some from the gardens or the kitchens or the sickbay—or somewhere!"

"I'll come with you," Wally offered. "I know a bit about medicines. I've needed some, and I read a bit about them. If the sickbay can spare anything, perhaps we can make use of it. In fact, we should all try to scavenge for help."

"We can look for medics or maids," Pearl suggested. "If there are any left around, and not out in the city, I'm sure none shall decline when the queen needs assistance." He took the hand of the girl and led her and Belle from the room.

"Careful out there, Bianca," Wally called to Belle as he, too, left with Tansy.

Finding and losing people. It was a sick, swirling cycle. Crystal knew they weren't really leaving—they weren't even going out of the castle—but trying to keep track of the locations of everyone she cared about was giving her anxiety.

Especially now that the soldiers from Unova and Sinnoh were closing in on the city.


Pearl and Poppy discovered who Bianca was as they scoured the frenzied castle.

"The princess of Unova?" Pearl was spluttering. "You're the bloody princess of Unova?!"

"We think so!" Belle squeaked in reply. "Don't seem so angry!"

"I'm not angry," he said. "Just…surprised."

"It's just my name that has changed, Pearl. Not me. Not me." There was a pause.

"Belle, have you seen Cheren yet?" Pearl asked his sister suddenly.

"Huh? Oh…no, I haven't."

He narrowed his eyebrows. "You were so eager to find him when you got back from Unova. What's changed?" She said nothing. "Belle, do you have feelings for Cheren?"

"…Yes. No. I'm not sure." She sighed. "I've known him all my life, Pearl. He's always thought me to be silly and clumsy and dim, and maybe I am that, but a small part of me cannot help but want his respect. And in Unova, there was a boy that I fancied, but he didn't reciprocate the feelings. What if I'm to love Cheren and he doesn't love me? I need to guard my heart and become wiser if I truly am Bianca Haeres. I must smother any feelings I have towards him before they grow."

"Are you kidding, Belle?" Pearl laughed. "You were all that boy talked about, the entire time he was here in Kanto! He's absolutely smitten with you, princess or not. I think you should go find him."

Belle looked up at her brother hopefully. "You really think so?"

"Of course I do. Now, I think you should hunt down that boy before he drives himself mad looking for you."

She smiled. "Thank you."

They found only two spare healers and three terrified maids that were around to assist the ailing queen. Wally and Tansy were hardly more successful. They got a fairly good look at the palace's disorder, but only some scraps that might help Sapphire.

People were running, panicking, fleeing, fighting everywhere. It was absolute madness. Unsurprisingly, the sickbay was just the same. Wounded men were laid out, but hardly any of the experienced medics were in. They must have been out by where the fighting was happening, healing the seriously injured. They had to elbow their way through the mass of people to try to find the medicine and herbs. There wasn't much to choose from—there were no pain-suppressing tonics—but thankfully some herbs were left that Tansy thought might help. Black haw, raspberry leaves, shatavari, and other assorted plants with funny names.

They gathered what supplies that they could and began to return, when they caught sight of those who they had arrived with. Silver, Lyra, Red, Black, White, and Cheren; the six of them were no longer having political and wise, it seemed. Now they moved to the rhythm of the chaos around them. They truly were holding down the fort. Red barked commands at many of the men around the castle, and they listened. It made Wally wonder just where Red's father was. Perhaps although he was ruthless and cruel, it was only behind the hand of another man. Perhaps that man was not as brave as he seemed behind his army.

Lyra and White still had their blades, and they looked primed to pounce at anyone who got into the castle. Wally and Tansy could only offer a brief hello and explanation before they scurried away.

It was too much. Too much, too fast. Their hearts could hardly take so many beatings with such thick clubs at such a quick rate. Time was unrelenting; war was unyielding…

But love was deep, powerful, conflating, efflorescent, perennial, moving, and, most of all, worth dying for to keep. Love of nations, people—those were the things that soldiers fought for. Love was why people stood up after being knocked to the ground. And all the people who knew, knew, that there could be a way to find peace amid poison, wanted it from their hearts. Deep in their hearts was that love that craved tranquility, not danger or power or rivalry or ruin.

Those were rebel hearts—wanting peace in a time of war; wanting love in a time of hate.

Wally and Tansy returned to the queen's chambers and delivered the supplies they had scavenged to Yellow and her helpers. It was quite surprising that the shy girl had taken the lead, but she sounded as if she knew what she was doing.

"What is your name, girl?" Sapphire asked her when she drew near. "Your full name. I know that you go by Yellow—Gold has spoken of you enough."

"It's A-Amarillo del Bosque Verde," Yellow stuttered, still nervous around the queen of Hoenn. Tansy realised then that Yellow had never really had the chance to speak to Red after he confessed to her. She thought of him risking himself by helping in the castle. It was admirable, but idiotic; if enemy soldiers made it to the palace, they would recognise him and shoot on sight.

Sapphire's breathing turned rapid then. "She's going into labour!" Yellow called. "It's best if most of you wait outside, should something happen." Her unspoken worry hung in the air like a thick, uncertain fog. Sapphire and or the child could very well die. It was an awful truth to dwell on. Tansy left the room with the others and tried to distract herself by searching for books or counting the pillows strewn on some couches in the parlour room. One, two, three… Crystal paced. Gold sat and clutched a pillow tight—four. Pearl sat with an arm pulling Poppy tight against his side. Belle fiddled with the skirts of her dress. Wally pressed his hand against his mouth, an action that Tansy had noticed he preformed when he was anxious or submerged in thoughts or both. It was endlessly endearing.

Yellow stepped out of the room tentatively, with her five helpers, clutching onto a pile of towels. The helpers left the rooms. Yellow's expression was grim, and as Gold shot to his feet, she slowly shook her head.

Crystal could feel her stomach drop. She heard nothing but silence from the room where Sapphire had laid for the final time. There was no cry of a child, nor the breath of a woman. Tears sprung to the princess's eyes. She had hardly even known Sapphire, but she had known enough to know that the queen was an extraordinary ruler, wife, aunt, and friend. She would have been an extraordinary mother as well.

Yellow saw Crystal's tears and quickly said, "I was only kidding!" A smile lit the young maid's face as she beckoned Gold and Crystal over to peek into the pile of towels—which was not a pile, but rather a swaddle—and they heard laughter from inside the room.

"They fell for it, Yellow?" questioned the boisterous voice of the queen Crystal knew. "They seriously fell for it? You guys are wimps!"

Yellow pulled back some of the soft fabric of the swaddle to reveal a small, crumpled, wrinkled, squished, pinched, pink baby face. Crystal beamed down at the precious thing and her tears of sorrow turned to joy. The infant was small, small, small, and quiet—unlike her mother. She was observant with her wide, deep red eyes. Her locks were dark brown.

"That," Gold said, "is a face only a mother could love." Crystal shot him a doubtful look, to which he admitted, "And an cousin." Realization dawned on his face. "By the seas, I've got a cousin…I've got to tell Cheren…"

"Help me name her," Sapphire called. Yellow, Gold, and Crystal moved to Sapphire's bedside so that the young woman could hold her baby. The others remained in the parlour room, since they did not know the queen as well, but they relieved nonetheless.

"It's hardly fair if I name her," Sapphire said, "for I'll choose something rough and boyish and Ruby will be angry with me. So, you name her, Gold."

"Me?" Gold raised his eyebrows but didn't object. He considered for a moment. "How about Garnet, for her eyes?"

Sapphire grinned, bearing her fangs. "It's perfect. Garnet Amarillo Berlitz."

Yellow's eyes widened. "Y-your Majesty…"

"What? Amarillo is a lovely name and I'll not deprive my girl of it." Sapphire shrugged. "Now, you lot. You've got some kingdoms to save, haven't you? I think I'll be alright. Garnet and I, we've got to rest, it appears. I have guards, and Yellow told those medics to monitor me, so they'll be lingering. Leave me to tend to my girl, and fight the good fight."

"We'll make you proud, Sapphire," Crystal promised, still wiping at her eyes. She'd never been a weepy woman, but the battles she had faced had brought out something new within her, and she wasn't sure it was entirely bad. Not soft, but shining.

As they left, Sapphire grinned wickedly. "And also, say hello to Emerald for me."


Black was helping Red organize all the men within the castle to guard its bounds—a plan that should have been straightforward but ended up messy and uncertain—when the rest of the Resistance approached, ready to assemble. Black had felt so sure earlier that all they needed to do was enter the middle of the fight and break it apart, as simply as that. But now, his Resistance looked shockingly small. He wasn't sure that they'd be able to keep control of the castle, much less two armies. The Sinnoh and Unova forces were in ViridianCity, and the Kanto and Johto soldiers were backed up right to the palace grounds.

But for now, Black had to help organize his own small legion. "Big Queen Bi!" Black said to Belle as a way of greeting. He hadn't known she was in the castle. He noticed, too, some other unfamiliar faces. One tall man with raven hair yanked Cheren into a hug. Brothers, it seemed.

"Hello, Black," Belle said, looking nervous. He couldn't blame her. His insides felt supercharged, like the one time at the café when he'd drank far too much coffee, and White had had to contain him. She'd been very stern with him, quarantining him in the kitchen where he couldn't charm Skyla at the counter into giving him any more caffeine. They were looking out for each other, Black and White. As Belle passed by, he reached out and laced his fingers through hers.

Belle, on the other hand, approached Cheren shyly. "Hello."

"Hello," he said. It should have been a more dramatic moment. Cheren shouldn't have just said 'hello' after she did. After searching for her for so long, he should have said something witty or funny or charming, probably. But he was never really good with talking, and anyways, that moment became the calm before the storm.

For only a moment later did pandemonium ensue. The fight had reached the castle.

Many of them hadn't really been in an actual fight before. They weren't soldiers. So when the fighting broke out near them, in bursts, in tumbles, in crazy confusion, it was a shock. It wasn't what they expected, and it didn't consume the castle immediately. It hadn't gotten right to where they stood quite yet. They were frozen, suspended in the moment before they would have to fight, armed only with what they could find around the palace.

Red walked to where Yellow was. He hadn't had a chance to explain himself all night. She didn't panic when he approached her, though, which was a good sign. She did startle, though, when he suddenly kissed her. It was a kiss that had waited through years of friendship, that had traveled many miles only to end up home, that could fight wars. He would do anything for her, and she for him. When he pulled away, before he could speak, she said, "I love you, Red. I've been meaning to tell you that as well." They smiled, and then turned to fight, both of them, hand in hand.

All of the Resistance had expected to make some grand stand, but there was no chance to get anyone's attention. It was difficult enough to keep their attackers at bay. Black tried to focus on the battle at hand, but he stopped short when he caught sight of one of the unfamiliar ladies who had joined with the Resistance. And he realised what he hadn't before; she didn't look all that unfamiliar.

"Who's that?" Black asked, pointing to a lady in a fine dress, handling a sword.

"That's Crystal Oak," replied Tansy from beside him, "the princess of Johto."

Black shook his head, not tearing his eyes from her. "She can't be. She can't be the princess." Because he knew those soft navy curls, those deep blue eyes.

The supposed princess had heard him, though. She turned her head to him. "Pardon?"

"I just…" Black wasn't sure what to say. He was probably crazy, but her features… "I'm not sure. My apologies."

Crystal stepped towards them. "No, you said that I couldn't be the princess. Why is that?"

"I'm not sure. I'm wrong, I know," he blurted. He hadn't meant to offend a royal.

"No," said a new voice. "He's right." Crystal turned round, and they all raised their gazes to see that a tall man had somehow arrived amid the fighting, followed closely by a young woman holding a cat, of all things, and a group of guards.

"Green?" Crystal spluttered. From his regal air and the name, Black knew it had to be King Green Oak, her older brother. Just as he suspected, they looked nothing alike.

Green looked straight at her and said, "You're not Crystal Oak."


A/N: I can't wait to see if anyone figures out what that means :)

Sorry for the delay. Exams, writer's block, and panic attacks were the reasons. But I'd just like to say something right now and I know it's random, but I'm actually a very mean person and yet this site makes me feel like I can be different so I want to tell you all this: you are beautiful and wonderful and caring and hilarious and unique and lovely and special and important. There are seven billion people on this planet and not one is not important. Nobody hears that enough, so take it from me when I say that you're strong for doing all the little things you do and you should be who you are and who you wish to be, not someone else, and you should never compromise on your dreams. And so I hope you all are having lovely days and I hope that maybe someone brightens your day just like you all brighten mine when I've found out that another person has read my story. Okay? Good.

The next chapter will be the last! Time for the final plot twist, the final fight!
Rant over! Read on!
-Silvia

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokespe or anything else.