A/N:

Sorry that this update was a bit behind. I've been focusing a lot on Into Darkness as of lately due to the main romance in that story kicking off (and one that's been anticipated for awhile now). But anyways, here it is, and this chapter is definitely eventful despite its length.

Thanks once again to Orthros for the beta-reading services, especially due to the sheer amount of chapters released as of lately.

And also, thanks to all of you, too. The story actually hit a series of significant points between now and the last update, reaching 200 reviews, 250 favorites, and 300 followers. I just want y'all to know that it's really appreciated. Now off to the story.

"…" - Spoken dialogue

Italics - Michael's thoughts

'Italics' - Telepathic dialogue

/\/\/\ - Lemon Scene


"A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to learn from them, and strong enough to correct them."

-John Maxwell


Ch. 39 - Facing the Facts

"Alright, so we're in kind of a weird predicament," Colonel Hawkins stated. "Thomas and Samuel were able to collect footage of the meeting between Senator Callahan and this so-called PM. Of course, it ended up being none other than President Marceau."

"So Kalos is funding his campaigns? Or his activism?" Michael asked.

"Well, I'm not so sure about all of their politicians, but their president sure as hell is. Got him and Callahan discussing finances for some sort of grassroots movement for legalizing pokémon and human rights. Now we cannot say for certain that it's got anything to do with Delta, but it wouldn't be a surprise in the slightest. We're gonna need a little more to book him."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Thomas said. "After all that? He's working out business deals with foreign politicians. If that ain't a reason enough to bring him in…"

"It isn't" John said, "because if we go down that road, it'll be a long damn fight that'll leave us without much of a government at all." He had a point there, as it was no secret that conservative politicians in Johto and Sinnoh had been known to assist each other.

"In any case, the ties to Kalos are of more concern. If it's just some underhanded monetary donation, then I'm afraid we'll need to leave it be. Our primary focus is with Delta relations, and their activists are stationed in Kalos, too. There is cause for concern if they of all people are trying to influence our politics. So we'll need to do a bit more research into him. In the meantime, though, we'll be going through the contact list secured last night. A couple big names stood out, but we're going to be doing some more research into these people so we can figure out the best way to take them all. Last thing we need is them spreading out across the world, or running into Kalos for that matter."

"Are they onto us as of now?" Thomas asked.

"Not from what we can tell," Wesley said. "But we need to keep it that way. There's only so many of them we can take in at once, and right now, we've got a lot of 'em in a single city. So it seems like until we can get the other Reapers over here, we might need to hold back for a second."

"So we're here until further notice?" John asked.

"That's what I'm being told," Colonel Hawkins said. "Of course, anything could happen, but it looks like we'll be stationary for at least another week, maybe two. We should have everything we need to eradicate Delta within a few months. Once we really get rolling, then every single person having anything to do with the organization will be brought in within the hour. But for now, we're just staying ready in case we're needed."

"Well, can't say I'm disappointed to hear that," Kevin said.

"Oh I know you aren't. But either way, we'll be here for some time."

Once they had covered a few more details about the targets of interest, the six Reapers were dismissed. From the sound of it, it didn't seem like most of these targets would be getting killed by any means. He found that kind of annoying, being that many of them were very much so trying to start an uprising within the country. But on the other hand, most of the idiots at least had not resorted to genocide like Stone, so perhaps imprisonment was in order for them.

Today wasn't one of the appointment days, so without much else to do, Michael headed back to his quarters. He'd probably lounge around for the rest of the day and not do much of anything. He took the long way back, though, his mind occupied with thoughts of the previous mission. It was kind of weird having to play the part of a burglar, but it had to be done. Allison Roux had already filed the police report, and had seemingly bought the idea that it was nothing more than a robbery. Had she not, then they would have noticed once multiple targets began to flee the country.

Kevin, in the meantime, was beginning to concern him. Why would he join the Reapers for an additional tour when he had an issue doing the things they were doing? He was making this about his own stupid political beliefs, rather than focusing on the fact that these people were bringing drugs and prostitution into the country. But just because they were tied to political activism, Kevin seemed to be giving them a pass, making it seem as though Johto was in the wrong for putting them down. He had seemed to have no trouble doing it before. Whatever, Michael thought. He'll either get with it, or this'll be his last tour and he won't have to worry about it anymore.

He approached the door to his quarters, and he could already tell from the boisterous noise inside who had already welcomed herself in once again. Why can you not just leave us alone? Michael entered the duplex reluctantly, seeing Zaire, Elise, and Layla laughing in the living room. "There's our favorite burglar," Zaire said aloud.

"And there's my least favorite dark-type," Michael commented.

"See, now you're just being mean," she said, faking an offended tone. "And besides, you seem like you'd make a pretty good dark-type, breaking into people's houses and all."

"I did what I had to do. Now why are you here, other than to be annoying?" he asked.

"Well if it's any of your business—."

"Of course it's my fucking business! You're in my damn house!"

"…I was just trying to say that I was invited over by these nice girls, who are way better company than you, for what it's worth! And we were having a great time until you showed up." He had had it with this zoroark, and it was time she knew that.

"Listen here you bitch. I didn't want you here to begin with, and I sure as hell don't want you here now." She jumped off of the couch, closing almost all of the distance between the two of them and pointing her claw at him.

"You fuck off!" she countered. "I've been nothing but nice to you, and you treat me like shit! I'm sick of this, dammit!"

"I really don't care what you think!" Michael yelled. Alaina had rushed into the living room in an effort to quell this argument, but her protests fell on deaf ears. He clenched his fist in anger as he let her know just what he thought. "It was a real punch in the dick that they'd even think about throwing another zoroark in here after Zeke, and an even bigger one that they'd use someone like you! An inexperienced, immature, loud-mouthed bitch! You're everything that he wasn't!"

"Stop comparing me to him!" she yelled. "I haven't even met the guy! You seem to think I'm worthless just because I'm not him!"

"You'll never be half as skilled - or even half the person - that Zeke was," he stated.

"Michael, that's enough!" Alaina said, grabbing his shoulder harshly.

"Well you know what? I call bullshit on that. If he was so skilled, then he wouldn't be dead right now, would he?!" He stared at her, gritting his teeth, and the reaction was violent and immediate. He punched her as hard as he could in the face. Zaire fell backward, and Michael found himself thrown into the wall.

"What is wrong with you?!" Alaina screamed at him.

"She deserved that!" he yelled back, trying to break free from her grasp. But the latias' eyes were alight, and he was powerless to break free from her sheer psychic strength. He could do nothing but watch, just as Layla and Elise did on the couch. But for the first time ever, both of them looked back at him in fear. A fear that was well deserved after all this time.

"You are becoming a heartless person, Michael!" Alaina said in anger. "And you refuse to change! I have pleaded, cried, and yelled, but you won't go back to being you! Now apologize to her!"

"Fuck off, Alaina!" he said.

"Wrong answer!" She hurled him into the ground, and before he could get back onto his feet, Michael found himself lifted into the air once again, then slammed into the opposite wall. "I don't know if you aren't getting it through your head that there's something wrong with you, but there is! And so help me Arceus, if I have to drag you to counseling every single day myself, I will do it! You have been treating her with nothing short of cruelty, and your own mates with neglect! Now I'm about to force you to snap out of it!" He didn't know what to say, the words dying in his throat. Michael had never heard Alaina yell like this, and the fury within the latias shook him to the very core. Zaire had managed to pick herself off of the ground, holding her jaw as she looked at him. But through the scowl she wore, he could make out tears. The zoroark swiftly made her way out of the house.

Eventually, Alaina released her psychic hold of him, and Michael just remained still. The latias stared back at him with pure disappointment. "Everyone around you is trying to help you," she said in a sharp, yet quiet, tone. "It's not everyone else that's the issue. It's you, and you know it! I tried letting you take care of it yourself, but you've just made it clear that you don't need a say in the matter. I don't care if we're in that office every day for the next year! You will fix this!"

"What do you want, Alaina?" he asked quietly.

"For you to take this seriously! For you to take some sort of initiative to actually fixing your problems! You have made no progress, and you seem to have no desire to make any improvements! So you've lost your choice!"

"Oh really? What do you mean by that?" he asked, taking a harsh tone back to her.

"I mean either we walk down there every single day, or I will drag your unconscious body there myself!"

. . . . .

He sat within Jax's office, loathing the fact that he was here under such circumstances. What a fucking embarrassment, he kept thinking. After the situation with Zaire, Alaina had taken it upon herself to accompany him for each session, and she'd managed to book the therapist for the next two weeks. And he just sat there silently as the latias told him every single detail that he'd withheld from Jax. It wasn't conventional, but then again, nothing about these meetings was.

"I understand. And these nightmares - have they been a frequent occurrence?" Jax asked.

"No—."

"Yes, they have," Alaina said, sharply elbowing him in the side. "About two to three times a week."

"I need you to at least try to cooperate," Jax said. "Don't you want to get better?"

"You think hard about your answer, Michael," Alaina said. "I'd better not hear you say that you don't need to." He locked eyes with her, but she was far beyond backing down at this point.

"Fine," he said with a sigh. "I guess so."

"You guess?! Do you not care how any of this makes us feel?" Alaina asked. "You just went and punched a girl in the face yesterday because you were annoyed with her! And you 'guess' that you want to get better?!"

"Alright, whatever. What do I need to do to get the both of you off my back?" he asked.

"Well being honest and upfront would be a really good start," the latias stated. The tension in the room was strong, and for once, Michael felt backed into a corner. Surrounded. He wasn't liking it one bit.

"Maybe we should take a step back," Jax said. "Let me ask you this, Michael: do you love your mates?"

"What kind of a question is that?" the Reaper asked.

"An obvious one, right? Wouldn't you do whatever it takes to make them happy?"

"Oh come on now, don't try to make it about that…"

"Clearly he would not," Alaina said.

"Dammit Alaina, that's enough of that crap."

"No, Michael, we're just getting started. So either you make this easy on yourself, or we stay here all day."

"You know you're starting to—."

"What? Piss you off? Tell me, are you going to hit me? Or is that just something you do to people who won't fight back?" He looked at her silently, not knowing where this Alaina had come from. The one thing that he did know, though, was that the latias was portraying him as aggressive and impulsive. And she was right. She had taken note of his silence, and lightened up, if only a little. "Look Michael, you know I love you more than life itself. But I cannot stand by while you allow your mind to degenerate. I've asked you for over a year now to come and make this right. And you told me you would. Now can you please start?"

"…Well shit…" He averted his gaze from her, then, with a sigh, nodded his head. "Alright. I'll do it this time. But I'm still finishing what I came here to do."

"I wouldn't expect anything else," she said, giving him a slight, but heartfelt, smile. She reached out, taking his hand into her own. "Now let's tell him what he needs to know." Words couldn't describe how much he appreciated her; throughout all the disagreements, and even though he hated the fact that he was in this office, she was truly doing it all out of love. It was tough love, but it was most certainly love.

"I'm glad that you two could come to an understanding. Though now you've got me feeling like a marriage counselor," he said with a laugh. "Anyways, let's get back to it. I would like to hear some more about these nightmares, if you wouldn't mind. When did they start?"

"About a month ago. A little bit before we came back."

"And what goes on in them?" the therapist asked.

"I dunno, it's different each time. Showing me all the people I've killed, or some communist shithole… But he's there each time, somehow communicating with me from the darkest pits of hell…"

"Michael… you know just as much as I do that such a thing is not possible…" Alaina said.

"Then maybe I'm just losing it."

"Do you think that maybe you feel guilty about the people that you've killed? You mentioned that you ended up stabbing Douglas. Maybe that might be weighing in on you?"

"No, I don't think so. I've never lost an ounce of sleep over killing someone, because all the people I kill deserved it. None of 'em were good." He looked over at Alaina. "Sorry, I know I sound like some sort of sociopath, but…"

"You are what you have been trained to be. And they were not good people. You do not need to seek forgiveness from me," the latias said, squeezing his hand lightly.

"But no, Jax, I don't think that's what's going on at all."

"Okay. Now I do not mean to change topics here, but I do actually have a very limited amount of time, and I'd like to go over a few other things that may be contributing to these issues."

"Alright."

"Now Alaina mentioned that you have started taking up drinking."

"Yeah, but not to the point of intoxication. It's kinda difficult for me to get drunk after Alaina laid that mark on me…"

"No, but it does affect you," she replied, "and I would honestly prefer you not do it."

"Oh I know that," he said with a laugh. "You always seem to find the bottle, and that's the last I see of it."

"Would you say that you drink to the point where it makes you easily agitated?" Jax asked. Alaina looked at him, expecting an honest answer.

"Maybe. I don't know, I feel like I'm always easily agitated."

"Zaire will tell you that one," Alaina stated.

"Do you feel like you need it to make it through the day?"

"No, I'm not an alcoholic." Jax nodded, then went onto the next topic of interest.

"Now you brought this zoroark up, and that's also something I wanted to touch up on," Jax said. "She's joined your squad, and it seems to me like you have taken some issues with her."

"You could say that," Michael said.

"Why is this?" That was a question that he honestly hadn't thought much about. From day one, he'd pretty much decided that he didn't like her and had left it at that. It just so happened to escalate, and now here they were.

"I guess… maybe she was right about one thing. I really didn't ever want to see another zoroark again. Not after Zeke."

"But he was a great friend to you, was he not?" Jax inquired.

"More than that. A brother. But he's gone now, and every time I look at her…" He hated it because it was true. Zaire had hit the nail on the head, and the only one to blame right now was him.

"You get reminded of him." Michael nodded.

"I shouldn't have hit her, but… she shouldn't have said what she did, either."

"This is not about her," Alaina said. "And while she should have minded her words, you did provoke her. I want to know why that is."

"I couldn't tell you that if I wanted to. But it's not just her. I've… probably treated a lot of people more harshly than they deserved…" Just off the top of his mind, he could think of a particular woman a few days ago. He'd had a job to do, but he had probably taken things too far.

"It's good that you are becoming aware of some of these problems," Jax said. "I would say that's some pretty good progress."

. . . . .

They spoke with Jax for about another fifteen minutes before they had to head out. He couldn't tell if it had gone on for too long, or not long enough with how Alaina had wanted to continue. But he had another appointment, and agreed to meet with them again the following day.

Michael headed down the hall, approaching the doors that led outside. But before he reached them, Alaina placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm proud of you for doing all that. Even if I did have to more or less force you to come…"

"Yeah, alright." She looked around, knowing full well to guard the secret. Seeing that the coast was clear, she brought her hand to his cheek and planted a light kiss on his lips.

"We're going to get through this. Just bear with me and everything will get better."

"I know," he said, rubbing the back of her head. "Look, you know I don't mean to be difficult or anything."

"You could have fooled me," she joked. "But I know. There are just some things that we've got to work on. Right now, I think going over to Zaire and apologizing would be a good start." He looked off to the side, but nodded with a sigh.

"Probably…"

"No, definitely. Now let's go," she said.

"You really don't waste time, you know that?" he asked.

"Of course not."

The two of them made their way back to the duplexes, and Michael wasn't looking forward to this part. He supposed that an apology was in order, but that didn't mean it was easy, particularly this soon after the fight. But with Alaina right behind him, he didn't have any other option. She had meant it when she'd said that she was done giving him choices in matters such as these.

Michael stood in front of the doorway, more than a bit hesitant to proceed. "Go on," Alaina said. He raised his fist and was about to go for it before she stopped him. "Gently." Rolling his eyes, he lightly knocked on the door, waiting for the response. But a few minutes passed, and none came.

"Guess nobody's home," he said.

"Oh well. We'll just try again later. But you will make amends with her. I can't believe the way you treated that poor girl…"

"Alright, I get it. I'm gonna apologize when I see her next. So now what?"

"Well I suppose you could make things right with the others. You acted like an animal in front of them…"

"I suppose so. Anything else you want me to take care of, or are we calling it a day after that?"

"It'll be a start," the latias said. "Now come on."

. . . . .

Michael and the girls left the chapel, the sermon having been a pretty good one. The topic had been about extending love to all, including one's enemies. Though personally, that part wasn't exactly in his job title, and the Reaper did find it funny to hear such a thing on a military base of all places. But he supposed that meant that he shouldn't extend hatred towards them, even if it was his job to spy on them or take them out. Perhaps that would be the next thing to work on, after he got his own head fixed.

Along with Thomas, Samuel, and Alex, though, Zaire was also among those attending, though he had noticed that she seemed to be greatly distracted. Once everyone had been dismissed, she noticed them and headed the other way. Alaina quickly flew over towards the zoroark, who stopped as the latias spoke to her. Great. I get to apologize in front of everyone, too… But to his surprise, the zoroark simply blew her off, leaving the latias to herself. Alaina returned to the others, then shook her head. "She's not happy with you…"

"Huh, I dunno what would've given you that idea…"

"Hush, Michael, I'm trying to be serious here." The latias looked off into the distance, likely trying to think of some other method of engagement. "I'm not quite sure what to do now…"

"Well, I guess there's nothing that we can do," Michael said. "If she doesn't wanna make amends, then that's that."

"No, it isn't. We're going to fix this whether you like it or not. I'm just going to need some time to figure out how to do so…" The legendary had meant every word, and Michael knew that she wouldn't let go of the issue until it had been resolved. It wasn't in her nature to do anything else. But he couldn't fault her for this.

Zaire had been more than someone who he had found aggravating - he openly despised everything about her. He couldn't even really explain why, other than the fact that she was a zoroark, though something like that was far beyond her control, which meant that he wasn't being fair to her. Michael knew that he was in the wrong, yet couldn't help but feel any other way. It was a problem - that much he recognized - but it was one that he wasn't really sure how to deal with. One thing was for certain, though: he clearly wasn't capable of doing any of this on his own, nor was he even willing to try. Alaina had made that more than clear as of recently.

"Well shit," he eventually concluded, "I kinda fucked this one up. More than I usually do."

"Language, Michael. But yeah, you really did," the latias said.

With things the way that they were currently, the Reaper wished that there was another mission for them. At least that would help take his mind off of things. But instead, the very problems that he had allowed to escalate were now surrounding him, and there was no running away from them anymore.

That day, he finally faced the hard truth: that he was the problem here, and that if he didn't change for the better, then he could very well lose the girls.