A/N:

Thanks to both Fifi the Braixen and Orthros for beta reading this chapter!

"…" - Spoken dialogue

Italics - Michael's thoughts

'Italics' - Telepathic dialogue

/\/\/\ - Lemon Scene


"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."

-Paul Boese


Ch. 43 - Reparations

He watched as the armored vehicles slowly rolled by, and troops were marching alongside. The wind was strong enough to fully expose the massive flag above the Capitol, and the rest of Goldenrod towered around them. Michael didn't know what he was doing amongst such a massive crowd, nor where any of the others were, but he supposed that whatever this demonstration was, he would watch it.

Reapers took part in it, too. They were towards the back, their steps synonymous like the machines they had been trained to be. Behind them was the large black limousine, armored as thick as the very tanks they used on the battlefield. That's right - it's the president. But a sharp light emanated from the crowd, and he could see nothing more than the wheels of the massive vehicle - and certainly not whoever was on top of it.

But everywhere he looked throughout the city, the flags stood out - massive in size, flying from the tops of nearly every single skyscraper - painted on the sides of many buildings… It was by far the most patriotic display he had seen, with the red, white and black in view no matter where he gazed.

"It's wonderful, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. It's a good thing that you weren't able to destroy it," Michael replied. Douglas smiled, not looking at the Reaper, but eventually shook his head.

"I never wanted to. Hell, had I been able to accomplish my goals without a single death, I would have done so. But that wasn't a possibility." Michael continued to watch as the parade went on, then looked down at his attire. He was in his formal uniform, complete with each and every award. "You think you'll be done with it? That you'll be able to just leave it all behind? This isn't the lifestyle that you get to just walk away from."

"Well then I guess I get to prove you wrong again. I made a promise." And this time, Michael had every intention of keeping it.

"Tell yourself what you will. I at least get the satisfaction of knowing that my job was seen to completion. They say that the dead have seen the end of war. But you… you'll get to live on through it all."

"Huh, didn't know that getting your ass handed to you meant 'seeing it to completion,' but alright," the Reaper stated. The limousine pulled to a stop, as did the majority of the parade. The two of them found themselves directly in front of the capitol, the flags vibrantly waving.

"My goal was to fight the left wherever possible. I may not have lasted long enough to finish the mission myself, but I passed the torch along to far worthier and more capable successors." Everyone in the crowd saluted as the door to the large, black vehicle opened - Douglas included. "You will all purge the dregs of society as you are now. Perhaps the nuclear option didn't work out, but in the end it was solely about the end and not the means."

"We've never had a problem getting rid of bad people - not then, not now," Michael said. "But this whole idea of killing people just because we might not like them? That's not what we stand for." The terrorist lowered his hand to his side, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one and put it in his mouth, inhaling slowly.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see…" Douglas said.

"You know, I've been seeing Jax a lot lately."

"I'm well aware of that. The little prick."

"Whatever you are - probably some warped figment of my imagination or whatnot - I don't need you around, trying to invoke some twisted sense of wrath within me. You've outlived your own uselessness."

"Is that so?" Douglas asked. "You think that's just it? I'm part of you, asshole. You don't get to just shut me out."

"This is my mind," Michael stated. "Watch me."

Just like that, the cheering from the crowd drowned out his thoughts as the scene faded. The president stepped out, and a great beam of light overtook the city.

. . . . .

"So I get that we leveled the Playhouse and all - that was top priority - but were we able to recover anything about Delta?" Thomas asked.

"We've found a few Delta contacts within their archives, yes. It's enough to launch some serious investigation into the activists, but right now we need just a little more on them to start getting physical. We've found money flowing between several of the lesser-known members of Delta and the Playhouse. Our next goal is to get answers from them," Hawkins replied.

"How much information are we talking about?" John asked. "It feels like we're getting strung along. We just discovered ties to a fucking pedophile organization for Arceus' sake. There can't be much more that we need…"

"There isn't. But those ties aren't enough to warrant sending us in to wipe them out. It's enough to open up a court battle, which in turn gets a lot of the people that we want dead to put their guard up. Right now that's not what we need, so we're having to keep the lid over the whole thing for the time being."

"I don't like the idea of those assholes being off the hook for now, but… I guess we don't have much of a choice…"

"We need them dead, not running around the country. What we can do, though, is start doing some interrogation of our own. We'll be focusing on two of the activists ourselves, one of which is out of the country for the time being. However, she will be arriving here on the twentieth. That's when we can pursue both of them."

"So who are we going after?" John asked.

"The woman's name is Elizabeth Pratt. She's been mostly dealing with a few of the smaller grassroots movements - particularly for the LGBT community - and she's a frequent traveler. Mostly Kalos. We're starting to get worried about them, if I'm being honest. I don't like all this correlation with one single region…" He displayed the woman's face on the hologram, along with a picture of her standing in front of the Capitol, her fist raised into the air as though declaring war on the region.

"Well shit, no wonder she's campaigning for 'em," Thomas said. "Definitely a dyke. Rockin' the whole 'let me speak to your manager' haircut." The other soldiers laughed.

"That she is. Anyways, I'm sending half of you after her when she gets back. Once she hops in a cab or whatever, we'll bug it and follow her from there. Thomas, Alex and Michael will be pursuing her. The rest of you - Zaire included - will go after Gale Barlow."

"Wait… the singer?" Kevin asked.

"Yes," Wesley answered. "Like most celebrities, he's been very vocal in his support for progressive causes. That's not something we concern ourselves with. But now that he's been traced to both Delta and Javier, we've got more than enough reasons to go after him." After all, famous or not, he had directly contributed to an organization which specialized in child sex trafficking. "All that you all need to do is to bring these two in. Our interrogators will take care of the rest. Since Gale isn't on a tour or anything, he should be at his mansion. He has private security in and around it, so I'm sending the four of you best suited for that task in there. However you see fit to get him is up to you." He focused his attention on the other crew. "As for you three, Pratt's ticket says that she'll arrive close to midnight at Goldenrod's West Airport. Once she leaves in whatever vehicle she gets in, I need you all to follow her from a distance. You'll have access to traffic cams and all, and I doubt she'll be going far anyways. Bring her back, and use as much force as you deem necessary for taking her in quietly."

"Will do," Alex stated.

"Both of these missions will be occurring at the same time. If by chance something goes wrong, then neither will be able to alert their contacts and allow for the other to escape."

"Makes sense to me. So what happens after that?" Thomas asked.

"Well, with any luck, one of these two will be able to give up enough information to finalize our preparations for destroying all traces of Delta within Johto's borders."

"About damn time," Zaire stated flatly.

"Until then, stand by for further notice. I doubt we'll be needed before then, though." He shut down the hologram for the time being, taking the images of the two targets down. "You all are dismissed."

The Reapers left the briefing room and headed out of the building. Samuel and John were talking about the upcoming mission, though Michael couldn't understand what all there was to discuss. They hadn't even seen the layout of the mansion or anything, so it wasn't like any planning could be done until a few days from now, when Wesley would sit each of the two crews down and further elaborate on the intricacies of the task at hand.

"So," Alex said, "I know it isn't much of my business or anything, but… did something change?" Michael looked at him questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

"Like with you. You aren't as tense as you've been this past year."

"Oh, that. Well I guess Alaina was right. Not a shocker there, I know. But counseling was what I needed."

"So you have been going?"

"Twice, sometimes three times a week. Even managed to patch things up with his pokémon, too. I think it's helped a lot. I know I can't really take back the things I've said to people, but I'm hoping to make amends where I can."

"That's really good to hear," Alex replied. "I'm glad everything's working out." Michael nodded - it was, after all. At least for the most part.

"That said, I don't know if I ever apologized for that fight, but…"

"You did, and it's fine. You've been through some shit for sure."

"Yeah, but that's not an excuse at this point. I deserved what Lillian gave me," Michael said.

"She got you good, didn't she?" Alex asked.

"Felt like it. Hope there aren't any hard feelings between her and I."

"Nah, she'll be fine. She was just looking out for me at that time is all. I'm sure you of all people could understand that," Alex said. And between both Alaina and Veronica, he very well knew what it meant to feel overprotected.

Eventually the duplexes drew near. Alex headed towards his, then motioned out towards the distant field. "I'll be grabbing a few things and heading into town. Wanna come?"

"I'd love to, but I'm gonna have to pass on this one. Alaina made it real clear that I better not be late tonight. She's been cooking for a few hours," he said with a laugh.

"You know, I wish I had a legendary that would cook and clean for me…" Alex joked.

"Then I guess you need to go out and catch one. Or take a piece of shrapnel to the chest - whichever comes first." Michael shook his head, a grin plastered on his face. "No, Alaina… she's something alright. She's always been so caring towards me… and always has my back. And Arceus only knows I've never seen someone as smart as her…"

"Really?"

"Yeah. She learns so fast - it's unreal. She read over my old biology notes. The same curriculum that took me years to fully understand, and she got it in a matter of a single night. And now I've forgotten most of it, so she's more fit to work in the field than I am. She even managed to kick my ass while I was teaching her how to play chess…"

"That's crazy. But I guess that makes sense, given that she's a psychic and all."

"Maybe. Anyways, I'll leave ya to it. Seeya tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me." With that, Alex entered his building, leaving Michael to himself. He was admittedly looking forward to dinner, particularly because he was now behaving as a mate should, and as such was finding enjoyment in all these family activities. Perhaps Jax was to thank for that…

He walked up to the door to his quarters, right beside Zaire, who was about to enter her own duplex. That was when the idea struck him. "Hey, do you have any plans for the afternoon?" She paused for a second, likely as surprised as he was at the question.

"…No. Why?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to join us." He wasn't about to be surprised if she decided to refuse, but it was at least worth asking. She had enjoyed the girls' company before, and perhaps that would be enough to help settle any tensions.

"Funny that you of all people would ask that. But… I suppose I could, if only for what happened the other night…"

When he walked in with the zoroark, he couldn't help but notice the surprised looks from the girls. "I didn't know we were having company," Alaina said, though pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah, me neither to be honest," Michael admitted.

. . . . .

Dinner was eventful, and Michael found himself smiling as everyone talked. He had no idea why he had held off the therapy, and now as he looked back, it had certainly been one of the best decisions of his life - taking the initiative to improve the glaringly obvious issues he had. The drinking had come to almost a complete stop, much to Alaina's appreciation, and he now felt better than he had in a long time.

He couldn't deny the fact that, on some nights, he remembered his deceased friends, and he wasn't always able to keep from tearing up. But he also believed that he was coming to terms with everything far better than before. Perhaps they weren't coming back, but neither Zeke nor Raptor would want him to beat himself up over what couldn't be helped. All he could do was move on the best he could.

Michael felt as though his relationships had improved as well. Aside from his comrades taking notice of the positive changes, things had improved between him and all of his pokémon as well. The latias had told him the other night that he was becoming the very person she had fallen for, and hearing that made him feel like it had all been worth it. He hadn't ever intended to hurt them - that was the last thing he had wanted. But in hiding from the truth of what was wrong with him, he had shut them all away, even going so far as to blame them for his aggravations. Now, though, that was all in the past.

Jax had eventually gotten him to see the truth. Michael had refused to even touch medication from the very beginning, because regardless of what was wrong with his head, all Reapers were needed during this time. But once this final tour was over, he would do whatever was necessary to fix the problem - that very diagnosis that he had desperately hoped to avoid. Of course, looking as to how things currently were, he was wondering if further action would even be needed at that point, seeing as to how much he had already improved in these past few months. But whatever needed to be done, it was time to leave matters that he knew very little about to someone who had more knowledge than him.

Once everything was cleaned up, and it was getting rather late, Zaire eventually started heading for the door. But before she left, she stopped by Michael. "Didn't think I'd ever say this after everything, but… thanks. I enjoyed tonight."

"I did too. You're welcome here anytime." He looked at the door, doing his best to say the words. "Look, for what it's worth… I'm sorry for hitting you. And for being an asshole in general." She leaned against the wall, then responded with a small shake of her head.

"Yeah, well… I said some things I shouldn't have, too…"

"I guess that makes the two of us…" She extended her clawed hand towards him. "But anyways… no hard feelings from me."

. . . . .

It was getting close to midnight and both Michael and Elise were still on the couch. The movie had long since ended, and now he was mainly watching the late-night news. The topics of discussion were scattered about, ranging from the beginning of Leo Browning's career to the recent raids and destruction of those associated with the Playhouse. As he was browsing through the other channels, he found it funny to see that a documentary of Douglas Stone and his attempt to wipe out several countries was airing, barely able to believe that it had been long enough to become part of 'history' by now, despite it only being three and a half years.

"Crazy how time flies, isn't it?" he asked.

"Mhm." The glaceon sounded as awake as ever, though he wasn't that tired himself, considering that the day hadn't been a very active one. "I don't wanna watch that, though…"

"Nah, me neither. I feel like I've seen enough of the guy." Elise nodded, then repositioned herself on top of his chest. "Well hello there."

"Hi." She began to nuzzle him sweetly, and he set the remote down.

"What's got you so affectionate all of a sudden? Feeling frisky or something?"

"What? N-no, I was just…"

"Aw come on, I'm just messing with ya." Michael responded in kind, rubbing along her sides. He kissed her cheek, and she quickly licked him in return. "And besides, you seem like you're just as content doing this all night."

"Well… I am," Elise said.

"Yeah, I know you are." He hugged her tightly against him, making her release a quiet sigh of content. The glaceon looked at the screen. He had set the channel on a battle in Sinnoh - one that had been recorded four years prior when a trainer nearly defeated Cynthia. Back during a time when everything seemed a lot less hectic, and a lot more peaceful. "Had it not been for me, that could be us right now…" He'd come to terms with the fact that he'd failed them in that regard - putting the needs of the military before those of his mates, and putting a strain on the relationship in the process. Even if he could go back, he wasn't so sure that he would make a different choice. But one thing was for sure, though, and that was the fact that once this was all finished, he would stop forcing them all to simply tag along with the life that he wanted to live. "It will be us. Soon."

"Well, I can wait," she said, giving a soft nuzzle to his bare chest.

"We're getting close, Elise. I know we are. Once we've finished up what we need to do this time around, I'm done. I don't have it in me to keep at this forever."

"I… I like that," she quietly said. "Everything th-that you do… I mean you had to go get a… a bullet removed the other day. It's all so scary…"

"I'm not gonna pretend that it doesn't scare me at times," he admitted, "but then I get to come back to you girls. That drive has kept me alive all these years - that and Arceus. I'm pretty sure if I've survived Douglas, I can take a couple leftist morons. So you don't need to worry about me coming home or not." Before she could say anything else, he slipped his hands under her, quickly sitting up and flipping her over, pinning her down lightly. "And besides, if I were you, I'd be more concerned about how I'd be getting out of this."

The ice-type grinned, trying to squirm out of his grasp as he began feverishly tickling her all over. "H-hey! Cut… that out!" she said with a giggle, doing her best to block his access to her more sensitive areas. But eventually she gave in, her body having curled up and her laughs becoming short gasps for breath. "Pl-please!" she pleaded, tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh, alright. I guess I can let you off." He released his hold on Elise, smiling at her cute and helpless face. But before he could react, she grinned and spun over, leaping towards him and knocking him down, sitting back on top of his chest.

"My turn!"

"Oh, so you do have a bit of a mischievous side to you."

"Mmm, maybe just a bit," she said cheerfully.

The two of them played around until she tired herself out, which didn't seem to take too long, but was in reality the better part of an hour. Eventually, though, she settled down, resting her head and falling asleep in the same position she was in before their playful antics. Each time something like this happened, he never had the heart to move and wake her, so he supposed that this was where he was sleeping tonight, though he still wasn't exactly tired. For awhile he just remained still, looking at his phone to pass the time. Mostly he was just checking mail and browsing the internet. Most of the news was the same as what had been on the television, though he did notice an article about the growing legendary populations within Sinnoh. That was an interesting read. Probably shaymins after they went under governmental protection.

"I see you're tied down there," Alaina said. By now it was a bit past one in the morning. "Would you like some help?"

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind," he replied. "Doubt I'll be getting much sleep with a sixty-pound weight on my chest." Alaina gently lifted Elise off of him using her telekinesis before taking her back to one of the bedrooms. The latias returned seconds later, joining him on the couch. "Thanks for that. Now I can breathe…"

"Oh I hope you aren't insinuating that she's fat or anything," Alaina joked, causing him to laugh.

"No, but she has put on a few pounds. You might be to blame for that one."

"Well I do cook well, don't I?" she asked, putting on a snooty tone before breaking out into a wide grin. "The internet is a wonderful teacher, you know."

"And a twisted, horrid place," he joked. "But yeah."

"You didn't seem to have any problem just browsing it just a minute ago."

"Yeah, well that was for porn," he said, earning a smack on his arm. "Kidding, kidding! Dunno why I would have a need for that…"

"I was about to say…" But her smile betrayed any idea of her taking the thought seriously. "Anyways, I was proud of how you were tonight. Zaire seemed to be at ease."

"I think so too. I apologized and all, and she said that things were cool between us. Let's just hope it stays like that." Though he wasn't exactly planning on doing anything to jeopardize that…

"I'm certain it will," Alaina answered. 'After all, I think you've improved a lot, my mate.' He nodded, then looked back at the television, staring at it blankly. But something was off, and as he thought back to it, he immediately realized what it was.

"Wait, what the hell? Your lips didn't move…"

'I know,' the latias' voice echoed in his mind. 'Pretty cool, isn't it? I've been working on it for some time now.'

"Yeah, I'll say," he replied, shaking his head. The legendary was full of surprises, though telepathy did tend to be an ability of many psychic types. "Wait, does that mean you can read my mind?"

'Well, I'm your mate, so I more often than not I know what you're thinking," she joked. "But as far as the telepathy is concerned, I can only communicate with you and nothing more.'

"Still though, that's pretty awesome. Though I gotta admit, it's kinda weird hearing you talk to me in my head…"

"It is how members of my species communicate with one another," she replied, finally saying it aloud. "Do you not like it?"

"Oh no, I think it's pretty neat. It'll just take some getting used to is all." Though he did have to admit, having the ability to hear her silently - and from a pokémon that could hide her appearance as well - was interesting to say the least. It could certainly prove useful. "Now that I think of it, how come it took so long for you to develop that? There are a ton of psychics out there that learn it at a few years old."

"Because unlike them, our lifespans are well past a century or two," Alaina replied. "And even by your standards, I'm fairly young."

"That makes sense I guess," Michael stated.

"Well of course it does - I said it."

"Alright then," he said with a laugh.