I was going to post this earlier, but... I let myself have a bit of a lazy morning. So, here it is! The next chapter and no this one doesn't end in a cliffhanger. I have mixed feelings about those. As a writer, I know that their a great way to get people to keep reading unless they really don't like the story. On the other hand, as a reader, their annoying because I have to continue reading to know what happens next. So, I try not to put in too many cliff hangers in my stories.

Warnings: This has a lot of stuff in it. Memories returning, people being hurt, threats, fighting (that is very glossed over because I still can't write those scenes) and people being protective. Mentions of starvation, hitting and overworking.

Other Notes: This is either sign language or a flashback. It's easy to tell which one is which though so don't worry.

Disclaimer: Pokemon is awesome, but isn't mine. Autumn is though.


-Kiawe's P.O.V.-

No one was able to find Milan or Autumn. After we got back from Wela Volcano, we told the police and they started a search for them on all of the islands. We helped out as much as we could, but… we had to continue with our lives. We started out slow, going back to doing simple chores and visiting each other at our homes. Ash even went with Lillie to Aether Paradise because she didn't want to go alone. Neither of them wanted to go alone anywhere anymore and were seen with each other a lot. Rotom nearly left and Ash took it really hard, especially since Roxy would go with him and Lana even got another Pokemon, an Eevee who loved the water as much as she did. None of us were truly happy though, "Anyone find any clues?" Mallow asked.

Even if we had to continue living our lives after a week (mainly because our parents forced us) didn't mean we didn't keep looking for anything that would help us find her.

All of us shook our heads as Lillie sighed, "Still no sign of them. Even after a month, it's like they've…"

She didn't have to say anything for us to know that it was like they vanished. Then Ash burst into the room and confused us with an adventure he apparently went on in a parallel world. He only calmed down when Professor Kukui entered and he got a full story from him, "Despite the new adventure, I still have a class to teach," He reminded gently.

"Right, sorry," Ash smiled sheepishly as we all sat down.

We could all see the effect Autumn's disappearance had on Professor Kukui. He was a wreck and only took care of himself when Burnet forced him to. Although, she wasn't much better and they were practically holding each other up right now. Sophocles hesitantly raised his hand, "Professor? I was wondering… could we have a self defense class?"

The atmosphere changed since Autumn was usually in charge whenever we had a 'self defense class' and taught us something new. Everything seemed darker than before, but surprisingly, Kukui nodded, "We can have one this afternoon if you want. I was planning on having a catch up day, but we can practice some martial arts instead."

"Ash," Lana piped up, barely speaking anymore, "Could you teach us something new?"

Ash paused for a moment, then nodded, "Yeah, I… I can try."

So, after lunch, we moved our desks to the edge of the room and got ready, "I'll teach you a high kick," He started, "It only hits at the chest, but it does wind them enough for you to get away if you need it."

Once he demonstrated it, he used it against me in a 'fight' to show the others how it would be used. Although, as soon as he used the move, I remembered everything

-Flashback-

He kicked me against the rock wall just as Autumn protected me from the rocks falling from the Volcano. Milan threatened my life just so he could get Autumn to go with him, but she didn't let that stop her completely, "Sir?" She asked tentatively, "Will you allow me to say goodbye?" With just that one question, I wanted to punch Milan right in the face and drag him by his feet all the way to the police station, and that was just to start.

He didn't answer immediately, but he agreed, "Make it quick," He stated, "We don't want to be followed."

She kneeled in front of me and gave me all of her Pokeballs, "Please take care of my Pokemon," She paused, trying to hold the tears back, "I can't allow him to hurt anyone else. I'm so sorry Kiawe," She pulled me into a hug and whispered just loud enough that I would hear her, "The next time someone does that move on you, you'll remember everything that happened and know where we are."

"That's enough!" Milan pulled her away, forcing her to her feet and to follow him, "We have to get back to my hidden house!"

"Where is it?" Autumn asked, somehow sounding not at all interested.

"Close by. It's in Wela Volcano's hidden spot, we'll be hidden by the smoke from everyone and every scanner," Then they were out of sight, "Now, come! Before he wakes up!"

"Wait! But… what about-"

"There's nothing left for you there!" I heard a slap, "Forget about your old life. They were just pretending the entire time. They don't really care about you."

She didn't say anything back as everything officially went black for me.

-Flashback end-

Everyone else was a bit worried since I had frozen, "Kiawe?" Ash asked, "Are you alright?"

Slowly, I realized where I was and what had just happened, "I remember what happened!" I yelped, "I know where Autumn is!" And I ran out of the classroom, not waiting for anyone else.

This wasn't a matter that could wait, but I made sure to make a quick stop before I found Autumn, "Kiawe," Dad asked me, concerned, "What are you doing home so soon? Shouldn't you be in school right now?"

"Dad I need you to call Officer Jenny," I answered, without even getting off of Charizard, "Tell her to get a squad out to the hidden side of Wela Volcano and to search! That's where Milan and Autumn are!" Then I was flying off once more before he could question me.

I did stay long enough to see that he ran inside to hopefully call Officer Jenny. I flew towards where I knew they would be and was worried as soon as I got there. I landed just in time as Autumn had collapsed onto the ground, weak, exhausted and probably starving, "Well, look at this," I turned to see Milan glaring at me as I got off of Charizard, but kept him out just to be safe.

I got ready to fight, "I won't let you hurt Autumn ever again! Not for as long as I live!"

He pulled out a knife, "Very well. I'll just have to kill you!" And he charged.

The only reason I wasn't hurt was because of all the extra lessons Autumn gave me every week. Because of them, I was even able to disarm him and make it an even fight. I never let him get past me to Autumn, who was still on the ground, "You'll never have power against anyone after today," I told him when I had gotten him farther from Autumn and looking like I was going to win, not saying anything about the Police who were probably on their way right now.

He just glared and stood up, "That's what you think," And he charged with another knife.

I was ready to block when I was pushed aside, "No!" Autumn was the one to push me aside, but made sure I was alright before facing her father. She… she looked determined, "You do not control me. You do not own me," Autumn, for the first time since I knew her, sounded so sure of herself that everyone who heard had no doubt in their minds of the words she was saying, "I am my own person! The way you have treated me is wrong! I will not stand by and let you do this any more!" From who knows where, she got the energy to charge at a shocked Milan.

He quickly gained his bearings, "Hypno!" Of course he would cheat. I was frozen with Charizard, unable to move, "Now, there will be no interference," He glared, "You will not beat me daughter."

Autumn glared back, "I'm not going to kill you father," She admitted, "But I will beat you. Because you know that your actions have been wrong, but you haven't cared! All you care about is your own agenda and no one else! You manipulate things, people and Pokemon to be the one to take control of any situation just because you think that you are the only one who can do it," They charged, but both attacks were dodged, "No one can be strong in everything and I am not afraid!"

"But you are," Milan smirked as they continued fighting, blow after blow being thrown back and forth, each trying to gain the upper hand while I just tried to move so I could help, "You will always be afraid of me and I will be able to complete my experiments and make you into a perfect little soldier that will do whatever I tell you. No one will be able to defy me ever again."

Autumn didn't say anything for a moment, just concentrated on fighting, "Autumn!" I told her, hoping to lift her spirits instead of seeing her acceptance at his words, "You may be afraid, but you're going to overcome it! I don't care how long it takes you. I will always be here for you, cheering you on with every sliver of progress, encouraging you with every step back you make. It's going to be a long road, but we'll travel it together. You won't fear him in the future. I'll do everything I can to make sure of it."

I didn't say anything for a moment after that, just watched and waited. Milan smirked, thinking that he won and it really looked like it. I was trapped, all my Pokemon in their Pokeballs except for Charizard who was trapped with me and Autumn was collapsed on the ground, "You will never win against me," Milan told us, placing a foot on Autumn's back to keep her on the ground, "No matter how far you try and run, I will follow you. I will always be here to strike fear in your heart. And fear. Always. Wins."

"No," Autumn whispered and I barely heard it, "Fear never wins! When people are scared of you, it will wear off eventually and they will revolt," Why was she glowing blue? "They will encourage others to join their cause until they are able to take you off your throne. Why? Because love is stronger than fear. I know it is! I've seen both of them and love is always stronger! When someone loves you then they'll stay by your side through everything, good, bad and terrible. When you love someone then all you want is for them to be happy!"

"Love is for the weak," Milan pressed harder on her back and she groaned, "It causes nothing but pain."

"Yes," I answered this time, "Sometimes love hurts, but it is always worth it in the end. Always."

"Fear is the strongest emotion there is!" Milan defended, grabbing Autumn by her shirt and jerking her to her feet, "And you are afraid of me."

Autumn looked him directly in the eyes and stated, "I am not. Afraid. Of you," Milans eyes widened as she said louder while pushing him back with her Aura, "I am NOT AFRAID OF YOU!"

He was pushed against a tree with his Hypno pushed onto him, but the Hypno was unconscious. Milan was being pinned by his own Pokemon, no matter how unintentional, "Autumn!" I quickly ran over to her as soon as I could and caught her just before she fell, "Are you alright?"

She smiled at me, "I am now," It was like all of the energy she had gathered had just left her, "I'm so glad it worked."

"Sorry it took me so long to remember," I smiled, holding her close, but still looking her in the eyes. Finally noticing the deep cut on her stomach that she no doubt got when she pushed me away from Milan's blade.

Autumn leaned her head against me just as Officer Jenny and a few others showed up, "You came," She told me while closing her eyes, "That's more then I had hoped for," Then her eyes closed completely.

I wasn't sure if she was asleep or unconscious so I gently tried to wake her up just a little, but she stayed out, "Doctor!" I called out, "We need a doctor over here!"

They were quick to get Autumn to the hospital and to take Milan into custody. Apparently, he had to go through a trial, but everyone knew it was just a question of how long he was going to go to prison for. Everyone quickly heard about it though and they came running, "How is she?" Ash asked, running straight for me.

I sighed, "I don't know. They haven't told me anything yet," It was nerve wracking, "And I've been here for a while!" Honestly, it had only been a few minutes since they flew us back to Melemele Island to take care of her, but I was impatient.

Lillie looked around, "We just have to be patient. I'm sure they know what they're doing."

Ash glared and sat down, crossing his arms, "I don't want to be patient."

Mallow smiled as best as she could, "Neither do we, but we've got to stay strong. They'll know how to take care of her the best."

"Their professionals!" Sophocles added, "Of course they will!"

Then Lana asked, "What if she wakes up? She doesn't like being touched unless she does it first."

Mallow, Lana, Lillie and Sophocles had to hold Ash and I down once we realized that they would be touching her. We only sat back down when the Professors arrived and forced us to sit down, "When they know anything they'll tell us," Burnet told us as Kukui was watching the others and informing their parents where we were.

"But we've been here for thirty minutes already!" Ash protested, "Don't they know anything?"

"I've been here for forty!" I added, "They should be helping her already!"

"They are, but it takes time for someone to be helped sometimes," Burnet answered patiently. A small thought came to me, wondering how she was so patient right now, but… it was probably the only thing keeping her together.

Then Officer Jenny came to see us, "Kukui?" She asked our group.

Professor Kukui stepped forward, "That's me. What is it?"

She smiled, "We're pleased to inform you that Milan is in custody and will most likely be in prison for a long time," Then the smile fell from her face, "The one thing that's keeping us from putting him in prison right now is that we need to know everything he did."

Burnet nodded, moving forward to hold Kukui's hand, "So you'll be able to give him the correct punishment."

Jenny nodded, "Exactly. We know Autumn hasn't told anyone everything that happened, but when she's ready, we'll hear everything. She can even just record everything that happened and give it to us."

"Does she have to go into detail?" Ash asked.

Jenny shook her head, "No, but she will have to go into some detail. How long it lasted and things he did. The only thing that will not be happening is her telling us everything Milan did to her in front of him. We want her to feel as comfortable as possible when telling us so we can get as many facts as we can."

I nodded, "If it's possible, I want to make sure she doesn't see him until she's ready."

"That's something we agree on," Jenny answered, "But just come to us whenever she's ready or call me."

"We will," Kukui promised as she left.

Then two nurses ran up to us, "What's wrong with Autumn?" Amelia asked.

Daniel placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but still looked worried, "Do you know what's going on?"

Kukui frowned, "I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"I'm Amelia," Amelia answered, then pointed to Daniel, "This is Daniel, my fiancé. Autumn has been working on our wedding and visiting the kids every week. We just…"

"We want to know what's happened to her," Daniel pulled Amelia into a side hug, "The kids are worried, but they're not well enough to come visit this part of the hospital."

"I'll come inform you all of what's going on when we know," I promised, "But we don't know how long that will be."

Amelia smiled, "Thank you. We'll be in the play room all day so just go there when you know," And they left to look after their charges.

Everyone was looking at me, "How did you know who they were?" Ash asked me.

I blinked, forgetting that I was the only one who knew, "They were Amelia and Daniel, the main nurses that work in the children's cancer section. Autumn visits them every week and makes them things."

"Every week?" Lillie asked, shocked.

I nodded, "Every week. She wants to give them a reason to smile, because when they're smiling, they're fighting. She even visits the other people in the hospital when she can. Everyone who's admitted here gets something from her if she visits them. Always at no cost."

She had only told me about doing it one time, but I could tell it became routine. If she can make one person smile that day, then she'll continue fighting. So, I was going to make sure she had plenty of chances to do so every day she lived, "I never knew she did all of that," Mallow admitted, "And even with helping everyone here, she helped us out as much as she could."

"How does she keep track of it all?" Lana asked.

"Me!" Roxy answered, buzzing and showing us Autumn's calendar, "She has everything planned out so she can do as much as she possibly can with her time!"

We looked at the filled calendar for a moment, then Sophocles said, "We need to make sure she takes some days off to take care of herself. That's one packed schedule."

Ash smiled, "The thing is… when Autumn's taking care of others, she's taking care of herself. It's just how she works."

"We've noticed," Lillie smiled, "But she should take days to rest and recover as well."

"Try telling her that," I grumbled, "She always catches me trying to change her schedule so she can take a day off to do nothing!"

Lana smirked, "If we all work together we may succeed."

Our plans were in motion right then and were only put on pause when the doctor came out, "She'll live," He told us first, "But it may be hard. She's suffered major dehydration and starvation with multiple bruises and a cut on her stomach that will take a while to heal, but it was clean and we don't have any worry of it healing."

"So, she'll be alright?" I asked.

He nodded, "It'll take a while, but with help, I have no doubt that she will recover," Then he looked nervous, "But… I'm worried about the bruises. They look like…"

"We know," Ash reassured, "That's who we saved her from."

The doctor seemed relieved as he heard it, "Alright, she's in room 294. If she wakes up, get a doctor or nurse so we can make sure she doesn't have a head injury."

"We will," Mallow promised and we all made our way to her room

I deviated from the group and went to see the kids first, "So, she'll be alright?" Charly asked.

I nodded, "It's going to take a while, but she'll be fine."

"Could we go see her?" Naomi asked hopefully.

Amelia and Daniel looked at each other, then Amelia shook her head, "I'm sorry, but you can't visit her yet."

"But we were going to make her get well cards and everything!" Brenna protested.

I smiled, "How about I bring her as soon as I can?" I suggested, "She's probably missed some of her favorite people in the world too!"

All of them gasped and beamed, "We're some of her favorite people!" Riley exclaimed.

"Now we have enough time to make her the perfect card," Brett nodded.

Neil smirked, "And I know just what to do! Come on!" He led the way to the craft supplies and there was a mess less than a minute later.

Daniel smiled at me as I turned to face them, "Thank you for that. They've been so sad lately that we just haven't been able to do anything to lift their spirits."

"Just as long as they're happy," I answered, repeating what Autumn told me all that time ago, "Then they'll be fighting."

"Tell us if there is anything else okay?" Amelia asked as Daniel moved to help the kids and watch them so they didn't do anything they shouldn't.

I nodded, "You'll be some of the first to know," Then I went to Autumn's room.

She was still unconscious, "They already looked and she's not in a coma," Burnet reassured me when I joined them on the uncomfortable chairs, "She's just exhausted."

"She couldn't even stand when I got there," I admitted, still scared at seeing Autumn collapsed on the ground again, "I still don't know how she got the energy to fight him off."

"Fight him off?" Lana asked.

Lillie's eyes were wide, "What do you mean by that?"

So I told them what had happened and everything I remember from our mission, "She probably thought that I could keep up with the martial arts practice every weekend, but I didn't have anyone to practice with," I finished.

"So no one would have been able to trigger your memories!" Mallow gasped, "She's a genius!"

"Hopefully we'll be able to help her overcome this," Ash whispered, no one hearing him except me.

I hoped so as well, but quickly found out that it would be harder than last time when she woke up, "Autumn?" Kukui asked as she opened her eyes, but made sure to keep a safe distance "Are you alright?"

She blinked, squinting for a moment at the bright lights then looked around at all of us. Each person she noticed close to her, she became more and more afraid until she reached me. I took her hand and smiled, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

She nodded, but still looked terrified of everyone else. We called for a nurse and we all backed away until the nurse reached out to touch her. Autumn reacted on instinct and kicked the nurse away, "Don't worry," The nurse tried to reassure, "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help."

Autumn didn't believe her and as the nurse came close to her once more, got out of bed and ran straight for me, "Autumn," I gently wrapped my arms around her and got her to sit down before she toppled over, "Tell us what you want. Please? We can't read your mind."

Slowly she moved her hands "I don't want anyone to touch me," She admitted, "I… I don't feel comfortable with people coming near me."

"How come Kiawe can touch you and be near you then?" Sophocles asked curiously.

"It's because he saved her," The nurse answered, frowning slightly, "She knows that with him, she's safe and whoever hurt her won't be able to do it with him around."

"Then we'll get her to feel safe with all of us!" Ash beamed, kneeling down and looking at Autumn, but keeping his distance, "I promise, however long it takes, I'll help you feel safe around me and the others as well."

Autumn nodded, "I know. Just… be patient with me? I'll do my best."

"That's all we ask for," Mallow smiled, "We'll go as fast or as slow as you need us to."

"And we'll always be here for you," Lana added.

"Cheering you on on your good days and your bad ones," Sophocles added.

"And remember," I smiled.

Lillie beamed, "Take it one day at a time!"

The nurse frowned, "Still, he can't stay here," She walked forward, "So you'll have to get used to being around others quickly."

The only reason Autumn didn't have a panic attack right then and there was because of the Professors, "Then we're going to be taking her home," Kukui stated.

Burnet nodded, "Just bring us the release forms and we'll take her home. We know what to do and we'll be able to help her heal."

The nurse looked at us in shock, "I'm sorry, but I'm not authorized to do that. She has to stay here until her doctor allows her to leave."

"Then bring her doctor in here!" Ash cried out, "And we'll get him to release her!"

The nurse didn't budge and I glared, "You have no idea what she just went through," Now I had the nurses attention on me with Autumn in my arms, still terrified, "We just helped her escape from her abusive father that kept her in a cage in the middle of a snowstorm one time! He gave her just enough food and water to survive and forced her to do everything in the house while he just sat and did nothing every day! So get the doctor or listen to us. The ones who helped her be able to meet strangers without having a panic attack."

Her eyes were wide as she slowly backed out of the room. When she was gone, everyone looked at me, "That was amazing Kiawe!" Sophocles cheered, "You didn't even have to raise your voice!"

"How did you know what to say?" Mallow asked.

I shrugged, really not even knowing that it would work. Lana smirked, "Think you can help me with my sisters some time?"

Lillie smiled, "The only reason we shouldn't take Autumn home is if she needs medicine."

Ash pulled her into a side hug, "Don't worry! We'll be able to help Autumn get better even without all this fancy equipment! Besides, we have two Professors! They're really smart people from what I've seen."

Everyone chuckled as Autumn smiled slightly. Even if she wasn't in the hospital, she would recover. We would all make sure of that.