LOVE AND SACRIFICE(v3)

Love and Sacrifice(v3): Loved ones lost

Donari looked out of the window of her dorm room. Indenki and Shadow were out there somewhere, and they were alive, she was sure about that. The news report yesterday had proved it, but one thing she didn't understand, was why they had attacked the base during the peace talk. Had they been tricked into it something? That had to have been it. Shadow was not a terrorist, like the news reports claimed, he was a soldier fighting for peace. That was what he was trained for.

One bit of evidence that it had not been planned as a terrorist attack was the fact that the five survivors had somehow been taken from the wreckage of the plane and laid safely on the ground far from it, but close enough to be found. The second was that the fire had been put out before the ambulance or firefighters could make it.

Hearing her door open, Donari immediately slipped back to her desk, pretending that she had been studying for her biology test the next day.

"Hey Donari, your parents are here to visit you." Her roommate said, peeking in. "They're outside the dorm."

Her parents? It'd been a long time since she'd seen them. Grinning broadly, Donari leapt out of her chair and ran past her roommate, not minding the fact that she was barefooted. Taking the stairs two at a time, she made it to the dorm entrance in no time and flung herself into the arms of her mother and then her father.

"Missed us?" Her mother asked slyly, reaching out to ruffle Donari's hair. "You cut it again, didn't you?"

"I like it cut..." She twirled around so they could see her new hairstyle properly. It was cut short, just above her shoulders, but there were two long locks of hair that hung over her shoulders.

"I think it's nice." Her father commented, smiling warmly at his daughter before suddenly dropping the pleasant attitude. "Donari, we're going to have to draw you out of the school again..." Inwardly, he winced when he saw the slightly hurt look in his daughter's eyes. "It's too dangerous. It won't be long before finds out who we are. Keeping Sacrifice hidden has been hard enough..."

"Is he alright?" She asked worriedly, looking around to see if they had brought the charizard.

"He's fine. So is Love. We had to leave them behind though." Her mother answered. "Come on, we need to leave now."

"How are we going?"

"By Fearow."

"How can a fearow carry all three of us?" Donari asked, puzzled.

Her father sighed. "Donari, we were practically born genetic engineers. Creating a large fearow for travel isn't hard. Now let's go." He scanned the area then stepped outside the door and pulled out a pokeball, releasing the fearow which was about three times the size of a normal one, then mounted. Donna got on behind him, and Donari sat behind her mother.

Tahari kicked the bird lightly on the side, the command for it to take off. Silently, unlike most fearow, it lifted into the air; it's massive wings flapping strongly. Donari was tempted to ask her parents where they were going, but for one, she doubted they would answer, and even if they would, she probably wouldn't hear them as they were traveling at a high speed and the wind rushing past her ears was loud.

Many times Donari had wished they could have just been a normal family. For the first ten or so years of her life, she had lived underground, only going out to the 'upperworld' a few times a year. Then they had been sent away... Turned out that the 'Tavis' name was a very well known one, as Tahari's great-grandparents had been the starters of Project H/C, and were well know peace talk leaders. Professor Mikoto had wanted them to try and unite some of the rebel factions in Arasia secretly, which was what they had been doing for the past few years. Donari, however, they put in boarding school under different names to keep her safe.

To keep her safe, she knew little about what her parents were actually doing so that if she got discovered and captured, she wouldn't have anything to say. They cared so much about her, but Donari thought that love was wasted. Sei was only about a year younger than she was now when they abandoned him. If they had left her for any reason, she would have hated them. Choking down a sob, she remembered the last time they had seen Sei, and the way he had looked at them, as if he had disowned them... She no longer saw love in his eyes when they met, but an emotionless gaze, as if the old him had died, leaving behind an empty, soulless body. He had simply greeted them, and then left, slipping off as he so often did when he wanted to avoid human or even pokemon contact. No hugs, no slight smile. He hadn't even asked about Sacrifice or Love.

Donari didn't blame him though, for he had every right to feel betrayed. They could have visited more, but her parents were always too busy. 'Too busy' to visit their first 'son', adopted or not, was not a valid excuse. But then, she couldn't blame her parents either. She had a feeling Professor Mikoto had a lot to do with their being separated, as he had been the one to send her parents away in the first place, and he had probably helped teach Sei how to hide his emotions so well, though she had a strange feeling that he had learnt most of that on his own. But why? Why would he have such a strong need to hide what he felt?

Her thoughts were interrupted as the fearow started to circle and area, slowly descending. For no reason that she could think of, her mind wandered to think of Indenki. So unlike Xeth, the fire hybrid he had ended up traveling with. She giggled, remembering what an odd pair the two made. Xeth was a funny guy, and pleasant to talk to, so the two of them loved to chat, and got along well. Indenki however, didn't say much at all, unless he had to, and even then, he said what needed to be said in as few words as possible. He didn't seem to like her very much, but she decided that the fact that he hadn't killed her yet meant he at least didn't hate her. Somehow, she doubted he would ever kill her, though she knew he was not one to be underestimated. Like Sei, he was a born killer.

They landed, and Donari was forced to push aside her thoughts of the three hybrids she had met. Dismounting the fearow, she was belatedly reminded that she wore no shoes as her feet were greeted with cold, wet grass.

"Donari, the Kaitan Alliance was overthrown today in Arasia. Zentai has taken over." Her father informed her suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Zentai?" The young girl had never heard the name before, but had a feeling she would learn what it was soon.

Her mother explained. "Zentai. They were part of Team Rocket, and had been hiding under the guise of the Elite forces."

Donari's brown eyes widened in surprise. "But...why are you telling me? You never tell me any of this stuff." The last sentence was said in a slightly accusatory tone.

"We've been discovered." Tahari replied, casting his green eyes to the ground. "It won't be long before we're captured, and sooner or later, they may find you."

Donna walked over to her husband, putting an arm around his shoulder and idly lacing her fingers in his black hair. "We want you to know who to be wary of when we're captured. We refuse to let them get you."

"But-"

"No buts. It's going to happen sooner or later. We've been able to keep hidden for this long, but our lucky streak was bound to end sometime. We leave you in charge of Love, Sacrifice, and this fearow."

"But father, mother... Can't you do anything?" She pleaded, her eyes starting to water.

"No, we can't. Not without putting you, or any of the rebel factions in trouble." Her father smiled proudly at her. "You'll be taken care of, so don't worry, and I know that you can take care of yourself."

She nodded, now truly understanding to some extent how Sei must have felt. "Where are we going now?"

"There's a base near here. We're going to drop you off, and then we're going to surrender." Her mother said.

"Surrender? You're not even going to put up a fight? Since when did you go down without a fight mother?" Tears were now running freely down her cheeks, and she spoke in a fierce tone. Hadn't her parents told her time and time again about how her father had rescued her mother against her will? Of the countless times their lives had been put in danger?

"We have done what we can." Her mother seemed slightly offended by what her daughter had said. "You need to learn that sometimes fighting is useless. We might just end up being killed if we fight back, and get the rebels discovered. Instead, us in exchange for their lives, and yours, is a fairer bargain. Don't argue with me Donari. I've been ready to give up my life from the start of this."

Automatically, Tahari's eyes flickered down to her leg, the one that she had never regained proper control of because of her bullet wound. She was right though; Donna had always been ready to die from the start. Ever since he had known her, she had been one of the most dedicated assistants of the project. Originally, he too thought it was stupid to just give up your life. If it hadn't been for his stubborn streak, she would be dead now... But sometimes, sacrifices were necessary, and this was one of those times. "Donari, please understand that we are doing this because we love you." He walked over to her and hugged her tightly, breaking it off abruptly before what was happening really sunk in . "Now come with us. We have a lot to tell you before we leave."

Without a word, she nodded and followed her parents to the rebel group, listening intently. It was hard to accept the fact that her parents might die that night. And it was all because of the war. Zentai was going to pay for this... It was all their fault, and they were going to pay dearly, or her name wasn't Donari Tavis!

When they reached the base, her parents introduced her to the leaders of that group, but Donari didn't listen, or pay any attention to them. She simply nodded, and shook their hands. Her attention was focused on observing her parents, who were trying to appear calm, but she could sense that they were still frightened. What of, she wasn't sure...

After what seemed like an hour of introductions to Donari, her parents handed her a silver necklace, but she only half listened to their explanation of the heart shaped locket really being some sort of high-tech pokeball. Then they hugged her, said their final good-byes and left the base.

That was when she snapped out of her trance, struggling fiercely against the restraints of whoever it was that held her until a pokemon used some sort of sleep attack on her, and despite her attempts to ward it off, sleep eventually took over. For some strange reason, the last words out of her mouth were, "Sei, Indenki..."

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