Part Two

Jessie awoke to the sound of murkrows cawing outside.  It took her a while to register that she had passed out and James had put her on the bed.  It was near sunset as far as she could tell.   She was silent for a long time, unable to digest the last detail she remembered before fainting.  What was it like to know you'd live forever if you can never again feel your own heart pulse beneath your flesh? She thought.  Was there real life in such a person?

"You're awake."

Jessie lifted her head up to see James, who had put on a black t-shirt by now, enter the room with a tray of food: dinner.  He set it down on her lap and Jessie once again ate without comment.  James sensed the uneasiness she felt and he moved off the bed.   Jessie followed his movements with her eyes, not knowing if she should trust him at all.  James brushed his hair back and tried to organize his thoughts.

"Jessie," he began.  "I know how you feel.  I would hate myself too if I hadn't known that." He sighed.  "Four years…yet you still knew me as the same friend you've had for over ten.  Now it seems different."

Jessie had enough.  James did not have the right to talk to her as if she were of inferior rank or a child.  The fork clattered on the plate and she sat up, careful not to tip the tray.  "Well of course, it's different!  I've been lied to for four years and you expect me to trust you?"

James sighed. "No, I didn't, Jessica.  I couldn't expect that from you."

"Don't call me that!" Jessie snarled.  "Don't get all mushy and melodramatic on me, you…freak!"

The word "freak" echoed in his mind, pounding its way deeper and deeper like the dull thudding of a hammer.  James cringed but then he grew angry.  He did not suffer with his curse in secret for four years to be called a freak.  The rose, now returned to its vase, was ridged and emitting heat that Jessie felt and recognized. 

"You think that scares me, James?  Forget it! I know you don't have the guts to hit me," Jessie continued to snarl with a sadistic, twisted grin emerging on her face.  She was too blinded by her own rage to know how much she was affecting James.  James, on the receiving end, clenched his fists.  He felt bitter hatred for his grinning friend.  How could he even have thought of anything between them?  Why had he bothered to put up with her?

James' icy glare penetrated Jessie.  She fell silent as she felt a strange imperious force being emitted from James himself.  There was no way to describe it but he looked older in her eyes, despite their age difference of almost a year, and much more terrifying.

"You're right, Jess.  I don't," James muttered as he unclenched his fists. Without another word, James left the room.  Jessie stared at the door. Why had James scared her? She was JESSIE, for God's sake! Jessie of Team Rocket!   Jessie got up and glanced over to the rose, still emitting heat.  She got out from under the covers and swung herself off the bed, never taking her eyes off the exothermic flower. She was angry at the rose.  Why should James be angry that she was angry?  He was the one who kept his dumb secret from her.  Her rage was consuming. 

 She snapped back into reality as she discovered the thorns cutting into her skin as she held the rose horizontally in both hands in an unconscious decision to snap it in half.  It was barely bent halfway but Jessie went into hysterics all the same.  She dropped the rose, fell to the floor and wept into her bleeding hands.  She had almost killed her best friend; Angry as she was, James was one of the only companions she still had.  She was ashamed and guilt-ridden.

"James, you damn fool! You damned, beautiful fool!" she cried aloud.  

Elsewhere, James had his hands to his chest. Tears were streaming down his checks and he was taking great breaths of air as if he were saved from drowning.  If his heart still pulsed, it would have been racing, giving him reassurance that he was still alive and safe.  He had no such reassurance.   It was such an awful feeling, when a person was suddenly touching another's soul, gripping it unmercifully in their hands and twisting it out of proportion.  He had relaxed as he had felt Jessie's hands released the rose and realized he had fallen over and was now laying on the dirt road. A strange dizzying and woozy sensation had taken over his mind and his strength had left him altogether. James stared teary-eyed at the darkening sky.  His own friend, the one he trusted most…

"Jessie.  Why did you try to kill me?"

@-}—

Meowth was warming himself by the small fireplace when he awoke Jessie's uncontrollable sobbing.  He had heard James exit the small house (which was adjacent to the lighthouse on the hill overlooking the Vermillion Port) twice that day but had not seen Jessie all day, though she might have been up and about when he was outside looking for loose change.   He opened a feline eye and his ear twitched back and forth.

"Meow…" he sighed, not wanting to move from his warm spot.  He reached over to the group of pokèballs beside him to release one to check Jessie out but then decided that Jessie probably needed more of a human companion, even though he himself was a pokèmon.   Giving into his conscience, he got up and walked to the bedroom.  "You ok, Jess?" he asked through the door.  There was no answer but the sobbing continued. Using his cat-like abilities, he opened the door and saw Jessie weeping as if she had betrayed Team Rocket. Jessie looked at Meowth with red, swollen eyes and Meowth had to fall over at the sight. Her face was something out of a horror film with dried blood clinging to her cheeks where her hands had made contact with her face. 

"Jessie! What 'cha tryin' ta do? Kill yourself?!" Meowth asked in surprise, afraid of the answer.  Jessie wiped her eyes with a sleeve and looked her blood-covered hands before bawling all over again.  "What is wrong wid' ya?!" Meowth screeched, shaking Jessie's shoulders.

"I-I…." Jessie could not get the words out.  How could you possibly explain you almost killed your friend with your bare hands? Bare hands that looked as if they had committed murder?

Meowth rubbed against Jessie as she started to quiet down.  He saw the rose still on the floor and picked it up.  Wondering what James would do, he held it up in an effort to comfort the girl; he knew many humans loved flowers.  "Jess?" he asked. Jessie looked towards Meowth and caught sight of the flower.  Letting out a wail, she grabbed it away from Meowth, bringing it towards her chest.

"I am so sorry! I am so sorry!" she cried over and over again before returning it to its vase.  Meowth was in a state of confusion.  He ran to the bathroom and damped a washcloth and wiped Jessie's face clean.  It seemed to help her compose herself a little though she continued to cry. 

Jessie stopped short, finally gaining control of herself.  Despite the sobs that still racked her body, she managed to somewhat explain what happened. 

"So James' soul is in dat rose?" Meowth asked, half-disbelievingly as he tended to and bandaged Jessie's hands.  He didn't announce to Jessie that he thought it was a load of BS dreamed up by some idiot author but he decided to keep quiet while Jessie was still upset.  Jessie nodded.  "And ya almost snapped it in half an' killed 'im?"

Jessie gave another nod.  "I was so angry…" she said simply.  Meowth closed his eyes.

"How'da know dat Jimmy was tellin' da truth? You said it ya'self, it was way out dere, somethin' outta a science-fic'ion book or somethin'," Meowth asked.

Jessie grew red.  "I-I didn't tell you?"

"Nope. You jus' gave out and skipped from da memory-exchange t'ingy to da fight youse had wid' Jim."

"He proved it to me; he placed my hand on his chest," Jessie stopped as Meowth gave an involuntary snort. "You want to know or not, cat?" she scowled.

"Ok, Meowth is sorry," Meowth sighed as he finished bandaging Jessie's hands.  Jessie reached up and got the glass of water that sat on the nightstand and drank it to calm herself down. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and set the glass down on the ground.

"He placed my hand on his chest and there was no heartbeat yet he looked so full of life.  There is just no other explanation; he had nothing on his chest to prevent me from feeling it," Jessie said.  Meowth remained silent. 

"I still dun' quite buy it but if this whole thing is true, den Jim is in serious trouble," Meowth said, looking at the rose in its vase.

"Why?"

Meowth pointed.  The rose was drooping and two petals had fallen onto the nightstand. 

@-}--

James made his way to the nearby tree, too weakened to drag himself to the bench.  Taking in deep gasps of air, he slowly nudged this way and that and eventually got into a sitting position.  He heard the gentle waves lapping at the shore.  There was no way he could go back to the house, it had taken him long enough to just travel six feet. 

Looks like I am stuck here for the night, he thought to himself, too tired to do anything else.  The same dizzy sensation overtook him again and he held his head in his hands as he felt an unexplainable sorrowful pain set in. 

jessie dont hurt me please i beg you let it stop dont hurt me  jessie jessica best friend no hurt,  James' brain would not work and his thoughts were disoriented as he curled up into a tiny ball in a futile attempt to protect himself from the pain.

"James!"  Jessie called out.  James looked up with the last of his waning strength. His mouth shaped her name but he had no voice left.  Jessie ran up to him and placed a bandaged hand behind his back. "Oh, God, what happened to you now?"

James looked at her pitifully, vaguely aware of the dim flashlight shining at his face.  Jessie was taken aback.  Had she hurt him that much?  James closed his eyes, unable to focus on Jessie's face.  Jessie hastily licked her lips.  She caught herself looking for a heart beat but smacked herself with her other bandaged hand, which stung as she did so, as she remembered that he was not supposed to have one.  He was still breathing and Jessie made her way back to the lighthouse, following its beacon of light, leaving the flashlight in the grass where its own dim light eventually died.

@-}—

James had trouble adjusting his eyes to the light.  He managed to turn his head a little to see the fuzzy image of Jessie asleep at the bedside, slumping over from her chair to rest her head on the bed sheets.  He shifted his head back again and sighed.  How was he going to trust Jessie after-

"James…"

James' eyes roamed until they settled on Jessie's tired face.  He mouthed her name and held out a hand, as cautious as a timid pet.  Jessie's fingers curled around his.  Jessie's words got caught in her throat as she was forcing herself not to cry.  James' eyes settled on her bandaged hands and a pang of sadness and fear ran through his spine.   Her grip grew tighter and tighter until James felt his hand was going to be crushed.  Yet he made no sound as that was her usual way of apologizing.  His eyes locked with hers and both knew that there were no words needed.  Jessie leaned over some more, taking James in her arms.  Sapphire blue met emerald green again and Jessie felt her friend relax.  She glanced at the rose in the vase.  She stared seemingly blankly as she saw it was looking a bit better than the last time she set eyes on it but James knew her tricks too well.  James caught her glancing at the rose and smiled weakly.

"I am…still…me…" he managed to say to his best friend, finding some strength at last.

"I think I can see that now, James. I trust you. If you can find it within yourself to trust me again…"  Jessie didn't finish but gave him a small hug.  James hugged her back and Jessie knew he had forgiven her despite her idiotic actions. They just sat on the bed, rocking back in forth to comfort the other.  Jessie closed her eyes. All these years she had took him as a normal human being yet he had not been the man she thought he was during the last four years.  It did make sense now that he was still the same person…though his spirit and soul were separated.  She wondered if he felt emotions like a normal person would. She shook her head.  Of course he did! He still whined over food and turned absolutely giddy when it came to finding the perfect cross-dressing outfit…

James' next statement interrupted her thoughts.  "A bath would be nice…" James grinned.

Smirking, Jessie lifted James into a fireman's carry and delivered him to the bathroom. She set him on the toilet seat as she ran the water.  After the bathtub was half-full, Jessie plopped him in the hot water and left the room, closing the door behind her.  James stuck his tongue at her or rather at the closed door.  He sighed and began to take his now soaked clothes off and toss them on the bathroom tile so he would be able to bathe.

@-}—

The steamy bath was beginning to make James feel relaxed again and he sighed contently, feeling energetic yet lazy at the same time.  He and Jessie were on equal terms again, he wouldn't be forced to see Giovanni the next day and-

The last thought startled James and he sat upright in the bathtub. Giovanni was sure to send someone after him, he thought.  Someone was sure to come and make James see him.  Someone would do something subtle to make him go on his own….taking days beforehand to plant the idea in his head...

James started to piece the puzzle pieces together.

He was sure he had closed his backpack as always with several heating packs after taking out his squirtle bottle, yet, according to Jessie, it was wide open.  It would have taken about twenty minutes for his rose to freeze but he had fainted a mere three minutes after taking out the squirtle bottle. 

James closed his eyes to remember the awful feeling he had encountered before blacking out.

Frozen…I was completely frozen…an icy feeling tearing at my heart…some icy merciless grip…

It couldn't have been just the cold…someone bad had touched him; touched his soul like Jessie had. But it was so cold…

He turned his thoughts to the hospital.  The people would have taken his pulse to see if he were alive or not.

"But I have no pulse," James said aloud.  Could a Team Rocket agent be working in that hospital?  Someone who knew about him? Someone with great authority…someone who would know where they were…

A painful ache in his back shattered the rest of his thoughts.  Grasping his left shoulder, he felt the ache again which had spread down his left arm.  His emerald eyes were wide with fear.

"No…please, God, no…" he gasped.  Knowing the danger he was putting him and his comrades were in, James stood up in the tub and ran out the door with a towel wrapped around his waist.   He ran to the bedroom and saw that Jessie was sitting on the bed in her nightgown, combing out her hair.  Meowth was on the floor, counting loose change again.  Jessie saw James' expression so full of agitation and assumed James was angry about her dumping him into the bathtub as well as everything else that had happened that day.

"Whoa, Jimmy! Get some pants on!" Meowth exclaimed.

"Geez, James! I am sorry but you couldn't take a joke like that? I mean, throwing you into the ba-" Jessie started. James set both of his hands on her shoulders, looking dead serious again.

"I have no time to explain," he said before going to find some clothes to wear.  "I have to leave right away."

"James! I am not forcing you to see the Boss tomorrow! What on earth are you so fired up about?"  Jessie asked.  James shook his head, muttering all the time he was running back and forth to gather supplies and belongings.

Jessie and Meowth just looked ridiculously at James as he rummaged through drawers and shoved things into a duffle bag.  He was dressed in a flash and his pokèballs were attached to his belt.  He slung the bag over his shoulder and was about to make his way to the vase.  Jessie leapt up and grabbed the rose from the vase before he did.  Pure terror overtook James' face as he saw the rose in her hands and stopped dead in his tracks. 

"Meow! Jess! Ya' know what happen'ed last time!" Meowth yowled.

"Wait! You don't know what you are doing! Jessie, put it-" James panicked, feeling Jessie's burning grip on him.  She couldn't figure out the other terrible secret, she just couldn't!

"Stop that!" she commanded, pointing the rose at him.  James was suddenly quiet and looked at her with a dulled, jaded look on his face as if daring her.  The duffle bag dropped from his grasp and landed with a light thud on the floor.  Jessie was surprised he was listening to her in his state of obvious panic and a queasy feeling formed in her stomach.  Was he trying to scare her?  Was this a trick of his with a "hell-with-this" attitude? she thought.

"I don't like this, James.  I don't like it one bit.  What the hell is going on?!"  Jessie demanded.

"It is better not to tell you now. Maybe it's best never to tell you," James said simply with the same dull look on his face.  Jessie continued to chew him out, with James simply staring at her with the same blank look on his face, which seemed to infuriate Jessie even more.  Meowth looked worryingly between Jessie and James. 

"Jessie…I think you'd better give him back da rose.  He don't look so good," Meowth suggested.  Realizing what pain James would probably have been suffering with her holding the rose, she placed it in his hands.  James looked surprisingly at her and then at the rose and then at Meowth.  The same fearful expression overtook his face again and try as he might, the words got caught in his throat.

"Why don't you ever tell me anything? What the hell is going o-" Jessie started before James put a finger to her lips.

"I can't tell you.  I almost told you anything you wanted to know; which could get us all in trouble.  I don't know if I'll ever see you again.  I can't put all of us in danger: You, Meowth, my family."  He picked up the duffle bag and gave his friends a final look.  They seemed so confused and worried…he thought.  He shook his head.  He couldn't stay with them.  He wanted to cry, to scream at the top of his lungs but he held it all back.

"Farewell my friends, dear Jessica…Meowth.  I shall never forget the happy times."

Without another word or look, James put the rose in his jacket pocket and ran out the door with his duffle bag thumping against his side. Tears flowed freely from the inner corners of his eyes.  Jessie and Meowth ran to the open door and called out to him as he melted into the eerie darkness.

"Jim!"  Meowth called.

"James!" Jessie shouted after him. Not even an echo responded her call.