I am so sorry that it took me so freaking long to get this part up. I've had it done since May but I kept on revising it over and over again when new ideas for this fiction popped into my head. This fic is turning to be longer than I originally planned and it's getting more twisted…you thought you knew the plot for this whole thing, didn't you? Didn't you, you unsuspecting reader? There are more secrets revealed and more to come….
Will this ever become comprehensible? I have no idea. Sorry for the wait but finally, you get to read part four of the story with the title that I now hate! =D
-SV 8/30/02
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The Prince of Roses - Part Four
"JESSIE!" James suddenly cried aloud. Kat pulled away from him and looked at him in a puzzled yet annoyed manner.
"Hmm? Is she your girlfriend?" Kat asked, a hint of anger in her voice. James' breathing calmed down as he wondered why he suddenly screamed out Jessie's name. But…who was Jessie? He could not remember. His head was throbbing terribly and he was very groggy, yet he felt as light as a feather. Finding no logical answer, his worried thoughts evaporated.
"N-no…I don't know…wh-" James murmured. He vaguely felt a gentle finger touch his lips to shush him.
"Shhh…it was just a bad dream…" Kat whispered, brushing away the wisp of hair clinging to James' forehead. "Just a bad dream."
"Just a bad dream…" James echoed before he fainted into Kat's embrace.
@-}-
Jessie opened an eye as she felt a strain in her left leg. She shrieked in fear as she saw the icy water below her and squeezed her eyes shut again as she realized she was dangling above the water. Her head throbbed painfully as her facial muscles tightly contracted in fear. Her breathing ceased as she heard the waters churning beneath her. The sea wind was freezing, buffeting her and her tangled hair fluttered in the manner of a flag in a strong gale, whipping about her.
"Jessie!" a familiar voice called. "Are ya all right?!"
Jessie snapped out of it and strained herself to bend herself in an attempt to look upwards. Arbok looked at her from the deck, his serpentine body coiled tightly around her left leg. Her heart pounded against her ribs and she swallowed hard, still trying to figure out why she decided to fling herself off the boat. She was angry with herself. What the hell was Jessie of Team Rocket thinking?! Jessie of Team Rocket would have found James and chucked him overboard. It was not within her character to hurt herself when another could suffer the pain and make her feel better. It was a stupid thing to do since she had a hidden fear of drowning.
"Jessie?" Meowth's voice was showing signs of panic as he heard no answer from his teammate.
"I am fine!" Jessie called up, a little less than calmly. "Pull me up, already!"
@-}---
Back in the cabin, Meowth locked the door and handed Jessie a paper cup of water.
"All right. Now you tell Me-owth what happened back dere. Foist you wake up crying James' name an' den youse chuck yourself overboard!" Meowth demanded. Jessie maintained her normal icy gaze and took a sip of water, feeling a bit emotionally stronger.
"Nothing," she replied once again.
"Youse call dat nothin'? Tell Me-owth!" Meowth demanded. Jessie sighed and told him about her strange dream, fearing only Meowth's claws scratching her (perfect) face if she didn't. "Dat' was not nothin'…" Meowth observed. Jessie let out another cry of pain and the empty paper cup fell to the floor. Her right hand felt as if it had caught ablaze and she instinctively clenched it, making it hurt even more. "Let Me-owth see dat," Meowth cajoled her.
Meowth unwrapped the bandages and stared at Jessie's palm. "Well, Ai'll be damned…" he muttered. Jessie looked at her palm. Near the base of her thumb, there was a patch of red. She brought it closer to her face and cleared her eyes of tears. She was dumbfounded. Something had been embedded in her hand. It had dug into her skin and healed over - though she could tell it was thorn that Meowth had neglected to pull out for one reason or another -and she saw that the patch of red was dried blood…shaped in the form of a tiny rose.
"What in the…?" Jessie murmured as she tenderly prodded the strange symbol on her hand with the index finger of her left hand. She couldn't help but admire how the blood rose up and beveled in minuscule ridges to form "petals".
"Should we tell the ship doctor? Me-owth can't pull dat thorn out. Paws aren't dat adroit," Meowth asked.
"No…" Jessie said, looking at the small floral design on her hand. "I just have this feeling that this has to do with James. That dream had to do with him and it all connected to my hand. The flower, the blood…right down to the last battle…" she went over the dream over and over in her mind. She felt as if she was doing a jigsaw puzzle without the cover box, not knowing what she was looking for. "Then that huge surge of emotion and mind images…" she looked at Meowth. "I can't believe it myself but- but I think I am connected to James. I have no idea how or why but…I think it's through this…" she held her hand up to the light where the light reflected off the flower-like patch of dried blood. Meowth blinked and eyed Jessie wearily. He couldn't help thinking that what Jessie was trying to convey was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo.
"Ok…dat was jus' nuts…but if it works for you, it works for Me-owth. Come on, we're nearly at La Côte de l'Azure so we should get ready to get off da boat. Ebony Beach should be a short walk away from dere an' from dere, we could take a bus from da station up to dat fancy mansion dat he grew up in," he said.
"Oh yeah…" Jessie murmured, remembering the letters that James had received days ago and brought out the two letters: the notice that Growly had died and the letter from Giovanni. The latter was nearly crumpled and torn to the point of being indecipherable. Curiosity got the better of her and she started reading Giovanni's orders:
James.
Time 7.13.085. HQ. Discuss Project G. mandit check up. Final round. The phoenix awakens.
-Giovanni Sasaki
Jessie stared at the crumpled paper. Surely there was more to that, she thought and scanned the rest of the letter. Why would it stir such a rage in James? It had the air of a doctor's note, scribbled onto a piece of paper. Finding nothing else on the note, she tossed it aside where it hit the rim of and then landed neatly in the little trash can in the room.
@--}---
Kat awoke first and sat up in bed. Despite being naked, she seemed rather pleased with herself. Glancing at the sleeping boy on her right, tangled in the sheets, she smirked and got out of bed to get dressed. When she came back, clad in an outfit similar to what she wore at the bar, she placed James on the nearby couch with some difficulty and covered him with a red blanket. The boy snored on and Kat tossed her long black hair aside in the manner that a wild horse flings his mane out of his eyes. She walked to the nightstand and took James' rose from the vase filled to the brim with the same alcoholic drink she had given James the night before. She turned around as she heard a small gasp of pain from James and tightened her grip on the stem, delighting in watching her victim squirm restlessly on the couch, an expression of pain etched into his face. As he neared the surface of waking, she released her grip and watched him relax a bit. Kat took great care in replacing the rose in James' jacket pocket which hung awkwardly on the frame of a wooden chair in the room.
Done with her work, she sauntered off to cook breakfast.
@--}---
James awoke to the smell of Belgian waffles. James tried to sit up, his mouth watering for the delicious breakfast waiting for him. Halfway off the couch, he noticed his nakedness. He screamed and in turn fell over and landed in a tangled heap on the ground with the blanket.
"What is it, James?" Kat rushed into the room and James just screamed louder and wrapped himself in the fabric, looking very much like a scared little boy who sought the protection of his blanket in fear of the monsters in his closet.
"M-my clothes!" James stammered. "W-where are they?!" Kat giggled softly and pointed to the chair with his jacket on it.
"You fell into the koi pond last night. Don't you remember? You were in the shower when I took your clothes to wash and when I came back, you were asleep on the couch! Silly, James," she explained, almost teasingly. "You hit your head on a rock as well so I take it you still have a headache?" James nodded before clutching his head which felt like it was stuck in a vice. His eyes shot open again and stared at Kat.
"My jacket! My pokèmon! Did you take my jacket to clean too? Are my pokèmon all right?" James asked frantically. Kat shook her head explaining that he had taken off his jacket and put it on the chair before they checked out the koi pond and that it wasn't necessary to wash. She had taken his pokèballs off his belt and put them in the kitchen(in actuality, she had secretly broken the releasing mechanisms on the pokèballs the night before so they wouldn't "interrupt" and they were stowed in her pocket) James relaxed but then got antsy again.
"What is it?" Kat sighed, repressing the urge to hit him on the head.
"You must have seen my underwear…I feel so embarrassed…" James blushed and covered his face with his hands. Kat laughed.
"No problem," she chuckled. "I grew up with four older brothers and they had dirtier underwear than you do."
James blushed again at her statement, annoying Kat a bit further. She brushed a loose strand of hair out of her face. "So, you said you were headed towards that giant mansion on top of the road last night?"
"Umm…yeah," James nodded as he has no other idea why she would know his destination.
"I can drive you there if you want," Kat offered. James murmured a 'thank you'. Kat smiled, chuckling within.
Too perfect, the girl thought.
@--}--
Jessie silently disembarked the ship when they reached La Côte de l'Azure and took a look around. Meowth walked beside her. In the afternoon, they reached Ebony Beach and caught a bus ride. Jessie looked blankly out the window, occasionally glimpsing at Meowth who would then look away from Jessie. Jessie sighed, lulled nearly to sleep by the bus' continual rocking motion. The bus came to a stop at a deserted bus station next to a hill with a dirt path. Jessie prodded Meowth awake and gathered their belongings. Dressed in khakis and a simple lavander blouse, no one looked up at her with the same suspicious glare that people always gave her when she was in uniform. The bus door closed behind her with a hiss of air and the bus continued on its route.
"Jessie," Meowth started. "You sure about this?"
"Positive," Jessie simply stated as she marched along the dirt road. "Where else would he go now?" Meowth decided to remain silent. After about twenty minutes, Jessie suddenly had the urge to quicken her pace. What was first a casual stroll became a jog which became a heated run. The red-headed rocket's breathing became short and labored as her feet carried her faster and faster with her small bag of belongings thumping rhythmically at her side. Meowth resorted to running on all fours to catch up with his friend.
"What's the matter?" Meowth gasped between breaths. Jessie did not seem to hear the pokèmon's query as she ran past the old "missing" signpost that displayed the faded image of young James in his Sunday's best attire.
@--}---
"This is it," James said, pointing at the large gate surrounding the manor which he had called home years before. They were at the back of the manor where the distance between the gate and family gravesite was only a couple hundred feet. Kat parked alongside the road and the two slipped through the slim bars of the gate. James did not want his parents knowing of his presence at the estate in fear of his former fiancée's whip. They walked to the gravesite where the preceding generations of James' family were in their eternal resting place. James quickly spotted the elegant gravestones of his grandparents and kneeled down to say a quick prayer. He then got up and walked past the giant headstones of his predecessors and headed directly to the small area dedicated to the beloved family pets. Kat looked disdainfully at the gravestones as if being near dead people disgusted her. James looked around but saw no gravestone that would mark the place where his loyal pet growlithe would lay.
"It's not here…" he said simply, running his hand over the smooth granite of one of the headstones. "This isn't right…." He stood upright and started running towards the small mansion beside his own, hoping for the absurd idea that Growly was still alive and well and that the letter was a mistake.
"James! Wait up!" Kat called as she ran behind him. James ran through bushes and leaped over fences, getting scratched and bumped along the way but he didn't seem to care. The small manor increased in size as he darted nearer.
"Growly!" James called ahead, waiting for an answer he half-hoped for. To his astonishment, an orange blur shot out the small house and knocked him over. A large, sloppy pink tongue greeted James as he laughed happily. "You're alive! I can't believe it! I got a letter saying you were dead!" James held his friend's head between his hands, looking at him straight in the eye.
Growly looked him, puzzled and then suddenly growled at an unknown object or person behind James.
"Hmm? Growly, what's wrong-?" James started to ask before a loud crack ran out. The air pressure from the gunshot made his hair flutter. The next thing James knew, Growly had suddenly fallen limp in his arms and that an amount of a salty dark red substance had splashed on his clothing and face. It took a second for the young man to register that it was blood. James' cry got caught in his throat as he stared at his childhood companion in his arms. The canine's blood ran down his hands and onto his jeans, staining both with a dark and sticky red hue. James couldn't breathe as he just stared at the empty shell in his hands. He was about to turn his head to call for Kat to warn her when the barrel of a gun was pressed against his nape- the same one that killed Growly, still warm from its last firing. James swallowed. It was true that he could not die if the rose was safe but the pain he experienced was the same as any other person's if not worse.
"Pity. He was a cute pet," a smooth and cold female voice said from behind him. James' heart fell. It always seemed that the people whom he trusted the most were the ones who tried to kill him. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth.
"Kat…" James croaked. "Why did you kill him?"
"I am just following orders. Nothing personal," Kat said impenitently.
"Who are you?" James whispered, already knowing the answer as the words escaped his lips.
"A Rocket who is doing her duty," Kat replied, seductively into his ear, making him uncomfortable. He felt a hand gliding down his back and along his hips. James dared not to move or breathe. His stomach was in a tight knot which grew tighter by the second. He felt a slender hand reach down into his pocket and his eyes grew wide as he saw the brilliant red of the rose as it was drawn from its hiding place. James' breathing came in wretched gasps and he began to perspire. So she was the one, he thought, feeling the same icy grip that took hold of his soul that cold night when he first fainted.
"Put that down," James said, half pleading, half threatening. Kat pulled the gun away from his head and James was able to stand up and face her on unsteady footing. He cradled the body of his fallen comrade in his shaking arms. Kat had shed her disguise and was now dressed in the manner of a class A top executive Rocket. Unlike Domino's, Kat's uniform had an uncommon V collar which ended slightly above her breasts. The skirt was the shortest he had ever seen as it barely covered the top of her upper thighs. A simple bandolier hung at her hips with a single pokèball attached to it and James noted the small knife in its sheath bound to her left leg right above her bootline which ended slightly above her knees. A sadistic smile played on her crimson lips.
An assassin, James thought. She is an assassin... the idea echoed over and over in his mind. "Put it down," he repeated.
She twirled the small revolver on her fingers casually as she examined the flower in her other hand.
"Why?" she asked, toying with him. James glared at the amber-eyed woman, feeling hatred for her build up within him. He clenched his teeth and his lips pulled back in a snarl. Never before had he felt so angry and betrayed and he found it very hard to contain himself. It was a cruel irony that the one to bring him the most pain was not of the red-capped boy's group or of the justice department. Instead it had to be a person from his side, or whom he used to believe was on his side before his childhood friend was shot.
"Put it down…" he said for the third time, anger clearly in his voice. Kat felt heat intensify in the rose she held and she burst out laughing. "PUT IT DOWN!" James screamed and as if on command, the rose burst into flame. Kat stopped laughing and looked at the fire flower and then coolly turned her attention back to James with an icy smile on her face; the type of smile that a snake would give someone before it bit its victim. James was taken aback and the flames disappeared at the same time. His ire had been replaced with fear when he saw that she had not let go of the specimen of fauna in her hand. He had expected her to get burned, giving him a chance to escape.
She didn't feel the pain? Only people with close contact would not feel it…
"I know what you're thinking James," Kat smiled. "Why on earth am I not being burned?" She dropped the rose carelessly and watched Growly's body slipped from James' grasp as James shrank back in pain. Kat kicked the dog out of the way towards the door of the manor. James fell to the ground and recoiled as she stepped gingerly on the stem. James looked at her as if she was a monster. She was a monster. "Only a person with deep connections would not feel it, right?" She chuckled. " For a first-timer, you really knew how to give a bitch a good fucking."
James cringed in response and then let it sink in. "You're lying!" he screamed at her. Kat tossed her long hair aside with a flick of the head.
"Believe what you want but I got my 'deep connection' that way. No sense in wasting years in developing a meaningless friendship like you did with that Jessie," she said. James glared at her.
"Don't you even dare say-!" James snarled and lunged at Kat's feet. In a flash, Kat delivered a kick to James' chin just before he touched his rose, snapping James' head back and sending him crashing into a pillar of Growly's mansion. He slid to the bottom in a pitiful heap next to Growly's body.
"James!" a familiar voice called out. James mouthed the familiar name of his former partner-in-crime.
"James!" the voice called again. James swore he saw the familiar sillouqutte of Jessie in the distance. How she found him was James' guess but seeing her increased the anxiety he had.
"Jessie…" James grunted. "Jessie! Go away!" she couldn't get involved. "Go away! Stay back!" Kat grew irritated and picked up the rose, holding it before her like an unsheathed blade. James knew what was to come and he shut his eyes and began crying silent tears.
"Stop that," Kat ordered. James fell silent, his eyes instantly dry. Kat kneeled by the young man and lifted his chin and looked into his eyes which stared back at her. "Good boy," she smiled.
@--}--- '
Jessie's heart pounded as she neared the mansion. It was the only logical place he could be without her. She suddenly caught a glimpse of blue hair as she started up the small hill. Meowth had been left behind in the dust as Jessie refused to slow down and was still by the front gates, waiting for Jessie- and James if she found him- to return.
"James!" she shouted. "Do you know how long it took-" she slowed down quickly and halted as she caught a closer glimpse of the figure running towards her. She took a step backwards. James raised his head with the look of a psychopath on his visage. His thin lips were curled back to reveal bared teeth and his wiry frame was set in a position to spring at her as soon as he got close enough. The most frightening thing (Jessie hated to admit this to herself) was the look in his eyes- they were full of bitter hatred. Jessie was forced to turn and run as she saw the glimmer of a knife in James' hand.
Running…she hated running…
Jessie dared not to look back as her feet carried her towards the edge of the giant lake that was part of the landscape. She ran along the old stone bridge trying to block out the blood-thirsty cries that tore their way out of James throat. She swerved left when the bridge branched out into two segments and found herself at a small enclosed gazebo-like structure with glass filling in the metal framework. Jessie could not find an alternate escape route and found herself thrown into a shelf full of potted plants as someone pushed her from behind. Brown clumps of soil fell, covering her hair and attire as shards of pottery lay around her. Jessie looked up to see James standing over her. He swooped down, about to strike with the sharp blade.
Jessie screamed and instinctively threw her hands across her face in a gesture of defense. A brilliant flash of light appeared and James held his free hand to shield his own eyes. When it faded, James looked at her with a strange look.
It was then she noticed that James' eyes were dull and glazed over, lacking any personal expression that reflected the person inside. It was the look of a madman. Something was wrong.
"James…" Jessie breathed hard. For a split second, James' eyes were clear again, alive with fear, but then he let out a pained howl. James shut his eyes and dropped the knife before clutching his head with his hands as if to rid his mind of horrible demons. Jessie watched with horror as he sank to his knees and shuttered violently. Jessie slowly leaned over to him. "A-are you alright?"
"Help me…" James struggled to plea. Jessie recoiled in fear, realizing what sort of situation she was in as she felt the sense of dèja vu. "Help me…" he repeated desperately.
Jessie inched farther away from the blue-haired boy. Of course James did not have scythes for hands but the disturbing dream Jessie had the night before sent chills down her spine as she saw the scene repeat before her eyes. James snapped his head back up, looking straight at her with the strange empty eyes of his again. Jessie scrambled to her feet. A female chuckle caught Jessie's attention and Jessie looked at the shadowed figure standing in the doorway with the blinding sunlight behind her.
"Kill her," Kat said with a haughty air, holding the rose out as if commanding James as if he were an attack dog.
Jessie had no time to react before the blade cut through her shoulder down to the bone. Jessie screamed. The same white light burst upon the group and James was blinded for a moment. Tears cascading and blood dripping, Jessie staggered into the glass wall, her tear-blurred eyes never leaving James and her left hand clamped over the wound in her shoulder. James regained his dulled senses and advanced towards her. She shut her eyes as he sprang at her and held out both hands again as a reflex. Without warning, a burst of light energy exploded in the enclosure simultaneously causing Kat to drop the rose and Jessie to catapult into the glass wall, shattering it. The now-unconscious, bleeding girl and the glass shards fell into the calm lake below, sinking into its depths.
"Jessie!" James returned to his senses the moment Jessie hit the water. He stared at the blood-stained knife which slipped from his hands and clattered noisily on the cement floor. Kat walked up from behind and placed a hand on James' shoulder, picking up the soul-containing flower.
"Do not grieve for her, James. Come with me."
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Well well….now let's see how long it will take me to finish the next chapter! I am such a lazy bum. ^_^;