(A/N:) Still don't own Pokémon.
So, answering my reviews...
Tip, I'm glad you like it. XD Go Originshippy! Blame Fruits Basket.
And that's it. T-T YAY!
So, here y'all go, chapter 5.
The air settled down slightly. The waters of the Sootopolis basin rippled with a gentle force from an invisible origin. There was another silence from the nearby cave, pulsing away from the waiting creatures inside.
They were the only ones who could sense any amount of danger for any living being. No human on the planet could do the same. Pokémon were more in tune with nature than humans. That was truly what separated the two siblings and made them different, and sealed their fates differently.
Sharp eyes brushed over the people by the water. That was their trouble now; not selfishness or cruelty, but ignorance and oblivion. A red iris scratched the darkness in its piercing appearance. The Absol let its white mane flow slightly in the wind and swayed with it as a part of nature before padding off behind the hill silently.
The Disaster pokémon responded to its senses. Lunatra turned its head away from the wind. The interviewers below broadcasted their news program. A great being yawned. It was her move.
Checkmate.
"Red, you can't move your knight there."
He re-assessed the move for a moment before putting it back and deciding to sacrifice his last pawn. Lance's bishop swiped it away, just before another tremor gripped the area and trashed their game. Red slumped over the coffee table as if instantly bored.
Steven frantically tried to find a way of getting spilled coffee out of his clothes. He sat down with head in hands once more. Will glanced at him momentarily. He had never seen their steel master so depressed, but even he had the manners not to butt in on anyone's thoughts. For a moment, behind purple curtains of hair the psychic thought he saw those sad eyes flicker over towards Wallace's room.
The water trainer gazed into the mirror. A...glazed mirror? The area appeared to be so smoggy. His reflection frowned back, a straggly haired, dull eyed, pale skinned reflection. Wallace sniffed and collapsed against the glass, realizing that what he saw was actually there.
He...he couldn't just stay and lean against himself...there was something that had to be done...that he had to do...he had to stand up tall and do it...he...
Steven...
"Wallace..."
The previous silence remained just as Wallace slowly appeared. Steven stood motionlessly in the centre of the room, still wearing his sorrowful look...
"Wallace...you're ok?"
"I have to go..." he barely managed to croak.
"What? Not now! I'm worried...what if you..."
"I know...I have to go now...I have to tell them..."
"You can't be so sure! You can't see your condition! I'm worried about you..."
"Don't, please...I have to go...It's my duty I have to carry out..."
"Wallace, it may be so but look at you..."
Wallace planted his foot forward and tried to make his way around his partner. Steven grabbed his shirt and kept his firm grip, causing Wallace to spin around in exaggeration.
His eyes flashed with a reborn anger before he yelled out.
"Stop caring about me and only me! I know your intentions, but you can't go on like this! It's not the way we're supposed to live, Steven!"
Steven loosened his grip and stepped back in shock. Will closed his eyes.
"The same applies to you!" Wallace thrust a shaking finger towards Lance and Red. "I know how we all feel. I know what we want to do. I know how we want to be. But we can't."
Steven watched the only glint in the lifeless eyes before him fall away in the form of a tear.
"And that's my fault...because I am the one...who says that we are Elites..." he added in a whisper.
Wallace slid to the floor and hung his head with a sigh. His long hair hung over his features and shielded his eyes.
"I've gotta go...because now I know it's the end..."
Steven hesitated before making an action to pick Wallace up. Somehow the shadowed figure remained a composition of elegance during his crippled wander to the door nearby. He didn't turn before stepping out barefooted into the drizzling rain and disappearing into the enveloping mist of Sootopolis.
Steven collapsed to his knees, having lost his support. He stared at the place Wallace had stood, as if in disbelief that the man even existed.
"It's me...it's me...I'm the one who...it all winds back around to me..."
Lance narrowed his eyes.
"He knows we both want to care about one another only but...he also knows we can't...and he tells me that...but I know too...because I'm the one who causes it...I don't want to hurt anyone on the planet...but I know that if it's not one...it's everyone..."
"What can we do anyway?" Lance spoke up, attracting everyone's eyes to him. "Who's the one that can't accept it, hmm? Can't you accept the truth? He's gone out to do his bit, and you didn't even listen to his departing words. It's the end. THE END, Steven..."
Steven glared at him. "What are you..."
"Why can't people just accept that? There's nothing we can do now."
"Is there any reason to be so snide?" Steven growled.
The Dragon Master stood up and moved over to him threateningly.
"Have you ever killed a human being, Steven? Have you ever felt the bloodlust churning all around you? Ever felt your senses click to slow-mo whilst you deal the last blow, savouring the moment? Then observing the deed done by you hands, the life taken? Have you ever felt the coursing guilt, which you ignore and replace with the joy of seeping evil, evil seeping like blood? And the rebellion against your instinct...the freedom of allowing anger to overpower mercy...have you ever tasted your own work of death? No..." Lance stepped right up to him. "You haven't lived..."
"What are you?" Steven cried.
Lance slitted his eyes further. "I'm the truth, Steven, I'm only saying what's real. Learn to accept what truly is...learn to accept that he's doing what he has to...before you get hurt."
Steven stared at the carpet, half expecting his gaze to burn a hole in it. Was he the one that was muddled...who had to get it together...truly?
Lance's harsh voice rattled in his ear again. "After all...I learned to accept that you are as much a monster as you think I am now..."
In one second Steven had swung around and socked Lance in the face. His furious eyes watched the Dragon Master tumble backwards into Red's arms with a shout. Fury of memory burned between them momentarily with only Red to break the tension by physically pulling Lance away.
"See? Monster..." Lance snarled, struggling, "Wallace can't be here forever to show you what's right and what's not..."
Steven roared and scrambled to his feet, dashing away towards the open door. Red and Lance watched him sprint away through the enclosing weather.
"Lance...I know..." Red said softly. Lance's eyes flashed one last time.
"We've learned to accept...that it's begun...it's finally begun..."
A pair of frozen feet sloshed down into the mud, alerting the attention of those nearby. The Elite hung his head again, letting sodden blue strands of hair shield his clouded eyes completely.
Raising his dripping head to face them revealed a pained expression on that darkened face...
"Stop..."
The news reporters gasped and gained a sense of worry as they watched Wallace struggle to his feet and drag himself over to them.
"I...I need to do this..."
A young woman holding the microphone stepped towards him in some hope to be of assistance.
"Mr. Wallace, what's happened...have you been attacked?"
Wallace did nothing in reaction except take a few more steps forward through the mud.
"Mr. Wallace! Speak to us!"
"Have to tell them..."
He reached forward with his trembling hands and unexpectedly took the microphone from the person in front of him. The rain ran down over his face whilst he made a gesture for the camera to be turned to him.
"I...I've held this back..."
There was silence from absolutely everyone in the area. Wallace paused in his speech and turned his glassy eyes upwards to the camera. The Absol stood higher up on a rocky crag, still swaying with the wind and taking in any sense of disaster. Its eyes glinted.
"The...the truth is...I lied..."
A second gasp sounded from the group. Through the mist a second limping figure materialized, also hanging his head. He held his hand out towards Wallace desperately.
"But...it's happening...and the Earth has decided that she wins..."
Steven's hair was tousled by the wind where he stood motionlessly, watching the scene. His breath shook with his tangle of emotions, preventing him from moving forward, because this was what Wallace had to do...
"That's why...I've decided to tell...now..."
The steel master's attention was turned to the creature on the cliff face, staring out into nowhere. It jumped slightly at a change...
"That there's nothing more we can do...and..."
The Absol screamed and galloped away in a blur. Steven's eyes widened in panic and turned to Wallace, who opened his mouth to speak his last words to the world.
"I'm...sorry..."
The Absol's predictions came to life just as Wallace's broadcast flickered and died.
(A/N:) Well, nice cliffhanger at least. (yawns) From the 15th to the 23rd I'll be away skiing (YAY!) so be expecting something any time after my return date. I also really appreciate reviews, doesn't everyone? ;P
Laters!