Life went on.
That was the way of the world, after all. No one could truly stop time. Even the great and legendary Pokemon were unable to stop top. Move through it, back and forth perhaps… but not stop it. There were some that believed that even Arceus himself could not stop time. That there were simply things too powerful even for him to hope to fully control. Time continued on. The past might be rewritten, the future constantly in flux, the present the greatest adventure of the unknown. But time would move all the same.
So it was for the world. So it was for Avalon. For Hogwarts. Classes came and went, home assigned and completed and turned in. The days grew shorter and colder. People found new friends, lost old wounds, feuds were begun and settled. Time continued on.
And though Harry and his friends didn't realize it, with all they were dealing with… time marched on for others too.
~MC~MC~MC~
Draco sat in the common room and glowered at the other students. Not Slytherins though… he would never call them that. They didn't have the right to use that name! None of them were true Slytherins at all! They were fakes, every single one of them. Failures that draped themselves in the colors of that noble house, the greatest of the Hogwarts houses. It sickened him.
He watched as they all studied or chatted or (for the few couples that had decided to stay down in the dungeons) cuddled. No plotting. No scheming. No contemplating how they might alter the world and bring it to heel. They just… wasted their time.
He was perched in one of the bay windows that looked out into the depths of Black Lake. The lights were on that evening, allowing him a perfect view of the many aquatic Pokemon that called the lake home but he never turned his head towards the deep. No, his focus was on his classmates, his housemates… the frauds that dared to diminish him. The true Slytherin. For he did not call himself the Prince of Slytherin for how could a Prince exist when there were no others in his domain? He was the last of his kind and he knew it and it BURNED him.
'How did it get to this point?' he thought to himself, his knees raised up close to his chin. He was dressed in dark clothing, the purple of House Slytherin on display on the trim of the hooded jacket he wore, so dark it might as well have been black as well. 'How did everything come crashing apart?'
When he'd first arrived at Hogwarts he had known that this castle was his to conquer. Just as Mordred the Great had done with Camelot so he too would take over Hogwarts from within. But where Mordred had been banished and left to fail, his legacy only ashes and broken dreams, Draco had known that he would succeed. His father was powerful and it was the duty of all sons to surpass their fathers. He would do the same. He would bend Hogwarts and then break it, until all bowed to him.
And then Harry Potter had shown up and rejected his rightful place as his second in command. That bespectacled bastard… thinking he was too good for Draco Malfoy while in the same breath befriending the likes of the Weasleys and the Longbottoms! The former a piss poor family that had burned through what wealth they had once had through foolish choices. The latter an old family, to be sure, but traitors to the dream of Nocturne. They would allow anyone to have a Pokemon… no matter their breeding or their status in the world. They wanted the filth that had no understanding of how grand and important Pokemon truly were to be able to have them. It was madness, pure madness! You allow them to have Pokemon and the riff raff would begin to believe they deserved other things. Rights and a say in how Avalon was run for example. They would tear down tradition and institution.
Potter had allied with those people… with one of the low bred new blood trash.
'Of course his mother was a whore from that backwards little region… why am I not surprised Potter is a brainless dolt himself!'
Things had just continued to get worse though as the years had gone by. Like a disease Potter had infected the rest of the school, worming his way into all situations until he had corrupted everyone. The Slytherins now no longer held themselves as the elite of Hogwarts… they didn't lord of their fellow students; they rubbed shoulders with them! Counted them as… friends.
'Friends,' Draco thought with a bitter laugh. 'A true Slytherin has no need for friends. Only those that obey their orders.' He didn't have friends, had never needed them. Goyle and Crabbe had been his minions… no. Not minions. Hangers on. Parasites that sucked on his fame and his standing in the world. He saw that now. All the times he had spent with them… they hadn't been friends. He'd made that clear when they'd finally spoken up, questioned him about his motives and actions. He'd made it clear that THEY listened to HIM. THEY answered HIS questions. That was the way it was, plain and simple. To do anything else was a betrayal!
He scoffed. 'The way they looked at me… pretending to be sad when I cast them out… lies, all of it. They were nothing to me. Nothing. Certainly not my friends.' He watched as the two in question walked over and asked Daphne a Greengrass a question, the Ice Queen nodding and inviting them to sit down with her study group. 'It didn't take them long to find someone else to latch onto. Someone more their speed. They didn't have the stomach for what I wanted to do…' He looked away. 'I never needed them.'
For what good were friends? Nothing, that's what. Draco had no need for such people in his life. What was he supposed to do with friends? Talk to them about how much his missed his mother? How he didn't understand why she'd killed herself? Or her failure to even mentioned him in his notes? Please… he didn't need to… discuss such things.
And he certainly wouldn't need to discuss his father. How he was now in hiding and Draco didn't know where he was. How the aurors were asking him questions and it was only Slughorn making it clear that they couldn't grill a student that kept them from dragging him to the Ministry.
And he CERTAINLLY didn't want to ask his father about their family Gym. There was no need to! Only the weak and the fearful would question the recent news that the Gym was closed down. That the Ministry was looking into allegations of corruption and fraud that had been 'covered up' by Fudge. Because those were all lies, of course. Falsehoods spread by their enemies! Draco knew that!
'That gym… that gym is my family's gym! It's ours, and always has been!'
But now the papers were saying that Draco's father had only gained that gym because of the death of the Potters and with Harry now in Avalon he should reopen the Potter Family Gym. It was madness… just like them claiming that the Potters were a grand institution that was far more settled in Avalon history than the Malfoys. They gobbled up the lies about his father being from Kalos… about the Delacour-Malfoy's being the true Malfoys.
It drove Draco mad! Couldn't anyone see how… how wrong this was?
He didn't need to talk to his father and ask for advice on what to do just like he didn't need to talk to anyone about how adrift he was with both his parents gone… because he wasn't adrift! He knew what he was doing! And his father did contact him… for Nocturne work! He trusted Draco, knew that he could help. That's why he'd spent so much time making sure his father's orders were fulfilled. He didn't need his father to ask him how he was doing or offer a chance to meet or even wish him well. His father was better than that. Stronger than that! And so was Draco!
He was perfect.
Utterly perfect.
He sat in the window, refusing to look at the Slytherins who pretended like they didn't notice he was right there.
~MC~MC~MC~
Time marched on.
Madame Bones felt this all too well as she sat in her office, head in her hands.
The Johtoian Government had barely been moved in the slightest by Avalon's pleas for more time. They wouldn't stop the collection of all fees and debts owed to them… but Barty had finally managed to convince a few other regions like Unova and Galar to politely press the Johtoian Government to perhaps grant a bit of a delay on repayment. Just until they could actually gather the money needed to pay them back. They'd been give til May of the upcoming year and even that had felt like the Johtoians were grinding their teeth in frustration with that small concession.
'Its like they just want to break us,' Amelia thought to herself before rolling her eyes skyward. 'What am I saying… that is exactly what they want! Jack Kenway was hurt in our region and now they want to pay us back a thousand fold for that!' That the Johtoian Government hadn't forgotten what had happened to Kenway was a fact, seeing as the last communication sent by Johtoian Ambassador had been a breakdown on all of Kenway's injuries from the attack in Tor Town.
Amelia shook her head. Tor Town. Another disaster but at least one she didn't have to deal with… at least not the physical clean up. Someone had leaked to the press just how bad the damage was to the local nature and wildlife and now the outdoor nuts were screaming bloody murder. The forests around Tor Town were ancient, having been dated to be over 1000 years old… and that was just the living trees! There were plenty of signs that the forest had been around for far longer than that. And the colonies of wild Pokemon that had lived there… as old as the forest itself. Even when the villages had come the forest and the Pokemon with had adapted. They had given trainers their first chance to catch a wild Pokémon and train their new partners to become champions. So many who did the Gym Challenge in Avalon had warm memories of Tor Town and the forest around it.
'And those fools pumped it with so much Repel even the Weasley Family Raticates refuse to come out of their Pokeballs.'
The entire town had united in demanding action. The Weasleys might have found their heads on spikes if it hadn't been for Arthur delivering a passionate speech that he'd never been told what measures the Aurors planned to use to catch 'the dangerous criminal they claimed to have been lurking about'. Only in private had Arthur stated that while he would never agree with Kenway's tactics Harry had liked the man and thus Arthur simply couldn't believe that Kenway had sought to hurt them. Had he known it was Jack he would have never agreed to the plan.
But what the Aurors had wanted didn't matter. All that people focused on now was the damage done to the forest. Money had to be put in to fixing it. And with outside forces arriving to demand that the natural environment be resorted lest Avalon be investigated for breaking International foresting laws much of the Ministry's budget had been sunk into the Tor Town forest.
'And then there are the people themselves,' Amelia thought with a sigh. 'So many forget that Tor Town depended on the forest to bring in trainers. Trainers and their pokedollars.' But while they still got trainers coming for the Gym Challenge they didn't linger like they once had. Where once a new trainer might have spent a week or two come to Tor Town periodically to heal their Pokemon and buy supplies now they simply left the moment they had their badge. The reports weren't good… much of Tor Town would be on food stamps next spring.
And the blame fell squarely on Amelia and the Aurors… which was where her problems arose again. Because while the actual clean up wasn't her problem (and in fact had been a rather hotly contested issue on just WHO should handle it as it had been quickly realized there really wasn't anyone in the Elite 4 who was set up to deal any environmental issues; in the end the Ministry itself had to focus on it with it being now a topic for the new Minister, freshly sworn in, to deal with) it was all connected to her problem: the Aurors.
Amelia had RAGED when she'd first learned of the unsanctioned attack on Jack Kenway. Oh, dealing with that man deciding to sneak into Avalon and… spy on the Weasleys or whatever he was doing? Amelia had no problem with that. But it should have been done through the proper channels. Evidence gathered that Kenway was there, release it to the Johto Government, and then the International Courts to force them to draw back their rogue revolutionary. But what they'd done… that had been a disaster. Because of them Johto had called in all debt and how they'd done so had been… odd.
'No, not odd,' Amelia corrected herself. 'With anyone else it would have been odd. For them it was mental warfare.'
Rather than merely allow Avalon to yank money from the normal spots (namely her department, child services, Hogwarts, anything that actually helped the common people of Avalon) Johto had agreed to slow repayment with no interest… if Avalon proved it was wasn't taking money from areas Johto would disapprove of. This meant that the Aurors, the medical division (which made Onasis happy… for him) and several other Critical Areas were spared. It was the International Departments and the Ministry itself that found itself in a pinch. Embassies were being shut down or reduced in size. Projects in other regions were having to be postponed. While infrastructure continued on the more elaborate and, frankly, wasteful pipe dreams of politicians had to be canceled.
In other words the Ministry's coffers that had been open to the already rich and powerful to help make them more so of both… were closed.
While Lucius Malfoy wasn't running around anymore advising the Minister there were still plenty of people who treated the Ministry like a private club. Or had. Not anymore. With departments suddenly lacking an overflowing budget Department Heads didn't have the cash to wine and dine their 'friends' and thus those people disappeared, trying to win over the departments that were still afloat… only to find that they had long memories and weren't impressed by these new fair weather friends.
All of this should have pleased Amelia greatly. Her department had its budget remain (if smaller than she would have liked but it was there) and the bloat was being removed from Avalon Government.
'Now if I could only find the people to use that budget ON!' she bitterly thought.
After the meeting with the Johto Prime Minister in September Amelia had called for a full organizational meeting with all of her aurors in attendance. The Jennys she had allowed to beg off after one of their number had calmly pointed out that they hadn't foolishly tried to murder the hero of another region… one where many of their sisters worked and thus knew that Kenway wasn't a threat. But her Aurors all attended and she'd laid out how things were going to change. Chains of command reestablished. Proper procedures used. No more rogues going wild or the Aurors thinking they could do whatever they wanted because they had a badge. Things were changing and they had to change with them. After that she had told them she expected better and told them to leave.
A third of them never came back.
It had been utter panic over the next few days when it had become clear that Aurors had suddenly decided not to come into work. A 'Blue Flu' had been feared… expect why only a third? It had taken several weeks and a lot of investigating (which had been a waste of time and money for a department now suddenly understaffed) to learn the truth.
Of the third that had disappeared about half of those were believed to be Nocturne Agents that had been deep under cover or decided to finally to defect. Fearing that Amelia would discover their alliances they had fled in the middle of the night. A few took their families. Most didn't, leaving husbands and wives confused why their spouses hadn't come home. A sudden uptick of Nocturne attacks on businesses and homes appeared just around that time, reminding Amelia far too much of the bad old days of the Civil War.
As for the other part of her missing third… they had been the complete opposite. Good aurors, all of them… disgusted to learn of the rogue operation in Tor Town. And convinced that Amelia was merely going to give the perpetrators a slap on the wrist. Finally fed up they had quit their jobs and decided to take the good fight elsewhere. She knew of at least five aurors that had, apparently, been in contact with Nymphadora Tonks, who had in the last year become one of Jonas Kenways subcommanders for the Hoods in Johto, and moved to that region with their families. Another two had moved to Kalos to work with their version of the Aurors. Others were going into the private sector; Madame Longbottom had hired on one auror, Brighton, to be the new head of security for Longbottom Manner.
Others… had disappeared.
That worried her greatly.
So now she was left with an Auror department stretched thin and attempts to fill it up were failing miserably. It seemed that gaining a reputation of allowing criminals to not only go free but become best friends with the Minister of your region didn't attract the interest of foreigners looking to move to your region. And those within Avalon… well, Potter had been rather vocal on his thoughts about the courage of Avalon and it seemed Lily Potter's son had the right of it.
So Amelia held her head in her hands, sitting in her office, and wondered what the hell she was going to do now.
~MC~MC~MC~
Time moved on.
The wheels of justice were said to move slower than time itself. But so too did they move.
So too were wrongs finally righted.
"And in a stunning reversal from where we were just a year ago the International Courts have ruled that the revolutionary, Jack Kenway, was not responsible for the massacre of Little Surrey," the reporter said breathlessly at the steps of the Loeten, the ancient home of the International Courts of the world. Crowds were gathered, some cheering and some booing as the news was made known. Reporters talked quickly as lawyers for both sides began to leave the building where the decision had been made to close the case against the man known as the Father of Johto. "New video and DNA evidence has proven that the figure originally believed to be Jack Kenway in the footage of the final attack on Little Surrey was in fact Avalonian Thomas Morrison. An arrest warrant has been issued for Mr. Morrison who remains at large after a failed raid at The Three Pokeflutes, his pub in the city of Galahad."
Many were watching the news unfold… save for the man who had been cleared of the charges. Jack Kenway was nowhere to be found. Rather it was his wife, Clair, who walked down the courtroom steps, looking every bit a commander of all in her long cloak, the heels of her boots clicking against the stone of the stairs as she walked past the crowds, some cheering her and waving flags in support of the ruling while others called her out as a traitor to the human race. Those in favor weren't just Johtoians but those that had long rallied against the International Courts and their 'overreaching'. The ones that hissed and cursed her name were a mixture of disenters against Johto winning its independence, conspiracy theorists who believed that Jack was guilty, and the religious kooks who thought him a blasphemy due to his title of Master of Speakers.
Clair ignored them all as she walked across the street and entered the restaurant that had been booked for a private meal, just for her, the lawyers that had defended her husband, and a few other choice friends and allies.
"Ah, Mrs. Kenway… or is it Duchess?" the head waiter said with a smile as Clair handed off her cloak to the coat check.
"Mrs. Kenway. Let's keep things a bit informal," she said with a smile. "My table is ready?"
"With the wine you selected already chilled."
Clair nodded at that. "And with my husband not hereI can enjoy it without him disapproving." She motioned for him to lead the way, the two of them weaving through the mostly empty dining room to the table that had been set up for her. Taking her seat she accepted the menu, the lawyers doing the same. "That went smoother than I could have hoped."
Owens, lead lawyer for the case, nodded in agreement. "We got lucky with the DNA. The footage did enough to prove that Mr. Kenway wasn't at fault for this but there was always going to be those that claimed the footage was doctored. DNA-"
"There will be those that always will believe Jack killed those people," Clair said with a weary sigh. "He could create the cure for death and lead us into an age of eternal peace and some would complain he was taking jobs from poor grim reapers. It's something I've just come to accept." She smiled though, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter though what any of them think. I am just happy that we can put this behind us."
The lawyers nodded, as did the government officials that had come with Clair for the reading of the verdict. They'd known for over a month now that Jack would be cleared of all charges, their own spies and informants whispering that the decision had already been made; the delay had simply been the International Courts trying to determine the proper wording to ensure that everything went smoothly.
In other words how to help everyone save face.
Too much had been made by some people within the International Community about Jack Kenway finally getting the punishment they felt he deserved. Careers had suddenly been made with the investigation of him. And they could have been broken as well. Johto, in a rare sign of restraint, had agreed to handle things in the best way possible so that not just Jack but everyone came out of the situation looking the best they possibly could.
The number one priority, of course, was that Jack was cleared of all charges and it was made clear that he wasn't being 'let off the hook' or 'freed on a technicality'. No… Johto (and especially Clair who had taken quite an interest in her husband's record being cleared) had demanded that first and foremost the strongest language be used by all that Jack and the Sons had been frames. Thomas Morrison had been the perfect person to switch all the rage and indignant anger for the tragedy upon. Not just because he was guilty as sin, as the DNA evidence had proven, but there really wasn't anyone that was interested in actually defending the man. 'Old Tom' as he was known was a simple barkeep and pub owner and while his customers had always seen him as that nice man that served them pints and plates of food he didn't actually have any friends. No family left to want to preserve his good name. No co-workers or employers who would worry about what his guilt would mean for them. Not even those believed to be in league with Nocturne while keeping a clean image (and Clair knew of at least two people in the Avalon government that were tied stronger to Nocturne… the Parkinsons had been so kind to provide that information for her hit list) had spoken up for him. Honestly it seemed the only reason he'd been chosen to lead the Little Surrey attack was his build, as he was close enough in height and shape to pass as Jack; throwing on a coat had hid his gut and the hood hid his 15 plus years on Jack.
And now the man was missing. That was… an annoyance.
"Mrs. Kenway?" a waiter said, walking up to the table and looking a touch nervous. "A Mr. Brady is here to see you."
Owens glowered at that. Brady was the lawyer who had led the charge to have Jack convicted; even when they'd revealed to him all the evidence that proved the frame up he'd still questioned if Jack might not be at fault for 'encouraging such actions'.
"We have nothing to say to that man," the lawyer stated only for Clair to hold up a hand.
"I do."
"Mrs. Kenway-"
"You got to tell him many things in court while I was forced to sit by and listen to him yammer on. I think it only fair I listen… and then say my peace." She smiled nicely at the waiter. "But he won't be staying so no menu for him. This will be quick."
The man nodded and quickly hurried off, returning a moment later with Mr. Brady. He was probably a tall man amongst most people… handsome too. A leader and commander. Someone used to having others snap to attention when he walked into any room. He was probably all these things… when not around the likes of Clair Kenway. She had been born to the Blackthorn Family and been taught how to be regal even before there was any hope of Johto having such positions in their society. She gracefully rose from her chair, towering over the man as she held out her hand in greeting, making sure to squeeze just a bit harder than was polite. She might not have ever become a Speaker like Jack but the Dragon Blood was strong in her family; in fact she was rather sure that was why Jack was the only man for her. Everyone else was too small, too weak to handle them. Jack was a giant among men and Clair was an amazon reborn. She'd shatter her lesser. And despite their mutual interests in exploration when it came to carnal delights… they always returned to each other. Both had taken many lovers, often with the other in the room. And there had never been any jealousy because they were committed to each other. The rebellion of the Kenway blood and her own Dragon Blood… everyone else was burned.
Brady looked about for a moment but seeing no chair brought over to him remained standing as he spoke. "I just wanted to give you my well wishes. Now that this is over I hope you understand that I was merely doing my job."
"And I doing mine," Clair said.
"Yes," the man said, a touch at unease due to her dismissive tone, but still powering on. "Still, I wish you the best of luck. I know you'll need it."
"Oh?" Clair asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why might I need your well wishes and luck? Is there something you know that I don't?"
"Nothing like that, I assure you. Merely… sympathy for the situation you find yourself it. Clearly you never expected to be in this position."
"Being insulted by a petty man angry he couldn't toss my innocent husband in jail?" she asked with all the sweetness of a serpent.
Brady, seeing that insult for what it was, pressed his lips into a tight line. "Lash out at me all you want, ma'am… I know why you are truly upset."
"Oh do tell."
"You mistook lust for love. An innocent mistake made when you were younger. But now you find yourself saddled with a murderer and a monster… a man with blood on his hands who isn't even human any more. Your husband's wildness disturbs me. And I pity you-"
Clair stood up then marched right up to Brady, forcing him to crane his neck up so he could look at her. She wanted to wrap her hand around his throat and yank him up so he was able to look her in the eye while his feet thrashed about but she knew that such a thing would only give him what he wanted; once a lawyer always a lawyer and he'd love nothing more than an excuse to sue her.
"You seem to be operating under a delusion that I somehow settled for Jack… that I am high above him and he is some scoundrel that has trapped me into marriage." She narrowed her eyes. "You have it very much in reverse. If anything I trapped him with marriage. Thankfully it is a trap he is happy to have stumbled into. But Jack is one of the most loving, caring, understanding men I've ever met. He would fight for me. Die for me. Yes… many men would do that. But Jack also LIVES for me. Where others would have given up he has clawed his way back a thousand times just so he could return to me. His kindness and his love… they are the sun in all its brilliance. Now, I don't know what you are so determined to destroy all we have. I frankly don't care. I just now that I will be very happy to never see you again. To leave you to your mediocrity."
And with that she turned on her heels and waved her hand, dismissing the man forever from her life and mind.
~MC~MC~MC~
Time continued on. The weather got colder. The nights darker.
And that in turn allowed for those that thrived in the shadows to see their time as now.
