Chapter 43 – Arc 3 (Ula'Ula Island) Big Girls Don't Cry
"There's one thing I don't understand about last night, Hau…"
He sat up at Selene's words, quick as a flash. They were in a room that was filled, wall-to-wall, with nothing but mattresses. That was where they had spent the night following their encounter with Faba's 'Type: Zero,' along with Gladion, Acerola, Nanu, and numerous Skull members. Apparently, there were several rooms and buildings throughout Po Town like that. It was a sad sight, for sure, but Hau honestly hadn't had room in his head to bother thinking too hard about it. "Huh?" he replied to Selene, cocking his head at her. Popper, who was so much bigger as a Primarina, was sprawled out beside him; he, too, tilted his head and made a noise to encourage Selene to continue.
Sitting cross-legged against a blanketless, white mattress, Selene nervously stroked the silky, long feathers of Bowtie's gray wings as she said, "You're scarred, and were knocked out, too, by the thing's… Thunder… but your powers… you have control of electricity, and all that… How did it… Well, how did it hurt you like it did us…?"
She looked surprised when he, instead of fearfully saying he didn't know, happily proclaimed in Alolan, "To be honest, I think it just overwhelmed me…? But in a good way!"
Puzzled, Selene started like she was going to ask him to explain, but he found himself too eager to wait for her to.
"Like, Zero struck me, and it was like… every nerve in my body lit up and my heart raced," Hau sighed almost wistfully. He missed that fiery sensation, that swam through every fiber of his being. "I… I felt like I was on fire, but I didn't hurt, and I was just… surging with electricity…" He took a shuddery breath and looked down at his hands. The fingertips trembled and crackled with little volts of yellow and blue. "And ever since, I've had a much… much harder time controlling myself…" Then, he grimaced, and clenched his fists and put both hands in his pockets. "But after all of that, I still passed out, like the rest of you… I woke up before the rest of you, but Faba and Lillie were already gone…"
Although he felt guilty for having not been awake to stop Faba and for the fact he found it so difficult to control the power surging through his veins, Hau had to admit… He had been in such a good mood despite everything that had happened because he felt on top of the world. Losing Lillie had been horrible, but they hadn't lost her for good, of course. Although he hadn't said anything about it yet to Selene, he wanted to listen to Elio's twisted whispers of revenge and getting Lillie back—he was tantalized by the fantasy of finally having a reason for the godforsaken powers he had been gifted, of saving his friend, and then helping solve whatever mystery Tapu Koko was laying out for him and Selene together.
He had touched the sun at last, and instead of frying, he had only grown stronger for it. He balled a fist in his pocket and felt the electricity shoot up his arm powerfully.
Before Selene could say anything, the sound of someone knocking on the warped door made both her and Hau whip their heads to see the person standing in the doorway. Elio dropped his hand from the door and curtly muttered, "Makua wants to see us." Without another sound or waiting to see what they might have had to say, though, he turned and left.
That was one thing Hau didn't feel so good about. As much as he was lured in by Elio's vengeful words, what kept him grounded was exactly that: the sheer vengeance in Elio's tone and the darkness in his eyes. It was like a switch had been flipped. Yet, as much as he wanted to try to reach out and pull Elio off the rails of his vendetta, Hau just… didn't know how.
And as it would turn out, Selene felt the same way.
"I'm worried for him."
Hau jolted in surprise and glanced at her. "Huh?"
"Elio," Selene whispered, looking down at the bed below herself. "I'm worried for him… and worse, I know it's my fault…"
"I…" Hau trailed off and frowned. What do I say to that? She's right to be worried, honestly, he thought dully. The guy being mad is what got Faba to storm Po Town like that… who knows what else he could do without meaning to… but how is it her fault…?
"He's going to do something else stupid. I just don't know what, or when." Selene balled a fist suddenly, grabbing a fistful of the mattress's tattered material, and growled, "And as much as I'd love to say, 'fuck him,' and be mad at him, I encouraged him to be that way. Remember, after Lillie was attacked by Null? And now it's affecting all of us. I have to talk him down, but I don't know how!" She released the mattress and clutched at her hair instead, pulling it slightly as the muscles in her arms slumped. Her voice dropped to a nearly inaudible whisper. "Every time I try talking to him, I just… freeze… I don't recognize him anymore, and all I can think, is that I did that to him, somehow… I asked him to give into all those scary feelings, and so, he did. I keep feeling like I need to fix it, and I'm such an idiot for not being able to just. talk. to him…"
Uncomfortably shifting in place, Hau then went to stand up and found that he wanted to leave the room (and the conversation they were having) behind, just as much as he wanted to tell her she was wrong for blaming herself. Drumming up some courage, he managed to stay behind to do the latter. "I… I think that's a little unfair, to yourself, Selene, ae…" he whispered.
"Unfair?" Selene abruptly spat, unfurling her fingers from her hair. She jumped up and glared at him, and he froze when he noticed her blue eyes glowed amber, as did the inner parts of her arms. "I'm supposed to be able to see everyone's stories and be able to tell everyone about them, and have all the answers, or something, but I don't! I'm as scared as he is, I've just managed to hold onto my marbles a little better! What's unfair is that I got him into this and now I don't know how to get him out!" Her voice rose an octave and tears welled in her eyes. "What's unfair is that I know he's going to take the blame for me not being good enough with this stupid 'gift' of mine!" She spat a few words in that sentence like they were venom on her tongue. In that moment, Hau realized that was the core of Selene's internal dilemma. She felt like she had to fit Tapu Koko's bill of what he had asked of her—yet it seemed she had the wrong idea of what Tapu Koko wanted from her. From what Hau understood, Tapu Koko had asked her to understand the plight of Alola, while he helped her fix whatever was wrong with her… So, why wasn't she asking for his help? Why was she simply drowning alone in those frustrations…?
But those thoughts faded when, in a bit of awe, Hau looked up as images were drawn in the air around them both. It looked like a hologram, or like someone was drawing crude images with golden sand in the air and filling the space in with digital, faded, flickering colors. He saw a little boy, unmistakably Elio despite the age difference, prodding and irritating a stressed-out Ekans while a squad of other young boys tried to stop him. The image shattered and was replaced with one of Elio being reprimanded by an adult, and him then pointing the finger at one of the other boys.
"What's unfair is him throwing himself in harm's way every time there's trouble because he, somehow, has this stupid thing where he thinks nothing of himself until stuff goes wrong, then he thinks he's Arceus himself! And I just stand there, like the stupid little sister, letting him do it!"
Vaguely, Hau thought, But you are his little sister…
A few images violently flashed across the air around them, then. The first was of Lillie getting harassed by the Skull grunts back in Hau'oli, and when Elio lunged to her defense despite her warnings, she maced him. Another was of Elio picking a fight with Gladion, and the escalation that led to Null slashing Lillie's leg. Finally, the last was, of course, of Elio agitating Faba and more or less shouting at him that they believed Skull was holding Lillie hostage—complete even with a POV shot of Selene rushing down the hall, only to be struck by that fearsome beast's lightning. The metaphysical images floating in the air around them dissipated in a flourish of sandy coloring that almost looked like smoke blowing away in the wind.
"I only have myself to blame," Selene finished, settling her gaze on the floor. "I talked him into it. I should be able to talk him out…" She paused and took a shuddery breath. "If I can't, then I'm being perfectly fair to myself." Without waiting for Hau, she pushed past him and headed straight for the door.
But… why are you feeling like you have to do that alone? Didn't Tapu Koko say that I can help make people listen? What if I could talk to him—wait, she's leaving! "Wait!" Hau yelped, scrambling after her, looking around like more figments might appear in the air around his head. "What was all that? The… the pictures, in the air, and—"
"I don't know," Selene despairingly groaned just as she whipped out of the room, signaling the end to the conversation, whether Hau liked it or not. Sighing, Hau put his hands on his hips and looked down at Popper.
Cracking a forced grin, Hau forcedly chuckled, "Women, ae?"
The Primarina blew a quick bubble at him and shook his head disappointedly, despite a small smirk pulling at his face.
"Oi, I'm trying to loosen the tension, cut me some slack!" Hau laughed in Alolan, bending down to pat the pokemon on the shoulder. With that, he turned to leave the room, to follow Selene.
Arriving back at Aether Paradise had made Lillie feel more like she was preparing for a march down the aisle to her own casket, and she was terrified for Plumeria. Although they traveled in the same cargo compartment of one of Aether's white boats to the manmade island, she had been unable to share a single private word with Plumeria, as those suited men had also been seated in with them—along with the frightening, deadly Type: Zero. It had been sedated for most of their trip back to Aether Paradise (apparently its catchpole was more than met the eye, as the suited person had merely injected a syringe into the end of its catchpole, and Zero had collapsed, asleep, at his feet), but that didn't make it any less terrifying to be around. Type: Zero felt more like a force to be reckoned with to Lillie; it was more than a mere pokémon.
Once at the docks, however, the tense, suffocating silence that had engulfed them the entire ride there was over. Lillie was strongarmed out the vessel first, followed by the two suited people (one of which was carrying Type: Zero; Lillie wasn't sure how, given how heavy it looked), and after them, Guzma and Plumeria followed suit. Faba, who had apparently been driving the ship himself, was the last to disembark. On Aether's sleek docks, President Lusamine herself and a broken, defeated Dr. Wicke were waiting for them.
"What is she doing here?" Lusamine asked immediately as she nodded at Plumeria, making Lillie cautiously look her mother up and down. It had been quite a while since she had seen her, after all… and oh, how she barely recognized her. She wore the same, glimmering, white and gold clothes; she wore her perfect, blond hair in the same swirling wave; she was clearly the same woman. Yet, her chartreuse eyes glittered distantly, almost glazed, as if nobody were really home, and her voice had a threatening, sadistic cadence to it nowadays. More so than when she and Gladion had lived with her. And Dr. Wicke… Lillie just got the sense by her blank stare and still, lethargic body language that nobody was home there, either. Both women were as soulless as the very manmade steel they walked on and that made Lusamine's next words all the colder. "I did not request her."
"No, ya didn't," Plumeria replied tersely, unfazed. She challengingly met the gaze of Lusamine and raised her chin pointedly. "But I ain't goin' anywhere."
"Plumes, please—"
"Shut up!" Plumeria and Lusamine both snarled at Guzma in unison when he tried to interject. As if surprised by the other's ferocity, they each suspiciously looked the other up and down. Guzma, however, merely raised his hands in surrender, making a zipping motion over his mouth. Unimpressed, Lillie just shot him a look. Everyone in Po Town is scared of him? she thought irritably.
"Are you the reason Guzma failed to keep his end of the bargain?" Lusamine asked Plumeria, cutting right to the chase. She crossed her arms.
Snorting, Plumeria snidely retorted, "Are you the reason he forgot how to think the last few weeks?" Looking Lusamine up and down yet again, Plumeria sarcastically raised a brow as her gaze lingered on the other's lower body. "Or maybe he did remember, he was just too busy thinkin' 'bout how to get lucky with you."
(Guzma looked like he would have preferred to be quite literally anywhere but there, Lillie noticed, given the way his feet shuffled and how he was starting to get a bit flushed.)
Cracking a small smirk, Lusamine hummed. "I like her," she commented in a long, reserved drawl. "She makes me laugh. Why are you here, Plumeria?"
"Because I promised 'at daughter o' yours I ain't leavin' her alone," Plumeria responded with a shrug. "I ain't got no reason to lie. That's the truth. I don't give a fuck what you're plannin' to do, honestly, but ya ain't hurtin' a hair on that kid's head. Got me?"
A small laugh escaped Lusamine again. "You still make me laugh," was, chillingly, all she had to say about that. "Fine, then. You may stay with her. It makes no difference to me." Then, with a cold, direct glare back at Plumeria, she corrected her, "But make no mistake. She is not my daughter. Her name is Lillie. Don't call her by any other title in my presence."
"Whatever," Plumeria icily muttered.
"Not that I want to be called that, anyway," Lillie dared to snidely mumble under her breath. That earned her a searing glare from Lusamine, and the president set her jaw.
"Miki, Inaba, get her away from me. Plumeria and Guzma, too. I'll talk with them later." Waving dismissively at Lillie, Lusamine turned to Faba, and when she reached a hand to touch his chin and direct him to face her, he flinched. "Faba, it's time."
Yet, Lillie missed him rolling the Nest Ball anxiously in his palm, missed his stuttering of, "Of course, President Lusamine," because she had turned to look in shock at the suited people. Her captors that her mother had called 'Miki' and 'Inaba.' The one with Type: Zero held over their shoulder started to direct Guzma and Plumeria in one direction, further into Aether Paradise, while the other turned to Lillie. Looking up at that helmeted person, with the dark, gleaming visor covering their face, Lillie reeled away from them. She recognized those names. "Miki? Inaba?" she tentatively asked.
The black visor lit up blue at the top, but there was no response.
"Your son and daughter have been looking for you everywhere!" Lillie shrieked, unsure what to call what she was feeling. Was it betrayal? Well, these weren't her parents, so that didn't make sense… Yet, still, she just… couldn't believe that they would abandon their children to come work for Lusamine, of all people! Glancing over to where Faba was still cringing away from Lusamine, she shook her head as she eyed her suited captor again. Even Faba had realized following Lusamine was dangerous, and definitely not worth whatever benefits it had! Curling a lip, she spat, "Can't you say anything?!"
"Are you done?" Lusamine dryly asked over an excruciating moment of silence drew on for too long. "They can't respond to you, even if they want to."
What does that even mean? Whirling on Lusamine, Lillie bared her teeth, "Why are you doing this?" She felt the suited person—Miki or Inaba, apparently—grab her hands and hold her in place, but she ignored them as she begged, "Mom, why?"
She was so suddenly overwhelmed with tears again that she was surprised when she felt them begin to streak down her face, and she squeaked in fearful shock as Lusamine descended on her. Those long nails grabbed hold of Lillie's chin, then, digging in and forcing her to look up at her mother. She could feel the burning hatred radiating from her grasp, making her eyes look black and glazed, and her mother darkly growled through borderline gritted teeth, "You tried to take everything from me." Lillie yelped as she was sure those nails were making her bleed.
"Back the fuck off her!" Plumeria's voice carried out, and she dodged the arm of her suited captor when he tried to grip her by her wrist.
Utterly ignoring her, Lusamine only bent closer, until her nose nearly touched Lillie's and she could feel her hot breath against her neck. It made her become acutely aware of just how vulnerable she was. "So, you are going to sit down once we have the machines ready, and you are going to watch as I undo everything you threw your life away for. You are going to watch as Cosmog becomes my gateway and dies for it. You are going to watch as I meet my Nihilego at last. And when all is done, when I am through with what I want you to see, you are going to die, with nothing but that knowledge as your last and only friend." Smirking, Lusamine finally let Lillie go, and turned just in time to face Plumeria—just as Type: Zero's suited handler brought a fist down over her stomach, cutting the Skull admin's path short.
Sounding as if all the air had been knocked from her, Plumeria crumpled to her back, and groaned, covering her stomach. Type: Zero, who had been laid down, unconscious at his handler's feet, suddenly lifted his head. Lillie noticed the handler had adjusted something on its catchpole. The beast jumped to its feet and growled mechanically, scrabbling claws against the ground to try and get closer to Plumeria. Guzma lunged forward and roared something profane as well, demanding that they keep their hands off Plumeria, but when he reached for a Poké Ball, Type: Zero lunged at him as well.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the pokémon's handler warned in an eerily monotone, masculine voice. To that, Guzma begrudgingly fell still, failing to pitch his Golisopod's Poké Ball.
Yet, as horrible as that had been to watch, Lillie's muscles had all but given out as the depth of her mother's hatred dawned on her at last. Her captor started to shoulder her deeper into Aether Paradise, toward an eerily familiar hallway that she knew held her and Gladion's old bedrooms, and she found herself still shivering and leaking tears along the way. If she had thought her mother was cruel and vindictive before, she had apparently sealed her own fate by running away that day all that time ago with Nebby… She was wracked with a particularly harsh sob as something else hit her. It wasn't just her fate that was sealed. Nebby's, too… possibly Plumeria's and Guzma's… hell, all of Alola's, if what Dulse and Zossie had said was true… and then, all that time, Miki and Inaba… they had been working for Lusamine…? But… why?
She allowed herself to be locked into her room, which she found was as plain and white as possible, all of her previous belongings long gone, and numbly picked her way to the bed. Flat, white sheets with a similarly blank comforter, yet it was more than welcome at that point. She had no idea how long she sat there, silently with her arms pulling her knees up to her chest in a comforting ball, before Plumeria was shoved through her door as well.
While her bedroom door was immediately slammed shut and locked again, Plumeria staggered a couple paces, then sank to her knees again. Almost afraid of seeing what had been done to her, Lillie swallowed hard, then shakily unfurled to touch her feet to the floor. "P-Plumeria…?"
"Yeah," Plumeria replied huskily, as if barely maintaining coherence to speak. "'s me."
When she finally managed to brave standing up and looking her over, Lillie saw that she still had her arms crossed over her abdomen, and she had sat back so that she, too, could tuck her knees close to her body. "What'd they do…?" Lillie dared to ask, her voice breathless and raw.
"Beat the shit out of me, really," she mumbled, wincing in pain. "Threatened me with 'at monster o' theirs 'til I let 'em lock me up. Well…" She gave a broken laugh. "What happened was, I wasn't willin' to let 'em lock me up just wherever. I wanted to be with you. An' here I am." She attempted to relax her legs and sit up more but winced and slammed her arms back across her abdomen, doubling over slightly. "Whoever that person is handlin' the monster pokémon," she groaned, "he packs a fuckin' punch, Arceus on a fuckin' stick."
"Your pokémon didn't…?"
Lillie's question was answered before she even finished asking. She remembered Guzma's faltering, but she had hoped Plumeria would have been a bit braver than he was… "No," Plumeria muttered, "my Salazzle tried to come out, but I forced her back in an' then Faba took 'em. 'Cause Lusi said if I didn't act right, she'd just kill me an' be done with it." Easing up from the pain wracking her lower body, Plumeria hung her head sadly. "I know I'm not much use in helpin' ya without my team… an' I am really worried for them… But I know for sure I'm no use at all if I'm dead. An' although I don't want 'em to harm ya… I still need to get back to Po Town at some point…" She put her hands to her face and whimpered. "I don't know what Lusi wants with Guz, an' I…" She trailed off. With a sniffle, she said, "Sorry. Ain't need to be hearin' me worry."
Settling into place next to her, Lillie whispered, "It's okay… I don't mind hearing…" Everything feels just… numb right now, anyway… "And what…?" she pressed.
With a shuddery sigh, Plumeria flatly said, "I don't know if Guz'll be goin' back with me after all this… Or even what's gonna happen while we're here. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for ya, kid, I am… Just too many people dependin' on me for…"
"I'm just glad you're here," Lillie cut her off, gingerly pressing her head to the other's shoulder. She didn't dare press too hard, unsure of just how badly Miki or Inaba had injured her, but she wanted the comfort. She felt Plumeria ease beneath her contact at first, but noticed that she kept one hand pressed over her face. It was her right wrist, covering her eyes, supported by her elbow on her knee. Little tremors and increasingly ragged breathing made Lillie frown in concern. "What's wrong…?" She then laughed, before Plumeria could reply. "I mean… aside from the obvious, haha… Just… seems like there's something else…"
"Nothin'," Plumeria mumbled, wiping her face with that wrist she had been using to cover it. Lillie was not blind to the way her skin was wet with tears. "Ain't nothin' to worry 'bout, Lillie. 'm glad you're here, too. We'll be a'ight." She looped an arm around Lillie and pulled her into a much closer hug…
And all Lillie could do was wonder why on Earth the sociopath elsewhere in Aether Paradise had to be her actual mother, and not someone like Plumeria.
When Selene reached the room she and Hau had been summoned to by her brother, they found a chaotic scene. In the center of such a dingy, tall room that might have once served as a living room (but had since been stacked to the ceiling with boxes around the edges, the carpet shredded, worn, and rotten, wooden walls warped with moisture, paint peeling from the same), Elio and Makua were circling one another like fighting Pyroar, while other Skull grunts, Acerola, Nanu, and Gladion watched from the sides of the room; none of them looked particularly interested in jumping in to whatever argument this was, not even Gladion, which surprised Selene.
Somehow, Selene got the sense this was not what they had been called in there for, but it was what was happening then, regardless.
"I didn't tell Faba to come in here! Why do you keep going back to that?" Elio was snarling back at Makua, his shoulders arched. Macho stood behind him, nervously eyeing around the room. The expression looked so out of place on such a burly, intimidating pokémon.
"Because some of my brothers and sisters here tell me they saw the arguin' at the gate, they were the ones guarding it at the time!" Makua retorted. "You gave away that you thought Lillie was held here. Had you not run your fucking mouth—"
"Like I meant for it to happen this way!" Elio desperately howled at last, his voice overpowering Makua's. He stomped a foot, making the floor tremor. Pointing a shaking finger at Makua, he growled in a trembling tone, "I-if you think, for a moment, that I would have intentionally—"
Selene, however, shook her head and stormed in between them. Her heart thrummed and blood roared in her ears in rage as she looked over her brother. She had to get over it. She had to say something, she had to stop this—she raised both hands and shoved him back on the chest. "Nobody's saying you meant to, you idiot!" she exclaimed frustratedly, tears still pricking at her eyes. Bowtie silently moved to stand beside her. He was so quiet, so elegant as a Decidueye. It was almost unnerving, especially with his hawk-like golden eyes, which seemed to know everything happening in a room no matter what.
As if not even registering who she was at first, Elio shoved her back on the shoulder, hard enough to bruise, and bared his teeth, as if preparing to shoot something back at her. Yet, he faltered when he recognized her, and his raised shoulders fell. "S-Selene?"
Having squeaked in pain at his shove, she fell equally as still, staring back at him blankly. All her courage drained away in an instant. What did she say now? She had gotten his attention, now what?
"H-he's trying to say that I intentionally got Po Town attacked," Elio started to stammer, licking his lips anxiously as he eyed her bruised shoulder, "and—"
"That's not what I was fucking saying," Makua bitingly interrupted, "just that it was you who tipped him off, and I wanted to know how you could be so stupid to do that!" He puffed in aggravation. "Or at least, maybe get an, 'I'm sorry,' instead o' the load of crap your defendin' yourself with."
"I punched and yelled at the guy before, and he backed off then!" Elio defensively shouted, his anxiety immediately gone as he whirled back on Makua. That fierceness returned with vengeance and he stalked closer to the tall, spindly man. "How was I supposed to know that this time, he'd come back with that genetic accident of his to try and burn the town down? Huh?" When he went to try and shove Makua, still demanding a response from him, Makua said nothing and grabbed his wrists. They momentarily wrestled while Selene watched in a stupor. Makua's feet came dangerously close to Null's paws toward the end of their brief struggle.
"Watch it," Gladion interjected darkly as Null jumped up, withdrawing his paws to keep them from getting stepped on. As if sensing Null's rising anxiety, he made the executive decision to recall the pokémon laying at his feet before the confrontation ahead escalated too much farther.
"Whatever!" Elio snapped back at Gladion, brushing himself off as Makua shook him away at last. Shaking his head rapidly, he brushed some hair sticking to his sweaty forehead away as he settled on Makua and Selene. "The point is—"
"Elio, stop!" Selene burst, high-pitched in her desperation to grab his reigns, to reel him in. But Elio staggered away from Makua and swept a searing gaze around the entire room. He looked somewhat like an infuriated Tauros, searching for a red flag to mow down. "Please, will you just calm down and talk to me for a minute?"
Still ignoring her and glaring daggers at Makua, he snarled, "I'm doing whatever's necessary to protect her"—he pointed to Selene—"find Lillie, and get the fuck out this place! Okay? That's all. Be mad at me if you want, but I'm not the enemy here!"
"Elio, please, nobody's saying you are," Selene huffed, too tired to yell over him anymore. He was so loud… "Elio, please listen to me. You are not a god. You can't fight everything yourself. And I'm sorry."
Taking a few deep breaths, he blinked at her, bewildered. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm sorry," Selene whimpered again, putting her face in her hands, and starting to shake her head. "I never should have told you to… to lean into that aggression, back after Lillie got attacked by Null…" Sniffling, she paused to breathe. "Because you were acting like that because you're scared. You're still acting like that because you're scared. People make bad choices when they're scared, Elio, and yes, you… you messed up, talking to Faba. But we know you didn't mean it… So, just… j-just calm down, talk to us, and we… we can figure out how to move forward from this, we can make a better plan than I had back after Lillie got attacked… Okay?" Wiping her face and looking up at him, her breath caught in her throat. "Please…?"
His expression softened, and he approached her, gnawing his lower lip as he eyed her shoulder. He then wrapped her up in a big, tight hug. Relief flooded through her—at least, until he started to speak. Then, her blood ran cold as ice, and she tensed in his hold, dismayed to realize that yet again, nothing she had said had truly been heard. "No, shh," he whispered, "don't be sorry… I can do better. I can do better than what I've been doing. You weren't wrong, I just need to do better. I did mess up, but I'm going to fix this, I'm going to fix the mess I made, okay? I promise."
"Elio," Selene all but whined, feebly pushing against his chest, as if wanting him to let go. He didn't. "No, you're not listening to me…" Tears slipped down her face more and more. Why couldn't he just understand what she was saying? She didn't want him to fix it. She wanted them all to fix it, together! She had been wrong to tell him to behave like this before! Why couldn't he see that?
He hugged her tighter. "It's okay, Selene, I promise…" Then, his voice took on a husky growl. "I promise."
Wrestling out of his hold took enough energy to make her pant for breath when she was finally free. She staggered away, still leaking tears, shaking her head vigorously. "No! I was wrong! Damn it, Elio, stop talking like that!" Pleadingly, she looked up at him, looking right into his blank, blue eyes. It felt like he was staring through her rather than at her. "I was wrong! This is wrong! We need to work together; I don't need you to be some one-man crusade right now!" Growing increasingly upset, she stomped a foot almost childishly in her frustration, tearing her gaze away from his. "Why do I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall when I talk to you now?"
"But…" Elio shook his head, and sounded so, so hurt when he spoke next. "I… I thought I was helping, this way, that this was what you wanted, and… and I kind of like it being this way… Protecting you, I-I mean… If that's not what I'm doing, then… what am I doing?"
That almost stunned her so much she quit crying. Selene locked eyes with him yet again and repeated dumbly, "You… like it, this way?"
He opened his mouth like he intended to say something else, but then shut it again.
"If you like behaving like a fucking maniac, you should do it elsewhere," Gladion chimed in bitterly. "I'm tired of listening to this argument. You sound like broken records, both of you."
Descending on him suddenly, Elio barked with a curled lip, "Do you have something to say, Glad? 'Cause you can say it right to my face!"
Makua lunged forward, grabbing Elio by both his wrists, while Selene yelled for them to stop again. "That's enough!" she cried. Panting and feeling oh-so hollow, she said, "Elio…"
Spinning Elio around to face him, Makua backed her brother against the far wall, holding him there by shoulders. Macho growled and stalked over to them, but Makua didn't seem bothered, and Selene had nothing to say, even as Elio demanded to be let go and let fly a slew of curses at him. Makua tensely huffed, "Because of you, we may have lost both Plumeria and Guzma, and now, one o' our own might'a lost their sister. That makes her one o' our sisters. An' Skull sticks together." When Elio tried to retort something to defend himself, Makua grabbed him by the shoulders, and slammed him against the wall, harder. "Shut up! I'm done listenin' to your mouth!"
Looking away, Selene felt the urge to say something, but she just cried some more. Once again, she didn't know what to say… He just… he just wasn't listening…
"You're gonna burn yourself up actin' like this, y'know," Makua quietly said after a brief moment of silence. There was something solemn and knowing in his tone. "Your sister there is trynna talk sense into ya. I just wanna throw you out on your ass, 'cause you're actin' like a rabid Rockruff, but she cares about ya and you should listen to 'er. I've seen people like you before. This place drives 'em mad and they turn on everyone. Everyone's an enemy and they think they're the only people that know how to get outta here alive and in one piece. They always end the same way. They pick a fight they can't win. Just like a rabid Rockruff, they get put down."
Frustrated that he couldn't seem to shake Makua off, Elio finally exploded, "Maybe that's how it has to be! Maybe that's how it should be! Maybe that'll be what it takes! Man, fuck you, what do you know? Let me go!"
It felt like the room gave a collective recoil. Macho slunk a few feet away, ears flat against his skull, sitting down on the ground next to Gladion. Selene just felt like she went numb as she heard him say that.
Narrowing his eyes at Elio, Makua sighed. "An' like a rabid Rockruff, we gotta keep you away from everyone else, 'fore you get them sick by bitin' 'em. If you're gonna act like this, you're nothin' but trouble. You've gotta go." Inhaling sharply, Makua shifted his weight from one leg to the other and swept a sorrowful look across the room. "Look, he's gotta go. There ain't no savin' that."
Again, Selene just felt numb. Every part of her skin prickled with icy, fuzzy sensations, and she felt like the room was suddenly made out of jelly. She didn't dare move, or she might collapse.
Blue eyes round as saucers, Elio flicked his gaze between them all in abject disbelief, noting that nobody else was disputing what Makua had said. Landing on Selene, he nervously swallowed, and his hands jittered as he asked, "A-are you… really… really agreeing with him?"
Frozen to her spot, Selene opened her mouth, but no words came out. Makua let him go, shoving him toward the room's door. "Out!" he barked. "I'll see you out myself if I have to." Tears flowed harder and, in the end, she felt a pang of fiery pain in her chest as she heard Makua shout at him to leave. It felt like she had taken a bullet to the heart, but she knew she hadn't been shot. Instinctively, she stepped back and Hau grabbed her right hand to try and give a reassuring squeeze, but he was trembling as much as she was. When she continued to fail to come up with anything meaningful to say, continued to fail to say anything to try to de-escalate the situation and convince Elio to calm down, she just cried harder. Then, she heard something slam, like someone had punched something. She looked up just long enough to see Elio had slammed the palm of his fist against the doorframe of the room.
"Fine!" he roared. "Fine! Stay here! Hide and be beaten if you want! Blame me and leave it to Interpol to get off their asses and come down here and do something about it! But I'm going out there, I'm going to Aether Paradise, and I'm going to save her! That'll show you that you're all wrong!"
"You saw what they did!" Selene sobbed, in another vain, half-attempt to stop him. Another shot to the heart. She covered her face and leaned more against Hau as she blubbered, "Why are you like this? Why can't you just calm down and work with us, Elio?! They'll kill you if they have to, I'm sure of it! I want you here, with us!"
"Well, guess they'll have to!" Elio snidely responded. "You don't want me to talk to you, you want me to obey you, like a Rockruff!" He scoffed. "Or a rabid one, like your good pal Makua said."
"You're still an idiot," Gladion weakly intervened. "She's your sister. She doesn't want you to go out and be a goddamn hero. She wants you to be her brother. That's it." The sincerity in his tone was a bit lost on Selene in that moment. "She admitted she fucked up telling you to be different before. You're the one that's acting like a lunatic at this point."
Saying nothing, Selene just cried some more. Another shot to the heart.
"Selene…" he frustratedly almost whined, "I never meant you any harm…"
"I know!" Selene all but wailed. That's not what we are talking about! That's not what anyone's talking about! "I know you don't mean to, Elio! You're not listening to me!" Another shot to the heart. She leaned almost fully on Hau then for support, and he somewhat buckled under her grasp.
With an apologetic smile when she shot him a worried look, he whispered in Alolan to her, "S-sorry, I need… need to sit down, too, I think." He slunk away and found a cardboard box stacked in the corner of the room to retreat to.
With that, she heard footsteps, plus the shuffling of a few Skull grunts as Makua told them to ensure he left, and it was over. Selene couldn't watch him go; she only had the strength to glance up and see his shoes as he disappeared out the room, flanked by Skull grunts. Sobbing harder, she found she had to flop down on a box next to Gladion, unable to support her own weight anymore.
Bowtie flitted over to the doorway of the room, and a mournful cooing noise escaped his smaller, lithe body, following by an audible click of his beak as he shut it. There was a long pause, then Macho reappeared in the doorway. Another long, pleading coo from Bowtie only earned a dull growl, and slow shake of Macho's head, 'No.' Selene cried harder at the scene, especially when she saw Macho turn away to leave, and before she knew it, she found herself grabbing for Gladion's left hand. He flinched, at first, and although he didn't relax, he didn't say anything or try to wrench her off. She was silently grateful; it was too hard to watch Elio leave and to watch Bowtie be sad because Macho was choosing to go with him…
An awkward, defeated quiet fell over the room. "I'm sorry," Makua finally cracked it at last. "I just… he had to go…" He found a place to sit on the opposite end of the room. "And poor Plumes… I so hope they convince her to knock it off, and she can get back here soon… I miss Guz, but…"
"But what?" Nanu asked. Selene could practically hear the eyebrow raise in his voice, like a detective pushing for answers.
Uncomfortably, Makua replied, "Well, she ain't wanted me to tell anyone…" He hesitantly paused. Then, he came to a decision. "But I think you'll understand a bit better… Plumes is pregnant. She ain't said nothin' to Guz yet… Well, she was goin' to, but then figured out he was head over heels for 'the president.'" He sneered those last two words like they were venom on his tongue. "I guess she told me 'cause I was the only one left to tell, hah… An' I am kinda the medicine guy."
"So, not only did he kill my sister, but possibly both leaders of Skull and their kid?" Gladion sounded like he was barely keeping a lid on his own emotions, his voice choked. When Makua started to reply, Gladion interrupted with a scoff. "And don't act so high and mighty, Makua. If Plumeria and Guzma knew about Lillie, then so did you. I'm still fucking lost as to why any of you would help Aether." He paused, then carried on, sounding dull and disinterested. "Not that it matters now, anyway, but still."
"Guz did it to help the rest o' us," Makua grimly explained. "They paid him some money upfront, Lusamine batted her eyelashes at 'im, an' that was all she wrote… An' yeah. I'll admit, I knew at the start, an' I thought it was fucked, but I kinda agreed with Guz. He'd never steered us wrong before. But Plumes kept gettin' to know Lillie, and tellin' me everything she said about Aether… An' Plumes and I believed her, Glad…" He grimaced. "But Guz didn't wanna hear it."
Selene was surprised when Gladion's arm moved in her hold, and he readjusted himself so that he was holding her hand back, giving it a slight, encouraging squeeze. He briefly glanced at her, then sharply looked away. It seemed to take him a few seconds before he found what he wanted to say. "Sorry, Makua," he forced at last. "Like I said. Doesn't mean anything now, anyway."
"Now what?" Acerola apprehensively chimed in. Selene almost didn't notice. She felt like she was in shock.
"We wait for Interpol," Nanu said simply. "All we can do. An' try an' pick up the pieces here. 'Cause ain't nobody comin' to help put Po Town back together. I'd help, but…" He wryly snickered and strained to shrug his shoulders. "I discovered takin' a Thunder yourself sucks."
"I think I need to get back to the Aether House, though…" Acerola frowned.
"You ain't goin' back to there. Already got some friends dealin' with that place," Nanu firmly growled.
That numbness creeping back in, Selene almost robotically mumbled, "We can help… With Po Town, I mean, Makua…"
"Really?" Makua and Gladion both asked in unison.
"Sure," came the phoned-in reply. What else is there for me to do, anyway? she thought defeatedly, distantly. "Guess I did end up joining Skull after all," she weakly joked to Gladion, even though her tone didn't reflect that and she didn't bother to look at him.
"Wish it could've been under better circumstances," he sadly chuckled to her, squeezing her hand again.
She was unaware that Hau had all but checked out of the conversation, his brown eyes latched firmly onto the doorway where Elio had left through.