"Get up," Elio says, his hand opening. "I've got something you should listen to."

I take his hand, apprehensively, as he pulls me into an upright position before shuffling over to his desk. Seeing him roughly rummage through its drawers makes me wonder if I'd just narrowly escaped a violent assault. He presently returns, this time with a small, silver slab of a smartphone. His fingers busily tap on its glowing screen until a a new voice, rough and masculine, fills the room.

"You're just a fucking kid, dude. You're not a Champion. You're nothing. We're Team Rocket - and we'll make you evolve when we see you. Just one bullet and you'll go from walking to flying, you little shit. And that goes for your family, too."

My heart performs a frantic drumroll; I suddenly realize why the blinds are drawn so tightly across the windows, why he'd locked the door so securely, why there's so much fast food - ordered over the phone, I'm sure - littered on the ground.

"This is my reality, Lorelei," Elio snivels, rewarding my shocked look with a hollow smile. "A reality in which I have to protect people like these - "

A new voice, a female's, blares from the phone's speakers.

"Oh, Elio, where were you? Four months ago, my daughter was raped by a gang of Team Rocket thugs - the same thugs that Champions like you are supposed to put an end to. Now, she's pregnant with the twins of a criminal, and you're nowhere to be seen. God's already forsaken me, and now you have as well. This is just your daily reminder that you're a rotten and despicable human being, and that one day you're going to hell, and I hope that when you get there, Satan throat-fucks you until the end of time - "

"Stop," I plead, desperately grabbing for the phone. "That's enough - "

"No, not yet," Elio says, nimbly stepping back. "You're still blind, Lorelei. This one - this one'll open your eyes nice and wide."

A child's voice, small and panicked, fills the air between us.

"It's here - C-Champion Elio, it's here - t-the Scyther - it just killed my dad and my mom and my little sister - t-there's blood everywhere and I don't know what to do - please come save me, please, I don't want to die - it's coming back again, pleasecomesavemeaiiiighh - "

The voicemail ends abruptly, and with it, the last shreds of insensitivity that I might've possessed. Cold fingers, fingers of horror, wrap around my heart as I realize the severity of the wounds that those messages, unfair and cruel, have inflicted on his poor soul - one that I haven't even attempted to mend.

"Elio," I bluster, struggling to find the right words, "I - I understand now - "

"No, you don't," Elio fumes, stepping closer until there's no escape from the immeasurable misery lurking in the depths of his eyes - and no escape from his anguished words, each one jarring into me like a slug from a shotgun before burrowing deeply into my soul.

"You don't understand, Lorelei. That child's voice lives in my head, Lorelei. All day. Every day. His and the voices of the thousands of other people I couldn't save. And it's my responsibility to save them. To save them all. The League couldn't care less if I lived or died in the process. No one cares about the hero - as long as the hero's doing the saving. That's why Red left Kanto, Lorelei. He realized that no one would save him, so he saved himself. But I can't do that, Lorelei. I can't appear in public. I can't see my father, who's the only family I have. I don't even know what fresh air and sunshine feels like. I'm just an ordinary teenager, but I'm holed up like a criminal - and you're here to bring me to death's row."

"God, no," I blurt. "That's not - I can't - "

"Don't lie to yourself, Lorelei," Elio seethes. "Just admit it - you don't care. It's all in those ice-cold eyes of yours. I thought you'd show just a tiny bit of sympathy to me, and that's why I let you in. But it's plain to see that you're just another mindless puppet, dancing to the League's tune. But know this: the League doesn't care about the dreams of Trainers - because being the Champion was my dream, and now that dream's a nightmare."

His tirade ends as suddenly as it begins, resulting in the slump of his shoulders as he turns towards the door, perhaps to hide his tears as they resume their flow; a profound shame, hot and vitriolic, washes over me as I realize that I've fucked up - and royally.

"Elio, I'm so, so sorry," I whimper. "I - it's clear now that I've only worsened things - please forgive me - I can talk to the League and arrange a better life for you, if you'll just give me time - "

"Time," Elio mutters, his voice quiet and distant. "After all this time, I'm tired - tired of hiding, tired of running from my responsibilities, tired of letting people down. Maybe you're right. Maybe things won't get better until I embrace them - and I'm going to embrace them with open arms."

Despair, final and urgent, drips from his words as he quickly steps towards the door; realizing what he's going to do, I lunge, but I'm a second too late - he successfully slips through it, slamming it behind him. Upon hearing the turn of his key in the lock, my blood freezes in my veins.

"Please, come back!" I cry, the door quaking with each pound of my fists. "We can sort this out, I promise!"

But the defeated, lifeless tone of his voice informs me that he's well past sorting things out.

"Don't come after me, Lorelei. Please don't. You listened to me, and for that, I'm really grateful - but it's clear now that I've got to be the star that people want - even if I have to fall."

"Ellllio!" I shriek as the sound of his rapid footfalls recedes into the distance.


A/N: Well, I made a few revisions to this and the first chapter. Still working on the last two chapters, maybe they'll be done today? Tomorrow? Idk. Take care!