Due to the number, the INSANE NUMBER of orders of food from Aureillia, I've had to work overtime to get the food ready and in place.

Also, I've figured that at my current pace I might be uploading ONE chapter PER month. That's not going to look good in the long-run! That's horrible! Alas, writing many stories and trying to balance it with school life has its price. As university taught me, I have to plan my time. And my final exam for the summer is in two weeks.

Okay... to business.

Aureillia, you get a baked macaron, more baked macarons, a slice of Custap berry cheesecake, a share of leftovers from the wedding reception, a plate of croquembouche, a cup of coffee or tea, a Slateport cake, a Leppa or Blue berry pie, a bit of Watmel berry from Martine, and two pieces of chocolate! Whew! That's a huge order!

dawnleaf1234, The Legendary Falcon Fall, flashyhero, InfernusXS, and the hounoured Guest, please enjoy two pieces of chocolate from La Lune de Chocolat!

Now, enjoy the chapter.

Chapter twelve: Leaking Both Wine and Secrets

As truthful as Steven could hope, his business was what mattered to him for now.

But that seemed impossible now as not only Martine and James, but also his own Metagross had locked him up in the bar's wine cellar, at the courtesy of the bartender. Now Steven did not feel good at all. He should be working, but now that he was locked in the wine cellar he had no hope of getting out, and it made him feel worse to be betrayed by his closest employees. On the other hand, he wouldn't be surprised if the entire restaurant had conspired to make him talk.

The smell of alcohol was not enough to make him go dizzy, at least in the short-run. But Steven knew that if he stayed here any longer there was a possibility he would pass out. The cellar had its lights dimmed and the smell of wine was everywhere. If this equated to torture, Steven had to admit it was working. The two attractive receptionists who he thought he trusted had abandoned him, and left him to suffer in this cruel alcohol-smelling room. It was not the alcohol that was cruel, but the room itself.

Only once every fifteen minutes did Martine come by to check on him, and the conversation was the same thing every time.

"Well? Are you talking, or what, boss?"

"No! I will not talk!"

While Steven sat alone in this room, he began to wonder if it was a mistake to make James his sous. Even though together he and James had managed to operate the restaurant to exceptional levels, Steven considered if it was a mistake to hire James in the first place. Knowing him, he would be managing the restaurant in his place, and Steven could not fire him without very good reason as James was also an administrator.

Initially, he was cornered by his employees when he entered his restaurant, and they demanded explanations from him. Because Steven was unwilling, both James and Laurent forced Steven into the wine cellar, with the bartender locking up the door so Steven would have to cooperate eventually. However, Martine wasn't expecting such stiff resistance from her boss. After Laurent and Sophie unsuccessfully tried to force out answers from Steven, James and Martine took over.

Nevertheless, their efforts yielded the same result. Steven was not talking.

Two floors above Steven's prison, James d'Arc carried on the lunch hour working as his usual self. The servers led by Martine were delivering lunches to their respective customers. Sophie and Laurent were working together at the front desk as usual helping customers to the tables. The bakery and the museum were operating smoothing, and the bartender was happy to keep Steven locked up for the time being, although the bar staff questioned what Steven would do to them once he got out.

At some point in the day, Wallace dropped by the restaurant for lunch as well as looking for his friend. He was aware, though, that Steven wasn't there. At first, he arrived there with bruises on his face, much to Laurent and Sophie's unease, but they recognised him. Subsequently, they gave Wallace a seat, and Martine went to serve his food.

"Martine, my friend," Wallace greeted. "How are you? And how's Steven?"

"He's cool," Martine said as she poured a glass of ice water for him. "I'm pretty tired, though, myself. But tell me, Wallace, what happened to your face?!"

The bruises were clearly evident as they had left a huge purple stain on Wallace's left cheek. If Martine didn't know better, she would have assumed Wallace had gotten into a street fight of some sort. But as far as she was concerned, if there had been a street fight in Cyllage City anyone would know about it. After all, Cyllage City was a quiet seaside municipality like Shalour. Nothing that wasn't out of the ordinary would be noticed.

"I'll assure you, my dear, that I have every reason –"

"Is this something to do with Winona?" Martine interrupted before Wallace could talk any further.

Wallace did drink some water while looking sternly at Martine's facial expression. There was reason why Steven would want to avoid him, Wallace was fine with that, but Wallace did feel the restaurant was behaving differently. Martine was acting differently, for one thing; the two receptionists seemed tired, and Steven was not in sight. The sous chef appeared to be leading in Steven's place, although Wallace had never met him. On Martine's part, she seemed cool and collected.

"I'd like to see the chef," he added.

"He's busy," Martine collected the menus while saying this. "In fact, Wallace, we're all busy. But the chef is busy such that he doesn't have time to work at all, ironically."

The response Martine gave was met with a cold eye.

"Hey, if you'd like, I could get the sous chef for you," Martine suggested, refusing to be intimidated by Wallace. Moreover, she would have found it amusing to have been actually intimidated by Wallace, the outgoing one. "He's filling in for Steven for now."

Wallace supposed that would have been a better option, but what he would be more interested in was what happened to Steven. Martine, for one, did not give him a direct answer, so getting someone else would be a better idea. As far as he was concerned, he was only acquainted with Martine, but getting to know the sous wouldn't hurt either.

Within minutes, James d'Arc met up at Wallace's table. Business had just started to slow down for a bit, so the former could expend some time to talk with the customers. To be polite, James and Wallace shook hands upon meeting and they took seats.

"I saw you at the wedding reception that night," James started. "Not to mention that Steven has spoken of you several times here. What do you need?"

"I'm actually here to see Steven," Wallace said. "Do you know where he is?"

James' lips curled, and Wallace could notice this. "Oh, wait," Wallace continued. "So you do know where he is? Well, what's going on?"

James did not reply at first, but proceeded to walk away from the table. This irritated Wallace as well as making him more curious, so he got up to wrestle with James' shoulder, and stopping him in his tracks. "Hey, if there's anything happening to Steven, I want to be first to know – er – maybe if you don't count what's-her-name across the street."

At first, James was taken aback. In his bones, he also wanted to know what was going on with Steven, but that was an issue he wanted to resolve between himself and the rest of the staff. No one outside the restaurant needed to know what was going on with Steven, and especially when the staff had locked up him in the wine cellar below. Interrogation was in progress, and James hoped that Steven would crack at some point. For one who was stuck in the wine cellar for a while, Steven was strong, but there had to be a way to get to him. There had to!

"Let's just say that Steven's cooling off," he said to Wallace. "I'll say that much."

With a box of chocolates, Laurent went over to the restaurant bar at the ground floor where the wine cellar was located. The bartender and Steven's Metagross, still on guard in case Steven would attempt to break out, welcomed the sight of the handsome receptionist.

In Laurent's opinion, the time Steven spent in the wine cellar, apart from the heavy scent of alcohol, should have made Steven go insane. Steven could seize an opportunity to smash everything in the wine cellar to throw something of a tantrum. However, like James, Martine, and a few others, Laurent knew Steven well enough that the latter would not want to damage anything that could impact his business; particularly when the wines were paid for by the firm.

"Is he still in there?" he asked the bartender.

"He's been especially quiet," the bartender replied. "Honestly, though, I do fear for all of us what he will do once he's out. But you, Martine, and James, just want him to talk, right?"

"Sophie too," Laurent added. "Do you mind if I have a glass of crushed ice and Nomel, while we're at it?"

The bartender went straight to making the drink as Laurent went for the wine cellar door, located just beside the bar. Metagross was standing guard in front, and as soon as Laurent arrived, the former flashed what looked like a smile and stood aside. Laurent knocked on the door with his chocolates in his hands.

"Hey, Mr. Stone, ready to talk now?"

"No…" was the weak response Laurent got.

"I'm guessing you haven't had anything to eat, right Mr. Stone?" Laurent teased. "Would you like me to get James to cook you a meal? I'll have Martine drop it off to you in an hour, but only if you will talk to us –"

"Not on my life!" the faint cry of Steven could be heard beyond the cellar door. Laurent shrugged. The bartender though, who felt partly sorry for Steven but also partly amused, went over to the wine cellar door and quickly opened it just long enough to place a glass of ice with lemon and water on the floor. He subsequently closed the door, much to Steven's frustration.

"I have some chocolate for you if you'd like some," Laurent started, knowing it would probably set his boss on edge. "Sophie and I bought some from Vue sur la Lune this morning –"

"GET OUT!" Steven tried to yell, but his voice was too dry to manage to get past the wine cellar door. Still, it was enough for Laurent so he left Steven to his misery. Overall, he was impressed at how long Steven was keeping this up. Just what exactly did he do that he would sacrifice his hunger to stop people from knowing? It was as if Steven was carrying a secret he wanted to take with him to the grave. Moreover, Laurent thought the chocolate would have given Steven the push to talk. Perhaps not.

Sighing, Laurent went back to the bartender to pick up his glass of crushed ice and Nomel, and he then made for the front desk.

At Vue sur la Lune, Cynthia had never felt this busy in the time she had operated the restaurant. Thanks to the efforts of the café and La Lune de Chocolat, things were getting profitable. It helped that the café had plenty of desserts to sell, but what bothered Cynthia was that many of her café and dessert-buying customers opted to purchase their goods and bring them to a square plaza just outside of the Stone Restaurant.

However, many of her staff, including Henri Matin, could feel a chill Cynthia carried whenever she worked. It was as if the usual atmosphere the staff were accustomed to working with had been removed instantly. All that was left was the efficient task-oriented environment, and they began to question if they were satisfied with their jobs.

Cynthia alone seemed fine with her state of progress.

Winona and Lisia returned to Vue sur la Lune shortly before noon. As well as wanting to grab lunch from one of the tastiest restaurants in the area, Winona was also concerned for Cynthia's well-being, given the description she heard in the morning. By the time they had their seats, Winona set about looking for Cynthia while Lisia waited for lunch. Winona found Cynthia shortly after, when the latter was busy issuing orders to her staff (who, apparently, didn't look too satisfied with their once-motivational boss).

"What's your plan now, Cynthia?" Winona asked her. "Come on, at least you could spare some time to talk with us, eh?"

She looked tense, but relaxed briefly. Cynthia quietly followed Winona to where Lisia was seated, and they sat down. Looking at what they were eating, Cynthia politely ordered Henri to get her a salad with Watmel berries. The staff clearly noticed their manager's change in mood, but they kept that to themselves.

"I'm doing… fine. Yeah, that's it," she said to Winona. "I've just ordered a few expansions for my restaurant and now I'm adding more tasty things to the menu. Perhaps you'd like a sample?"

"Hey! Enough talk about food for a change!" Lisia interrupted. "Why not talk about Steven? Hasn't he been on your mind, at least? Figure, why are you so on edge?"

Cynthia said nothing at first. But from what Winona could see, Cynthia had no intention of talking about Steven, nor was she keen. Lisia, though, seemed fine with that. Moreover, Lisia seemed amused that Cynthia wasn't talking.

"Love trouble, right?" Lisia jabbed, hoping to dig deeper. "You can tell me and Winona everything. No stone goes unturned when girls talk, right? Right?"

"Don't mind her," Winona said soothingly. "You don't need to tell us everything if you don't want too. We'll respect your privacy."

"You mean you will respect her privacy," Lisia shot back. "Now, we all know you're the gentle, graceful, and generous woman here, Winona, save for those times you punched Wallace in the face (Winona glared at her for this), but we've got to be more persuasive here."

Cynthia's Garchomp happened to stop by in the midst of the conversation.

"Oh, Garchomp. Perfect timing," Cynthia breathed a sigh of relief. "Could you drop by the kitchen and grab me a salad wrap? I'm not craving much today. Oh, and go see to our other plans."

Winona only saw this as a diversion for Cynthia to avoid the question Lisia imposed. In her mind, she decided not to play along with Lisia's persuasion and sought to only enjoy a casual lunch with a fellow female friend. She did have a glass of sparkling water on the table with a delicious Watmel salad, but that was all.

"I'm surprised you still have not been dating, Cynthia," Lisia went on. "Aren't you waiting a bit too slow for a boyfriend? Or are you hoping he'll just come to you? The local gossip paper claims you'll reach a point where you'll regret it –"

"Tell us more about what else you've been doing," Winona interrupted, hoping to press for a shift in the conversation away from Cynthia's love life. While this earned an irritated inaudible remark from Lisia, for Cynthia she was happy to talk about something else.

"Oh, I've just been going about my business as usual," Cynthia replied. Her voice seemed fragile, but it also sounded wrong. To be honest, Winona had no idea what was going on through Cynthia's mind. She wasn't there when Cynthia went to the Stone Bakery, but she figured that Cynthia must have taken Wallace's words seriously when the latter claimed Steven had bribed the supplier. This was the result, perhaps.

"Are you sure?" she gently asked.

"Yes," Cynthia added, coolly. "I'm definitely doing business."

Whether Wallace was sweet-talking many of the staff, of if he was only being lucky, James had no idea how he had Wallace sitting across from him in Steven's office. The thing was that Wallace was sitting at where Steven would normally sit, and James was separated from him by Steven's desk.

"What do you want, Wallace?" James demanded. With a bustle of business going on one or two floors above, James had to expend time to talk.

"It's just that I've been asking many of your lovely waitresses here…" Wallace started, with a wide grin, "and they tell me that you all have a bit of a problem with Steven. You say he's cooling off, but that's not what Martine told me."

"That's none of your business –" James started.

"Nah-uh!" Wallace pointed accusingly. "Whenever there's anything that involves my friend Steven, especially his love life, it's always my business. You just don't know about it! Now, tell me, where's Steven and what's going on with him?"

At first James was taken aback, as he didn't know how to respond at first. Worse yet, he could tell that from Wallace's expression that he wasn't about to take silence as an answer. Suppose what the employees did was unethical in regards to business, but in this case, when the restaurant's owner was potentially suspect to something more unethical, James had to get to the truth.

But the truth wasn't coming out as easily as he thought. In his bones, James had never considered Wallace to be a plausible option for squeezing out whatever secrets Steven had. Was it the time to be desperate when Steven wasn't cooperating? Even more so, was Wallace to be trusted? To be fair, he was a Hoenn Champion, after all.

"I know how to butter him up, man, I know," Wallace said.

"You know what? Come with me," James motioned Wallace to follow. As the office was conveniently located on the ground level alongside the museum, the bar, and the Stone Bakery, the wine cellar was only a short walk away.

As they went for the bar, James took note of Laurent and Sophie, who were both enjoying chocolates and taking reservations for incoming guests. Business would manage for now, even if the cooking staff seemed slightly shorthanded.

A/N: The part below is probably rated T for alcohol references.

Steven had contemplated drinking wine.

The glass of water and lemon Laurent had left for him was finished too soon, and as long as Steven was stuck in this prison of ancient alcohol, there was no way he would be able to get any water. The bartender had the power to give Steven water, but in exchange Steven would have to give in to his employees' demands. That wasn't going to happen. Whatever his employees wanted to know, only Steven would make sure they wouldn't find out.

Sitting alone still in this cruel prison, Steven pulled a bottle of red wine and poured a bit into the empty glass he had. Alcohol could dehydrate him, but Steven was thirsty.

However, as he was all too aware, his thirst would become uncontrollable. It would not be quenched. Although Steven should have been able to survive for at least a few days without water, the smell of wine was overbearing. In the end, he poured himself a glass from one of the bottles in the cellar to slowly drink from it.

He shouldn't be drinking wine at a time like this. He would suffer. He was so thirsty! But if he did drink, he would want more, and he still wouldn't stop. No, he needed water.

Eventually, Steven set aside the glass to think about his dilemma. While he was at it, he decided to return the bottle of red wine to its respective place, but not before vacuuming out the air within the bottle with a special pump to preserve the alcohol within. Afterwards, Steven cautiously placed the bottle where it belonged. The alcohol was getting into his head, and he could barely stand up straight.

No, he tiredly thought. I better not. It's not like I'll feel any better if I did drink now.

But as he placed the bottle where it belonged, Steven felt something was out of place.

Aren't there supposed to be ten bottles of imported Unova wine, here? Steven thought. I only see three, and a barrel is missing too!

Steven did question if he was hallucinating or not. Maybe it was the alcohol fumes getting into his mind. But there was no chance Steven was hallucinating, since he was thinking very clearly and he was thinking about hallucinating. How could he hallucinate if he could think about it? For good measure, he made sure the 'missing' bottles really were missing.

Even more so, what he found very difficult to understand was the potent smell of wine in the cellar. Normally, the wines were sealed well so that alcohol wouldn't be released. The best explanation would have been that someone might have sealed a bottle or two improperly, but the smell was too potent!

He wanted to get up and hit for the cellar door, but his mind was so sleepy. He wanted to rest. No matter how hard they would try, they would not get to him.

The familiar knock on the wine cellar door came.

Steven knew exactly what to expect, but his throat and mouth were dry. To reach for the glass of wine he had deliberately poured out was very tempting, but he knew better than to drink it. Using whatever willpower he had, Steven made for the door, but he tripped over his own feet and crashed into the door.

"I will not talk!" Steven rasped.

"There's no need to talk, my friend." Oh, the dreaded voice of flamboyant friend. It could not have gotten worse than this, save for Lisia. But why did it have to be him? And how exactly did he even know he was here? "I've had a word with James and he said you were cooling off. I had no idea you were in here though, and Metagross is stopping you from getting out. What are you doing?"

"Haaaahh…" Steven choked. It was apparent his throat was dry.

"Ah, there's no need to say more," Wallace said, although he was aware Steven didn't say anything at all. "It's about Cynthia, right?"

As if Steven had been slapped hard in the face, he was partly back to his senses, if it wasn't for the alcohol in his head, Steven could have thought a lot more clearly, but bringing up the topic about Cynthia by Wallace was enough. No, he had to stop.

"There's nothing I did to her that affected her," he whispered. "Her loss of supplies wasn't my fault."

"Oh! So it IS about her loss of supplies!" Wallace said excitedly. The bartender and Metagross, who heard Wallace very clearly, saw this as a breakthrough, and they stood closer to listen in. But Wallace motioned them to stay away. "Leave us."

As Steven heard the footsteps of the bartender fade, he began to mentally slap himself. What have I done?! Me and my big Loudred mouth, no thanks to the alcohol,he thought. I just told him my reasons, but he doesn't know my means.

"Between you and me, my friend," Wallace added, "I was there when you bribed Cynthia's supplier for berries, and you happened to use those berries for pies, right? I thought so."

"NOOOOOO!" Steven screamed, and he felt his throat crack. Wallace, though, seemed happy.

"Now, be a good man and tell the staff what they want to know," Wallace persuaded. "They all want to know what explanation you have when the two of you glared at each other this morning, or so I'm told."

"I WILL NOT SAY ANYTHING!" Steven roared.

"You will tell them what happened," Wallace said, although he was trying very hard to hold back a fit of laughter. The opportunity was too good to pass. "Otherwise, I will do it for you."

Silence. Just as Wallace expected.

"I'll take that as a no, yeah?" Wallace asked. "You will tell me you said no, or you will say no!"

But on the other side of the cellar door, Steven was no longer near the door but away from it. Not that he was showing cowardice, but because he felt something was well out of place in here. Steven carefully walked around, while trying not to stumble over his own feet.

The idea was that there was missing wine from his cellar for certain, and Steven warranted this need investigation. However, with his mind clouded by alcohol fumes and a need for water, Steven could not think properly.

At some point as he wandered around, he found that his order of specially imported "ice wine" from a faraway land was missing as well. What happened?! Things were disappearing before his eyes! Was he hallucinating still?

"What's going on…?" Steven mumbled sleepily.

He fell to his knees on the wine cellar floor. No, he couldn't take this torture anymore, but he had to endure. It didn't help that Wallace had presented him with an ultimatum. It was either this, where Steven told the truth to James, Martine, and everyone else, or Wallace would do it. Between those two options, Steven figured they would both make him worse-off anyway.

"My wine supply is disappearing before my eyes…" he mumbled. "Maybe I am hallucinating."

However, in an instant, he felt a severe blow to his back and he crippled to the ground almost unconscious. The pain spread across his back and finally to every part of his body. Was he being burgled? Or was it a hallucination created from his insanity?

It didn't matter, though, because the pain was real. Steven's head fell to the ground, and his consciousness was kept alive for just the silhouette of a Pokémon looking around the wine cellar. It looked familiar, like a Garchomp who belonged to a fellow former Champion.

Steven blacked out.

There we go! Review, and you'll have an order for a glass of crushed ice and Nomel. What a way to enjoy summer!