In this chapter, we finally get the discussion between Blake, Cynthia, and Sango about Gwen. Wonder what they will have to say?

KedharS: Powerful in all sorts of ways, hot, too.

Hellraiserphoenix: "Made her feel better in her own way" that's for sure. All moist and tingly downstairs.

Aquahaze675: That's definitely "how Olivia goes" I'll say that much.

Rosealine gold: Not sure what her Eevee will evolve into yet, but I take all suggestions under advisement.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 458

After everyone was finished eating, the group headed out of the Snorlax Commons and back to their dorms, enjoying their conversations with each other. It was nice to finally be back together and enjoying each other's company.

In spite of the enjoyment, Blake felt anxiety rising up in his gut. What Cynthia had earlier about needing to talk to him… she hadn't said what it was about so as not to bother him, so he could enjoy dinner in peace, but that wasn't helping him feel any better. There was just something nagging about him, something about the look in her eyes.

He fished his phone out of his pocket and checked it. He'd sent several messages to Ayame during dinner, but they had all been left on "sent". They didn't even say "seen", she must not be using her phone.

Blake put his phone away and turned to Cynthia. She glanced back at him. The two shared a heated look for a moment, and they realized that they couldn't put it off for much longer. Now was the time. Cynthia glanced at Sango, and nodded.

"Hey, guys!" Cynthia called out, drawing the attention of everyone else, who glanced back at the trio, realizing that they had been hanging back a few steps. "Blake, Sango and I have some stuff to do! We'll catch up later, okay? See you tonight, Julia!"

"Really, Blake?" Reiner called, laughing. "A threesome with Cynthia and Sango? Trying to start a harem of short-haired girls?"

Nikita slapped him on the shoulder and gave him a disapproving look that Julia shared. Nick snickered and Kitty turned bright red, while Sango glared at him and stuck out her tongue. Cynthia, of course, found it to be a riot.

But Blake wasn't really in the mood for jokes tonight, though. It was only his first night back, and already he was wishing that he and Ayame had never come down from her family's cabin on Mt. Silver, where things were peaceful and happy and they just had to be concerned with each other.

Not any of this other stuff. He didn't know what it was, but… he did know. He just didn't want to believe it.

Because there was only one reason he could think of that would have both Sango and Cynthia acting weird around him, and in spite of Reiner's jokes it wasn't a proposition of a threesome (besides, Sango didn't even like him that way).

No, Cynthia only took a few things seriously, and there was only one reason she would have to think that it might ruin Blake's dinner. So while he waved goodbye to his friends and pretended everything was fine, the smile on his face was forced.

The others left, leaving Blake alone with Cynthia and Sango, and Silver as well. The trio fell silent, standing in the snowy night air.

"So…" Cynthia glanced at Sango, urging her to be the one to speak first. Cynthia was outgoing with no restraints, but she had a harder time broaching sensitive subjects than Sango did. Besides, Sango was the one who knew the relationship between Blake and his sister a lot better than Cynthia did, so she should be the one broach the topic.

That's why Cynthia was staring at Sango so insistently, much to Sango's discomfort. She sighed, and wasn't thrilled about it, but she agreed with Cynthia that she was the one who should bring up the issue with Blake.

"It's about your sister," Sango said. Her voice just blurted it out, but now that it was out there, she could rest easy, and she sighed with relief, until she gave a furtive glance at Blake and saw the pain on his face, which caused her to tense up all over again.

"…I see," Blake said, nodding. It was about Gwen. Of course it was. What should he ask first? Was she okay? Were they okay? Did she hurt anyone? Did she say anything? Ask about him? Did it look like she was willing to come back? Or was she…

"Is she still…?" That was what he decided on first, and he still couldn't manage to spit it out, his voice breaking with pain. Is she still lost in her harmonia?

"She… she didn't look very well," Sango said, glancing down. "She… we ran into her at the inn that Cynthia's grandparents run, in Mt. Chimney."

"And?" Blake asked, a little more forceful than he would have liked.

"She attacked us," Cynthia replied, able to look him straight in the eye, unlike her friend. She loved Blake, sure, but she wasn't going to sugar-coat things for his sake. He loved his sister, fine. She loved her sister, too. But it was clear that Blake's sister wasn't in the right place mentally, and Cynthia wasn't about to defend what she had done, even if Sango was trying to take things easy on him.

Of course, that resolve crumbled when she saw him flinch at that, as though Cynthia had accused HIM of attacking them. Why did she have to hurt so much when she saw how much pain he was in? Cynthia sighed, shaking her head.

"Look, Blake, it's not… it's not like we don't understand that your sister is… damaged," Cynthia said, trying to be sympathetic. "But still, she's dangerous."

"What…" Blake's voice caught in his throat. He shook his head, wiping his eyes, and clearing his throat. He looked hopelessly at the two of them. "What did she do?"

"Blake…" Sango started, but her voice died off as she saw him on the verge of tears. She and Cynthia glanced at each other. They both knew that they needed to tell him the truth, hoping that Blake would feel better if they were honest. But they also knew that this would hurt to hear, and that's what made it hard for them to speak.

"I want to know," Blake said, keeping the weakness out of his voice as best as he could. "Everything. Even if it hurts… I need to know what she's done. What she's doing. If she's okay, if there's anything that I could do to help her."

Blake looked down and shook his head.

"I know she's doing bad things, but believe me, the real Gwen, she… she's the sweetest girl in the world, I swear. If it wasn't for her harmonia, she wouldn't be doing these awful things. You've got to believe this, I want… I want to bring her back, back to that sweet little sister that I love. But I can't do that sticking my head in the sand and pretending that everything is okay, that she's not doing anything wrong."

He looked up at them.

"I need to know about what she's doing, so I can bring her back. So please, Cynthia, Sango, can you tell me what she's done?" Blake asked the two of them. "No matter how bad it is, I promise that I'll be okay."

He was lying. They all knew he was lying. Cynthia and Sango both knew that there were things that Gwen could do that, while he might not blame her for, would destroy him. That was what they were afraid of, to be honest. Blake had a good heart. He cared about people and tried to save them. Elaina, Kitty, he saw the good in them and wanted to help.

But Gwen, she was…

"It wasn't… it wasn't as bad as all that," Sango said, shaking her head. She looked around for somewhere that they could sit in private, her eyes landing on a bench that didn't have snow on it (though it was a little damp). "Come on, let's talk."

The trio sat down on the bench, staring out at the river. The rush of the nearly-frozen water gently soothing their trouble spirits. It was cold, but not that cold.

"She was just… waiting outside," Sango said. "When I… when I recognized her, I thought, for a moment, just a moment, to call the pokemon rangers… but then I thought… you wouldn't like that. You wouldn't want her to be arrested. So I… I didn't call them."

She glanced at him, her eyes searching his expression for some sign that she was right, that she had made the correct choice in not turning Gwen in. Even if she didn't personally believe that anymore, she still wanted to see it from him.

Blake didn't give her that assurance. In some ways, maybe the right choice would have been to tell the Pokemon Rangers. Bring Gwen in, have her sent somewhere she could get help, so that she wouldn't hurt anyone and could maybe even get better.

That was the right choice.

Blake was so grateful that Sango hadn't made it that he wanted to hug her.

They had played the "lock up Gwen to get her help" game before. It had traumatized her even further, and made her run. He had lost his sister, maybe forever, after his father had made that decision, and he was NEVER going to let that happen again.

Sango had told him everything about what Gwen had gone through when she had been locked up with her and Ryoko. Captivity clearly had taken its toll on her sanity, and he wasn't going to let her be locked up again.

"What did you do?" He asked. "She isn't… is she in prison?"

"No," Sango said, shaking her head. "Like I said, I didn't call them."

She didn't mention the part about Cynthia's sister wanting to call them, and Maddi backing her up on that. That would just bother him for no good reason.

"Sango tried to talk her into coming with us," Cynthia said. "But instead she tried to force Sango into bringing you to her, instead."

"You should have let her," Blake said. Cynthia stared at him, her mouth dropping open in shock as she resisted the urge to smack him across the face.

"Excuse me? Just LET your sister attack Sango? Is that what you wanted me to do?" Cynthia demanded, jumping off the bench and spinning to glare down at him, her arms crossed over her chest indignantly, ready to tear him apart. She might have liked him, but Blake was really pissing her off. Didn't he care that they had almost gotten hurt?

She bitterly thought that if Ayame had been there, he wouldn't have been so cavalier about them putting themselves at risk.

"N-No, that's not what I meant," Blake said, shaking his head.

"Then what do you mean?" Cynthia demanded.

"Cynthia, it's fine-"

"No, it's not fine, Sango, stop defending him!" Cynthia said, turning to Sango. "Geez, it's almost like you're the one who likes Blake instead of me!"

Sango's mouth fell opened and she fumbled for something to say, but couldn't make the words come out. There wasn't really a response she could think of in this situation, and Cynthia wasn't even done talking.

"We could have died, Sango," Cynthia continued. "I know you're on the 'let's put ourselves at risk so that everybody can get along' train, but I didn't sign up for ranger duty. If that girl hadn't shown up with Marion, Gwen might have killed all of us!"

Sango finally found it in her to talk. Cynthia brought it out of her. Anger. While she had been grateful for Cynthia's help, she had been holding it in for weeks; she was convinced that Cynthia had made things worse by her story.

"Oh? Remind me again, why Gwen got so out of control in the first place, Cynthia?" Sango demanded, her voice so harsh that even Silver recoiled, surprised. Sango continued, "who was it told Gwen you were dating her brother, causing her to go off the deep end? Because it wasn't me, I think I would have remembered."

Cynthia flinched, deflating slightly when Sango pointed out her own… "mistake".

"That's… I…"

"Wait, what?" Blake asked, not sure where the leap in logic had happened. "What did you say?"

"When Gwen was preparing to grab me, Cynthia distracted her," Sango said, glancing away from Cynthia and back to Blake. "She convinced your sister that… she was dating you. That you guys were a couple, and that… you had had sex. Repeatedly."

Blake stared dumbly at Sango, then turned to look at Cynthia. He slumped over and buried his face in his hands.

"WHY would you do something like that?" He demanded.

"Because she was going to attack Sango!" Cynthia sputtered. "I needed to protect her! And the best way to do that was to turn her onto me!"

Blake was still trying to put together what would be the point of that as he said "but you didn't have to say you were my girlfriend."

"Well would you have liked me to say Ayame was dating you instead?"

"Why did you have to… I just…" Blake didn't really know what to say.

"…Anyway, it happened," Sango said. "Let's move on, okay guys?"

Blake and Cynthia both nodded. But Cynthia was still staring at him, not fully ready to forgive and forget Blake defending his little sister.

"So she attacked you guys, right?" Blake clarified.

"Yup. Attacked us, hurt Rose and Tristan and nearly killed us, then her friend showed up, and we all got to talking," Cynthia said. Her voice turned sympathetic, surprisingly, softening. She sat down next to Blake and put her hand over his. "Look. I understand you care for her. And with everything that went on that night… I can't say that arresting her was the right thing to do. I just… I don't know if letting her go was the right thing to do, either."

"…You should have called me," Blake said, speaking to Sango, or maybe Cynthia, hell, anyone who would listen. "I could have talked to her, maybe-"

"Maybe what, gotten her to turn herself in?" Sango asked. She didn't want to sound bitchy, but… "You tried that already, remember?"

"I was getting through to her," Blake reminded her. "I got through to Kitty, didn't I?"

"Did you get through to Elaina?" Cynthia asked.

Blake glanced down.

"…Yeah. Thought so."

"We're not saying that you can't save her," Sango comforted him, placing her hand over his. "It's just… she's dangerous, Blake, and we want to help, but-"

"I know that!" Blake exclaimed, jumping off of the bench and pulling away from them, wracking his hair in frustration. "I know that! It's just… I just…!"

"Blake, it's fine," Cynthia said, hopping up and running over to him, grabbing him by the hand. "We know she means a lot to you, but…"

"She's out of control," Sango said, getting up and walking over to him as well. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I don't think it's the right thing to do to lock her up… I saw how she reacted to that. But Blake, the reason we told you…"

Sango glanced at Cynthia, who looked back at her. The two turned their gazes on Blake, eyes filled with mutual purpose.

"We talked, after what happened," Sango began.

"And we were really scared," Cynthia added.

"Look, I know Gwen is scary when she's out of control, but deep down-"

"No, it's not about that," Sango said, shaking her head. "We're past that."

"We're scared for you, Blake," Cynthia said.

Blake blinked.

"Scared… for me? Gwen wouldn't hurt me. Never. Not in a million years."

"That isn't what we meant," Sango said, shaking her head. "We're not scared that Gwen's going to hurt you, at least not… not like that."

"You gotta stop, Blake," Cynthia said, grabbing his collar. "Look, she's your sister, and you love her, but if you keep defending her, excusing her, if she keeps doing bad stuff, then…"

"Then what?" Blake asked.

"What if she'd killed me?" Cynthia asked, her voice shaking. This wasn't like when she had proposed the question a few minutes ago. The look in her eyes, she was frightened. "Or Sango? Blake, what if Ayame had been there, and she'd gotten…"

Cynthia didn't want to think about it, choking up and letting go of his shirt.

"Remember when we were attacked on Mt. Chimney?" Sango asked. "What if that had been Gwen who did it, Blake? What if she had attacked Ayame? What if she had killed her?"

"That's…" Blake couldn't answer that question. He didn't WANT to answer it. The thought of something like that happening…

"…I know what would happen," Sango said, seeing that Blake wasn't going to answer himself. "You would die, Blake. That's what would happen."

"That's…"

"She's right," Cynthia said, nodding in agreement. "We're your friends, Blake. We know the kind of guy you are. You're too nice of a guy."

"Cynthia, Sango, it's not what-"

"Gwen could kill someone you care for," Sango said. She wasn't going to let him weasel his way out of this. She could see how much it hurt him, her saying these things, and it hurt her just as badly, if not worse. "And if she does, if the sister you love kills the woman you love, what will you do? You won't hate her, I know that much. You CAN'T hate her."

"Of course I can't hate her!" Blake exclaimed. "She's…!"

"Damaged, we know," Cynthia said. "That's why this is hard. It was hard for us to say this, Blake, but you needed to hear it. We know that her mental state due to harmonia would NEVER let you hate her. So you would forgive her. For whatever it was you did."

"And neither one of us wants to see what that would do to you," Sango said. Surprisingly, she was the first one to hug him. Cynthia hugged him quickly after. "If Gwen killed Ayame… or one of us, or someone else, you'd forgive her, but… you would lose a part of yourself. It would be like you died inside, Blake, and…"

"And we don't want that," Cynthia said, crying into his chest. She gazed up at him from behind tear-stained eyes, sniffling. "I don't want to see you tear yourself apart chasing after your little sister, and her dragging her down with you!"

Blake could understand where they were coming from. If Gwen… if she had done something to Ayame… if Ayame died at her hand…

What would he do?

It wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault. She couldn't help herself, it wasn't her fault.

But Aya…

He couldn't say "I won't let it get that far" because he couldn't make that promise. Gwen had attacked Cynthia thinking he was dating her. If she found out he was dating Ayame, then she could…

If they locked up Gwen, then she wouldn't hurt anyone. But she would be lost. Whatever remained of his little sister would probably be extinguished forever. Right now, he was the only tether she had. If he betrayed her too, then…

But he couldn't stop her from hurting people, either.

So what was he supposed to do? How could he keep his sister safe, and also keep her from hurting anybody? There wasn't a way he could see forward.

A perfect world created just for the two of us.

Blake clenched his jaw. It… it wasn't okay. It wasn't. Gwen wanted a world just for the two of them. And no matter how he tried to deny it, he couldn't…

Because he couldn't think of another way to keep her safe and keep her from hurting anyone. If he… he abandoned everyone, took Gwen, and ran… the two of them going off somewhere alone, with no one else… would that satisfy her? Maybe… maybe that would make him stop.

But he would lose everything if he made that choice. Sango and Cynthia, both girls hugging him tightly, crying into his chest, pleading with him to just let his sister go? He wouldn't be able to see them anymore.

Ayame's smiling face passed through his mind. The adoring look on her face when she glanced his way was seared into his eyes, her husky voice whispering "I love you" rang in his ears. The feeling, the taste, of her lips against his, it was burning him, hell, he could even smell the scent of her sweat and it made him feel lighter than air.

Ayame had filled every part of his heart so much that his hesitation was overpowering even his love for his sister. Could he really give up on her, for the sake of his sister? Once upon a time, he would have given anything to bring Gwen back home.

Now…

Had he really fallen for Ayame this hard? He knew he loved her. But until the choice between Ayame and Gwen was placed in front of him, he hadn't even considered which one he would choose, and now he didn't even know where his heart would turn in the end.

He closed his eyes and opened his mouth. What he was going to tell his friends, he wasn't even certain of. That he was going to abandon his sister? That we would find some way to save her? That he would leave with her, so she wouldn't hurt anyone again?

His heart was so lost in turmoil that even he didn't know what he would say. So when Ayame interrupted him, his heart overflowed with gratitude towards her.

"Well, don't you three look cozy?" Not even the scowl on Ayame's face, arms crossed in indignation as she looked at her boyfriend hugging two girls at the same time could make him feel anything less than overjoyed that she was standing in front of him.

This is really hard on Blake, I imagine. Things are difficult, that's for sure.