"Is everything packed?" Starlight called. Today was the day that Celina, Aini, and Iri were leaving to go back home, and she was trying to make sure that they had everything packed and ready to go so there wouldn't be a mad rush when their mother came.
"I've got all mine!" Celina called, bouncing up on the bed. Aini sat nearby with a pout on her face, bad attitude peeking through even though Starlight knew that she was so looking forward to seeing her mother again.
Starlight did a mental checklist. Their clothes had been cleaned and folded, toothbrushes packed, Celina had her favorite stuffed Zorua and Aini had her Eevee...
"I can't find Phan!" Iri exclaimed, his three-year-old mind chalking up the possibility of loosing his favorite Phanphy plush as a tragedy.
"It's okay!" Starlight said quickly, trying to keep the child from bursting into tears. "Phan didn't grow legs and walk away, I'm sure-"
"He's here." Starlight turned and shot a grateful glance to Eclipse, holding up the plush by the back. Iri's near-tears did a one-eighty and went to an ecstatic grin.
"Phan!" he cried out, nearly clambering up Eclipse's legs to get to the precious toy. Once he was done, he grinned. "Can we finish the story now? Before Mom comes?"
"Yeah!" Aini snapped. "Don't leave us hanging!"
"But Aini," Starlight teased. "I thought you didn't like love stories."
"I still don't!" Aini groaned. "But I also don't like not knowing the stupid ending!"
"I have the book!" Celina smiled. "Nysa! Come on!" Nysa-Eon smiled, hopping onto the bed with the other kids, waiting for one of her parents to take the book.
Eclipse took the book and started reading.
o.0.o.0.o
Starlight and the Kidnapper, Part 4
Starlight felt the light filter on her face, and she groaned. Morning already?
"Starlight! Starlight, wake up!" Gardevoir screamed in her mind. Starlight groaned mentally.
Suddenly, a acrid smell filled her nostrils. She opened her eyes, only for them to water up from smoke.
Suddenly, a flaming arrow shoots past her, burrowing into the wooden post near her head. She let out a startled scream, rolling out of the bed and next to Gardevoir.
"Where's Eclipse and Yunyi?!" she cried out, whipping around to Gardevoir. Gardevoir, who was trying to keep the hut from collapsing with her powers, glanced to Zoroark.
"Zoroark says he went for a walk and didn't come back!" Gardevoir shouted.
"He's safe, then." Starlight sighed out, relieved. The relief didn't last long, however, as she still didn't see Yunyi or her pokésoul partner, Devoir.
"I don't know where Yunyi went!" Gardevoir exclaimed.
"No doubt she went running for help." Zoroark stated. Starlight hesitated for the briefest of moments, then turned, throwing her shawl over her face so she wouldn't breathe in the smoke, bolting out the door with Gardevoir and Zoroark behind her.
Outside was no better. Members of what was left of the resistance was running about. Jade was desperately trying to keep the order, shouting commands while cradling Pine in her arms. There was no sign of Onyx or Olive anywhere. Starlight flicked her gaze around in a panic. There were random men running about, attacking anything that moved and pillaging the houses. A cackle echoed through the small village.
"Burn, you traitorous maggots!" a woman shrieked. "Burn!"
Starlight snapped her head up at the voice.
"Millennium?"
"Find her!" she heard Millennium yell again. "Find her at any cost!"
Starlight had a sinking feeling she knew who they were searching for. The destruction of the resistance was just an added bonus.
"Blue!" she heard someone shout. Said someone clamped a hand on her shoulder and she shrieked.
"Starlight!" she whipped around, and saw Green with Turquoise sobbing in his arms. "I... I saw your figure and I thought your were Blue. I can't tell who's who in this chaos."
"Have you seen Eclipse or Yunyi anywhere?!" Starlight asked frantically. Green shook his head.
"We have escape boats near the lake." Green said, gaze flicking around as Soul ran by with Opal. "Yunyi's a smart girl. She probably went there. Eclipse can probably handle himself." he glance at the lake. "I hope Blue made it there."
"I'm sure she did." Starlight reassured. They heard footsteps pounding towards them, and both turned, seeing one of the enemy men running towards them, axe raised. With his free hand, Green began dragging Starlight through the burning village. Starlight glanced over her shoulder, seeing that the man was going to catch up sooner or later.
"Green!" she shouted, stopping.
"Do you want to get killed, woman?!" Green exclaimed, whipping around. Starlight ignored him, tapping into her psychic powers. Extending an arm, she used her powers to crush a single bit of wood, and suddenly, a flaming structure collapsed, blocking his path.
"Go, go, go!" she heard Silver exclaim, practically shoving them towards the boats. Starlight did a quick headcount.
Silver and Gold looked prepared to push off with Soul, Crystal, and Emerald. Ruby and Sapphire were in a boat with Black and White, and Carnelian was cradling a shivering Opal with Jade standing overhead doing a headcount. Onyx darted from the flames with a small bundle in his arms. Approaching the boat, Olive's head popped out. Jade let out a strange cross between a sob and a laugh as she took her little girl into her arms. Diamond and Pearl were running towards them both desperately trying to fend off a couple of the brutes from taking the much slower Platinum.
"Greeny!" she heard Blue exclaimed, latching her arms around his neck.
"This is gonna be awesome." Starlight heard Topaz mutter as she climbed out of the boat, holding a glass bottle with a flaming rag stick out of it. "Hey, maggots!" she shouted. The two brutes looked up, giving the trio a chance to escape. Topaz reared back her arm. "Burn in hell, mother*bleep*ers!"
Then she threw the bottle. It shattered upon contact, the flames alighting the rag in an explosion of fire and smoke.
"Where's Yunyi?" Onyx demanded while Jade fussed over her kids. Starlight whipped her head to him.
"I thought she was with you!"
"Well, obviously, she's *bleep*ing not!" Topaz snapped. Starlight glanced back at the flaming village.
"I'm going back to find her." Starlight said, glancing at them. "You guys go!"
"No way!" Opal exclaimed. "You aren't going anywhere!"
"We can't leave Yunyi!" Starlight whipped around, bolting back into the flaming village with hopes of finding the girl.
Ignoring the cries of alarm from some of her new-found friends, she darted under the burning wood, screaming Yunyi's name.
She received but a single response, and not from the person she was expecting.
"Long time no see, Starlight."
"Gardevoir?" she squeaked as a shiver shot up her spine. Starlight didn't get much of a response other than some senseless shouting and worrying. She felt a small jolt of pain, and realized that her partner was caught in a battle. Sending a silent prayer for the safety of her partner, then slowly turned.
Behind her was her elder sister, Millennium, staring coldly at her with as much hatred as Eclipse had for Razan. Starlight took a deep breath, then spoke.
"Millennium."
She practically could feel the temperature change as her mood change from cold hatred to white-hot rage.
"My name is Altair!" she shrieked.
"I-If that's what you want to be called." Starlight said agreeably, deciding the best route was to try to keep her calm as possible. "Listen, Mi-" she cut herself off. "Altair. We don't need to resort to senseless violence. Lets just talk. Whatever you have against me, we can work out."
"Talk?" Altair seethed. "No one ever wants to 'talk'. Mom and Dad sent me away because they wouldn't listen, all those doctors didn't understand." she locked eyes with her, eyes hard like stone. "I was trained by Razan. He understands. Only he. He knew who was the superior out of the two of us, and likewise, he let me keep control."
"So Altair is aware of Millennium, and most likely the other way around." Starlight mused
"But is this," Starlight gestured around her. "Right, Altair? They're families, with small children, like our own."
"I hate my family." Altair responded. "I hate you."
"Why? Why do you hate me so much?"
This was the strange thing about her sister. Ever since Altair showed up, she held this inexplicable hate towards her. No explanation, no reasoning why. Just a burning hate, enough to actually want to kill her.
"Because you're you." Altair stated cryptically, then lashed out. Starlight instinctively crossed her arms over her head, summoning a barrier to block her. Altair smirked. "Not going to fight back, Starlight?"
"I don't want to hurt you." Starlight said, shaking her head, obviously conflicted. "You're my sister. I know you don't want to hurt me either."
"You're right." Altair said after a moment of silence. Starlight glanced up, wondering if she had seen the light or perhaps Millennium was forcing herself forward. This hope was cut off as Altair lashed forward. "You couldn't hurt me even if you tried!"
Starlight stumbled to the left, narrowly avoiding getting a knife to her neck.
"You're not my sister!" Altair continued. "You're the reason Mom and Dad sent me away!"
Starlight wasn't even sure how she came up with that.
"You're useless and lazy! All you were ever good for was sitting down and looking pretty! You rely to much on that bond of yours. You're weak!" she spat the last word out.
"I don't rely on anything, Altair!" Starlight shouted back. "My partner is important to me! I need her by my side! Where's yours?"
"I don't need him!"
"Altair, where is Victini?" Starlight asked again.
"I said I don't need him! I'm strong on my own! I'm not like you! I don't need to rely on some beast for protection!"
Another surge of pain entered her mind. Gardevoir must have been hit by something super effective.
Then nothing.
"Gardevoir?" she asked telepathically. No response. Was she knocked out?
"Guess Dusknoir finally got rid of that annoying pest." Altair said, voice full of smug contempt. "Now you really don't stand a chance."
"I don't want to fight you." Starlight said, grasping at straws at this point. "Millennium. Please. It doesn't have to be this way. You don't hate me!"
"Millennium is gone!" Altair yelled. "I'm in control! I've eliminated her!"
"No she's not!"
"Just SHUT UP!" Altair screamed, lunging at her and clamping her hands around Starlight's neck. Starlight immediately wrapped her hands around her sisters wrists, trying to pry her off.
"Millennium!" she exclaimed, trying to keep the pressure off her throat. Starlight felt a small connection to her partner again, and, with all she was worth, blasted as many happy memories between her and Millennium as possible via a mental link
It was a sudden whirlwind, really. Not being able to breathe for the briefest of moments. A flicker of change on Altairs face, the pressure being relieved. Slowly, her hands moved from Starlight's throat, down to her shoulders.
"Starlight?" she asked, voice coming out much gentler, though judging from the look on her face, Starlight realized that she was now talking to Millennium.
"Millennium?"
Then there was a startled scream, a flash of purple and black, a grunt of pain from Millennium, then nothing but the continued crackling of burning wood.
o.0.o.0.o
Eclipse blinked as he smelled smoke in the air. Slowly, he turned, glancing back at the tiny resistance village.
His stomach dropped at the sight.
He could faintly see the flames flickering up.
"No..." he muttered, images of his own burning childhood home flashing through his mind. Without even thinking, he bolted back towards the village, every other instinct saying to stay away from the danger, though he continued running. He couldn't understand why or how he would run headlong into danger. Sure, he'd be disappointed if the resistance was suddenly wiped out, and he truly didn't need Starlight. He was determined and patient enough to find another to help him.
Perhaps it was because couldn't watch another person die because of Razan. Not by army. Not by assassins. And especially not by fire. Maybe it was because this incident was hitting to close to home, what with his mother dying the exact same way.
He bolted back into the village, his deepest fears confirmed.
"Starlight!" he bellowed as he reached the village, eyes flicking over the ruins. "Zoroark! Starlight!" Nothing. "Arceus be *bleep*ed, answer me!"
Someone charged at him. Eclipse turned, practically ripping the eyepatch from his head, blasting him away. Holding his eye closed and ignoring the burning sensation behind the lid, he bolted towards the nearest cottage, kicking it open. He glanced inside, searching for Starlight, Yunyi, or their partners.
"Zoroark!" he demanded, using the telepathic bond he held with the dark-type.
"Hey, little busy here, wise*bleep*." Zoroark responded with a grunt. "Starlight ran off to find Yunyi and Devoir and Gardevoir is out cold."
"That idiot!" Eclipse hissed as he continued kicking down doors with hopes to find her.
"My words exactly." Zoroark said. "Keep an eye out for Yunyi too. I'm trying to keep this *bleep*ed Dusknoir from killing all of us."
"Affirmative." Eclipse said, still holding his eye closed. He strained his ears for something, anything, blasting away any of Razan's men.
"Eclipse!"
He whirled around at the sound of the girls voice, blinking at Yunyi cradling Devoir, the latter with burns across her body, eyes closed. Yunyi had tears streaming down her face, obviously scared.
"I woke up to search for you. When I didn't find you, I came back only to find the village on fire and everyone gone!" she sniffled, reaching up to rub her face, only to streak black soot across her cheek. "I could only find Devoir, but she's... she's pretty beat up."
Yunyi fell into another round of shaking sobs. As if to comfort her, Devoir opened her eyes. Eclipse felt his heart jerk at the sobbing girl.
"Listen, kid." Eclipse said. "Devoir is conscious, so you still have your powers, right?"
Yunyi glanced up, then nodded.
"Help me track down Starlight, then we'll find a way to catch up with the resistance."
"O-Okay."
"Good." Eclipse said. With one arm, he scooped up the small girl and bolted. He passed her his eyepatch. "Hold this, don't loose it, got it?" Yunyi nodded, curling into a little ball, as if trying to shield herself from the chaos around her as much as possible. "Now just tell me where to go."
While Yunyi gave directions, Eclipse continued to dodge or attack random barbarians that ran up to attack them. He didn't want to scare the living daylights out of the already shaking girl by suddenly unleashing destructive darkness. He was silently hoping,
"She's over there!" Yunyi exclaimed, sounding a little more excited. Eclipse grunted in response, jumping over some more ruble. Eclipse just barely saw a woman with her hands near Starlight's neck, perhaps with intent to do harm. Yunyi let out a startled cry. "Starlight!"
With an inexplicable rage, Eclipse bolted across the small space between them, and slammed his free fist into the older woman's face. Starlight collapsed to her knees, hands going to her throat as she stared at the woman.
"Hold her." Eclipse growled, practically shoving Yunyi into her arms. Pulling a knife from his belt that he had, all in all, forgotten about in the midst of the action.
"Eclipse!" Starlight cried out, darting in front of him, in between him and the woman. "Don't hurt her!"
"Why?" Eclipse growled out.
"She's my sister." Starlight glanced over her shoulder at the woman, still holding Yunyi. "Please, don't hurt her."
"She tried to kill you." Eclipse stated.
"She's not herself." Starlight murmured. "Please believe me. We can restrain her. She has information on Razan. She can be useful." a pause as she averted her gaze. "I... I can fix her. Like I can try to fix you." she glanced up at him. "Please don't hurt her."
Eclipse stared at her for a moment.
"You." Both turned, and Eclipse saw the woman he had punched rising again. "I'll kill you!"
Eclipse shoved Starlight to the side and rammed his fist into the woman's stomach, then a sharp right hook under her chin. Her head snapped back, and then she collapsed like a doll.
"No you won't." Eclipse stated simply. He turned to Starlight. "Are you sure you want to take her with us?"
"She shouldn't be able to hurt us if we keep her unconscious or restrained." Starlight murmured. "She really is a good person at heart. She... doesn't know what's going on herself."
"You're not making sense." Eclipse stated.
"I'll explain it once we're out of harms way." Starlight sighed. Eclipse didn't respond, reaching for Starlight's long skirt.
"Hey!" Starlight said, trying to kick him in the face. Eclipse stared blankly at her.
"Don't flatter yourself." he stated, tearing a long shred till it was above her knees. He moved back to Starlight's sister, binding her hands behind her back with said strip. "I'm not going to have her wake up and stab me in the back while I'm carrying her. Besides, now you can run easier."
"I... suppose."
"Good." he hefted her over his shoulder.
"The resistance has set up boats. I told them to wait, but if they did..."
"Jade would make someone wait." Yunyi whispered. "No one gets left behind. And if they left without us, they left us a boat. I can lead the way to the safe spot."
o.0.o.0.o
"Yunyi! You're alive!" Emerald exclaimed.
Starlight let out a sigh of relief as they reached the small little wood cabin. After they had retrieved Gardevoir and Zoroark, it didn't take long at all for Yunyi to lead them to safe spot, which turned out to be a well hidden cabin further up the stream. They had to pass under a waterfall, in which there was a cave. After tying their boat off with the others, much to Yunyi's relief, they went through the cave. At the other end was an opening to a small clearing, where Emerald had promptly greeted them after catching sight of them.
"Alive and well." Eclipse grunted. "Where's everyone else?"
"Getting treated for injuries." Emerald said. "We all got out, but not entirely unscathed."
"That's a relief." Starlight sighed. "I know it's a little late, but we need to speak to Jade."
"Jade's probably up anyways." Emerald nodded, leading her inside the cabin. Inside, they saw Jade sitting at the table, hands folded and leaning over, looking, all and all, stressed.
"See what I mean?" Emerald muttered before taking on a gentler tone. "Jade?" The blind girl snapped her head up, whipping in the direction of his voice. Masking her stress, she stood.
"What?"
"Starlight, Yunyi, and Eclipse are here. And Eclipse is carrying someone."
Jade blinked.
"A hostage?" she asked.
"Right." Eclipse responded, settling Altair into a chair.
"Go to bed, Jade." Emerald said. Jade opened her mouth, as if preparing to protest. "If you don't, I'll wake up Pine." Jade snapped her mouth shut.
"I swear, if you wake him up, I'll-"
"Do nothing because you're going to bed." Emerald said.
"... Who's going to keep watch on her?" Jade said.
"I will." Eclipse said, pulling up his own chair. "I'm awake as it is. The rest of you go to bed."
"I'll head back out for nightwatch." Emerald said, offering a wave. As the smaller boy left the room, Jade ran a hand down her face.
"He'll really wake up that little rascal if I don't go to bed." Jade said. "Then no one will sleep." her hand dropped to her side, turning to Starlight and Yunyi. "We're running out of space in terms of room, but there's a queen-sized mattress in the attic. Your pokémon are your responsibility, however, so they stay with you. Are you okay with that, Yunyi? Starlight?"
"We're fine." Starlight said.
"I'll show them the way!" Yunyi offered. Jade sighed.
"Good." she climbed up the single flight of stairs, preparing to sleep under Emeralds threat. Yunyi yawned.
"Well, are you going to sleep or what?" Eclipse asked. Starlight kept her gaze on her sister.
"Why hasn't she woken up yet?"
Eclipse shrugged.
"She'll be okay, right?"
"Most likely." Eclipse said. A pause. "Listen," Eclipse said, crossing his arms in his chair. "She'll be fine in the morning. Go to sleep before you pass out and I have to carry you again."
Starlight blinked. Was that his attempt at comfort? It was a crude attempt, yes, but... it was appreciated.
"Okay." Starlight said, deciding to go up the stairs with Yunyi close behind. "And Eclipse?"
He cast her a glance. She smiled.
"Thanks."
o.0.o.0.o
"I'll be back soon!" a woman said as she left the small family home. Finally, he had the house to himself. Eclipse waited a few minutes to be sure his mother wasn't returning, then he dropped his book on the table and walked by the livingroom. His father hardly noticed him moving. He scowled, going up the stairs.
His eyes stared at the door he wasn't meant to open for a second before he pushed it open defiantly.
"Are you sure about this, wise*bleep*?" Zorua asked.
"Yes," Eclipse replied. "I want my mind to myself, don't you?"
"I don't care either way."
"Well I want my own mind and this is the way to do it."
"Have fun getting chewed out, Mama's boy."
Eclipse ignored Zorua and entered the room, momentarily gazing in awe at all the books surrounding him. These were his mother's magical tomes and ones she didn't want Eclipse to mess with. He was sure though, that he could do it. That he could sever the link between him and the Pokémon that prevented him from having any thoughts to himself. Pokésouls were abominations and Eclipse didn't want to be one.
Eclipse immediately began searching through the shelves with little help from his partner. He eventually found the book in he was looking for, smiling slightly to himself.
He flipped through the book to the page said that it was a severance spell and that it could sever any mental connection to one's mind. Eclipse shoved the book under his shirt and snuck the forbidden book out of the room.
o.0.o.0.o
Eclipse waited a few days, ducking in and out of the room, gathering the proper ingredients for the spell. He studied the drawing and the spell until he was sure he had it memorized, then, with the bag of items in hand, snuck out of the house in the dead of night.
"You sure, Mama's boy?" Zoura asked, watching him curiously.
"I'm sure."
The boy and the Pokémon made their way outside to an empty clearing away from the town and Eclipse propped open the book and drew a large diagram in the dirt. He lit the candles as instructed, sprinkling salt and crushed gemstones around the outside of the diagram. He then stood atop it and held the herbs in his hand.
He glanced at Zorua who was a silent presence in his head. No wise cracks. Just silence. Even when Zorua wasn't really thinking of anything Eclipse could still hear him. It wasn't right. With these thoughts, Eclipse tossed the herbs into the air.
"Sever!"
An intense pain racked his skull and Eclipse fell to his knees, biting back a scream. It hurt, but that meant it was working right? He felt the book and the ingredients fly around him as there was another blast of pain, this time behind his eye.
He dropped to his knees. His eyes had closed in shock and he lay on the ground, shaking. After a while the pain stopped and Eclipse dared to hope it had worked. Was he free?
"Zorua?" He asked. No response. With excitement, he opened his eyes.
Then something exploded.
The tree in front of him was being blasted with dark energy. He averted his gaze to the ground which immediately caught fire with the black energy.
What's happening? He wondered in panic. Everywhere he looked was eaten by darkness. Finally he clasped his hands over his eyes. The sounds of destruction stopped. He opened them. Destruction began. He closed them.
What... What did he do?
"Eclipse!" His mother screamed. He heard her footsteps and then he was in her arms. He felt tears dribbling down his cheeks."What happened?"
"I tried to break the bond," Eclipse admitted as the burning sensation behind his right eye continued.
His mother held his face in her hands and he could feel her mind touching his.
"It didn't work," she told him gently. "Your bond seems even stronger now." Eclipse slumped at the words. "Why did you want to break your bond?"
"I want my mind to myself," Eclipse said.
"But Zorua is your partner. He's a friend."
"But dad always says-"
"You shouldn't always listen to what your father says," his mother cut off gently. As they spoke she had continued gently probing his mind and now her presence withdrew. "I've never seen anything quite like this. You seem to have a permanent link to Zorua's powers now."
"What does that mean?"
"Before you chose when to use Zorua's powers, now it's always connected. Open your left eye."
"No!"
"I promise it won't hurt. Just keep your right one closed."
Eclipse slowly opened one eye. No darkness appeared. Finally able to see without causing destruction he saw Zorua, unconscious on the ground. No wonder he hadn't answered.
"Your bond is linked to your right eye now. If you open it..."
"I won't," Eclipse promised. His mother stood and Eclipse did so as well. She picked up Zorua and led Eclipse back to the house.
o.0.o.0.o
Starlight slowly moved her hands from Eclipse's temples. Gardevoir was staring disapprovingly at her from the staircase.
"I had to know, Gardevoir." Starlight whispered simply. "I had to know what he did."
"You know it's rude to do that without asking."
"It's not like I hadn't done it before!" Starlight meekly defended, recalling earlier in the night. Gardevoir kept her heavy gaze on him. "I've learned a lot from this journey." Starlight closed her eyes, chuckling. "Here I am, a psychic soul, and the kid with the eyepatch opened my eyes. I owe him." she glanced back at Eclipse, who hardly seemed disturbed. "I need to fix what's wrong with his bond. In order to do that, I needed to know what he did to break it."
"Apologize." Gardevoir said, uncaring of Starlight's excuse. Starlight glanced between her and Eclipse, then sighed.
"I'm sorry." Starlight murmured in his ear. She bolted back towards the stairs, hoping that he wouldn't wake up.
Unbeknownst to her, Eclipse cracked his single eye open. He listened to Starlight shuffling about upstairs. Honestly, he had every right to be angry, but, in a surprising twist of personality, he found himself rather amused, maybe even touched. No one actually took the time to get to know him, let alone actually invade his privacy just because they owed him a favor.
Most of the time, he had to threaten people just to get them to pay back a favor.
With a small smirk on his face, he crossed his arms and settled back into the chair.
o.0.o.0.o
"So what's the story with this woman?" Onyx asked as morning came round. Though it was a tight fit, they somehow managed to fit everyone in the foyer of the cabin, the kids, including Yunyi, still asleep upstairs.
Mostly everyone was awake and attentive, despite being slightly sleepy, with the exception of Eclipse. He was sitting in the same dining room chair he had taken last night with his arms crossed, head down as he slept. Everyone was careful to avoid him and the chair, as they were afraid of what would happen should they wake him.
"I recognize her." Crystal said, staring at the still unconscious Altair. "This is Razan's best assassin, Altair."
"So she's got useful information." Jade summarized.
"Sure she does, if she doesn't kill us first." Gold said, glancing back at Eclipse. "Do you really think he restrained her well enough?"
"This is my sister we're talking about and she's fine." Starlight snapped. "She's not going to kill anyone."
"Sister?" echoed Opal, cocking her head.
"You never mentioned that your sister works for people who are trying to kill you." Green said, raising an eyebrow.
"For all I know, he might be after me because of her." Starlight admitted.
"Ouch." Blue winced. "Not much of a family bond, eh?"
"That's not true!" Starlight exclaimed. There was a heavy pause at her outburst as everyone's eyes shot to Eclipse. Under the threat of about ten death threats if he was woken, no one wanted to be the one to blame for waking him up. Seeing that he was still asleep, they glanced back at her. "That's not true." Starlight said in a quieter tone. "The person you saw last night isn't my sister, so to speak."
"Hey, Jade. I think she's gone *bleep*ing bonkers." Topaz muttered. Starlight shot her a glare.
"What I'm saying is that her name isn't even Altair. It's actually Millennium."
"So she changed her name." Silver said dryly.
"She probably just didn't want you or your family to know that she was in that line of work." Soul offered kindly. Starlight smiled appreciatively at her.
"If it was only that." Starlight murmured. "You see, Millennium didn't leave us. We sent her to Razan. Now before you go yelling at me," Starlight said, cutting off the protests before they could begin. "That was about five years ago, when I was thirteen and she was sixteen. My father is a supporter of pokésouls and Razan, and when I couldn't help her, he decided that maybe Razan, who, as you know, treats smaller villages kindly, could."
"Help her...? So is she *bleep*ing bonkers?" Topaz asked.
"She's not 'bonkers'." Starlight said with a glare. "She's got two different personalities."
"... I'm sorry," Gold said. "But that sounds bonkers."
"Gold, it's a serious condition!" Crystal hissed.
"Wait, hold on a minute." Pearl said, waving his hands in front of his face. "Are you saying Altair is one person and Millennium is the other?"
"Yes."
"And they're... kind of sharing their body, right?"
"That's correct."
Pearl ran a hand down his face, as if confused.
"I don't get it."
"Not many do." Starlight agreed.
"So how did this happen? Was she born that way? Or did it just develop over time?" Opal pondered curiously.
"It's a long story." Starlight sighed. "About six years ago, Millennium left home to find her partner. She's a pokésoul."
"She is?" Carnelian asked.
"How is that? We would have known if Razan's best assassin was a pokésoul." Jade mused quietly.
"Now that I think about it..." Crystal trailed off. "Some of the other servants used to talk about a rare pokémon that would follow her around. It suddenly stopped showing up, so they assumed it got bored and ran off."
"What's her partner?" Soul suddenly asked.
"Victini." Starlight answered.
Suddenly, there was hacking noise from the other end of the room, Everyone turned their gaze to White, who had seemingly choked on the water she was drinking. Black slammed his hand on her back in an attempt to help.
"Did you..." White wheezed. "Really have to hit me so hard, Black?"
"What's wrong, White?" Onyx asked. White glanced at them.
"I was surprised, that's all." she said, waving her hand in front of her face. "Victini is a legend where we come from, in Unova, so the fact that Millennium is partnered with it was kind of shocking." she turned to Starlight. "Do you know if Victini is still alive?"
"As far as I know, yes." Starlight responded. "Anyways, Victini knew he couldn't travel alone, what being a legend and all. So he decided to wait for Millennium to come to him."
"Then what happened?" White asked.
"I don't know, and I'm not even sure if Millennium does. When she arrived at the island that Victini was on, she wasn't there long. Someone grabbed her shoulder and that's when she woke up. Judging from what I know, someone beat her to the point of being barely alive. Arceus bless Victini for defending her, but the damage was done."
"You read her mind without permission?" Silver looked uncomfortable just saying that.
"Not one of my prouder moments. Altair was, to say the least, mad." Starlight sighed. "Now that I think about it, that's probably why Mom and Dad sent her to Razan. He told us he'd have the problem solved in a year. A year came and a year went. Then another year. And another year. After the second year, letters stopped coming from Millennium. Razan stopped sending us updates on her condition. The last contact I had with her was about two years ago, and it was a letter full of hate and unspeakable rage from Altair."
"That's so sad..." Soul trailed off.
"So... Altair just showed up? Like that?" Carnelian snapped his fingers for emphasis.
"Essentially." Starlight said. "In a way, it makes sense. Millennium is very weak and shy. She's always picking where others are slacking off, simply to keep things steady. I think Altair was created as a way to cope with the attack. She's strong, confident, and ruthless. A complete one-eighty from what Millennium is."
"This still doesn't explain why she hates you." Green said. Starlight shrugged.
"She has it in her head that I'm perfect. She thinks I'm the reason Mom and Dad sent her away, which, of course, isn't true. But that's what Altair thinks so I guess that's what she's going to believe."
"Are you done yet? My I vomit?"
Everyone jolted, snapping their gaze to Altair, glaring venomously at them.
"Yes, I'm awake, you simple-minded idiots. I'm awake and I've been thinking about all the ways to kill that *bleep* over there." she jerked her head to Starlight, who flinched. Starlight composed herself, then sighed.
"Millennium." she stated simply. Altair glared at her.
"No."
"I want to speak to Millennium."
"Millennium isn't here." she said, ducking her head down.
"Starlight. Altair is the one with all the info, right?" Jade muttered.
"I want to speak to Millennium." Starlight said again.
"I TOLD YOU MILLENNIUM IS GONE!" Altair shrieked, wrenching her arms against her bonds, shaking the chair back and forth as if hoping to break free to lunge at Starlight.
There was grunt from the other end of the room. Everyone froze then slowly turned their gaze to Eclipse, who blinked his visible eye open. Without saying a word, he stood up and sauntered out of the house. No one said a word for the few minutes he was gone. Eclipse came back in a few moments later with a bucket of water in his hands.
"Eclipse-" Starlight started, only to get cut off as he dumped the contents onto Altairs head. She sputtered in surprise, glaring daggers at him. Eclipse simply put the bucket over her head.
"Wake me up one more time and I'll drown you in the bucket." he said, going back to his chair and settling down again.
"Well, then." Gold murmured as Altair seethed in her chair, trying to shake the bucket off of her head. "Never heard that one before."
o.0.o.0.o
"You're just going to kill them all, you know." Altair said to Starlight.
After Altair had willingly given up some truth to Jade about Razan and his castle, this Starlight knew thanks to her powers, they had moved her to the basement. Though initially confused as to why she would give up such information, Starlight said simply that Altair liked chaos, and probably wanted to stir up the Beedrills nest to see what would happen.
Starlight sat on the stairs at the farther end of the basement, her chin resting in her hands, staring at her older sister, against Jade's orders to steer clear of the woman. Gardevoir was standing guard at the top, in case Altair tried anything.
She simply sat, watching the woman, wondering where the years had gone, what had happened to the little girl that would distract her parents while she snagged cookies with her powers. The assassin sat in the corner with her hands still bound, smirking at her younger sister.
"It's quite a tragedy, really." Altair shrugged. "They're smart. Shame they're all going to die."
"What's your earliest memory, Altair?" Starlight asked.
"That's none of your business." Altair snarled.
"My earliest memory with you was when I was four, just growing into my powers. We wanted some brownies. Brownies are your favorite, remember? You tried distracting Mom and Dad while I levitated them down. We were just kids, and you weren't all that good at distracting yet. I grabbed the pan with my hand, and it burned it." she held up her palm, still baring the burn scar. "I still have the scar from that one time."
"Good." Altair spat.
"What about Luna and Sunny? Remember when they came home?" Starlight smiled. "You were always so good with kids."
"How are they?"
Starlight blinked at her softer tone. Had she triggered something?
"They miss you." Starlight said softly, folding her hands. "They love you very much, you know? They're still in their drawing phase, and they've drawn pictures of you too."
"They... miss me?"
"Very much." Starlight said, picking up the confused tone.
"I..."
"Millennium?" Starlight asked hopefully.
"Starlight?" she jerked her arms, only to find them bound. "What's going on?! Were we... kidnapped?!"
"No!" Starlight said, bolting up, not wanting her panic to switch her back to Altair. "It's fine. We're with friends right now."
"Then... why am I tied up?"
"... Um..."
"Was I doing bad things?" Millennium asked guiltily, if not innocently. "Victini... was telling me that I was doing bad things... He kept telling me I needed to stop." a pause. "Where is Victini, anyways?"
"I'm not sure." Starlight said, absolutely overjoyed to have her sister back. "But I'm sure that we can find him!"
"You'll help me look?"
"Once we get out of this mess, yeah."
"Starlight."
Starlight blinked, turning as Eclipse descended the stairs. Why hadn't Gardevoir warned her?
"You shouldn't be down here." Eclipse stated, stopping next to her.
"But-" Starlight turned her gaze back to Millennium, only to be met with a hateful glare. She wasn't Millennium anymore. "Oh..."
Eclipse gently steered her towards the stairs, leaving Altair to stew.
"Did she say anything?" Eclipse asked.
"Nothing that we don't already know." Starlight sighed. "She went back to Millennium for a little bit."
"...I interrupted that, didn't I?" Eclipse said after a pause. Starlight nodded. "I'm sorry."
"You don't seem like the type to apologize." Starlight said, rolling her eyes. Eclipse crossed his arms.
"I only did it because I don't need an annoying crying woman following me around. I don't do it often so don't start expecting it."
Starlight laughed. She knew he meant it.
o.0.o.0.o
Razan angrily glared at the reflection in the mirror. This was turning out harder than he planned. Never had he faced such a challenge executing a rival, and she wasn't even a fully grown adult. She was a girl! An eighteen-year-old girl who escaped Lucinda and Sky, captured Altair, and overall, was going from an amusing insect trying to escape death to a pest whom he wished to crush.
"Well, you know what they say," Hypno said with a shrug. "You want something done right, you do it yourself."
"I'm not chasing down the resistance." Razan said, turning and walking out of the room. "It's not worth the effort."
"Then what do you propose we do?"
"I propose," Razan said, throwing open a door that was forbidden to everyone in the castle. "That we bring her to us." He began climbing down the stairs, taking them nearly two at a time until he came to most secret part of his castle, a room that not even Altair, his most trusted agent, knew the location of.
His spell lab.
He glared at every book he had as he went through them, recalling Sky and Lucinda tricking him and Altair betraying him. Snarling, he glanced through spellbooks, looking for a particularly painful death spell for the girl, just for causing him so much trouble.
"Lets not make it messy, now." Hypno said, flicking through books himself. He grinned, jabbing his finger at particular concoction. "Here."
Razan glanced at it.
"The poison apple." he read. "One taste of the poison apple and the victim's eyes will close, sending them into the Sleeping Death. The ingredients are Morpheus Greed, Sting of Draphion, Dark of Night, Cacturn Needles, Thunderbolt, and a Green Apple." he glanced up at Hypno with a flat look.
"Think about it." Hypno said. "We've got some pretty nasty stuff in this thing. It'll be a painful death. Then the body will look pretty enough for us to put on display for the entire resistance to see."
"I don't want to scare the villagers." Razan said, sounding genuine.
"We don't have to." Hypno reassured. "We can just kill her in the castle, put the corpse in a glass casket or something, and have it on full display when the resistance comes storming in to rescue her. Then we slaughter them all, get the trouble out of the way, and go on with our lives, end of."
Razan paused a moment.
"Are there weaknesses?" Razan asked, flicking through the pages.
"Only true love's kiss." Hypno said. Razan stared at him.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Wow. Just... wow."
"I know." Hypno rolled his eyes. "Further proof of how effective this is. No one would believe that's the cure and no one, no one, is desperate enough to kiss a corpse."
"I'll take care of the apple," Razan smirked, turning to the shelf of ingredients. "You can bring the girl here, right?"
Hypno smirked.
"Easy."
o.0.o.0.o
Later that night, Yunyi awoke to someone shuffling around downstairs. At first, she thought it was someone leaving to use the restroom, but the shuffling continued, as if the person was confused.
"Devoir." she whispered, shaking her partner awake. "Devoir!" The kirlia blearily opened her eyes, blinking at Yunyi. "Someone's downstairs." Devoir was silent for a moment.
"It's just Starlight." Devoir settled back into bed. "Go back to sleep."
"I don't know..." Yunyi murmured. "I'm just going to go check on her, okay?"
"Don't wake up Eclipse." Devoir responded. Yunyi smiled.
"I know."
She quietly stepped around the beds that six-year-old Turquoise and four-year-old Pine and Olive, then went down the stairs, slightly wincing at each creaking step.
"Starlight?" she asked, seeing the young woman walking around, as if in a daze. She hardly responded, opening the door. Yunyi blinked. Was she sleepwalking? What was she supposed to do if someone was sleepwalking? You weren't supposed to wake them up, right?
But she was going outside. What if she fell in the river? She would drown!
"Starlight!" she exclaimed, walking outside. She felt a shiver go down her spine as she sensed a powerful psychic presence. She knew this presence, way back when she was just a child... When he came to visit...
"Jade!" she screamed, to scared to go any further but terrified to leave Starlight alone. "Onyx! Someone! Razan's here!" she felt herself tearing up. "He's taking Starlight away!"
The front door suddenly slammed open, and there stood Eclipse, hand over his eyepatch. He paused, realizing both Yunyi and Starlight was in the way, then dropped his hand.
He then bolted across the yard, looking ready to tackle Starlight, when both he and Yunyi were suddenly sent flying back. Yunyi slammed into the ground, skidding a few feet. Eclipse landed with a tremendous crash. Yunyi feebly got to her knees, terrified at the power. Who's was that? That wasn't... wasn't Razan... his power, she felt it before. It crushed her home. Her parents. It wasn't him...
She glanced up, and saw Starlight standing before them with her hand outstretched, eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, a look Yunyi hardly recognized on her face. The expression was so uncannily similar to the one that Altair-Millennium wore whenever she looked at Starlight, it made Yunyi visibly wince. The ground next to her was suddenly crushed. She shrieked, realizing that Eclipse was there. Scrambling back, she looked up at Starlight. Right next to her was a Hypno, eyes glowing blue. So it was Razan's Hypno she had sensed. But that unfamiliar power...
Hypno was controlling Starlight. He was tapping into Starlight's powers, using them as a weapon against them.
Once Hypno had his fun, there was a crater in the ground that Eclipse was at the bottom of, and Starlight was gone, disappeared in the flash of a teleport.
o.0.o.0.o
Starlight blinked as she glanced around her, finding herself not on the simplistic bed of the resistance cottage, but that of a queen, with silken sheets and heavy down comforters thrown over her.
She slowly pushed the blankets off, confused. Where was Gardevoir? Yunyi? The resistance?
Where was Eclipse?
"Gardevoir?" she tried. No response. Nothing.
She jolted slightly as the door suddenly opened. She whipped around and saw a maid standing there.
"Good morning!" she chirped. "Isn't today glorious?"
Starlight felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"Good morning." Starlight said hesitantly, not wanting to alarm the brainwashed girl.
"The king wants you to join him for a meal! Come, lets get you ready!"
Starlight hardly said a word as the girl flitted around, brushing her hair and getting her into a more presentable dress, that being a purple dress accented with a dark gray underlayer and a gray rose centered under the bust.
"You look glorious!" the maid exclaimed. "Razan is glorious! The world is glorious! Today is glorious!"
Starlight decided she was going to keep track of how many times she said glorious. Was that Razan's favorite word or something?
They approached what Starlight assumed was the dining room with surprising quickness, now at twenty-two glorious's. Glorisie? Is there even a plural for glorious?
"Have a glorious meal, glorious friend!"
Twenty-three. Twenty-four.
The maid pushed open the room, and Starlight walked inside, surprised to see that, instead of dining room, was a throne room. At the end, sitting in an elaborate throne, was Razan. She briefly wondered if it was possible for her to make a run for it now. No way would she stand a chance without Gardevoir.
This man was dangerous, she had to remember. Even after all she had seen, the straw that broke the camerupts back was the failure to help Millennium. Her parents had trusted him to use his gifts to help her. He didn't make Millennium better. Rather, he made her worse.
Now, like all of the people in the resistance, she too had a reason to distrust Razan.
"Is that what you really think?" Razan questioned, standing up. Starlight said nothing, but began naming off the baked goods at her fathers shop in her head, so to keep him from reading her thoughts.
Chocolate chip cookies. Sugar cookies. Chocolate cake. Kalosian bread. Kalos braids...
"Smart girl." Razan said with a gentle smile. Starlight felt her thoughts fumble a bit, but continued on with the list.
Wheat bread. Brownies. Cinnamon bread.
"What has that resistance told you, Starlight? That I'm a horrible person that executes innocent people?"
"In simple words, yes." Starlight said.
"That hurts." Razan said simply, picking up an apple from a random fruit bowl next to him, one side red and the other colored green. "Apple?"
She could practically hear Eclipse's voice. Don't trust him, moron!
"You don't believe me?" Razan said, frowning. He sighed, then took a bite from the greener side. "Sad thing. They are so good too." Razan chewed the bite then swallowed, holding it out again. "Still don't believe me?"
Starlight glanced at the apple.
"Just one bite. I won't bother you or your friends ever again if you do."
She hesitated.
"I'll tell you where Victini is to help your sister."
Starlight blinked at that. Warning bells were going off in her head not to trust him, to run for the hills back to Eclipse and the resistance, but to help Millennium... To bring her home, normal and happy again...
What was one bite of an apple worth to that?
She took the apple from his grasp and sank her teeth into the red skin of the apple.
A moment of silence.
Then a sudden icy coldness clutched at her chest. Her breathing suddenly hitched and became labored. She felt as if she were choking. She tried forming some sort of plea for help, only the words came out in a whimper.
The last thing she saw before she passed out was Razan smirking victoriously over her.
o.0.o.0.o
"We're putting this plan into high gear right now." Jade said as the occupants hurried about the house, trying to get ready to go rescue Starlight. Eclipse sat in the corner, resting from the blows he was delivered earlier this morning. He was bruised up a bit, but nothing was really broken or hurt, so he was fine, but Yunyi was so stricken with worry he forced him to stay seated. Gardevoir was beside herself with worry and shame for letting her partner get kidnapped, and even Zoroark had enough sense not to say anything. "Emerald, you stay here with the kids. Yunyi, do you mind fighting? A psychic soul would be useful for against him, at least until we can reunite Starlight and Gardevoir."
Yunyi nodded, a new determination in her eyes.
"We're just going to charge in? No plan of attack?" even Onyx sounded skeptic. "That's unlike you. You sure, Jade?"
"He can predict all our formulated attacks, so we need to attack as loud and clamorously as possible in order to throw him off track." Jade stated simply. "Plus we need to get there as quickly as possible."
"So we get there," Topaz said, heaving what looked like a large bag of explosives over her shoulder. "And essentially go zubat*bleep* crazy?"
"Essentially." Jade nodded. Topaz grinned wildly, shoving some more explosives into the already bulging bag.
"I'm gonna burn that *bleep*er to the ground." Topaz snickered.
No one paid her any mind, probably because everyone else was either agreeing, mad because she thought of it first, or thinking their own way of burning the *bleep*er to the ground.
o.0.o.0.o
It was a fairly quick ride to the castle. Well, teleport, thanks to the combined efforts of Gardevoir and Devoir, but Eclipse was just going to say ride.
He impatiently watched as Topaz began rigging up the front wall with explosives.
"Can you hurry up?" he snapped. Topaz glared at him.
"These things are *bleep*ing delicate, *bleep*hole."
Eclipse waited about another minute before he stomped forward, at the end of his patience, wrenching Topaz away.
"What the mother*bleep*ing hell, you *bleep*er?" Topaz hissed as Eclipse stepped back.
"You're taking to long. If Starlight's dead, I'm going to place you in my line of fire." Eclipse hissed to Topaz. "You wanted loud and clamorous, right?" Eclipse demanded to Jade.
"That's the general idea." Jade said, staring at him expectantly. Eclipse reached up and undid his eyepatch.
"Then stand back."
o.0.o.0.o
Yellow let out a shriek as the entire castle shook. An earthquake?!
"Yellow!" she snapped her head up to Red, standing in the doorway. Rather than looking worried, he looked elated. "It's happening."
"What's happening?" she whimpered, getting over the earthquake.
"The attack! Jade's initiating the attack!" Red said. Yellow widened her eyes. That explosion was from the Resistance?! He grabbed her hand, dragging her into the hallway and to the window. Outside, Yellow saw a gaping hole in the wall, the terrain from there towards the castle torn up. The castle also had a gaping hole, smoke filtering up from where the explosion had hit.
"W...What did Topaz use?!" Yellow exclaimed.
"Doesn't matter!" Red said as they ducked back into the medical wing. Red wrenched open a cabinet and pulled a sword from it. He took one of her spellbooks off the shelf and tossed it to her. "Come on! I'm not missing out on this!"
They rushed out of the room, only to run smack dab into the very person they didn't want to see.
"Going somewhere?" Razan smirked, crossing his arms. His Hypno mimicked the action. Red swallowed and Yellow shivered, stepping back. Razan lifted a hand and snapped his fingers, summoning six guards to subdue them. Yellow didn't put up much of a fight, but Red managed to get in two black eyes before his hands were restrained and a bite on the hand of the guard who gagged him.
"How long did I know?" Razan asked,reading Reds mind. "About your little resistance or you and your friends infiltrating my castle?" Razan beckoned, ordering them to follow. Not like they had much of choice, really, what with guards prodding spears into their backs. "Shortly after we wiped what was the resistance of the face of the earth, I knew there were some survivors. I didn't kill you. Figured you could be useful in the near future, if not entertaining." he nodded to towards the window. "Turns out that hypothesis was correct." Razan opened the door to the grand foyer. "As for you and your three friends, I caught on rather quickly. I wasn't to sure about Crystal and Gold, as I was sure Altair took care of their house a while ago. But when Yellow walked in," he turned, smirking. "How could I not recognize Lady Amarillo of Kanto?"
Yellow squeaked, as if trying to sink into herself. Razan seemed mildly amused by this, leading them to… what looked like a casket at the base of the steps to the throne.
"Regardless, you did prove useful." The guards forced them to the casket, seeing as it was made of glass, they could see whom was laying on the inside. It was a young woman, roughly eighteen, with long black hair dressed in a purple dress suited for a princess, hands folded over her chest with a bouquet of violet roses in her hands.
"This," he tapped the glass lid, catching the attention. "Is the strongest psychic pokésoul known right now. The ones your little resistance ran to when I brainwashed Crystal. Remember that, Yellow?"
Yellow was looking anywhere but Razan or the casket, but Red had his face set as a fiery glare, as if wishing he could force Razan to spontaneously combust into flames.
"The biggest pain too, and also the bait for your resistance." Razan paused at that. "I said 'is' didn't I?" his smirk grew. "Forgive me for my improper use of grammar, this was Starlight Sūta."
o.0.o.0.o
No one said anything for the first few minutes of stepping onto the castle grounds, mainly for two reasons. One, being that they were freaked out and/or scared of the freaky power Eclipse just demonstrated. As he lead the pack of resistance members, everyone just let him lead, not willing to give him the chance to turn said power on them.
"What was that?" Jade finally asked.
"A power I have," Eclipse replied bluntly, if not vaguely, casually stepping over the rubble he caused and onto the castle grounds.
And that was the end of that conversation.
The second reason they didn't really say anything was the simple fact that there was no one. No servants. No soldiers. Nothing.
"We should look for Red and Yellow." Opal commented worriedly.
"No, we need to find Razan," Jade said. "He's our threat."
"He's just going to find us eventually." Carnelian said, shrugging. "What's the point of running about looking for him when he'll get to us eventually?"
"Because, stupid, we're on his turf." Topaz snapped. "No doubt he knows this place like the back of his hand."
"We're looking for Starlight." Eclipse said as the entered the grand foyer. Eclipse was beyond annoyed at this point. He was angry, seething, even. The damned bastard had the gall to go crawling onto resistance turf and not only cause a ruckus, but hurt him and use Starlight to do it. For as short a time as he'd known the woman, the thought infuriated him to no end.
"Why is it so dark?" White asked. Eclipse was wondering that too. It was as if someone had shut all the drapes on this pleasantly, and ironically, sunny day. On top of that, Eclipse was hearing an awkward murmuring, as if someone was shouting into a pillow or something, along with the loud banging of a chair.
Suddenly, the doors slammed behind them, completely plunging us in darkness. There was a moment of panicked exclamations, but that quickly seized with a single tiny voice.
"Hey, Jade," Eclipse heard Soul squeak. Everyone paused.
"Yeah?" Eclipse heard Jade ask from his left.
"Remember when you said we should find Razan?"
"...Yes?"
"Carnelian was right." a different voice said. Suddenly, the drapes opened, blinding them in light, revealing who the mysterious speaker was. Razan stood smirking behind Soul, one hand clamped around her neck, the other raised, controlling his powers to tie the drapes in place. "I was going to find you first."
"Razan," Eclipse heard himself growl. Gardevoir was frantically looking about the room. On the other end of the room was two people he didn't recognize, tied to chairs with gags in the mouths.
"Red! Yellow!" Opal exclaimed. For the sake of eye color, he was guessing the guy was Red and the girl was Yellow. Red was banging his chair against the ground, trying to get free while Yellow seemed to have shrunk into her chair, defeated. Eclipse shot his gaze to Razan again.
"Where's Starlight?" he demanded. Razan blinked.
"Who now?"
"Don't you play your mind games with me-!"
"Eclipse!" he blinked. That wasn't Zoroark, and it didn't sound like any of the resistant members…
"Gardevoir?" he murmured. Telepathy?
"Starlight was here… But… I can't sense her anymore!"
"Like… Like you can't sense her presence?"
"No…" her voice sounded like it was on the verge of a sob. "I can't sense her anymore, period!"
Eclipse was pretty sure his eye popped out of his head. If Gardevoir couldn't sense Starlight at all, it didn't mean that she wasn't in the room, in the same city, hell, even in the same country. It meant that… Starlight was…
"Impossible." he muttered. He whipped around to Razan, who seemed bemused by the situation. He caught wind of the conversation too. "Where's Starlight." Eclipse knew that when he got angry, he didn't get yelling, raging scary. He got cold and serious, even more so than usual, every word on the verge of becoming a threat, a threat he was willing to carry out.
Razan said nothing. He went towards the throne, towards a glass display box that Eclipse failed to notice during the process of infiltrating the castle. Razan stopped at the box, glancing at it, then turned, back to them. He smiled, gesturing for them to come forward.
Eclipse cast a glance to Onyx. He nodded silently. Yunyi must have taken it as a sign as well, as she walked forward with Devoir by her side. Zoroark kept his guard up as he followed Eclipse, Gardevoir lagging behind, as if afraid.
Slowly, he approached the glass, widening his eye seeing that it wasn't a display case for stupid little knick-knacks, but rather, a glass casket with a body lying inside.
"Starlight!" he exclaimed, practically throwing the lid off. It shattered upon contact with the ground. Even though she looked to be sleeping, Starlight hardly stirred from the loud noise. His hand reached for her neck, pressing against the skin, waiting for a pulse to thrum against his fingertips. He waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Gardevoir covered her face with her hands. Yunyi burst into tears. Even Zoroark bowed his head in regret and grief.
"Starlight!" he yelled again, trying to prompt a response by shaking her shoulder.
"Stop desecrating her body. It's disturbing." Razan said. Eclipse felt something snap at that.
"You want to know what I find disturbing?" Eclipse hissed, removing his hand from her shoulders. "The fact that a king who claims to care about his people goes around murdering them!"
"Some sacrifices have to be made, Eclipse." Razan said. "In order to have a peaceful life for the villagers, anyone who can overthrow me must be stopped."
"She had no desire to overthrow you." Eclipse hissed, glancing back down at her. "She hardly had the desire to leave her home." his gaze snapped up to Razan again. "Damn you!"
Razan didn't say anything. Suddenly, dozens of brainwashed guards stormed the room. All at once Eclipse felt rage consume him. Not caring who or what was in the way, he ripped the eyepatch from his face and turned, opening his eye.
Only to be stopped by, of all people, Soul.
"I need your help." she muttered. Eclipse shut his eye and glared. "The spell you used for trying to sever your bond. Do you remember it?"
"Why?" Eclipse hissed.
"Because the only way we're going to win this is by cutting Razan off from his bond."
Eclipse mulled over this.
"You can cast spells?"
"Seven years in the making!" Soul winked. "I'd recognized a botched severance spell anywhere. Help me find the ingredients, I'll finish this, once and for all."
Eclipse glanced back at Starlight.
"Can you find a cure for her?"
Soul blinked, then smiled gently.
"I'll do my best."
o.0.o.0.o
With Yunyi's and Devoir's help, Eclipse managed to help Soul find a room full of spellbooks and shelves of ingredients.
"What did I do so wrong that I botched it so bad?" Eclipse asked, watching as Soul flitted about, crushing stones and mixing it with salt.
"Who knows? These things are delicate and severance spells are extremely hard." Soul murmured. "I'm even a little nervous about this, and I'm pretty experienced."
"You're not going to make him more powerful are you?"
"No." Soul smiled. "I may not be a top notch witch yet, but if I cast this wrong, worst case scenario is we'll weaken the bond, if not block it enough for us to win." She picked up some candles and the mixture. "Now Eclipse," she opened the door. "I'm going to show you how a real severance spell works."
o.0.o.0.o
Eclipse was surprised yet unsurprised to see the resistance was putting up a good fight against Razan's army. Regardless, he was keeping an eye on Soul as she lit the candles.
"Aren't you going to draw the diagram?" Eclipse asked. Soul grinned.
"Soon!" she said.
Suddenly, the candles floated in front of her in a perfect circle. Eclipse watched as she raised her right hand, swirling it through the air in front of her, forming the diagram as the gemstone-salt mixture began to drift from the bowel in her left hand. It swirled around the diagram. Concentration never breaking, Soul grabbed the herbs at the bottom of the bowel, clenching them in her hand.
"Bless me Cresselia, protector of spellcasters." she murmured. "Razan and Hypno!" she thrusts her hand forward. "Sever!"
There was a blast of light from the circle. Razan barely had the chance to blink before he was clutching his head screaming. Hypno almost immediately passed out, and then, all at once, there was silence.
o.0.o.0.o
No one knew what happened to Razan
After they supposedly severed his bond, they turned their backs for a moment, and he was gone. Whether he teleported himself out or he used another pokémon, no one knew, but everyone had a feeling he wouldn't be a threat any longer.
Though initially confused, the brainwashed victims snapped back once Razan was gone, giving more evidence that the bond was gone. To be safe, they decided to have Yunyi do a brief mental check on all of them, make sure all was in order.
Gardevoir went back and fetched Altair, Emerald, and the kids, all of which were running rampant in the castle. Victini was found in the dungeon, and, oddly enough, whenever he was around Altair-Millennium, Millennium became the dominant personality. Everyone had to agree that hardworking and sweet Millennium was much preferred over the cold and ruthless Altair. The resistance members all took refuge in the many rooms in the palace. Eclipse made sure that Starlight was moved to a room fit for a queen, and waited for Soul to come up with a solution.
Eclipse barely left her bedside through the whole time.
For the first time in forever, he felt guilty. He knew he had nothing to do with Razan's need to eliminate his rivals. It was just… maybe if he kept a better eye on her, or maybe if he handled their situation differently. It was a sea of what ifs that he hadn't thought about since he cursed himself with his broken bond, since his mother died so long ago.
Eclipse jerked his head to the door as it opened and slammed shut. He blinked as Turquoise snickered, ducking under the bed.
"Hey." he said, grabbing the girls ankle then lifting her by the back of her shirt. "Starlight's sleeping."
"And I'm hiding." Turquoise responded. Eclipse put her on the ground. She glanced at Starlight, head barely peeking over the covers.
"Have you tried kissing her yet?" Turquoise asked. Eclipse simply stared at her. "My Mama says works in the stories!" she suddenly tugged at his pant leg. "Kiss her! Kiss her like princes do in the story!"
"I'm not a prince." Eclipse said bluntly.
"Fine, like a creepo wearing an eyepatch who looms over pretty ladies in their spare time." Turquoise said. "Now kiss her!"
Eclipse glanced back at Starlight. He contemplated the idea.
The contemplation must not have lasted long, because next thing he knew, Turquoise was giggling, and he was pulling back from the kiss.
"Happy now?" he asked the girl.
There was a small groan, but not from Turquoise. Eclipse blinked in surprise, then snapped his head to Starlight. She stirred a bit, then coughed, slowly opening her eyes.
"Starlight?" he asked hesitantly, as if it was to good to be true.
"E… Eclipse?" she asked sitting up. She smiled. "Hi."
And for the first time in a long time, Eclipse smiled.
"Hey."
Suddenly, Soul crashed open the door.
"Eclipse, I figured out how to break the curse!" she smiled, holding a book. "True love's first ki-" she trailed off, blinking at Starlight already being awake.
o.0.o.0.o
"Jade and Onyx established order again in the kingdom again," Eclipse said. "Millennium returned home to her parents and little sisters, and Starlight worked at fixing Eclipse's problem with his powers. As of now it is under control, but he still wears the eyepatch for scare factor." he snapped the book closed. "The end."
"I never thought you to be much of a storyteller, Eclipse."
Celina, Aini, and Iri snapped their heads up to the new voice in the doorway.
"Mom!"
o.0.o.0.o
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HOW MANY OF YOU GUYS REQUESTED RAPUNZEL FOR SOULSILVERSHIPPING?! Please raise your hand.
Geez... Well, I can't really think of a better fairy tale for those two, so we're going to do the Tangled version rather than the classic version.
Anyways, this story comes to a close. How did you like my OCs? Good? Bad? Do tell! And did anyone recognize the flowers in Starlights hands? The violet roses that began the story! I feel as if it was a dud ending, but I just wanted this story to end at this point. Sorry!
Amy47101 signing off! ^.^