She tried to suppress the scream that had built in her throat, as she was jolted awake by the image in her sleep.
Dawn couldn't believe what she had seen, or how real it felt.
What was Laurence doing? What did he mean when he was talking about the hospital bed? What was the creature he was talking about? Why was he so cynical about the creature? Was it a dream, or was it a memory? The thoughts flew through Dawns mind as she focused in on her surroundings.
Everything hit her at once.
She was in a hospital room, she noticed the bed in front of her, she was sat in a chair, but leaning on Laurence's chest. The room then extended out in front of her, with a door slightly in front of the way she was facing, on the right wall, the same wall that Laurence's bed was extending out from. To Dawn's left was the rooms window, which stretched across most of the wall, but didn't cover the whole of the wall, as underneath it was a brick wall, painted white, which came up to about waist height. Dawn took this all in in an instant.
Then the events of the day came flooding back.
"I just want to die."
It rang around Dawns head like an echo, she couldn't shake how dejected Laurence had been, or how broken he looked before he… Dawn shudder as the image of Laurence falling to the floor appeared in her head, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She thought that it was just him and her left alone in the room together; she didn't dare look at him.
"Pika?" Dawn almost jumped at the sound, but she raised her head slightly to see Sparks looking at her, his ears pulled right back against his head, and Dawn felt so sorry for the electric mouse, he and Laurence were inseparable, Dawn had noticed over the years of travelling with the two that Sparks was a much shyer Pikachu than Ash's, the former struggled to get used to her at first, and only seemed to converse with Ash's Pikachu and Laurence's other Pokemon.
She'd often noticed that when they took their breaks from travelling from town to town, that Sparks would insist on sitting with Laurence, or extremely close to him, when eating or just generally just relaxing.
Dawn never asked why, she just assumed that Sparks was a shy Pokemon, Dawn had been travelling with the group since they had headed over to Hoenn, then through Kanto, as the boys challenged the Battle Frontier, and then through Sinnoh, and it had only been in Sinnoh that she noticed that Sparks had finally felt comfortable with another human, none other than Dawn herself.
"I'm okay, Sparks, but the question is, are you?" She asked quietly, she knew that Sparks would be struggling with this, the Pikachu shifted uncomfortably on Laurence's lap, where it had seemingly not left since Laurence had been brought in.
"Pi, Pika Pikachu," Dawn didn't understand what Sparks was saying but she could take a guess that he wasn't feeling good at all, and Sparks knew that no one would understand what he was saying other than Laurence.
In all honesty, he just wanted someone to cuddle him, to stroke his head, and to reassure him that his Pikapi (A/N: I'm going to use Pikapi as Pikachu-language for best friend/brother) was going to be alright.
Sparks felt dejected, his Pikapi was lying in a hospital bed, emotionally and physically empty, because of an event that had happened months ago yet and scarred Laurence so badly that it had brought him to this very spot, but there was nothing Sparks could do to help him.
His head drooped as he sat on his incapacitated trainers lap; Sparks had only ever seen him in such a bad state once, which was during the whole incident that had left his Pikapi depressed, the tubes wired into Laurence's nose and arm, the heart rate monitor beeping lightly to indicate that he was steady.
Sparks had only one person in the world he had truly been able to open up to, who truly cared about him, and he was lying, emotionally broken in a hospital bed.
Sparks felt a hand rub the top of his head, and it felt rather soothing to the distraught Pikachu, and somewhat relaxed him in his sorry state, he turned his head to see Dawn smiling at him sadly, her hand scratching the top of Sparks' head, as she had seen Laurence do many-a-time.
"Do you want to go outside and see the others? Get a bit of fresh air?" Dawn asked softly, Sparks felt reluctant to leave Laurence, but he knew that he couldn't just stay in the room with him forever, so he jumped into Dawn's arms, who continued to stroke Sparks' head.
"He'll pull through for us Sparks, he always does, no need to worry," Dawn said, smiling down at Sparks, who felt lifted by the words of the bluenette coordinator, and his ears perked up slightly.
"Pika, Chupi Pi," he said, which was his way of thanking Dawn, who understood what Sparks was trying to understand.
"We all have to stick together, to help him, don't we?" Dawn asked, smiling, as the duo left the room, both of them glanced back at the trainer lying on the bed, hoping he'd wake up soon, as she exited a couple of doctors entered the room. They smiled softly at her,
"We'll have the test results shortly, we just need to take some more readings," one of them explained, and Dawn nodded
"Thank you," she replied, quietly, before the doctor disappeared into the room.
Dawn looked out at the waiting room once she'd quietly shut the door, Sparks repositioned himself onto her shoulder, most of the group were asleep in various chairs, from left to right she saw Professor Oak, her mum, Zach, George, John, Ash and then Lily, the room was joined by two corridors, to Dawns left and right, and then the room extended outwards in front of her, with a long wooden table in the middle of the chairs which lined the three walls of the room. She wondered why Lily wasn't in the room with her. Only the latter three were awake when Dawn exited the room, and the trio were conversing in hushed tones. Ash noticed her first.
"You okay, sis?" he asked softly, Dawn managed a slow nod, before Lily moved up a seat, so that Dawn could fit in-between Laurence's sibling and her own, Sparks moving once again, this time to Dawn's lap, before looking up at Ash.
"Yeah, I'll be okay; it's just a shock, y'know? He always seemed so…" Dawn said.
"Grounded?" John suggested.
"Yeah," Dawn replied, "I mean he was the last person I'd imagine this happening to…" Dawn's voice drifted at the end of her sentence, as she looked at Sparks, still scratching the top of his head.
"He always seemed so cheerful; I mean he's seemed a bit distant of late, but I thought that was because he wasn't sleeping properly," Ash said, he was copying Dawn's movements on Sparks on his own Pikachu, who was napping on his lap.
"He hasn't been sleeping properly?" Dawn asked, looking at her brother with a confused expression, "how do you know that?"
"I've been hearing him, he sits downstairs watching TV until about 2am, and then gets up at 6ish," Ash replied, "It wakes me up whenever he walks to the room he stays in, then I wake up again when he gets up," Ash added, noticing the confused looks of the others.
"I was gonna say, when are you ever awake at 6am?" John replied slyly, "Do you even know what 6am is?" John joked, and the four of them laughed, even Sparks had a chuckle, they were interrupted from their joke by a short sharp cough. They looked up expecting to see a doctor, but instead, they found three people looking at them, two male, and one female.
The person on the furthest left was one of the males, who had red hair, and was wearing matching black and red long-sleeved shirt and trousers, which were tucked into his black boots.
The person in the middle was the female of the trio; she had long flowing blonde hair, her clothing was pure black, she wore a scarf wrapped tightly round her neck, with a long flowing blouse that reached down to her calves and had a pendant on the chest, under which was a plain shirt.
The final was the other male, who had short, spiky white hair, he was dressed in a black suit, with a red tie, the jacket of the suit had purple zigzag patterning down it, and the white collar of his shirt was visible over the top.
The four awake in the chairs were surprised at the arrival of the three.
"Lance? Cynthia? Steven?" Ash queried, "What are you guys doing here?" he asked.
"Ash, is that anyway to treat visitors?" Dawn quipped, before turning to face the trio, "It's great to see you all again! Excuse my brothers' poor manners," she added, winking at Ash.
"It is great to see all of you again, except, I wish it wasn't shrouded by such a sad incident," Cynthia replied sadly, glancing towards the door to Laurence's room, before she noticed Lily sat next to Dawn, she walked over with Lance and Steven in tow.
"I don't believe we've met, I'm Cynthia, and you are?" She asked politely, smiling.
"I'm Lily, I'm Laurence's sister," Lily replied, before shaking hands with each of the trio, who were all stunned by who she was.
"Laurence has a sister?" Lance asked, Lily nodded in reply, "By the way I'm Lance," he added
"And I'm Steven," Steven introduced himself, and Lily smiled at him.
"Now, I'm sure you can probably guess why we are here?" Cynthia said, John nodded in reply, but the others shook their heads.
"To discuss the tournament?" John replied, and realisation struck Dawn's, Ash's and Lily's faces.
"Of course!" Ash muttered.
"Indeed; obviously, with Laurence's physical and mental state at the moment, we think it's safe to assume he won't be able to travel to the tournament tomorrow," Lance said, as he spoke, the four teens sat on the chairs nodded in agreement.
"So is it going to be postponed?" Ash asked; Cynthia nodded in response.
"With Laurence's position as the winner of the Sinnoh League, we feel that the other trainers involved would love to challenge him throughout the many stages of the tournament," Cynthia explained.
"Which is why the four regional Champions and Mr. Goodshow have all agreed that the tournament will be postponed until Laurence is fit again, both physically and mentally," Steven added, Lily looked confused.
"If Laurence won the Sinnoh League, doesn't that make him the Champion of that region?" she asked, looking at the six awake individuals in the room, Cynthia smiled at her.
"Not quite the Champion we meant," She said, "Laurence is the winner of the Sinnoh League, and therefore the Champion of the Sinnoh League, I, am the Champion of the Sinnoh Region," Cynthia explained, Lily's confused look didn't change.
"The winner of each league is given the right to challenge the Elite Four of that region, and then the Champion of that region," Lance added, taking over from Cynthia, finally Lily nodded in understanding.
"Laurence chose after winning the Sinnoh League, not to challenge the Elite Four, as he felt he wasn't ready," Cynthia explained to Lily.
"Lance is the Champion of Johto, Steven is the Champion of Hoenn, and Cynthia is the Champion of Sinnoh," Ash explained to Lily, who nodded once more, but then she appeared confused again.
"So what about the Champion of Kanto?" She asked, the three Champions shared a look, that all of the teens picked up on.
It was a look of fear.
"We tend not to talk about the Champion of Kanto, he doesn't hold much power anymore, as he hardly ever accepts challenges," Steven replied nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Why not? What's so bad about him?" John asked, who seemed to be watching the trio intently, who shared another nervous look.
"His identity is not well known in the public, but he swept through the Elite Four without losing a single Pokemon, I was one of them at the time, he was incredible…" Lance said, his eyes glazed over and his voice drifted. The teens looked at each other, all shocked at this news, Lance was a Dragon Master, and any Pokemon able to take down his whole team must've been incredible.
"What Pokemon did he use?" Ash asked enthusiastically, Lance looked at Cynthia and Steven, who appeared to give him permission to tell the teens.
"Raichu, he only used a Raichu," Lance answered, Sparks' ears perked up at this, and Dawn looked down at him, she was incredibly shocked by what Lance had revealed, but Sparks' actions drew her attention.
"What's the matter, Sparks?" She asked; the Pikachu just stared at Lance, who smiled back at Sparks; he then walked over and went to pick him up, before Dawn tried to stop him.
"Maybe that's not a good idea; Sparks isn't really comfortable around people other than Laurence."
She was completely proven wrong when Sparks allowed Lance to pick him up and hold him.
"Umm… Maybe I was wrong," Dawn muttered, causing the others to laugh.
"Sparks is alright with me, I'm assuming because he wants to know more about that Raichu, am I correct?" Lance asked the electric mouse in his arms, who nodded in response.
"Why would Sparks be interested in a random Raichu?" John asked, leaning forward in his chair and interlocking his fingers.
"That's because that Raichu was his father," a voice from behind the three Champions said, everyone looked to the source of the voice to find Professor Oak wide awake and watching them all intently, "Lance, Steven, Cynthia, as always, it's a pleasure," Oak added, and the trio greeted the Professor.
"What do you mean, Professor?" Dawn asked, eyes wide open in surprise.
"The Raichu... I knew its trainer very, very well, and when the Raichu had offspring, two little Pichus, they were donated to me as extra Pokemon, should more than three trainers come requiring starter Pokemon," Oak explained, "The two little Pichus played together, trained together, ate together and slept together, they even evolved together."
"So you're saying that Sparks is the descendant of one of the most powerful Raichus out there?" Ash asked, thoroughly intrigued by the Professors story, Oak nodded in reply, and stood up and walked over to Lance, collecting Sparks from him, and placing him on Ash's lap, next to the latter's own Pikachu.
"So is your Pikachu, Ash," Oak said, smiling at the aspiring Pokemon Master, who's jaw dropped, "These two are brothers, the two Pichu that evolved together, and were only separated when they requested it, when they wanted to travel the world, but destiny is a funny thing, that you and Laurence would travel together and the two Pichus, now Pikachus would be reunited."
"That's… That's incredible!" Dawn exclaimed, and Oak smiled in response.
"It certainly is, if you look closely at the tails of both Pikachus…" Oak said, hinting at everyone to take a look, it took a few moments before anyone figured out what he was hinting at.
"Oh my word…" Cynthia muttered, the rest of them turned to look at her, and she stroked her chin in thought.
"What is it Cynthia?" Dawn asked, extremely curious about her brother's and crush's Pokemon, Cynthia looked at Oak, who nodded, giving her permission to tell the teens.
"Both of the Pikachus have something different about their tails…" Cynthia hinted, her comment led the teens to closer inspect a confused Sparks, Ash's Pikachu was still in the world of dreams, so did not notice everyone looking at him.
Sparks humorously turned his own tail round in front of him and inspected it, before he finally noticed it and leapt to his feet, on Ash's lap, which had a domino effect, making Pikachu jump to his feet, alert in a battle stance, before he realised where he was and who was around him, he sweat dropped nervously as everyone chuckled at his actions.
Ash took a closer look at Pikachu's tail, and it took him less than ten seconds of close analysis to realise what was different about them, then lifted Sparks' tail right in front of his eyes, looking carefully at his too.
"How have I never noticed this before?" He asked gaping, as he looked up at Professor Oak, "I've been on my journey with Pikachu, and Sparks as well, for coming up to eight years now!" He added, causing Oak to smile at him.
"Incredible, is it not?" Oak asked, and Ash nodded vigorously.
"What is it Ashy boy?" John asked, cheekily, making Ash glare at him, before the two smirked at each other.
"You know the tiny little ridge in between the sides of the tail…?" Ash said unsurely, glancing back at Pikachu's tail.
"Ummm, yes, but isn't it a really miniscule gap?" Dawn queried.
"Normally, it is, but these two Pikachu's are an exception to that, and there is something else interesting about that ridge, tell them Ash," Lance prompted, and Ash grinned nervously.
"It's blue!" Ash exclaimed, the other three teens looked at him curiously, before they all looked at the two Pikachu's tails more closely.
Slowly but surely, they saw it, from the base of the tail, all the way to the tip, and back round the other side, the "ridge" was seemingly just under half a centimetre wide, and on Sparks, the colour was dark blue, and on Pikachu the colour was a lighter shade of blue!
"No way!" Lily exclaimed
"That's… surely not right?" John asked Oak, whose grin only widened.
"That's what's so special about these two Pikachus!" Oak exclaimed, "The blue colouring is extremely intriguing, I'm still not particularly sure what it's about, or what it means, or how it has happened, but they both have a blue colouring on their tails!"
Everyone shared an incredulous look; amazed by the information they had been given.
"I have a theory, it's an outrageous one, but it's a theory…" John mused; everyone looked at him curiously, wondering what he had in mind.
He didn't have the chance to explain, because the doctors that had entered Laurence's room while everyone had been talking, had got the readings they had wanted, and had now exited Laurence's room.
"Excuse me? Are you all here for Laurence?" the doctor asked, everyone nodded simultaneously, "If you would like to come with me, I have some news, but it would probably be better if we discussed in his room."
Ash, Dawn, Lily, and John all stood up, the first two carrying Pikachu and Sparks, respectively, and John noticed Oak and the three Champions not following them into the room.
"Are you not coming in?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at the four, who exchanged glances, "At least one of you?" he added.
"If there's not too many, I'd quite like to see him?" Cynthia suggested, more than anything, sounding quite hesitant with her request.
"By all means, Cynthia my dear," Oak said politely, smiling at the Sinnoh Champion, the two other Champions agreed, and motioned her forward. John and Cynthia followed Ash, Dawn and Lily into the room.
When they walked in they saw the three stood around Laurence's bed, who was still unconscious, Dawn was stood on the opposite side of the bed to Ash and Lily, Cynthia put a comforting hand on the latter's shoulder, and Lily turned to her, smiling sadly.
"What's the news?" Cynthia asked quietly, looking down on Laurence's face, which was rather pale, but starting to regain its natural colour, the doctor glanced down at the notes on his clipboard.
"Liver is running fine, no damage evident from the alcohol…" He said, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"What about his brain? Have you been able to determine anything?" Lily asked quietly, Cynthia once again put her hand on Lily's shoulder, and the latter was grateful for the support of the Champion.
"We've run a couple of scans which shows that his brainwaves are functioning normally, which would suggest that he isn't suffering from any brain damage…" the doctor explained, drifting as he glanced down at his notes again, "But we can't be sure about how he is feeling mentally until he wakes up, we don't want to prematurely put him onto the psychiatric list for a therapist, so we need him to be honest when he wakes up, we don't want to discharge him with there still being a possibility of more… self-harming," the doctor explained softly, delicately explaining it to the group to try and avoid any more emotional distress.
This briefly lifted the group's spirits, and Sparks rubbed his cheek with his trainer's, making everyone smiled at the yellow mouse's affectionate action.
"We would recommend that rather than force him into speaking to one of our psychiatrists about it, one of his close friends or family does it instead," the doctor advised, "We feel that a majority of depressed patients, when it gets to this point, open up more to people who are close to them rather than our psychiatrists."
"Lily, would you be willing to try?" Cynthia asked, looking at the teen, who looked thoughtful at the suggestion, before glancing at the bluenette sat across the other side of the bed.
"I think Dawn should," Lily said, smiling at the coordinator, who looked confused, "I've heard that you're closest to him?" Dawn smiled at Lily, then looked down at Laurence's face.
"I guess I could give it a shot," Dawn said, before she shot Lily a grateful look, the latter's smile grew wider.
Pikachu jumped from Ash's arms onto Laurence's lap, joining his brother, Sparks, the latter seemed to be sniffing Laurence's left hand curiously.
Suddenly, Sparks' ears perked up.
"Pika pika!" He shouted, pointing at Laurence's left hand, this drew the human's attentions, and the all looked over to see that Laurence's left hand was still clasped shut.
Dawn was sat closest to the hand, so she lifted it up with both of her hands, and noticed it was clenched extremely tight, clearly Laurence was holding onto an object in that hand.
"Had you not noticed this, doctor?" She asked, taking her eyes away from Laurence's hand and looking at the aforementioned doctor, who once again, looked down at his notes.
"The doctor who examined him mentioned that it was clasped too tight, as when he fell unconscious he was gripping onto it tightly, and his hand has locked in that position, probably until he wakes up," the doctor explained, Dawn nodded in understanding.
"But what if Dawn tries?" Ash asked, smiling at his little sister, who just raised an eyebrow at him.
"Why me?" Dawn asked, making John smirk.
"Because you love him," John said simply, Dawn looked flushed and embarrassed, "Don't worry, everyone already knew, but he should probably loosen to your touch, have you never noticed that he tenses up whenever anyone other than Pokemon or you touch him?" John queried, Dawn thought about his point.
It was true.
Laurence had never felt comfortable letting people touch him, he always initiated contact, or it just didn't happen, the only exception to this was Dawn, and of course Pokemon, even wild Pokemon.
"It might be a worth a shot, he might relax at your touch if the two of you are close," the doctor added, Dawn frowned slightly, before lowering Laurence's hands onto the bed; she stared at his hands for a moment, before she realised something.
"He's wearing gloves…" she muttered, just about audibly, she then looked up, "So how will he know it's me?" she asked, everyone looked thoughtful.
Sparks walked over, and slipped off of Laurence, so he was on the side of the bed where Laurence's left hand was resting, he then pulled the gloves down as far as possible with one paw, before pointing to Dawn, then Laurence's hand, with the other paw.
"Sparks, why are you so clever?" Dawn asked, smiling at the Pikachu, who smiled back at the praise, Dawn rubbed his head briefly, before she placed her hand on Laurence's, making her face turn bright red.
Nothing happened.
"Errr… Am I doing something wrong?" Dawn asked, making everyone laugh at her, and she blushed even more.
"No, Dawn, but try being more affectionate with it?" Lily suggested, which made Cynthia grin in agreement.
"If you want Laurence to be your boyfriend you'll have to do a lot more than this," Cynthia said slyly, Dawn couldn't possibly blush any deeper, she was having fun poked at her by the Champion of Sinnoh, and boy was she embarrassed by it.
Dawn took a deep breath before she wrapped her right hand around the top Laurence's enclosed one, before then doing the same with her left, underneath Laurence's hand. She glanced up at everyone in the room, and the only person who wasn't smirking at her was the doctor.
Even the two Pikachu's were grinning at her.
Dawn managed to blush even more before she felt Laurence's hand relax in hers; she subconsciously started to rub the top of his hand with the thumb of her right hand, whilst staring Laurence's face.
The others looked on with interest, as they noticed the whole of Laurence's body physically move as every muscle in his body relaxed at Dawn's touch.
Suddenly, Laurence's hand shot open, and Sparks, who was still tugging his glove so that Dawn could touch the former's skin, shot off the bed due to the momentum, and the object Laurence had been holding clattered to the floor.
Sparks re-emerged moments later holding the item in his teeth; he promptly dropped it onto Laurence's lap.
John audibly gasped at the item that rested on the incapacitated trainer's lap.
"What is it, John?" Ash asked, turning his head from the object to John, looking at the latter quizzically.
John stared at the object intently, before he walked up to it and placed it in his open hand, it appeared to be a gemstone, it was a dark shade of green, Emerald, almost, and it was centimetre thick raindrop like shape, and it fitted perfectly into John's palm. Across the top point of the drop was a hole, and a chain was fitted through it, making it into a necklace.
"This… this is the object that Laurence saw in the shop we went into, when he drifted off…" John said quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"What happened in that shop? We heard him scream through the phone," Ash asked, looking at John, who was still staring at the object.
"Laurence has many secrets, dark corners of his life that he likes to keep secret, until the time comes for him to reveal them," John replied cryptically, still not removing his eyes from the Emerald necklace.
Dawn and Ash shared a confused and concerned look, before the former glanced down and Sparks who was nodding slowly, and Dawn realised that every secret Laurence has, Sparks has, the Pikachu had been there with Laurence through everything.
John then walked over to Laurence, and placed the necklace round his neck, blocking everyone's view of the necklace, as it glowed slightly as it touched Laurence's skin.
"Anyway, back to the doctor's point," John said, stepping back from Laurence, once the Emerald stone had stopped glowing, the former turned to look at Dawn, "it's getting quite late now, and I think, if you're okay with it Dawn, that you should stay here with Laurence to talk to him when he wakes up."
Dawn nodded in response, looking down at Laurence and smiling.
"I just hope he'll be honest with me," she said, Ash walked over to his younger sister and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him.
"Everything will be okay, Dawn, just make sure you try get some sleep, and once everyone is showered and fed, we'll come back and wait outside, do you want me to bring you anything back?" Ash asked kindly, Dawn smiled at his concern.
"Could you ask mum to make me a couple of sandwiches please?" Dawn asked, before glancing back at Laurence, "and a couple for Laurence too?" Ash nodded.
"Of course I'll ask, and I'll poke my head round the door to let you know," Ash replied, as the two were conversing, the others had said their goodbyes and left, leaving just Ash, Cynthia and Dawn in the room, and of course the two Pikachu's and Laurence.
"Everything alright, Cynthia?" Dawn asked, noticing the blonde still standing in the room, looking at Laurence, Cynthia jumped slightly when Dawn spoke, but quickly regained her composure.
"Yes, I am, but there is something I would like to talk to Laurence about, when he's awake… Ash, if I give you or Dawn my number, could you give me a call when he's up and about? Me, Steven and Lance will have to depart shortly to be on duty, but would you mind?" Cynthia requested.
"Certainly, I haven't actually got my phone on me at the moment, could you take her number, Ash?" Dawn asked, Ash nodded in response, before turning to Cynthia and the two exchanged numbers.
"Thanks you two, I wish you both and Laurence the best, and I will try to come visit if I've got time before he's discharged," Cynthia said to the duo.
"I will let you know as soon as he's out and about," Ash replied, smiling at the Champion.
"Thanks, Ash, I'll be seeing you two around," Cynthia said, before she departed the room.
Ash turned to face Dawn. "What do you think she wanted to talk to him about?"
"I have no idea…" Dawn replied, rather distantly, Ash looked at his little sister with concern evident on his face.
"You gonna be alright here?" Ash asked kindly, Dawn looked up at him and nodded, smiling slightly.
"Yeah, I've got Sparks for company, and Piplup if need be," Dawn said, smirking at the Pikachu that had moved onto her lap, Ash smiled down at her.
"We'll be back soon," he said, as Pikachu jumped from the bed to his shoulder.
"See you later, Ash," Dawn said, as the raven-haired teen departed the room, clicking the door shut behind him.
Dawn looked at Laurence and sighed slightly, she investigated his face more thoroughly than she had before, his face was still rather pale, but colour was returning to his cheeks. His brown hair fell limply onto his forehead and his eyes were closed lightly, no one would be able to tell you that he was unconscious, rather than sleeping. She then twisted the hand that was still clasped in hers, so that she could see the still visible scars that ran up Laurence's arm, Dawn shuddered at the sight of them.
Tears ran slowly down Dawn's cheeks as she examined the scars, before she noticed Sparks looking at her with a concerned look written on his face.
"I'm alright, Sparks, but it's getting late," Dawn said, indicating towards the window, the sky itching into darkness, "we should get some rest."
Sparks nodded, and Dawn rested her head on Laurence's chest, soothed by his heartbeat, Sparks curled up next to Dawn's head, and the latter promptly drifted off to sleep, not even noticing Laurence's right hand drift onto her head, his right eye half open, and a small smile etched on his face.
-TPLU-
Dawn awoke to the sunlight shining on her face; she blinked twice to sharpen up her vision.
Something seemed wrong.
This wasn't the hospital room she fell asleep in.
Dawn lifted her head and gasped, Laurence was in the same position as she left him when she fell asleep, but he was bandaged almost head to toe, the only part of him that was showing was his nose and his left eye.
Dawn heard faint voices outside.
"What was he thinking? Did he really take the blast?" Dawn identified that voice as Misty, someone she had met a couple of times when she had visited.
"Yeah… It came so close to hitting Dawn… It was terrifying…" the next voice replied, Dawn recognised it as her brother's, Ash.
"That must've been traumatic for you, Ash, we're all here for you, Dawn and of course Laurence…" a third voice said, Dawn knew this voice as the Hoenn native, May. What was she doing here? What were they talking about with this blast almost hitting her?
Dawn's head throbbed.
"Thanks, May; I don't know what I would do without you guys…" Ash said, Dawn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
When did Misty and May arrive? Why were they in a different hospital room? What was this "blast" they were talking about? But the most important thing:
Why the HELL was Laurence bandaged head to toe?!
"Is it not coming back yet, child? Have you not remembered the horrific ordeal your crush put you and your nearest and dearest through?" a sinister voice ran through Dawn's head, it echoed and reverberated in her mind.
"Wh-Who are you?" Dawn stammered, making the voice chuckle maliciously.
"An old… friend," the voice said, "Just you wait Dawn Berlitz; you will be seeing me very soon."
Just like that the vision began to dissolve, and Dawn found herself back in the domed hall, this time though, she was alone, and the walls were made of a purple plasma-like substance, which flickered and flared outwards.
Dawn recognised it from her previous dream, and then she realised what blast Ash, May and Misty had been discussing.
But that just begged another question.
"What is all this?" Dawn muttered out loud, "this surely can't just be a dream? Everything's connected…"
"Clever, there may be hope for you humans yet," the same voice from the hospital image sneered sarcastically, venom evident in its tone when it said "human."
"What's going on? Who are you?!" Dawn demanded, this just once again made the voice chuckle.
"Feisty, I like that," the voice replied, "A shame that that spirit is going to waste in your body... It's a shame you got mixed up with that despicable boy."
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked, looking around the room in an attempt to find the source of the voice.
"You were doomed the minute you met that boy, you and your pathetic friends are all worthless to me… All I need is Laurence Roberts and Ash Ketchum." Dawn gasped slightly, and clenched her fists.
"What do you want with my brother and Laurence?" Dawn shouted, again, the voice just laughed at her.
"All in future time my dear Dawn, but until that day, you should keep your eyes peeled, my little… minions… are everywhere… Watch your back, Ms Berlitz," the voice said, the tone he used made Dawn shiver in her shoes, she glanced around again.
The temperature dropped drastically and suddenly.
Dawn looked directly in front of her, and three purple eyes shone brightly.
She froze in fear.
The eyes started shining brighter and brighter until it was too much for Dawn.
-TPLU-
Laurence watched the sunrise through the window, his right hand still gently stroking Dawn's hair, but every now and again he switched to Sparks, enjoying once again feeling his closest companion's fur running through his fingers.
After about four hours of switching between the two, he accidentally placed his hand too heavily onto Sparks' head, waking the Pikachu from its slumber. Sparks looked around in confusion, before he eventually turned his head far enough around, to see that his trainer and best friend had finally awoken. His face broke into a wide smile, and the electric mouse leapt up onto Laurence's shoulder and proceeded to rub his cheek affectionately against Laurence's, who smiled back and returned the gesture.
"Pikapi, Pikachu pi chupi Pika!" Sparks said, still smiling brightly and rubbing his cheek up against Laurence's, whose smile grew wider when his Pikachu spoke.
"I'm so sorry Sparks, I'm so so sorry I put you all through that," Laurence said quietly, tears rolling down his face as he continued to rub cheeks with Sparks. After a couple of minutes the two stopped, and Sparks moved onto Laurence's sternum, and sat down so that he could talk to him properly.
Laurence managed to slip his left hand free from Dawn's hands, which had loosened during her sleep, and he gave Sparks a massive hug, which the electric mouse enjoyed greatly. Again, this last for a couple of minutes, before Laurence released Sparks from his grip, and placed his left hand back onto Dawn's head, and his right onto Sparks' slowly running his fingers through both of his companions' hair/fur.
"Sparks… I'm seriously sorry for all this…" Laurence whispered, looking down sadly, trying to avoid eye contact as he spoke, "And I mean everything, getting us mixed up in the incident in the first place…" Laurence's voice drifted slightly.
"What happened over the course of that week… it mentally scarred me, I have nightmares every night, which is why I try not to sleep… to keep the nightmares away for as long as possible."
"It changed my views on the world… made me a darker person inside, more cynical than ever before."
Laurence looked into Sparks' eyes.
"But I promise you, and I will promise everyone, that I'm going to start speaking to people when I feel down, I'm never going to let it get to this point ever again," Laurence said firmly, Sparks' ears perked up, he recognised the tone of Laurence's voice. Sparks knew that Laurence meant what he had said, and another smile broke on the Pikachu's face.
"I'm going to try and find what I lost back then, if it takes me the rest of my life, for you and for everyone," Laurence said, taking his right hand off Sparks' head and turning it into a fist. Sparks mimicked his action with the fist and the two touched their fists together and smiled at each other.
Dawn had heard the entire thing.
She had woken up when Sparks leapt onto Laurence's shoulder, and she had listened intently to their conversation, but she was still no closer to understanding what this "incident" was, that had mentally scarred Laurence.
When Laurence was done talking, Dawn pretended to wake up, she lifted her whole body up so she was sitting upright in her chair, she then yawned and stretched, before blinking a couple of times.
She then looked Laurence in the eyes, and made her own widen, and a grin came over her face, she instantaneously noticed a difference in Laurence, his eyes held the same fiery passion that they had before his drastic change.
She couldn't control her body and she flung her arms around his neck, and rested her head in the crook of Laurence's neck. Sparks had got caught up in the hug, but the Pikachu absolutely loved it, and cooed contently.
"I'm so glad you're alright," Dawn said quietly, as she hugged Laurence, she felt his arms wrap around her waist, the three stayed in the embrace for a couple of minutes, before Laurence put his hands onto Dawn's waist and pulled her away from him so he could look into her face, her hands dropped onto his shoulders.
"Dawn, I am so sorry about all this… I really hope you can forgive me?" Laurence apologised, looking straight into Dawn's eyes, she smiled softly at him
"It's fine Laurence," Dawn said, shifting her left hand and placing it onto Laurence's right, "I have faith and confidence in you that you'll get through this and be the same Laurence we all know and love," Dawn added, smiling at him, a light blush finding its way onto her cheeks when she said the last part of her sentence.
Laurence's smile grew wider.
"Thank you, Dawn."
"No problem, Laurence, we're all here for you," she said, removing her hands from Laurence and standing up, "Is it alright if I go to the bathroom? I won't be too long," she said, sticking her tongue out as she asked.
"By all means," Laurence replied, smirking back at her, the two grinned at each other for a few seconds, before Dawn's face turned slightly serious, she leaned forward and kissed Laurence's cheek.
"I'm so glad you're okay," She said, smiling, before she quickly turned and walked out of the room, throwing a glance back just before she left, Dawn saw Laurence touching the spot on his cheek where Dawn had kissed him and he had a faraway glazed look in his eyes, but a slight smile was evident on his face.
"Finally!" Dawn thought happily, "I've finally made a breakthrough!" and with that pleasant thought in her head, Dawn stepped outside of Laurence's room, briefly checking her watch as she did so, it read 9.47am, so she had slept pretty well last night considering her dream.
Dawn's face paled. The dream!
All her thoughts and visions of the previous couple of sleeps came rushing through her head, making it pound violently. Dawn placed a hand on her head as she stepped out of the room, the pain was furious.
"You alright, Dawn?" she heard a voice ask; she flicked her eyes up and saw John looking at her, concern evident on his face. Dawn then noticed Ash and Lily asleep in chairs either side of John.
Dawn managed a simple nod.
"Just a headache, come on rather sharply though," Dawn replied, walking over and taking a seat next to John, deciding that she needed to talk to John about these dreams before she went to the bathroom, as he and Laurence were the only connections she could pick out, as they were the only ones who seemed to recall an "incident" which seemed worryingly linked to Dawn's nightmares.
"You sure? You look really pale? Why don't you go home and have a sleep? Let someone else sit with him?" John suggested, placing a hand on Dawn's shoulder.
"I'm fine, just had some really dodgy nightmares," Dawn replied, she noticed the instantaneous change in John's expression.
"What kind of nightmares?" John asked, looking Dawn in the eyes now that she had moved her hands onto her lap.
Dawn went onto explain the previous two nightmares that she had had, and watched John's facial expression, and she could tell that she'd struck something, she'd found a link between her nightmares and the incident.
"There must be some sort of link between my nightmares and what happened to Laurence…" Dawn said, once she had finished describing her dreams to John, trying to lure him into spilling some details.
"Look, I have to level with you Dawn," John said, glancing up at Dawn, "You are right, there is a link between the two… but until the time is right, and Laurence is ready to tell, I'm afraid that I can't give you any more information at the moment…"
Dawn watched John's expression, and although she desperately wanted to know more, the look on John's face warned her otherwise.
"I don't care what happened, I'm going to help Laurence through this, I swear, once I find out more information, I'm gonna get him through this!" Dawn promised, clenching her fist in determination, she stared at the doors that lead to Laurence's room, her face matching the determination that her fist showed.
John smiled at her sadly.
"If only she knew what happened." John thought, "She would not want to go anywhere near it."
John looked up at the ceiling.
"I just pray that she doesn't dig too far and get herself caught up with… them." John thought darkly, not taking his eyes off the white ceiling above him.
EOC
I would like to apologise for the long absence from this story, but I have a fair bit planned out its just managing to actually write out the chapters, not having time and writers block is a pain in the backside.
What did you think of the chapter? What did you like? Dislike? Please let me know in reviews!
Hopefully I can get the next chapter out before I go on holiday on the 29th!
~AF~