I ish back, my lovelies! And with an update!

This is one of my favorite chapters, for no reason…thank you so much, Will, for lending me your character for this (I'm sorry if I didn't keep him in character, but I don't know him that well) and so I'll dedicate this chapter to you!

All of you are so nice to me, reviewing and all! Okay, at least ten of you have voted on the Marc-should-die poll, and someone voted for him to not die! XD Who are you, mystery person?! And you all want to kill Marc…why not Iron, for Pete's sake, or me! I'm the one doing all the mean stuff to Rose! Oh…wait…I get it…killed author means no updates XD

Okay, on to the chapter now. Review, please, they make me happy, and vote on the new poll!

Chapter Five

Courage

"Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future." –John F. Kennedy

I was leaving.

Tonight.

There was no point in me staying anymore. I was like an empty shell. Marc was lost to me forever. The other half of my heart was gone, and as that left me with only the other half, I was going with that piece.

My dream was all I had left.

Maybe someday someone could help me find those lost pieces and glue them back together, but I wasn't interested that kind of thing right now. All I was interested in right now was putting as much distance between me and that heartbreaker as possible.

I was just going to buy the last of my supplies today. And then I would leave. Forever.

I was so absorbed in my thoughts I didn't realize when I bumped into someone and looked up.

I had barely spoken to anyone else in my pack for four days now. Word had spread quickly that I was an "abomination" and "shouldn't be respected at all". I looked into the fiery eyes of this person and knew he had obviously heard the word.

"Hello, Leon." I snapped.

Just who I needed to see.

This was yet another figure I did not like-I recognized him as one of those solitary, older Eevees who preferred to frighten me. Even more resentment had gathered for him because of the fact he wasn't evolved yet, just like me, even though he was nearly a year older…though you could say he was an exception, as he had a fire stone around his neck and was determined to use it someday. (He still had his amulet, just like me…)

"That is Vincent Leonardo Burstfire to you." Leon replied indifferently, but smirking slightly. "So, Miss Valentina Petal…how's Marc been lately?"

Tears blanched in my eyes and threatened to spill over. Carefully-so easily it was, like, a new skill I had learned-I choked them back. "Move aside." I said angrily, trying to shove past him.

"No." He said simply.

I exclaimed irritably in defeat and went around him. "What's your problem, anyway? Why can't you and the rest of the pack just leave me alone! I don't care that your family was killed by that Dusknoir, Oblivion or whatever his name, when you were young. You still shouldn't take it out on all of us."

Leon face distorted in rage and he followed me.

"And, in return, you shouldn't take the anger from Marc abandoning you to go off with Isabella out on me."

My muscles tightened.

"How do you, of all people, know about that?"

He smirked. "Word gets around easily enough." He seemed bent on torturing me. "Your face is all puffy and tearstained too, you know. Was the little girl crying?" He added in a voice that indicated he was talking to an infant.

"You know, I try to refrain from violence, but I can be persuaded otherwise." I said pleasantly, trying to keep the annoyance out of my tone. "And I'm just in that mood today…"

"No, I think I'll hang around, just to bug you a bit more."

I glared at him-apparently, that was the only thing I was able to do these days. Glare and cry. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

He knew I wouldn't attack him.

"Actually, I thought you would be needed some company after what Marc did to you yesterday." Leon said calmly. "I'm sorry that-for once-I'm trying to be nice, and fail. And I'm sorry that that one time it's toward an uncaring girl like you."

"Yes, heaven forbid anyone but me!" I replied in a mock tone of horror.

Leon stared at me.

"Maybe it's right, what they say about you." He said slowly. "Maybe you ARE crazy…"

A tear escaped my eye, but I kept my expression the same. I gave Leon one last dagger look and stormed away. No one-especially him-was going to see me cry. I had had enough crying the past four days. I was sick of the crying over Marc. I didn't want Marc to put me back together. I was going to put myself back together, and I was going to do it alone.

Leon's voice echoed in my head. Maybe it's right, what they say about you...

I didn't care about what they said. I didn't care about what anyone else said anymore.

Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt…

No. Words can't break your bones. Words can break much worse things.

Like your heart.

I sighed and walked toward the small burrow that was the supplies shop. I had had that coming to me. If Marc and Isabella wanted to be happy, I was going to let them be happy. I would have no more say in it.

I stumbled down to the light at the end of the hole.

It was a small, dark room, sparse candles set all around in small crevices. The space was mostly empty. In the middle of the room, a short Vaporeon was stretched out on a rosy pink carpet, dozing lightly. An assortment of items was laid out in a neat order in front of her.

Careful not to wake the Vaporeon, I crept around her and ran my gaze over her items. There were a few apples, some Oran, Pecha, and Cheri berries, a few oval shaped machines-I assumed these were 'TMs'-and a few multicolored scarves. Each object was marked with a price, and I pulled out the small purse I had brought with me, placing all of the money in front of her, and chose out a couple of the items and gathered them in one arm.

It was a quick process, and the Vaporeon didn't awaken. Quickly I limped out and started to the hole…only to have something dart in front of me.

I took a step back.

The Eevee that had just entered rushed over to the pack of items and pulled to a stop; for some reason, he looked familiar…The person glanced left to right, grabbed a scarf and wrapped it around his neck almost soundlessly.

Then I figured it out.

"Do you always steal like this, Point?"

Point twirled around to face me and gave me a small smile, thought his eyes were sad. "Misty always tells me to go ahead. She doesn't accept my money anyway. She is Iron's mate." He explained to my confused look. "She wouldn't care anyway."

My eyes narrowed. "So, what have you been up to, Point?"

Point shrugged. "Same as usual. Watching Iron beat up people. Listening to Twire's attempts at sarcasm. Hanging out with Marc." I cringed when he said Marc's name, so he backtracked quickly. "Nothing new."

His reaction stunned me.

"So, I'll be seeing you around…or not." I snapped, shoving past him to climb up the hole.

Point only watched me with his cheerless eyes.

"I think you're really brave, by the way."

I blinked and whirled around to face Point. "Excuse me? What did you just say?" I asked incredulously. After all, this was the Iron's right-hand man. Their gang was nothing but a bunch of bullies who could get away with it. What was with Point coming in and praising me now?

Point shifted nervously. "I said, I think you're really brave." He murmured, looking down at the ground. "In all my year of knowing him, I've never seen anyone who has stood up to him. And then how you reacted afterward…you only had screamed once…"

I remembered Point's shocked gaze after Iron had first attacked me.

"I was one of Iron's victims, once, a long time ago." He shivered violently at the memory. "That's when it was just him and Twire. I reacted worse than you did at the pain-believe me, I've felt your pain. Desperate to avoid it, I joined his gang and followed his orders. I try to act like Iron and Twire do, but it's not easy…

"I think you're incredible. You have the courage to stand up for what you want, even when people are trying to pull you down, even though it's something that nobody's even heard of. You don't let it pull you down. You're stronger then I'll ever be, and I just wanted to let you know…I'm in awe. I've never met someone quite like you before. It was…nice…knowing you." I blinked, shocked, and he nodded. "I know that's why you're here. You're leaving. So I came to say goodbye. And to let you know that I wish I could be like you." He shrugged and started to climb up the tunnel again. "Goodbye, Rose."

I backed away several steps and smiled slightly. "Thanks, Point," I whispered. "Thanks. Goodbye."

I never saw Point again after that.

I started climbing up the hole after him, a song echoing in my head.

"What do you think about this? I've been holding it in, now I'm letting it flow…what do you think about this? I'm going to do my own thing now that I'm flying so low…so don't tell me how it's going to be…on my own, because the thing of it is…there's nothing around here that I'm going to miss…

Because you're holding me down…I just want to fly…and there comes a time that I've got to say goodbye to the life that you see me in…here's where I begin! And I promised myself I am nobody's…I just want to be free…And I promised myself, even though it doesn't always come easy…Going to learn from my pain, never explained, I'll do it my way, that's what I say! I promised myself I'm the only one who will believe me…

I had promised myself. I, the courageous one…

"There's a voice in my head…telling me come on, come on, move on…there's a voice in my head…telling me I know my right from wrong…they say what doesn't kill you then makes you strong…yes, I know what it means…you can try to bend but you'd be breaking my dreams…

I'll be making mistakes, coming up and along…and I'll be tumbling down, but like I'll just shake it off…I'll stay cool, because I know who's boss…me, myself, and I! And I promised myself I am nobody's…I just want to be free…And I promised myself, even though it doesn't always come easy…Going to learn from my pain, never explained, I'll do it my way, that's what I say! I promised myself I'm the only one who will believe me…"

The sun had already drifted down past the horizon and the sky had faded to a peaceful dusk I sighed and took a deep breath of the fresh air, no nervousness in my heart now.

It was time for me to go.

"I'll keep moving even when the beat is gone…I'll keep doing what I got to do to carry on… so don't hold me down…cause I'm going to fly…and the time has come and I've got to say goodbye to the life that you see me in…here's where I begin! And I promised myself I am nobody's…I just want to be free…And I promised myself, even though it doesn't always come easy…Going to learn from my pain, never explained, I'll do it my way, that's what I say! I promised myself I'm the only one who will believe me…

"And I promised myself I am nobody's…I just want to be free…And I promised myself, even though it doesn't always come easy…Going to learn from my pain, never explained, I'll do it my way, that's what I say! I promised myself I'm the only one who can complete me!"

I walked along carefully, lingering on the beautiful details of my home I would keep in my mind forever. But as I passed a small black tent-the tent of that certain Elder from the ceremony-I stopped, a snarl ripping from my throat. Fury flooded my veins.

It was his fault I was being forced to leave my home. It was his fault everyone hated me. His fault my parents would never love me, his fault I would never have any friends. His fault.

It was HIS fault I would never have the happy life with Marc like I wanted.

I lost control of my sudden rage and ripped the tent flap from its seams. I walked into the small room and looked around, smiling cruelly down at the sleeping, helpless Elder on the floor.

I would have my revenge.

H/P