Here to There
L.R.T.
The phone woke him up - abruptly at that - and it took him a few seconds to get his bearings.
Jessie was still there, curled up in the same tiny ball he'd laid on the bed earlier in the day. He couldn't help but take a moment and look at her, smiling slightly. The thought ran through his mind to just let the phone ring and stay with her but at the end of the day, he was a professor and that responsibility wasn't one that he took lightly.
Running a hand through his hair and rubbing his face in an attempt to wake himself up, Professor Sycamore quietly stood and made his way out to the living room. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" he mumbled with a yawn.
He picked up the phone and, upon seeing who was staring at him on the other end, woke right the hell up. His eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip on the receiver. "I'm calling Officer Jenny."
Lysandre gazed back at him with a cold calmness that deeply unnerved him. Most everything about Lysandre unnerved him now, especially when he thought about the fact that he had considered this man a good friend and shared information about mega-evolution with him. What did that say about him? "That's not necessary. I've only called because I have a proposition for you."
He shook his head, laughing bitterly. "Why would I ever help you? Don't you realize what you've done?"
In the bedroom, Jessie stirred and rolled over with a groan, feeling next to her and finding nothing. She frowned and opened her eyes. How long had she been asleep? One day she would be able to wake up without asking herself that question. It was dark outside, that's all she knew - that and the sound of a hushed voice coming from the living room.
Rolling out of bed and quietly sneaking down the same hallway as earlier that day, Jessie frowned once again as she got closer. The hushed voice seemed to be trying to hold back and not scream at the person on the other end.
Glancing around the corner, her frown only grew at the revelation that Professor Sycamore was the one trying to keep calm. She couldn't help but wonder who was on the phone and why it had made him so uncharacteristically upset.
"I failed; but I have plans, Augustine. I'd like for you to be a part of them. It's a bit more your expertise than mine."
"The only plans you should be making are ones for jail!" He shook his head in awed disbelief. "You killed people, Lysandre. Important people. Good people. Doesn't that defeat your purpose entirely?"
Jessie's heart stopped for a split-second at the familiar name: Lysandre. She stared across the room at the video phone and the man dressed in red that appeared on its screen. She felt like punching a wall, throwing up, and bursting into tears all at the same time. This was the sick son of a bitch that took James away from her.
So why then, exactly, was he calling Augustine?
"I'm offering you the chance to further explore mega-evolution in ways you never could have imagined," Lysandre said, his former friend's pleas falling on deaf and stubborn ears.
"And I'm telling you no."
Lysandre let out a long, slow sigh before giving in. "I'm at the hotel in Camphrier Town if you change your mind."
Professor Sycamore rubbed the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes. "Why would you tell me that? I can have Officer Jenny there in minutes."
"But you won't." With that, the screen went back to black and Professor Sycamore quietly hung up the phone.
He turned around, his heart sinking at the sight of his house guest staring back at him. Her face was mixed with hurt and confusion; the way she gripped the corner of the wall displayed her anger. Nothing he could say would make a damn bit of difference right now. To Jessie, he was now cavorting with the enemy and the trust that they had built on already shaky ground was crumbling.
He took a step toward her, mouth opening to say something - anything - but silence being the end result. Closing his mouth, he looked down, her puffy red eyes burning through him, unable to take it any longer.
"Why are you talking to him?" Jessie finally asked, her voice quiet and wavering.
Another step forward, eyes still planted anywhere but on her. "It's not what you're thinking."
"You don't know what I'm thinking," she shot back.
"You're right, you're right. I don't. I'm sorry."
Biting her lip, she averted her gaze from him as well. How could she have been so stupid? Since when did she let some guy flash her a smile and pretend to give a shit about her and actually fall for it? Stupid. She was so incredibly stupid. "I have to go," she said abruptly, turning around and heading back for the bedroom.
Professor Sycamore sighed and stayed put for a few moments, debating with himself whether to follow her or not and try to explain himself. His eyes moved to the window and he shook his head, running a hand through his hair. It was night out, for crying out loud. He couldn't let her leave and wander Lumiose City - especially when she was upset.
Jessie was already putting her boots back on, sitting on the bed when he cautiously stepped in to the doorway. It was like trying to lure a Stantler to you - you had to be quiet, not ambush it, and let the entire encounter be dictated by them. She looked up at him, tugging her other boot on. "You'd better let me leave this time."
He shook his head and leaned against the door frame. "I can't."
She narrowed her eyes at him and stood, hands on her hips. "Why? So you can deliver me to your bestie Lysandre and he can finish me off, too?" Grabbing her gloves from the bed, she slipped them on. "Doesn't sound half bad, actually," she muttered.
"It's late. I understand that you want to go and..." He took a deep breath and looked away from her. "And in the morning, if you still want to go, I won't stop you."
Looking at him sadly, she crossed her arms and looked to the opposite side of the room. "I can't stay with someone I don't trust."
"I understand. Truly, I do." He swallowed hard and shut his eyes, saying softly, "One more night. In the morning you can leave."
She took a deep breath and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "You aren't going to try and defend yourself at all?"
He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Would you believe anything I had to say?"
"At least you would be trying..." she trailed off, unsure of where her thought process was headed. "I'm not staying unless you tell me everything," she said at last, sitting back down on the bed.
"Fair enough." He sat down on the other side, their backs to each other. "Lysandre was my friend. A very good friend, or so I thought. He had these ideas about the world..." He shrugged again, staring down at the floor. "I never thought that he would do this. I didn't think he was capable of hurting another living thing."
"Wasn't that the whole point? Get rid of everything and start over with his weird little group?"
He nodded and sighed heavily. "I didn't realize how serious he was until it was too late." Shaking his head, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Too late for a lot of things."
"Like what?"
"I shared with him some of my findings on mega-evolution."
Glancing back over her shoulder, Jessie stated flatly, "Well that was fucking dumb."
He couldn't help but laugh a little, nodding in agreement. "Not the brightest professor, am I?" Not getting a response, he continued, "He was someone that I could bounce ideas off of...his knowledge of Pokemon is incredible and, believe it or not, his dreary outlook was actually helpful. He kept me grounded."
"Maybe you should be helping him, then."
"You can't think that I approve of what he did...or had anything to do with it."
"I don't know. The first person we always called after a failure was Mondo. He may not have been directly involved with any of what we did, but he supplied us with all the stupid shit we used to try and steal that Pikachu."
"I...suppose in that case, I did help him in some ways."
Jessie tilted her head back, staring at the ceiling and trying to keep her tears from spilling out. "How could you sit there today and comfort me and let me cry on your shoulder, spewing every fucking feeling I've had since James -" She caught herself and swallowed hard. "He was the only person that could ever get me to do that...and then when you did, I..." she trailed off again, closing her eyes.
"I meant everything I said and did, Jessie..." He turned around, facing her, reaching out to put his hand on her shoulder but stopping himself, letting it drop to the bed. "He wanted me to join him in his newest plan. I don't know what it is but I'm hoping that without my help, he won't get very far."
"I want to kill him," she stated simply.
"I know...but that won't solve anything. It won't bring James back and it'll only get you into trouble. He's not worth it."
"James needs justice, Augustine!"
"And he'll get it. I promise you."
"How can you when he was right? You didn't call Officer Jenny."
"That's not the right way to deal with Lysandre. More people would end up hurt or worse. I'll just have to..." He sighed and shrugged slightly, helplessly, "...drag him into jail myself."
After a few moments of intense silence, the air in the room thick and stuffy between them, Jessie finally asked, "Why do you do that?"
He blinked at her, confused. "What?"
"Why do you take on everything like it's your obligation? Me, Lysandre...you should let us both go and stumble and make our own mistakes. For better or worse."
"I can't do that. Not with you, at least."
"Why?" Inwardly she cringed immediately after asking. She didn't need to hear him tell her his reasons. She didn't want to hear them.
He laughed slightly, looking down at the bed. "You know why. I care about you. You've stumbled more than enough for one lifetime. I want you to be happy and on solid ground again."
Jessie swallowed hard, starting to remove her gloves. "One more night."
"That's all I'm asking for."
"I don't want you sleeping with me."
"I have my own room. I'll be in there if you need me," he replied, standing up and heading for the door.
"Don't hold your breath," she grumbled in return, laying down on the bed and curling up once again.
Staring up at the ceiling, Jessie laid sprawled out across the bed. Sleep was eluding her and she realized that her insomnia was the reason she got so plastered all the time; at least passing out sort of counted as sleeping, right?
Rolling over to her side, putting her hands under her head, she frowned in the darkness at nothing. It had been terribly hard to sleep without James next to her but this wasn't about that - this was about knowing exactly where Lysandre was and hurting him the way he'd hurt her.
Giovanni's words echoed in her head but she brushed them aside. The bastard was probably so keen on finding Lysandre because he wanted to team up and do who knows what. How could he expect her to sit on the sidelines and do nothing while that waste of space and oxygen was allowed to walk around Kalos?
Abruptly, she sat up, teeth and fists clenched. He couldn't expect her to do that. No one could expect her to do that. This was James - her sweet, goofy James; she would rather die trying than sit around doing nothing.
She noticed for the first time when she got up that somehow her meager belongings had been brought to the room. It probably wasn't the smartest idea to camp out in the same area she had with James and Meowth when she first saw Augustine again. She hadn't even done it on purpose, finding herself drawn there as if by a sweet scent attack.
She sat on the edge of the bed and debated whether or not to take her things with her. There were two plausible outcomes of what she was about to do and a thousand crazy ones in between. The two she was most certain of would mean that she didn't need any of her stuff - well, most of her stuff.
Getting up off the bed slowly, she knelt down in front of her bag and began to dig around inside. She hadn't brought any of her Pokemon with her (not that anyone knew this) but she wasn't very interested in battling, anyway. There was only one thing on her mind and no Pokemon was going to do it. Sitting back on her heels, she pulled her gun out and stared at it as the moonlight shone against it through the window. Briefly, she was impressed with herself for getting as loaded as she had and never shooting herself or anyone else on accident. Truthfully, she wasn't overly thrilled with the idea of gunning anyone down; but Lysandre deserved to die and she was hardly patient enough to draw it out and torture him - this seemed like the best and, really, only option.
Sticking the gun in the waist of her skirt, behind her and against the small of her back, Jessie walked with purpose to the living room. Everything was dark save for a small overhead light dimly illuminating the kitchen. She went to the door as quietly as possible but stopped herself, eyes darting to the closed door a few feet away that she assumed had to be Augustine's room. As shitty as things had turned out, he had helped her and shown her undeserved affection and understanding; she should leave a note, at least.
Eyes scanning the kitchen, she noticed papers upon papers put up on the fridge. He was still a disorganized mess, Jessie thought, telling herself that she wasn't smiling at the thought of him but at the thought of finally giving his so-called "friend" what he deserved. She grabbed a piece of paper from its magnet and found a pen nearby, scribbling on the unused side.
She left it on the kitchen island, her stomach twisting as the comparison to leaving him all those years ago and leaving him now flashed at her in neon light. She couldn't say that she was doing this for his own good this time, though; this was pure retaliation to make herself feel slightly better about things.
Deep down, she knew that Augustine was right - killing Lysandre wouldn't bring James back; but it would sure feel pretty fucking amazing.
Professor Sycamore finally decided to give up on getting any kind of sleep at around five in the morning.
He got up and went through his usual routine quietly, so as not to wake the girl in the room down the hall. It was all half-hearted - getting into the shower only to stand under the lukewarm water for a few seconds and get out; forgoing brushing his teeth for only mouth wash; letting his thick, dark hair remain the disheveled mess he'd woken up and showered with. He wouldn't have even gotten dressed were it not for Jessie because, despite his own angst, he still had to be strong for her and get her through another day...or at least as long as she decided to stay.
He went into the kitchen and started to brew some coffee, making it as strong as humanly possible. Idly, he glanced at the island and raised an eyebrow at the paper that rested there. Picking it up, a wave of dread washed over him the likes of which he'd never experienced before. He had to read it three times to fully process what was happening and then cursed - loudly - at himself for wasting time.
Turning off the coffee machine and scrambling into his bedroom to gather some things, he let the paper slowly drift down to the kitchen floor below. Its contents looped in his head so clearly that he could almost hear her reading it to him.
Augustine,
I have to do what I have to do...for James.
Don't hate me.