Alondra had wondered if she'd be able to sleep while sharing a bed with someone else for the first time. Would she accidently kick him? Roll over on him? Breathe in his face? Those worries quickly evaporated as exhaustion took her; it had been a long day of preparations for his first challengers and everyone in Po Town had been working extra hard. She was actually sleeping soundly when HE ended up waking HER.
She woke, groggily at first, trying to figure out if she was dreaming the sounds she was hearing. They were, in fact, actual sounds coming from the man sharing her bed, and they were growing steadily louder. Had they been snores, she would have rolled over and gone right back to sleep, but they were more like frantic grunts and groans. He actually started to squirm in his sleep. His breathing was rapid. He was obviously having a vivid dream, but what of? Now fully awake, she studied him intently in the dark, unsure of whether to wake him or not. The last straw was when he suddenly reached up and yanked at his hair, an action he was known to take when he was extremely agitated and upset. This was no dream, but a nightmare, and she would not sit by and watch.
"Guzma," she whispered intensely, not wanting to startle him too badly. "Guzma, wake up!" Her voice grew louder as he failed to respond, but still nothing. Finally, she reached over to gently shake him by the shoulders. It was a mistake. When he unconsciously felt her hands on him, he aggressively swatted her hand away, causing her to yelp more in surprise than in pain. That was enough to wake him. He bolted up, panting and sweating, trying to wrap his head around what was real and what was a dream. After a few moments, he finally looked around and noticed Alondra staring at him from her place beside him in bed. She was rubbing her bruising wrist tenderly, causing his face to pale. The current situation finally dawned on him.
"Alondra…what did I do?" he demanded anxiously, gripping the sheets tightly in his fists. "Did I hurt you?"
"I-I shouldn't have tried to wake you like that. You just smacked my hand away, that's all," she soothed, now placing her hands on his. "Nothing happened."
"But it could have…" he growled, furrowing his eyebrows in frustration. "I could have hurt you." Suddenly, he ripped his hands out from underneath hers and threw the covers off of himself. "This was a mistake. I shouldn't be sleeping with you, not the way I am."
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, but before he could get up, she lunged towards him and hugged him around his waist. "Guzma, don't go. You shouldn't be alone when you're so shaken up."
"I'm keeping you awake!"
"And I won't sleep any better if you leave!" she demanded. "Now I'm worried. Can you tell me at least what you were dreaming about?" Soothingly, she ran her fingers over his exposed stomach, feeling him still quivering. She pressed her cheek against his back, his skin laced with scars and hot to the touch. He'd resist talking about it, but she'd make him talk eventually by wearing him down.
Actually, it shocked her how quickly he answered the question. Perhaps he was finally growing tired of avoiding it. "Aether." His spat out the word with more venom than his Ariados, and it all made sense. When he was working for Aether, mentally-unstable Lusamine had nearly pushed him over the precipice into the dark abyss. There was a time when Alondra had worried there would be no saving him he was too far gone. Seeing him that day when they stormed the corporation was something she wished she could erase from her mind, but it crept back again…
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It was both insane and completely logical at the same time, but above all, it shocked her. As Hau and Alondra burst through the doors to the courtyard of the Aether complex, they'd come face to face with Team Skull, who provided a staunch defense despite how Gladion had plowed through a whole mess of them. "Woah, there's like an uku-billion Team Skull thugs in this place! So, the Foundation really WAS working with Team Skull? This is, like, way too mind-blowing to think about! Alondra, let's knock some skulls together for now."
"Right," she responded grimly, gripping a Pokeball in her hand. As much as she wanted to figure out how the two seemingly opposite groups were aligned and for what purpose, time was of the essence. She'd just have to keep her ears and eyes open as they pushed through. She and Hau commenced to battle their way to the front of Lusamine's mansion, where Alondra got a good view of Guzma crushing Gladion's Type Null and ending their battle.
Gladion weakly recalled his Pokémon. "Ngh, so I'm still not strong enough… All the days that I struggled alone and lonely…it was all for nothing? Is that it?" Gladion looked totally shaken, a look she'd never seen the typically arrogant boy wearing. He was bowed over, holding his hands out, palms up, as if begging the universe to answer him. To make things worse, this only seemed to amuse his opponent. He chuckled. "The hated boss who beats you down and beats you down and never lets up. Yeah, big bad Guzma's here!"
Alondra stepped in front of the boy, getting between him and Guzma's nasty grin. She glared. "What's your angle, Guzma? What are you doing here?"
"I did that spoiled little brat a favor and crushed him. Yeah, that was me." He paused thoughtfully. "Y'know, I kinda liked you, kid. Leaving home like that and wanting to get stronger and stronger. You had some real guts. Going so far as to coming over to Team Skull. And rejecting your own mother?! That was impressive!"
"Hey, you're talking to me, not him!" she snapped, a new anger rising within her. What had gotten into him? He wasn't this malicious in his previous encounters. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse each time she saw him, like some kind of poison spreading.
"Yeah, now it's your turn! You-" he pointed directly at Alondra, "keep getting up in my grill, like a cloud of smoke that I can't brush away." Guzma folded his arms, eyes ablaze. "It's time I put out your fire at the source." Before she knew it he was sending out his Golisopod, and they were battling yet again.
The ensuing battle was very different for two reasons. The first had to do with her: unlike in her previous two encounters, she was not secretly cowering this time, intimidated by his abrasive, belligerent nature. He'd aligned himself with the people trying to bring a dangerous creature to this dimension, and despite whatever Kukui thought of him, he was not 'harmless'; Po Town had made her believe otherwise even if this revelation didn't. And getting a kick out of beating down her teammate? Rubbing salt in his wounds? His obsession with winning was getting downright unhealthy, making her feel he'd stop at nothing to accomplish it. It rarely happened, but Alondra was now irate with the thug standing between her and Lillie. Yeah, that was right, a thug. Maybe she had been wrong, and there was no secret soft side to him like she'd once believed. And now, no one was going to stop her, especially not him. Resolve steeled, she sent out Osvaldo to make short work of Golisopod.
It didn't take long to notice the second change from their previous encounters: he was not holding back. As if he knew he'd have to get serious, he'd brought four Pokémon this time. None of them were a Caterpie. A formidable Pinsir and was easy enough to handle, though it wore her team down, but the Masquerain, a seemingly innocent-looking moth, caused several blows with its Air Cutter that left her team flinching. Of course, he wasn't pulling his punches either. Each move he planned for his team was like going for the jugular. When the dust had cleared, she was the victor, but it was just barely, each member of her team with extremely low health. Dang, after the easy time in Po Town, she'd underestimated him. Almost paid for it too.
"Hey, what's up with you? How come I can't smash you?" He practically threw the money at her face, making no pretense of hiding his rage. In record time, both hands were threaded in his hair, yanking more violently than ever as he practically flailed about in agitation. "Guzma, what's wrong with you?!" This time, he didn't shout it. He didn't speak it to himself. He hissed it between clenched teeth, like he was trying to hold back a flood of toxic emotions. For whatever reason, this was the variation that gave her the most chills. Loud anger was normal, but this…this was pure hatred. Why? Why was it always at himself and never at her, the one that kept foiling his plans? For crying out loud, he paid her every single time! He let her leave with the Yungoos when he could have easily held her hostage! He even complemented her skills in battle!
There was no time to study his reactions. "Tch." He stepped aside, leaving a clear path to the door. "Looks like I got no choice. Go on…go through." He turned his back to the group, and she could see his shoulders tremble with anger. Not waiting for him to change his mind, she and the other two boys darted past him and sprinted inside, leaving him to stew.
Once inside, the events became a blur. There was Lusamine, bashing her children. There was a collection of cryogenically frozen Pokemon with eyes wide open. There was a wormhole that opened before them, and a jellyfish-like Ultrabeast that came through it. But one thing she did remember clearly. Guzma warped into the room, and what happened next would never leave her.
"Madam Prez, the experiment was a success, huh?" He seemed to light up at the prospect, rubbing his hands with glee. "Looks like it's time to catch this wicked Ultra Beast to beat down these annoying upstarts!" Just as she'd feared, any means necessary. Did he not realize what he was dealing with? How dangerous this thing was?
"You're right. Guzma, quiet those children for me. I don't want to hear from them again," Lusamine said calmly, casting a malicious smile. Had that witch really just implied what Alondra thought she implied? She was bat crazy! Surely even a thug like Guzma wouldn't agree to-
When she looked at him, he wore a crazed expression, nodding eagerly and stepping towards them. That was it. He was evil, or insane, but either way he would never get her mercy again. He'd agreed without words to do Lusamine's bidding, even if it meant harming them. Things blurred again, as three separate battles broke out. This time she was tasked with facing off against Lusamine while Hau held off Guzma and Gladion took care of the Ultrabeast. In the end, all three accomplished what they'd needed to, and the beast began to flicker.
Lusamine noticed immediately and gasped. "No! The Ultra Wormhole is disappearing! Guzma. With me. We will catch the beast using the beast ball we've developed here."
And for whatever reason, despite the chaos surrounding him, Guzma was the calmest and most serious she'd ever seen him. He nodded resolutely with a "Yes, ma'am", following her obediently into the portal like a well-trained dog, no second thought about his course of action. Then, they were both gone, leaving her and the kids to pick up the pieces.
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She sighed heavily, thinking of him at his lowest. "It was a dark time for you. I know that now, though I didn't realize it then. I wish I could make it disappear, but then I guess you wouldn't be who you are today, right?"
She could feel him tense. "Would that be such a bad thing? I'm just a broken mess…"
"Who's working hard to put the pieces back together and come out stronger than ever," Alondra finished, giving him a squeeze around his waist and lightly kissing his back. "You know I care for you the way you are."
Guzma's throat tightened. When he'd first met Lusamine, he thought she was an angel and followed her without question, lost in spell of her honeyed words and the flattery he had so desperately craved. But Lusamine ended up being sin incarnate; she could make him feel so good at times, but then leave him crushed and hurting a second later. He supposed it was like being hooked on drugs, though he couldn't say from experience. But Alondra…she looked like an angel and legitimately ACTED like one as well. She demanded nothing from him, and offered him what he was truly needing to the stark contrast of Lusamine. The woman's flattery had been false, a ploy to get his obedience, but Alondra offered sweet words without any personal gain (and in fact, at times with sacrifices to herself when it came to standing up for him). Being with her now made him hurt, realizing just how stupid and blind he had been back then for thinking he had anything real with Aether's leader.
"I did so much shit," he admitted, voice cracking just enough for her to notice. "If she'd told me to jump off a bridge for her amusement, I bet I would have. As it was, I stole Pokémon for her so she could freeze them for her collection. She told me they had the science to simply unfreeze them and that they felt no pain suspended in that ice, and I completely believed her. I love Pokémon, but I let her treat them like objects for display!"
"Guzma…"
"And all that crap about finding her beasts, I did everything she told me to without thinking about how it could damage the world. She was absolutely INSANE, but I obeyed without question. And I hate myself so much for it…" Finally, hot tears escaped against his will. She could feel his chest heave with choked sobs. "Damn it, I don't want you to see me like this! Nobody's supposed to see me like this…"
Alondra wanted desperately to turn him around so he could just burry his face in her shoulder and get it out, but knew it would damage his fragile pride. All she could do was hold him tight from behind so he could hide his face from her. "And I hate that I was ready to condemn you without knowing what you were going through, all the pain you were suffering. I labeled you as the one manipulating your followers when YOU were the one being manipulated. She took advantage of you, and even though I know now she was being affected by toxins at the time, I still have such a hard time letting it go, even for Lillie and Gladion's sakes." Finally, Alondra released her grip on him to soothingly rub up and down his arms. "She hurt you, and that hurts me. And you are by all means entitled to have feelings about it without any judgement."
She felt his biceps flex as he raised an arm to roughly wipe away the tears. "I don't want ya taking on my burdens…"
"Split them between two and they are half as heavy," she reminded him gently. "As it is, thanks for telling me what was bothering you. I know you don't like to talk about that stuff, so it means a lot."
"You're so easy to please," he growled, finally turning around to face her. She could see the tracks of his tears in the dim light, which she moved to wipe away. "And the one night I needed the sleep… I'm going to be a mess tomorrow."
Alondra shrugged. "You were probably anxious about your first day and it triggered a nightmare. That's normal."
Guzma shook his head. "No. I get nightmares a lot. That's why I shouldn't have said yes to share this room."
Leaning over, she kissed his cheek. "Think again. I won't let you leave, even more so now that I know. I won't let you deal with your nightmares all by yourself. You're not alone any more. Now…" She folded back the covers, inviting him back in. "We got that taken care of, so now you can sleep well."
He hesitated. Really, he didn't want to bother her with his baggage. However, it seemed if he refused to crawl back in she'd chase him down and drag him back by the ear despite being a good foot shorter than him. It would be an argument for another day. Grudgingly, he did as she insisted, pulling the covers back over them both. She quickly turned so she lay on her side facing him. "Goodnight Guzma. Sweet dreams." Then she reached out to squeeze his hand before heaving a mighty yawn. Completely unperturbed by their emotional exchange, she fell asleep in minutes. Guzma watched the steady rise and fall of her chest, finally lulled into comfort. Maybe, just maybe, she could be the light that kept the nightmares away…
He hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until he felt her shifting. And as soon as he woke, he realized with a bit of embarrassment that he had her wrapped in his arms.
