Sorry this chapter is kind of short, but we thought it would be a good place to stop to torture you poor readers some more!
"Ghetsis!" Black screeched as he instinctually lunged forward, his hands grasping at the pokeballs at his waist before feeling a heavy weight pull him back. Two of the Shadow Triad had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and grasped him by his arms. The boy squirmed and kicked to little avail, unable to react.
"I've been watching you two for a long time," the man said smoothly, keeping a watchful eye on the body below him. N was shaking almost violently as he gazed up at the man who had caused him so much anguish, so much torment and pain. "It's nice to finally speak to you once more."
"Stay the hell away from him!" Black bellowed, continuing to fight against his captors. All that ran through his mind was the thought of protecting the cowering boy who laid so helplessly on the ground.
"Y-You..." N managed to choke out, his legs refusing to move as much as his brain told him to run. To fight back. To scream.
"You've lost weight. It's concerning. Are you ill? Have you been eating proper-"
"You lied to me!" he shouted, interrupting the man as he felt a bolt of courage jolt through him, managing to shift his weight forward as his fists now shook at his sides. Ghetsis only paused and sneered at the boy's display of disrespect.
"No, I did not lie to you," he replied as his feet started to move, pacing slowly as he spoke. "Misled you, misused you, perhaps, but never lied. What is a lie, but the opposite of the truth? You hold those ideas very dear to your heart; they are your truth. I simply took advantage of it to further my own ideas."
Wincing, N turned his head away. "I didn't know."
Ghetsis smirked. "That was the whole point."
"You turned me into a monster!"
"You were never meant to be anything less."
N opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out, and he went back to watching his father's feet move back and forth across the ground. After a few moments he tried again, his voice soft and pleading. "What am I supposed to do?"
"Come with me," Ghetsis replied simply. "Back where you belong. You were never made to live in the outside world. That should have been made obvious to you by now."
"No, N!" Black shouted once more, losing his strength in his struggles. "Please, you can't possibly-"
"Shut him up," the sage commanded. A third man dressed in black approached him with a thick sash, balling it up and forcing it into his mouth before tying another around it. The brown-haired boy continued to scream against his restraint with no avail.
"You are not like other humans, N. People fear what they don't understand and reject what they fear. This boy here was drawn to you because he wanted to understand, and as such he was rejected as well. Is that what you want? To outcast him, just as you are? If you cared at all about him, you'd realize how selfish that would be."
N had nothing to say to that. He watched Black struggle and shake his head violently, trying to express that Ghetsis was wrong, that he was lying again...
But the former prince knew better. The idea of selfishness was new to him, but all he needed was the thought that when you cared about someone, you put them first. Since the beginning he had dragged Black into his dangerous affairs, not thinking for a moment about the boy's feelings about it. It just never crossed his mind.
It's because you'll never understand humans. Isn't that obvious?
"You're right," N said sadly. He turned his head to face the trainer he had harmed so deeply. "I'm sorry, Black. I was being ignorant."
A tear fell down Black's flustered face, exhausted and frustrated and tired of feeling helpless. But despite the display of emotion from the normally stoic boy, N's expression did not change. All that was there now was shame.
"I hate you," the green-haired boy cried as he turned back to his father. "You... you broke me...! I'll never understand how to interact with people, what to say, what not to say... how to make them not reject me, or judge me, or hurt each other... I can't exist in this world like this...! I don't belong here, and it's all because of you...!"
"Then come back to where you do belong. Back to what is familiar to you, away from all this pain and confusion. Lift society, and this boy, of your burden. It is what's best for everyone, N."
Black closed his eyes as regret washed over him. This was all his fault. He had failed N and now N would pay for it. Worst of all was that Ghetsis had been right about far too much. Taking care of N was difficult, and only growing more so, but it was a task he should have been able to handle. He loved N, didn't he? You ought to at least take care of the person you love, even if it's hard. But instead, he had...
The sage reached his hand down towards his son, offering him assistance off the ground. He smiled, as sincere as he could manage, as N hesitated.
Lift society of your burden. Lift Black of your burden. Go back to the only place you were ever meant to be, back to the only thing you deserve...
A trembling hand outstretched to meet Ghetsis's, and Black could only scream against his binds.
A pokeball was dropped from the older man's belt and his hydreigon shrieked, flapping its wiry wings with great force. N felt himself yanked onto the back of the beast that had horrified him well into his teens; it possessed a darkness the boy sensed clearly. Without a word, the dragon took off from the ground, flying high above the trees in little time.
He barely had time to watch Black fall to his knees as he was released. He could not see his face as the younger trainer began to sob. In mere seconds, all N could see were clouds passing rapidly below him.
It is what's best for everyone.