The Boat That Rocked (Rocketshipping Fanfic)
Part Twenty-One
Meowth was sat on the kitchen table, his bright eyes appraising the people around him. James was still sat in his seat, elbows up on the table with his chin cupped in his hand, green eyes watching Jaime from across the room. The woman was stood in the centre of the room, a mobile phone to her ear, waiting for the other side to answer. Lisa was leaning against the doorway, playing with her long blonde hair, her gaze constantly flicking from her fingers to Jaime.
The clock on the wall ticked.
Suddenly Jaime flinched and all eyes focused fully on her.
"Alphonse?" she said, uncertainly.
To Meowth's surprise his strong hearing couldn't pick up the low voice that replied and could only watch Jaime's responses along with everyone else.
"Yes, he knows…" she glanced over at James. There was a long pause and then, "Yes."
Meowth shifted uneasily and James tapped the table once – keep still.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry but I can't wait for you like you told me to. I can't stay quiet till the end."
Another long pause. Jaime bowed her head, her hand grabbing hold of the bottom of her shirt. "Yes. I understand that now, brother." This pause was even longer. Jaime had closed her eyes.
Then they snapped open and her expression darkened. A chill ran down Meowth's spine. "Yes, brother. I understand." She hung up with a sharp jab of her thumb.
The kitchen was silent, no one moving.
"Well?" Lisa's voice was soft and quiet but the word felt like a lightning bolt had hit, abruptly disturbing the stillness.
"It worked."
There was a collective sigh of relief and James relaxed his arms, spreading his fingers out on the table surface. "Did he say where he was?"
Jaime looked at him, her expression unfathomable. "I've been told where to go."
Meowth's lip curled up, revealing a sharp canine. "You ain't gonna tell us?"
"That's not what's expected of me, is it?" she smirked at him. This woman…
However, to Meowth's dismay, James nodded. "You go." He looked searchingly at her. "Just follow the plan." It almost sounded like a question, a hint of desperation straining his voice.
A flicker of distaste showed on Jaime's face but it disappeared as soon as it came. "I told you that I would. Your plan is foolproof, remember?"
Lisa visibly winced.
James ignored her and reached to take his mobile phone out of his pocket, placing it before Meowth. He touched it with a paw. "We'll wait for your call."
Jaime nodded and then turned on her heel, leaving the kitchen and heading for the apartment door.
"Can we trust her?" Meowth asked.
James smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "She's returning to how she was before she met me," Sadness crept into his smile. "Before she had something else to live for."
Meowth frowned. "So can we trust her or not?" I don't care about her – we need to save Jessie and that's all that matters now.
"We can trust her."
A scrape of shoes across tiles made Meowth look up. Lisa was staring at the apartment door, a strange expression on her face.
"Lisa…?" Meowth asked, hesitantly.
The girl looked at him, seemingly startled. "Ah, um…" she glanced back at the door. "Are you sure we can trust her?"
James leaned back in his chair. "We can."
The girl didn't seem completely convinced but her shoulders relaxed and she returned to leaning against the doorway.
Meowth turned his attention to James. "Can you still not remember anythin'?"
James blinked at the sudden question. He licked his lips, apparently considering his answer before speaking. "No, there's nothing."
Nothing? Meowth felt deflated.
"I…" James paused for a second. "I have a sense though."
Meowth's ears twitched. "A sense?"
He flipped his hands over, palm facing up. "Just a sense." He closed his hands into tight fists. "It's not much. I'm sorry."
The cat Pokémon smiled gently. "'Just a sense' sounds good to me."
A sense is better than nothin'.
-#-
Her blouse had been unbuttoned and pushed aside, her chin and neck still wet from the man's disgusting onslaught on her skin. Jessie shivered.
Alphonse had abruptly stopped when his phone had started ringing. Upon answering, his voice had changed. He had sounded solemn, his tone revealing his own self-importance like his words were irrefutable commands, yet that sneer remained, as if everything was below him and he found it amusing.
He had left the room so she couldn't hear the conversation and could only listen to the rumble of his voice from a distance. It had been some time since he had last spoken and she assumed the phone call had ended, but he still hadn't returned.
I hope he trips over and gets impaled on a nail.
As if hearing her thoughts, she heard footsteps and she soon sensed the man standing over her. Jessie flinched as cold fingers grazed her stomach, moving up to touch her chest through her bra. He removed his hand with a small snigger.
I hope the ceiling falls in and he gets his head chopped off by a pipe.
She heard him leaving the room again and she released a breath she had been holding.
Jessie pulled at the ropes again but to no avail, instead attaining raw wrists, a warm sensation of blood on the torn flesh.
Minutes passed and she continued to pull, sometimes trying to move the chair with her body but never getting far. She froze when she heard footsteps approaching the room and she leaned back in the chair, tensing her body and clenched her teeth together.
Wait…there's more than one set of footsteps.
"Here we go." Alphonse said brightly, as if showing someone around a new house. I'm not a damned exhibition for you to show.
Alphonse walked over, moving behind the chair and placed his hands on her shoulders. He squeezed. "Isn't she beautiful? I can see what James saw in her."
James? Again? What has this all got to with him?!
"What do you think?" His voice was expectant and threatening, as if only one answer would be accepted.
"Aren't you having a bit too much fun?" A woman's voice.
He laughed. "Ah, come on, sis, it won't hurt."
Sis? She's your sister? And she's letting you do something like this to someone?!
"I'd disagree with you on that one." The woman replied, monotone.
He sighed, his grip on Jessie's shoulders lifting. "So, what did James say?"
Jessie jerked her hands upwards, sharply, whipping her head around so her blindfolded eyes could look blindly at the man.
"Oh, that got a nice reaction."
"Brother."
"Go on, I'm listening." She heard the material shifting of clothes as he shifted his weight, folding his arms across her chest.
Jessie turned her head to face the woman, waiting with her blood rushing in her ears for her to speak.
"He won't give himse-"
Alphonse interrupted. "I knew that much."
A slight hesitation. "What about talking ab-"
"Not gonna happen." His answer was harsh, shadowed by a type of dark violence that Jessie hadn't heard before.
However, the woman didn't falter, as if she expected the man's reply, and continued. "He's not stupid enough to run in here, guns blazing. He'll try to be skilful about it."
"I didn't expect anything less – James was known for his cautiousness back in the city," Alphonse started slowly moving around Jessie, his feet scraping noisily across concrete. "He's probably trying to concoct some sort of plan where he can sneak in and run out unnoticed."
"Just like he did in the city."
"Exactly."
Jessie opened her mouth, tired of sitting and listening – she needed answers now. A hand slapped over her mouth, muffling her words, Alphonse's whisper in her ear, "I wouldn't say anything if I were you…"
After a tense moment, he removed his hand and she felt something at the back of her head. Then a blinding light struck her eyes as the blindfold fell from her face.
"There you go, sweetheart." He murmured.
Jessie blinked furiously, shrinking back from the bright light until her eyes became accustomed and focused on her surroundings.
The walls of the room weren't plastered, showing red bricks and dirty metal, the floor a cold grey concrete. A bare light bulb hung from a wire, buzzing as electricity flowed through it. A doorway in the far left corner of the room opened up into a dark shadowy corridor, no door in sight and only jagged edges of bricks created the opening.
Her chair was situated at the back of the room but was some feet away from the wall, where Alphonse now stood. The man wore a pale blue shirt and black trousers, a dark tie hanging loosely below the unbuttoned collar. His eyes glinted as she looked at him and she turned away.
The woman was leaning against the far wall, shoulder-length dark hair falling around her chiselled face. She wore brown trousers and a tight-fitting white shirt, showing her slender yet strong looking body. Her blue eyes gazed at Jessie, watching her carefully, her expression blank.
"This is my sister," Alphonse moved into her line of sight, blocking her view of the woman. "Her name's Jaime." He grinned and walked over to the woman, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
The siblings were similar heights and Jaime slightly turned her head to met Alphonse's eyes, their faces close. "Would you mind if I did something?"
Alphonse looked surprised and dropped his arm from her shoulders. "Go on."
Jaime pushed herself away from the wall and walked over to Jessie, standing in front of her and looking down with an unreadable expression.
What is she going to do? Jessie stared at her, maintaining the burning of hatred and fury in her chest, her will reflecting in her eyes. I will not back down, I will not break, no matter what you do to me.
The woman bent down, her long arms reaching out and Jessie shrank back. But to her surprise, the woman began to button up her shirt, leaving the top two undone. Then she stepped back and faced her brother. "No arguments?"
Alphonse had a weird smile on his face. "Protecting her modesty? Did the sight of her bare skin offend you?"
Jaime seemed to prickle at his words, the muscles in her jaw tensing. "No arguments?" she repeated with much more force.
"There are no arguments from me but…" he raised a finger and pointed it at Jessie. "Shouldn't you hate her? I thought you wouldn't care about what happened to her. She is the other woman."
The other woman? Wait, what? An odd feeling curled in the pit of her stomach.
Jaime was silent.
"Shouldn't you want to see her suffer?" His eyes glinted.
"Not like that," she replied. "I don't like your methods."
Alphonse sighed. Then his face lit up and he looked at his sister with glee. "I know! Do you still have that snake of yours?"
"You mean Arbok?" she frowned.
"Yeah, do you have it?"
"Well, I do." She retrieved a Pokéball from her belt and twirled in around in her hand. "What do you want me to do?"
Jessie saw Alphonse's next movements as slithering – slithering across the room to wrap himself around his sister, his chin on her shoulder, his lips touching her ear as he whispered something.
Jaime didn't react to him and instead listened, nodding when he stepped away. The wicked grin on the man's face unnerved Jessie but the strange faraway look on the woman's face as she turned to Jessie unsettled her even more.
In a flash of light, the Arbok appeared before Jessie, its long pink tongue flicking in and out of its mouth. Jaime reached out to touch it, bending down to speak in a low voice and the Pokémon moved forwards.
Fear struck Jessie as she felt scales rub against her legs, the Arbok circling the chair, its sharp eyes trained on her as it raised its head, its tongue flicking out to touch her face.
She could hear Alphonse laughing as the Arbok opened its mouth to reveal long razor fangs, and drew closer. It's going to bite me.
There was a sharp pain as the tips of the snake's fangs dug into the flesh of her neck, pulling back to rake across her shoulder and down, ripping open her newly-buttoned shirt. The snake lifted its head and she stared into the depths of its black eyes. Blood welled up from the two fresh cuts and stained her blouse with a bright crimson.
Alphonse was grinning, his eyes gleaming, obviously enjoying himself. Jaime looked emotionless, empty, her eyes distant as if she wasn't truly here.
How did I get into this?
A/N:::
University tomorrow! So here begins the delayed updates.
When I wrote the previous A/N, I did think that perhaps it didn't make sense but my brain couldn't come up with anything else so it ended up being a bit of a muddle :: am sorry :(
Thank you for reading :)