The Boat That Rocked (Rocketshipping Fanfic)

Part Twenty-Two

The sight of Jessie's blood sickened Jaime. The sound of Alphonse's crazed laughter repulsed her. The empty feeling in her chest frightened her.

She watched as Arbok's fangs dug deeper, Jessie closing her eyes against the pain, and she looked away.

This wasn't part of the plan.

Suddenly there was a weight around her shoulders and she tilted her head to see Alphonse holding her from behind, arms around her neck. He had a manic smile on his lips.

"What's your point?" she asked.

Alphonse blinked, pretending confusion. "My point?"

She waited.

He sighed, his arms squeezing tighter around her throat. "Isn't it thrilling to see someone vulnerable at your mercy?"

"I don't share your inclinations."

His eyes darkened slightly and Jaime stiffened. But he wasn't looking at her and she followed his gaze.

Her Arbok had frozen, its black eyes staring intensely into Jessie's, and the red-haired woman looked shocked, her eyes wide.

Then the Pokémon moved away, shifting to position itself in front of her, now baring its fangs at the siblings.

What? What's going on?

"Arbok…?" she heard Jessie whisper. The snake twisted its head to look at her. "Is it really you?" The Pokémon nodded. It nodded.

"Jaime," a voice growled in her ear. "Would you like to tell me what's going on?"

The arms around her throat were growing tighter and she could feel Alphonse shaking with utter fury behind her.

"Broth-"

"Don't give me that 'brother' crap," he snarled. "Call your pet off."

Jaime had seen her brother change moods at a snap of a finger many times before but she never could rid herself of the feeling of terror that sent her heart racing. But this time his anger wasn't aimed at people of the city, at people who had wronged him or at his enemies – but at her. She still had the scar on her stomach from when he had last focused his frustration on her.

"A-Arbok," she called out shakily, raising the Pokéball. "Return."

But the snake's eye narrowed, a strange guttural noise in its throat.

"Jaime." Alphonse hissed.

"Arbok, return." She ordered again.

But the Pokémon didn't return, but instead starting moving towards them, its eyes glaring and its muscles coiled, ready to attack as soon as it got in reach.

Alphonse removed his arms and with a metallic sound behind her head, she felt the cold numbness of a gun at the base of her skull.

"Do something."

Jaime flinched. What the hell do you expect me to do?

Slow seconds passed and Arbok drew closer. The gun pushed harder. Jaime lifted her gaze to met Jessie's. The red-haired woman looked happy and relieved, as if Arbok was a long-lost friend she had found again. What is this?

"Jaime, you have a great risk of losing your pet."

Both Jessie and Jaime jumped at his words, Jessie pulling once again at her bindings. Jaime tilted her head to glare at her brother. "You wouldn't dare."

"You have no right to threaten me, little sis." And in a rapid movement, the gun was lifted and pointed over her shoulder, a bullet firing before she had chance to blink.

Ruthless. That was all Jaime could think as she watched Arbok's body fall to the ground, its black eyes glazing over.

Jaime collapsed to her knees, a quivering hand reaching out to touch the scaly Pokémon. Jessie was crying. Why is crying?

Through her fingers Jaime could feel Arbok's weak heartbeat. It's still alive.

"Well, dear sis?" A voice murmured in her ear, breath on her neck.

"It's dead…" she replied, standing up and turning away.

Why is Jessie crying like that?

Alphonse walked around the Pokémon and towered over the weeping Jessie, gripping her hair and jerking her head back. "Hey… Jessie…" he droned, his voice a low rumble. "Do you want to know where James went when he left you?"

"Alphonse." Jaime warned.

"You have no right to speak." He spat at her.

Jaime looked at the ground, her fist clenching at her side.

"Well, Jessie? Do you?"

The woman was shaking, her tears stopping as she glared with pure hatred at the man who held her. Her words came out strangled, heavy with emotion, each one a sharp stab of loathing. "I. Don't. Care."

Alphonse's lip curled, letting go of her hair, spinning around and striding towards Jaime. He grabbed her collar and pulled her close, face flushed and eyes blazing. "Get that bastard here."

She knew who he meant but she didn't respond.

"Didn't you hear me?" he growled, her collar tightening around her throat.

"I heard you." She replied. I will not get James killed. That was the only reason I went along with his plan – the assurance that he wouldn't die.

"And?" he hissed.

"And nothing." She hissed back.

Jaime knew she couldn't go back now. With the rage that flashed in her brother's eyes, she knew she would pay. This is it.

Jaime prepared herself for what was coming and closed her eyes, fully expecting the strike of pain as Alphonse punched her. She flew back, only just able to stabilise herself, her legs spread and bent, her fingers on the ground, holding her up. She tasted iron and she licked crimson liquid from her lips. Her nose was gushing blood and it was probably broken.

She straightened, her head falling to one side, a smile spreading across her face. "That it?"

Oh, you've really done it now.

The gun glinted as her brother pulled it from his belt, the barrel staring at her.

"Why aren't you shooting?" she asked after a minute had passed.

The man was twitching, his jaw sliding and tensing, his finger moving on the trigger, yet the gun remained steady.

"I'm giving you a chance." A chance? You've never given me one of them before. "Do as you're told." He waved the gun at her. "Call James."

Jessie's head snapped up, her eyes widening at Jaime.

Jaime chuckled lightly at the red-head's reaction.

However Alphonse didn't take to kindly to her light laughter, interpreting it as her ridiculing him. "Jaime. I'm warning you."

"He's really got under your skin, hasn't he?"

"What?" he narrowed his eyes.

"Normally you would have pulled the trigger already. You would have kicked me, hit me – beaten me until I fell unconscious," her smile grew slightly, cynically, darkly. "Even then, you would continue until your anger had waned. Until you thought I had paid for my mistakes, my resistance, when I didn't follow your orders or didn't do them quick enough."

He sniggered. "Oh really? And I thought you enjoyed it?"

"You take silence as acceptance?"

His smirk faded. "You're getting annoying."

"Then shoot."

"Call James."

"Shoot."

She spread her arms wide, offering a clear shot to her heart.

He lowered the gun.

"Jaime, I won't kill you," He spoke softly, in complete contrast to the fury visible in his contorted expression. "You're my sister."

Family is above everything else, eh? Even when you want to crush my ribs and rip my heart out from my chest, you won't. You can hurt me, but you can't kill me.

Jaime let her arms fall to her sides.

"No matter what, we've always been together, haven't we?" Her brother started. "We've helped each other. I helped you get to James, didn't I? But he betrayed us – and then he took you away. I can't forgive that. And now he's hurt you – you shouldn't be able to forgive him. You should hate him as much as I do."

Ah. I see. James took away the only thing that will never leave you. What an idiot I've been. I always thought you were the one in control, but you never were. You've been relying on me all this time. I was the one who took your frustration, your stress, your tears, your hatred, your love, everything. I was your source of stability in a city of ever-shifting darkness.

And just because I'm your sister, I stayed through everything. Because I knew nothing else, I accepted everything. But James showed me something new, that I didn't need to stay by your side.

He stole away your pet.

"I don't hate him." she spoke steadily.

"Why?!" He shouted, exasperated. "You should hate him." Because that would suit you.

"I accepted him. I accepted it."

Alphonse pointed at Jessie. "You were thrown aside – thrown aside for this woman. Don't YOU care?!"

"And she was thrown aside for the city. For me," she stuffed her hands into her trouser pockets, fingers curling around her mobile phone. "I was only ever a substitute to begin with."

Both Jessie and Alphonse looked at her silently. Her fingers shifted in her pocket, subtly sliding over the screen of her phone.

Alphonse suddenly raised the gun and aimed it at Jessie. "So if she dies, everything rights itself, doesn't it?"

Damn, damn, damn. "How will you get James then?"

He paused, the barrel slightly lowering. At least if he shot her now, it wouldn't kill her.

"You want James, right? Not her."

He considered her from the corner of his eye. After a while, he sighed and returned the gun to his belt, flicking the safety back on.

Jaime had James on speed dial and as her thumb moved, she prayed that she had predicted the number correctly on the on-screen keypad. She heard the faint noise of an outgoing call from her pocket and her hand closed around her phone, attempting to further hide the sound.

Alphonse was pacing the room and the women watched him with empty expressions. Jaime ducked her head and Jessie's eyes flitted to her. Jaime met the woman's gaze and saw that her eyes were red from crying. Did she know the Arbok or something? It wouldn't surprise her. She had found the Pokémon in a warehouse along with many other stolen Pokémon, all stored in bags and forgotten. They had been shared out among Alphonse's men but she had kept the snake for herself. Maybe it was hers originally.

It felt like a cruel twist of fate, that even before Jaime and James met, they were bound by something. It felt like this was all meant to happen as a sick kind of joke of destiny.

There was a scuff of shoes against concrete and Jaime looked up to see Alphonse leaning against the wall.

"What now?" she asked.

He didn't answer.

"What about her?" she nodded her head at Jessie, trying a different angle.

He shifted his weight, raising one foot to place it on the wall. "You can have her."

And with that he pushed himself away from the wall and walked into the shadows of the corridor, his hand retrieving the gun from his belt. Jaime listened to his footsteps, waiting for the distant slam of the old door at the front of the derelict building.

He's gone.

Jaime didn't know what her brother had come up with in place of his plan of waiting for James, but she knew that he had realized that he couldn't use her. He had found a new way to get what he wanted.

Time was short.

Jaime turned to the red-haired woman, her limbs tightly bound to her seat, blood staining her shirt, her eyes red, his muscles taunt.

Jessie. The red woman.

Jaime smiled.

A/N:::

Hey guys - am at University now! woop woop! It's my fourth day tomorrow. It's been good so far and I love it.

I wrote a bit of this chapter each night. I hope you guys like it and while I may understand what's going in this chapter, am fearful others may not as Jaime and Alphonse's relationship is quite complex.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I thank you for your patience for these delayed updates. As it's freshers week, there wasn't as long a wait between this and the last chapter but next week is when proper lectures start so the updates will probably be more delayed.

Thank you for reading and am grateful for all your reviews!