Ayame and Blake were making progress. But then Blake learned the truth. Gwen was in the Orre Region! And now his priorities have completely shifted. So what's he going to do with that now? Will he be able to keep a cool head, or is he about to lose his shit? Olivia better start running, because Blake's not in a good mood.

KedharS: When are they ever not messy where he's involved?

Guest: That would be nice, right? Kanone behaving like a good brother? Yeah, we're not doing that.

Hyphenman: Olivia's going to be in a bad situation, that's for sure. Let's see if she'll manage to weasel her way out of it.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 1272

Blake stormed through the hall, practically in a blind rage. But while he was angry, there was a tranquility to his anger. He wasn't shouting at the top of his lungs or slamming doors or breaking things. His rage was subtler than that. An aura of fury burned around him that caused everyone he passed by to step out of the way on instinct. No one thought to stop him from going where he intended, even if he was a stranger here.

It was a smart decision on their part. No one should want to get between him and the person he was looking for.

"Olivia…" He seethed.

She knew. She'd absolutely known. That whole meeting the other night about helping Ayame regain her memories and going back to normal, and she'd made the choice not to mention the fact that she'd run into Blake's sister in Agate Village.

When he confronted her, he knew she was going to try and make an excuse. But whatever that excuse was, it would be bullcrap. Whenever that bitch breathed the air came out crooked; no way would he trust a word out of her fucking mouth.

There it was. Her door.

"OLIVIA!" He roared, slamming his fist against the door with everything he had. She was going to answer him. "Come out right now! I know what you did! Answer me, you bitch!"

The door creaked open. But Olivia wasn't the blonde standing on the other side of it.

Sango was there, staring wide-eyed at him.

He took a second to understand what was going on.

It was early in the morning. He'd gone to Ayame at the crack of dawn. What was Sango doing here this early? Unless she'd…

"Blake?" Sango tensed, a little frightened by the fury she saw in her friend's eyes. "What's the matter? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Blake lied through his clenched teeth. "I just need to talk to Olivia. She's in there, isn't she? You two were screwing or something?"

Sango's jaw dropped in shock and she went pale.

"Of course not!" She exclaimed. "How could you even begin to think that?!"

"Castform!" Silver shot between the two of them, taking up a defensive posture to keep Blake away from his partner. Blake just growled something under his breath.

Sango could see he was hurting.

"Did you talk to Ayame?" She winced, expecting that Blake's pain was about something that had happened with his girlfriend. But she couldn't have been more wrong.

"This has nothing to do with her," he growled. "This is about Olivia, that lying bitch! Do you have any idea what happened in the Orre Region?!"

Sango shook her head. "I don't know. But right now, you're really angry, so let's just calm down before you do something-"

"My sister was there!" Blake exclaimed, startling Sango. "She was in the Orre Region! Ayame remembered! She said she saw her in Agate Village! And don't tell me that Olivia had no idea, because I KNOW she did! She's going to answer me right now!"

"Or you'll do what?" Olivia strolled to the doorway with a smirk on her lips. Even this early in the morning she still looked phenomenal, dressed in a white and gold dress were hair perfectly set in ringlets and her eyes the same piercing blue as always. Her perfectly made up face belied no trace of discomfort or irritation and she smirked at Blake as if she was daring him to try something.

She was lucky he didn't wring her neck.

"I'll-"

"You won't do anything, will you? Hurt me and you'll lose the only chance you have of getting Aya back to her old self and remembering you," Olivia threatened.

"Olivia?!" Sango whirled around in shock, unable to believe what she was hearing. While Olivia may have been a devious person, Sango never would have imagined she'd gamble with her friend's memory like that!

"You bitch," Blake spat. "And here I thought you had some semblance of class."

Olivia sighed and shook her head. "Blake, please, use your brain. Oh, and you're welcome to come in, by the way, I have coffee."

With that she turned and walked into the common area of her suite-like bedroom, having no intention of engaging in a shouting match in her foyer.

Blake fumed, but if he wanted answers he didn't really have a choice. So he followed Olivia inside, leaving Sango to close the door and scurry after him, completely confused by what was going on between them.

"Talk," he growled.

"Sit," Olivia replied, pointing to a chair. She'd taken the couch for herself, and her presence made it clear that she had no intention of letting anyone else join her on it. She glared across the table at Blake, taking advantage of the power dynamic between the two of them.

Blake may have been filled with rage, but that wouldn't help him here. There was nothing he could do to get Olivia to talk besides sit down.

So that's what he did, sitting across from her and allowing her to make her case.

"I lied to you," Olivia said bluntly, pissing him off even more. The nonchalant way she just admitted it was disgusting.

"Well, technically, it was a lie of omission."

And there it was, the excuse. How predictable. Start with a blunt, disarming statement, and then prevaricate about why it wasn't really that bad. He'd dealt with people like this before, and they pissed him off.

"You think that matters to me?" Blake growled. "How could you just keep knowledge of my sister from me?! She's my sister! Do you know how long I've been looking for her? If you'd told me-"

"You'd what? Chart a jet and fly to the Orre Region as soon as possible?" Olivia snorted, rolling her eyes. "Something tells me even you're not that stupid. She's long gone. I didn't 'see her' there, we had an encounter. And she retreated."

Olivia was leaving out a lot of details, but it wasn't like Blake knew what they were. He could tell she was a lying, double-faced skank, but not precisely what she was lying about.

"So were you just never going to tell me, then?" Blake glared at her. "My sister attacks you, and you don't think that's information I deserve to know?!"

Olivia took a sip of her coffee and smiled serenely at him.

"No, I don't," she replied. "Because that's not my place. If I thought it was necessary for you to know, I would have told you. I didn't, so you can understand that I don't."

"But she's my sister!" Blake exclaimed.

"That's right!" Sango nodded. "Blake has a right to know about his sister!"

"Even if I believe that's the case, it doesn't change my answer," Olivia shrugged. "I'm not allowed to talk about it. So I didn't. It's as simple as that."

"I don't believe this," Blake seethed, glaring at her. "How could you just keep this from me? How could you be so heartless!?"

"Why? Would you like a list?" Olivia asked, leaning back on the couch. "If you want me to list out the reasons why I kept this from you, I can do that."

Blake glared at her. She was crossing the line, big time, and he wanted to smack the shit out of her arrogant mouth. But he held his rage down.

"…Fine," he spat out. "Tell me why you thought it was okay to LIE TO ME FACE. I want to hear it from your own mouth."

"Gladly!" Olivia chirped. "And to be clear, it wasn't just me that decided not to tell you, or anybody, about what happened to your sister. It was a collective thing, really all the daevas agreed to it, even the Phantom. And getting him to agree with anything that doesn't directly suit his interests is like pulling teeth."

Sango gasped in shock. "All of you?! Then even-"

"Yes, Sango, even your fishing freak of a girlfriend," Olivia smirked. "All four of us believed that it was necessary to keep this secret. So don't blame me. It's more of a collective group that you have a problem with. Oh, and most of the other people who went on the trip as well, at least the ones in our groups. Hell, if Aya hadn't lost her memories, I'm certain that she would have agreed to go along with this too."

That was it. That was the line.

"You shut your fucking mouth!" Blake exclaimed, leaping from the chair and slamming his hands against the table. Olivia's coffee cup shook. "You don't know a damn thing about Ayame! She would have NEVER gone along with something like this! She knows too well what my sister means to me!"

"You watch your tone, boy!" Olivia snapped, narrowing her eyes into a glare. "Are you forgetting who you're dealing with? I'm that girl's best friend! We've been together for years! So believe me when I'm telling you that when you hear the reason why we didn't say anything, you'll understand where we're coming from."

Blake wanted to call her a liar. But the weight in her words was too strong. Unable to say anything further, he sat back down and let her continue.

"Excellent. Then the first reason," Olivia said, holding up a finger. "Ayame herself."

Blake was stunned.

"What!? What do you mean?" He demanded.

"This reason is a personal one," Olivia explained. "There's two more reasons why I didn't tell you, but I wanted to explain this one first, so you could understand where I'm coming from, alright?"

"Fine," Blake spat. "Explain to me what Ayame has to do with my sister."

"Gladly!" Olivia's tone was cheery but her face was as cold as a mask. "When I saw what happened to Aya, I knew that she was in bad shape. But I also knew that continued proximity with people she cared about and things she'd experienced before would be instrumental to her recovery. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"No," Blake said, shaking his head. "You told us all this the other night! What does it have to do with Gwen?"

"Look at you!" Olivia glared at Blake. "You're agitated. You're not thinking clearly! All your thoughts are revolving around your little sister right now, and they're turning you violent!"

"Because you lied to me!" He exclaimed.

"Oh, please," Olivia rolled her eyes. "We both know better than that. If I told you about your sister the second we came back, would your response have been much different? Sure, you wouldn't feel as betrayed, but you'd still be focused on her like you are now. She'd be everything you can think of. The last time your sister got involved, Aya was the one who brought you out of it. But Aya's lost her memories now, and she needs YOU to get them back!"

Olivia's voice softened and she looked down. "Aya needs you, Blake. Not obsessed with your sister, she needs you thinking clearly. If the only thing you were doing was worrying about Gwen, then you wouldn't be there for the girl who actually needs you, the girl who's right here. Do you understand that?"

Blake was about to tell her where she could shove her excuse, but then he paused and considered what Olivia was actually saying.

He and Ayame had been getting closer, they'd had an actual conversation. And as soon as his sister came up, he abandoned the conversation and went to go find Olivia to vent his anger.

He hadn't been there for Ayame at all.

"You love Aya, Blake, everyone with eyes can see that," Olivia said. "But a part of that love comes from Aya's unwavering support of you, and how much she cares about you. And you don't have that anymore. You need it, but you don't have it. And that's causing you to spin out. Because you want that security back, but you can't have it. Do you see what I'm saying?"

Blake couldn't deny the point she raised. He looked down shamefully.

"I understand," he admitted. "But still…"

"I needed you focused," Olivia said quietly. "Thinking about how best to get Aya back. Not obsessing over your sister. That's the reason I, personally, didn't want to tell you."

"Blake, I think… I think she has a point," Sango admitted. She didn't like it, but she couldn't argue against it, either.

And as much as Blake hated to admit it, he knew she did, too.

"There's two more reasons," Olivia continued. "Would you like me to tell you?"

"Fine," he spat out, still hurting over the fact that Olivia had made such a good point. He wanted self-righteous fury, he didn't want to face the reality of the situation or for the target of his ire to have any justification.

"The second reason is because the school wanted to cover it up," Olivia said.

Blake sat upright in his seat. Sango's jaw dropped.

"The school?!" Sango gasped. "The school wanted to keep it covered up?!"

"Specifically, the school wanted everything that happened in Agate Village covered up," Olivia clarified. "It had nothing to do with your sister personally. The issue is, a bunch of their students got attacked by terrorists. You think they're happy about that? You think they want to broadcast that fact to everyone? Nope. So they basically forced us all to keep quiet, threatening us with all sorts of penalties and risks. That's the main reason the other daevas agreed. Nobody wanted to make a big stink about this whole mess."

She looked apologetically to Sango. "Even Marion could see the logic in that."

Sango frowned. She didn't like the idea that her friend had betrayed her like that. Did Marion really keep this from her and Blake simply because the school had threatened her? But then, she did care about her future…

No way, she's not the type of girl to do that! Sango insisted to herself. Not Marion!

"So aren't you going to get in trouble?" Blake asked. "With the school, I mean. For telling me all about this?"

"And me?" Sango added.

"Probably," Olivia shrugged. "If they're aware of it. But I'm only telling you that something got covered up. Not what that something is."

Blake doubted that the faculty would be in the mood to split that hair. Acknowledging that the teachers and principal were part of a cover-up involving student safety was bad enough, regardless of whether or not information as to what that conspiracy was would come out or not.

But Olivia didn't seem to mind.

"Besides, there's a whole lot more that they're worried about," she added. "And that's something that I'm not ready to tell you. Not yet, anyway."

As angry as Blake was, Olivia had no intention of telling him about his sister. Knowledge of Samarra would complicate matters.

"…Which brings us to our third reason," Olivia finished. "And this reason is why good people like Alcea and Marion went along with this, when they might not have gone along with the whole 'school extortion' thing."

"I knew it," Sango sighed in relief. Marion might have understood the school's position, but no way she would have gone along with it.

"The third reason," Olivia continued, "is because Kanone Harker asked me to keep it quiet."

And that statement hung over the air like a dense fog.

"Kanone… Harker?" Blake whispered, trying to work that out in his mind. "My brother… he knew about this… and he… he asked you to-? He didn't tell me, he… what?"

Sango was just as shocked.

"Your brother," Olivia said again. "He told me that he didn't want you to learn about what happened with your sister. He wanted to wait until the time was right to tell you. Because of my own reasons, I agreed to keep it secret. That's all I have to say."

Blake couldn't believe it. Part of the reason he'd been so outraged that Olivia had kept this from him was because he wanted the information so that he could tell his brother about it, and Kanone could go get her. It wasn't like he could just up and leave school and travel to the Orre Region apropos of nothing, after all.

But this changed things.

Kanone knew about Gwen.

"Was he there?" Blake asked as evenly as he could.

"Blake…" Sango winced.

Blake ignored her. "Was. He. There?"

Olivia frowned. She didn't say a word, but she nodded.

Blake saw red.

"Unbelievable!" He exclaimed, rising from his seat and pacing around the room. "He found Gwen, and what, he just lets her get away?! He didn't even TELL me?! Unbelievable!"

"I know how hard it must be," Olivia said quietly. "But there's a lot of complicated stuff that you don't know about. And I'd like to tell you, really, I would. But I can't. I made a promise."

Blake wasn't even listening. He was too busy focusing on the rage he was feeling. He'd trusted his brother, he thought they were in this together.

Sango had enough. She walked over to Blake and smacked him across the face.

"Hey, jackass! Are you even paying attention?!" She snapped.

Blake shook his head, nearly senseless.

"Sango-"

"No, you listen to me!" She snapped. "I don't know anything either. So maybe I'm not the right one to talk. But getting all pissy about it isn't going to help. I know how much your sister means to you, but this is important. And you shouldn't just get angry. Calm down and let's think about this rationally, okay?" She pleaded.

Blake knew she was right. That slap had smacked some sense back into him.

"You're right," he admitted, hanging his head in shame. "I got angry. But you're right, I don't know everything."

He turned to Olivia.

"So please, tell me. Tell me what happened with my sister," he pleaded with her.

Olivia sighed. "I can't. I told you why. But… I'll make a deal with you. Let me tell you what I've been working on all this time, and you can tell me what you think."

Well, Blake lost his shit on Olivia, but thankfully Sango was able to talk some sense into him. Right now, though, he's in a difficult position. He must feel pretty betrayed, knowing that his brother hid what happened to his sister from him. So what does Olivia want? Will she tell him what happened, or is she after something else? And where does Sango factor into this?