Once he had friends.

But not anymore.

Years ago, before everything had gone to hell the first time, Luicus Malfoy had had friends. True companions that stood by him through thick and thin. The kind that were talked about in foolish storybooks and tales. Companions, brothers in all but blood. It had been decades since he'd last thought of them but he remembered them all the same.

Terrance, who loved to swim even though his family were Fire Type users and were trying to reestablish their gym after some bad investments by his great grandfather. His hope was to find a team of Fire/Water pokemon, or even just one, because with that he would have been able to truly shake up the gym leader system and get his family back as one of the Great Eight.

Little Viggo who was the one that insisted they call him that even thought he was the tallest in their group. That was also why he tried to be late for almost everything, so that he could see the shocked faces when he walked into the room. It was a power play, one that sometimes didn't work but he always managed to find a way to smile and laugh and make it seem like it had even when it was clear that he had failed.

Samson with his rock pick, always leaning down to poke at stones to see what he could find. They'd always laughed at him when he did that though they'd grown quiet each and every time he managed to pull a fossil out of the ground. They were worth so much money and Luicus had tried to find some himself but to him rocks were just rocks and he could never seem to tell the difference between a clump of worthless stone and a rare find. Samson had been so good at it he'd give them all fossils; his had been the jaw fossil of some large extinct predator, he couldn't remember now. He had no idea what had happened to it but when, 15 years or so back, scientists had revealed their ability to clone extinct Pokemon, he had regretted not taking that fossil with him. Knowing his sister she had probably claimed it for herself or given it away.

But he hadn't taken it with him. For the same reason that he hadn't taken the books that Little Viggo had given him and they'd spent a summer reading and debating. Or why he hadn't thought about Terrance's mad search in years. He honestly hadn't thought about them at all.

Not since they had betrayed him.

When he'd come to them and told them of his father's choice to make Cynthia his heir rather than doing the proper thing and casting her aside due to her being a woman and thus unfit to lead the Malfoy family he'd expected them to rally to his cause. He wanted them to use their own connections to put pressure on his father to see reason. If that were impossible perhaps get the old man committed, as he'd clearly lost his mind if he thought that the steward and shepherd of the Malfoy Family should be a female rather than him. But they'd all stared at him and said nothing. He'd thought at the time that they were just as shocked as he was by his father's decision and needed time to come to grips with what they had been told but it had soon come out that no, that wasn't the case at all.

Little Viggo had been first to reach out to him the next day, asking if he was alright because he'd been rather emotional the night before. He'd assured him that he was and then asked if he had reached out to his grandfather yet, as the old man was retired from the Elite 4 and thus would have weight added to his words when he spoke to Lucius' father to get him to see reason. But Little Viggo had kept trying to steer the conversation back to how Lucius was feeling and suggesting things they could do to 'take his mind of things'. He'd suggested a trip to the southern tip of Kalos, an entire summer of checking out beaches and young women that would be on those beaches.

"I can't be away from home," Lucius had told him firmly. "If I am then Cynthia will work on solidifying her control on the family. I need to be here, to make sure she doesn't do that."

It was then that Little Viggo had dropped the bombshell: she already had.

"We thought you knew," Little Viggo had told him in a soft voice. "We've known for years that Cynthia would be head of the family. That's how it's always been."

"It has not!" he had protested. "The Malfoys have never been led by a woman!"

"But every other Noble House has," Little Viggo had pointed out and that was true… but that only showed how special the Malfoys were! They hadn't ever made that mistake. "She's been the heir for years."

"I am the heir. I am my father's only son!"

"You don't have the ring," Little Viggo had pointed out. It still weighed heavily on him, even all these years later, the lack of that metal band on his finger to show he was the heir to House Malfoy. Cynthia had worn it of course, ever since she had turned 13, but that didn't matter because he had been sure his father would see reason…

The others had been just as firm, trying to get him to settle down, to take some time away from his family, to think about the life he wanted to lead. When he'd snapped that he wanted to lead House Malfoy Terreance had quietly said, "And when I was 5 I wanted to be a pirate. We don't always get our dreams."

He'd never spoken to the traitors after that day.

He'd left Kalos a week later, his entire trust fund emptied out and several family relics that were his by right so despite his father's angry letters he hadn't 'stolen' them tucked away in his bags. He'd come to Avalon and set up the true Malfoy family… and shown why he was the right man to lead their blood into the next century. Within the span of a few years he had managed to get House Malfoy, the true House Malfoy, as one of the strongest Gym Leader Houses in Avalon.

(He ignored the whisper that his sister had been able to become headmaster of their alma mater and become a multi regional Pokemon League Champion while he faced losing his gym status within a year even if the war ended tomorrow with peace on both sides)

He had married into the powerful Black Family and produced a son that would fully see the Black family merged completely with the Malfoy line.

(Nevermind that Draco was dead, meaning all his work to produce the perfect heir was ruined and that Sirius Black, the current head of House Black, had made Harry Potter his heir)

He had the ears of politicians! He was the chessmaster, the puppeteer, the controlling hand in the shadows!

(His sister was friends with royalty in all but name and was celebrated as a queen within Kalos itself while he was ignored)

And he had done it all without friends. Allies? Oh yes. Men and women who ran in the same circles? Yes. But never friends. Lucius would never make that mistake again. To have a friend was to put your trust in someone that you couldn't rely upon for they would never truly be able to separate their own foolish notions of self interest from doing what was right for the world.

That was why, at the moment, he was sitting all by himself in what was the Head of Slytherin's office, looking over the files he'd gathered and ignoring the sounds just outside going through the dorm rooms and Common Room, searching for evidence. No need to join in.

Of course he wouldn't have anyway, seeing as those weren't Nocturne Agents but Aurors.

They had made no move the enter the office because, to them, it appeared that there had been a cave-in that completely collapsed the room. Going in would risk the shaky structure that was Hogwarts at the moment. He'd heard murmurs from some of the Nocturne Agents that were still undercover and thus not exposed to the general public that there was talk of abandoning Merlin's great castle because there was little hope of getting it fit to be a school again. Others were clamoring for it to be razed to the ground and rebuilt, modernized fully so it might match some of the other great schools in the world.

Foolishness. One did not meddle with history and tradition.

But while the office looked like it had caved in that wasn't the actual truth of the matter. Yes, half of the ceiling had come down and even now Lucius had to be careful as he walked for there was a risk of smashing his head on dropped stonework… but it was still livable which made him quite happy as he preferred the office to the temporary cells that had been set up above him.

"Just a temporary measure, I assure you," Voldemort had said and somehow he had managed to make Dumbledore's already teeth achingly sweet tones sound all the worse. "We have survived so far by staying in the shadows… that was my mistake the first time, pressing too quickly. Looker revealing my true motives at the worst time forced me to alter completely our plans." That had been the truth; Lucius and Voldemort, along with the other members of the Admins, had worked out the plan perfectly for them to take control fo Avalon without anyone even realizing what they were doing. Blood was bad for business, after all. It was far better to work with soft words and light touches. That required patience, of course, but when done right it ensured that you not only had power but you kept it for a very long time.

But it had all gone to hell and they'd been forced to fight back with terror.

Voldemort was trying to go back to the old ways again, using only Dumbledore and his network to do things. Unlike some of the fools that believed this to be a trap or a trick by the 'Leader of the Light' Lucius had finally accepted that Voldemort was exactly as the rumors claimed: a shapeshifter.

It made complete sense. The tales went that Voldemort had augmented himself with Ditto DNA, so he could shift into whatever form he desired. Of course that required the original holder of a face to be dead but so long as Voldemort wasn't looking to kill him Lucius didn't care what he did.

The plan was a good one; let the sheep think that Voldemort was merely faking their arrest… and they would happily march to their cells without a care in the world, never realizing they weren't ever getting out. Voldemort would toss them in whatever hole he could find or, better yet, kill them through a series of accidents. All the while he would work to turn the government to his side in his guise as Dumbledore. And if the aurors figured out what was going on he could release the Nocturne agents and have them swarm the 'heroes'.

It was a good plan. Smart.

Lucius just needed to make sure he was on the right side.

So despite several other deep cover Nocturne Agents suggesting he take some time to think about what had happened, to consider all the problems that arose, he was tucked away in the office that had become his home, his Pokemon teleporting in and out to bring him whatever he needed. And at the moment it was files.

Files of old families within Avalon who had daughters of childbearing years.

'Hmmm… no,' he thought as he looked over the information on one women, mid twenties, who came from Galahad. Her father was in shipping and had a lot of money and their family tree was very strong. But the girl had had a bit of a scandal… her sister had gotten with a child, ran off with the father when her parents had done the correct thing and demanded that she get an abortion. Nice and quiet, of course, but she had refused and now the offers for marriage had dried up. In most cases this would have made her perfect for Lucius… except the girl's mother was a Nocturne Supporter.

No... that wouldn't do at all.

'If I am to survive this I must find a family that is neutral with a slight shading towards Dumbledore's side,' he thought to himself. 'Wealth is needed, as too many of my funds have been drained to support Nocturne and locked down by Bones.' His appearance in the graveyard, being the last one standing with someone who had attacked Harry Potter, had been enough to see many of his public bank accounts shut down. Not his secret ones, thankfully, but those were the ones that he'd been forced to use to fund his lord's war and they were beginning to dry up. Much as he had when he'd selected Narcissia he now was seeking out another powerful family with wealth that would be able to see him rise again.

But only if she weren't connected with Nocturne.

He needed to come out of this looking utterly clean. To appear like he'd been 'redeemed' by loss and new found love. It was his only chance-

His dex rang with a custom chime he hadn't heard in years.

Scowling Lucius checked to make sure a few custom apps were in place before answering the phone, allowing the hologram to pop up. "You won't be able to trace me."

"I know that," his sister told him with a roll of her eyes. "You wouldn't have answered if you thought for a moment I'd be able to do that. And then there is the fact that I know exactly where you are right now. Even with the background blockers… where else would you be but Hogwarts, clinging to your master's cloak?"

Lucius wasn't surprised that his sister knew exactly where he was. She was right, of course… where else would he be?

"And I'm surprised you aren't in mourning blacks," Lucius said with a slight upward pull of his lips. "No longer acting the widow for your 'alpha'?"

"Why I should be surprised you don't understand loss?" Cynthia asked, narrowing her eyes. "I was calling to offer my sympathies for the loss of Draco; I didn't call about Narcissia because I know that you never actually cared about her."

"You have no understanding what I felt for Narcissia."

"You felt she was helpful to hide the fact that you were a fraud who snuck into Avalon with stolen wealth and a fake title."

"I established what-"

Cynthia cut him off. "No one believes that anymore except you. Avalon has come to realize you are a fraud which is why you're hiding in whatever hole you are tucked away in. And in Kalos?" She smirked. "In Kalos you are a joke."

"I don't-"

"Care?" she cut in. "Yes you do. You care very much, brother. Reputation is what you've clung to since you were a child chasing after me as we played. I remember when I first saw you in your… you waited till only I was around and began to fuss and screech because you wanted attention. But you also wanted everyone to think you were the perfect baby." She shook her head and leaned forward, the hologram projector taking a moment to correct itself so it could center her again. "You had everything handed to you, Lucius. You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth and given your first Pokemon… and then never bothered to catch another one. You were too busy for that, preferring to have them bought for you. You were tutored in school and could have moved up in grades but you were lazy and got by on basic work."

"I didn't waste time like you did trying to prove something when I had nothing to prove."

"Oh, is that what we are calling it now?" She sniped right back. "And then when you weren't handed our family rather than stay in Kalos and build something grand you ran away."

"And I built something far grander than you have!" he snapped. "I controlled the government! I had the ear of the most powerful trainer in the world! I was famous and wealthy-"

"Go tell Voldemort to suck a dick."

Lucius blinked.

"If you are so untouchable, so powerful… go tell him that."

"Your time with Kenway has made you even more unfit to lead our family."

Cynthia though didn't rise to the bait. "You're a coward, Lucius. You always have been. You sought out others to stand tall and do everything for you. The Blacks, Voldemort, even Fudge. You could have been Prime Minister. You could have formed your own team with you as the leader. But no… you let others do that for you. And look where that has gotten you when compared to me. I have two daughters and a loving wife. My region celebrates me. I have won Pokemon league titles and I'm seen as one of the greatest trainers of our generation. All you earned… is Kalos laughing at you."

LUcius reached over to turn off the dex.

"I called to say goodbye, brother," Cynthia said, causing his hand to stop.

"You mean I won't have to hear from you again? Good."

"I mean that you are a corpse you just don't realize it," Cynthia informed him. "You killed Jack. You think for a moment I was going to forgive or forget that? Even if you find a way to buy another pardon… I am coming for you brother. And I am going to do what I should have done when I first saw you in that crib: I'm going to snuff you out."

"And I will do what I should have done when our fool of a father gave you our home: eliminate the stain on our name along with your wife and children."

"Well then… till then, Lucius."

"Till then, Cynthia."

Both hung up at the same time.

Lucius leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face, forcing himself to forget his sister's words. They didn't matter… she didn't matter. Everything was under control…

The dex rang again.

Seeing it wasn't his sister this time he answered, eyes narrowed. "What is it?"

"Lord Lucius… I need to speak with you," a Nocturne grunt said nervously. "It… it concerns the one… who killed your wife."

He flexed his fingers, his sister's words going from vapor to burning brands in his mind.