Twenty-Six: Heartache
Amara sat on the exam table as Nurse Miriam ran through Amara's first physical in Dialga knew how long, as she finished taking stock of Amara's joints, she pulled two stirrups from the bottom of the exam table and changed into a fresh pair of gloves. "I think it's time, Amara. I know you probably don't want to know, but we should do the due diligence." Amara nodded and the exam continued.
"Good news, nothing looks damaged." Nurse Miriam said as she printed out a copy of Amara's physical report to put in her chart. "Take this victory, Amara. As far as the body goes, you and Elaina have a clean bill of health from me." Amara nodded, thanked Nurse Miriam, and left the nurse's office. Penny was waiting for her outside. The rest of the squad would be waiting at the Great Staircase. Amara double checked she had her document, then she linked arms with Penny and the two made their way out to meet everyone. Amara, Penny, and Nemona climbed onto Miraidon. Arven, Trish, and Allie all climbed onto Koraidon, and the squad was off.
The ride to her house gave Amara more dread than the ride to meet with Vaughn. She had no idea what she was walking into, nor if she'd be walking out. Mr. Vaughn gave us an escape route. Elaina echoed in their head. Also, I finally learned how to talk to you, so we have that. Amara shook her head. The two Pokémon had left the city and were moving down the highway at a speed that would have been impossible two weeks before. It took an hour and a half before the squad pulled up in front of Amara's house. Amara's grip on Miraidon's horns was so tight her hands had gone white. Nemona, Arven, Trish, and Allie all hopped off, and Arven recalled Koraidon. Penny hugged Amara and the two climbed off Miraidon. After returning it to its Pokéball, Amara unlocked her front door and walked inside. Her mom was sitting on the couch watching a cooking show when she walked in.
"Honey, you're back? I wasn't expecting you for another month." She turned off the TV and walked up to hug her, then paused. "And you brought an entourage. Am I under arrest?" She chuckled nervously and stepped back.
"Mom, I have something to tell you, and it's going to be big. I'm talking like Rillaboom ass big. Let's go to the table." Her mother motioned for them to follow and the whole squad took their seats. Amara reached into her bag and pulled out the document. "I'm not the daughter you know, mom. I'm Amara. I'm dad's daughter. Elaina and I share the same body."
Her mother went ghastly pale. "You have dissociative identity disorder? Why is this the first I'm hearing about this?" Amara slid the document to her mother. "Dad made Elaina forget and locked me away until he needed me for something. I don't have proof of everything, but this document found its way into my hands. I'm sharing it with you now. Mom, you married a monster."
Her mother flipped through the document. As she read it, tears began to well up in her eyes. As she finished, she was crying and hugging Amara. "You're the one who ran away five years ago, aren't you? Of course, you did, look what you were running from." She broke the hug and looked at everyone. "Thank you for supporting my daughters, all of you."
"What are we going to do now? Dad's network runs all over the world." Amara asked. Her mother stood. "I'm making a trip to Uva Academy. We'll call it a parent-teacher conference. I need to pick the mind of your battle strategies instructor."
Then the door opened, and four people crossed the threshold. "You're a bold girl, Amara. Were you a boy, I'd say you had some massive brass balls." Archer smiled as he pulled out a Pokéball. "Shame, Ms. Madison. The boss never would have wanted this for you." He tossed the Pokéball and a Hypno burst forth. Amara screamed and ran from the room, but the look of its pendulum hurt even to think about. As she ran, she fell, and the Pokémon caught up with her.
Hypno looked at her quizzically, then started to swing its pendulum. Archer struck a tuning fork, and everything went black. Then Amara was standing with blood on her hands. Nemona was knocked out at her feet, and the look of fear in Penny's eyes chilled Amara to the bone. Arven was pinned against the wall in the corner by Meowscarada. And Trish and Allie were unaccounted for. Amara's mother was missing as well.
"Penny, what happened?" She asked. "You have another alter. She's a fucking psychopath." Guilty. It's what daddy would have wanted. After all, you've made a big mess of daddy's plans. Now give me back my body! Amara felt her vision starting to fade. She collapsed onto the floor and screamed. Then the world went black.
Elaina opened her eyes for the first time in ages. She was in the back of a van. Her friends were nowhere to be found. Archer and Arianna were in the front seat. They were heading north, toward Mesagoza. "Madilyn, what's your next move? We can have you on a flight to Goldenrod by 3:30 this afternoon. Elaina had pulled out her phone.
She sent her location followed by the word red, then prayed to the gods above and below that it had worked. Arianna turned around. "Elaina, honey, be good and surrender the body to Madilyn." Yeah, Bitch, I'm trying to run a fucking operation here. Daddy gave me a goal and I will see it to the end. Let. Me. Out. Elaina's vision grew fuzzy as her brain grew loud. "Resisting will only make it hurt more, Elaina." She heard Arianna from the front seat. "Give Madilyn the body."
Listen to me you fucking ungrateful little twat. It's my body. I just let you live in it. If you want to fucking die in the back of this van, that's fine. Either way, I get my body back. Until then, it's going to hurt to exist. Have fun.
The white, searing pain continued. Elaina held out as long as she could, then she blinked, the car had flipped, and she was being carried away from the wreckage by a tall man in a black hoodie. She shook her head to fight off the dissociation, and as the man put her down and pulled off his hood, he revealed himself to be Vaughn.
"Got your call. Have to admit, I didn't see it playing out this way." He turned and started to walk away. "Come on, y'all. We need to move." Elaina started following behind him. After a few minutes of walking up the road, Elaina looked around. "This is Slateport. How long was I out?"
"Elaina, it's been six months since you disappeared. I'll explain when we get where we're going." Elaina couldn't bring herself to think as she followed Vaughn through the streets and into a hole in a ship in the shipyard. Inside was a camping cot, a lantern, and a few tins of food.
"Today is August eighteenth, twenty forty-four. I've been trying to find you since the day you sent me that text. After everything went down at your house, your mother ended up dead. Nemona has been in a coma this whole time, and Penny hasn't been seen since that day. Arven lost his hand trying to keep a Scyther off of Allie, and Trish decided to swallow some lead. Everyone you cared about is gone, and it's your fault." Elaina shook her head.
"No, this isn't right. It wasn't supposed to happen like this."
"But it did. Your dad used the incident to weave Team Rocket into the Paldea region by force. Uva Academy is in ruins. There's nothing left to hope for."
"Shut the fuck up, Madilyn." A voice echoed from the other side of the ship. A woman who could be her twin walked into view. "Hey, Elaina. We're in the backbrain, chained up to keep us from getting to the front to take the body back. That's not Vaughn. This isn't meatspace, grab that gun." Elaina looked down to find a pistol at her feet. "What the fuck? This is our mind? Amara?" Vaughn began to morph until the figure looked like Elaina and Amara, but with black hair instead of blonde.
"You're supposed to be dead." She stared daggers at Amara. "Apparently between you and Elaina I seem to have lost my touch at altercide." Amara reared back and slapped Madilyn across the face. "That tickled." She said as she reached forward and grabbed the back of Amara's hair and bit a chunk out of the flesh on her cheek. She spat the bloody sinew into Amara's face and threw her to the ground. As Amara fell, Madilyn brought a stiletto heel to her throat. "You're fucking fighting in five-inch heels?" Madilyn clicked her heels together and needles popped out of the ends.
"Yep, now tell me, which is your favorite of your eyes?" Amara refused to answer, and Madilyn drove the needle into Amara's left eye. She let out a scream, then a gunshot rang out, and Amara was in a hospital bed. Her friends stood next to her as she woke up. She looked around.
"Is this the real life, or is this just fantasy?" She waited for a second, then Vaughn spoke from the corner of the room. "Gengar has been helping put your mind back together for the last couple of days. You're at Mesagoza General Hospital. Your mom's on the floor upstairs. You've been in a dissociative state with no one fronting for about forty-eight hours now. Archer and Arianna are in custody."
"This is going to sound weird, but what is today's date?" She asked, hope desperate in her voice.
"It's not weird at all. It's March tenth, twenty forty-four." Vaughn responded. "As for what happened, the psychic Pokémon forced a psychotic alter to front."
"Yeah, she beat my fuckin' ass." Nemona said. There was a bruise on her forehead, but she was no worse for wear. Penny walked forward and pulled Amara into a hug. "I'm so glad you're back, Amara." Penny kissed her then. She felt a well of emotions well up in her chest, some of which were not her own.
You're an absolute bitch. Elaina echoed from the back of the mind. She's my girlfriend. Amara tried to push Elaina away and savor the kiss, but to no avail. "You and Elaina are going to need to talk." She said as Penny stood back up. "She's rather displeased right now."
Penny turned the brightest shade of red. "Fuck." She said as she seemed to dissociate herself.
It was Amara who dissociated, and Elaina woke up in the front of the body. "Penny, my beloved, if you want to open the relationship, that would have been ok if you'd just asked." She turned to Penny. "Everyone can you give us the room?" The squad all left the room. Penny stared down at her shoes.
"I'm sorry, Elaina." She said, almost too quietly to hear. "I kinda really got caught up in-" Elaina stopped her.
"You can date Amara too if you want, but if you ever kiss someone without talking to us first again, we'll have to be done. I love you more than anything, Penny." Elaina said as she swept the hair out of Penny's face. "You're the love of my life. I love you with everything I am."
"I love you too, 'Layna. I'm so sorry I hurt you." Penny hugged Elaina. As they hugged, Elaina rubbed Penny's back. "I forgive you, Penny. I hope you and Amara find your love for each other too. I've never been in a polyamorous relationship before, and I never would have imagined my metamour would share my body."