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The closing sections of Mars' arc, and a tease at the next!

Start Chapter 33

Bianca's eyes fluttered open slowly.

She stared up at a white roof hanging above her, which was speckled and split into many different ceiling tiles. It was a familiar set up, and though Bianca didn't know the exact location that she currently resided within, she had a feeling that she knew, in general, where she was.

She was in a hospital.

As she looked around, she felt a bit more certain of that fact. There was an IV set up to pump fluids into her arm – the bag was labeled simply as dextrose, which Bianca didn't know anything about at all – alongside wrappings all over her arms from where she'd, seemingly, suffered some mild injuries.

…She could remember facing off against Dialga. Could remember defeating Mars, and managing to save the world.

Hah…

Her, of all people.

She was honestly surprised her injuries were minor, given the fact that she'd been bonded to Emboar at the time, and they'd taken the Roar of Time straight on. She'd barely felt like she could stand after that.

Yet stand they had.

Win they had.

She felt herself tearing up, and went to reach upwards to wipe her eyes, only…

Well, her arms weren't exactly happy with that decision.

She winced as she allowed them to both fall back at her sides, and it was that noise, seemingly, that summoned a nurse into her room.

"Ah, you're awake, Ms. Bianca." She smiled down at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Uh… really crappy?" She admitted, chuckling somewhat, but finding the noise weak and difficult to parse. "Pretty much everything hurts."

"Mm. I'd imagine. Miss Cynthia wasn't able to tell us all of what happened–"

Bianca perked up immediately. "Cynthia's here!?"

"Yes, she is." The nurse looked rather amused. "Currently, she's asleep in the lobby I do believe. She's not left the building for the past three days, wanting to be here when you woke up. If you'd like, I can have someone let her know you're awake?"

"I'd very much like that."

"Alright, will do." The nurse fiddled with a few of the machines in the room, including the IV drip, which she filled. "But I will ask the two of you not talk too terribly long. You and Ms. Cynthia both need your rest."

Bianca was well aware; she was barely able to hold her eyes open as it was, but…

She needed to see her. Needed to see Cynthia.

It didn't take long for the door to her room to be wrenched rather violently open, like whoever was on the other side couldn't wait to see her, too.

And there, standing in the entrance, was Cynthia.

Bianca's heart lurched inside her chest.

"Cynth–"

She didn't have the time to complete the word before she'd practically been tackled in a hug, one which Bianca wouldn't admit hurt quite a lot, actually.

"I was so worried…" Cynthia's tone was relieved. So terribly so. "I awoke down within the bowels of the Ruins of Alph, without a clue what had happened, and you weren't there. I'd given you my only means of flight, and…"

Bianca couldn't quite wrap her own arms around Cynthia, but she pressed herself against the woman as much as she could.

"I'm fine."

"You weren't when I found you." Cynthia chuckled, but it was a wan, tired thing. "I had to borrow a flying type from Falkner, and then rushed to Spear Pillar… and what did I find but you and Mars both passed out, snow beginning to gather atop you."

That… honestly, yes, that did sound a bit bad, now that she heard it from Cynthia's lips.

"I thought you were dead for a moment. That you'd given your life to stop Mars, and…" Her breath hitched, and she was in that moment more vulnerable than Bianca had ever heard her. "I'm just so glad you're okay."

It was all Bianca could do but to strain herself to raise her arms, despite the pain, and wrap them around Cynthia's back. She wanted to be able to pull her against her, but wasn't quite able.

"Thank you."

"I should be the one saying that," Cynthia shook her head. "You saved the world."

She had. She really had.

It was the sort of thing that sounded entirely impossible, and yet… it wasn't. It was reality.

It seemed the old phrase was apt; reality could in fact be stranger than fiction.

"You saved me." Bianca muttered, even as her face heated up somewhat.

"Hah… if you're talking about a few days ago, at Spear Pillar, then yes, I'll take credit for that. If you're talking about within whatever realm that you defeated Mars, then no, Bianca, I did not. You saved yourself."

She knew what Cynthia was trying to say, and honestly, she did appreciate the sentiment. But she hadn't been talking about Spear Pillar.

Cynthia had saved her an awful lot more times than just that once.

"So… how long am I confined to a hospital bed?"

"Likely?" Cynthia chuckled. "Another week or two. Your injuries were minor on the surface, but a quick look beneath showed that your muscles were heavily bruised, battered, and torn in quite a few places, as if they'd been pushed well beyond their limits. Alongside that, you had several burst blood vessels, and are, just in general, going to do much better taking some time off than not."

She couldn't argue against that. "Alright. What uhm… what about Mars?"

Cynthia's expression softened, even as her eyes hardened. "She was taken in and arrested. For now, she's to be kept under heavy surveillance while they try and bring charges against her. Which is going to prove difficult, given that you were the only real witness to her crimes, and you've been entirely passed out for days now."

Bianca supposed that would have likely put a damper on any efforts to charge Mars, even if she wasn't entirely certain she even wanted that to be happening.

Then again, she had tried to make Cyrus' dream a reality a second time, which, in theory, meant she should serve the same sentence she had the previous time she'd been arrested. Or, well, at least some of it.

But Bianca…

Well, she'd never really been one to hold grudges.

"Worse yet on that front, given that most of Mars' crimes were committed in an alternate timeline that doesn't exist anymore, one which we can't exactly prove ever existed in the first place," Cynthia groaned, evidently not looking forward to having to explain that, "It's going to be even more difficult to attempt to charge her."

Cynthia seemingly realized what she was saying, because she cleared her throat. "But that's enough about that. We should focus first and foremost on your recovery. I'd imagine you're not feeling all that well at the moment?"

"I've certainly been better." Bianca chuckled.

"Well, you can make jokes, so you're fine enough." Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Alright, since I'm fairly certain the doctors will kill me if I keep you for too long, I'm going to head out for the night. I'll book a hotel nearby. I won't be far. Text me – or call – if you need anything, alright?"

Bianca's chest felt warm, even as she nodded her head, and told her, "Okay. I will."

/

The next week or so went by rather slowly.

Mostly, that was down to being trapped in bed for most of it. She'd been feeling well enough to walk around a bit by the end, but she hadn't actually been permitted to, and had thusly stayed slumped in her bed.

In more relevant news, she figured out where exactly she was, which was probably something she should've wanted to know sooner. They were in Jubilife Central Hospital, smack dab in the center of Sinnoh. Bianca supposed that made sense, given that Cynthia wouldn't have wanted to carry either she or Mars too far.

She was surprised, somewhat, at the fact that she had quite a few visitors over the course of that week. The first of which were her own parents, who greeted her with teary smiles and worried words. Bianca couldn't quite blame them their panic, given she was wrapped in enough gauze to be make for a fairly decent cosplay of a mummy, but she tried to reassure them that a circumstance like this wasn't going to be happening again.

Or, well, she certainly hoped it wasn't.

It was Professor Juniper next, and the rest of her old colleagues from the lab. They'd decided to close down the lab for a few days, seeing Bianca being a higher priority. That meant a lot to her, even if she tried to tell them she was fine and didn't need looking after.

Professor Juniper laughed, booped her on the nose, and then entirely ignored the sentiment.

Finally, though, after another week or so after that had passed – and further visits from Elesa and Wallace, which meant a lot to her, even if she wasn't sure why they cared so much to come see her – she was free to go.

Well, she still needed to apply ointment to her arms once a day, and would for the next month or so, but other than that, free to go.

She and Cynthia got up to approximately nothing over the course of the next few weeks. They decided to stay in Jubilife for the time being while Bianca fully recovered, because even if she could walk about, to make the journey's they'd likely have to in the coming future, she wasn't at all prepared.

So, they booked hotels, ate at restaurants within the city, and went to Pokémon contests – though to watch, not for Bianca to compete in – at the Jubilife Contest Hall.

Funnily enough, when Bianca looked at the calendar after finally fully recovering, she realized that the Pokémon World Championships were only about two and a half months away, give or take.

And that…

Well, it had her heart doing little flips inside her chest. It must've been obvious, for Cynthia commented on it.

"No need to be worried." She told her, smiling. "You've been doing excellently so far. You have no reason to believe that's going to change. You've just got the single gym badge left now, and then you'll have qualified to enter."

It was a strange thing to think, but it was also the truth. Any one gym badge, and it would be over.

Their journey would end.

It…

It was almost insane to think about.

And yet…

There was a pulling in Bianca's gut, a desire that she'd been ignoring thus far for so very long, one which she knew she had to face.

She'd always known what her final gym badge would be, if she'd managed to get this far.

It was time.

No second guessing. No running away.

"I… I know where I want to go for my final gym badge."

Cynthia didn't seem surprised. That… Bianca wasn't entirely certain what to make of that. It was the look in her eyes, amused, like she'd already known – perhaps always known – that Bianca would say what she was about to.

Honestly, it was Cynthia. If she'd figured it out, Bianca wasn't the least bit surprised.

"And where is it you'd like to go, Bianca?"

She swallowed on nothing, finding her throat barren, dry.

Even so…

"Aspertia City." Bianca spoke, her words echoing the steel within her heart.

"I have to go get them… after all…"

Cynthia's expression was proud. Prouder than Bianca had ever seen her.

"I have to get my team. My old team." Bianca said, looking over at Cynthia with a watery smile.

"They've been waiting long enough, and… I feel I owe the one who's kept them this long a challenge as well."

/

Mars heard the door to her cell open and looked up without much energy. Standing there, in the doorway, was one of the guards who'd been assigned to her cell.

She gestured for Mars to come and follow her, and so she did, standing and walking along behind the woman.

As she exited out of her cell, she realized there was yet another guard behind her, following along. It seemed she was being treated as a rather high-level threat, then. It made sense, in theory, given what Mars had tried to do.

But she wasn't strong, or tough. She had no Pokémon, no plan…

Nothing. She had nothing anymore.

"You've got a visitor." The woman leading her through the prison compound spoke. "Two of them, actually."

Odd. Mars certainly hadn't been expecting anyone. If this was Cynthia and Bianca – her first and only real guess – then she'd be rather surprised. She knew for a fact that Cynthia had saved her life, taking her from the peak of Mt. Coronet and preventing her freezing to death, but she also got the feeling the woman probably wanted nothing to do with her.

And Bianca…

Well, Mars felt that they'd said all there was to say between the two of them. She'd won, after all, and she'd tried to make her point to Mars.

She'd tried to tell her that looking back, trying to live in the past, wasn't living at all. That only be moving forward could she truly begin to live again.

Easy for her to say.

…Well, not truly. Mars understood just how titanic a task it had been for Bianca to so much as urge herself forward, let alone defeat Dialga. There had been a moment there when Bianca and Emboar had been battle bonded together, sharing their injuries with one another, that Mars had genuinely thought she was going to die.

She'd been terrified.

She'd never wanted to hurt anyone. She'd just…

She'd just wanted to make herself feel better.

It was hard to admit that that was the truth. That all her faux magnanimity had been false; a coverup to the fact that she'd felt horrible, and wanted to change that.

…She wasn't quite sure why, but it was easier to admit that now.

As she was led into the room where she'd be communicating with her visitors, she was expecting to see two blondes.

She was, rather pointedly, not expecting who it actually was that visited her.

Her eyes were wide; her mouth agape.

Because standing in front of her, one sat on the stool, and the other stood behind her…

"It's… been a long time, Mars." Jupiter spoke, smiling over at her.

"Yes." Saturn spoke from behind her, his voice hesitant. "Quite a long time indeed."

The both of them had undergone some rather striking transformations. Perhaps the most obvious of all was that Saturn no longer wore his hair up in some crazy, spiky style, and instead had it down, hanging about his shoulders. Jupiter was dressed rather normally as well, in a beige jacket overtop a gray turtleneck.

They both looked so…

Normal.

"What are you two doing here?" Mars asked, unable to meet their eyes. "Come to laugh at me?"

"Wha–" Jupiter sounded shocked. "No, of course not. We came to make sure you were alright. It was the first we'd heard of you in nearly a decade, and you'd tried to use a Legendary Pokémon to…"

"To reverse time." Saturn spoke, picking up from where Jupiter had hesitated. "Quite the plan. It didn't work out, it seems."

Mars barked out a laugh. "Not hard to figure that out."

None of them said a word, and the guard behind Mars sighed.

"You've got three minutes."

Mars was content to say nothing at all. Just sit there, wait for these two to finish saying whatever it was they were here to, and go back to her cell.

"…You never did try and talk with us." Jupiter's voice called out to her suddenly, and Mars turned back to see the woman looking rather downtrodden. "We tried to reach out. First when you got out of jail the first time… then when we were getting married."

Mars spied the matching rings on their fingers, and felt a fresh wave of annoyance.

Here were two people who'd believed in the same things she had, who'd followed the same person she had, and yet…

They'd been able to move forward. They'd found things to keep them going; striving towards the dawn.

And Mars, she…

…

"We wanted you to come. Jupiter wanted you as her maid of honor." Saturn spoke, his voice quiet. "Unfortunately… we were unable to get ahold of you. Then… well, we heard you were working on researching Dialga, and we tried again to get into contact."

And Mars had ignored them. She'd ignored everyone who'd tried to get in the way of her goals.

…

"But…" Jupiter sighed. "I didn't want to give up. I wanted to come see you one final time. I wanted to try yet again. I wasn't willing to let the relationship between us just wither and die."

Mars bit down on her bottom lip.

"You've got one minute." The guard behind Mars spoke out.

Mars didn't know what to think.

She wasn't sure what it was she wanted.

She…

She'd been so caught up in the past that the thought of living for the future had seemed pointless. Why bother with anything that was just going to be overwritten once she'd succeeded? That was her idea of things, anyhow.

It had felt like a fair theorem, at least to her. But now…

Now she just felt like an idiot.

Funny how that worked out.

"Alright, that's all." The guard behind Mars announced, walking over. "Back to your cell."

Jupiter and Saturn looked devastated, and Mars felt…

She felt terrible, in truth. Like she had an opportunity to do something, right here, right now, and by doing nothing…

She was throwing it away.

The guard placed a hand on her shoulder, tried to get her to stand up–

"Wait!"

Jupiter and Saturn froze, in the process of standing up, and Mars motioned for the guard to hold off, just for a moment. It probably wasn't proper procedure, but the woman did with a sigh, saying, "You've got fifteen seconds."

Mars nodded her head, then turned back towards Jupiter and Saturn.

"Would you… would you guys mind coming back again?" She asked, sounding almost desperate. "I'd… I'd like to talk more with you. Perhaps I could… hear about the wedding? Or…"

Jupiter and Saturn exchanged glances, then, before Jupiter's smile grew into one that seemed to outshine the very sun. Saturn, to his credit, looked just as happy.

"We'd love that." He spoke.

And Mars…

That…

"Alright, now your time is really up." The guard rolled her eyes. "C'mon."

Mars allowed herself to be led back to her cell, the two guards leading her there doing so in silence.

Even so…

Mars found that the halls seemed somehow brighter than they'd been the last time she'd been down them. That the world seemed to make just a little more sense than it had ten or so minutes ago.

It wasn't much. Just a promise for the two of them to come down and see her again, but…

But it was a start.

A single step towards the future.

And maybe… maybe for now…

That was enough.

End Chapter 33

And that's Mars' story! She might cameo again in the future, but her role in the plot is done. Now, Bianca's headed for Aspertia City, planning to both challenge Cheren, and get back her original team!

Next time on WWUTB... all of that!

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