While most of Blueberry Academy's hallways were an inviting mix of wood-tones and light blues, with many windows looking out into the ocean to really make its students feel relaxed and at ease, the school's nursing wing had its walls painted in much deeper blue tones, ostensibly designed to mimic the dark interiors of Unovan hospitals.
Things got even darker in the place Juliana and Carmine were sitting now: the emergency unit. Instead of big, wide windows adding light into the dark and empty hallway, the wall was dotted with narrow little slits that cast small curtains of light every few feet.
Whether this too was meant to mimic how hospitals work, it certainly reflected one thing, which was the impossibly grim mood the two girls were in.
Juliana and Carmine sat next to each other on a black bench—well, next to each other was a stretch, Carmine was actually keeping herself a hair's distance away—across the hall from the room Kieran was in.
It had been almost two hours now since Kieran's barely conscious body was airlifted into the school's nursing wing with the help of Amarys's Pokémon, and the head nurse and his assistants rushed him into the emergency unit to tend to his injuries right away, while Juliana and Carmine were told to wait outside.
To Juliana, time felt still. Every minute that passed by was one of agonizing anxiety, a hurt welling up deeper and deeper in her heart. And sitting right next to Carmine, for the first time in Juliana's life, was only making her feel worse instead of better.
Carmine hadn't said a single word to her since they'd both taken the student cab out from the Terrarium. In fact, she hadn't even looked in Juliana's direction since they'd gotten there.
Juliana didn't know if this silent treatment hurt more than the icy glare Carmine gave her earlier, or those bitter words… laced with hatred.
"WHAT… HAVE YOU… DONE!?"
Juliana felt guilty and miserable. Even just craning her head up to look at Carmine's head from the side made her shrink on the inside. She was afraid that just tapping her foot would set the short-tempered girl off.
But as the hours waned by, Juliana couldn't just sit there and stay silent. She still felt that urge within her… to try to help.
That urge, it seemed, had been getting her into more trouble than good lately… but she still couldn't deny it.
"They…" she squeaked out meekly. Juliana cleared her throat and gave it another shot. "They said that—that they don't need to take him to the hospital, so that's… good, right? It means that it's not as serious as we thought…"
Beyond a deep-pitted sigh, there was no response.
Juliana gulped.
"Carmine, I—I'm really sorry, more sorry than I've ever been…" she choked. "You know that—you know that I love Kieran too, and I would never do anything t—"
"Shut up," Carmine finally whispered.
"Huh?"
Carmine still wouldn't look at her, just staring straight ahead at the wall.
"B-b-but Carmine, I just—I just need you to know that I—"
"Please… just, shut up."
She said it a little more gruffly, and Juliana saw her fists squeezing together on her sides.
She must be trying really hard not to yell at me again…
Juliana took the hint, and went back to being completely quiet.
Sitting patiently with Carmine, and just… waiting.
Waiting. Hopefully, for good news.
…
It was another ten minutes before they finally heard the door creak open.
A tiny bit of light shone into the dark hallway from the brightly lit emergency room, as Blueberry's head nurse, Asher, stepped out wearing his blue uniform and a face mask.
Carmine and Juliana instantly stood up with worried faces.
"How is he, doc?" asked Carmine, her fists now gripped with anxiety.
"Well, I'll start with the good news…" he said. "He is stabilizing. A little disoriented, on account of the anesthetic we had to give him, but… he appears to be mentally sound."
"Oh, thank goodness…" she said, cupping her hands together.
"What about his arm?" asked Juliana.
"We had to pull out a few crystal fragments that were lodged in, that's some minor scabbing. And we used aloe to treat the blisters. His arm will still be in rough shape for a while, and I'll have to leave detailed instructions on how to keep treating it at home. But… it will all heal on its own. He's very lucky."
"…Thank you," Juliana said softly.
"Can I see him now?"
"Only if you're family. School policy when anesthetics are involved. Are either of you Kieran's… immediate family?"
Before Juliana could say anything, Carmine suddenly put her arm on Juliana and pushed her back softly.
"I am," she said very sternly. "…I'm his sister."
Juliana felt crushed. Was Carmine still sensitive about her saying 'I think of you as my sister'? Or pushing Juliana back for a different reason…?
Either way, Asher nodded and stepped aside to allow Carmine into the room.
"I'm sorry…" he said to Juliana with a sympathetic tone. "You'll still have to wait a bit if you want to see him."
"Okay…" Juliana sadly accepted.
And then Asher went back inside, and closed the door… and Juliana was all alone in the dark hallway for real now.
Her legs jittered as she sullenly bent down to the bench again, and not just because her one leg was still aching from Carmine's shove.
As she sat down, a lot of emotions were threatening to cave in on poor Juliana's head. The guilt of causing Kieran's accident. How crushed she was to see Carmine so angry at her, just when it seemed like they might be about to make up and Juliana had the chance to figure out what her feelings were.
And that horrid feeling, that kept rising up in Juliana, that no matter how much she tried to keep her friendships strong with both siblings… that everything just kept going belly up. That she was the one who kept messing it all up.
What was wrong with Juliana that she kept making mistakes like this? Was she arrogant? Selfish? Or… reckless?
Like Carmine said…
Juliana clutched at her head, the waves of grief becoming too much to bear. She started breathing much harder, and could feel she was on the verge of crying when—
"OH!" cried out a voice. "Juliana! Is that you over there?"
Juliana was brought out of her funk when she heard the familiar buttery-soft voice of Lacey, who was running down the hallway.
"Lacey?"
The pink-haired girl was slightly short of breath by the time she caught up with Juliana.
"I came… as soon as I heard!" She faced Juliana, looking deeply worried. "Kieran's in there, right? Is he okay? He's not hurt too badly, is he?"
Juliana shakily pointed. "Kieran's… in there. They said that he's waking up now, and that, all his injuries will heal up with… with love and care."
"Oh, thank goodness. Thank goodness!" Lacey cupped her hands together and breathed a huge sigh. "I was so concerned… I couldn't bear the thought of anything serious happening to our little Kieran. Is Carmine here?"
"Yeah, she's…" Juliana gulped sadly. "She was allowed to go in there and see him because she's immediate family…"
"Ahh, that makes sense. Well, that must be a huge relief to Carmine. And you as well! Right?"
Juliana wanted to respond. But instead, she felt her lips blubbering and looked down sadly.
Lacey's smile dropped. "…Juliana? What's wrong?"
She wanted to just say "Nothing." Even though on the inside, Juliana was trying as hard as she could not to just break down crying in front of her friend, who didn't need to see her like that.
"It was my fault…" she mumbled. "He got hurt because of me…"
"Hey now," Lacey said gently, kneeling slightly to be eye level with Juliana. "Don't go kicking yourself like that, Juliana. From what Amarys told me, it sounds like it was a complete accident, right?"
"Y-yeah…" Juliana stammered quietly. "But, still… If I had been watching what Terapagos was doing, it would've—I…"
"Tut tut tut! No more talking like that!"
Then, to Juliana's surprise, Lacey wrapped her arms around her in a very soft, gentle embrace. Juliana never realized how warm and fuzzy Lacey's pink cardigan was, even after the time Lacey hugged her on her first day at Blueberry.
Her hug was like burying yourself in a big soft pillow, one scented with the perfume of flowers, and Juliana gradually started feeling more relaxed from it.
"Better?" asked Lacey once she let go.
"Yeah…" Juliana said genuinely. "Thanks, Lacey. You… give really great hugs."
"No!" she immediately denied, crossing her arms into an 'X'. "Hugs are just a great thing to experience with everybody! It doesn't take any skill at all to make someone feel better."
"Right…" Why won't you let me compliment you? "Although… I still really wish there was something I could do to help make up for it with Kieran. It'd just be a really great feeling to finally do something right for once…"
"Hmm…" Lacey put her hand to her chin as she thought really hard. Then she smacked her palm with her fist. "Ooh! I just remembered something that would really cheer him up!"
"What is it? I'll all ears," Juliana said eagerly.
"So Kieran's got this huuuuuge plush pillow in his dorm room. Have you ever seen it?"
Juliana shook her head.
"Well, it's a really tall one in the shape of one of his favorite Pokémon Furret! It's so big it almost goes up to the ceiling if you stretch it all the way out!"
"Wow."
"Yeah, I guess Kieran got it as a gift from his grandmother. He loves it a lot. I think if you brought it all the way up here and showed it to him, it would probably make him very happy!"
"Big Furret pillow… Okay." Juliana's smile grew. "Okay! Yeah! That sounds awesome! Thanks, Lacey! I'll go get it right now."
Juliana almost darted off the hallway right at that moment, until she realized something.
"Hey Lacey… where is Kieran's dorm room?"
"Oh! Well, it's—Room 25-G. He's in the co-ed dorms in the east wing."
"Thanks!"
Juliana gave her a thumbs-up before running off.
Lacey tilted her head. "Kieran's never invited her to his room? Hmm. That's weird. I've been to his room plenty of times."
Then she was reminded of the situation inside that room across from her, and she looked at it with sorrowful eyes.
"Oh Kieran… please rest up and heal. I'm trying to be strong for you too…"
Juliana opened the door to Kieran's dorm room and flicked on the light.
"Oh… wow, heh-heh!"
The first thing Juliana took in upon seeing Kieran's room for the first time is that it was… a little messy.
His bed wasn't made, with some of his used clothes hanging on the frame and the yellow blanket awkwardly draped over. Everything on Kieran's desk was strewn about, there was a battle arena sheet on the wall with red scribbles and arrows around it, and on the kitchen counter, he had left a whole box of chocolatey treats, some of them just laid out over the bar.
At some point, she also noticed there was a lone hook hanging from the center of the ceiling for some reason, like something you would hang a punching bag on.
"Wow, his room reminds me a lot of Florian's," Juliana observed, remembering her childhood neighbor who she 'dated' on their parents' urging. She chuckled to herself and said, "Why are boys all so bad at cleaning their rooms?"
She thought about it and realized, I guess that's not really fair. Arven kept his room pretty clean and organized. … Which is a kind of a surprise for him.
Now where is that giant pillow?
Juliana looked around the room a bit, having expected it to be on the bed or something. Then she noticed the closet door, left open a little bit, and peeked inside.
"Oh! There it is!"
The giant Furret plush certainly wasn't easily missed. It was so big, that by being crammed in it practically took up most of the closet.
Huh. I wonder why Kieran keeps it in the closet if Lacey says he treasures it a whole lot?
Either way, Juliana rubbed her hands together and grabbed the pillow from its long tail.
It was heavier than she expected it to be, and it took a lot of effort to bring it all the way out of the closet. By the time she finally got it all the way out, Juliana suddenly felt a crick in her spine.
"Ahh, my back…" she groaned, rubbing it with her hand.
Juliana decided to put the pillow down for a second to do some arm stretches and try to ease the tension, something she'd gotten used to doing for her occasional weird body pains.
Gazing around Kieran's room as she did so, she noticed something interesting.
"Oh wow."
She walked over to look at the wall between Kieran's bed and his desk, where there were several different Pokémon pictures and stat sheets all stuck on the wall in a seemingly pattern-less array.
Juliana spotted several Pokémon she was familiar with from her time at Blueberry, like Archaludon, Malamar, and a Pokémon similar to Vibrava called "Flygon". There was another Pokémon that looked like it probably evolved from Bellsprout and Weepinbell in Kitakami, called "Victreebel". And a Pokémon called "Orbeetle" that just… didn't look like anything Juliana had ever seen.
"Man, he must've really taken all this stuff seriously when he was working hard at becoming the BB League Champion…"
Each printed picture had a list of moves the Pokémon could learn plus its abilities and average… stat distribution? Juliana was taught about "stats" a bit in her Blueberry classes, but still had no idea what all these numbers meant.
The strangest thing is that there were a bunch more red scribblings on the walls around these sheets, including circles and arrows that seemed to go underneath all the pictures.
But then Juliana looked closely… "Huh?" …and saw the real strangest part.
In one of the pictures underneath the rest, Juliana just could barely make out a part of it with… of all people, her art teacher.
"Mr.… Hassel?"
Somehow, beneath all the flashy Pokémon pictures was… a smiling Hassel. Not just the art teacher at Uva, but also a member of Paldea's Elite Four! Speaking of which, was he standing in front of…?
Juliana couldn't help but be curious, and tried nudging the photo in front of Hassel a bit to see more of it, only to tug a little too hard on the poster squares and cause the Flygon picture to pop off.
"Whoops! I really shouldn't have- …Wait?" Now Juliana looked really confused. "That's… that's me."
The piece that had fallen off revealed a bit more of the picture, where Juliana now saw her own smiling face standing in front of Hassel, holding a large medal. And she could make out part of… La Primera's outfit.
That's my Champion's ribbon!
"Wait… Now I recognize this!"
Juliana bit her lip. She didn't want to peel off more of Kieran's pictures but, figuring she would just put them right back up afterwards, she peeled a couple more of them off the wall and uncovered the full group picture.
It's—that photo that I took with the whole Elite Four after I beat La Primera and became a Champion!
With the full picture visible, Juliana could see that they were all standing in front of the Pokémon League building in Paldea, with not just Hassel and Geeta, but also Rika winking to the camera. Poppy stood in front of her beaming excitedly. And of course, there was Larry giving his classic non-smile.
Juliana could make out a bit of a headline above the picture that said "—YOUNGEST TRAINER TO ACHIEVE CHAMPION RANK IN PALDEA", revealing it was in fact a blown-up news article.
"Wow…" Juliana gazed at the picture, on the one hand entranced but also mystified. "It's cool to see this old memory again, but… why is this on Kieran's wall? Maybe he put it up because he was real proud of me? But then why, cover it up afterwards? And… hang on a second."
Those red circles and arrows Juliana saw going underneath the Pokémon pictures before? With the photo of her and the Elite Four now visible in the center, she could now see that the circles and the arrows… were all converging on that picture.
The arrows… were pointing to her.
"…Now I'm really confused. What is all this?"
The curiosity practically eating her alive, Juliana went up and peeled off another picture, the Orbeetle, without even thinking.
As soon as she did… she gasped in horror.
Below that Orbeetle picture, was the word LIAR. Written in scathing red marker. Circled. And an arrow pointing… to Juliana.
"Wh—wha… what?"
Her hands were shaking now, and Juliana could no longer help herself. She started frantically tearing all the pictures off the wall.
With each one, she saw more and more messages.
TRAITOR.
FAKE FRIEND.
HATES ME.
Juliana's hands were trembling horribly. Her eyes were wide with fright, and holding back tears, at these awful things she was reading.
And then… she tore off the last one. Revealing the last message, with three arrows all pointing to Juliana.
THE REAL VILLAIN.
Juliana practically fell backwards on her behind, and backed away like she was facing some horrible monster. Her entire body was shivering and shaking, with tears now flowing down her cheeks.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Beneath all those Pokémon pictures… was a hate wall. A hate wall entirely dedicated to her, and all the ways Kieran perceived Juliana's betrayal and his feelings towards her.
"I—I—I…" Juliana was swallowing tears now. "What is all this? When did—when did he put all these things up?"
She made her best effort to try to stand up, even though her legs felt even worse than jelly now. They wobbled and jittered, and she had to hold on to Kieran's desk chair to stand herself up all the way.
"I—I knew he was really upset with me after everything that happened in Kitakami, but… but…" Juliana's lips quivered. "I didn't know it was this bad…"
Juliana opened and closed her eyes several times, like she was hoping her eyes were betraying her. But that wall of anger was still staring her right in the face.
"…He hated me."
She placed a hand on the desk, watching as her tears began to fall and splash over the white surface.
Her mind, already overwhelmed with emotions about Kieran's accident and everything to do with Carmine, was now going into overdrive.
What if—what if he STILL hates me!?
What if all this stuff about him forgiving me and being my friend now… what if it's pretending? What if he's STILL this mad at me deep down?
Then Juliana had an even more horrifying realization.
"Oh my gosh…" She put her trembling hand to her mouth and blubbered. "If he didn't still hate me before… he probably does NOW!" She started to cry much harder. "He's gonna—he's gonna write so many more words now like… 'KILLER'! 'D-DANGEROUS'!"
Juliana's fingers ran incessantly through her hair as her whole body heated up. The emotions were becoming almost completely unbearable.
"What have I done?" A loud sniffle. "WHAT HAVE I DONE!?"
Everything I did, I just—I just wanted to find the best solutions! I just wanted to be friends! But I just keeping making everything worse! I'm just a gigantic screw up!
I keep being such an idiot that—that now Kieran hates me again!
Juliana heaved loudly as the realization got worse.
"AND NOW CARMINE HATES ME TOO!" she screamed out. "She's probably never going to speak to me EVER AGAIN!"
Her hands stopped ratting through her hair… and instead, she stared at them, shaking harder than maracas, like they were the hands of an evil monster.
Then…
Juliana let out a feral yell.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"
Then her head flopped onto the desk, coating it in a thick puddle of saline.
"Why can't I stop being so selfish!?" she mumble-yelled. "When am I going to stop thinking about anyone but myself!? All I wanted to do was HELP! AND MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY!"
At this point, Juliana just let it all out. Her body collapsed onto Kieran's chair and she sobbed loudly and profusely into the desk. It was probably the hardest Juliana had ever let herself cry since she was a baby.
There were not even thoughts in her head at this point. Just the overwhelming grief, the horror at how ugly everything had turned so quickly… and the inner anger at herself, wondering how she could've made such simple mistakes and hurt everyone so badly.
…But then.
Suddenly, her nose twitched.
"Huh?"
Juliana's head perked up. All of a sudden, the area around her became endowed with a curious scent.
A scent so oddly entrancing, so unplaceable in its sweetness, but Juliana couldn't help but feel she had sensed it somewhere before…
Her nose followed the scent, and then Juliana found her eyes drawn to the other end of Kieran's desk.
Where there was a small wooden box.
"…"
Juliana wiped the ugly mess of tears off her extremely red, puffy face as best she could and curiously scooched over to look at this box.
In that moment… her worries slowly started to vanish. Her mind, a heavy torrent of emotions just seconds ago, now seemed almost entirely fixated on whatever was inside this mysterious box.
The brown box had a sticker on it with letters in the Kitakami language. There was also a written note next to it, which fueled her curiosity even further.
"To… Juliana?"
Juliana picked up the note and unfolded it. It was written in Kieran's slightly sloppy handwriting.
Hey Juliana!
This is my special gift for you, to celebrate us becoming friends again!
I know it doesn't seem like much. I found it while we were on our school trip! And I was holding onto it for a while, as a good luck charm.
But I haven't been needing it lately. I didn't know what else to do with it, so I thought you might appreciate it. Maybe it'll bring you more good luck than it did for me!
Your friend, Kieran
"Your friend…"
Juliana couldn't help but beam a bit from that signature, but then her mind quickly refocused.
"I wonder what it could be…?"
Juliana cautiously opened the wooden box. Inside the box was a purple velvet pillow. And resting on that pillow…
"Huh?"
Juliana picked it up, her face a little confused.
"Kieran's good luck charm is a… Pecha Berry?"
Carmine was the one sitting on the bench alone now. Kieran had been awake when she was led into the room, but not enough that he could speak, just… listen.
There were so many things she wanted to say to him, but in the end, she couldn't muster anything other than a meek apology. Then she told him a joke, an old one she remembered hearing from Lacey. That made Kieran chuckle a little, which satiated Carmine's anxiety a little bit.
But now the Kitakamite girl was out here again, pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to navigate all the turmoil in her mind. She was trying to understand how deep her protectiveness of Kieran really goes, and how that factored into the way she… treated Juliana.
Because of course, Carmine knew she overreacted. Juliana obviously did not intentionally order her giant prehistoric turtle to fire a giant beam of light and crystals at her own friend.
And she knew Juliana was just as horrified and scared for Kieran's state of being as she was... and Carmine also knew that she hadn't helped anything by blowing up at Juliana, beyond just probably scaring the poor girl out of her wits.
But that was all a part of the long-going struggle in Carmine's mind recently: the dual roles she played, as Juliana's friend, and Kieran's sister. And the way the two had seemed… incompatible with each other lately.
For Carmine, it felt like ever since Kieran finally started coming out his long, weird funk, she was being pulled into two different selves. The side of her that cared a lot about Juliana... and the side of her that cared a lot about Kieran. The best friend with a crush versus the concerned, protective sister.
For whatever reason, the more both hers and Juliana's friendships with Kieran were rekindled, the more these two sides of her were constantly at war. And Carmine hated it. Because it was seeming more and more like the only answer to this bipolar conflict of hers was… was to figure out which one would have to take priority over the other.
Her deep ruminations were interrupted by her nose twitching.
…What's that smell? So sweet? It almost feels like…
"Owww."
Carmine heard a certain voice bumping against a wall in the distance.
"…Juliana?" she called out. "Is that you? … Umm."
She was befuddled by the sudden appearance of Kieran's beloved giant Furret pillow coming down the hallway. The tall, heavy object was accompanied by a pair of extremely wobbly legs that struggled to carry it down a straight line, occasionally losing balance and bumping into a wall.
"Owww," Juliana said again.
Carmine stood up, watching Juliana struggle. "Juliana… what are you doing? Why did you- bring Kieran's big Furret pillow all the way here?"
Juliana tried her best to hoist the big pillow up above the floor as she answered while huffing.
"Lacey… told me I should grab it… and give it to Kieran, in order to cheer him up!"
"Uhhh, okay…" Carmine responded, a little confused by Lacey's logic. "Well here, it looks like you're struggling with that."
She walked over and put both her hands on the Furret.
"My arms are strong as bark, so I won't have any trouble lifting that thing! Why don't you give it to me, and I'll just tell Kiki it came from you, okay?"
"Uhh, okay…" Juliana was about to hand it off when she had an idea. "Oh! Wait! Or how about this, we just carry it into the room together, you and me on each end!"
"Err—Well, that could work. But see, the thing is… umm…"
"Oh! Wait! Duh!" Juliana realized. "It's still only immediate family allowed to see him, isn't it?"
"Yes! Yes, exactly," Carmine replied, with the tone of having just found the perfect excuse. "That's how it works. Sorry, Juliana. But I'll be sure to tell him it came with nothing but love from you, alright?"
"Well, as long as you're sure you—"
Before she could let go for real, the door opened and Juliana watched Lacey exit from Kieran's room.
She greeted them with an excited grin. "Oh! Splendid! You found it, Juliana!"
"I sure did," said Juliana.
"Ohhh, Kieran will be so happy to see that," Lacey assured her. "Sorry that I can't stick around to see his face, but I could only afford a few minutes away from my duties!"
"That's fine. Kiki's probably just happy that you came, Lace," Carmine smiled.
"Yup! I think so too! I'm just so glad I had a chance to see him to know he's okay," she beamed, before turning to run. "I'll see you girls around. And I'll definitely be praying for Kieran's health! Best wishes, okay?"
"Sure thing. Bye, Lacey!" Juliana called out as she left.
Carmine watched her leave, not letting her smile drop until Lacey was completely gone.
"Man, Lacey cares a whole lot. I wonder if she still… mmm." Then she cleared her throat. "Alright. Anyway… like I was saying Juliana, I'll take that off your hands for you."
"Okay."
"Good. Now let—"
"Hey… wait a minute."
"Hmm?"
Juliana's face twisted a bit as she realized something. She looked back where Lacey had gone, and then back to the room Kieran was in.
"I—I thought you just said it was still immediate family only."
"That's… that's right," Carmine said.
Juliana's eyes sneered as she looked at her suspiciously. "Then… why was Lacey in there?"
Carmine's eyes dotted around a bit for a second, looking very caught off guard.
Finally, she just shrugged and said "I don't know. Guess she must've just slipped in," in such a casual voice Juliana could instantly tell she was being dismissive. Carmine tried to grab the pillow, only to be surprised when Juliana instantly tugged back on it.
"Slipped in?" Her eyebrows furrowed. "That doesn't make any sense…"
"Well, that's just how it is," said Carmine, trying not to sound frustrated. "Now just give me the pillow already—"
"No," Juliana said sharply, stepping back and holding it away from Carmine.
"Wh—what do you mean no!?"
Juliana kept eyeing her disbelievingly. "Carmine… are you… trying to keep me from seeing Kieran?"
"Whaaat?" Carmine replied with a very fake laugh. "No way! I just—I… I…"
Carmine tried to think of a way to justify herself, but… the honest truth was that this thought hadn't even entered her head until Juliana was already over, and she herself couldn't explain why she was going down this route.
"Look, can we just—talk about this later?" she urged.
She reached for the Furret again, only for Juliana to step even further back and hold it away from her.
"NO!" Juliana barked even louder. "Tell me why you don't want me to see Kieran! NOW!"
Carmine's eyes flared. The audacity of Juliana to suddenly be this forward, and now of all times.
And why is that sweet scent getting stronger? Is it coming from that Furret?
"Look! This—this really isn't the time, Juliana!" she defended, getting more frantic. "I just don't want any more drama today! Please, just give me that pillow—"
This time, she wasn't waiting for an answer. Carmine grabbed the pillow directly and tried to pull. But Juliana just pulled back harder and started yelling.
"What, you think I'm going to start something!? I don't want any drama either, Carmine! I just—I just want Kieran to be happy again!"
"I do too, Juliana! He'll be a lot happier when he's all rested up! So just let him heal up before you—you…"
Carmine trailed off, wanting to stop herself from saying something nasty.
But the damage was done. Juliana's eyes widened sharply and she sensed where that sentence was planning to end.
"…B-before I do what?"
"…" Carmine looked away.
"Before I do what!? Are you scared I'm going to hurt him or something?"
Carmine still didn't answer, which made her balk.
"C-Carmine! I… I told you that was an ACCIDENT!"
"I know…" she growled.
"I would never hurt Kieran on purpose! Not EVER!"
"I know, but I—I just need to look out for my little brother… o-okay? You understand that. Just…" Carmine tugged on the pillow again, trying her best to hide that she was getting so frustrated at Juliana's sudden stubbornness that she was almost at her boiling point. "Seriously, just let me give it to him."
"Carmine, what do you think I'm going to do, hurt him again!?"
"I don't know, MAYBE!" Carmine finally snapped. "It's so hard to tell with you sometimes, Juliana, because you're so reckless all the time!"
"I'm w-whaaaaaat?" Juliana reared back, not believing she was hearing this.
"Come on, you—you know what I mean!" Carmine tried to justify. "You do so many things without thinking first, and it… it scares me! Like—you and Kiki going off to Ogerpon's den on your own when you knew it was off limits! Or, or signing us up for that dangerous trip down into Area Zero! I mean, for crying out loud. Look at you, Juliana! You keep hurting yourself because of it!"
"N-no I don't!" she insisted.
"And now you've gotten Kiki hurt too!" Carmine was completely wound up now, and couldn't be stopped from speaking her mind. "Look Juliana, you know I love you a lot! But I—I also love Kieran a whole lot too! I'm his sister! That means I have to be responsible for him and protect him from anyone I think will cause him a lot of pain!"
"What, like me!?"
"I just… I—I—I'm getting worried that you might not be the best influence on him, that's all." Carmine said that, but squeaked as soon as she did, like she was surprised at her own words.
Juliana's head whirled around in disbelief, and then… What happened next frightened Carmine quite a bit. Juliana started… laughing. Almost spitefully. Like a cutting, throaty laugh.
And then, with a mirthless smile on her face, she said, "That's so rich coming from you, Carmine."
"Coming from-!?" Carmine began to seethe. "What the hell do you mean by THAT, Juliana!?"
"You keep saying that all you want to do is 'protect Kieran' and 'keep him safe', but you're just too afraid to admit it, Carmine!" Juliana declared, her eye beginning to twitch. "That you're WAY too overprotective of him!"
Carmine's vision went red.
"Hey! HEY!" she snarled, tugging on the Furret. "What did I tell you about calling me overprotecti—"
"It's TRUE THOUGH!" Juliana snarled back harder. "Kieran's never gonna get a chance to grow up if you don't stop treating him like a baby all the time!"
"How… DARE you," Carmine growled. "Why are you acting like this!?"
"Because I'm SICK of it!"
"Sick of what!?"
"EVERYTHING!" Juliana shouted, tugging really hard on the Furret. "The way you boss Kieran around all the time, the way you forced him not to help on getting Ogerpon the mask back because you were just 'protecting' him! You said he couldn't know about the Mask because the village would attack him, and that didn't even happen! You made me lie, and for NOTHING! Do you not realize HOW HORRIBLE I FELT!? l had literally just promised him I would never keep secrets from him and then I had to ruin that and ruin my friendship because of YOU!"
"J-Juliana…" Carmine was getting less frustrated at Juliana now, and more… hurt. This was all becoming way too raw.
"YOU were the one who turned him against me, Carmine! Everything he ever said about me lying… and betraying him, and being the villain… was completely RIGHT all along!" Juliana was speaking with tremendous bite in her voice now, the likes of which Carmine had never heard before.
"Juliana, please, calm down…" Carmine tried gently now to stop her from squeezing on the pillow so hard. "I—I'm sorry, okay? I spoke out of turn, but we don't need to keep pointing finger—"
"But all of that… was BECAUSE OF YOU!" Juliana kept complaining, sounding like she was nowhere near done. Her voice was getting shriller and shriller. "You made me look like the bad guy, when you're the one who keeps holding your brother down, Carmine! You're the reason he's never been allowed to grow up! The reason he's so scared of everything! The reason he HATES ME! And you think I'M the bad influence!?"
"H-hey…" Carmine was getting so shocked and hurt from all these abrupt accusations that her grip on the Furret pillow was steadily loosening, but Juliana kept pulling.
"I'm not being the jerk here, Carmine! YOU ARE!" Juliana was gritting her teeth hard, and then she finally couldn't take it anymore, and made her final declaration. "MAYBE YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S THE BAD INFLUENCE!"
"…"
Carmine was just completely speechless. She didn't know where any of this was coming from, and her eyes were glistening hard. This wasn't just some run-of-the-mill pushback, she felt like Juliana had just inflicted a huge mortal wound on her.
"…How… how could you say that?"
Juliana's vicious eyes softened, and then widened. She looked confused and guilty for a moment, but only for a moment. Staring down at the Furret pillow with a bitter expression, she started to pull on it with all her might.
Carmine quickly became alarmed and tried to pull back.
"H-hey, Juliana! Wait! STOP! Seriously, don't pull on it so hard! YOU'RE GOING T—"
-SHRRRIIIPPPPPPPPPP-
In that moment, everything stopped.
What was once whole, had just become irrevocably broken.
The Furret pillow had been completely ripped in two, and pieces of cotton and fluff littered the hallway floor around the two girls.
Carmine dropped the tail end and was left both shivering and seething. Her fists were shaking at their hardest rhythm, and tears were falling down her extremely red eyes.
Juliana looked at the ruined Furret head in her arms and dropped it with a humbling gasp. She looked all around her, and then… gazed at her own hands, completely wide-eyed and horrorstricken, like she had just come out of a spell.
"I—I… I'm sorry…" she squeaked out. "I didn't—I didn't mean to that…"
She could already feel her own eyes filling up with tears. Carmine was now glaring at her worse than ever before. Juliana was sure more than ever the girl wanted to throttle her now.
"Grandma… gave him that pillow… It was his favorite…"
Juliana tepidly started approaching her with her hand out.
"Carmine… I'm—I'm so, so, so so sorry… Please, I didn't—I didn't mean any of those things! I don't know what came over me… Why I said all that… You know that, that I don't actually think that y—"
"Just… go… away," Carmine growled at her.
"B-but, Carmine! I—"
Carmine bore her teeth with the most vicious snarl ever, and her eyes pierced into Juliana like daggers as her face grew redder and redder until she blew up.
"I SAID GO AWAY, YOU—YOU LOUSY HOMEWRECKER!" she practically screamed, sweat and tears all beading down her face.
"Noooo!" Juliana cried out.
"FROM NOW ON, JUST… STAY AWAY FROM THE BOTH OF US!" She leaned right into Juliana's face. "FOREVER!"
Juliana practically jumped right out of her skin. Terrified and ridden with guilt, she quickly turned heel and sprinted out from that wing as fast as she could, her vision blurry with the tears gushing from her eyes all the while.
Carmine immediately clutched onto her own arms, completely angry, confused, and hurt at this whole situation. She couldn't stop herself from shaking and crying, and breathing heavily.
And then…
"Mmmm… sis?" she heard Kieran cry out weakly from inside the room. "Did… something happen?"
Carmine looked all around at the debris. The two broken halves of Kieran's prized Furret plush now lay on the floor, completely in tatters, with all its fluffy guts spilled out around Carmine like a crime scene.
Even that weird scent was gone now. It was just Carmine… standing there and shaking, all alone.
"…"
She got on her knees, and covered her face with her hands as she knelt down and wept.