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CHAPTER 304 - TURNING POINT IV

Hi.

You know how this goes and what the title implies. Turning Point = trigger warning. Last time I put one of these a lot of people just didn't take it seriously/didn't see it, which is why I'm putting it IN the chapter this time, but again, expect something terrible to happen.

—

Candice's legs shook excitedly under her seat. Damn, this shrimp was good! And Nia said Snowpointers were awful at cooking! What were Eternians good for, huh? Berry pie? They shoved so many of them in there that you totally lost any of the taste from the individual fruits, so what was the point, then?

She wished she could have extended her lunch break by an hour, but then Alex would yell at her and write up a complaint to the League, since she wouldn't be doing her job properly. That little witch was trying to get her fired so she could take over. Candice snapped off half of her shrimp and grumbled. Just because she'd been to the Conference once didn't mean she had the potential to take over. Plus, this was a family business! She wasn't going to hand the Gym over to some punk just because she basically ran the Gym with a few of her cohorts these days…

Ahem.

With the trainer surge in Snowpoint, she barely had any free time, save for this single hour, and tomorrow was going to be a drag, since she'd need to go out and try to capture new critters in the evening after her shift was over, because she didn't have enough to keep up with the current demand and she'd put it off long enough. She was not going to get yelled at again. Usually, Gyms got the majority of their new Pokemon by buying them from breeders, but with them screwing up the Hunters, the efficiency of their breeding program had gone down by… um, there was a number she'd read in a report somewhere, but it had escaped her mind already. One of her Gym Trainers probably knew about it—

Oh.

Huh.

Tomorrow was most likely the Red Chain's completion.

Her mood cratered, sapping her of any of her energy— not that she had much left after battling so many kids in a row. Candice's brain was fried. She sprawled over her desk, shoving her head in shrimp. Her tongue licked up another piece and she chewed slowly while her mind settled down. She'd managed to put it in the corner of her mind for weeks, which was something she was very good at, but sometimes, she stepped on a land mine, bringing it back to the forefront of her thoughts all at once, and it was just so overwhelming.

Could she call one of her friends and bug them? Knowing Roark, he finished his lunch break early and was using the time to answer emails or deal with paperwork, that psycho. He was way too trigger-happy with the entire situation, too. Who the hell looked forward to murder that much? Obviously he hadn't said murder, but they all knew he wouldn't feel sad if there were a couple of 'accidents' that slipped in. Maymay looked up to Candice, so looking worried so close to tomorrow would only rattle her. Would Volkner answer the phone…? Probably not unless it was an emergency. Candice didn't want to bother any of the older Gym Leaders, either, and people at the League were busy.

"Guess it has to be Nia."

It was annoying to rely on her this much, but she didn't really have any other choice. Candice shoved the last three pieces of shrimp in her mouth and opened her window, sitting down on the windowsill as snow brushed against her skin and wind blew into her office. The cold hadn't bothered her in a long time, given that her team had been with her for years. She was still supposed to wear warm clothing, but she honestly couldn't be bothered and she hated the materials they were made of. Shorts were comfy.

"Candice," Gardenia instantly said. "I was wondering if you'd ever call. We haven't talked in like a week!"

"You fo realife dat—" she started choking on her food and struggled to get it down. "You do realize that I have hundreds of rabid children trying to get my badge, right? And that I'm running on like four hours of sleep. And that I have to actually work because I have one of my trainers trying to coup me!"

"Why don't you just fire her?"

"Because then I'd have to run the day-to-day at the Gym, and there's no way I can handle that on top of everything else." Candice punched the air. "She's made herself too useful!"

Nia laughed. "Leave it to you to somehow get into that situation, Candice. Maybe if Cynth fires you I'll hire you back as a Gym Trainer in mine."

"Then I'll only be allowed to use Abomasnow."

"You think I won't force you to use the same Gym Pokemon as everyone else? We run a tight ship over here, don't think I'll just let you off that easy."

"You know what, maybe Alex isn't so bad."

There was a beat of silence, and Candice looked out the window. Snowpoint was beautiful, and as always, was blanketed in snow. She wished for once that she could meet the domain holder around here like her grandmother had, but Cynthia had told her that she would just annoy her and get herself killed on the spot. 'Maybe when you mature a little more,' she'd said. Pfft. Snowpoint's port was always busy during the summer, with huge cargo ships going in and out of the place. She'd needed to negotiate with the workers there due to threat of a strike months ago… when Grace was here, if she remembered correctly. It would have been catastrophic for Snowpoint's economy after the winter and the city might have starved if they went on strike.

"Wanna talk about the Mamoswine in the room?" Nia asked.

"It was kind of why I was calling."

"Yes, I knew that already, you always—"

"I'm gonna give you frostbite the next time we see each other if you finish that sentence."

"Feeling under the weather, then?"

"Hmhm, a little. I just… remembered it suddenly, and now I don't know if I'll be able to give it my all during my shift today," Candice quietly said. "I bet the trainers would be happy if they got an easy badge from me, though."

"I'm pretty sure that might actually get you at least suspended. Don't you have to fight some first-year for their eighth badge later today?"

"Meh. I looked at their team and they were cool. Poison and dark type specialist that's been making the rounds a little, and I have a sick plan to ruin their day, but… yeah, I'm gonna have to pull it together, aren't I? Can't let one of my trainers do that battle."

"You can tell them to do the other ones, though. Sure, they'll think less of you, but you need to be in top form."

"I don't think they can actually think less of me. I'm a horrible boss— or you could see me as an awesome boss with quirks that people don't like."

"No one says that last bit," Gardenia chuckled. "To be honest, I doubt Cynthia's even reading the complaint emails. Probably has some poor intern on the job who's taking the entire thing way too seriously because they're scared to anger her."

Candice snorted. "You ever see her angry?"

"Cynth? Nope, just tired or exasperated like everyone else," she said.

"Think she'd be like, silent angry like your Mom? Or do you think she'd blow up and have Garchomp slice through a mountain?"

"I can't imagine Cynthia screaming, ever."

"I kind of want to goad her into it now," Candice snickered. "Do you think that if I'm missing for Renewal Day, she'll yell at me when she finds me?"

"I think she'd look at you with that disappointing thing she does. You know, when she flicks her eyes up for a fraction of a second?"

"Only you catch stuff like that, Nia."

"Yeah, I guess… hey, listen. Uh, when this is all over I have something to tell you that's been on my mind for years, and—"

There was a sound, like a door flinging open. There was another voice at the end of the line— Roland, her stupid best friend and second in command. Candice couldn't make out his words, though, just a lot of shouting and panicking.

"Candice— Candice I have to go!"

"Nia? What's going on?"

Then, light.

Candice turned her head.

Her eyes widened, and her breath caught in her throat.

Snowpoint's port was—

—

Thirteen minutes ago.

Cass hovered behind me and Justin as we walked at a brisk pace toward the Canalave library. With a day left until things went to crap, it had been his idea to pick up some more books for anyone who'd wanted to keep their mind off things and hand back the ones I'd grabbed for Jellicent, since he had devoured them in mere hours. Personally, I figured that part could have waited, but since he wanted to get out at all costs, I wasn't about to have him go alone when Galactic might strike early. Our pace had begun slowly, but had now turned brisk for whatever reason, and it felt good to be able to keep up with him with my ankle having almost healed completely. I scrolled through Chatter and spoke to Cassianus to pass the time, having learned that Justin liked the quiet. It was when we stopped at a red light, that he first spoke.

"You know," he whispered, "the truth about this outing was that I needed some fresh air… away from all the planning. So I lied."

My lips pressed together. "Oh. Uh, that's okay. I'm happy you're comfortable enough to tell me that."

His tone sped up. "It's just that everyone's been so busy preparing for everything, and I've just been sitting there. Scared when I think about it for too long, but still feeling inadequate. Like I'm not doing enough despite having the power to do so."

The light turned green, and we crossed the street. "There's no shame in hanging back. What you're feeling is… peer pressure. Seeing everyone do something makes you feel like you should, but that's not true, is it?"

"I don't know."

"It isn't," I confirmed, my tone firm. "We went over this, right? It's okay." I linked our arms together and slowed down. "In a few days, this'll be over. Like a bad dream."

His jaw clenched. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" he said before pausing. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. I'm just on edge."

I shot down the need to ask him if he wanted me to fix him like I'd put Louis back together. He'd come back multiple times to see me, asking if I could fix his anxiety again as the day approached, but stopped when I told him I had an addiction problem. It hadn't been the plan, at first, but at the time, my two options had either been blurt that out, or say yes, and I'd nearly said the latter, given that I'd been alone at the time and Jellicent wouldn't have been able to stop me.

"I guess Louis feels the same way, huh?"

That remained unanswered, and the way I noticed his face shift into a neutral one meant that he was back to usual. "Maeve wanted a book on human anatomy and as many Pokemon anatomy we could find. Pauline said your chemistry and physics book was too basic, so she wanted another advanced one so she could figure out if she could work with Charizard and Gothitelle…"

"I'll take a look at the anatomy ones too," I said.

He glanced my way. "Denzel wanted to see if we could find books with information about Mount Coronet. That's it."

"Sounds good."

"For how boundless the internet seems to be, it's a wonder these things are still more detailed on paper," Cass said.

"...have you been looking at things online, Cassianus?"

"Query unrecognized. Please try again later."

"Oh, I know you recognized it!" I yelled with a grin. "It's fine, by the way, just don't believe everything you read on there just because it's new stuff."

The Canalave Library came into view soon enough, and since the day of the Sailors' Return was today, everyone was off work and the place was basically full. It was odd to see the library without any decorations when we couldn't go five steps out on the streets without seeing flags with embroidered water types on them, or signs with words and poems about returning from a long voyage at sea. There was nothing but some grey balloons attached to chairs or weighed down on top of bookcases. I had to stop Cass from asking people to make way for the King as soon as we had to stop in front of a small group of people, because according to them, the rules of being quiet in a library were lesser than allowing me to go wherever I pleased. They'd be a horrible patron anywhere.

We took the stairs to the second floor, since we didn't expect the elevator would ever be free and Claydol couldn't squeeze past the entrance anyway. Biology was on the third floor, and information about Mount Coronet would be on the fifth. I filed through the hall, running a finger over the books until I found what we wanted. There were actually too many books on Pokemon anatomy, though these were mostly about common ones people could find like Shinx, Bidoof, or Lillipup. Not that we were expecting Galactic grunts to have any dragon types anyway, given that every time they'd been fought, the majority of them had owned easy-to-access Pokemon.

"We can't grab all of these, can we? I mean, our bags aren't big enough for everything."

"Wait, is that… the new book on Pokemon Care?" Justin whispered.

He scurried to the side while I waited for him at the end of the aisle and flipped through the pages of this book, looking at the inside of a human body.

"'Complete Pokemon Care Manual - All Types'," he listed, smile slowly rising. "I mean, I know not every type of Pokemon is going to be the same, but it goes in-depth with the basics. This would be great for Louis' sanctuary, don't you think?"

I looked up at him and gawked at the thickness of the book. It must have been eight hundred pages at least.

"Is it new?" I asked.

"It was written by a few of the Hunters from Solaceon who wanted to pass on the knowledge they'd gotten taking care of so many Pokemon for so many years," he smiled. "So technically, our actions there made this book come to be."

"Sure, grab it. Checking out books is free anyway, and I think it'll cheer him up some—"

My ears popped.

The world around me burned, swallowed by a cacophony of explosions and fire. The air grew thick with dust, fragments of wood and dense smoke. I flinched, closing my eyes and dropping my books, expecting my entire body to be burned to ashes, but none of that came. Instead, sound around me died, save for the ringing in my ears, and the temperature returned to normal. My clothes were soaked with sweat and my body ached, but I was alive. The metal around my wrist froze in place.

I opened my eyes again.

What just happened?

I couldn't see a foot in front of me. Cass had erected a barrier around us and there was an Indeedee here as well who had appeared from nowhere. The air reeked of burning pages and the sickly-sweet scent of charred wood. The walls trembled as the fire consumed the shelves, and the heat pressed against the barrier like an invisible force. To my left, the floor collapsed, swallowing a chunk of a broken bookshelf as it tumbled to a lower floor.

Still, I couldn't hear anything. There was only trembling breath, the shaking of my feet against the intact ground under me, shoes squeaking against the slick tiles, and the ringing in my ears. Chest rising and lowering slowly, fingers trembling and teeth chattering. What is happening?

From the second explosion billowed darkness that was blacker than pitch, only seconds later, smothering some of the fire but rattling Claydol some. Indeedee held firm, however, her eyes glowing against the void. It was only as these next few seconds passed that I gathered my bearings enough to have a single thought.

Justin.

I couldn't see him, with the darkness, fire, debris and smoke— Justin! I had to see if he was safe. This Indeedee— it probably belonged to my newest ACE Trainer who had replaced Lou.

I spoke, but I couldn't hear my own words, reminding me of the time Sunshine had damaged my hearing when I'd first caught him. It was only then that I realized Cass had been speaking into my mind all along, but I'd been in too much shock to respond. It was so haunting, to see all of this destruction, this burning, but to be unable to hear any of it because of the barrier.

It would be unwise to move. Your trainers are still assessing the situation, and I am afraid we will not be able to Teleport out of the building, Indeedee said, her voice crisp in my head.

I frowned, screaming that he was right there in front of us! I tried to grab at the psychic's shoulders to shake her, but instead, my body froze where I stood.

Goodness, do you want to die? she said. I am listening to orders. I'm sorry if this isn't what you want, but reinforcements will be arriving shortly as soon as the library is cleared. Indeedee paused. Or what remains of it.

The minutes passed agonizingly slowly, and my hearing slowly returned while a pit started to form in my stomach. He was fine, he had to be. The grip around me loosened, and I stood there, eyes staring into the distance where he'd stood seconds earlier, holding up a book with a smile on his face.

There was a way to figure out if he was fine.

My empathy.

I closed my eyes, and the world screamed. Emotions shone brightly through the smoke and flames, even if they were somewhat dimmed due to the dark type energy swirling about.

As I gazed through the translucent barrier erected by Claydol and Indeedee, emotions unleashed like a torrent of anguish, and the hues painted a heartbreaking masterpiece of collective suffering. The pain was palpable, a searing heat coating my brain that mirrored the physical flames consuming the library's walls. I clenched at my head and ignored the emotions trying to worm their way into me and focused on this aisle.

There was nothing.

Nothing.

Was he…

No. The darkness was fucking with my empathy like it had during the tests It had done at Lake Verity, and there was so much more of it now, and it was making it difficult to focus. Or maybe he'd managed to run through the fire— the explosion had been closer to me than it had him. He'd be burned if he had, but the ACEs must have picked him up—

There, Indeedee said with a sigh.

A neon green wind swept through the floor, eliminating the darkness in one fell swoop, and water fell around us from a Pelipper flying in the distance, smothering the flames in our vicinity. I had not seen Maxwell in what felt like ages, but he looked the same as always, save for his missing hand. His dark hair was full of ash and wood splinters, and after his mouth moved, Indeedee put down the barrier. The heat hit me like a truck, as did the sound of burning and collapsing wood. There were sirens outside, both from the police and fire trucks.

And screams.

So many screams.

Gothitelle's words rang in my mind. Fire. My vision swam, and I realized my throat felt so terribly dry as I struggled to stay up.

"Building's been cleared. No enemy forces present, and the darkness isn't being sustained," Maxwell said. His voice was still distant, even if he was standing right here. I could barely hear out of my left ear. "Recall your Claydol and Meltan."

In a daze, I followed his instructions.

"Indeedee, get her out of here."

"Wait, Justin—"

"Playtime's over, Ms. Pastel," he grimly spoke. "We're in charge."

I was gone.

Teleported to what looked like a bunker, though somehow Indeedee hadn't followed me here. The walls were solid concrete, and a low hum resonated through the space, emanating from vents hanging on the ceiling. Lights flickered overhead, and I took a deep breath, inhaling the stale air. Everyone was here. Cecilia rushed toward me as soon as I made it, hugging me even though my body was covered in ash and soot.

"Thank the Legendaries," she gasped, her hands wound tightly around me.

"Where— where are we?"

"The League until further notice," Chase said. "The entire region just went to shit, Grace."

The rest of my friends greeted me, though the mood was obviously somber. Louis was pale, sitting on a green couch laid against one of the walls of the room. Maeve was in a corner of the room, giving a pep talk to her Pokemon. Pauline was quietly on the phone with who I assumed to be her mother while Emilia could only stare at the floor, though it was not in a helpless, traumatized manner like Louis. She was preparing herself for what was to come.

"Where's Justin?" Denzel asked.

I'm going to vomit.

"I don't know," I forced out. "We were in the library together, but… I think he was hurt."

The room was silent, but the sheer pain going through our faces was impossible to miss.

"He's probably at the hospital, I think," I added. "You know, the explosion wasn't as big where he was standing, and by the time I was Teleported out the authorities were already here. And my ACEs are there, too. He should be— he should be fine."

"I… see," Cece said, letting go of me.

Louis exhaled, his body sagging. "Oh, thank Arceus."

"Do we— can we get any news about what's going on?" Emilia stuttered with a hoarse voice.

Denzel shifted uncomfortably. "We should ask about Justin. There's a button we can press if we need anything, but it might take a while for them to get to us since I assume the League is on lockdown—"

"Denzel, please," she begged, looking into his eyes with a thousand-yard stare. "I— just, please."

"It'd be best if we don't bother them," I quickly agreed. "Justin is okay."

My best friend looked at Chase, then at Cecilia, but she gave a half nod that felt fake. Why didn't they believe me? I wanted to ask, but now wasn't the time. Not now. Later. Yeah. He was okay. It would be better to focus on what we could learn for now.

Denzel scrolled through his phone, updating us on what had happened. Apparently every city in Sinnoh had been bombed, with major landmarks and monuments having been the main target. The Canalave Library, the Hearthome Contest Hall, the Sunyshore Mall and Boardwalk, Oreburgh's Fossil Museum, Snowpoint's port… the list went on and on until Mira asked him to stop.

"Just stop," she repeated. "We get it, the entire region's been fucking bombed. You're just bringing the mood down for no reason, we don't need to know the specifics."

"Oh. Sorry," he muttered. I'd never heard him speak like this. It was like he was trying to keep himself from crying when he'd been fine just earlier. Barely keeping himself together.

"The specifics of this are actually very important," Pauline said, having now hung up from her mother. "These were all picked to kill as many people as possible. Mommy says Hearthome's in chaos. The library wasn't the only explosion in Canalave, either, I saw another bomb go off from my Pokemon Center window."

Mira grabbed her own arm, almost like a self-hug. "I… I know, but it's… just slow down."

"I can't, and I'm sorry." His face twisted into a pitying grimace, and he kept scrolling. "No news of a bombing in Twinleaf, Grace. I think it wasn't important enough to bomb for them."

My heart dropped. "My Dad—"

"Is fine," Mira said. "I'm close with Carlos and he checked on the building, it wasn't bombed. You better send your parents a text to tell them you're okay."

I nodded, but the relief I'd expected to come never came with Justin gnawing at the head of my mind. While I did so, the conversation continued.

"How the hell did the League miss this?" Louis asked, his voice straining. His hands were clenched atop his lap, wound together so tightly they were white. "This is… awful."

"You can't expect them to have every building guarded up, especially when a lot of their forces are holed up in Veilstone, the Lakes and Mount Coronet," Cecilia said. I saw her wipe a tear out the corner of her eye, but they… kept coming. "I— I'm sorry, I need to go to the bathroom."

Sobs accompanied her retreat, and when I tried to follow her, Chase called out to me.

"Let her be for a second," he said.

"She needs me—"

"You're not in the right… headspace right now," he interrupted.

I took a step forward. "What does that fucking mean, Chase?"

"Let's focus on what's important," he said.

"No. Tell me what it fucking means," I spat, getting up in his face. "Tell. me."

"Williams? Any help?"

"Let's, uh, stay on topic," Denzel continued. "The League was stretched thin, and I assume the shit security these buildings have— if they have any, wasn't enough to catch the bombs. Only Veilstone was spared of any bombings—"

"Stop ignoring me."

All faces turned toward me.

"If you have something to say, then say it," I said.

Denzel approached, trying to put a hand over my shoulder, but I slapped it away. "Say it."

"You, Emilia, Louis," Chase said. "You're in denial. We saw footage of the Canalave Library, and half of that building is collapsed—"

Emi rose from her seat. "No, fuck off with that," she screamed, pointing at him. "You have no right, Chase. We don't know, okay? We don't know if he's dead, so you trying to be all fucking macho and uncaring, trying to act like we do know, it's getting on my damn nerves."

"Grace was there," Louis said as he gripped the side of his couch. "I think she would know more than you."

"Then we could just ask, couldn't we?" Chase frowned.

"Not now. Not when they need every person out there," I said. "Plus, they might not know, with all the confusion and stuff."

"Come on!" he barked. "You're just fucking scared! You know damn well that makes no sense—"

"Just be fucking human for once," Emilia said. "Just let us have this," she sobbed. "Please."

There was a flash of red as Maeve recalled her team. "It wouldn't hurt to believe in the best-case scenario until proven otherwise, wouldn't it?" Her stone-cold exterior cracked for a second, and it would take a while to come back up.

I stood firm. "It won't be proven otherwise. He's hurt, no doubt, but I didn't— there was nothing there."

There was a pause.

"I thought they were all holed up like Rattata in Veilstone," Chase said.

"Evidently, they had people left out here who never got on the League's radar," Mira groaned. "Not even fighters, either."

"Why would they even do this?" Pauline asked. Her face was pale, and just like Emilia, she struggled to sit still now. There was a back-and-forth motion to her body, like she was comforting her own self. "What's the point in all of this death?"

"They occupy the Gym Leaders and pull from League forces, maybe?" Denzel said. His eyes were wet, but he was holding it together. "I don't think Cynthia would even pull out that many troops, but anything helps when Galactic is at a disadvantage."

"Cynthia would let the entire region burn to smithereens before weakening her position," I said. "This is a fool's errand."

"Then to the public, she looks like she's fooling around," Chase said. "You know what that means, right?"

"Doesn't matter how strong she is, she's out of power as soon as this is done," Emilia spoke under her breath. "She'll be too unpopular. Her legacy will be ruined. Shit."

"She's not the kind of woman to care about that," I said.

"Okay. That bodes well, then," Louis nodded.

"How's the rest of the world reacting?" Mira asked.

"Everyone reacted fast. Condemnation at the attacks and condolences from every country, even Galar." Denzel frowned at his phone. "Indigo's already pledging to give money to help with the rebuilding, and there's talk of loosening the sanctions from Galar… not much else, though. It's too recent."

I sighed. "Any information about the Gym Leaders—"

There was a louder sob from the bathroom, and the room went quiet.

"I'm going."

This time, no one stopped me. Instead, they returned to talking about the situation, and I heard of a casualty toll in the thousands before I was out of reach.

That number would still be ticking up throughout the coming days.

I bit the inside of my lip hard enough to taste metal.

The bunker itself was arranged more like a hotel room than what I'd expected from a place like this, except larger save for a few bits like the old lights. Hell, there was even artwork on the walls that I would have looked at, had I not been in a hurry. I passed by a main chamber holding rows of sturdy metal shelves, each stocked with neatly organized supplies—canned goods, water containers, medical kits, and other essentials.

After knocking, I put my ear to the door, but remembered that I'd lost my hearing in this one. There was still a subtle ring to it in the background, but it wasn't like I could do anything about it. I put the other ear to the door and heard crying.

"Cece?"

There was a startled, choking sound, and the cries stopped. "I'll be out in a minute," she said after a pause. "I just need to… I need to…"

"Can I come in—"

"Yes please."

I tried opening the door, which she'd evidently forgotten she had locked, and she opened it from the inside. Cecilia was a mess. Her hair was frazzled and her face was full of tears and snot. I crouched and wrapped my hands around her, and she cried on my shoulder.

"We'll be okay," I whispered. "Justin will be okay."

"I don't know, Grace," she sobbed. "I've known him since we were kids. We'd see each other at these horrible get-togethers when I'd come to Sinnoh… I don't know. I'm trying to put it all in a box, but it's not working, Grace. I can't— it feels like I'm missing a part of myself that I'll never get back."

I loosened the hug and looked into her eyes, ignoring the knot in my throat. "He'll be fine. He is fine. We'll visit him when this is all over, okay? I promise."

Cecilia nodded in silence, her body leaning against mine. "Hold me."

She was warm. For a second, I imagined her lying dead, a charred corpse at my feet from one of the bombs, and I stopped moving while her breath trembled and her chest rose and fell.

"I love you," I whispered. "We'll make it through this."

"I'm sorry. Usually I can do this," she murmured. I could feel her breath on my ear. "Usually I'm strong enough to pull through, and I'm the one you can rely on, but when I imagined him dead, it was…"

"He's alive."

There was a pause for a few seconds.

"Let's not ask, though," she said.

"Yes. They're busy."

"But if he is… that."

Dead, she meant. My body flinched like it had been struck. He wasn't, because that would mean he had died on my watch. He was alive.

"Then I will kill every Team Galactic member I come across," she said, her voice steadfast and sharp like iron. "And I will look the other way if anyone does the same. This is an emergency, after all."

She'd put it all in a box now.

I let her rise, and watched her wash her face.

"I'm gonna wash the ash off my face too," I said. "I'll be out in a minute."

She nodded. "Thank you, love. For being here."

Cece outstretched her hand, and I grabbed it. We held still for a moment, hands clasped tight.

Then, she left, closing the door behind her.

The plastic gloves came slowly out of my bag.

I wrapped them around my hands and found a bathing glove to smoothen the process.

I turned on the faucet. The sound of the water splashing against the sink felt like static noise.

I wet my hands, rubbing my face. It came out brown and grey as it circled around the sink.

I let my hand hover over the faucet, but it trembled when I tried to turn off the water.

I looked up at the mirror.

Clothes covered in ash and smoke, hair singed at its edges by the first micro-second of the explosion. Arm and body scarred by cuts and burns.

A blank stare, head and body utterly still, save for my nose flaring with every deepening breath. Eyes wide open. My ears rang again, but there was no explosion.

They just kept ringing.

And ringing.

And ringing.

I stared at myself once more. My hands gripped the wet ceramic. My face tightened. My shoulders broadened.

I barely look human. Something itches under my skin.

But despite everything.

It's still you.

I turned off the tap and tied my hair up.

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