Pokémon Obsidian | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 66: Evergreen

The illusory castle was alone in the barren desert. They flew for so long, they should have met the towns beyond the border by the time they reached it; yet when Laila glanced back, the view they departed from, where Pyrite Town was buried in sand and the Pokémon HQ Lab so close, was right behind them. Surely even Jamie was eager to escape this hell? Was he trapped, or was he so far gone that he no longer cared?

Charizard prepared to ram the great doors. Wood and steel dissolved, as if it was never there, as soon as it was touched. Charizard fell face-down on checkered tiles. Dusty chandeliers illuminated the same warped paintings, over and over: Camden, Alfie, Leon, Camden, Alfie, Leon... though as they climbed a seemingly endless, crumbling staircase, Alfie and Leon began to disappear. Every painting was of Camden.

What the fuck did he do to you, Jamie? Or did he just become the face of your despair?

'When are these stairs gonna end?!' Wisteria exclaimed, 'Is this some defence mechanism?'

Within seconds of the last word leaving her mouth, she slammed into a steel grate. It appeared too abruptly to stop. Horace blinked.

'That wasn't there before...'

Charizard breathed gentle flames. The steel melted, coursing down the stairs to turn them shiny silver. Stepping in, they found themselves not in a luxurious bedroom, but a dimly-lit dungeon. The entrance disappeared. There was only a grimy wall behind them.

'So... this is basically a fancy prison.'

One narrow hallway led left. They began to run. Their footsteps echoed as if a crowd chased them. The dark, fusty corridor seemed as eternal as the stairs. It ended equally abruptly. Laila grabbed Wisteria to stop her falling, but the ground disappeared. They were all suspended over a swirling, ethereal storm. Then they were falling. The corridor was gone in seconds. Laila got the uncomfortable feeling that if distance existed at all here, even if it was only spiritual distance, this was the heart of the warp space.

They hit hard ground. Though they descended, they were on the castle's open roof. Scattered across the dusty grey tiles were broken chains and slabs. Views of Orre were long gone. The tower was a lone island amidst that raging storm.

At first, Laila thought Jamie was unconscious. He was spread-eagled on the stone that, as Laila stepped towards him, began to crack. His eyes were open. He wasn't alone. Extending a hand was Camden.

He couldn't be real. Laila knew he couldn't. He was frozen, along with the rest of the world, in The Under. Yet he looked as real as Horace or Wisteria. The tears that fell gently dampened his little brother's clothes. Jamie tentatively took his hand. Could a mere illusion really pull him to his feet, as if he was light as a feather? Laila clearly discerned one word before he disappeared: 'sorry.'

But... didn't he already apologise? At the hospital?

One thing was clear. Jamie didn't find himself a fully numbed psychopath. He found himself a vulnerable child who wanted to be loved and protected. That was his deepest desire. The challenge was believing that he was loved, that his deepest desire wasn't a humiliating display of vulnerability.

'Laila... get out of here.'

'Only if you come with me.'

If Ardos followed Jamie's instructions exactly, Cipher's forces would be positioned around most major enemies by now. Jamie, then, had a choice: he could emerge from the space to lead Cipher to victory, no closer to losing emotion but convinced he was truly worthless, or he could choose to believe he was not. That was what Laila thought, but Jamie thought of another option.