Redemption

Chapter 7

        (Y/n) ignored Yana's call for her to stop running on the boat. This wasn't the time to be minding any silly rules. She didn't hesitate to enter Gladion's room, shaken by what she saw.

        Silvally was frantically trying to get Gladion to wake up, but he wouldn't even move. (Y/n) was by his side within seconds, already checking for his pulse. Confirming that it was there provided heavy relief, but he wasn't in the clear just yet. Silvally stayed close by, trying his best to keep still but miserably failing.

        "(Y/n), what happened?" Lillie had arrived with Scarlett not far behind her.

        "Give me a moment, I need to concentrate," (y/n) snapped. She didn't mean to be rude, but she couldn't afford to mess this up. She carefully placed her hand over Gladion's chest, specifically where his heart was, and searched for its electrical rhythm. After years of practice, she could detect even the natural electricity in humans.

        "What's going on here? And who are you?!" Great, now the captain had arrived.

        "Now isn't the time, Miss Yana!" Lillie lashed out at the woman. (Y/n) did her best to ignore the noise.

        Her focus remained as she continued to trace the electrical signals in Gladion's heart. Sure enough, the current was off by a few seconds. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, (y/n) attempted to alter the flow just enough to get it back on track. If she made the mistake of increasing the stalling current or decreasing it by too much, she risked killing him. Sparks crackled in her hair as an expression of her anxiety, but she was able to complete the task without a problem.

        "He's going to be okay," (y/n) announced with a sigh. "Where's the captain? We need to call your mother," she said to Lillie noticing that Yana had disappeared.

        "She went to get his medicine. Has he not been taking it?" Lillie came to sit near (y/n) and her brother.

        "He's been taking it. I've made sure of it. He just...hasn't been sleeping." (Y/n) watched Lillie pull some of Gladion's hair out of his face.

        "What are we going to do?" Lillie hopelessly whined. "You're having to deal with a problem no one can solve, Gladion has the weight of the entire company on his shoulder, and I can't do anything about it. Even Moon and Hau are dealing with problems none of us can solve. And now I don't even know if we can help Scarlett." The girl was now crying, but (y/n) didn't know how to comfort her. "I thought I could be helpful for once," she sobbed.

        "You are helpful," Scarlett spoke up. "If it weren't for you, I'd probably still be in danger." (Y/n) looked over to find him standing timidly at the door. She was about to thank him, but Yana returned holding a first aid kit and a bottle of medication.

        "Help me get him to his bed." She ignored Scarlett for the time being and focused on getting Gladion taken care of. Once Gladion was resting on his bed, Yana made a phone call to Aether Paradise. "Yes, this is an emergency. Put me on the phone with the president right now."

        Much of the conversation went by in a blur as (y/n) tried to comfort Lillie and keep her own cool. Whatever had happened, Scarlett had saved Gladion's life. She and Lillie were too busy talking about what they were going to do for Gladion once they got back to Alola to help calm his nerves. Had she known that Gladion's health had gotten this bad, she would have had them all go home sooner.

        "(Y/n)," Yana called the girl over now that she was off the phone. "What exactly is going on here? Who is that boy?"

        (Y/n) glanced over to where Scarlett was quietly watching from the door. It was almost eerie how silent and still he was being as he stared at her to see what she would say. "That's Scarlett. He's a friend that I met in Kanto. I snuck him onto the boat so that he could see Alola. It was reckless, I know. I'm sorry," she lied. Lying to a therapist was no an easy task. The woman knew that (y/n) was making up her words, but given the situation, she didn't even bother trying to find out the truth.

        "We can't afford to take him back right now," Yana sighed. "You should have know better than doing things like this. The boy's parents are going to be worried sick. Do you understand exactly what you've done?"

        "Yes, I do, but if he wasn't here then Gladion might have died," (y/n) reasoned.

         "You aren't the president's child, so I can't do anything, but I will make sure that Lusamine does something about it. You know Lillie looks up to you, and this is how you act." Yana turned to Lillie with a stern look. "Did you know about this?" (Y/n) hoped that Lillie would play along. She was a bad liar and an even worse actor when it came to things like this because of her unexplainable honesty.

        "I-I saw him in Kanto but I didn't know he was on the boat," Lillie stammered.

        "And you, what do you have to say for yourself? I could have you charged for trespassing," Yana spoke to Scarlett who only avoided her stare.

        "It wasn't my intention to cause any trouble," he answered. This seemed to be a good enough answer for the captain.

        "No one leaves this room until I say so. I'm going to make sure the boat is staying on course. Make sure that Gladion stays in bed if he wakes up." Yana left them there disappointed and upset as she headed back to the front of the boat. For quite a while, no one said anything as the three of them gathered around the floor of Gladion's bed. Silvally was keeping watch, and still frantic about his trainer's current state of being.

        "Does Gladion have a health condition?" Scarlett asked. He expected (y/n) to answer him since she was the one sitting directly next to him.

        "No. He's just stressed," Lillie spoke instead. "He and I are the only ones eligible to inherit mother's company, but mother says I can't handle the pressure, so everything was left to Gladion. He just recently became old enough to take over, but he doesn't want to lead Aether Foundation." Lillie solemnly averted her gaze from her resting brother. "He never has..."

        (Y/n) felt an unpleasant jolt of electricity shoot through her as she thought of the siblings' troubles. She was as close as family to them. In fact, (y/n) had tried to get Lusamine to adopt her just so she could try taking on the burden that Gladion now had to bear. The rejection had left her devastated, but she continued to do whatever she could to support both Lillie and Gladion.

        In fact, the trip to Kanto was an attempt to ease the siblings' worries and she had tried to do her best to make the experience as stress free as possible. It seemed to work for Lillie, but after the first week, Gladion was only reminded of things he didn't want to think about. To make matters worse, Alola's local problems called for their attention.

        "I don't know what I can do to help, but I'll try. It's the least I can do to return the favor," Scarlett vowed. Though he was still very much a stranger, his words gave (y/n) a little reassurance. Silence fell over them again, but no one attempted to strike up any sort of conversation. It was then that (y/n) felt it. It was only brief, but the presence of something dark and evil gave her a shudder. She looked to Scarlett having felt the sensation coming from his direction, but he only gave her an innocently questioning stare.

        "Was I imagining things just now?" she wondered to herself, but the ominous feeling had been unmistakable. Surely, Scarlett was not lying to her, right?
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And onwards to the next chapter I go. Until next time you nice readers!