Setting:
•Amber (Wolfe Alias) POV•
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Ashes of the Lie
I opened my eyes to find myself back at the schoolhouse. Some bird Pokémon were chirping in the trees that made up the bordering forest. I was alone; I had the feeling like there was no one else around. I looked up at the sky to see the sun halfway across the horizon. It seemed like a pleasant enough day. The nearby lake glistened with the brilliance of a thousand shining diamonds. The schoolhouse was untouched, not charred or anything like how I left it last. It really seemed like I went back in time. I approached the house out of curiosity.
As I approached, it grew suddenly cold and dark, as though the sun's warmth was suddenly pulled away. I looked down to see a blanket of white snow. The light on the earth was a different, softer shade. The brilliance of a three-quarter moon illuminated the ground. The door to the schoolhouse opened; it was Sneasel who stepped out. The little Pokémon jumped into the snow gleefully. A moment later, Silver stepped out as well. Although I was standing only a mere few feet away, it was like he didn't even see me.
Is he ignoring me?
I approached him, but he seemed to look straight through me. The look on his face showed that he was tired. He seemed a little depressed, if anything. Then, my Pidgeot appeared before him. He said something to the bird, but it was garbled. I couldn't understand.
Is this a dream? Am I in the past? What's going on? Falkner has my Pidgeot—not Silver. And the schoolhouse, it's still here.
Silver flew off on my Pidgeot a few moments later. Suddenly, light erupted into the eastern sky, as though I traveled time. I heard a noise and walked around to my own room to suddenly stand face to face with my younger, seventeen-year-old, self. She stood quite a bit shorter than me and seemed to hold herself in a different way than I did. Her face was unchanged from plastic surgery, and she seemed rather delicate in the early morning's light as she gazed up at the sky.
A cold chill went down my own spine as the sudden realization of what day that was dawned on me. It was the day of my "death".
I saw my younger self hop back into the open window of my room as I double-checked to make certain all of my valuables had been packed. On that day, I grabbed an assortment of mine and Silver's things that I knew must not be burned. I watched myself heft bags out of my window.
A guy came up and grabbed them for me and put them in a trunk of a car. I knew that guy was another one of my fallen colleagues, Thaz. He was burly enough to haul all of my things in a few mere trips. He then got into the car and drove away. Some other people erased the car's tracks in the snow.
I saw myself talking to Darrius, who had just made it to the scene. I approached to watch the conversation.
"I'm proud to have you on board, Agent Wolfe," he shook my younger self's hand.
"I wish I didn't have to do this, Darrius. What about Silver? He seemed distracted last night," the old me trailed off.
"Silver will be fine. Remember, you are doing this to protect your family and friends. That includes Silver. He'll pull through, have faith in him." Darrius reassured.
"Darrius, I'm staying to watch." My younger self decided.
He sighed. "There's no arguing with you, I know. Fine, but do it from far enough where you won't be detected. I don't want this to screw up. Just leave everything to us, and it'll be all right. The ballistics body is going to be here in ten minutes. Go ahead and find yourself a hiding place in the forest."
I watched as my younger self hopped onto Repede, my Arcanine, and disappeared into the woods. I already knew what I'd be doing in there, so I decided to stick around to watch the operation of my supposed death. Ten minutes later, the truck with the ballistics body had arrived. I watched as two guys whom I recognized from the Ops unloaded the back.
"Are you sure we are going through with this?" One asked Darrius apprehensively.
"It's something we have to do. It'll take out threats. Wolfe is on our side; remember that. Let's make this girl's death something Team Rocket will want to take credit for." Darrius nodded.
The two guys removed a sleeping bag-like container that I supposed held the ballistics gel body. "Man, this thing is heavy!" The other guy commented.
"Hush, you idiot. I don't want Silver finding out what we are doing," Darrius chastised.
I watched the guys enter the schoolhouse and make their way to my room. Through the open window, I saw them unzip the bag and lay the body on my bed. They then covered it with blankets. The body itself surprised me. I didn't realize that science could achieve such great things. I thought that ballistics bodies were somewhat clear, but that one was practically life-like. It was almost my skin color and everything.
"Okay, body is set. When do we start the bonfire?" Asked one of the guys through a portable radio.
"Start pouring the gasoline now. Be sure to put the most in Wolfe's room. Put a little in every room, though, so Silver can't put it out. He must not stop the fire," Darrius commanded.
"Roger that," the guy responded.
I watched as gallon upon gallon of gasoline was poured all over my old belongings and even on the ballistics body.
Some more time passed, I had assumed, since the next thing I knew, Darrius was giving the command to start the inferno. A team of fire Pokémon concentrated their attacks on my room. They blew the fire through the open window, and in an instant, my room lit with a whoofing sound. The crackling of the wooden house mesmerized me as I watched at a short distance the destruction of my former home.
I then watched the clean-up process. Footprints were planted to make it plausible that Team Rocket had pulled off the job. Then, other evidence—unwanted footprints, tire tracks—was all erased. Someone sprayed the area with a cover scent so Sneasel couldn't detect that something was up. Everyone else flew away on Pidgeot in directions away from Mt. Silver. That only left myself, Wolfe, and myself, Amber, to witness the scene.
Time lapsed again as a sudden sound brought my attention to the base of the mountain. Silver had jumped off my Pidgeot as it nearly crash-landed. He started coughing as he looked at the blaze. He began to run about and yell, though I still couldn't make out his words.
Why can I understand Darrius but not Silver? Is it because I wasn't there to hear him? Am I only living in a memory? But I didn't see it from this angle. He seems pretty frantic, though.
He's looking for me, isn't he? I grimly realized.
Even Sneasel was frantically scanning the area from treetops. From there, I watched Silver get really close to the building; even I wouldn't have gotten that close since it was too much of a risk of getting burned. He started yelling incomprehensible things at the house. The fire was white-hot, much like the one from the warehouse that he set ablaze in the present day.
The next thing he did made me feel pretty pathetic. He and Sneasel kept trying to put out the fire with Icy Wind. Of course, it only made it worse.
Another time lapse.
Some firemen approached with a squad of water Pokémon, namely Blastoise, the blue turtle Pokémon that had high-pressure water canons that stuck out of their shells. The firemen aimed the water at my room first, which was already pretty much destroyed; the walls crumbled. I heard Silver yell at the men, who replied something in return. Silver seemed pretty upset at them. They continued their work by moving down the rest of the building.
I followed Silver as he ran to my room.
How typical. We all played on the bet that he'd do that.
We figured he'd find the body first.
Now to see if his charred remains claim is a lie. The ballistics body should have melted.
The first thing I noticed from my old room was the heat; it was blistering hot even though the fire was finished. It was odd I could actually feel anything, as surely this was only some sort of weird dream. Everything was turned into rubble and charcoal.
The next thing I noticed was the smell. It smelled similar to something I wished I never had to smell ever again—that of decaying flesh. It smelled worse, though. I realized it was the scent of burnt flesh. I looked down in horror as I spied a charred body under the rubble. The remains of the face practically stared up at Silver, who was only about a foot away.
But, that's not possible... It's a ballistics body. It can't be a real one.
Dex's words came to me how someone from inside the Ops was a Team Rocket co-conspirator.
But, that can't be. I don't want to believe it…
On the other hand, it makes sense. Team Rocket could have taken out another enemy through that operation and slipped it by right under Darrius' nose. I have to tell D about this!
No, wait... Dex told me not to. I promised him…
Argh. What do I do?! Some innocent person died in my place?! That makes me a murderer…I'm not a murderer, am I?
Maybe the person who died wasn't innocent. Ugh. I don't know who to trust any more…
Silver broke my train of thought when he pretty much screamed in what I guessed was a mixture of terror, loss, disbelief, and confusion. It didn't sound like my friend's voice; it scared me. I then saw him silently cry, which just about broke my own heart right there.
Silver… I'm so sorry. If I would have known…
No, I can't predict the future. I didn't know this would have happened. I had to give it a shot to protect him and Mom. But still, Silver never cried. I broke him…
He can never know I'm alive; I don't know what he'd do. He'd hate me for doing this to him; he'd never understand.
A fireman walked up beside him and placed his hand on Silver's shoulder as he said something. Silver then spoke the only thing I could comprehend: my name…
Seeing his sorrow made me realize how much I had misunderstood him. If I were put in the same circumstance, I wondered if I would have turned out any different than him.
"Silver…" I mumbled softly in regret.
"Great, the defiant hero is waking up," I heard a sarcastic voice from somewhere outside the dream. It seemed pretty loud. "And more importantly, why did you just say my name?"
I groaned as I realized I was coming to consciousness. I then remembered Dex, forced my eyes to open, and sat up in bed quickly. "Dex! Where is he?! How is he?!"
"Chill out. Your boyfriend is fine. He's in the recovery room," Silver replied.
I nearly cried from relief.
"By the way, what's up with your eyes? They're a different color." Silver caught me completely off guard.
Shit! My contacts! Someone must have taken them out.
I slammed my eyes shut as I slid back in my bed. "Why must you always say that any guy who is my friend is my boyfriend?" I asked in an annoyed voice. I still felt pretty weak.
"Why is it you won't answer a single question I ask? I won't answer yours if you don't answer mine." He shot back.
"You make the worst nurse ever," I complained.
"Thanks. It might be because I'm not a nurse." He retorted.
"Then what are you doing in here? I know you don't give a damn if I live or die," I smirked.
"Actually, I do give a damn, Teach," he replied.
Did he just call me Teach? Is that a new nickname for me? Ugh.
"Really, now? That's a shocker. What, racking up on favor points? Think I'll feel indebted to you?" I smirked.
"Perhaps."
"Dream on, then. I don't believe in being indebted to anyone. I ordered you to run when you heard the gunshot. You disobeyed my direct orders." I grumbled.
"And you're alive because of it. Be sure to sentence me to my cell whenever you can get up in a few days." He said smugly.
He has a point. Damn Silver. I'm not me anymore, and he's still saving my ass.
"I'm sure I would have been just fine without you." I tried to lie.
"Oh, really? Tell the surgeons that. You were shot almost in the lung, by the way, in case you were curious. Although I do admit, you sure seem to recover faster than expected." He added.
"How long has it been?" I asked seriously.
"Three days." He said quietly.
"That's it?" I was surprised.
"Yes. Give or take a few hours. They had you in a medically induced coma... Now, since I'm answering your questions, answer mine. Why were you mumbling my name in your sleep? It's annoying." He said a bit coldly.
I mumbled his name in my sleep?!
"I don't know what you're talking about. If I did mumble your name, it definitely wasn't because I give a damn about you—because I don't. Maybe I did it out of anger or something. You're smart. You figure it out," I smirked.
All this mental swordplay is making me tired. And I'm starting to feel pain…
As if on cue, a female voice chimed in, "Oh, Miss Wolfe, I'm happy to see you've regained consciousness, but it's time for me to change your medication. She'll be out again within a few minutes." I heard the woman address Silver.
"That's fine. I'm supposed to watch her until she gets well." Silver said calmly.
"I understand."
I felt a sudden soothing relief as the pain that was rearing its head was numb once more. I heard the nurse say something else, but I was off once more to dream land.