James shielded his face against the sun with his hand, his fingers spread. He snarled as the light reached him anyway, and strained to see where Jessie might be.
He had always held a primal fear of redheads since childhood from physical abuse, but he seriously doubted it was his partner that brought it on. Since he couldn’t remember it anyway he dismissed it as unimportant.
But Jessie knew it was important. She had known it was important ever since she had tried to make him go back home, thinking she would finally marry the perfect man. She was, however, oh-so-wrong and realized this when his Growlie had told her in its growling Pokemon language.
And she had understood. No, she thought, shaking away the previous revelation. I knew it all the time. Or Meowth interpreted for me. I can’t understand Pokemon, even canines. But as she looked at her shaggy paw she knew she was only fooling herself.
James blinked back frustrated tears, pained as the sun bit into his vision. If he didn’t find her, she would find him and punishment would soon follow. He didn’t understand why all of what he did was screwed up, why he had to be afraid of the most beautiful things…
He froze. Standing in front of him was a huge, furry beast. Light penetrated through the tree-tops to illuminate its dark gray coat. Fear and maybe something else James couldn’t identify flashed through its eyes. When he met the ice blue gaze of the creature he was thrown into a trance that mesmerized him.
When they finally broke away James fell to his knees on the ground in amazement. “Magickind,” he whispered softly. “Tell me who you are.” The wolf bolted, and James knew he could catch it, but he did not feel that it would be right.
For a split second he felt as though he knew the beast, as if it was someone like – like Jessie. He kicked the ground in annoyance. That was ridiculous… Jessie being a werewolf, a magickind… So he put the matter out of his head, just like Jessebelle. He had never seen the wolf, only a really big Mightyena…
But Jessie couldn’t forget the meeting. She couldn’t put the memory of James’ spark of recognition out of her mind. She couldn’t forget the gentle, understanding way he spoke.
Was he a magickind too? No. She could hurt him. Humans can’t hurt magickind except with special tools, like silver and rubies. But she was a magickind. Magickind can hurt other magickind.
Meowth hadn’t really understood how his friend James had gotten into Team Rocket. Other men of his body type got beaten up. It didn’t help that he was an almost-ghastly shade of pale.
He still didn’t really understand. Why would Giovanni send a weakling on a special mission? Unless he was more than a weakling… Meowth sighed to himself, and scuffed the dirt and tried to think of a plan to capture that stupid Pikachu like Jessie had told him to, almost in tears, desperately, wearing a simple dress instead of her usual uniform, and soon after dashing into the forest.
Meowth frowned. Both Jessie and James hated forests, but he knew them as an excellent place to hide things, and magickind considered them their home. Meowth squinted as a thought popped into his head that would explain what they were hiding.
Dey wouldn’t do dat, he told himself reassuringly. Dey’re too deep in denial.
James wanted to break something. He had found a pack of Mightyena with a fallen Stantler, and he had wanted to eat it. No, worse.
He had wanted to drink its blood. Again James shook away the memory. He didn’t want blood. He was daydreaming about Bavarian crème donuts. That was all.
Hot tears ran down his face, and he furiously wiped them away. I’m not a monster. My parents were monsters. I will not become them, he promised himself.
He followed his tracks back to camp. Earlier finding nothing but Jessie’s uniform neatly folded up and her disguise gone, he had rushed off without thinking. He hoped he wouldn’t find her trail cold.
Jessie and Meowth would say he never thought. But it wasn't true. He always thought. He thought too much. He spent all his concentration on hiding that he was... special. James smiled halfheartedly at his nickname for being a supernatural freak. He stifled memories, daydreams, even most of his emotions. One thing he couldn't hide was his feelings for Jessie.
He tried so hard to, but it was plainly seen that he loved her. He was so fearful everytime they called the Boss up, he was so afraid that Giovanni could see it written all over his face. He shivered as he unsuccessfully tried to forget what had happened to the last agents who had fallen in love. He couldn't because he didn't know what happened to them. They had been his friends. What would happen if his best friend was taken from him for his selfishness?
But she had rejected him. She had interrupted him before he could squeak out an, "I love you." She had never heard him say it. The thought that one of them would die and she would never know how he felt tore through his heart like the silver-tipped whips that... that she owned. He couldn't remember the name of the woman his parents had wanted him to marry.
Grimly he touched the tip of one of his wounds, scratched between his shoulder blades forever. Stupid, he growled. Stupid parents who can never die. Stupid monster woman. Stupid silver. Stupid rules. Stupid... He hated everything. He wanted to be dead so he couldn't feel anything. He wanted to be alive so he could feel everything. He didn't care if he had to trade his strikingly handsome features for mortality.
He inhaled and circled the camp. Nobody noticed that he didn't breathe normally. Sometimes he pretended badly and ended up unconscious. Sometimes he forgot to pretend.
James hated to pretend.
Jessie ran on and on through the forest. She didn't care where she ended up anymore. If she went back, James would reject her in fear or disgust. She hated being like this. She hated that her mother had died before telling her she was a... a... thing. She lied down in the grass, fatigued and exhausted. She panted for a while and let a quiet whimper sneak its way in.
I know you are confused, little one.
Jessie leapt up with a start, her hackles raised. "Who are you?" she snarled.
I am the Voice inside.
The wolf did not relax, turning and trying to identify the voice. "What the hell is that?" she growled.
It does not matter. The tree aside Jessie gave a little groan and reformed into an elderly lady. "All that matters is you, little one," said the Voice.
"Quit calling me little one," the werewolf snapped, not breaking eye contact. "It pisses me off as much as calling me an old hag does."
"You have special power that you cannot control... and the ability to attract spirits."
Jessie gave the Voice a wary glance."Is that why you're here? Because you're a spirit?"
"Again, it does not matter."
"'Power that I can't control'? So I'm a monster who can't control her wolf form. What else is new?"
The Voice chuckled a little. "Non-control is normal in fledglings. You have a gem, I presume? Close to your heart?"
Jessie shook her head. "Only these jade earrings," she said, fighting back tears. The Voice's eyes softened.
"Your mother was a good woman," she nodded solemnly.
Jessie dipped her shaggy head in agreement.
"Then come forward to me, Jessica," the Voice gestured. It was as if the lycanthrope's paws were enchanted - they moved all their own to the odd little lady. She cupped her hands around the stones pierced through Jessie's ears, and bowed her head, murmuring something incomprehensible and seemingly magical.
She could feel the energy pulsing through her magic veins as the woman chanted something in another language. The Voice stepped back and the power faded slowly, filtering to her heart and gems.
As if he was summoned, James suddenly burst through the bushes.
"Oh!" he squeaked, catching the eye of the Voice, who stepped forward and took his hand. He watched her wearily as she found the magic pulse in his wrist. He wondered if she could tell that he didn't have a blood pulse. Of course she could. She knew I was magickind. The elderly woman drew a needle into his vein. "Ow!" he yelped as the magic beaded into crimson dewdrops, much like blood.
Jessie watched James fall forward as if in slow motion. She rushed to him, cold, icy claws gripping her heart, and paused to let his torse embrace her furry back.
"You better not have killed him!" she growled. The lady, however, said nothing, but instead watched as the drop of magic blood swirled into delicate illustration and symbols on a piece of bark.
"'Guardian'." she read, though she could not make out the rest, seeming to be a prophecy, or magic spell, or something. Whatever, she sniffed.
Turning around she could see no trace of the Voice, only the bloody bark... and their camp. That's weird. Oh well.
She lowered herself to the ground, letting James gently tumble off onto his sleeping bag. She laid her chin on his chest, trying to see if she could find his pulse. She could find none and so harshly chided herself for training to be a nurse and not even being able to find his pulse.
Giving it up, she began to lick his face. James moaned and his eyes flickered beneath their lids. Jessie nuzzled his cheek and finally he blinked. She sighed with relief and backed away into the forest as he sat up, clutching his blanket to his chest.
She let the ivy surround her as once again she wished she were human form. Something inside her fizzled and began to burn, but on the outside, she felt freezing cold. Jessie looked at her paw again, only it was a hand. She could have shouted for joy, but then she would have been discovered. Her face reddened as she realized the simple dress had not conformed to her wolf form. And it wasn't like she could go back to camp with James awake and wandering around.
Man, she was hungry. She really hated this. Maybe being seen as a wolf wouldn't be so bad after all.
She padded into camp casually, her tail waving in the slight breeze that also picked up James' hair and cleared his face, lighted with the sliver of moon that now graced the early half of night satin.
Jessie stopped cold. In her tent, with her special stuff, on top of her diary... was the bloody bark. Her blood began to run cold as she wondered who could have done it.
It must have been James, she told herself. Even though he respected her and would never touch her things. She began to shiver as she grabbed her uniform in her jaws, careful not to pierce the fabric, and trodded back to the forest -
"Hey!" James shouted. "Give that back, thief!" He ran toward Jessie and made a snatch for her bundle, but she dropped it and stood over it, growling protectively.
What am I doing? I'm growling at my best friend - when I'm not there to soothe him! James stopped and crouched on the ground as he recognized the wolf he had seen earlier. He made clicking noises and offered a piece of bread from their meager rations to Jessie.
"Ya do realize wolves are carnivores, right, Jimmy?" Meowth said mischieviously. James felt his face grow hot, but he hoped nobody but him could see in this dim light.
Jessie startled him by approaching him anyway, and nuzzling his hand. The piece of bread forgotten, Meowth munched on it contentedly. She circled James and licked his neck before picking up her uniform and disappearing into the forest.
James slowly clambered to his feet and looked at his hand, then the bushes and ivy the wolf had materialized into. He couldn't help whispering his partner's name one last time.
He remembered that morning that Jessie had been so mad at him that she threatened to run away, from him and the team. The moon peeked at them through the trunks of the deciduous trees, and Jessie still hadn't come back.
He lowered himself against the log they used as a bench, and sank into convulsive sobs and shuddering, his face in his hands as he cried for his friends, cried for himself, cried for the world.
Not a few minutes had passed by when he was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. Hurriedly he dried his face and glanced behind him.
"Where's our dinner?" a familiar voice asked gently.
"Jessie!" he cried, wrapping his arms around her. Realizing what he had done, he self-consciously stepped back and beagn to examine his boots, his face hot. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I was just excited, that's all. Also, I'm sorry about earlier - "
"Don't worry about it," Jessie said. She embraced his neck and pressed herself close to him, trying to bury herself in him...
His flesh was rock-hard cold. Jessie backed off with a cry, and looked into his face, red with a blush.
"Aren't you cold?" she pondered out loud. James shook his head back and forth, eyes wide that his beloved partner had begun to care about him the same way he did her.
"Dinner was ramen and onigiri again," he mumbled, looking away. "You know I can't cook that well."
Don't be ridiculous! she wanted to scream at him. His cooking had shown itself in their disguises as chefs, even though later she witnessed him confused about the "complicated" directions on a ramen package. But she said nothing and shoveled down their dinner leaving one rice ball left.
"Jess, I already fed the Pokemon," James said. He blushed as his stomach began to growl.
"With your dinner," Jessie gave him a look. "You're going to spoil them. No wonder your Cacnea always disobeys you." She took up the rice ball and he began to protest.
"But - Jessie, I eat all the time... the donuts you give me..." He clamped his mouth shut, and Jessie stared at the rice ball in her hand for a few moments. Then she stomped on his foot as hard as she could.
"Owwww - !" he screamed, which ended when Jessie jammed the rice ball into his mouth.
"You will eat it," she growled forcefully. James stared at her silently, then carefully began to chew, each bite filling him with warmth. This must be Jessie's way of showing love. He looked again at Jessie who drowsily gazed at the moon. He took her into his arms as she nodded off.
The last thing she saw was his handsome face smiling gently at her and she knew she was a fool for thinking he would leave her. They had been so close, even when they first met at Pokemon Tech. But she knew immortal magickind could never be with a mortal...
