ALEXANDER

The next day came and went with no commotion. Banette sat by his bedside nervously. The fact that his father hadn't burst into his room had proven that Leo had kept his promise. He wasn't telling anybody. Then again, the lack of news on the search for Elli reminded him he only had four more days. Only four days until Burningtree and the Draconids claimed another high-blooded victim.

"Alex," came a soft voice at his door. "Alex, are you awake?"

He knew the voice in an instant, and his spirits rose. "Yes, Aunt Caitlyn, you may come in."

She came in, yet left Absol outside the door. The white four-footed Pokemon stood facing the hallway, as if watching for intruders. Caitlyn sat in a chair by his left side. She had a slight smile on her face as she looked around the room.

"I remember this place," she said quietly.

"The nursery?" Alex asked.

Caitlyn nodded. "This is the room where I saw you for the first time, in your mother's arms." Bannette smiled at that, as it hovered around Alex's head. His Aunt smiled at that, as if it was some long-forgotten memory. "Your Spirit Pokemon remembers. Though memories are not why I've come, child. How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess," Alex thought. "Still a little sore, but I feel like I can get out of this linen prison soon."

"Good," she said with a smile. She pulled out two soft flasks from a pocket in her robe. "Drink this, you'll feel even better."

Alex popped open the top of the flask and inhaled. There was a sweet smell emanating from it; his nostrils cleared instantly. He watched as his aunt took a deep, long drink from her flask. "It's my own recipe," she said. "How old are you, now? Seventeen? That makes you only about seven years older than this."

Alex took a drink, and it was so strong, he suspected that even his Spirit Pokemon felt the warm fire as it trickled down his throat. The taste was sweet like the smell at first, but then came the aftertaste of a spice he couldn't put his fingers on.

"It's good," he said at first. "What is it? I've never had anything like this before."

"It's my own secret, now," Caitlyn said, looking towards the wall blankly. "When I was a little girl, I used to gather berries. I had a special favorite kind. On the road where the old Foretree Kingdom met the Mirage Desert, there grows a special kind of berry. Sweet to the smell, spicy to the taste. I took some to the man who ran the vineyard after the Second Great War. He showed me how to make the most brilliant wine I've ever tasted. I only share it with those close to me. It's a personal treasure of mine, having helped me through the loss of my family. It'll give you courage."

Alex put the flask down from another drink. It gave him more than courage. With each sip, he seemed to gain more and more feeling in his arms and legs, and the throbbing pain in his head seemed to slow. He didn't respond, instead, he hesitated and looked at Banette. I need courage now more than ever, he thought.

"Is something amiss?" Caitlyn asked. She put her hand on his shoulder. "The nurses say that you're making a quick recovery. I guess it runs in the family. It takes more than a little pain to take down a Forrest."

I don't know where she is, and it's all my fault, Alex thought. Not even Elli's mother had come to see him. He felt terrible, as if they all blamed him. "But I'm not a Forrest," he said. "I'm a Specter." Already, he felt like he could jump out of the bed and do anything: walk to the dinner hall, or even join the search for Elli.

"He hurt you, I know," Caitlyn said. "Burningtree. The bastard. When they finally bring him to justice, I swear that I'll be the first to punch the knife in his belly. I've suffered enough trying to round up his band of terrorists and outlaws. Now he's hurt the only family that I had left." She took a long, deep drink.

"He'll hurt Elli worse," Alex said, off-handedly. He felt the emotion well up inside of him. He slammed his fist on the wooden bed frame. Bannette shuddered, and Absol even flinched a little bit. "They won't find her," he said finally. There were tears in his eyes when he looked back at his mother's sister.

"Of course they will," she answered him. Yet the way her voice sounded, it was as if she also knew that Elli was as good as gone.

"He let me go, Aunt Caitlyn." Alex wanted to cry, for the tears to finally fall, but they wouldn't. It was as if the alcohol was holding them in. "He let me go to send a message. To-" He stopped himself. He had almost let too much slip already.

Caitlyn's green eyes pierced into him. "He what, Alex? What did he say?"

There was a moment of silence. Alex wanted to tell her so bad, to tell the only family member left from his mother's side. They shared something special, she used to tell him when he was younger. A Forrest was a Forrest, no matter how many trees there were. "He said that unless I kill my father, that he will kill Elli."

Caitlyn leaned back, her eyes wide. Her face flushed red with anger, yet her body was strangely calm. Alex supposed that it was the spicy berry wine that was calming her nerves. "Have you told anyone of this?" she asked.

"Only Leo, and he promised not to tell."

Caitlyn nodded. "Good, good," she said quietly. "You two are close as Plusle and Minun. Speak of this to no one else. The ramifications of this information getting out could be disastrous."

Alex was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Caitlyn laughed. "Look at this objectively, boy. You miraculously escaped an assassin that no one has ever escaped, a high-born girl goes missing, a girl that you weren't even supposed to be with that night. It looks suspicious, Alex. This must remain a secret. You can tell no one else."

Of course, Alex thought. The situation looked bad for him publicly, already. He would have to swallow his pride and accept the rumors and whispers. "I promise not to tell anyone else, Aunt Caitlyn."

Caitlyn made to leave and then leaned down and gave him a hug. "I trust that you will do that right thing, Alex. If you ever want to talk about it, come straight to me, and I'll help you through it. In any way that I can. Any way."

After she left, Alex downed the rest of the wine, and was feeling good enough to leave his bed. The nurses had left some crutches for him to use should he feel the need, but they made his armpits hurt, and after a few swings, he discarded them.

He made his way to the library, and opened the book of family records. Alex was surprised that he had never come here before. A Forrest is a Forrest, no matter how many trees, his Aunt's voice played over and over in his head.

He turned to the page that read of his parent's marriage: Chief Phillip Specter of Mt. Pyre, and his maiden wife, the Lady Susan of House Forrest, of Foretree. The first page was a list of all the noblemen who had come to witness the wedding. He recognized Elli's mother's name, as well as her father's.

Then he found the names of his mother's family. It was clear that there were more trees in this forest seventeen years ago. Susan Forrest, the fairest lady in all of the Foretree Kingdom, he read. Given away by her brother Prince Solomon and her child sister, the willful Caitlyn.

He paused at the mention of his dead uncle Solomon. He scowled at the name. It was Solomon's fault that his mother's name of Forrest was ruined. He had selfishly mustered a force to stand against the Holy Empress's mighty power. Where the Empress sought to unify and bring equality to the smallfolk of the Foretree Kingdom, Solomon had sought to maintain his own hereditary rule.

Thanks to his father, Lord Specter, however, his uncle Solomon was defeated. At the last second, Specter was able to renounce the oppression of the militaristic young Forrest King, and helped the Empress in unifying Hoenn. It was the act that had solidified the Specter family as Lords Governor of the Northeastern Lands.

There were other names in the guest list too. Not all of them had made it, of course. The Second Great War had just broken out, and not all the noble families were able to muster the will to travel in such uncertain times. Mauville and Slateport were fighting against Lavaridge in some sort of territorial dispute, he remembered from his histories. One name stood out to him, though, he couldn't remember the name in any of the stories the kitchen maids told about his parents' wedding.

King Chris Marsh, he read. At first he thought of the spiteful, rude boy who had been on the ship that Leo had gotten off of when he had arrived back from his schooling in Sootopolis. No, he would have been too young. He saw the asterisk painted by the King's name, which denoted that he wasn't in attendance. Strange, he thought. Why would the King of Slateport be invited for the wedding at Mt. Pyre? Surely he had a war to fight. The guest list made no mention of his wife who he had just married either, the Lady Sarah Spark of Mauville.

He was getting tired and his headache was returning. He stood up slowly from the desk in the library, and his joints ached when he limped slowly back towards his dorm. Banette disappeared into the air as it went ahead to light the torches in the halls on the way back so Alex wouldn't fall.

A shadow stopped him in the darkness. It spoke. "It's been three days," Alex shivered as he recognized the voice as Burningtree's underling. Memories of the earthy room where he was beaten flooded his head. A familiar sweet, sickening smell accompanied the breath of the voice. "It's come to my attention that you've gotten cold feet. The client isn't happy with us, but the leader doesn't care. Nothing's changed. You will kill him in four days, or you will force Burningtree's hand and kill the girl. The choice is yours. I hope you'll do the right thing."

Alex heard a whoosh and he knew the man was gone. He collapsed to his knees. It wasn't what he had said that had broken him, the reminder of Elli's situation. It was the smell of spicy and sweet on his breath. The words came back to him, they were the same.

I only share it with those close to me... I trust that you will do the right thing, the words were as clear as a forest spring in his ears. He now thought he had understood the words of his Aunt Caitlyn. A Forrest is a Forrest, no matter how many trees. He wondered if his mother was the same way, if she was a conspiring, treacherous, greedy noble like the rest of the Forrest family...

Banette reappeared, and took shock when it saw its Spirit Human on the floor of the hall. Alex looked up, with a slight smile on his face, and a tear of betrayal in his eye.

"It's Aunt Caitlyn," he said quietly. "She's the Client. The one who targeted Elli... and Leo." A tear hit the stone floor in the silent hall, and it echoed.

Banette just frowned but didn't look away, or seem surprised. Alex couldn't believe it.

"You already knew, didn't you?" Alex could tell by the look on the Ghost Pokémon's face. It nodded silently. Alex felt the rage well up inside of him. Was his whole life a lie? It was no wonder his right as heir was stripped from him. Alex was surrounded by traitors. Not even his Spirit Pokemon was a true friend.

"GO! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" he screamed, crying. The rest of the feeling that his Aunt's drink had given him was wearing off. He felt the pain again. Banette shook its head slowly, little ghastly tears pooling at the corners of its eyes "NOW!"

Banette lingered before slowly disappearing into the torch lit hall one last time, a dejected look on its face, as if it had lost everything it had ever lived for.

It seemed like years passed before Alex gathered the will to stand up and move. He made his way deliberately to the one person he knew he could trust more than anyone.

With each step, he became more of a Specter, and less of a Forrest. It was as if each painful step that sent currents of agony through his body were punishment for the crime of having his mother's blood. Yet with each stride he made with his hand on the stony wall for support, he was washing himself of the stain of treachery.

He smiled when he reached Leo's chamber door. Time to do the right thing, he thought. He opened the door, and at the last second, he felt a final regret. Was he condemning Elli to death with his actions? Or was there something else? Was it a small voice he couldn't hear crying out for him to stop?

It made no difference. As soon asLeo greeted him with a shocked expression, Alex knew that there was no turningback.7:W\