Trigger warning for mentions of rape
This song is literally my anthem.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nightshades P.O.V.
"Nightshade!"
I quickly wipe my eyes and turn to see Rudy standing at the entrance of the cave we are temporarily calling home.

For the past two weeks, we've been hiding here.
After we left, Prince started hunting us down.
Because of the large waterfall at other entrance guarding this place, he hasn't been able to find us.
Yet, anyway.

He trots over to me and sets a cream colored bag down at my feet, "I called your name, like, twenty times; what were you thinking about?"

I shift through the contents of the bag, "Nothing." I mumble, "Nothing at all."

He clearly sees through my lie, "Is it Leafeon?"

I sigh, "Thanks for bringing her up, Rudy."

He lowers his head, "Sorry." He plops down next to me and sighs, "It would really be nice if you told me why we're running from this Charizard."

I slide the bag back over to him and crawl over to a small hollow in the cave where our dens are. I curl up onto the soft grass and cover my head with my tail, "Because he's trying to kill us."

His heavy hoofsteps grow closer until they stop near my nest.
He settles down in the nest adjacent to mine, "He would've done that by now. Can't we at least talk about it," He pleads.

"There's nothing to talk about," I mutter, hoping that he'll give up and stop bothering me.

He scoffs, "Nothing to talk about? Ever since he showed up you've been acting all scared and weak." He pauses, "Hmmm. Did he hurt you?"

I roll my eyes, "He tried to kill us, what do you think?"

He shakes his head, "No! I mean what did he do to you in the past? When he showed up you-"

Rudy's voice fades as I remember all the 'games' we would play. That's what he called them. Every day was the same, I would wake up, help my sister then have Prince drag me away to play 'games'. His favorite was hide and seek because I always lost.

I shudder as the scenes keep on playing out in my head on a non-stop loop.

"Nightshade!" Rudy's voice slices through my thoughts.

I lift my head up and see the blurry image of Rudy standing over me, "Are you ok? You're crying....again."

I wipe my eyes, "It's the...wind; it's making my eyes water."

His eyes narrow, "Could you do me a favor and stop lying?"

I say nothing and roll over, my back facing his.

He makes a loud huffing noise but doesn't say anything, instead, he walks out of the cave, leaving me in the darkness of the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Nightshade, get up. We need to talk." I open my groggy eyes and who better to be bothering me than Rudy.

"Talk about what?" I mumble, curling back up.

"You know what. I want to know why you killed Opal and why you're acting so weird. You said you had a reason for it."

"You saw."

"Actually, I didn't." His ear twitches and I chuckle in embarrassment, "Hehe, right."

Suddenly, the jungle comes to life with the sound of Pokemon crying out in warning.

Rudy's ears swivel in all directions before stopping at the entrance of our cave.

He turns to me and without warning throws me onto his back with his muzzle.

I grab onto his mane at the last second, "What was-"

"SHH!" He begins to walk out of the cave as quietly as he can, setting each hoof down so gently that the only sound one can hear is a barely audible 'click'.

"Why are we being so quiet," I whisper, grabbing his reins.

"Prince is here," he replies, flattening his ears, "He found us."

We quietly make our way into the dense forest, every Pokemon is as quiet as the night itself.

My heart drops and I begin to look around frantically. He could be anywhere! The more I think about it the worse it gets. My heart is beating so fast that I fear it might burst out of my chest.

"Nightshade!" Rudy's surprisingly stern voice rips me out of my trance, "Don't lose your cool, I need you to lead me through here."

I take a shaky breath, "R-right." I guide him past most of the trees and try my hardest to not think about 'him'.

Suddenly, I hear a twig crack. Rudy's ears instantly perk up and he turns his head in the direction left to me.

I stare into the thick underbrush; not even the darkness of night could hide those dark amber eyes.

"Ready or not, here I come." The voice says slowly before chuckling, "I found you, Nightshade. You lose." He smiles cruelly and begins to rise.

I stare at him in horror. All I can think about is hiding from him, but he won, that means I have to-

I shut my eyes, using everything in my power to push the memory in the back of my mind.

Before he can get any closer, Rudy bolts away, leaving him in the darkness.

"You think a little blind horsey will save you!?" He roars as he crashes through the forest after us.

As he grows closer, Rudy pushes himself even further.

"I can lose him, I can." He pants, "Just a bit further..."

Suddenly, a small figure a few inches ahead of us leaps into our path.

I tug on Rudy's reins as hard as I can causing me to go flying.

The sudden stop seems to have lost Prince as his roaring grows distant.

Rudy, who was also sent tumbling, lifts himself up with a less than contented snort, "Why did you do that?"

I look at the place where the shadow was; it's gone now.

"There was someone there," I say almost to myself, "They ran in front of us."

He shakes his head and guides me away, "Yeah, you've officially lost it. But, sadly we can't go back to that cave. I think Prince knows where we were."

"So we should just wander around?"

Rudy shakes his head, "I know where we could go. Why don't I take you to your sister?"

I shake my head rapidly, "No! A thousand times no! Prince lives with my sister! He helps her keep everything in order."

He nods, "Ok, ok. We'll think of something else."

I sigh and grab his reins, "Let's just go deeper into the jungle. Can you hear the water running?"

His ears twitch, "Yeah. Miles and miles away. It's already night, we should be sleeping."

"How can I sleep with him chasing us?!"

He sighs, "Let's make a compromise."

I cross my arms, "I'm listening."

"I take us to the water far, far, away, but once we get there, you have to tell me what Prince did to you? Got it?"

"I-"

"You don't trust me?" He says, it's like he was reading my mind, "When have I ever let you or anyone else down? If you should trust anyone it's me," he lowers his head, "Now, let's go."

I sigh, knowing he's right, and reluctantly climb up onto him, grabbing the reins and starting another long journey.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a long two days of walking/arguing, we finally make it to the rushing water.

I push some thick foliage away revealing a large den.
"It's a giant den." I say turning to Rudy, "Someone probably lives here."

Rudy pushes past me, "Not for about a year they haven't; the scent is stale."
He lies down, making himself comfortable, "Now, it's time for you to hold up your end of the bargain."

Once again, strange noises can be heard in the forest.

Rudy groans, "What now?"

"I think it's a music box." I turn away from him and listen, "I've heard that before." I mumble to myself before walking toward the music.

Sure enough, not far from the den hiding in a large bundle of bushes, is a white music box.

I decide to bring it back to Rudy, so he can hear the music too.

"What does it look like?"

I wipe some stray dirt off with my tail, "It's pure white." I open it up to see a small broken statue.

"I remember this." I breathe inspecting it closer, "The statue, it's supposed to be a flower."

I flip the music box over and turn the small switch on the bottom to 'on'.

I set it back down on the ground and turn the small handle on the side.

Nothing.

I groan, "I think it's dead or broken."

Rudy stands and kicks it with his hoof, "How does this thing work?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It looks like an ice cube filled with music." The young Salandit looks through a small hole in the bottom of the box and shakes it, "Uhhhh how does it work?"

I snatch the box away from her, "Stop that, flower, you'll break it." I set it down on the ground and inspect it.

She shrugs, "I was gonna see if I could get it to work."
She scampers away, "I'll ask Percy if she knows how it works."

She returns a few seconds later with Percy, who is still waving that stick around like it's a blessing from the heavens.

Percy laughs, "Ohhhhh, you young whippersnappers don't know how anything works anymore!"

"It's electric," I say slowly.

She frowns, "Oh! Give it to me."

I hand her the box and she hits it with her stick, "It didn't work," She mutters.

I roll my eyes and turn it over flipping the switch on.

I set it back down and turn the handle and a soft, homely tune begins to play,"Was that so hard?"

Percy scowls at me, "I knew that."

"Can I have it!?" The Salandit asks jumping up and down.

I hand the box to her and she snatches it eagerly, "I'm gonna keep this!" She yells before running off
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Nightshade!"

And now I'm back in this stupid den.

"Again. You did it again." He sounds more annoyed than worried, "Who in the world are you thinking about?"

I look down at the music box sadly, "Someone I'll never see again."

His face softens, "Do you want to talk about it?"

He said it like it was a question but I know he won't take no for an answer.

"Do I really have a choice?".

"Nope. Listen, if you tell me why you killed Opal I can tell Isabelle, she'll believe me."

I sigh, "I did it to protect Kapua. How many times do I have to tell you this?"

"Who is Kapua?"

I look at him and scoff, "I'm not telling you. It's my business."

"Why are you getting so defensive?" He huffs, "I only asked who they were."

"Because it's my business," I hiss.

"Then I'll only ever see you as a cold-blooded murderer."

I turn away from him and mess with the music box, "Think what you want, 'cause it will never be true."

"The truth is standing right in front of me." He takes a step forward, "Maybe if she weren't so busy lying, we could actually go home again."

I roll my eyes, "Pfft. As if me telling you some stupid thing will allow us to go home."

"Stop lying and it'll make people trust you more."

I look up at him, "I wasn't lying about anything. I never denied killing Opal."

"But you denied something else; a reason!" Don't you think that's important?"

"It doesn't matter, Rudy."

"Oh, so you're just going to keep on lying to Leafeon?"

My tail ignites the cave with a bright purple hue, "Don't you bring her into this!"

"No, Nightshade!" He shouts, slamming his hoof down, "If you can't tell me the truth, what makes you think you can tell her or Isabelle? Until you give Isa a reason to trust you again, she'll never let you come back, and I'm not going to let myself be dragged down with you."

I want to say something, to yell at him, tell him that he's wrong. But, I can't think of anything to say that wouldn't drive my argument deeper into the ground.

I sigh, "Fine. You wanna know so badly?"

"It'd be nice."

I throw the music box at him, "This is Kapua's. I gave it to her before I had to give her away."

"Gave her away?" He scoffs, "You killed Opal over a puppy?"

"No." I growl, "Kapua was not a puppy. She was a Salandit."

"Ok. We're getting somewhere." He lies down, ears faced towards me.

I sigh, "At the time, Prince and I were friends. I deeply admired him. Nobody really had time to play with me as they were all busy helping Violet. So, that left Prince. I never did like playing with him, but I had to because he was vital to the survival of our pack; if anyone did something he didn't like he would threaten to leave and everyone knew he would actually do it. But back to his games. His favorite to play was Hide-and-Seek. He said he liked playing it because he always won and I always lost."

"What happened if you lost?"

I take a long and shaky breath, "He could do whatever he wanted to me. I never said no because I knew he would take it too far."

Rudy flinches but says nothing.

~WARNING! Somewhat graphic imagery ahead!~

"One time, I did say no to him. To this day, I still regret that. I told him that I was too young and he was too old; that someone would find out. But he ignored me. I tried so hard. I tried to change his mind, I tried fighting him off, and it didn't change anything. It hurt so bad. I couldn't scream, I couldn't call for help. And after it all he acted like nothing happened, trying to talk to me like we were friends; like he didn't rape me."

~Imagery ends here~

Rudy stares at me, his cloudy eyes full of sympathy, "I'm so sorry."

"I don't want your pity. What happened, happened and there's nothing I can do to change it."

He shifts uncomfortably, "Well, now I know why you're so scared of Prince, but I still don't know who Kapua is."

"Oh, right. Kapua was a mistake; that's what Percy called her. But in my eyes, Kapua was my miracle. I loved her more than life itself." I feel a flame light up inside me, "And then that stupid seal showed up. 'You should have killed that thing when it was still an egg. I would have done it for you.' she used to say."

Rudy shakes his head in confusion, "Wait, wait, wait. So, Kapua is your daughter? And Opal is-"

"Opal is just as bad as a killer as me," I interrupt him, "She tried to kill her on multiple occasions; a child. She didn't know anything about Kapua, she just hated her. Percy said it was because of a prophecy. What does that even mean!?

"But, that still doesn't mean you had a right to kill her..." Rudy mutters

"Yes, it is. Kapua was the only good thing that came out of that whole situation; she was the only thing that mattered to me, and she still is." I look out at the dark sky, "Isabelle could never understand that nobody could."

"Where is Kapua?"

I turn to him, "After I killed Opal, I realized I couldn't raise a child. My pack was already suspicious of me because of how much time I was spending with Percy and Lilo. I had to say goodbye to her. I asked Lilo to take care of her and I haven't seen her since."

I walk over to him and sit down, "I've been thinking about her a lot. Her and Prince. Its all been bottled up inside me."

He nuzzles me and I hold onto him tightly, fearing he might disappear just like Kapua. I feel hot tears run down my face, and a smile creeps upon my face. And then, I start to laugh.

"Why are we laughing?"

I wipe my eyes, "I'm such a baby." I mumble, "I've been living in the past for so long; not looking at all the happy things that have happened to me. Meeting Miracle."

I smile as I feel a warmness in my cheeks, "Meeting Holly."

"Being sappy." He says with a mischievous smile.

I push him, "I got to meet you."

I have never seen him laugh so hard, "You got to meet a blind horse! Definitely noteworthy!"

Suddenly, a loud bang sounds from outside the den.
There's an angry roar before Prince comes crashing through the top of the den, demolishing the dirt ceiling and landing right in between us.

He recovers almost instantly and grabs me.
I instinctively reach out for Rudy's mane, missing it by an inch.

"RUDY!" I scream as I am ripped away from him and carried away into the starry night sky.

He neighs desperately for me before galloping after us.

I decide to help him out by releasing the pheromones in my body in the hopes that he can follow my scent.

I instantly realized that I have made a grave mistake. The pheromones released by Salazzle are usually used to attract a mate.

Prince slowly turns to me, his eyes full of hungry lust, "Was your little girlfriend not good enough for you?"

My body tenses with fear and I begin to frantically claw at his hand.

I rip it up so badly that bits of flesh can be seen, "Let me go, Prince!"

"Now that I finally have you?" He laughs, "We're not done with our game yet."

I sink my teeth deep into his mangled hand. His arm recoils in pain and he releases me, sending me hurtling to the ground.

The last thing I feel is my head exploding in pain, before everything goes black.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word count: 3166

Cliffhanger!! You're all welcome.

This was so incredibly hard to write, I was avoiding writing it because it was too fucking relatable.
That moment when you realize you relate more with a lizard than the person in the book meant to represent you.
No, I don't have a kid, if I did they'd be dead by now.

If you notice more errors then usual, It's because I was too scared to read through as thoroughly as usual, and for that, I apologize.

Anyway, it's recap time:
-Prince is a creepy Pedo-rapist (he was 26 and Nightshade was 16) this is why I hate him. I hate him more than Tidal Wave, maybe it's just personal.
-Kapua is Nightshade's daughter (ASTER)!
And, that's about it, we will learn more about Kapua and who they are in chapters to come, until next time.