It was a bright and sunny day, but one wouldn't be able to realize, as their were many tall trees, blocking out the sunshine from above. There was a light fog all around, not thick enough to obscure one's vision, but enough to notice, and a thin layer of leaves, and fallen branches on the ground. N, his sisters, and White were in the woods, collecting firewood.
“I'm getting a bit tired.” said N, placing his hands on his knees.
“Why don't you take a rest then? We can handle this.” said Concordia.
Concordia, Anthea, and White then walked off deeper in the woods, so N rested under a tree, and slowly dosed off. A while later, he woke up to a voice calling his name, so he opened his eyes, and saw Marie, with his hat in her hand, and leaning over, poking his nose with hers.
“Hello, N, I bet you're happy to see me!” she exclaimed.
N's eyes widened in shock. 'Why her again? Why now of all times?' he thought to himself. Marie then kissed his forehead, then slowly stepped back, waving his hat in front of him. N balled his fists tightly, gritting his teeth at her, then stood up, and grabbed his hat from her, and put it back on his head. Marie smiled at him.
“May I have this dance?” she asked, extending her hands to him.
N backed up, looking completely confused. “W-What are you talking about?” he asked.
“I want to dance with you.” replied Marie, cocking her head and smiling.
N looked at her like she was crazy, then she grabbed his hands, put one on her shoulder, and the other on her hip, and began leading him in ballroom dancing. N was far too surprised and confused to fight it.
“How has you day been, N?” she asked.
N responded with silence. “What the hell is going on here?” he thought to himself.
“Why are you ignoring me, N? We've known each other for a long time, you know you can tell me anything.” said Marie in a singsong voice.
N then grew sick of this, and pushed her off of him, causing her to fall on the ground.
“I don't know you, and you certainly don't know me!” he exclaimed.
She looked up at him, with a frown on her face, and a tear rolling down her cheek. She then stood up, and dusted herself off. Suddenly, the fog seemed to get thicker, with the shadow of her hat covering her eyes, but N could see a faint green and blue glow. Looking past her, he could see a pair of tombstones.
“Would you like to go see them?” asked Marie, pointing towards the tombstones, her eyes still hidden under the shadow of her hat.
Before N could reply, Marie grabbed his hand, and lead him over to the tombstones. When they were next to the tombstones, N looked at them curiously, and noticed that there was writing on them. One read “Anthea Harmonia” and the other read “Concordia Harmonia”. N's jaw dropped and his mouth trembled. “What did she do to them?” he thought to himself.
“Do you know what these are, N?” asked Marie.
N clenched and unclenched his fists, with an angered look on his face, then turned around to face her.
“What did you do to them?!” he asked.
“These little slabs of rocks are called tombstones, the ground they are on is where a dead body is buried. When someone dies, they are buried in the ground, and a tombstone is placed to mark it with the dead person's name.” she explained.
“W-What are you saying?” asked N.
“In other words, your sisters are dead. I couldn't find White, but I'm sure she's running around here somewhere.” answered Marie.
N dropped to his knees, trembling, and suddenly crying.
“No...they can't be dead! You're just trying to mess with my head!” he shouted, through his sobs.
“Would you like me to show you?” asked Marie.
N, not answering, stared at the ground, softly crying. His face was covered in tears, which slowly dropped to the ground. Marie then pulled a shovel seemingly out of nowhere, and slammed it on the ground in front of him.
“I can dig up the bodies for you.” she said.
N, still crying, stood back up, snatched the shovel from her, and swung it at her, rage clear in his eyes, despite his tears.
“You monster!” he shouted, as he swung the shovel down on her.
The shovel collided down on her shoulder with huge force, breaking in half upon hitting her. Her arm bent at a strange angle, clearly broken, and her shirt's sleeve was being soaked in blood, but she didn't react to it.
“I'll take that as a no then.” she said. “How does it feel to dance with the devil?” she asked.
“Shut your mouth!” exclaimed N.
N then charged at her, swinging his fists wildly at her. Marie ducked under his fists, and kicked him in the stomach, hit him in the face with her unharmed arm, then kicked him in the face, which knocked him down to the ground. His face was now bruised, and he had a black eye, but he got right back up, and tackled her to the ground. He was now on top of her, staring her in the eyes, with murder clear in his eyes.
Suddenly, White came running in their direction, carrying plenty of firewood.
“Hey, N! I found some...” she said, then let out a scream, and dropped the firewood, completely startled at the sight of N and Marie fighting.
N, distracted, looked up at her. “White, get out of here!” he shouted.
“N, what's going on?” she asked.
Marie used this distraction to her advantage, rolling and knocking N off of her, then began stomping on his chest, causing him to scream in pain. White screamed, with tears in her eyes, then shoved Marie away from N, grabbed N, and began running away.
“Come back, N, don't you want to join your sisters?” yelled Marie.
“You monster! I am going to rip you to shreds!” shouted back N.
N then attempted to run back towards her, but he was injured, which left him weak enough for White to drag him away against his will. After a while of running through the woods, White found a cottage, which they went in, and climbed up the stairs, hiding in the top room.
“What do you think you're doing? I have to destroy her! She killed my sisters!” shouted N, crying.
Before White could answer, Mei's dead body appeared, swinging from a noose, crashing through the window, then just hung there limply.
“Mei, no! Why her too?” cried N.
They could then hear Marie began singing, in a creepy voice.
“I'm at the door now~
I'm coming up the steps~
I'm at the top of the steps~
I'm at your door~”
Marie then broke down the door, with a giant scythe, then quickly swung it down at N and White.
N then woke up screaming in horror, thrashing around wildly.
“N, please calm down!” cried Anthea, slightly shaking N.
N flinched at her touch, then quickly jolted up, and swung the back of his fast at her, hitting her mouth, and knocked her down to the floor. Her lips were now swollen, and bleeding.
“Ouch!” she cried, as she fell to the floor.
N blinked, then looked down at her, suddenly realizing that she was still alive.
“Anthea...” he said, then ran over to her, hugging her tightly, and crying hysterically.
Anthea looked shocked at first, then hugged him back fiercely, patting his back, as he cried into her shoulder.
“Shh, N, it's alright. You're okay now.” she said in a soothing voice.
“You're alive...you're really still alive! I knew she was just messing with my head. Where's Concordia? She's still alive too, right? We have to get out of here!” N said, in a very fast voice, still crying into Anthea's shoulder.
“Slow down, N. It's alright, you had a bad dream, that's all.” she said, trying to calm him down.
“A bad dream...?” N asked.
N then looked around him, and noticed that they were in a room in a Pokemon Center. He couldn't see Concordia, or their Pokemon anywhere.
“What's going on? When did we get here? Where are Concordia and the Pokemon?” he asked.
“Father flew us to Nimbasa on Hydreigon's back last night. You fell asleep during the ride, and it was late, so Concordia rented this room for us, and I brought you here, and put you in bed. As for Concordia, she got up early, and took the Pokemon for a walk through the city. Luckily, that was before you began screaming.” explained Anthea.
“Right.” replied N.
He then looked at Anthea's face, and noticed that her lips were swollen, and bleeding.
“I...I hurt you?” he asked, in an apologetic voice.
“It's alright, N, I'm fine, don't worry about it. We should be worrying about cleaning up in here, before Concordia comes back and yells at us for not keeping clean.” said Anthea.
N looked around the room again, and noticed that his bed covers were all over the floor, a dresser was knocked over, they were fallen objects all over the place, and dirty female clothes and underwear on the floor.
“I did all this in my sleep?” asked N, surprised.
“Well, you can be pretty messy in your sleep, but not ALL of it is your mess.” replied Anthea, pointing to her dirty clothes on the floor.
“You changed your clothes in the middle of the room?” asked N.
“Hey, Pokemon Center bathrooms are disgusting, you can't blame me for not wanting to go in there! Besides, Concordia wasn't here, and you were asleep! Anyway, the more time we spend sitting here talking, the higher the chance that Concordia will see this mess, so let's just get cleaning!” replied Anthea, blushing deep red.
So N and Anthea began cleaning their room up, and after a while of cleaning in silence, Anthea decided to break the silence.
“So, N, what did you dream about anyway?” she asked.
N looked down at the floor, twirling his necklace.
“I don't really remember.” he lied.
“N, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but you don't have to sit there and lie to me.”
“How do they always know when I'm lying?” asked N, in his head. “Don't tell Concordia about this.” he said.
“Don't worry, I won't, I promise.” replied Anthea.
When they were done cleaning up their room, they went to the main floor of the Pokemon Center, then exited the building, and were now outside. They both looked around the city, with huge, amazed grins on their faces. It was a huge, lively city, almost as big as Castelia, full of tall buildings, as well as plenty of smaller ones, and a giant Ferris wheel in the center. The Ferris Wheel is what caught N's eye most of all.
“Wow, Anthea, look at that! That's a Ferris Wheel, right? Can we ride it, please?” he asked.
N grabbed his sister's hand, and pointing towards the Ferris Wheel, bouncing on his heels, like an excited child. He had seen a Ferris Wheel in a book before, when he was a little kid, and quickly fell in love with them.
“Oh, I sure hope we can, it looks like fun. I'm sure Concordia will decide to be a party pooper like always, though.” said Anthea.
A few moments later, Concordia, with all their Pokemon with her, came walking over to N and Anthea.
“It's about time you two got up, I was just about to go check up on you.” said Concordia, as she came over to them.
Zorua jumped onto N's shoulder, licking his face, Victini flew circles around his head, smiling, Servine slithered up, around his shoulders, and Archeops flew into his arms, hugging him. Concordia then looked at Anthea, and noticed her swollen lips.
“What happened to you?” she asked, pointing.
“Oh, uh, I bumped into the wall.” replied Anthea, rubbing the back of her head, with a small grin on her face.
Concordia sighed, and shook her head in disappointment. “You are such a klutz, Anthea.” she said.
“Concordia, the Ferris Wheel. Can we ride it?” N asked, still bouncing on his heels, pointing to the Ferris Wheel.
“That's not why we came here, N. We need to get the gym badge, then head straight for Driftveil City. We already got here later than we should have, we have no time for more detours.” answered Concordia.
N and Anthea both looked very disappointed to hear this.
“I told you, N, she's a party pooper.” said Anthea, patting N's shoulder.
Concordia looked at N, and noticed just how upset he was.
“Alright, well...I suppose if we all get the badge quickly, then you two might be able to ride it. And that's an IF.” she said.
N looked up happily, and got a big smile on his face. “Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going!” he exclaimed, as he dashed off.
“Hey, N, wait up!” his sisters both called after him, as they tried to keep up with him.
To be continued....
