Leon's POV

     The utter shock and fear laced around my heart grew to its breaking point upon noticing the nearly dead Zoroark standing directly in front of me.

     "H-Help," Loki whispered, her eyes wincing in pain as she trampled up to the stairs and leaned closer. Her body toppled over mine, and her face now comfortably rested on the fur of my chest, "I-I just wanted...to...explore," she coughed.

     "Loki! You can't just enter unknown areas like that," Sammy yelped at the sight of the Zoroark as she quickly paced up and placed a paw against Loki's back, "are you alright? What happened down there?"

     "S-Someone...s-someone," the Zoroark hiccupped, her tears dampening my fur. A dangerous amount of blood leaked from the arm of Loki.

     "You're hurt..!" Sammy gasped softly, earning no reply from the dark-type.

     "There's medicine in the kitchen," my head shifted to gaze at the Braixen.

     "I'll go get it right now!" Sammy quickly nodded to my words and immediately shifted her body to dash in a specific direction.

     "Now...tell me what happened?" I ran my paw across Loki's hair. Her crying seemed to increase in intensity, if anything, it seemed like it was never going to end.

     "T-There was...this sound...and I went d-down the stairs to loo—" Loki began, but was immediately cut off by the sound of seemingly footsteps resounding near the stairs.

     On queue, I quickly shuffled around and let go of the Zoroark, nudging her away and motioning her to leave. It wasn't until I saw her turn around and limp away was when I paced forward and glared down the dark stairway.

     My heart dropped, and all sounds around came to a quick close. It was like all my functions as a Pokemon came to a halt—the only thing functioning being my eyes and brain.

     "Not even a welcome back?" The very unfortunately familiar Braixen offered me an evil grimace.

     "What the fuck!? You shouldn't be here!" I hissed at the top of my lungs, my arms rising in anger.

     "Your dumbass friend tried to escape—something you all shouldn't be doing! So I decided to take action and beat her to the pulp!" Sam motioned around her sharpened claws.

     The wounds inflicted on Loki—other than the claw marks on her face—didn't correlate to the size of her small claws. However, all questions were answered the second I saw a Gengar standing directly behind her.

     "Do you have anything to do—other than be nothing but a disgrace?" I felt myself grimace back.

     "Someone's angry," Sam chuckled lightly and placed a paw against her chin, "careful there, you might hurt someone if you keep getting recklessly angry like that."

     "I'll hurt you if you don't leave this place!" I hissed loudly. My paws seemed to move on their own and aim directly at the Braixen.

     "Okay," Sam grinned, "do it. I fucking dare you, pussy."

     I did as she asked and felt the aura around my paw build up in energy and power. The blue radiation formed into one large sphere, and before I knew it, it was sent hurling down onto the Braixen's chest. The Gengar behind her disappeared, and she was slammed harshly into a wall by the powerful attack.

     "I-I did it..." I panted, taking a small glance at the two of my paws, "I di—"

     ...

     ...

     Blur. Instant blur practically spotted my vision. The area around me seemed to dull in detail, and all aura near me lost its once perfect description. My body stiffened, and I just barely gained the strength to gaze down.

     A large set of three glowing purple claws were entirely jabbed from my back and directly out of my abdomen. Small streaks of blood dripped from the punctured wound—until it took a few seconds for the Pokemon behind me to pull their claws away. That's when the pain took me over.

     If anything, there was so much pain that I couldn't talk—no, I couldn't even scream. My once stiffened body curled its knees and slammed them against the harsh metal floor. My eyes widened in fear, agony, and utter despair. The wave of pain caused me to gag violently, yet the only thing I heard was me tumbling and slamming against the ground in complete pitiful weakness.

     The area around me spotted, and I seemed to be just barely conscious enough to see the blood pool around me.

     "You broke a rule, you know?" I heard Sam's very faint voice mutter, "so you die here now. Completely alone—with no one to save you."

     She was right. Everything I once had was all left just so I can be tortured in this horrible, horrible mansion. The hope I once had was gone, the dream I once wished was gone.

     The sounds of footsteps pacing away reverberated around my head, and as she grew farther, I was left in the cold silence. Is it wrong to feel bad for someone else right now—seeing as how I'm going to die?

     If anything, I would welcome death at the moment. Anything would be better than living in constant torture...however I let myself grow a bond with the people here. I feel bad for everyone—they have to stay here...and I can leave.

     I can finally leave and go...home...

     Do Mom and Dad miss me?

     ...

    Do Mom and Dad care?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

     Sherwood's POV

     "Everyone! Quickly, please wake up!" Sammy hopelessly slammed the door open, causing me to rise off the couch. Everyone in the room seemed to be completely asleep—but I was half awake at the time, so the sound of her feared voice caused me to leap onto my feet.

     "What on earth happened?" I huffed lightly in question, gazing at the Braixen. Her head's direction snapped to mine and she panted lightly.

     "Loki is hurt, really hu—" The Braixen muttered before something seemingly caught her eye, "oh no..." she finally took her gaze away from me and dashed away.

     My body moved on its own, and I finally leaped through the doorway to see Sammy holding a completely wounded Loki.

     "Take her inside," I commanded, my eyes completely locked onto the Braixen, "Is there anyone else there?" I managed to shift my head to glare at the living room, "because Leon is gone."

     "Leon stayed behind...I don't know what he's doing. We were trying to find an exit through the walls—we found one bu—" Sammy replied, but I soon cut her off with a worried expression.

     "You left Leon in there with what harmed Loki!?" I hissed. The Braixen was completely taken aback by my loudening voice.

     "I-I'm really sorry. I came here to get medical supplies," her voice slowly shifted into a pained whisper.

     "I'm going over there right now," I frowned and turned forward. It wasn't until then that I saw a small opening in the wall, however, it seemed quite far from here. Because of that, I readied my entire body and entered in a full-speed sprint directly to the wall.

     I don't know what could possibly be going on in there, but the only thing I knew was that there seemed to be a long hallway. I finally arrived at the entrance and didn't bother to slow down as I dashed inside of the opening. 

     "No..! Fuck! Leon!" I yelled at the top of my lungs before locking my gaze at the fallen Lucario. It wasn't until I got closer to him where I saw the bloody ground below him. It pooled so much—there was so much.

     I managed to near him and on get myself alarmingly dirty in the pool of liquids. My head angled to worriedly gaze down at his wound. His abdomen had three thick stab wounds, and it pierced through both sides of his body—it was the main source of his bleeding.

     "Leon, listen to me, buddy. Are you okay? Can ya hear me?" I panted violently, my eyes locking with his barely conscious gaze.

     "I..." The Lucario began before having a small coughing fit, the blood building up in his throat splattering across my chest. I didn't care about that anymore.

     "Please listen to me, man. I need ya to say awake, aight?" I shuddered, my talons pulling him closer to my chest. The blood pooled around my knees, and at this point, I just wanted to keep him alive.

     My head turned to glare behind me, and I saw a very distant Braixen and Zoroark walking away.

     "Sammy, Loki! Please, anyone! Help us!" I yelled at the top of my lungs once again, and it didn't take long for my voice to strain and feebly echo around the large field, "fuck!"

     My head snapped back to the Lucario.

     "Th-Thank you...for everything..." Leon's faded expression looked up at me—causing me to pull him closer to my chest.

     "Don't say that man—you're going to leave this fuckin' place with us," I hiccupped, my grip on him tightening, "please stay. I don't want you to die," the blood around my legs trickled down the concrete ground.

     "I-It's...okay..." Leon's voice was now a pained whisper, "tell...my Mom..." he began once again, "my Dad..."

     "N-No...please..." I shuddered as I felt my eyes water at his weakening strength.

     "Tell th-them I am grateful," Leon smiled weakly at me, "and that I thank you for helping me," he coughed violently after gaining the last of his strength to speak to me.

     "Leon...Leon..." I was now hyperventilating—holding a dying Lucario's body.

     "Thank you..." He muttered under his shaky breaths.

     "I'm so sorry, Leon."

     "Thank you so mu-much, Sherwood..." The Lucario's labored breathing was slowing and slowing until...

     There was nothing.

     I felt my eyes close and my grip against him tighten. His once barely rising and falling chest—indicating he was breathing—had come to a stop.

     Leon the Lucario was no longer alive, and I held him in my arms as he passed.

     ...and now I have to live with this burden—without him.