[FIN] Aftershocks

[Blood_Goddess]

She hesitated, furrowing her brow in confusion, and slight concern "well, maybe..." Anything could have been preventable, she wasn't sure what he meant in this case.  

[Suudonym]

"Maybe?!" he said, repeating the word as though it were foreign. "Everything was fine when I told you to leave! You could have just gone with the rest of the crowd and it would have been fine!"  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Run away, leave you back in that room with someone who obviously wanted to hurt you, and other Rockets? With my sister, and their pokemon." She said, taken aback. "How could I have just left?"  

[Suudonym]

"Through the door, for one," he said, though the flare of sarcasm quickly chilled from his words. When he spoke again, it was with an anguish in his expression, his gaze falling, "Do you have any idea how important your existence is to me? Putting yourself at risk - getting hurt - because of me--" The energy in his voice drained, replaced with a quiet, desperate defiance, "I don't want that."  

[Blood_Goddess]

While his solution to how she could leave was true, she knew that he at least had to understand that that's not what she meant. It was clear by what he continued with, while she remained quiet.

Her shoulder sank a little, though she managed to keep her eyes on him, even if he wasn't looking back. "What do you want me to do?"
"... I'm tired of seeing you hurt, I'm tired of these things happening to you, and whats worse, you don't act like you care that it happens." She picked a spot on her knee to look at. "You don't act like you care about yourself. And I'm scared that if I don't then you're just going to keep coming back to see me with more bruises, with more broken bones, a little more of yourself chipped away."
she shook her head "I accept that that's part of the fight we have to lead, but I refuse to let you keep doing this on your own."  

[Suudonym]

"It's not like I enjoy pain," he said, eyes trained absently on the floor. "I don't go out trying to get hurt, but if my getting hurt means someone else is safe, then I have no complaints. I can tolerate it. I can withstand it. I can heal and go into it again, or go into it before I heal if that's what it takes, because I can't - I cannot lose anyone else." His posture tensed, his unwrapped hand clenching harshly. He spoke in murmured words strangled by the sentiment they voiced, "You're the only reason I can live right now."  

[Blood_Goddess]

That put a lot of weight onto her, she wasn't sure it it was and entirely good thing, or a bad thing, maybe a mixture of both, but it was strong, either way.
Putting a hand on Anastasia, Rosie gently pat the Umbreon in a gesture that she was standing before she slid to her feet, and stood.
"And I can't lose you." She told him "I can't even handle the idea I just... I've never been more scared of anything in my life." She clasped her hands together tightly.
"I don't want to get hurt either, I don't plan on it. but if we're going to be in this fight, if Team Rocket is as dangerous as we know they are, then I can't just leave, if by staying I can help, I won't leave you. I will not."  

[Suudonym]

He shook his head in empty resistance, offering no words in retort. He could understand what she was saying, and he knew that it wasn't prudent to remove someone from a battle where every ally counted - especially someone like her, who had the most developed and well-trained team of anyone he could think of. Still he hated it, though. He hated the idea of being defended at risk to someone else. But what could be done about it…?  

[Blood_Goddess]

His silence was met by her own for a few moments, tilting her head as she watched him, but only a moment before she lowered her gaze as well.
"We can help each other. None of us should do this alone."  

[Suudonym]

"I'm not trying to do it alone," he said at length, his head turned from her. "I can't do it alone. I know that. But still…" Still he didn't want to see anyone else get hurt. Childish.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"It just seems like you are, since you asked me to leave."  

[Suudonym]

"I'm not," he insisted stubbornly, raising his voice just slightly.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie wasn't sure what to say to that, there was a hesitance in her posture.
"you asked everyone to leave, back int he conference." she said carefully. wondering if they were talking about the same thing anymore.  

[Suudonym]

He shook his head faintly, "That's different. I wasn't trying to handle it alone, just prevent anyone from getting hurt unnecessarily."  

[Blood_Goddess]

He wasn't making a lot of sense, she was feeling that what was being said seemed to contradict itself, but she could understand that this had been a bad day for everyone, Luke especially.
"That wasn't unnecessary. Maybe you would have been hurt unnecessarily if you didn't have others watching your back, if the boy did this to you after you were questioned, what would he have done to you then? How would you have been paying attention to what the Rockets and their pokemon? None of that was going to be unnecessary."