[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","main"]

family meant everything.

[break][break] a doctrine grilled into him again and again and again, no matter how many hits he took, no matter how many sacrifices he made. his father's words were burned into his very being.

[break][break] rocket was family. and his word was law.

[break][break] mischa would watch his father make others pay for the mistakes that they made, for breaking the words that he said were absolute. no one ever dared to go against dmitri, and those who did, paid the absolute price.



'you understand, don't you, mischa?'

[break][break] 'your duty? your destiny?'



jayden wakes up in the dead of the night, in a coldsweat. he stares out at his window, at the sootopolis bay.

[break][break] lada and hesus leaps up onto his bed, and fingers tangle themselves into their fur. in the backgroud, his mismagius sings a lucky chant to lull him to sleep.

[attr="class","title"]entry 01

[attr="class","colorbar"]

[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","main"]

"run."

[break][break] and so he had. he had run as far as his legs would take him, sprinting away from the scene. he isn't even sure why he's running, just that he's been told to and so he is going to do it. he runs until he can't anymore, until his lungs burn and his legs give way.

[break][break] blood is still splattered all over his clothes, his face, his hands.

[break][break] at only fourteen, he's committed murder.


"mischa, you did a good job."

[break][break] it doesn't feel like he's done a good job. he isn't sure why this is different from any other time that he's completed a task, why THEO BECKETT 's task feels suddenly different from all the others.

[break][break] he's felt blood on his hands before, felt the pulse of life underneath his grip until the hands grow cold.

[break][break] but those were strangers. those were people he didn't know. those were enemies of rocket.

[break][break] this was his eevee. his friend.

[break][break] this was —



"what are pokemon, mischa? do i have to remind you again?"

[break][break] "tools, father. for the glory of team rocket."

[break][break] "exactly."



in his sootopolis home, in the present, jayden buries his face in lada's fur and wraps her in an embrace. warmth. however, despite the comforting purr of his umbreon that rumbles around him, jayden can only feel misery.

[break][break] guilt.

[break][break] like a snake, it crawls around his throat and threatens to choke him.

[break][break] how dare he?

[break][break] a betrayal.

[attr="class","title"]entry 02

[attr="class","colorbar"]

[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","main"]
ballonea city is where he was born. deep in the tanglewood lies a city full of mystery and charm. most people wouldn't ever dare think of a city so unusual as something of a comfort, but a boy like jayden who has grown up in more bloodshed and terror than most knows the comfort of the unknown.

[break][break] the glimwood tangle is his favorite of these places — he hides in the shadows where he knows his brother cannot find him. alexei is a boy — at least at ten — who thrives on the practical. alex is too scared to wander anywhere close. aleks gets lost in the shimmer of glowing mushrooms and magical beasts.

[break][break] a young mischa, on the contrary, finds himself drawn to the abstract.

[break][break] even if its something he can't quite understand, but he lets the pokemon lead him.

[break][break] he hides in the roots of a trevenant, listening to the whisper of the trees as they pass. the ghosts flicker in and out of view, the magical hue of the forest's natural glimmer lulling him to sleep.

[break][break] when the sun rises, he knows his father will call for him. or his mother. or his brother. but for now, he can bask in the comfort of the woods.



cinnebar island is the city where he burns.

[break][break] it's where his father drags him to first, of all of kanto's cities, to train him in the heat. he throws obstacle after obstacle at him, training his body but also training his mind.

[break][break] the rocky cliffs are unforgiving as he claws his way up them, his brother's sharp laughter digging claws into his spine.



sootopolis city is the city where he lives.

[break][break] the water splashes against the shore of his home, where he can see the bay clear from his window. it's not anywhere that he ever thought he would live, not when the terrors of the past still cling to him. he remembers the days when his father pushed his head beneath the waves, daring him to breathe.

[break][break] but rocket has called him here, and so this is where he will stay.

[break][break] jayden stares at the city skyline, watching as his ghosts chase after each other in the flickering daylight. his umbreon are curled underneath a tree buried in his backyard, finding comfort in the shade.

[break][break] a phantump floats by his side, offering a ghosty appendage towards him. jayden takes the pokemon's hand, letting it lead him towards his garden.

[break][break]

[attr="class","title"]entry 03

[attr="class","colorbar"]

[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","main"]
Fingers gripped his son's snarling jaws, fiercely. Dmitri's gaze was blown a bloody red, his expression fierce. He was furious. [break][break]

The man's arm was bleeding, scored with a very obvious bite wound. Fang marks were cleanly visible, yet Dmitri did nothing to adhere to the bloody mess that was his arm. Instead, he gripped the uncivilized mutt without preamble.

[break][break] "Make no mistake," he hissed. "You may have the face of my son, and maybe even some of his personality, but my son you are not. If you ever become a problem, I will not hesitate in disposing of you, Aleks."

[break][break] The last word was spit out, like it was disgusting to even say.

[break][break] He ripped his grip away from the snarling child, the chains wrapped around the boy's wrist clanging as Aleks fought against his restraints.

[break][break] From his pocket, he pulled a handkerchief and pressed it to his arm to stop the bleeding. Blood soaked through the cloth.

[break][break] "Call me back," he said, eyes narrowed into spite. "When my son decides to return."

[break][break] Dmitri exited the room, shoes clacking against the linoleum floor, and slammed the door.

[attr="class","title"]entry 04

[attr="class","colorbar"]

[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","main"]"you lied! you told me you wouldn't kill her! you told me if i listened —!"

[break][break] slash.

[break][break] the knife plunges unforgiving into the man's shoulder. blood spurts from the edges, spraying like fountainwork. a shoe leans down against the shoulder, as dmitri leans over him — all angles and bright scarlet eyes.

[break][break] he smiles.

[break][break] "didn't you know?" he murmured, grabbing the man's face harshly. "i'm a compulsive liar."

[break][break] it happens in an instant: a swift, merciless kick propels the man backward, his body colliding into pavement with bone-shattering force. the metallic sole of dmitri's boot leaves an indelible imprint, just as the business man slides his gloves back on again.

[break][break] he looks back at his son, who is watching him with a wide, doe-eyed look. who had watched it all the same exact way.

[break][break] dmitri smiles gently and returns to him, affectionately ruffling the boy's hair.

[break][break] "mischa, let us return home. mama has a pot on the stove."

[attr="class","title"]entry 05

[attr="class","colorbar"]

[attr="class","topimage"]

[attr="class","main"] he cannot quite explain it. something feels off.

[break][break] Ashley Shepard hands him the report on his desk, and they share a brief moment of conversation. it is nice, jayden thinks, after everything they have been through. finally, ashley is reporting as he should. existing as he should.

[break][break] part of him had worried, if so briefly, that Isaac Merlo's defection would have changed him.

[break][break] but ashley knew better. of course he knew better. he was one of them, after all.

[break][break] jayden knows he should be happy - thrilled even - and yet, there is something awful and nagging at the corner of his mind as he stares at the letters on the page. they all blur together. it is not as it should be. there is something —

[break][break] he lied to you, he LIED to you, HE LIED TO YOU.

[break][break] hatred spools into his grip, and he stumbles.

[break][break] "beast harcourt," he growls, eyes flicking up towards him. "i trust you to deal with this."

[break]

[attr="class","title"]entry 06

[attr="class","colorbar"]