Gunned | SatoSere

Chapter 15 - Unspoken Truths

Serena wakes with a shuddering gasp, the world rushing into her vision as she breaks through the ocean of her unconsciousness. Her instinct is to thrash and she hisses at the pull in her shoulder and the bite in her wrists against the metal cuffs that snakebind her in a chair. She looks around the unfamiliar space where the walls are gray and there's a single door that indicates the only way out. It's then that the memories start filtering in and the guilt in her stomach pools at her feet.

There's dried blood spattered on her blazer sleeve and caked on the pale of her cheek near her eyes, unable to erase the images panning like a nightmare. Serena, feeling useless as the day she arrived in the arms of the Demons, her own futile goal of never having someone die because of her ever again.

The sight of Sawyer's fear plain in his crinkled eyes, his pleas completely muffled to the gods that might've saved him — the demon that took his life in the silence of crimson. The guilt quickly sparks to anger, pulling against her cuffs even harder, ignoring the way they break her skin and draw blood. Ash may never forgive her for the mistake she made that cost Sawyer his life, but Serena swears whoever responsible wouldn't get the chance to beg for it.

If she were to survive after all that, she'd let Ash decide her rightful fate. Serena wonders in that same breath if that's always what she was meant to find. Not a stronger version of herself, not a brand new world that she gets to breathe the stratosphere deep into her lungs, but Ash Ketchum as her beginning and the very end.

The door handle clicks through the silence and Serena's head snaps up. A single individual walks through the door, a smug grin on his face that's coated in a twisted satisfaction. He's dressed in a dark suit and a pair of black dress shoes, his face is so to say middle aged. Serena holds down a scoff in her throat at the blatantly obvious effort of this man to play like he was some overlord. She glares as he closes the distance between them, the glint in his eye echoing a wolf narrowing on its prey.

As the door closes behind him, she catches the reflection of his suit on the metal surface, and her eyes widen minutely at the embroidery weaved into the fabric.

Ketchum.

"Now, I have to say, as tasteless and weak Lumiose City's boss is, he picked well, indeed," he says approvingly, his deep voice made know and his grin growing wider as his eyes rove up and down her bound body, and Serena's brows slant angrily.

"Giovanni," she spits, anger and disgust coiling around her words.

His head tilts, amused as he moves his arms behind his back. "Ah, so I assume Ash has spoken to you about me? Fantastic."

Serena's stomach churns and her jaw grinds at the sound of Ash's name in the tone of his voice, her fists tightening behind her back as she gives another harsh tug. "I know that you're a piece of shit. I'm surprised you even showed your face. One that's always cowering behind the henchmen who do your damn dirty work."

The strike comes quickly and Serena's mind spins with the aching pain in her jaw, Giovanni's solid fist colliding with her face as he looks down on her. Her face is turned away, her dirty blonde hair splayed across her cheeks as she huffs. She rolls her jaw and spits blood onto the floor, the pain ebbing away as she looks up at him with unimpressed eyes.

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to say ouch," she mocks boredly, chin raised defiantly. "If anything, I'm positive the guy I killed hit me harder than that."

Giovanni doesn't take the bait and instead laughs in a low tone, the sound shaking through his shoulders. His hand reaches out and grips her face, fingers squeezing roughly around her cheekbones as she tries to move out of his grasp to no avail. He leans in close, a snarl now on his lips as his grip tightens and Serena can't hold back a hiss.