To Steal the Heart of a Thief {Pokemon Ranger Fanfiction} (Pokemon Watty Awards 2015)

Chapter 35: Repudiation

Repudiation: denial of the truth or the validity of something.

Ladies, grab your chocolate and security blankets, because this chapter I guarantee will make you cry.

And guys, grab that one stuffed animal from your childhood that I know you didn't have the heart to get rid of when you got older. You'll need it.

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(Third Person POV)

"Why are you drinking coffee this late at night...?" Wendy shot her a quizzical look with that quirky face of hers. "Won't that just keep you up?"

"No." Rena answered firmly as she brought the mug up to her lips and took a sip of her black coffee. "Caffeine has no effect on me."

Rena was sitting in the break room at the table with Sven and Wendy, and Keith was puttering around behind them with the coffee machine. He had remained silent and refused to speak to Rena the whole time, but Wendy and Sven had been curious to know more about her and were asking her all sorts of questions. And by Wendy and Sven, I really mean Wendy was asking her questions.

"So..." Wendy began to smile curiously as she leaned her head in her hand. "Did you really get shot?" She was almost doubtful it really happened as she looked at Rena with a scornful look, but her interest was piqued.

"Wen'." Sven warned in his even, monotone voice, using his short pet name for Wendy to address her.

"I was just wondering..." She almost pouted a little at his disapproval. "Come on, Rena! Let's see that battle scar of yours." She leaned across the table a little bit closer to Rena.

Rena almost looked amused as she shrugged her shoulders. She immediately regretted doing that once she felt her ribs stretch painfully. "Alright. You asked for it."

Luckily, she was wearing a sports bra underneath. Otherwise, it would have been much more awkward than it already was when she abruptly stood up and unzipped the top half of her jumpsuit, then ripped it open to reveal her chest and the large, jagged scar that ran from her side to the middle of her stomach. It was pinkish-red with a thick white line running down the middle of it. The scar was easily six inches long, and her skin had attempted to heal over it naturally. Attempted.

"Bye bye bikinis." Rena cracked a joke in order to conceal the fact that she was internally cringing every time she moved, looking down at the horrendous scar on her stomach.

Wendy seemed absolutely fascinated with the scar and unbothered by how awkward this whole situation was, Sven just stared ahead in shock, and Keith turned around so fast to avert his eyes that he slammed his head right into the open refrigerator door and clothes-lined himself.

Rena zipped her top back up again and sat down a little more carefully this time. "Satisfied?"

"That is one ugly scar..." Wendy scrunched up her nose a little. "That really looked like it hurt!"

"Oh, it did." Rena glowered at nothing in particular. "It also didn't help that I had to rely on someone with minimal medical training to patch me up, since I couldn't go to a hospital."