Pokemon: Alpha and Omega

Chapter 76

AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the latest installment of Alpha and Omega. Nothing really to say, so let's just got on with it shall we? If you like my work please vote, feel free to comment, and please share this story with your friends. I now present to you chapter 76, enjoy.

Delia's eyes were red and puffy from the tears she shed upon seeing Red alive again, and from his response to her. Red was a prisoner of Giovanni's for nearly twenty years, and in the beginning he held faith that she would rescue him. However when that didn't happen, he fell into despair as he believed that Delia was either dead, or gave up on him. The only thing that kept him alive from then on, and for the most part sane, was his desire to put his hands around Giovanni's throat and squeeze the life out of him. Now seeing Delia alive left him with emotions that he hadn't felt in a long time, love and relief, mixed with some that he was very familiar with, betrayal and rage. At first Red didn't even believe Delia was there in front of him and that he finally lost his mind. But after he accepted she was really there, he couldn't bear to look at her as he was feeling as though she left him for dead to save herself. He screamed and yelled at her, refusing to listen to or believe anything she said, bringing Giovanni the most amusement from Red that he'd had in over a decade.

Eventually Giovanni left, leaving Delia in the cell with him. Delia refused to give up on Red and convince him to trust her again. After plenty more of Red's yelling he began to calm down, but still remained wary and untrusting of Delia. They both sat there quietly staring at each other until Delia finally came up with a simple way to get close to Red and hopefully break the tension, to cut his hair. In the past Delia used to cut his hair with an aura blade, however with the collar around her neck that wasn't an option. Delia asked the guards for a pair of scissors, but they ignored her. However after a few minutes another guard entered the room and tossed them into the cell. They were clearly from Giovanni, and were just a little better than kids safety scissors. Knowing that was the best she was going to get, Delia got Red's consent and began cutting large amounts of the long uncut hair off.
Delia tried to get Red to talk by telling him about her attempt to avenge him, but he just remained silent, resulting in Delia starting to cry again. Red vented a lot of his pent up anger, so seeing Delia like this just made him feel horrible for being the cause.

"Why did you even think I was dead?" Red asked, finally breaking his silence.

"What?!" Delia replied sounding shocked that he finally spoke.

"You formed an aura bond with me, so that should have told you I was still alive. So why did you think I was dead?" Red repeated after explaining his question.

"I don't know why or how, but the connection was broken. Based on everything known about aura bonds, the only way for the connection to break was if one of us died," Delia explained as she blamed herself for all the time Red was being held as a prisoner.

"Well clearly neither of us are dead," Red replied as he began to sound annoyed. "And I spent who knows how many years locked up in Giovanni's dungeon."

"Nineteen years," Giovanni's voice rang, taking their attention to a projected image on the wall outside of the cell. "Give or take a few months."

"What do you want now Giovanni!" Red spat with renewed life.

"I've been listening in on your conversation, and I couldn't help but want to clear something up for you two," Giovanni replied.

"Clear what up?" Delia asked curiously.

"Red did die that day. That's why the connection broke," Giovanni told them with a proud expression. Red and Delia just looked at one another with shocked expressions, before Giovanni continued. "You see, despite the fact he wasn't yet family I didn't want him dead. So I had my medical team save his life and keep him in a medically induced coma while he healed. And once he was better, I threw him in here. You see Delia, I do care about our family. I knew one day you and I would have the opportunity to work together again, and other than Ash, Red would be the next best leverage to gain your cooperation. Although I did try at our last meeting to tell you, but you were too focused on trying to kill me."