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Notes: Chapter Eight's title comes from a well-known nursery rhyme about wishing stars.

Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.

There is an off-screen character death in this chapter.

---

Raihan fetched Acacius and Rose from their rooms the next morning. He didn't say anything implying he knew of their night out, so Rose had to assume Nessa didn't tell anyone. He would have to repay her somehow, if he got the chance.

Once they were in the meeting rooms, Raihan presented Acacius and Rose with two phones. "They have text and call and not much else," he said. "It's really just for the text chat, so keep an eye on that for any important information."

Rose sat down at the table and turned the phone over in his hand. "We both get one?"

"Yeah, figured it'd be easier that way." Raihan paused. "You shouldn't contact anyone outside the group. We'll let you know when you can call Oleana."

"Thank you."

The two phones buzzed in unison. "Hang on," Raihan said, and he took his own phone out. "I set up the mass text, but the kids keep messing around with it…"

Rose tapped on the screen and looked at his messages.

Gloria < OMG new group chat
Leon < no
Leon < everyone gets these texts, so use it for important updates only got it?
Marnie < yessir
Gloria < sure LOL
Hop < guys check this out

The image attached to Hop's message was a photo of him shoving his face against a wooloo's body. Rose let out a quiet chuckle. Though the camera was at an odd angle, he saw the back of Bede's head in the upper left corner.

Leon < bro I swear to god
Marnie < is that bede or do you have two wooloos
Bede < I'm in this chat too, idiots.
Gloria < OK wooloo head

More messages popped up as he watched.

Raihan < Seriously guys listen to leon
Raihan < we need a place to share information with the whole group
Raihan < You kids need to take it seriously

The response came shortly.

Gloria < big talk for the gym leader i swept with only half my team
Raihan < okay wow
Raihan < Not even relevant

"How do I turn this off?" Acacius said.

Raihan sighed and put his phone down. "Here's how to mute it," he said, leaning over Acacius' shoulder. "Just… keep an eye on it every once in a while. I'll have to talk to the kids later."

Once the chat was silenced, Raihan left, still furiously typing. Rose put the phone away and glanced at Acacius. "Are you heading out, then?" he asked.

"Yeah," Acacius said. "Not for long, I don't feel as bad as I did yesterday. You want me to get you anything?"

"Maybe something to read," Rose said. "It does get boring in here."

"Can do. What kind of books do you like?"

He tapped his fingers on the armrest. "Nonfiction, but I don't have much preference beyond that. Pick something you would enjoy. That way, if I don't like it, you won't have spent money for nothing."

"Understood. I'll be back in, like, two, three hours. See you then."

He waved and left the room, leaving Rose in the room alone.

There wasn't much to do. Rose opened up his phone again, but there was nothing to do on it other than the text chat. It was still very active, but Rose wasn't interested in whatever heated discussion the children were having.

He decided to check the boundaries of his confinement.

The area appeared to be a small convention center. There were a handful of rooms he was allowed to go in, all stemming from the same hall. If he wanted to go back to the hotel room, he would have to be escorted to make sure no one saw him, but once he discovered the hall's bathroom, he had no reason to do so. The largest room, at the end of the hall, contained a roped-off piano with a sign reading "Do Not Play." Rose reached for the keys, then decided against it.

As he left the room, he overheard part of a conversation from the kitchen.

"–she won't do it again," Bede said.

"You don't know that." Opal's voice was quiet and stern. "It's safest if you stay here. I'll take care of the Ballonlea gym for now."

"But…"

He trailed off. Opal sighed.

"Use the time to be with your friends," she said. "I imagine you'll get very little time with the new champion once this is over." Her tone lightened. "I'll certainly be giving you plenty of work."

"I just…"

He paused. Rose took a step closer to the door.

"I don't want to be useless," Bede said.

"Save your strengths to be useful later," Opal said. "This is a situation where, above all, we need you to be safe. Alright?"

"…alright."

"Now go find your friends."

Rose quickly backed away before anyone could catch him eavesdropping. He picked a nearby door at random and slipped inside, closing it behind him just as the kitchen door opened.

"Wow," Gloria said. "Hey, Chairman, this is a private conversation?"

Gloria and Marnie were holding hands in a loveseat, Marnie's morpeko sitting on her lap. All three were staring at him, and the morpeko was growling.

"My apologies," Rose said. "I didn't know anyone was in here. I'll let you be."

He opened the door, swiftly passed by a surprised Bede, and retreated to the room with the piano. If everyone hated him, he thought, they could at least have the decency to leave him alone.

Well, no, that wasn't entirely fair. Gloria had stated outright she she was "trying to be friendly". She was the only one, then; none of the others were willing to put in that effort. It had been less than half an hour, and already, Rose was feeling Acacius' absence.

Behind him, the door creaked.

"Were you eavesdropping?"

Rose sighed. "I didn't hear any of Gloria and Marnie's conversation, no," he said, turning to face Bede. "The chatter of teenage girls doesn't interest me."

"Good," said Bede, and he started to back out of the room.

"Wait."

The boy froze. "What?"

"I wanted to ask you something," Rose said. "If you're not busy, of course."

"Fine," he said. "What is it?"

Bede, clearly, did not like him either, but he had helped Rose escaped the hospital, even if it was at Oleana's request. Rose fancied he would have better luck asking him than he would Leon or Sonia.

"I'm not surprised to find most people dislike me," he said, "but I assumed it was because of my actions awakening Eternatus. Both Sonia and Leon have all but stated there was something I did to Leon that has, apparently, gone unnoticed until now. I don't know what it was."

"So?" said Bede. "How am I supposed to know what you did to Leon?"

"You were also a gym challenger I endorsed," said Rose. "I thought you could provide insight. Was there some way in which I treated you that you weren't happy with?"

Bede's expression was unreadable. He stared at Rose, his mouth partly open, struggling to form words.

"Chairman," he said, "what do you think happens to gym challengers if their endorsement is revoked?"

Rose blinked. "Is that relevant to Leon?"

"Answer the question."

"Well, they're not barred from being trainers. They can continue their journey without participating in the gym challenge, or they can go home."

Bede crossed his arms. "And where, exactly, was my home?"

"Ah," Rose said. "I take it returning to the orphanage was not an option."

He didn't remember the first time he met Bede. It was still early in his time as the league's chairman, and after Peony's dramatic resignation, some of the public were wary of him. Rose tried to assure them that his rocky relationship with his brother wasn't representative of how he intended to treat the region, but just words were not enough. Rose had to take concrete actions that would demonstrate his love for Galar and its future.

One of his actions was to visit an orphanage and given pokémon to a few of the children. One of the children was Bede. One small gesture that Rose had no memory of. Years later, when he saw that Bede's talent at pokémon battles far surpassed his peers, he had endorsed him for the gym challenge. That was all.

"There was nowhere for me to go," Bede said. "The hotels only offered free rooms to gym challengers, and I was never good at camping. When I ran out of money for a hotel room, that was it. If Opal hadn't found me…"

He didn't finish the thought. Rose searched for words. "I didn't consider that," he said. "I'm–"

Bede interrupted him. "There's your answer," he said. "Whatever you did to Leon, you thought only of yourself, and you acted without considering how it would affect him."

Rose stared at him. "I've never–" He paused. "I've never only thought of myself," he said. "I am always thinking of Galar, and how my actions reflect on the region I care about."

"Well," Bede said, "maybe you should care more about the people in it."

He turned to leave. Rose let him.

---

Acacius didn't return for several hours. Rose found a pad of paper that he absentmindedly scribbled on in an attempt to entertain himself. It wasn't very effective. He sighed and wondered if he should risk talking to someone again, or if he would only sour everyone's opinions of him further.

Finally, he heard a door open and close and recognized Acacius' voice, though he didn't catch the words. He put the notepad aside and looked up. "Are you back?" he called out.

"Rose!"

The door opened.

Oleana stood in the doorway, breathing hard. Her clothes were in disarray and her hair was a mess; she looked like she had ran across the city to get to him. Maybe she had.

He stood up to meet her. "Oleana," he said in surprise, "what are you doing–"

She hugged him.

Rose tensed. Oleana held him with a tight grip, pressing her chin into his shoulder. It was rather painful, actually. He could feel her breathing.

"–here," he finished. "What are you doing here?"

Oleana let go and moved back, her hands resting on his shoulders. "Your friend found me," she said, a slight tremor to her voice betraying her neutral expression. "He said you wanted to speak to me."

Nessa poked her head into the room. "Hey," she said. "I don't think you're supposed to be here? Does Leon know about this?"

Acacius caught up to Oleana. "He'll find out," he said casually. "It's probably safer here for her, anyhow."

Oleana glanced back at him. "Safer?"

"No one told you?" Rose said. "I thought I asked them to."

At this point, they were drawing a crowd, with Gloria, Marnie, and Bede coming to see what was happening. Oleana took a fast breath. "No one has told me anything," she said. "I didn't even know you were here until Acacius found me. Rose, what happened?"

Rose pried her hands off him. "It's a long story," he said. "Sit down, Oleana. I'll start from the last you saw me."

---

Understandably, Leon wasn't happy to see Oleana in the hotel without permission, but, from what Rose gathered, he wasn't going to kick her out. Instead, Leon pulled Acacius into another room to lecture him while Rose and Oleana went over the events of the past few days. "I intended to contact you from the moment I escaped Mable," he said, "but, well, easier said than done. When Bede was threatened, I had to seek help from the league, and here I am."

"Have they been treating you well?" Oleana asked.

"They've been very gracious with me, considering I'm now a criminal."

Oleana bristled. "Everything you did was for the good of Galar. Just because–"

Rose cut her off. "What I did nearly brought catastrophe to the region," he said. "I don't take that lightly. I am very grateful to get any help from the league at all."

She looked at him for a long moment. "Rose," she said, "why didn't you ask me?"

"Like I said, I intended to contact–"

"You said you only went with Mable because she said she could help you," said Oleana. "But I was right there, Rose. I've studied the Dynamax phenomenon for years, I–I invented the Dynamax bands!" She lifted her hands, then put them on her lap. "What happened to you–I could have helped you, and then neither of us would be here!"

Rose sighed. "You're right," he said simply. "Leaving you was foolish of me, and I regret my decision."

"Then why did you do it?"

"It was…" He looked away. "…not my proudest moment. I let my emotions get the better of me."

She was still staring at him, waiting for him to speak. Rose shook his head. "I was angry you had testified against me. And before you say anything," he added quickly, raising a hand just as Oleana opened her mouth, "I know the situation was far from ideal, and I've long since realized my anger isn't–wasn't rational. What's done is done."

Oleana took a long, deep breath. "I understand," she said. "I…"

She trailed off and turned her face away. Rose was alarmed to see tears in her eyes.

"I've upset you," he said, standing up just as she did. "Oleana–"

"I have to go," she said. "Goodbye, Chairman."

She walked briskly out of the room and down the hall. Rose followed her, almost at a run. "Oleana, wait!" he called out.

The door closed. Rose stood in front of it, at a loss for words. Different emotions fought each other inside him.

"You good?" Acacius said from behind him. "What happened?"

His swirling storm of emotions settled on one.

"Clearly, I've done something wrong," he said, raising his voice, "and no one, not even the person I trust the most, is willing to tell me what!"

He shouldered his way past Acacius and returned to the empty room, slamming the door behind him.

He intended to sit and simmer in silence until he had calmed himself. In the meantime, he thought a number of uncharitable things about Oleana that he would assuredly feel ashamed of later, until he heard the door open again.

"Why are you here?" he snapped

Acacius shrugged. "Would you rather it be someone else?"

"I would rather–" Rose hissed air through his teeth. "I would rather someone, anyone be honest with me. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, and apparently, I'm resented for it."

"Hey," Acacius said. "I don't know what happened with her, but I'm the closest to a neutral party you're going to get. You want me to try and smooth things out?"

"No," Rose said. "If she wants to go, let her. I just…"

He stared at the wall. There was a picture hanging there, an inoffensive painting of a landscape. Olive fields in Paldea. He shook his head and turned to sit back down.

"I don't understand," he said, while Acacius took a seat across from him. "I've worked so hard to act–act appropriately, as chairman of the Pokémon League and as a person, and I thought I was doing well. Now I learn that there's been something about my behavior that's–that's upsetting to everyone who notices it, and I don't know how to correct it."

"Act appropriately?"

"You know, just–" Rose waved a hand in the air. "Choosing the right words to say, the right way to steer a conversation… how to most effectively interact with others. What everyone has to do, but as, functionally, one of the faces of Galar, my actions held more weight." He paused. "I really did do everything for the future of Galar. I hope you, at least, believe that."

"I believe you," Acacius said. "If you want my honest opinion, I think you're missing the trees for the forest."

"Pardon?"

He shrugged. "The future's kind of a big thing to be thinking about all the time. If you do everything for the future, maybe you start to forget that the future's made up of a bunch of small moving parts, y'know?"

"Like how a region is made out of people," said Rose.

"Yeah, sure."

The anger was fading. Rose ran a hand over his head. "Thank you, Acacius," he said. "I'm thinking more clearly now."

"Don't mention it." Acacius smiled. "Got that book you wanted, too."

He slid a thick hardcover across the table. Rose picked it up and examined the cover. A book about training pokémon restored from fossils; Rose remembered Gloria's lileep, and how delighted Acacius had been to see one.

He looked up. "Acacius," Rose said. "Once this situation is dealt with, I'd like to do something to repay the kindness you've shown me."

Acacius' eyes widened. "I mean, it's not like I've done that much," he said with half a laugh, not meeting Rose's gaze. "You were in trouble, I just did what any decent person would've done, y'know?"

"You gave up your way of living to help me, and you've spoken on my behalf to the league more than once. I really do appreciate that." Rose smiled. "I may not have the same access to resources I once did, but if there's anything you want…"

"Well…"

Acacius didn't finish the thought before the door opened.

"Oh," Rose said, looking at Leon's expression. "Is something wrong?"

"You could say that." Leon took a long, slow breath. "One of the Team Flare scientists just came forward. Said her name was Aliana."

"A third one?" Acacius exclaimed.

Rose furrowed his brow. "She turned herself in? Or…"

"We need to all be here for this," Leon said. "Get to the meeting room."

---

Piers had returned. He sat next to Leon with a solemn expression while the rest of the group gathered. Marnie frowned at him. "What's going on?" she said. "You don't look good, bro."

He sighed. "It's not good," he said simply. "Leon, should the kids be here for this?"

Gloria looked up from her seat. "Is it that bad?"

Leon took a deep breath. "They're already involved," he said. He raised his voice. "Is this everyone? Where's Opal?"

"She went back to Ballonlea today," said Bede. "Should she come back?"

"No, no, if she has to be at the gym…"

Leon looked down at the table. Raihan put a hand on his back. Gloria and Hop were whispering to each other, but other than that, no one said a word.

Just as Rose was about to break the silence, Leon spoke.

"A woman named Aliana turned herself into the Hammerlocke police a few hours ago," he said. "Said she was an ex-flare scientist who had been with Mable, but she wasn't working with her anymore. She told them that Mable had killed Celosia."

Acacius took a sharp breath. When Rose looked at him, his eyes were wide, staring in horror at Leon.

But Leon wasn't done. "When they found Celosia's body," he said, "her chest had been cut open, and her heart had been removed."

A shiver ran through him. Rose couldn't speak, could hardly breathe–not that he needed to. He stared down at the table, everyone's shocked voices fading into a distant buzz and noticed that his hands were shaking.

He stood up. The conversation stopped. Leon said something, but Rose ignored him. He left the room, staggered down the hall, and found himself back in the room with the piano.

His head spun. What part of his condition was desirable? Why did Mable want to replicate the trauma that was done to him?

What, exactly, did she want so badly she would kill for it?

---

That night, Rose lay awake in bed and took out his phone. He hesitated for a long moment before sending a brief "Hello."

The response came quickly.

Gloria < uhhh hello to you too?

Excuse me for messaging you out of the blue. > Rose
Hop said you two found me after I was attacked. > Rose

Gloria < oh

I just wanted to say I'm sorry you had to see that. > Rose

Gloria took a few moments to response. Rose saw the typing icon appear and disappear more than once before many messages arrived in rapid succession

Gloria < well OK
Gloria < i mean thanks i guess
Gloria < wasn't really your fault except for the part where you woke up eternatus
Gloria < but it's not like you expected it to Do That
Gloria < i don't think anyone did
Gloria < it's hard to stay angry when you immediately got hit with something that no one expected and no one deserves
Gloria < but hey
Gloria < if we're already on this awesome conversation topic
Gloria < there's something you should know

Unbidden, fragmented recollections of waking up in the energy plant came back to him. "What is it?" he sent, and waited for the answer.

Gloria < they asked me and hop some questions afterwards
Gloria < and i didn't tell them one thing because i didn't think it mattered
Gloria < when we found your body

Rose had only just closed the video feed when a piercing cry rang out. He turned around just in time for light to crash into his eyes with the force of a truck. That must have been Eternatus bursting from its containment. He had no memory of what it did to him.

Gloria < hop wanted to make sure you were breathing
Gloria < which maybe we should've checked cause you probably were
Gloria < but when we got closer we saw your heart like
Gloria < outside your body
Gloria < and we were like oh my god he's dead

He vaguely recalled pleading with someone in his mind, begging whatever God cared to listen to please, let him go. Whether that meant life or death, he was in too much pain to care. Dimly, he wanted to know if his plan had succeeded–if Galar's future was secured–even if a part of him knew that Eternatus's energy couldn't possibly be harnessed.

Gloria < but you weren't

Then he woke up.

Gloria < and the heart still looked like a heart
Gloria < and that doesn't add up you know?
Gloria < if eternatus wanted to kill you why would it care about like
Gloria < keeping the heart intact
Gloria < and how did a piece of it just fall off and end up in exactly the place it needed to go

Above him, he saw Oleana's face, tears streaming down her cheeks as she begged him to hold on. He could hardly understand her. The faintest brush of her fingers against his cheek made him flinch, the sensation unbearable. Everything hurt. What happened? he wanted to ask her. What did I do?

Gloria < hop said that leon said that someone else said it was an accident
Gloria < but your heart wasn't a random chunk of meat it Looked like a human heart
Gloria < and if that was on purpose

Visions danced before his eyes. A hydra with five heads, reaching for him like a hand. A lifeless wasteland filled with low-lying red clouds. A perpetual motion machine churning in the sky. An infinite energy source lying in his chest, turning him less and less human.

Gloria < maybe the wishing star was too

He was sitting up in bed. The hands holding the phone trembled. He took a deep breath and tried to ground himself in reality.

Thank you for telling me, Gloria. > Rose
I'm sorry for the pain I've caused you. > Rose

Gloria < bro apologize to hop
Gloria < he's my best friend
Gloria < and his brother is the most important person to him in the whole world
Gloria < and leon almost died because of you
Gloria < anyway
Gloria < i'm going to sleep
Gloria < night chairman

Goodnight. > Rose