“…  Piers?”

The sight Annais had stumbled upon made her nauseous.  Both Piers and the man she found him with were covered in blood, and she prayed that none of it belonged to her boyfriend.

The couple had been spending an evening together at the Spikemuth Pier, as it was one of the only places in all of Galar where they could be with one another without fear of their every move making it back to the League.  After a while of wandering around, Piers found a bench and stopped in front of it.

“Stay here,” he had told her, squeezing her hand before letting it go.  “I’ll be right back, love.”

Before she had a chance to ask questions, Piers slipped away.  While she wanted to believe that he had just stepped off to find the restroom or buy her some kind of surprise treat, she had a feeling that something was amiss.  The night had started out so wonderful.  It was a perfect date.  There weren’t many people around on a weeknight.  The early autumn weather had the pair hanging close to one another.  With the rush of the summer League season dying down, this was one of the first nights together they had been able to have in a while.

Yet as it progressed, Annais felt Piers grow increasingly agitated.  Her boyfriend was always a touch clingy, not that she minded, but the distance between the two of them dwindled as the night went on.  At times, it felt more like he was shielding her than embracing her.  She began to get nervous the more she caught him glaring over his shoulder. 

She had seated herself on the bench as he requested, hugging the Pokémon plush he had won for her as she waited for him to return.  As time passed, she grew worried.  She didn’t know if something happened to him.  She didn’t like being alone in case something happened to her.  The plush she had been holding was shoved inside of her backpack, Queso’s pokéball was retrieved then placed into her pocket, and she headed in the direction where she saw her boyfriend last.

When she stepped into the alley, Piers’s fist was colliding with someone’s face.

Though she wanted to tear her eyes away from the gory sight, she found herself transfixed.  Annais had not the faintest idea of who Piers was fighting, but the beating he had administered to this man had left him completely unrecognizable.  Blood poured from his busted lip; his nose was likely broken.  She had no idea what this guy could have done to make her sweetheart of a boyfriend snap.  The only thing she could conjure in her shock was Piers’s name.

The sound of his lover speaking to him had Piers freezing mid-punch.  With his other fist still clutching the man’s ruined shirt, Piers looked back at Annais.

“Oh, Ann,” he said so calmly, lowering his fist.  “Love, I thought I asked you to stay put.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but found she couldn’t form any kind of response.  Piers sighed.  His attention turned back to his victim.

“Now, look what you’ve done.  You went an’ startled my girl.”

He pulled him close, using his free hand to grip him by his hair so he could speak directly to him.

“Bastards like you aren’t welcome in Spikemuth,” he started.  “An’ if I ever catch you tryin’ to steal a shot of her again, I’ll shove that camera of yours so far up your bloody ass, you’ll be spitting film.  Understand?”

After the man nodded, Piers snatched the camera off of his neck and let the man drop to the ground.  He opened it up to retrieve the memory card before throwing it onto the concrete.  With the heel of his boot, he crushed it.

“I don’ expect a word of this to leave the Spikemuth gates,” he said as he waved the memory card in front of the man who lay on the ground.  He shoved it into the pocket of his jacket.  With one final kick to the man’s ribs and a wad of spit shot onto his face, Piers left him and walked over to where Annais stood paralyzed.

Frowning at how scared she looked, he wiped his bloody knuckles on his tank top before holding her face in his hands.

“You okay, Ann?”

“Nez…  Who…  Who is that?”

“Dunno.”  He shrugged.  “But the cunt had been tryin’ to snag pictures of you all night.”

Paparazzi.  The sound of shutters and flash of bulbs followed her everywhere in the rest of the region.  Spikemuth always felt like home because she had been spared of that.  Piers must have caught this man following the two of them.

“Ann…”

He tilted her attention away from the other to look at him.  Specks of crimson did dot his face, likely splattered from the impact of his fist.  It was jarring, and she knew he could tell that she was alarmed.

“You’re not upset with me, are you?”

There was so much sincerity in those pale green eyes as they gazed into hers.  The hurt in his voice made her heart ache.  She shook her head.  No matter what, she couldn’t find herself upset with him.  She knew he got jealous and defensive.  She’d overheard him threatening men before when he thought she wasn’t in earshot.  Though this felt a bit extreme, she trusted he had his reasons.  The only thing he wanted in life was to keep her safe.

“Promise?” he asked.

When she nodded, he pulled her into his arms, as close to his chest as he could without hurting her and rocked her in his embrace.  The smell of blood was so thick; it made her want to gag.

“‘M so sorry you had to see this, love,” he whispered to her.  “‘M so sorry no one in this bleedin’ region respects you but me.”

He let her go to wipe his face with his sleeve.

“Let’s get you out of here,” he said, throwing the same arm over her shoulder.  “Before I get myself in trouble.”