Chapter Text
It was just a territory scuffle... except this scuffle was between two gods that could rip time and space like it was paper. They were so angry with each other, they didn't notice their battle was destroying our world. They would have wiped us out without even knowing what they were doing.
But our town has a special guardian: a Pokémon named Darkrai. He lives in the shadows, always keeping watch over us. When he sensed we were in danger, he appeared to try and warn us, and when the two beasts appeared, he fought them and drew away their attacks to give us time. He wouldn't let them destroy us without a fight.
Thanks to Darkrai, we were able to reach this tower and ring the bells. The song of Oración soothed Palkia and Dialga's rage long enough that they could look around and see the destruction they were causing.
"Our town was nearly destroyed by the time we were able to sound the bells. But when Palkia and Dialga realized what they had done, they used their powers to bring the whole town back, as good as new." Alice finished. The tourists sharing her balloon basket murmured in awe. They were on a tour, floating high above the city, flanked by clocktower spires as the breeze gently carried them above the town that had nearly ceased to exist a few short weeks ago.
"Whoaaa! That's so awesome!" The youngest kid in their small group piped up. He bounced on his seat. "Darkrai saved you!"
Alice smiled. "Yep! We're very grateful!"
"Are we gonna meet him?" His sibling chimed in. "I wanna see him!"
"Yeah!"
Alice frowned. "Well... he's... very busy." she said. "I don't think he can visit today."
"Awww..." The kids slumped in their seats, and Alice bit her lip.
She quickly continued the tour, pointing out the clock tower spires and describing their history while trying to forget the kids' excited voices. It was the first thing everyone asked, every time. Where is Darkrai? I want to meet him! I want to say thank you.
She did too. But she hadn't seen even a flicker of blue among the shadows since the town's miraculous restoration. Was he truly all right, after being battered to the brink of death by those two legendary beasts? If he was, why hadn't he reappeared since then? Was he simply going to slip back into the metaphorical (and literal) shadows after all he'd done for them?
She gazed up at the towering spires. Had their sight of him standing tall on the clock tower that sunset even been real?
Alice walked through the garden, watching the Pokémon at the waterfront laughing and splashing in the pond as she crossed the path towards the forest. A family of Marill and Azumarill arced through the water between the delicate pillars that held up a gazebo stretching across the pond, and a recently-evolved Quagsire she'd nicknamed Blooper splashed his tail and let out a friendly croak at her. She smiled and raised a hand in return as she walked past.
It was a warm, quiet afternoon, a rare day off in between her studies and the now-popular balloon tours. She'd become a sudden celebrity after the near-destruction of Alamos town. After the spectacle at the clock tower, it suddenly drew ten times more visitors and sightseers, all clamoring for an airborne tour of the massive building, all eager to listen to the tales of the young woman who had faced down two gods and lived. It was great for business, but incredibly exhausting.
Thankfully, the tourists still showed little interest in Godey's garden. A few minutes of walking and she could leave the bustle and the staring faces behind. Here, everyone acted just like they did before the disaster. Here, nobody asked her to talk about destruction, or made her anxiously wonder where Darkrai had gone.
She heard a familiar voice and a ping of mental merriment from the walkway nearby. She looked up to see her friend Gallade perched in a tree. "Hi!" she said, and Gallade smiled and bounded down towards her. She took her friend's outstretched hand. "You look well today."
Gallade smiled and chattered back in his staccato language. Alice felt a mental prod. A hazy image of Chimchar swam to the front of her mind; she could tell Gallade was using his psychic powers to push it there. He cocked his head. Where is Chimchar? he was asking.
"Chimchar?" Alice said, and Gallade nodded. "He's down at the baker's." She sighed. She wished he was here.
She sat down on one of the many ornately carved stone benches that dotted the courtyard. Gallade made a noise of curiosity and sat down next to her. He pushed another image into her head: her own face, downturned and wilted-looking. Then an emotion, concern. Why are you sad?
She smiled. "Do I really look that weepy?" Gallade just frowned. "I..." she began. "I was thinking about the disaster again." It was hard not to, when her main source of income involved talking about it over and over. "I was thinking about Darkrai."
Gallade tensed up. She knew he didn't like the nightmare Pokémon at all. But he stayed silent. "I used to say all the Pokémon in the forest were my friends, right?" she said. "But... I missed one. The one who ended up saving everyone."
She looked down at her feet. Darkrai had been so devoted, so fervent. Everyone called him evil, but he didn't care. He deflected the attacks that would have seared the flesh from their bones, drawing the legendary Pokémon to attack him instead of the town... and even when he had exhausted his strength and could barely get up, he still fought, throwing his body against the onslaught in a last-ditch effort to protect them.
No... to protect her. She could recall many times now, feeling eyes on her in the garden and not knowing who was there. He'd watched over her, hadn't he? For years and years and years. And she'd repaid him by not even knowing he existed.
"Gallade... I never even had the chance to thank him."
Gallade's forehead creased into a deep frown. After a moment, he put a hand on her shoulder and pushed a memory her way. An image blossomed into view in her mind's eye: a young version of herself, squealing with delight, up to her elbows in mud and pond slime as she played with a family of Marill at the edge of the water. (It was always so strange to see herself from Gallade's point of view.) She was younger in this memory, but not young enough to keep the whole spectacle from looking incredibly silly. Gallade sat in a tree nearby, observing. Her sopping-wet self waved to him excitedly, beckoning him down to play with them, but he shook his head and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. No, I don't want to join you. I just want to keep watch. It's enough to see you happy and safe.
The memory faded, and Alice bit her lip and frowned. She guessed the message was supposed to be a metaphor. "So he wants to stay out of sight?" she asked. "Why?" Gallade might have been happy as a detached observer for those few minutes, but how could anyone bear to be a detached observer for years?
Gallade shrugged, but his mental link betrayed a flicker of emotion. Distaste... resentment towards the nightmare Pokémon. Gallade really did not like him. Speaking of that... "And Gallade, if he's lived here his entire life... if you knew he was here... why did you never tell me about him?"
At that, Gallade shook his head and pushed a single emotion into her mind. Danger. Then immediately changed the subject, bringing up an image of the Shinx family that lived nearby. They just passed through a little while ago. Do you want to play with them?
Alice sighed. "Sure, let's say hi." she relented. Gallade seemed relieved and hopped up, then held out a hand to help her off the bench. She took his hand and obediently followed him as he chattered on, showing her memories of what the other Pokémon had been doing that day, as if trying to push their conversation out of her mind.
She went along with it, contentedly talking with him and not trying to bring him back to the Pokémon he so obviously feared. Because the instant she'd asked 'if he's lived here,' Gallade's mental link had betrayed another flicker. But this time, an image. It had been so fleeting, he probably thought she had missed it among all his other mental chatter.
An old, overgrown path, a tattered sign... dark forest broken by thin patches of sunlight. Gallade knew where Darkrai made his home, and now Alice did too. And she was going to find him.
It took her quite a while to locate the place from Gallade's memories. Godey's garden sprawled for kilometers and even she didn't have every area committed to memory. But 'overgrown' probably meant far from town, in the distant hidden pockets of the garden that even the groundskeepers didn't bother to tend to. Finally, she spotted the same ragged sign from Gallade's memory, standing forlornly next to a weather-beaten path that wound deep into the forest.
Nobody came this way, not anymore. In the past, this forest path could have been a meticulously groomed walkway, showcasing exotic plants on either side between the well-trimmed trees. But over the years, it was forgotten, and nature reclaimed it. Well, devoured it. The path was uneven, and weeds overran the barely-visible outlines of what had once been neatly-divided squares of garden soil on either side. Even in the bright afternoon light, the path was dim, steeped in darkness.
Alice had only rarely ventured down this particular path. None of the Pokémon she knew came here. She remembered, years ago, she had gotten an inexplicable urge to explore the area and had ventured inside once or twice, but had quickly given up. She hadn't been able to place what exactly bothered her about the forest, but there was an uneasy feel to the air that had made her skin crawl and sent her scurrying back outside, into the sunlight and warmth.
Apparently, this was where Darkrai made his home. In hindsight, it made perfect sense: this was the one place nobody would think to look. The entire area gave off a feel of utter desertion.
"Darkrai?" she called. She waited, straining to hear a reply, but no shadows stirred, no crystal-blue eyes flickered between the gaps in the branches.
Maybe he lived deeper inside. She set off down the forest path.
As she ventured in, the cheery ambient noises of the garden were muffled by the trees, as if the forest were swallowing up the lighthearted sounds. Branches arched overhead, and thin, frail threads of sunlight struggled to pierce the dense shadows.
Once again, she cried out Darkrai's name, and once again, there was no reply.
She kept going, dodging the clumps of weeds that sprawled across the path. She noticed that the usual background noises that should have been commonplace in the forest—the rustle of Pokémon foraging in the grass, birdsong from the trees—were eerily absent. It felt as if everything living had forsaken the area.
And then, she stopped, as if frozen to the spot. She jerked and her eyes widened slightly. Her breath caught in anticipation, and then...
...nothing. She frowned, straightening up. Wait... wait, why had she stopped? Had she heard a noise? No, it was completely quiet. So what had made her pause? Why did she suddenly feel so nervous?
Skin still crawling for no real reason, she took a step forward--and in that split second an overwhelming wave of fear crashed over her.
Her eyes widened and she froze. Oh god, oh god, she had to get out, she had to get away. She heard a rustle next to her and she shrieked. Her hands were ice and she had to get away and oh god it was right there and-
she stumbled backwards, and suddenly the terror vanished as quickly as it had arrived. She was on the ordinary, harmless path. There was nothing out to get her. She stared wide-eyed, trembling, gulping in breaths of air.
What the hell had that been?
The sensation had come and gone so quickly, as if she had physically run into it. Wait... run into...
She stared at the spot she'd stepped onto. There was no visible difference between it and the rest of the path. She very hesitantly scooted her toe into the same spot. And once again, a sudden, stomach-twisting shock of fear knifed its way through her gut, as if someone had just snuck up behind her and shouted 'BOO!' It was less terrifying now that she was expecting it, but not by much. Every shifting shadow seemed ready to leap at her throat with fangs bared. She quickly backed up again.
Whatever it was, it wasn't visible to the naked eye. The path in front of her looked just as ragged and unkempt as everything else, but an invisible miasma of malice hung rank in the air just ahead of her as clearly as if the path were strewn with broken glass. Some kind of psychic manifestation? She knew that some Pokémon had the ability to cause confusion and terror in their enemies in battle. Was it something like that?
Then, dimly, she realized that she'd felt this sensation before. The bizarre, disconnected sensation of fear was the same threatening aura she had felt rolling off Darkrai in waves when he first appeared before her and the others, all those weeks ago. He'd been trying to use it to scare the legendary beasts away from the town, but they didn't realize it at the time. His mere presence had been so overwhelming. It was no wonder the trainers back then had attacked Darkrai as if their lives depended on it; Darkrai radiated an aura that caused instinctual, heart-stopping fear. It was only now, looking back, that she realized how artificial and out-of-proportion that sensation of fear actually seemed.
She glanced around, but she was alone in the forest. Either he was tormenting her from the shadows for no reason, or this was some kind of residual force, left behind to bar the way. Suddenly, she realized what it had to be.
"...It's a fence," she whispered in wonder. It made sense now. Almost every Pokémon had a territory. Darkrai had the power to cause fear and nightmares; maybe this was his way of marking his home. She had to admit it was the most ingenious security system she'd ever encountered. Barbed wire had nothing on an invisible force that could literally scare you senseless.
And it was working; she desperately wanted to turn around, run home, bury herself under her covers and never come back to this dark forest again. But she couldn't go now. This was a sure sign Darkrai was nearby. She called his name again, and waited. And... waited. She looked around. Nothing. What had she expected to find, a doorbell?
She sighed. He was probably somewhere inside. Maybe she should give up? But no. She couldn't take another day of telling people she didn't know what had happened to him. She had to go through.
Gritting her teeth, she steeled herself and stepped into the fog of menace. A pang of sudden fear shot through her, but she forced herself to ignore it. She had helped Darkrai, and he'd protected her. He wouldn't hurt her... right? This 'fence' was just a silly territory barrier... right?
She pushed onward, forcing herself to take deep, shuddering breaths. The air seemed heavy and thick, as if it were alive, trying to coil around her and crush the breath out of her lungs. A twig snapped under her foot with a crack like a shotgun and she jumped. No, she had to keep going.
She forged onwards despite every instinct in in her body screaming at her to run away. She could hardly breathe; she squeezed her eyes shut. Oh god, what if she was wrong? She wouldn't be able to get back out, she wouldn't be able to escape, she was going to die here, crushed under the weight of a living nightmare-
Then all at once, as if she'd popped through a forcefield, the oppressive weight vanished off her shoulders. She gasped and stumbled. The fear was gone. Ahead of her were trees and grass, perfectly ordinary. She glanced back. Even though it had seemed like an eternity, she'd only walked about five meters. There was nothing to indicate the heart-pounding gauntlet she'd just pushed through. Even now, she was starting to wonder what the big deal had been. She'd gotten so suddenly irrational... and she must have looked so silly too, cringing and jumping at nothing.
Still, she couldn't help but shudder. If this was Darkrai's idea of border security, it was no wonder Gallade was terrified of him.
She continued down the path, taking slow, steady breaths to try and soothe her jittery nerves. Now that she'd made it through the horrible 'fence,' the forest was actually very serene. Nothing stirred here. There were only shadows, and the occasional faint bar of sunlight seeping sluggishly between the branches.
She quietly wondered if it was wise to be invading the territory of such a powerful Pokémon, especially one with such a hostile border around his home. She supposed she'd find out soon.
Finally, the already-precarious path deteriorated into scraggly clumps of grass. There was still no nightmare Pokémon to be seen. She opened her mouth. "Darkrai!" she called. She quickly shut her mouth again. Her voice sounded too loud in this subdued area, like a raucous kid in a graveyard. The forest was still and silent around her.
She tried again. "Darkrai, are you here?" No answer. She was starting to feel silly. He might not even be around. First she freaked out over a scary feeling on a garden path, and now she was shouting to the trees like a crazy person.
But then she heard a faint noise, like a breath of wind over the branches behind her, and she turned to see a faintly luminescent, piercing blue eye gazing at her from the shadowed base of a tree.
A smile broke over her face, and a rush of relief flowed through her body like cool water. It was him, just as she remembered. "Darkrai..." she said, "You're here..." The Pokémon materialized from the darkness as she approached him, putting one clawed hand on the tree bark and pushing himself up, the rest of his body seeming to flow from the shadows around him until he was fully visible, floating in midair like a wisp of smoke given form.
She stopped a few feet away from him. He hovered in place, regarding her with a cautious look. There was no wind in the air, but the smoky 'hair' on his head and the tatters of his black cloak still billowed behind him as if carried by an invisible breeze.
Alice. His voice—was it really a voice, or more of a thought?—reverberated around her, imposing despite its neutral tone.
"Yeah, it's me again." she said, and was suddenly at a loss of how to continue. She paused, but he didn't say anything further. He seemed to be waiting for her to do something. Which made sense, since she had been the one to seek him out. But her previous confidence had vanished and she was suddenly tripping all over her own tongue. Where had her composure gone?
"I..." she fumbled, "I wanted to make sure you were all right. I mean, you seemed all right after the town came back, but..." she trailed off, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. How was she supposed to put it into words? That sick feeling, as I saw your battered body lying motionless in the shallow water, too weak even to lift your head above the surface... as I fought down the urge to scream, "Why would you do this for us?"
Darkrai raised his arms slightly and looked himself up and down, as if to say, hmm... yes, all body parts accounted for. Alice let out a choked laugh. "I'm... just glad you're okay." He was all right. He wasn't dead, or dying. The horrors she'd seen were just a memory now. She had no idea why she'd gotten so attached to the Pokémon after such a short time. Bonding through trauma, maybe. She just couldn't stop remembering the way her heart had shattered as she saw him 'die.'
Darkrai's one visible eye flicked back to her face. He began to lift a hesitant hand toward her, then seemed to think better of it and let it drop to his side.
And somehow, that simple gesture sent her already frayed nerves careening over the tipping point. "Why didn't you come back!" she burst out. Tears pricked her eyes. "I thought you were dead! I was so worried about you!" She'd be damned if he tried to claim that showing a glimpse of himself from halfway across town counted as 'coming back.'
He didn't reply. He just stared at her, a perplexed look on his face. "Don't give me that look!" she cried. "Friends are supposed to let each other know they're okay!"
Darkrai jerked back at her words. His surprise startled her into silence. What had he...
His voice echoed through the trees again. Friends?
Her eyes widened. "I... oh." Then she mentally kicked herself. She didn't need to be apologetic for her words. "Yes. You've saved my life, several times." she said. "And you protected the town I love. Maybe I don't know you very well, but I consider you my friend."
Darkrai stared dazedly at her like a fish that had been tossed out of its pond. The smoky tatters of his 'robe' fluttered in an almost nervous way.
Well, no going back now. "What about you?" she asked, looking straight into his eyes. "Darkrai, will you be my friend?"
Darkrai didn't respond for a long time. Alice was beginning to wonder if his brain had melted when he slowly, hesitantly raised one taloned hand and held it out to her, palm forward. She understood the gesture. Touch, the universal symbol of trust that spanned across all species, Pokémon or human. He stared unblinkingly into her eyes with a solemn gaze that was so intense it made her want to turn her face away.
But she didn't. She leaned forward, not breaking her gaze, and pressed her palm against his. Her entire outstretched hand barely spanned his huge palm. His skin felt like silk stretched over cool stone, and she felt a dim sense of déjà-vu as her fingertips brushed the living shadow.
Darkrai closed his eyes, bowed his head. Alice smiled.
"Thank you, friend."