You know what? I did it. Finally!

Anyways, this fic has been put off for various reasons, including the fact that I am actually busier during summer than the school year, vacation, writers block, and most importantly- one of the worst cases of procrastination I have EVER got.

I have a confession to make- I lied. I said I got grounded when in truth, I didn't. The fact is, I have a bad habit with lieing that I am trying to quit. I just said that because I was sad at how long this was taking. And I just have to say this- PLEASE PLEASE FORGIVE ME DL! TT_TT

Em, yeah, anyways. This is by far, one of the longest stories I have ever written, especially for a oneshot. In word, it was almost exactly 6 pages long, and without the litttle part at the beggining and end, it's 3,244 words long. In fact, it's almost as long as Loss or Misunderstood, and they both have 4 chapters! So you can see why it would take so long!

Last thing- this actually wasn't the original plot. I hadn't actually thought of the plot until today when I started typing it, and let me tell you, this plot is a hundred more times better than the original. ^^ Alright, intro over, READ NOW!

To close a Pokémon's heart.

An impossibility, going against every single law of nature.

To lose all your willpower, to just follow orders. Azelf wouldn't allow that. To know nothing except how to kill. Uxie would try to stop it. To lose all your emotions, shut out and lock away forever. Mesprit would throw a fit. According to the laws of physics, nature, and all the other divine things that the caretaker Arceus keeps in balance, it should not be able to happen.

And yet, here I am.

Those humans captured me, and transformed me into… this. I have no will, no emotion besides hate and bloodlust; the only thing I know how to do is fight. A monster, a beast made only to kill. When I complete a mission, then the humans simply nod and go on to figure out my next target. When I mess up, I get punished. The cause me pain, oh, how I hate the pain. What I wouldn't do to make it stop. The electric collars around my wings and neck make me bound to the humans. Oh, if only I could take them off! I would finally be free of this living hell my punishment is.

I've been failing more often lately.

It isn't my fault. It's my mission. The humans see me as a success, but they want more. More of us, more power.

They wanted me to capture the other legendaries.

Me, and the humans that would help me in the mission first turned our attention to our countries' closest neighbor, Hoen. Every single mission ends in failure; the Legendaries simply don't want to be captured. First we went off on a wild goose chase with Latias and Latios, then trying to capture Kyogre, and Groudon, and then… well, anyways, it was painful to say the least.

After the humans finally got it that they could not capture the Hoen legends, they turned their eyes on the next closest place, Sinnoh.

The first legendary we tried to capture was Mesprit. We flew to her lake, and with the human's weapons and flying machines surrounding the lake, we were not subtle in the least. So of course she wasn't there. Next we tried to go find Cresselia at Fullmoon Island. Again, no one was there.

Then we tried to find her counterpart, Darkrai.

To say anything, by this time, I was tired. I had been flying for the last fourteen hours by now, and even I needed my sleep. Many of the humans looked worse for wear as well. As Newmoon Island came into view, I had to keep myself from falling asleep. Normally flying kept me awake, but my eyes kept on closing on me. The commanding human yelled a warning of some kind, but by this time, I was too far gone. I felt myself drifting away…

Only for an explosion to fully wake me up. I jerked awake, spinning around quickly, only to see the remnants of one of the air ships falling into the ocean below us. Another explosion, this time on my other side. My head twisted around to see one of the machines torn apart into many pieces by an unknown force. I could hear the screams of the humans falling, the ones who weren't dead, anyways.

It didn't bother me in the least.

I turned my head back towards Newmoon Island. There, the flicker of movement, the faintest shadow moving, the glowing cyan eye in the darkness. I charged forward, bent on capturing, if not killing, my target.

A series of Dark Pulses flew out from the island. I flew past them with relative ease, but many of the human's machines weren't so lucky. They were hit with the dark power, and promptly shattered under the sheer force of the attack. One of them that were hit was the one the commanding human was on. In the back of my mind, I could hear him scream as he fell, but at the moment I didn't pay it much heed. That was, until, he pressed the button.

My collars turned on, and I instantly felt the pain. He wanted me to turn back, to save him before he crashed into the water. But that wasn't my mission, my mission was to capture the legendaries, and I was to put no priority above that. But he was causing me pain! I slowed down, but I didn't stop. I didn't know what to do, which to choose. I wanted the pain to stop, but if I did turn around and save him, then it would mean even more pain.

That was when another attack came from the island. It was like nothing I've ever seen before, shaped like a sphere, and there were many of them. In fact, there were so many of them, that they were impossible to dodge. I blinked, as one of them surrounded me, inclosing me in an orb. I felt myself fall into a deep sleep, as I fell toward the island.

I jerked awake, blinking quickly as I tried to remember what happened. The memories came back quickly. I looked around, breathing heavily for some unknown reason.

The first thing I noticed was that I was on Newmoon Island. The second was that my right wing, for some reason, was bandaged up. The third, however, was why it was bandaged up. It hurt like hell. I hissed as I felt the pain, realizing it was broken. I wondered for a split second why it was bandaged, until I heard his voice.

"So you are finally awake, then?" The voice was scratchy, probably from lack of use, and dark.

I spun around quickly, wincing slightly as my right wing was pulled along with me. There, standing in front of me… was my target, Darkrai. He was floating a foot off the ground, and was staring at me. Instead of a glare, like I thought I would get, his eyes were actually full of… what was that? Compassion? Sympathy? Curiosity?

My eyes narrowed. What was he playing at? "What do you want? Tell me, and I will spare your life." While I was probably wasn't in the position to make orders, I was still more powerful than him. I could send a shadow attack on him at any second.

A strange sound came from him, sending a chill up my spine. It took a second to realize he was laughing. "That may be, but how do you expect to get off this island with your wing like that?" He said, motioning with his clawed hand towards it. "You can't fly, and if I'm correct, you wouldn't be able to swim, either."

I growled. So that was his plan, to keep me here. But why? "You didn't answer the question."

He stopped laughing. "Those humans, the ones that came here with you, they were from Cipher, weren't they?"

Cipher. I always knew the name of the humans who changed me, but I choose not use it. Why, I am not sure, but there has always been something forbidding about it.

He continues to speak. "We- us other legendaries, know a bit of the affairs of Cipher. And we know this; we won't allow them to capture us. Most of us prefer to hide from them when they come knocking, to avoid having to fight them and risk getting captured. A few of us however…" He casually flicked some dark energy from finger to finger, "…prefer a more, direct, approach to dealing with our unwanted visitors."

I blinked, taking in what he said. After a moment of silence, I figured that he was done speaking. "I see." I looked him over, sizing him up. He wasn't taking me seriously as a threat. He was calm, relaxed, in the way he floated there. It would be easy to take him here and now, to just send a shadow attack right there at him. But then again, having him going down fighting just seems more appealing to me.

"You do realize that I still have an order to capture you, right?" I asked, waiting for him to tense.

To my surprise, he didn't. I couldn't see is mouth, but somehow, I knew he was smiling. "An order from Cipher, right?" He laughed again. "They have no power over you. You are stronger, faster, and can take them all out in just one move. An order from them should mean nothing to you- especially when you're not wearing those shock collars that were on you before."

I couldn't help but blink. A quick look at myself showed that he was right, the collars weren't anywhere in sight. I looked back at Darkrai. My mind was all in a jumble. He had… taken them off me? But why? What did he think he would gain from that?

Darkrai was silent for this whole time, and then some. Anger started swelling up in me, adding to the jumble in my head. Why did he help me? What game was he playing? Why didn't he fear me, like everyone else? I was a ruthless killer, not some helpless Pokémon! "Well? Aren't you going to say anything?!" I snapped.

If he was surprised by my sudden outburst, he didn't show it. "No, I'm just resting my voice a bit. I don't usually talk this much in a week, much less in a day."

His response made me even angrier than before. I felt like sending an Aeroblast at him- only to remember that I lost that move when I became a shadow Pokémon. So, I yelled at him instead. "Who do you think I am?! I am not some helpless pup you can push around; I am the ultimate killing machine! I don't have any guilt, or pity, or any other emotion other than hate and rage! I could utterly destroy you within seconds if I wanted to!" I paused, taking a breath. I didn't feel like yelling anymore, but I was still angry. Just less so than before.

Darkrai blinked slowly, observing me for a moment after my yelling. He didn't look scared, just thoughtful. After a spell, he spoke so softly, I could barely hear him. "…No. You're wrong."

Did he just say what I think he said? He was questioning my power. Did he think he could survive me attacking him? "What did you say?" I asked just to make sure.

He spoke again, louder now. "No, what you said isn't true. You do have emotion, even if you can't tell it yourself." I blinked. What he was saying, it wasn't true… was it? "When you were flying, and the man was shocking you with the collars… you were confused. And when I told you that the collars weren't on you anymore, well, that sure looked a lot like surprise to me." He paused, waiting for my reaction.

I just stood there, deep in thought. Many things went through my mind at once, and I came upon two possible conclusions- that what he was saying was true, or that the confusion in my mind was an illusion. Actually, when it came down to it, the second choice wasn't too farfetched. After all, Darkrai was the Bringer of Nightmares, and along with the power of nightmares, came illusions. But then again, everything just felt so… real. It felt like many of my emotions that I lost when I was transformed were coming back, and it felt good. In fact, it made me feel a little… giddy. After another second of thought, I made my choice. "I don't believe you."

Darkrai actually looked surprised for once. "What?"

"I mean that this place, our discussion, my feelings, they're all just an illusion, right? I hadn't felt any of the emotions before I came here to your island. That attack you used, Dark Void, was it? …Is making me have a nightmare. I thought I woke up, but I couldn't remember having a dream at all. I'm still asleep now, right?" I glared at him, growling yet again.

Darkrai didn't answer at first, just looked away. After a good moment, he looked back. "Yes, you are indeed right. You are having a dream, but not a nightmare. It is impossible for someone without fear to have a bad dream." He actually sounded sad, and his visible eye looked hurt.

"Why? Why would you go through the trouble of allowing yourself the risk of being captured, just for this?" I asked, looking at him suspiciously.

He lowered his head, and sighed. Darkrai lowered himself, until he was doing his impression of sitting on the ground, before answering. "I guess, well, it was just a fleeting hope." He looked back up, but I knew he wasn't looking at me. "I figured that, if the main experiment of Cipher thought she had emotion, they would think that it was a flunk, or something."

I saw it now. He was just using me to avoid being captured and transformed into a shadow Pokémon. I would have killed him there and then if I wasn't dreaming. But to my surprise, he wasn't done talking. "And well, you kind of reminded me of myself."

Despite me knowing that it was just a dream, and that my new emotions were fake; I couldn't help but being surprised yet again. Me… reminding him of himself? The very notion of me reminding anyone of themselves was beyond me, and I stared at him in disbelief, waiting for him to explain.

He did. "We both have amazing power, quiet beyond what any human, member of Cipher or not, can understand. And we can only use it for causing other people pain." He closed his eyes again, and dipped his head, as if he were falling asleep. But he kept talking. "Both of us had the power thrust upon us. I never asked for the power to give people nightmares. But, I got it anyways. And Cipher caused you to turn into a beast, without emotion, willpower, and the ability to kill. My guess is that you didn't ask for that power either." He laughed, but unlike before, it sounded hallow. "I guess there are differences in us, but that's beside the point. I brought you here so that I could trick you, yes, but also because of my selfish reasons. I looked to you and saw what I hoped could be one of the only other Pokémon that could understand my point of view. After all, hope is all I have left, and I don't even have a lot of that much left anymore. I guess I was wrong."

I stared at Darkrai during his confession, but afterword I couldn't help but look away. His words were replaying over and over in my head. And the scary part was- I did understand. Yes, our situations were different, but in some weird way, they were the same as well.

"If you want to kill me, then do it." His words brought me back, and shocked me. He was asking me… to kill him? "This being just a dream, it won't hurt me… much. If you kill me, the dream will end, and you will instantly wake up. The only other ways for you to wake up is from an outside force, or by the sun coming up, and neither will probably happen in while. So go ahead, I don't mind."

I calmed down a bit at his explanation. For a minute I thought he had gone suicidal. But the curious thing was, I didn't have the desire to kill him anymore. In fact, I felt sort of the opposite. I don't know, I guess it's because of how he viewed me that changed me, or maybe it's those fake emotions that now feel not-so-fake. Either way, now it's time for my speech. "Do you know what, Darkrai? It's your turn to be wrong."

He opened his eyes, and looked at me in confusion. "What?"

I felt my beak curve upwards into a smile, something I hadn't felt for a long time. "You said I didn't understand your situation, but I did. You and me… well, I guess we're a lot more alike than we realized." I spread my wings wide, noting that my broken wing wasn't broken anymore, probably because of Darkrai's power over my dream. "And hey, if I'm going to lose my emotions when I wake up, then I might at least savor it while I can. So, what do you say?" I felt my smile grow bigger when I ended talking. Shortest speech ever, but hey, it worked.

Darkrai watched me with curious eyes, until those eyes smiled as well. "I would like that very much. Just one question- do I have to talk?"

"Well… no, I guess not."

"Good. I don't usually talk this much in a month, let alone in one day, and my throat is killing me."

I couldn't help but laugh at this. I had fun in Darkrai's dream world, to say the least. We did various activities, including swimming (despite Darkrai not being good at it at all), racing (I kept winning), and talking to each other (Even though he kept complaining about his voice). I felt better than I did in a long time, savoring each moment with the emotions Darkrai gave me. In fact, a certain emotion flared between me and my gracious host, but I did my best to keep it hidden. After all, I only knew him for one day!

But alas, all good things must come to an end. While we were deep into a conversation, I heard a noise. I recognized it immediately as the blades of a helicopter.

Darkrai heard it, as well. "No… not now, not so soon…"

I was searching the sky for the machines, but I didn't see them. They were getting louder and louder.

I felt Darkrai's claw on my wing. Tilting my head back down at him, I could see that he looked sad. He only said one thing. "Goodbye."

After a moment of confusion, I found myself opening my eyes to the light. I realized what had happened, and for half a second I felt sorrow, but that was swallowed up quickly. After all, sadness wasn't one of my known emotions.

I had woken up.

Looking above head, I saw a series of helicopters circling the island. I stood up slowly, feeling that both my wing still wasn't broken, and that my collars were back. I shouldn't expect anything less.

I flew back with the helicopters back to the base, remembering the events of my dream in crystal clear detail. I would have probably looked at the events in disdain, but then again, I couldn't feel that emotion either.

Back at the base, I received my punishment. Oh, how I hate it. They bring me so much pain!

But, there is nothing I can do other than hate it. After all, my sole purpose is to serve, and I have nothing above that. I have no will to serve. I know nothing except how to kill. I have no emotions, other than anger and bloodlust.

Right?

Ta Da? Well, DL, was it worth the wait? I haven't actually played XD Gale of Darkness, so some stuff might be wrong... meb.

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