Hello everyone! T'is I, Kyroshiro, here with surprising news. A recent fanfiction that I really enjoyed has been discontinued. I PM'd the author, asking if I could continue in their stead. They agreed, so I'm here with my first ever adopted fic. I hope to meet the authors standard of this fic. Without further ado, I bring you, Bleeding Darkness.

(Note: My chapters will come hopefully within the next week)

Disclaimer: I dont own Pokemon, nor this fic. This fic. was created by animefan4eva5


Ch 1: Beneath the Surface

In the beginning, when Arceus Herself, Mother of Creation, Shaper of the Universe and all Beings Inside it, created the legendary deities, She assigned each of them a divine duty to represent their element, and keep the earth, as well as all the lesser creatures in it, peaceful and balanced. Most of these godly beings were benevolent, bringing forth miracles and life to the land and its inhabitants.

But the Omnipotent Goddess of All said to Her creations, "As perfect as this world may be, to bring balance to the universe, there must be evil and death as well as good and life." So, with sadness in Her heart, Arceus shaped two more beings: Giratina, Lady of the Dead, Bringer of Chaos, and Darkrai, Lord of Nightmares, Dweller of the Shadows.

When the benevolent deities felt the haze of evil settle around them, they screamed, and begged their Creator to banish the malevolent presences out of existence, but She shook Her head, smiling gently, and told Her children that this was what was meant to be.

Arceus created the Hall of Origin, Her eternal residing place, and the annual meeting ground for the legendaries. Then She gently ushered Her creations to set out to all four corners of the earth and watch over humans and common Pokémon and guard their elements, while She sat eternally in the Hall of Origin, silently observing them from above.

The benevolent legendaries were regarded with respect and awe by humans and common Pokémon, and the two malevolent beings were regarded with fear and hatred.

And it has remained so until now.

~ooOO00OOoo~

Darkrai's POV

The abomination. The one who tarnishes the legendary name. The evil, soulless, sadistic monster. That's all they see me as.

I am Darkrai, Lord of Nightmares, Deity of the Full Moon, Bringer of Horror. I am an outcast, a misfit, a blot upon the bright surface of the sun. I am hated by every Pokémon and human that has heard of me. I am the one that haunts every creature's worst nightmares. I strike fear even into those with hearts of iron. My reputation is even worse than Giratina's. Even she at least commands respect from people as the Queen of the Dead, but all the feelings directed to me are purely negative.

Arceus created Giratina and me so there would be balance between good and evil in this world. But, I doubt She even knows Herself that She created us with hearts, souls and feelings. Hearts can be broken, souls can be lost, and feelings can be torn apart. My heart has been broken by the hatred of my kin, my soul has been lost long ago from the torture and abuse, and my feelings have been torn apart from the insults daggering into me.

I cannot control my ability. My nightmarish power is so immense that it cannot even be reined in by its owner. So I inflict everyone around me, and even myself with visions of horror in the clutches of sleep. I have not had any sleep since the beginning of time, when I was created by the Original One along with Dialga and Palkia.

For this reason, I reside in New Moon Island, secluded and isolated from all except Full Moon Island, the residing place of my counterpart and polar opposite Cresselia, Lady of Dreams, Deity of the Full Moon. And even that is a considerable distance away. Better to be isolated than to endure the looks of fear and hatred cast my way. Better to be lonely than to have images of the agonised faces of my victims imprint themselves into my mind. In a way, my solitary existence on this island, empty and devoid of emotion, is a sort of salvation to me. To numb and detach myself from the rest of the painful world, to allow my troubles to drift away is the closest to happiness I can get.

And this way, I have lived my meaningless, agonising life until now.

~ooOO00OOoo~

Hovering out of the dark trees to the edge of my island, I shape my thin legs with dark energy, and stand silently on the earthen ground. The new moon, the source of my power, carves a circular hole in the myriad of stars sprinkled across the night sky.

Sighing, I close my one unnaturally sky blue eye and let my mind drift. Tomorrow would be the annual meeting of all the legendary Pokémon.

Every year, the legendaries met in the Hall of Origin, the residing place of Arceus, to discuss news, problems, and just about anything they had learned in that year. It served more as a social meeting than a business meeting, since everyone chatted about anything, or a party, since at least two Pokémon got drunk or high, and had to be carried off. The legendaries stayed there for one week.

For the diminutive, but highly excitable, very social Pokémon like Mew, Jirachi or Manaphy, this was the time of the year most looked forward to. But for me, this was the time of the year most dreaded.

For most of the year, I can live on my island, undisturbed, and without disturbing others. But the one-week stay in the Hall of Origin gives my fellow legendaries the perfect chance to unleash a barrage of insults, glares and attacks on me. I pretend to be unaffected by anything they throw at me. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me." Whoever said that has obviously not met me before. Words are like razor blades, piercing straight through to the heart.

Last year's meeting had been the worst yet. I had tried to stay out of everyone's way, to be quiet and invisible, but it was no use. As soon as Mewtwo saw me, he'd yelled out, "Look what the Meowth dragged in today!", and the other, more violent legendaries had immediately crowded around me, throwing punches, jeering and glaring. At the end of the week I was nearly to breakdown point, though I didn't show it. I'm sure this year's couldn't be any worse, or I wouldn't be able to bear it.

Sighing, slightly disgusted by my self-pity, I pulled my mind back to the present, retracted my legs, and hovered slowly back to my cave to at least try and get some rest in preparation to the next week's torments. Though it probably couldn't be possible due to my accursed ability. Oh why, oh why, Arceus, I thought in another disgusting bout of self-pity, did you have to curse me with an appearance and ability like this?