The Heart of Ideals
Though the favourites of the gods die young, they also live eternally in the company of gods.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
"Zekrom- Can you not choose another as your Herald? His life will already be set apart from others... "
It was custom for the Legendaries to choose Heroes and Heralds. None could say where the tradition started- perhaps Arceus feared that Humans would be unable to live without leaders. Perhaps the deities only wished to explore the human world as humans.
Perhaps this meeting was called due to the deaths of many conduits in quick conduits of Reshiram, Zekrom, Latios, and Rayquaza had all perished within a week of each other. Victini had chosen a conduit who had somehow destabilized. The guardian family of Meloetta had vanished- their last member had died. Arceus had called the Legends to remedy the situation and Zekrom had decided that there was a Herald but not a Hero.
"Reshiram, who else can I chose? His mother is a priestess of Dominus Arceus. He is descended from a powerful line and thus-"
"No, Zekrom- Don't you see? He will already be set apart from other humans by his surname alone. To put this burden upon him as well? He will suffer. He will never be able to see Truth and his Ideals will be warped by pain and sorrow. I do not see a Hero or a Herald to carry Truth for me, but your promise to the Harmonia Family does not mean you can ruin this boy's life!"
Delilah Harmonia had given birth to a small, yet healthy son. A curious and bright child from the start, Ghetsis Harmonia had no idea of the differences between himself and other humans.
"Momma! When can I have a pokemon of my own?"
Delilah had been tending to her secret garden, a place where many wild pokemon came to relax. She turned to see her small son carrying a small Purrloin.
"Why can't I have my own pokemon? The pokemon here are really friendly! Can't I have one from the garden?"
Innocence radiated from the small boy and the Queen couldn't help but give that bright smile to her little Prince.
"Oh, sweetheart- The pokemon here will migrate. I'm certain they all want to be your friend, but don't you think it will be better for you to have a friend who will stay here with you at the castle?" She ruffled the boy's hair and watched as he put the Purrloin down.
"Momma, when will I meet a pokemon like that? All the people who come to the castle think I'm odd… But their pokemon like me!"
Delilah couldn't bring herself to tell her son why pokemon were drawn to him while humans were offput. A three-year-old boy wasn't supposed to carry a burden like that- No, he wasn't ready to know yet.
"Pokemon have warm hearts and if you listen, they'll tell you the most beautiful secrets of the world. A human heart doesn't make a sound. Yet humans can be warm, too. Never forget, my little one, life is the most beautiful gift of all."
Ghetsis' life started to crumble only a year later. He had taken his mother's words to heart and had been frightened when he realized that when he was alone- Oh, when he was alone he could hear his own heart. Human hearts were silent and he was a human. He had asked her and she told him about how he was going to be a Hero, a Herald- He'd save this broken world and she was incredibly proud of him. She told him that she could talk to pokemon, that his father had the recessive gene- She told him what she knew about the Harmonia family's male line.
"I… will be a hero? I promise I'll save this world then! I'll save it and everyone will be happy! Pokemon won't suffer and people will be nice again… And you'll be proud of me, right?"
The prince should've known that his father was listening in. His father who found this information to be the proof that this boy couldn't possibly inherit the throne. Unova's King had to be fully human.
That evening, Delilah Harmonia died. The Philosopher Kings couldn't determine what had happened, although Ghetsis was afraid that his father was behind it. His father who would never understand the hearts of pokemon.
Soon after Delilah's death, Ghetsis learned what pain was. He learned what it felt like to be broken and battered, to be left bloody and bruised on the floor of his own room. He learned what human Chaos felt like and his father was his teacher. Now there was no gentle mother to keep him safe from his wicked father and all that he could think was that he wanted his mother back.
The Philosopher Kings had been assigned the task of teaching the prince everything that he'd need to know. Despite his father's hatred, the Dark Stone hadn't responded to the current King, and Ghetsis would need to take the throne for him to attempt to awaken the Dragon of Ideals.
Of course, these studies took time away from Ghetsis' excursions to his mother's garden and he hated that. Warming up to the six Philosopher Kings would take time. Reluctant to be around humans, the prince avoided the elders until his seventh birthday- He avoided humans because he had nothing to learn from them. He felt no need to communicate with them because he'd never have to.
Oh, how horridly wrong he was.
His seventh birthday was no celebration—Who could celebrate such a mistake? He expected no warmth and he expected no presents because he never received them. He received kind words from the Sages, but it was foreign and it wasn't the same.
The prince intended to spend this day like any other—He expected to be left alone in his room with no interruption from anyone.
He was, once again, horridly wrong.
It was not his father's voice that alerted him to the uncharacteristic visit, but the voice of a pokemon. His father had brought him a pokemon!
Turning, Ghetsis came face to face with a small Deino. The pokemon was battered and bruised and something wasn't right. How cruel, the hands of humans! His father told him that Deino had been abandoned by his former trainer for being too weak- that Ghetsis should be grateful to have any sort of present.
And suddenly, Ghetsis was alone in a room with only a very angry Deino.
Deino's heart was filled with rage and disdain for humans- Humans had caused him suffering and he hated all of them. He hated humans and this little boy would be no different—
Such an angry and agonized sound! Ghetsis never thought he would hear a pokemon's heart scream of injury and misery—
"Please… I will be your friend… If you will let me… I'll keep you safe! I promise!"
The prince found himself being bitten and scratched and he didn't care. Pain wasn't new and he could tell, Deino hated humans and that was okay.
"You are not alone!"
Ghetsis couldn't tell whether these words were for his own comfort or for Deino's. Perhaps they were for both—
"How could humans do this to you? … No, I hate humans because they cause pain and they're selfish and they can't see that life is precious…"
The dual Dark-Dragon Type seemed to calm slightly, a small whimper escaping and shattering the odd silence.
"See? I'm not your enemy… Deino, I want to be your friend… I want to save you from evil humans… My mother taught me that all life is precious… But how can I see the lives of evil humans as precious?" It all seemed so wrong—Perhaps Delilah had never seen a wicked human—But Ghetsis' father was a wicked human and the boy knew that well.
"Deino… Tomorrow I'll go and start my lessons with the Sages. I'll save you… I promise! And I'll create the World of Ideals!"
Ghetsis had only just turned seven and already the seed of hatred had bloomed. He was only seven and he forgot his mother's teachings.