A/N: This is my first attempt at doing a soulmate AU, and I think it turned out pretty well. Originally I wanted to write this for White's birthday and the second part for Black's birthday, but that...didn't happen. Regardless, enjoy the angst :)

The timer appeared at the same time that he collapsed.

I felt the prickling sensation in my wrist before I saw it, and I knew what it meant. My father had told me many times about the day that his four numbers appeared, and the desperation he felt when he realized he had only a week left with his beloved.

I refused to acknowledge it at first, because to acknowledge it was to accept the fact that I or my soulmate had a limited time remaining in this world. However, as the professor and I picked him up together, I happened to rotate my wrist and I saw the numbers on my skin.

6:23:57:42.

6 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes, 42 seconds.

It was only the need to keep Black off the ground that kept my limbs from completely giving out. Four numbers…four numbers did not condemn me. Four numbers condemned him.

For the first time I found myself hoping that Black wasn't my soulmate. As the week wore on, and he never awakened, I clung desperately to that hope more and more. Perhaps I was one of those unlucky people who never got to meet their soulmate; the prospect was more desirable than spending my last days with my soulmate beside his bed, with him unconscious. But even though my mind despaired to accept it, every beat of my heart told me that it was my soulmate whose hand I held, my soulmate whose hair I stroked, my soulmate whose forehead I kissed.

My soulmate, my soulmate, my soulmate…

I could easily confirm or deny that he was my soulmate by checking his own wrist. It wouldn't be hard: just lift up the blanket, turn his wrist over, and look for numbers on the inside. If there were none, or the numbers were smaller than mine, then he wasn't my soulmate. End of discussion. But I couldn't make myself go through even those simple actions, because I knew I would find the numbers on his wrist that condemned me.

No matter what the numbers were, they would spell pain for me. If they were large, then I would have to live for years without my other half. If they were small, then we'd only have a short time before we were reunited, but I would have to share his pain of knowing that I only have a brief time left in this world.

And as long as he slept, he didn't suffer that pain at all.

As the week wore on and Black still did not wake up, I began to fear that he really was going to slip away from me in his sleep somehow. But finally, finally, on the day that the Pokémon League opened, he finally opened his eyes and joined us in conversation. I was so relieved that I would have swept him up in a hug if it weren't for the unsettling subject matter at hand.

But then…

"Where are you going, Black?"

"Nuvema Town. I'm going home."

I was stunned. After coming so far, he was just going to give up on his dream? Just like that? I told him as much, but he just said that N was right when he said that his dream had changed. That he had gotten dragged into something way bigger than him, and he barely understood what was going on anymore.

He turned away from me, and I moved to put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from just walking away like that. But as I did, I caught a glimpse of black numbers out of the corner of my eye.

0:8:45:12.

"I only have seven badges, anyways."

Black looked back over his shoulder to give me this parting remark and saw my hand hanging, frozen, in the air. I quickly covered my wrist and pulled it to my chest. He wasn't close enough to read the numbers; however, he glanced down at his own wrist, covered now by his jacket, and I knew he knew what I was hiding. He knew he had less than a week at best to wield the title of Champion – should he manage to win the Pokémon League – before he passed on.

There was no convincing argument I could make to persuade him to try when we both knew that he wouldn't be able to enjoy it. All I could do was quietly offer him some ancient advice:

"Carpe diem."

He did end up challenging Drayden and going to the Pokémon League, as I knew he should. He did end up winning the tournament and becoming Champion, as I knew he could. He did end up awakening Reshiram and defeating N, as I knew he would.

For a brief, fleeting moment, I forgot about the timer on my wrist and allowed myself to believe that, now that Team Plasma's king had left, everything would be alright.

"Now that Zekrom's gone, Reshiram must feel like half of itself is missing."

I can empathize with Reshiram, now.

"Stand back, Boss! Since Zekrom isn't here, Reshiram's reverting back to the Light Stone! We have to be careful so we don't get sucked in, too!"

"What a lovely idea. I'd very much like for you to be a part of the Light Stone along with Reshiram."

Even the memory of Ghetsis's voice sends chills down my spine…before being replaced with cold, hard rage.

"To think that the very hero who thwarted my plans would give me such a magnificent way to bury himself."

Black was suddenly flung away from me and thrown against Reshiram's chest. I wanted to help him, but he warned me against getting any closer or I might get trapped as well. I was about to run and find someone else to help when I happened to look down at Gigi in my arms…and there were those four black numbers again, taunting me.

0:0:2:33.

His time was running out, and I knew that there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"Boss…my promise…I didn't break my promise."

I glanced up at him sharply, having no idea what promise he was talking about. Then he unzipped his jacket and revealed the BW Agency logo on his shirt underneath.

"I promised you in Castelia City, remember? That when I entered the Pokémon League, I'd wear this."

I was stunned at first that he had actually remembered that request I had made, all those months ago. We'd progressed so far since then, and we were so much more than boss and employee, so I certainly wasn't going to hold him to it.

But that's just the kind of person Black is…the kind of person who will go above and beyond to accomplish anything, as long as he thinks it's important. The kind of person who, even while he's being sealed away inside a stone for eternity, still thinks to ask if he managed to pay back all the money he owed.

Technically, he still did owe me money for the equipment he destroyed. But I didn't have the heart to hold a debt against my soulmate. Especially as the timer on my skin tingled, signaling his departure from this world.

I don't have the heart for much of anything, anymore. The loss of my other half has left me with an emptiness in my heart, and the only way I can make it stop hurting is by turning my heart to stone – cold and unfeeling, but painless.

I will not let myself feel anything until we are finally united once more.