A/N- Oh, it's this son of a gun.
Yup. Amethyst is not updating his stories, and yet this is the third one-shot he's published since 'hiatus'.
I just… *sigh*
Enjoy this, please. I really can't say much more than that.
Now, then. Shall we begin?
Never Truly Leave Us
How was he supposed to know?
He supposedly knew everything, right?
Kind of cruel to make this the exception.
Agony. Lots of it.
Uxie and his counterparts were in separate prisons of glass, each emblazoned with a large 'G'. Uxie hated that letter. He hated everything it stood for.
Cold, harsh iron shackled each member of the Lake Trio in place, suspending them for all the world to see. Through the black ice that trapped them all, unbearable surges of electricity tore at the Trio's insides.
Cyrus, leader of Team Galactic himself, appeared in front of Uxie's cell. Despite his eyelids remaining eternally closed, Uxie could sense the smirk that wove itself across the man's face.
Through the pain, Uxie could feel the man's stormy gaze. His eyes were twin cyclones of volatile destruction that revolved around a void of black calm. The pair of hurricanes tore into Uxie's chest, tearing apart his being just as much as the electricity did. The shale-grey vortexes showed no mercy, no compassion, no life.
Only destruction, and the pleasure that accompanied it.
Uxie couldn't hear the words spoken, but he could sense the vibrations of the human's throat and the movement of his lips.
"More. I need all their power."
Curse that damnable fiend Cyrus. Hatred and anger burned long and bright in Uxie's small frame, closely accompanied by the constant heat of their electric hell. How he'd managed to capture them in the first place was beyond him. But the sheer nerve of the cruel human to dismiss the idea that they were intelligent, sentient beings and drain them of their strength and life without second thought was abhorring.
Uxie screwed his mouth shut, refusing to give the man the satisfaction of seeing his cries.
However, Mespirit and Azelf couldn't do that.
Their twin screams pierced the cold, emotionless air of the lab, their eyes wrenched shut just as tightly as Uxie's, only for much different reasons.
Cyrus chuckled, and moved over to a panel with scientists behind it. There, he grabbed hold of a small black object.
A knob. Cyrus turned this knob 90 degrees to the right.
The agony erupted like a volcano, pouring its molten contents over the Trio, somehow finding a way to intensify the already unbearable pain. The screams of his counterparts faded away in an almost gentle manner as Uxie felt his vision blur. His aching neck screamed as it grudgingly complied with his mind's request to turn it. As he did, he saw images that would never leave him.
Mespirit's form, broken and scarred, lay limp. She no longer twitched, and her empty eyes stared forward with blank agony.
Then Azelf.
Had he been able to, Uxie would have smiled a small smile in that moment. It made sense that, in their moments of death, she would be the last one to go. Their eyes met, and Uxie's heart stopped when he saw what was in them. Sadness. Agony.
Defeat.
Uxie felt the water in his eyes blur his vision even more as he realized what this meant. Don't, Azelf! he wanted to cry. Don't leave me! Not this way!
He could make out the tears that slid from the beautiful elf's face. She had given up. Uxie did not realize it at the time, but Azelf let herself go on purpose.
She didn't want to see Uxie dead. But she also didn't want her death to be pointless. So, Azelf used what miniscule amounts of Psychic power she had left, and her carmine eyes glowed.
Images and memories of the past streamed into Uxie's mind as she did this, and the pain disappeared for a second as the world dissolved.
THUMP
"You're messing up the energy of it!"
Azelf raised an eyebrow and retracted her paws. "What's the big deal?" she asked, casting a glance at the books she'd placed on their sides. Uxie huffed in slight annoyance and stood the books back up.
"They look much more dignified and professional like this," Uxie protested. Azelf sniggered.
"Whatever you say, Uxie," she said. She let silence reign for a moment, then spoke again.
"You really believe that strongly, Uxie?" The Knowledge being nodded seriously.
"What would happen if some immature legend were to mess it up again?"
Uxie felt the smirk tug at his mouth's corners. "I would be extremely angry," he said in a light tone. Azelf grinned foxily.
"Angry enough to cause you to tackle them to the ground?" Uxie thought for a moment, then nodded.
"I guess so."
"Okay."
THUMP
Uxie's eye twitched and he sprang over the nightstand, tackling Azelf as promised. The Willpower Pokémon giggled and smiled up at him as he held her down, and Uxie felt all annoyance dissipate immediately.
They stared at each other's eyes for a moment before Uxie felt Azelf's paws on the back of his head, pulling him down towards her…
The books on the nightstand lay forgotten as their lips met in a soft kiss.
"Oh, come here, you ridiculous ball of fluff."
Uxie drew the sobbing Azelf into his arms, and the female Psychic pressed her head firmly into the Knowledge being's shoulder.
"It-it's just…" Azelf's voice failed and she quivered, pulling herself even closer in an attempt to warm herself up. "It hurts so much…" Uxie rubbed her small back in as much of a comforting gesture as he could manage.
"I know losing Latios hurts," he said. "I was friends with him as well. Just remember;" Uxie pulled back a little and lifted his counterpart's chin to meet his gaze.
"The dead never truly leave us. We can always remember."
Uxie moved his head forward and gently kissed Azelf's forehead, before lowering to lean back against his chest. Azelf sobbed some more and hugged his waist even tighter.
"I love you, Uxie."
"I do, too."
I'm sorry, Uxie. I'll never leave you.
The world sharpened back into focus as the lava-like energy returned, burning Uxie's mind again. Still looking at Azelf, Uxie somehow knew what he would see, yet it surprised him still. Azelf's limp form hung from the chains of black ice, destroyed by twin grey cyclones and flaming electricity. Her eyes were closed.
There was a small, serene smile on her face.
Uxie felt himself tear apart at the seams as he cried tears of kerosene, that same liquid of sorrow only adding to his agony, in turn causing more toxic sadness to flow from his eyes.
She was gone.
Tap, tap.
A cruel smirk and twin hurricanes greeted Uxie's vision now from beyond the glass.
"Just Uxie now. Increase the charge."
Just Uxie now.
Uxie roared a primal note of pure evolutionary rage. His amethyst eyes snapped open, glowing with a harsh light rivaling sister suns. Although the thick glass prevented memory loss, Cyrus' smirk faded slightly as he stepped back. The human terrorist rushed back to the control panel and turned that damned black knob even further.
The agony failed to compound and Uxie's entire body glowed. Suffering and pain stabbed his insides in a whirlwind of colored glass, tearing him apart from within. Another human voice, this one artificial, intervened.
INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT.
As the men scrambled around wildly, Cyrus glared at Uxie who returned it hatefully. Twin amethyst suns burned against the obliterating power of twin hurricanes.
The suns won.
A blast of pure energy shot Cyrus against the far wall. As the human slumped against the wall, Uxie felt a demonic smirk stitch its way onto his face. He glanced over once again at the broken forms of Mespirit and Azelf, still crying, still smiling despite the lifeless void they'd become.
A pure tear streaked the length of Uxie's face.
I'm ready to see you, Azelf. I'm coming
The world went white.
Four days later
He never saw Azelf again.
Uxie's fists clenched the lip of the white meeting table. As all the legendaries streamed in, one by one, seats were filled.
Uxie was ever so conscious of the two voids on either side of him.
Arceus' powerful voice cleaved through Uxie's grief, although he never gave any indication he was listening. Only snippets came through.
"It is… sorrowful times… terrible loss… at least… plans foiled… Uxie alive…"
Uxie heard those words ring in his head. At least the human's plans were foiled. At least Uxie is alive. Every cloud has a silver lining
Slowly, Uxie turned his head toward the King of Legends, who was still speaking.
"How can you say this?"
Arceus faltered at hearing a voice overlap his own. "Pardon?" he asked with genuine curiosity. Uxie's hover increased in height, along with his rage. His voice was low, jagged, and deadly to the touch.
"How can you say this?" he asked again in the same tone, although he was quite certain every legend could hear him. "How can you be grateful for my survival?" The knowledge being shuddered violently
"AZELF AND MESPIRIT ARE DEAD!"
Every being in the room flinched as Uxie exploded, the same agony from the prison coursing through his veins.
"I SHOULD BE DEAD AS WELL! BUT I'M NOT!" Uxie's chest heaved as he took a breath. "LIFE IS HELL! IT IS A PARASITE THAT SUCKLES EVERYTHING YOU LOVE FROM YOU AND TURNS IT INTO POISON!"
"TWO LEGENDS ARE DEAD! HOW MANY MORE EMPTY SEATS MUST THERE BE BEFORE WE STOP TRYING TO FIND A BRIGHT SIDE? THEY'RE DEAD!"
Uxie's hover faltered and he collapsed in the center of the table, sobbing uncontrollably. "Oh, Arceus, they're dead… they're… they…" Uxie wept, feeling the shattered pain and loss tear at his insides once again, a kaleidoscope of torture ripping him to shreds.
No legend moved to comfort him. What could they say?
Life was hell, they agreed internally. Which seat would be left empty next? they wondered.
Which soul would be left empty next?
Uxie floated painfully into the room in the Hall of Origin belonging to him and his counterparts.
Now, it only belonged to him.
He shakily flew until he collapsed onto his mattress, sinking into both the comforter and his sorrowful agony.
He screamed at the world, and at life's cruelty.
Eventually, his anger died. It drained away like cold syrup, sucking along everything else with it. Uxie cast a fond glance at the nightstand between his bed and Azelf's.
He saw the small stack of books that rested on their sides. Feeling a small jump in his chest that would have been a chuckle, Uxie took his paw and re-arranged the books so they stood upright, feeling a small pang of satisfaction echo dimly through the sorrow. He also noted his counterpart's un-made bed, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Using his Psychic powers, Uxie straightened and pulled up the covers, imagining that he was tucking in the only thing that had combated the poison of life's parasite.
Then Uxie flipped back onto his own bed and forced sleep to come to him. Hopefully the agony couldn't follow him into his dreams.
"Uxie."
Everything was black. No forms, no bodies, no landscapes. Only voices.
"Uxie. They never truly leave you."
"I'll see you soon."
"I love you."
Mew floated into Uxie's room, concerned as to what the deity might be doing to himself.
"Uxie?" she called, creaking the door open. No response. "Uxie?" Again, slightly more worried this time.
She saw the limp form of the deity on the bed. She floated over and shook his shoulder, but failed to rouse him. She tried shaking him harder, but to no avail.
"U-Uxie?"
Her pink fingers flitted to his neck. Nothing thrummed against them. Sobbing, Mew fled from the room to inform the remainder of legends of Uxie's death.
However, she'd failed to notice the fact that, somehow, the books on the nightstand were splayed out on their sides, and that Azelf's bed was tousled as if it had been slept in.
"Death is only a state of mind," Uxie informed Azelf as he held her in his arms. "With enough willpower, one could theoretically stay behind after their bodies fail." Azelf chuckled and hugged Uxie's torso tighter.
"So… we could see each other again?"
"In theory," Uxie admitted, lacing his finger through Azelf's as he spoke. "If we both went… we could even end up in the same place." Azelf smiled and nuzzled Uxie's chest.
"I'll hold out, then," she said warmly. Uxie smiled emptily.
"I'll meet you there."
Giratina's brow furrowed as she glared into the fog of Turnback, Yveltal at her side.
"You seein' what I'm seein', Gira?"
"Yes. This is impossible."
"They're dead. We know that."
"Yes, we do. His soul is roaming in the Distortion, and hers is dissipated. Scattered."
"Then how-?"
"I don't know, Yveltal. I don't know."
The bird of Destruction shook his head and chuckled as he left the cavern. Giratina glared at the visage a bit longer.
Two clumps of smoke refused to spill and move like the rest of the fog. These clumps were unidentifiable, but if Giratina concentrated hard enough, she could identify four tails, two belonging to each.
Maybe she was just getting old, but she swore she saw one of them raise a hand and wave at her.
Giratina couldn't help it, and she waved a tendril back.
Then the clumps dissipated, as if they'd never existed.
They never truly leave us, the dead.
We can imagine them beside us while we live on. We can find them in almost everything we do, and find either agony or solace in those facts.
And when we die with them?
Well…
Who am I to spoil the surprise?