A castle built upon bricks of white. Ancient pillars painted in dust await their arrival, the rubble of ruins brought back from the dead clattering under their feet. Touko steps upon a carpet of blue, hand outstretched.
"We can end this war," she says.
Bolts of electricity run behind her like a curtain. Zekrom stands tall, its red eyes impassive as its master offers up her hand.
Across from them, spitting flames of blue and red, sits Reshiram. Its teeth are bared, anger quick to take it as its trainer stares down upon Touko.
"My life is war," N responds, voice edged with nothing but ice and frost.
Touko lets her hand fall to her side, lets her thoughts fall on empty air before she tries again.
"We can still salvage Unova. We can make it better."
"There is no 'better'." His voice hardens with disappointment. "This region is too far gone. Your people have hurt mine and, in the process, you've hurt my friends as well. I can't forgive you for that."
She bites her lip. Shifts her foot. Zekrom's gaze lands on her like a sack of bricks. Its intense gaze bores into her, face kept at an impasse as it withholds its judgment. The deity of ideals is waiting, bolts of blue arcing the air like scythes.
"I didn't want this either," she says, keeping her voice steady. "But we can change all this! If we set aside our differences, if we enact a peace treaty and create new laws, ones to help Pokémon and humans alike we could-"
"I can't negotiate with someone whose ideals failed her," N's lips curl, the pain of such words hitting straight into her heart.
There's a snarl from Zekrom, a flare of wings. Reshiram responds in turn, howling with fury as ice blue flames pour from its mouth like dripping lava. For a second, Touko thinks the past will repeat, that Zekrom and Reshiram will do battle and, as it happened before, her ideals will falter before the truth and she'll fail her friends yet again.
"I know you don't think me worthy," anger cuts into words sharpened by hurt, "I know you don't trust me. But I don't want this! I don't want this war! I don't want to see anyone else die. Don't you understand, N? We need to end this, once and for all!"
"Then we fight."
She takes a deep breath, shakes her head. "No! No more fighting!" Her ideals blaze bright, the sparks of yellow electricity at her fingertips. "We need to…we need to solve this in a way that doesn't require any more pain or any more death. N, we need this war to end. If not for humanity's sake than for the sake of your friends! Don't you care about them?"
Blue eyes soften. His voice is but a whisper, pained and saddened. "I do."
"Then let's call this whole thing off! Let's just stop this war, put an end to this misery! We can work this out, I know we can!"
Fire burns in N's eyes, the flames of truth lapping atop his tongue. "If you could work things out, you wouldn't have fallen to me all those years ago. Hero of Ideals, know your place. You alone can't solve this war. And, I refuse to help a hero who can't even prove her own worth. Either you fight me for the throne, or we repeat the past. There is no in-between. I won't bow to a hero whose own convictions have cost her people their lives."
Arrows barbed with poison strike Touko's heart. Toxin flows through her bloodstream, causing her knees to shake and a shaky breath to escape from her mouth. How dare he…How dare he talk down to her like that! And here she was, thinking she could convince him to cast aside his selfish pursuit for dominance! She's half-tempted to curl her fingers across her face, to bend over laughing for the silly expectations she thought N – N, of all people! – would understand.
"Zekrom," she says. The beast stands at its full height, body tensed with the conviction of the ideals it wore.
N holds up a hand. "Reshiram." The white deity draws its arms up, peeling back its lips to snarl as it takes to the air.
"N," Touko says, reaching out to him one more time, if only out of her own selfish desperation for him to understand her pleas. "Please. Listen to me. There doesn't need to be anymore bloodshed. We can end this. Together. I'm begging you. I don't want anyone else to die, least of all you!"
His jaw locks into place but she can see the way he falters, if only for a millisecond. Then he shakes his head and, resolving himself, gestures straight ahead.
N's answer is clear.
"Battle."
The body of a boy with green hair lies before her. Beside him, contained in its primitive form, is Reshiram. The deity of truth lays besides its owner, its orb-like shape at rest.
In her hands sits Zekrom, its majestic form vanquished into that of a sphere. Tears run down her face, licking away at dust and soot. She falls to her knees, clutches Zekrom to her chest, and then begins to sob.
"I wish we'd met before they convinced you life is war," she said in the darkness of an ancient castle on the brink of collapse. Her gaze is trained on that of her enemy, of his body left soulless and empty. "N…your war was a lie. If you had just listened to my ideals, if you had listened to the truth of them…" She places Zekrom by Reshiram's side and grabs N's hand, "then you would have known to believe me."
The castle rumbles, shivering. Its walls shriek, the impact of her fight too much for it to handle. She stands in its shuddering hall with a bitter smile.
"Take me too," she says. "The King is dead. Without him, without me, this war will end. I know it. Please, let it all end. Bury us with our mistakes."
White bricks hit the floor around her like raindrops. Touko intertwines her fingers with that of N's. The Pokémon of truth and ideals throb with weak light, their radiance awash with inevitable mourning. Touko curls them both to her side, lying beside them as defeat permeates her body.
"Goodbye then," she says. "N."
AN: Based off the Heathers song: Dead Girl Walking (Reprise). Its lyrics somehow fits N and Touko well, surprisingly enough.