Author's Note: I made Shadow, to be an easy out in almost every situation, an unstoppable force, a way to achieve an ending I desired without need for struggle. However, as I've been told, he seems a bit too powerful, so let this chapter show the mortal side of Shadow.

Chapter 29: A Well Deserved Break

Blade was happy, it was an unusual feeling to him, at least after everything that had happened. He felt free of everything, all the pain Cleave had inflicted, all the fear of being away from Shadow, and everything in between. He felt free, but everything that had happened gave him clarity in what he wanted, he wanted to be with Shadow, and he wanted to live out his life with the darkrai. Yet he was afraid still, if he ever trusted anyone the way he had that Absol again, it could cost him his life, so he had to be positive from that point on that he could trust them. Whether they were his friends, strangers, or even people he loved, he couldn't simply trust them as he had.

Blade slowly stood up from beneath the oak tree he was seated under. And he stretched, the pain of his side was dulled enough that it didn't hurt. Sadly it would leave a scar, a barely visible one, but the fact remained that it would be part of him forever.

He glanced around, noticing the vast field before him. He smiled seeing the dark shadow on the ground just out of reach of the tree. Shadow arose from the ground taking form properly before Blade. "I apologize for leaving so promptly my dear. But I've returned now, so we can move on." Shadow paused a moment and embraced the Sneasel. "However, where we are going is quite far, and we are going to assist Lyte. He is working with some group that claims to be about pokemon conservation, so it seems worth assisting him. As I said it is quite far though. Are you prepared, or…would you rather we not assist him?"

"I go where you go Shadow, I always will. You are my alpha after all." Blade smiled at the darkrai.

Though hidden by the collar around his head, Shadow smiled in return. "Excellent. In that case, we should meet him soon, until then, you'll be pleased to know who I found. Come along then." Shadow held out his claw for the smaller male. And Blade took it without hesitation feeling them teleport away.

Shadow had been right so long ago, he had gotten used to the sensation of teleportation. But Blade had not expected to see what awaited him. Amethyst and his children were on a small hill overlooking a long patch of grass. Glaive stood up first, the once young, headstrong, and inexperienced weavile now had an air of understanding to him. "Blade, is that you?"

"Glaive? I haven't seen you in a long time. How have you been?" Blade asked, suddenly being embraced by Glaive's sisters.

"Oh you never got around to learning their names did you?" Glaive asked tapping on the shorter of the two female sneasels "this sweet little lady is Cutlass." He tapped the taller one. "And this fine huntress is Fang."

"Nice to meet ya both" Blade said. He turned to look at Shadow. The darkrai simply nodded and disappeared, sinking back into the ground.

"How have you been Blade?" Amethyst finally made his way over to them.

"Oh I can't complain too much, got to do a lot of stuff, revenge all that good shit." Blade smiled lightly.

"Revenge you say?" A look of understanding overtook Amethyst's face. "Oh, him right?"

"Yeah, him." Blade smirked as the two female sneasels released him.

Glaive walked a short distance away. "Hey, follow me." Blade followed behind him a short distance away. "Listen, I need your help Blade."

Blade gave him a quizzical look. "What is it Glaive?"

"I….I met someone…and I really like them. But I don't know what to do." The younger male sat down and frowned as his brother sat beside him.

"I can only say so much. If you ask me, you should just tell them, but that's easier said than done right?" Blade received a nod from the weavile. "Well, you'll need to push away your fears, bury them deep down when you do it. Or I suppose fight through it and just tell them how you feel."

"Is that what you did with Shadow?"

"Basically, I just blurted it out one day and I got really lucky that he felt the same way." Blade sighed and smiled and laid on his back.

"So I just have to tell them how I feel?" Glaive thought about it a moment. "Yeah I can do that, thanks Blade." The weavile stood up and stretched. "You know, if you want you can join our pack and be our alpha? We'd be totally fine with that."

"A tempting offer, but I have an alpha of my own and he isn't the most sharing guy around." Blade chuckled at that.

"What's Shadow like anyway?" Glaive asked as he looked at the Sneasel still on the ground.

"He's….well a lot of things, not all of them good. He is caring, compassionate, a bit obsessive sometimes, extremely overprotective, brutal and….and I love him." Blade sighed and sat up. "He can be really insensitive about my feelings, but when he knows he's done something wrong he really tries to fix it."

"You really do love him don't you?"

"I do. I can't say you'll have a similar experience to me, but if you really love them…what I feel around Shadow is just…my heart starts beating faster and faster, I feel safe when I'm around him, like even if I were to fall he'd catch me before I hit the ground, and he just makes me happy. I believe that's what love feels like, but you never know how it feels to other people."

*With Shadow*

The darkrai laid himself against a rock wall and relaxed, the first time he had in months and it was showing. His body twisted and writhed in pain, he had stayed up and not fallen after so long through sheer force of will. That pack had barely done anything to him, but adding all of their attacks to the ones he'd already forced himself through and you get this. He writhed and screamed in agony as the full force of nearly a year of casually letting his opponents hit him caught up to him in minutes. The darkrai thrashed and punched the rock wall cracking it open.

Shadow never showed Blade this part of him, the part that felt pain. He wanted Blade to feel safe, so he just willed away the pain, but nobody is invincible. If Shadow didn't relax himself and let the pain tear him apart he'd likely die. Minutes upon minutes he thrashed and writhed, his body twisting into unpleasant shapes as his body was wracked with pain, every muscle tensed and exploded as if they'd been stretched to the limit and his body felt like it was going to fail any moment. But the pain never filled, and that's how Shadow liked it. It reminded him of his own mortality and that if he ever let up he could lose everything. Nearly an hour straight and all that pain continued, Shadow finally cut his pained screams short and began to pant as the pain faded. His breathing was labored and he didn't want to move yet for fear of being knocked unconscious by the pain of moving. After staying like that a few moments, Shadow managed to lift himself off the ground. With slow breaths he tested himself against the wall again, and he waited for his body to recover from its ordeal. It wouldn't take long, but the longer he waited the better he'd feel. As he sat there he noticed a mouse like pokemon just a short distance away in a bush. He recognized them easily. It was a Raichu, but not just any. "Rai? Is that you?"

"Oh hey Shadow!" The Raichu dashed through the bush and stopped in front of the darkrai. "Oh jeez, what happened to you?"

"Months or around a year of physical trauma in a single hour." Shadow said with a sigh.

"I've never known you to be hurt by anything though." The Raichu frowned and tilted his head.

"That was a long time ago. Before Blade gave me a reason to feel." Though blocked by his red collar, Shadow was smiling at the thought of the Sneasel.

"Wait…the Sneasel right, it's been a while, almost like a full year since I met him?" Rai was more than a little surprised.

"Yes, the Sneasel. You don't actually know Blade that we'll do you Rai?"

"Nope, I just told him I'd have his back and just spent most of my time with you." Rai shrugged. "Though that was really just you introducing me so I doubt you'd ever tell that part of your story right hahaha."

Shadow chuckled "Storytelling is for those with nothing better to do and a passion for something random. If someone were telling a story about me I'd hope they knew what they were doing."

"Like anyone's telling a story right now haha" Rai laughed and Shadow checked along with him. "So, you've been feeling everything since ya met Blade have you?"

"Indeed, everything and more." Shadow smiled.

"Well hey, since we have some time, why don't you tell me what he's like." Rai smiled at the darkrai.

"I would love that. Blade is kind, caring, a quick learner, and in general, Blade is a good pokemon, though he's been tainted by my influence and the way the world has seen fit to treat him."

"What do you mean?"

"He's not easily forgiving." Shadow continued. "If you were to hurt him, he'd likely never forgive you unless he truly cared about you."

"And you love him don't you?"

Shadow looked into Rai's eyes. "With every cell in my body. I'd give up everything for his happiness."

*Hours later*

"So how are we doing this?" Blade asked as he stood beside Shadow at a small harbor.

"Simple, you stay with Lyte while aboard the vessel and wait for us to reach our destination."

"Well, we should probably head out." Blade stretched one more time as he started walking.

Lyte was waiting by a boat and he waved Blade over to him. The Sneasel made his way over quickly.

"Ah good, I'm glad you both agreed to help me out with my work." Lyte said leading the Sneasel aboard as Shadow watched from a distance.

The ship was ready to set sail, and it would very shortly.