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Chapter 55

Did This For You

Zekra found herself frozen stiff upon the church floor as the flames of battle continued to burn all around her, almost unable to comprehend what had just happened before her eyes.

After a long and tiresome battle, Zekra had finally learned the one dark secret that Yimtri had refused to tell anyone. That he, when he was still human, had been the one responsible for the Primogenitor's oppression upon Shiron. He had been the one to awaken it from its slumber, all because he had wanted to obtain power that he had only heard about in myths. Even after she thought that she knew all of his secrets… he had still managed to keep that one all the way to the very end. And so, partially because he was running out of time and because he couldn't bear to be around Zekra when she knew the awful truth, Yimtri had abandoned her group and left her in the ruined church with a ravaged mind.

"Yimtri… Yimtri!" Zekra suddenly cried, her mind temporarily snapping back into order. "Yimtri, wait! Come back!"

He couldn't have gone very far, especially not in his weary condition. He had only left a mere minute ago, even. With this information pushing her forward, Zekra struggled to her feet. Standing on all fours instantly sapped away a good majority of her vigor, but she refused to relent. She had to get Yimtri back. She had to stop him from making a huge mistake. So with all of her willpower, she limped toward one of the walls and transformed into a Chandelure. Then, as the Deception Amulet ate away at her limited energy, she flung herself out of the building and down the street.

She was only able to fly for about a minute before all of her energy abruptly left her. With nothing to keep her going, Zekra abruptly fell onto the cobblestone road, skidding across the rocky surface and tearing open a few of her healing wounds. She let out several raspy breaths as she closed her eyes and rested her throbbing head against the cold stone. She thought of letting herself fall into the darkness again so she could get her strength back, but it wasn't to be, for she was once again filled with the burning ambition to find Yimtri and bring him back.

Zekra forced her eyes open and tried to become a Skarmory, but unfortunately, her powers failed to heed her call. They could not when she was without strength.

No… I need to bring him back! Zekra told herself. I need to find him!

Zekra, in her desperation, crawled along the road, her blood smearing the ground as she sluggishly made progress.

Come back Yimtri… you need help. You need someone to help you… You're going to die if you do this all by yourself…

Zekra, he's gone. You're not going to find him, especially not when you're half-dead.

The Zorua stopped moving. She knew that voice that now clearly echoed so clearly in her mind.

You! Not you again!

Oh, still talking to me like that, huh? Didn't you hear what Mother told you about me? I'm perfectly harmless. You don't have to hate me anymore.

You're not harmless!

You want to explain how I'm not?

Because even though you're docile or whatever Nyx called you, you're still part of the Primogenitor. You're still some weird demonic thing that can make me do so many horrible things!

Yeah, but only if your Instinct Infestation snaps in. And even then, I'm only doing it for your own good because you're too weak to do it yourself. Worst I've done is make you kill those Fellowship leaders because they were preventing you from getting to safety.

How is that not a bad thing?! You made me kill two of my leaders!

I did it to protect you, not because I was hungry or because someone told me to act like a bloodthirsty maniac. There's a difference. Either way, I can tell you're not going to be snapping into that Instinct Infestation any time soon, so I'm not going to be causing you any problems until then. So really, you have no real reason to hate me right now.

But anyway, we're getting off topic here. You can do one of two things right now. You can argue pointlessly with me over silly little things like how I'm some kind of evil demon living in your body, or you can listen to what I want to say to you. Just be warned that if you choose to keep arguing with me, I can't guarantee I'll be patient with you. I might just decide to not put up with your attitude after a while and let you pass out right now. You're only awake still because I'm giving you my energy since you used all of yours up just now. In fact, you'd be DEAD right now if it weren't for the fact that I'm healing you as we speak.

So go on, make your choice. There's no pressure at all.

Zekra cringed internally at her plagued self's words. For a brief second, she saw a vague, shadowy form of a Zorua in her mind flash her devious smile, as if it knew that its words were slowly breaking Zekra. Zekra started to question whether her plagued self really was as benevolent as Nyx claimed.

You already know the answer to that question. It's pointless to keep questioning me when you already know that I'm not evil.

Stop reading my thoughts! You're not helping! Just leave me alone!

Then why don't you tell me if you want to listen to me for just a few minutes? That's all I want. Then after that, I'll leave you alone.

With an irritated sigh, Zekra set her chin on the cold cobblestone road and looked toward the path she presumed Yimtri had wandered down earlier.

Fine. What do you wanna tell me?

That you can't find Yimtri. He's gone, and you're never going to find him. You need to let him go and let him do his own thing.

But he's going to get himself killed if he tries to beat the Primogenitor all alone!

He's got his own Fellowship to help him. He's got thousands of loyal followers who would all die for him if he asked them to. He's better off than you and everyone else. Even if he's probably making a mistake, you can't do anything about it. You're not exactly in the best condition right now. You can't even walk. You wouldn't even be awake still if it weren't for me.

Well we still need him! We need his help to stop the Primogenitor. He knows so much about that monster and it could really help us if I can just get him to talk about what he knows. And having his whole Fellowship help us would be great too…

He doesn't want to talk to you anymore, Zekra. He can't stand to be around you. He said it himself that he left because of you. Maybe one day he'll get over what happened between you and him, but not now.

That still doesn't-

Ugh, why won't you just let it go? I'm done with trying to knock some sense into you the "right" way. Quit arguing with me, or else I'll make you pass out right now. Would lift a giant burden on me and make healing you a whole lot less draining.

Zekra felt like making a snippy remark at her plagued self, but forced herself to stop when she felt a sudden wave of fatigue slowly come over her. The world around her started to fade to black, and within that darkness, she saw her plagued self shooting her a resentful glare.

Alright, fine! I'll quit arguing with you. I won't go after him anymore. I'll let him go.

Finally.

The lethargy abruptly ceased, allowing Zekra to leave the dark world of her plagued self and back into the real world illuminated by the pale moonlight. She growled under her breath at the thought that she was basically her plagued self's puppet at the moment, but it was only to hide her true feelings. In reality, though she was angry with how easily her plagued self could manipulate the current situation, she was also very afraid. Because as of that moment, her plagued self was just as powerful as her, perhaps even more so. It had all of the power over Zekra's body right now. It couldn't take complete control of her body and do who knew what with it, but it was the only thing keeping Zekra alive right now. Its energy was all that was allowing Zekra to live. However, Zekra knew better than to dwell in these thoughts. She knew that her plagued self would be able to sense her fear, and perhaps it would exploit it for its own gain.

So, she channeled her thoughts elsewhere. She considered the idea of heading back to the house to get some rest, as she clearly needed it, but a rather troubling thought was quick to take root in her mind and fill her with dread. Breathing suddenly seemed to become much more difficult for her as the thought prospered and contaminated all of her thoughts.

What am I going to do about Yimtri's secret? He told me not to tell anyone about what he did but… everyone does deserve to know. It could help us find some answers. I mean, I'm not sure how, but maybe Nyx could help out if I told her all about what Yimtri did when he was a human.

So you're saying that you want to tell everyone about Yimtri's secret when he specifically told you not to talk about it?

I thought you were going to leave me alone after I quit talking about going after Yimtri.

I was, but then you started talking about this and really, I don't think you should go blabbing about Yimtri's secret like you're thinking about doing right now.

Ugh, my friends and I don't keep secrets from each other. We made a promise a long time ago, right after I got you, that we'd always be open with each other. There's literally nothing we hide from each other if it's important. And Yimtri's secret is pretty important.

That might be true… but you forget one little thing, Zekra. One thing that you're somehow forgetting about despite it being a pretty obvious problem. It's honestly kind of amusing.

Oh yeah, what?

How exactly is Tear going to react when he finds out that HE woke up the Primogenitor?

Zekra's irritated scowl shattered at the question. Her heart sank deep into her chest as a very uncomfortable feeling washed over.

Yimtri wasn't the only one who woke up the Primogenitor; he's just half of the person who did. You want to know who the other half was? Your precious friend Tear. Tear is just as responsible for waking up that monster as Yimtri is. You know how Yimtri is reacting to knowing that horrible information. So how do you think Tear would react?

How would your friends react knowing that not only was the guy they used to hate was responsible for everything, but so was someone still with them? Think about it, Zekra. How do you think they'd react? What do you think they might do to Tear?

Tear… Tear is stronger than Yimtri! He'd get through it! He wouldn't go crazy like Yimtri did! And everyone else would be fine too! They wouldn't hurt Tear or anything! They'd understand it was a mistake! Because if I can be understanding about this whole thing, why can't they?

There was a pause from her plagued self. Zekra was about to smile victoriously at the thought that she had won against her plague for once, but stopped when the voice in her mind started laughing. Zekra couldn't help but flinch at it. It sounded too much like her own laugh.

Hahah. You're so funny when you're lying to yourself , Zekra.

What? I'm not lying to myself! I'm telling the truth! I really do believe in everything I just said!

You really think anybody can be as understanding as you claim? NOBODY is that understanding, even if they want to be. Hate is a powerful emotion. Once hate latches onto you, it never wants to let go no matter what you do or tell yourself. I mean, look at yourself. Even you're not really as understanding about this whole thing as you're claiming you are.

What are you talking about? I am being understanding!

Really? Prove it. Tell me that you don't hate Yimtri.

Zekra tried to scream out a retort at her plagued self, but found she couldn't. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think the thoughts for some reason.

Go ahead, say it.

Zekra tried again, but once again, the thoughts refused to form. At first, she couldn't understand why this was happening. She had been so confident in thinking that she held no ill will toward Yimtri earlier, but now, she wasn't so sure.

That's right, you can't say it. You want to know why?

Zekra didn't answer the question, but she didn't have to, for her plagued self answered anyway.

It's because even though he feels guilty for what he's done, it doesn't make up for the fact that everything that's gone wrong in your life is his fault. If he hadn't of woken up the Primogenitor, none of the horrible things you've had to deal with in life would have happened. Your mom and dad wouldn't be dead. Your old village wouldn't be gone. You'd still have Impetus and Syn and all of your friends from Blackoak. You wouldn't have me in your head. A lot of things wouldn't have happened if he had just let the Primogenitor alone.

Zekra was horrified by those words. They couldn't have been true. She was better than that. She was understanding and not one to keep hating someone if they really were regretful of their actions. Her plagued self had to be lying to her.

And yet… it quickly became apparent to her that her plague spoke the truth. Though she did understand that Yimtri truly felt guilty over the horrible mistake he made as a human, some part of her couldn't help but hate him for waking up the Primogenitor. That dark side of her couldn't help but want to kill him to make him pay for all of the suffering that he had brought not just brought about on her, but everyone in all of Shiron. And no matter how much she tried to reason with herself, she couldn't convince that part of her otherwise. It was absolutely bent on hating Yimtri.

Something in Zekra's heart fractured at the thought.

Now let's go back to how Tear would react if he found out that the truth. If Tear finds out that he was also responsible for waking up the Primogenitor, he can't possibly take that well. He'll know that he's the reason everyone's suffered so much. He'll know that he's the reason YOU have suffered. He'll know that the one he cares so much about is in all of this horrible pain because of something he did. And depending on how badly he takes it, he might take really drastic measures. He might end up like Yimtri and feel so guilty that he'll run off in a haste to stop the Primogenitor all by himself. Or he'll go into a very dark depression that no one can take him out of. Or he might just kill himself.

Tears formed in Zekra's eyes as the truth her plagued self spoke dawned on her. The horrible, awful truth that she wished she didn't have to know. She vainly stifled her whimpering.

Why… why are you doing this to me? You were never like this before! You didn't tear me apart like this before!

Because you've never been so ridiculously stubborn before. You always listened to me before when I talked to you, but now you're like some kind of unmovable boulder. Some furry, over-reactive and overly optimistic boulder. I always thought that was a great thing about you, but then I remembered that you're stubborn about stupid things too. So because trying to be reasonable wasn't working with you, I used the one tactic that you I know makes you see the truth: I broke all of your delusions. I broke every single one of them you threw at me so that your mind would finally clear up and let the truth get in there. Because Zekra, the truth can't get into your mind when it's so clouded with false hopes. All of those fake things have to be cut and destroyed if you ever want to see the truth.

But to answer your real question, I'm telling all of this to you because I'm helping you. You need as much help as you can get when you're so close to achieving the goal you've wanted to reach for so long. You had to see that even though you're trying to be optimistic and everything, that's not going to work here. Everyone is plagued, and no matter how much they try, their plague will latch onto the first sign of hate they'll show. And then, that hate will always be on everyone's mind and slowly drive them insane until they finally act on the hate. We plagued selves don't like doing that, but we can't help it. It's in our instincts to latch onto it, even if we want you to get over the hate.

You've gotta keep this secret between you and me, or else you'll tear all of your friends apart and you'll never be able to stop the Primogenitor. It's a sad but true fact.

Zekra curled into a tight ball as she wept bitterly. She found she could no longer talk to her plagued self. Even though she knew it was right and wanted to say that it was, she couldn't bring herself to do it. The thought that she was going to have to lie to everyone she knew about such a massive secret was tearing her heart to pieces and making her sick to her stomach.

It'll be less painful in time. Maybe not right away, but eventually it will. But, I'll get rid of the pain for a while. You need some rest anyway for tomorrow.

Zekra couldn't even ask what her plagued self what it meant by that before she abruptly blacked out, joining the darkness in her mind.

It was morning when Zekra woke up again. She didn't know long she had been passed out for, but she knew that it would be noon in another hour or so based on how high the sun was shining in the sky and what her instincts told her.

Zekra groaned loudly as she opened her eyes and stretched out her limbs, finding that doing so caused a terrible ache to fill her limbs. It seemed that even with her second dose of rest, she still hadn't recovered from her fight with Yimtri.

She frowned painfully as she released a deep sigh and looked around. She was still in the same spot she had passed out on, having not moved even an inch. Her plagued self, it seemed, hadn't made her do anything as it had been healing her.

"Ugggggh," Zekra whined, not even bothering to get up.

She was about to close her eyes, perhaps to get a few more minutes of rest before she would head off to reunite with her friends, but was quick to realize that they might already be awake and worrying over her. And with that thought, a consuming reluctance was quick to wash over her.

Do I really have to see them right now? Zekra thought to herself. Do I really have to face them again after everything that's happened?

It didn't take long for the answer to come to Zekra. She knew she didn't have a choice; she would have had to return to them eventually. It was better to return to them now than later and have all of them worrying sick over her.

She slowly stood up, grimacing as she steadied herself on all fours. When she found she could stand without feeling light-headed, she then made her way down the road and toward the house that Terron and the others were still at. At least, she hoped that they were still at the house. They could have been looking for her if they had woken up already and noticed that she wasn't with them. But, she tried not to dwell in that too much and kept moving forward, ignoring the stinging in her legs.

Sometime later, Zekra finally came back to the home she had been searching for. With a gulp, she made her way into the house and entered the bedroom with the quietest steps she could manage. She was quick to find that everybody was awake, all four of them gathered together. Everyone except Nyx was shooting each other frustrated and anxious glances.

"Ugh, where did those two run off to?" Terron asked in exasperation. "Today's an important day and both of them decided they just had to disappear."

"I cannot think of anything they could possibly want to do," Novus stated. "If I had to guess, I'd say that they disappeared sometime last night, but for what reason? I realize that they're both of the darkness affinity and that particular kind of affinity enjoys frolicking about the night, but I don't think that would give them any excuse to wander away when such an important journey starts the next day. Not to mention why they'd be gone even until the late morning…"

"And there she is."

Everyone stopped bickering amongst themselves and looked over at Nyx to find that she was pointing a claw at Zekra, who was still standing at the entrance to the room. The second that everyone realized this, all of them except the Darkrai rushed over to Zekra, nearly crashing into her. Zekra grinned nervously as she took a couple steps back. She immediately wished she could leave the room.

"Hey guys… hi," she greeted awkwardly.

"We were worried sick about you," Zeverous said, sighing in relief. "We thought that you got kidnapped by someone from the Fellowship or something like that."

"Oh no… no, no one kidnapped me. I'm fine."

"You sure?" Zeverous asked. "I mean, where'd you even go?"

"Uhh… just out. Just went out last night and I kind of fell asleep while I was busy running around. Kind of got addicted to running around at night since I haven't done it in a while."

"Well that's… nice," Zeverous replied, seemingly not sure what to make of the statement.

"Yeah, was sort of an impulse I had. But I'm back. Sorry that I was worrying you guys so much."

"Did you see Yimtri by any chance?" Terron then asked. "He disappeared last night too, and Nyx says that she can't find him since she can't sense his blight. Apparently it's being snuffed out or something like that because he's got that pin."

Zekra tried to say something, but was quick to find that no words were coming out of her mouth. She'd think she'd know what to say and open her maw to speak, but the words would then promptly disappear from her mind and leave her in a stupor.

"Zekra?" Terron asked, more softly this time.

The Zorua brought her gaze to the Cubone, but then turned away when she found that she couldn't keep eye contact with him.

"She saw him."

Everyone snapped their glances over to Nyx to find that she was staring at Zekra, a strange mix of curiosity and edginess in her eye. Zekra frowned reluctantly, feeling the Darkrai's gaze boring into her.

"I know you were with my Sableye child last night. You would not have left in the middle of the night on the very same night that he left unless you wanted to talk to him. So, why exactly is he gone?"

Zekra didn't know how to reply to the comment. All she could do was shirk back and avert her gaze from the horrified glances everyone gave her.

Augh, of course Nyx figured that out! Why'd she have to go and put me right on the spot? I'm not ready to talk about this…

Because she wants to know what happened to Yimtri. He's basically her child and since you were with him last, she knows you know what happened to him. Not like it matters really though, since you would have had to tell everyone what happened anyway. Mother just made you have to talk about it faster than you expected.

Gah! You again!

Stop acting like that every time I talk to you. It's not that big of a deal.

Whatever! What are you doing here?

I'm helping you by preventing you from having a meltdown in front of everyone. Now, start talking to them.

I really don't want to do this right now. I really don't want to lie to everybody… I didn't even get time to make something up!

You don't always get time to prepare for things, Zekra. Things don't work like that. Just say something and if you slip up, I'll stop you. Or something. Just start talking. You'll think of something.

Zekra's uncomfortable frown deepened as she heard her plagued self told her this, but knew that it was right. She kept her gaze off of the ones before her and desperately formulated the words she had to say next very carefully.

"Alright fine, I was with him last night," Zekra sighed. "I was hanging out with him because I wanted to talk to him since you know, I was kind of curious about him. And everything was going fine for a while, but then… he told me that the real reason he was away from everyone was because he was going to leave us in a few minutes and go stop the Primogenitor in his own way. He said he didn't want to be with us anymore and that he was better off doing it on his own with his Fellowship. He didn't like being around us because I guess we clashed with his personality too much or something. I tried to convince him to stay, but he didn't want to listen. And after some arguing, he ended up getting away from me before I could stop him…"

"But I don't know where he went, alright? He didn't say where he was going; he just said he was going to finish everything without us. He could be halfway around the world for all I know."

Zekra felt her legs shaking again. She wanted to say so much more, mainly how Yimtri knew of how the Primogenitor came to be and how he had been spending his entire life to stop the Primogenitor to make up for the horrible mistake he made so long ago and that she had nearly died in trying to pry that information out of him, but she knew she couldn't say it. She had to keep that a secret. She didn't have any other choice, no matter how much her heart begged her to speak of it.

The four Pokémon before her stared at her, completely speechless.

"He left?" Terron asked in disbelief. "Yimtri left, just like that? He's not coming back?"

Zekra slowly shook her head, unable to speak anymore words. Terron, upon seeing this, seemed to become at a loss.

The entire room became filled with an awkward silence, no one able to comprehend how they wanted to feel about the situation. On one hand, everyone was somewhat glad that the Sableye wasn't going to be with them anymore. His abrasive and condescending remarks were extremely grating and could have easily caused massive contention in the group. Though he was a respectable leader of his Fellowship and all of his followers were pleased with him, they only knew him from afar and saw the façade of an unwavering, tactful Sableye. They had never had to spend continuous hours in his presence. Having him around as a companion was an entirely different experience and brought out a dark side in the Sableye that the team found to be intolerable a good majority of the time. No longer having the Sableye around was beneficial in that regard. It would allow the group to function in better harmony.

But at the same time, they had just lost what was arguably their most valuable team member. While he was borderline insufferable in personality and social etiquette around them, Yimtri made up for it by being talented at practically everything else. His intangibility made him a difficult target to enemies and granted everybody else some safety in knowing that he could protect them by temporarily sharing his power with them. His ability to manipulate his shadow in demented ways was also incredibly valuable, it being a power that no one in all of Shiron had due to how much he was synchronized with his plagued self. There was hardly a way to counter against the power, and the only way to truly fight against it was to either copy the power or be Nyx. Then also, the Sableye was highly revered for being a master of strategy. While not all of his plans fell through, most of them always seemed to be met with success. He knew how to find a weakness in any of his opponents, and then exploit it completely. And if he could not find a weakness, then he knew how to manipulate the situation and create a weakness, such as infuriating someone out of rational thought and turning them into a rampaging fool. Now, they no longer had that talent in their lives.

As everyone remained in contemplative silence, trying to figure out their own feelings, Zekra noticed Nyx drift toward the door.

"I want to ask you something outside, Zorua. For the rest of you, stay here and leave us alone until we come back."

Nyx shot Zekra a firm, almost imposing glance, and then disappeared out of the room. Zekra stood there for a brief moment, unsure of what to make of the Darkrai's demand. She looked over at her friends to find that they too seemed just as confused as she was.

However, Zekra knew it was best not to keep the Darkrai waiting and exited the room. She didn't even bother to look back at the three behind her to see if they were following her or not. Though, she doubted that they'd dare to test Nyx. No one in their right mind would blatantly ignore her vague threats.

Zekra made her way to the outside of the house and was quick to find Nyx hovering far down the road at quite a distance from the house, staring at the Zorua. Zekra thought that the air around Nyx was becoming increasingly cold. It nearly made Zekra shudder with anxiety. However, she kept herself together and came over to the Darkrai before stopping a few feet away from her. Nyx seemed to want Zekra to come closer with the way she kept staring at her in silence, but Zekra refused to come any closer. She didn't like being alone with Nyx. Whether she was on her side or not, Nyx was still a powerful Darkrai capable of flinging Zekra into her worst nightmare. Then not only that, but she could easily manipulate Zekra due to being the master of the plague within her. With but a snap of her claws, Zekra could instantly become Nyx's puppet.

Because of that, Zekra found herself wary of the Darkrai when no one was with her in case something went wrong. It didn't help that Nyx hadn't bothered to explain why she wanted to talk to Zekra in the first place with no one else with them.

"Why is Sableye Dimitri gone?"

"Uh, because he didn't want to hang out with us anymore," Zekra answered slowly, not sure what to make of the question when she had explained this earlier. "He said he'd have a better time stopping the Primogenitor on his own than with us. He just really doesn't like being around us."

"That is what he said?"

"Yeah… I told you this back at the house. Just didn't want to be around us anymore because he thought having a bunch of Pokémon with him was annoying. He just wanted to be all alone again like he was when he first came to Shiron."

Nyx shot the Zorua an unimpressed glare, sending a nervous shiver down Zekra's back. She could even feel her plagued self shirk in her mind. However, she refused to let the fear consume her and kept her gaze glued to the Darkrai.

"Really?"

"Yes, that's what he told me!" Zekra cried desperately. "I mean, didn't you notice that he was always avoiding everybody ever since we woke up here? He hated being around us. He didn't even want to be around me when I was trying to talk to him, but I kinda convinced him to let me stay with him for a while. Why else would he leave us?"

The Darkrai kept her dark gaze fixed on Zekra, as if trying to pry the answer out of Zekra's soul. Zekra could feel her heart churn up a tempest at the sight and heard it tell her to tell the Darkrai the one other reason the Sableye left, but she shut out the voices the best she could and remained firm. A moment later, Nyx released a short sigh.

"Alright, fine. Well then, I have a different question for you."

"And what would that be?" Zekra asked, still on edge.

"Why did you want to talk to him the night before he left?"

Zekra frowned cautiously at the question, not sure what she wanted to think. It was a rather strange question to ask, and for a moment, she didn't say anything. However, after more thought, she realized that there wasn't any harm in answering the question. It would be odd to talk about, but it was certainly better than staying on the topic of how she was responsible for Yimtri's leave. It would distract Nyx.

"Because… well, I wanted to get to know him better," Zekra confessed. "Didn't really know him too well, so I wanted to change that."

"Was it because you found out that he and Cubone Dimitri were once the same human?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I just wanted to make up for the fact that I saw him as a bad guy and stuff. Because after everything that happened with you in those woods and finding out that he was Tear, I figured that maybe I should give him a second chance. I thought that maybe he was a nice guy and he just looked messed up from the distance or something."

"And how did that go for you?"

"He had a lot of interesting things to say. He tried to get me to go away for a while, but I think he was kind of impressed with how I was being accepting about all of this stuff he was talking about. And then we kind of talked about ourselves and he told me about his life. I learned a lot of other stuff too."

"What did you learn?"

"Hmm, well. He told me why we dark-types are always so emotional, and that was kind of cool since I've always kind of wondered why that is. And then he told me a little about dimensions, which was weird, but I kind of understand what he was talking about. And then he was telling me about all sorts of stuff about life in general, and some of it was kind of messed up, but he was kind of right when I think about it."

Zekra sighed as she reflected in the depressing information, but was quick to shake it out of her mind.

"But really, it was a good talk," she said with a more cheerful tone. "I liked talking to him, and I think he might have liked talking to me too."

"So if everything was going so well for you two, then why did he suddenly decide that he wanted to abandon us after that talk? Sableye Dimitri is not someone who enjoys having personal conversations with anyone. It took me quite a long time to have him be open to me when I was Chloe, and even then, there were many things he would not talk to me about, such as that he was a human being. If he liked you so much that he was willing to share his life's story with you, he would have stayed. He would have tolerated everyone else and stayed simply because of you. So what could have happened so that after opening up to you, he decided to leave us?"

Zekra felt her stomach tie into a knot. She realized now that Nyx had been asking these questions to gain more information out of her, and now, Zekra had fallen right into her trap.

"What did you do so that Sableye Dimitri left?"

"I… I didn't…" Zekra sputtered out.

Nyx was giving Zekra that glare again. The glare that was trying to bore into her soul and force the answers right out of her. Even with her voice perpetually fixed in a collected and mellow tone, it still made Zekra take a fearful step back. Nyx stayed where she was.

"So you are saying that it is a coincidence that Sableye Dimitri left right after you talked to him on a personal level?"

Zekra felt as though she was being backed into a corner. She tried to think of some sort of an answer, some sort of lie she could conjure up to satisfy Nyx, but she couldn't think of any. Her mind was in too much of a frenzied mess to accomplish that. The only tangible idea she had was to tell Nyx the truth, but she knew she couldn't. No matter how easy or how much her heart demanded it, she couldn't tell anyone the horrible truth Yimtri revealed to her. Who knew what would happen if Nyx found out the truth.

"I am waiting for your answer, Zorua."

"I…"

Say something, Zekra.

I'm trying! You have no idea how much I am! But I just can't!

Well you better say something soon, or else Mother just might start taking pretty drastic measures. Sure, she's not as vicious as you other dark-types, but she wants her answers. And if you don't give her an answer soon, she's going to get mad. You don't want to see Mother when she's mad.

Just shut up! I don't need you to tell me what I already know.

Just start talking, Zekra. You can think of something. You're good at lying. Or at least, you should be since you're a dark-type and all.

Zekra felt like making another hostile remark at her plagued self, but then she saw Nyx's glare and was quick to bring her priorities back into order. She gulped as she searched through her erratic thoughts and hastily constructed something to say.

"Alright fine, it was my fault!" Zekra spat out.

Zekra's mouth gaped in horror at what she had just said, but before she could take back her words, she quickly realized that she didn't have to. She knew what to say now that would satisfy Nyx, yet still keep Yimtri's secret hidden.

"It's my fault he's gone," Zekra said again to Nyx, keeping her rueful tone. "Yimtri left because… he never wanted to open up to me. All he wanted was for me to leave him alone so he could think about our little trip. But, he caved because I wouldn't stop bugging him. And, when I think about it, I really don't think he wanted to talk about anything personal with me. He kept trying really hard to get me to go away by saying a bunch of cold things, but I wouldn't leave. So he kept telling me things just to satisfy me when I really don't think he wanted to… but after a while I think I just pushed him way too hard and he couldn't take it anymore. So he left! He left because he didn't want to be around me after all of the pestering I did. He couldn't stand being around me anymore. So it's my fault he's gone. I drove him away."

For a moment, Nyx didn't say anything. She only hovered before Zekra, staring her down with her relentless gaze. But then, she simply looked away from the Zorua and with a disappointed sigh, she drifted away from the Zorua.

"I have somewhere to go to."

"Wait you're not going to leave us too, are you?" Zekra hastily asked. "We need you!"

"As tempted as it would be to leave you to find my lost child, I will not. I do not know where he is, and I have Cubone Dimitri to look after. I will not leave him behind to go find the other child, even if what he is doing is a mistake. However, there is something I can do."

A bright light rippled across the Darkrai's body, and then, a transparent copy of herself shot out of her back. It hovered near Nyx, staring vaguely into the distance with eyes that held no light within them. Then, in the blink of an eye, it rushed past Zekra, disappearing far down the road and out of sight. Nyx's single eye dimmed as it vanished and Zekra saw the Darkrai falter for a moment. But despite this weakness, the Darkrai still hovered imposingly above the Zorua.

"Maybe it will find him. Maybe it will not. I will give it a week. But it will do when I can do nothing else. My splitting ability has been greatly sabotaged thanks to my fight against you five. I should be thankful it was the only piece of my power that was crippled thanks to all of you."

"Nyx look, I'm sorry-"

"My conversation with you is over. There is nothing more to be said. We have a journey to start anyway. We best prepare for it when we are leaving so soon. Tell the others I will meet them when they leave this town. All of your blights will give away your location."

And with that, Nyx left the Zorua to herself as she retreated deeper into the ghost town, never once looking back. Zekra frowned glumly as she turned away from the sight, feeling the ache in her heart return.

Great, she hates me now. Zekra thought bitterly. Just great. But she can't know the real reason he left. She can't know about Yimtri's secret. She might love him, but if she knew that he was responsible for the Primogenitor being here… I just can't imagine what she'd do to him. Or Tear. Tear…

She squeezed her eyes tight and took in a few deep breaths, calming herself. She couldn't afford to dwell in the subject anymore. She had a mission to go on soon, and she couldn't be weighed down by the guilt and depression. She had to be strong and fight just as much as everyone else, all while keeping her cheery and carefree attitude.

When the painful feelings were dampened just enough so that she could tolerate them, Zekra opened her eyes and made her way back inside the house. When she reunited with her friends, she was quick to find that they all had their belongings strapped to their persons, presumably ready to leave for the day. She raised her front paw and was about to announce her return, but a sudden stupor came over her, silencing her voice. She grimaced as she lowered her paw back down.

However, it turned out that Zekra didn't need to say anything, for Terron was quick to notice her standing nearby. He was quick to flash her a smile.

The second Zekra saw that smile, something pierced her heart. She didn't know what it was, but she did know that it was preventing her from returning the smile.

"Oh hey, you're back," he greeted. "Did everything go okay with Nyx?"

"Yeah, everything went okay," Zekra said. "She just wanted to talk about some stuff. But everything went alright."

"What did she want to talk about?" Zeverous then cut in as he approached his sister.

"Just about which way Yimtri went so that she could maybe figure out where he went," Zekra explained hollowly. "But she's not running away from us too. She's just not here right now because she just wanted to go do something for a bit. But she said she'd find us."

"Oh, alright then," Zeverous replied, breathing out a sigh. "I was worried for a second that she was going to hurt you or something."

"No, she didn't do anything," Zekra stated. "She's a nice Pokémon."

Zeverous nodded solemnly, and then allowed for silence so that Terron could speak to Zekra again. However, Terron didn't say anything. He only kept his stare fixed on Zekra, his expression hidden well behind his ivory mask. Upon seeing this, Zekra felt an uncomfortable awkwardness come over her. She was about to initiate another conversation with her brother so she could ignore the sudden feeling, but Novus, at long last, spoke.

"Well since it seems that everything is fine, is everyone ready to leave?" Novus asked.

Terron and Zekra nodded wordlessly.

"Well, if they're all set, then I am too," Zeverous said carelessly. "Where are we heading?"

"Since Nyx claims that she will meet us on the outskirts of this city, we will probably go to the north end for now and wait for her there," Novus answered. "Then afterwards, I'll show you our first destination so that no one will be uninformed of the plan."

"Sounds like a plan then!" Zeverous said enthusiastically. "Awesome. Well then, let's get going. I can't wait to go find some awesome dragons…"

With a smug grin spread out across his face, Zeverous exited the room, Novus following shortly behind him. Zekra took a step forward, but before she could, Terron stood in front of her. She stopped and looked up at him, seeing that he now wore a more concerned expression compared to earlier.

"Are you okay, Zekra?" he asked her in a gentle voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered. "Kind of nervous about going out and getting those dragons, but I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm worried about you," Terron replied as he came closer to her. "I mean, you look okay, but I still wanted to ask."

Zekra felt the uncomfortable awkwardness overwhelm her once again. But unlike all of the other times this feeling came over her, she now felt another emotion growing inside of her. It was a very strange sense of wariness, like she was suddenly needed to get away from him. But, she didn't know why. She considered it might been out of fear, but then she realized that absolutely nothing about Terron scared her.

So if it wasn't because of fear, then why did she want to get away from her dear friend?

"Zekra?" Terron asked again, waving a hand in front of her face.

The Zorua shook her head. The feeling still persisted, but she knew she couldn't dwell in it any longer. She'd have to ignore it.

"I'm fine," Zekra admitted, partially speaking her feelings. "Really, I am. I mean, I'm a little nervous about everything, but I'm fine other than that."

Terron nodded slowly. Zekra waited for him to move out of the way so the two of them could after their other friends, but he didn't. He only remained where he was in front of her, staring down at her with a pitiful gaze. Zekra felt the awkwardness in her spike.

"We should get going," she then said. "We shouldn't keep Zev and Novus waiting."

Zekra stepped around the Cubone, but before she could get very far, she suddenly found her head buried into the front of Terron's coat. She flinched for a moment, but was quick to stifle the reaction and was soon to figure out that Terron was holding her in a tight embrace, his chin resting on the top of her head.

"Hey Zekra," he said, his voice low and somber. "Can you remember something for me?"

"Yeah?" she asked, her voice just as quiet.

"Just remember that no matter what happens, whether you get caught by the Fellowship's generals or something happens to one of our friends... remember that we'll get through this together. I'm not going to leave you."

Zekra's gaze fell. She understood what was going through Terron's mind now. He was still worried about her because of their quest to find Zekrom and Reshiram. Though the very idea of the journey didn't seem harrowing at a first glance, it actually would be a very dangerous mission. With the Primogenitor out to get specifically them and it controlling so many powerful Pokémon, there was a very good chance that they'd have a number of tribulations ahead. Even with all of the support on their side, Terron and Zekra knew that they were not much safer than they had been when it was only the two of them in the Fellowship.

But despite the dread that thought had surely brought, Terron was still giving Zekra the reassurance that he'd be there for Zekra, no matter what happened. He was still trying to be the best friend he could be. Zekra closed her eyes as she pressed her head into his chest.

"Thanks, Tear."

But even as she said this, Zekra still couldn't feel the love she had for her friend.

After wandering for some time, Nyx finally found herself by a river that was near what once was Aurora Town. It was a peaceful place with the trees' thick canopy protecting her from the bright rays of the noon sun, and no wild Pokémon in sight to bother her. However, she couldn't feel any of the peace the forest was emitting. She couldn't even feel the warmth of the stray beams of sunlight that hit her wispy flesh. All she felt was her energy slowly draining away, making it more difficult to remain hovering. But, she paid this no mind and brought herself to a half by the river's side.

With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes.

From within the darkness of her mind, something slowly manifested itself before her. It was incomprehensible at first, there only being a bright light in the seemingly endless void of black, but eventually everything became clearer. The darkness retreated away from her mind's eyes as the light grew, and soon she found herself seeing through the eyes of Terron. She saw him sitting somewhere outside the town, his three companions among him. She heard their conversations, and after listening for a short while, was quick to figure out that they were in the northwest outskirts of the city and were waiting for her.

I have a moment or two before I need to go back to them. she told herself. Though my time alone was short lived, it was something.

She cut off her connection to Terron's plagued self, erasing the vision from her mind. She felt some regret at invading Terron's privacy and spying on some conversations that she had no reason to eavesdrop on, but was quick to justify her actions by telling herself that it was the only way she'd know when it was time to depart. Besides, it could have been worse. She could have done much worse things to the plagued self within not just Terron, but anyone who was almost to the point of synchronization with their plague, as she had done in the past when she had been brainwashed. Their numbers were few, but they were the only ones she had wanted to keep an eye on in the first place.

That was, she still could do those things, except to one certain Pokémon she held dear to her. Nyx felt her heart sink at the thought of that Pokémon. She had come here to get her mind off him, but apparently it had been in vain.

She closed her eyes and for what had to be the tenth time that day, tried to locate Yimtri through his plague. She called out to his plagued self, asking it to heed her call and let her know where he had gone to and if he was safe.

But there was no answer. There was only silence. An awful, lonely silence.

Nyx opened her eyes.

You are making a terrible mistake, Sableye Dimitri. she said within her mind, futilely hoping that her words could somehow reach Yimtri.

She gazed down into the water as it rushed past her, looking at the reflection of herself staring back at her vacantly. It rippled with the water's current, making it so that her body seemed to flow rhythmically even more than it already did. She looked at the mirror version of herself, noting how different it looked compared to the Turtwig body she had been so accustomed to for so many years. There were times she had forgotten she was a Darkrai when she had a good majority of her soul masquerading as that Turtwig for a time. She had forgotten how imposing she actually was compared to that seemingly harmless grass-type.

I know why you are really gone, Sableye Dimitri. Though she refuses to say it, I know that Zorua discovered what you did as a human. You thought you had kept that a secret from everyone up until last night, but I knew the truth. I knew for a long time, ever since I saw it in your dreams when I first brought you here as a human.

While I understand that you are so desperately trying to make up for all of the suffering you have brought to this world, you do not realize what you are doing is hopeless. Even though you stood so strongly against me when I was brainwashed, never wavering in your commitment, I am nothing compared to the Primogenitor. A Darkrai like myself is nothing to that monster. You may think you know what it is capable of, but you know nothing. You only know a tiny sliver of knowledge that I offered you.

She shifted her vision to that of the copy she had created and saw that it was roaming an empty field far away from Aurora Town. It had still not found Yimtri nor any traces of him. She quickly detached her mind from it as she let it continue to do as it pleased. She could feel small waves of pain rolling through her body as her energy continued to be sapped away, but she didn't withdrawal her clone back into herself. It was her only chance of finding Yimtri. She would give her clone one week. She was sure that was the longest she could endure without it hindering her ability to protect Terron too much.

I told you that I wanted to send you back to Kuron when I brought you here because you were a child. I told you that was the only reason. But that was a lie. There was another reason that I hid from you and Cubone Dimitri.

Come back before you can discover what I had to hide from you for your own safety.

Come back before the Primogenitor can find you.

Come back so I can protect you.