Nolan stumbled into the house. His daughter…his beautiful Rebecca…gone. Snatched away by a dragon. He remembered her words that morning: someone has to make sure you don't get eaten. Arceus had a sick since of irony.
He knew there was almost no way she was still alive. He'd studied dragons for a large portion of his life, and he'd never known one to hoard food. No, that demon had almost certainly killed her as soon as it returned to its lair.
Why her? That straight-up takeoff couldn't have been easy, but by dropping below the tree line it had forced itself to execute such a maneuver. No mere animal would take such difficult prey when something easier was available. Surely even a demon would think twice about putting itself in such a situation just to take a victim.
He didn't want to admit it, but that dragon had to have been acting on orders. And he knew of only one being who gave orders to dragons.
The White Dragon…his daughter was in the hands of the White Dragon. If she even still lived. He knew what he had to do: enter the demon's lair and somehow, somehow bring his daughter out of that Hell.
And if you find only a body? Asked a voice in the back of his mind.
"Then I will avenge her."
Reshiram turned and entered the cave, Rebecca following. She initially hung back, expecting the dragon's tail to sweep from side to side as she walked, but she actually carried it quite stiffly. After noticing this, Rebecca tried to move closer, only to find that it was uncomfortably hot near the tail. Thinking for a second that this might be the aura from the story, Rebecca retreated a couple steps, back to a comfortable distance, and found that the heat around Reshiram's tail was extremely localized. Directly next to it was too hot for any creature to feel comfortable. Only a couple of feet away, however, the searing heat turned into a warmth similar to what came from a fire in a fireplace.
Rebecca was intrigued by the pulsing light that seemed to come from within the tail. She wondered if this was the source of Reshiram's fire. If it was, why was it located in her tail, rather than a more sensible place, like her chest? And why didn't all dragons have similar tails?
As she watched, the glow suddenly got brighter and Reshiram staggered, gasping in…pain?
"Are you all right?" Rebecca asked.
"I am…fine," Reshiram said. She turned and looked at her tail. As the glow subsided back to its previous level, she breathed a sigh of relief. Rebecca noticed, for a split second just before the glow lessened, that the dragon's eyes and the tips of her crests were glowing a fiery orange, the same color as the glow in her tail.
That night, Reshiram let the girl sleep on her back. She'd originally prepared a bed of moss and leaves for her guest but had dispensed with it after Rebecca had complained about how cold the cave was. Reshiram had never noticed that; her internal flame kept her from ever feeling the cold.
Now, Rebecca was sound asleep, curled up at the base of Reshiram's neck. She couldn't see the girl where she was, but she could feel the weight on her back. She was already growing fond of the kid.
"It's getting worse, isn't it?"
She turned and saw Flygon standing behind her.
"How could you tell?"
"It was not so bright yesterday," the smaller dragon said, gesturing to Reshiram's tail. Both of them just stared at it for a long moment.
"I will have to see him again," she finally said.
"Respectfully, my lady, I do not think that will work forever."
"It will not. It does not have to. I would not want to shackle myself to his therapies anyway."
Rebecca almost panicked when she woke up the next morning to find herself on a dragon's back. She hurriedly scrambled to the ground, stepping on the creature's wing as she did.
As soon as Rebecca put her foot onto the membrane of the wing, it snapped upward, knocking her to the ground.
"Ow!"
As soon as she heard Reshiram's voice, she remembered what had happened.
"Sorry for waking you," Rebecca said as the dragon got to her feet.
"I was not asleep."
The conversation was interrupted then by a low growl from the entrance to the cave. Rebecca turned and looked.
It was the green dragon who'd brought her here. Flygon, his name was.
"You have the day's list?" Reshiram asked him.
What sort of list? Rebecca wondered. Certainly not a paper one.
Flygon growled again.
"I will not be able to attend to it immediately. I have an…errand to run first."
Rebecca listened very closely to the smaller dragon's response, trying to make out syllables. She couldn't make out anything intelligible, but this was clearly a language of some sort.
"What is the weather currently?"
Rebecca thought she could detect a syllable that sounded like "gon" in the response this time.
"Good. We will not be seen."
"We?" Rebecca asked. "What kind of errand are you talking about?"
"Get on," Reshiram ordered.
"Wait. Where are we going?"
"You will see."
Rebecca didn't want to go anywhere with this dragon until she knew the specifics. There was a small part of her that still firmly believed that Reshiram intended to kill her eventually. But she also had a feeling she wasn't going to get any more answers until they arrived at wherever they were going.
She climbed back onto Reshiram's back, feeling the dragon's fur and scales under her hands. The "fur," as Rebecca had noticed the previous night, had quite a strange texture. It was closer to human hair than it was to typical fur, but it was rather coarse, almost uncomfortable to brush up against. Underneath it, Rebecca could see a layer of small scales. The two layers combined to create a beautiful sheen.
Reshiram pushed off from the ground and was suddenly airborne. It was the smoothest takeoff Rebecca had ever seen from any flying creature. She flew out of the cave, the air currents making flying quite difficult for Flygon, who trailed her. The smaller dragon negotiated the currents well, though.
Once over the lake, to Rebecca's shock, Reshiram shot fire from her tail to give herself an extra push upward. She shot out of the cavern's upper exit, trailing fire, but once above the trees, she cut the fire and flew using just her wings.
The day was solidly overcast, and Reshiram blended passably well into the pale gray of the clouds. Rebecca guessed that this was why she had asked about the weather. She'd have been spotted in seconds if the day was clear.
"Where are you taking me?" Rebecca asked.
"We call it the Heart of the Forest. There is someone there I want you to meet."
"Okay, I guess."
The next several minutes passed in silence, aside from the soft snap of Reshiram's wings slicing the air. Now that she was getting a ride from a dragon in a more comfortable way, Rebecca couldn't help but stare in wonder. Seeing the world, or even just a small part of it, like this was incredible. More so was the realization, when it came, that she was quite possibly the first human to see the world this way.
Reshiram was circling over the forest, now.
"Are you lost?" Rebecca asked.
"Finding the Heart is not easy. Its inhabitants cannot simply allow anyone to discover it."
After a couple more seconds, Reshiram went into a sharp dive and landed outside a grove of trees.
"This is it," she said. Rebecca went to slide off. "No. Stay there."
She did.
Rebecca wasn't sure what she'd expected, but the creature that stepped from the grove at that moment was not it. It was a blue-and-black deer, nearly as tall as Reshiram. Most of its body was fairly simple in design, aside from a few pale blue marks on its legs and chest. The only truly remarkable thing about it was its antlers. It had four pairs of them, and they were huge, easily longer than Rebecca was tall.
"Xerneas," Reshiram said, dipping her head in greeting.
"Reshiram." The deer, Xerneas, returned the gesture. The voice was male, and tinged with arrogance. "You have returned, and that means..."
Reshiram shook her head tersely, cutting him off.
"You fear to speak of it where others may listen?" Xerneas questioned.
"Speak of what?" Rebecca asked, frustrated. "You still haven't told me anything."
"You dare bring a human here?" he demanded, noticing Rebecca.
"I bring," Reshiram countered, a growl forming in her throat, "someone who has agreed to help me in my crusade and comes here under my protection."
"Can someone please explain to me what's going on?" Rebecca slid off the dragon's back, despite what she had said.
"Hold your tongue, you foolish girl," Xerneas snapped. "Were you not under Reshiram's protection I would slay you for daring to come here." Rebecca took a hurried step back.
"And once you did I would burn your precious glade to the ground," Reshiram returned.
"You would not dare."
"Try me." Reshiram's eyes glowed like a pair of miniature bonfires, and, for a moment, she truly looked the part of the fire demon the Slayers thought she was. Then the glow in her tail pulsed, almost hungrily, and she cried out.
"Come inside." The deer's tone softened immediately.
Reshiram entered the grove, and Rebecca started to follow, but Xerneas stopped her.
"You will remain here," he said. "Sawsbuck."
Another deer stepped from the grove. This one would have looked perfectly ordinary, if not for the small green spots on its back and the leaves in its antlers.
"Keep an eye on her," Xerneas ordered it. "I do not trust her."
The larger deer turned and strode into the glade, leaving Rebecca outside with the smaller one.
She immediately ran over and peered into the grove, craning her neck to see through the trees. Sawsbuck, the smaller deer, made no move to stop her. Xerneas and Reshiram stood face-to-face inside.
"Why bring her here?" Xerneas asked.
"I had hoped she would learn something here about what we are."
"I will be speaking to Father about this."
Who is his father? Rebecca thought. Interesting.
"He already knows, and he supports my plan."
"Why do you care about them?" He spat the final word.
"Because everyone deserves a chance to change."
"Not them!" the deer cried. "Not when they slaughter our subjects, those we are sworn to protect, and do it in our father's name."
No way, Rebecca thought. Arceus? How can Arceus be their father?
"They are ignorant. That is all."
"I disagree. But you did not come to argue with me. How is it?"
"You have two perfectly functional eyes. Look at my tail."
Xerneas looked at Reshiram's tale for a long moment. Rebecca craned her neck a little farther and saw that the glow was as bright as she'd ever seen it.
"You did not take my advice," he said.
"I tried."
"Try harder," the deer snapped. "If you cannot bring this under control, it will consume you. I cannot hold it back forever."
"I am not asking you to. I am resigned to it. I only require a little more time."
"Reshiram…" Xerneas seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Just do it."
"Very well." Xerneas' antlers glowed, going from pale blue to a riot of colors. Rebecca saw pale gold, orange, red, purple, and turquoise. His whole body glowed a pale pink. A pulse of darker pink surrounded Reshiram for a few seconds before subsiding. As it did, she breathed a sigh of relief, and the glow in her tail subsided almost completely.
As soon as they returned to the cavern, Flygon met them. He dipped his head in greeting to Reshiram, then spoke.
"My lady, the girl's father is nearly here."
Reshiram gasped. She'd expected that Rebecca's father, Nolan, would come looking for his daughter. She'd counted on it. But she had apparently underestimated the determination of an angry father.
"How long?" she asked.
"One of the Salamence spotted him not long after you left for the Heart. He'll be here before sun-high."
"Get everyone in their places. They know what to do?"
"Yes, my lady."
"Good." Flygon flew off.
"Wait. What's going on?" Rebecca asked, having understood only half of that conversation.
"Your father is coming."
Rebecca gasped. Her father was on his way. No doubt, in his mind, he was coming on a rescue mission. He would be well armed. An image flashed into her mind of one of her father's arrows piercing Reshiram's heart.
"I don't want you to get hurt," she said.
"I will not. I have had this plan formed for years. Besides, it would take more than a few arrows to defeat me."
"Okay…But before we do this, I have to ask."
"What Xerneas did at the glade."
"Yes."
"I had hoped I would not have to tell you. Perhaps I was a fool to think that."
"So…," Rebecca prompted.
"Rebecca, I am dying.
"What?"
"There is a fire inside of me that powers my attacks." She formed a ball of fire in her claws, then let it dissipate. "But I cannot control it. It has grown too big, and it is consuming me from the inside. Xerneas has the power to prolong life. He has been able to hold it back for decades, but my time is running out."
"So that's why you acted when you did."
"Yes. So long as I can show even one person the truth about my kind first, I can die happy."
"I…I'm sorry."
"Do not be. You have given me that chance, and for that, I thank you. Now, when your father enters the cave, this is what we will do."
Dragons had been watching him for hours, that much Nolan knew. It hadn't taken him long to realize that they were leading him somewhere. And now he'd found this cave. He guessed it was their mistress's lair. In there, somewhere, he would find Rebecca. The question was whether the White Dragon would have kept her alive.
He had spent hours preparing for this and had left early that morning. He had blundered around the forest aimlessly for most of the time he had spent looking, but then he'd realized that dragons had been popping up at regular intervals, as though hoping to lure him somewhere. He'd followed them, perhaps against his better judgment, in the hopes that he would find Rebecca, or at least her body, wherever he ended up.
He unslung his bow, ready to shoot at the first sign of movement. The simple fact that the demon had apparently wanted him to find this place told him that he should be ready. This could not bode well.
He entered the cave, and after walking for a short distance, he was surprised to see it open up into a large cavern. He noticed the shaft of light that came in through the hole in the ceiling and illuminated the lake at the bottom of the shaft, as well as the secondary cave that opened off the main chamber. He also noticed that it appeared completely empty. This was quite the cave; was it really home to only one dragon?
He crossed the cavern, toward the smaller cave. He guessed that this was where the dragon slept, and he wondered if her absence from the main cave meant that he'd had the sheer dumb luck to catch her in the middle of a nap. If he could slay her in her sleep, then escape with Rebecca without alerting any of the other dragons that might be watching…
He was about to enter the cave, when he heard the rustling of wings behind him. He turned and saw what could only be the White Dragon herself descending through the hole in the roof.
He started to draw back on the bowstring, but stopped, momentarily dazzled by the way the light reflected off her scales. He'd seen white dogs, white horses, even a white cat or two, but none of them could compare to this dragon. There was not a trace of cream, gray, or yellow in her coloration.
He shook of the daze, wondering if this was how she snared mortals, then scrambled backwards when he realized she was coming in for a landing on the shore.
"Where is my daughter, demon?" he cried.
The dragon's only response was to complete her landing, but once she had, Nolan saw what was perhaps the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. Rebecca poked her head up from between the dragon's shoulder blades.
"Papa," she said.
Instantly, his bow was drawn all the way back, arrow trained on the dragon's heart. "Let her go," he ordered.
"Papa," Rebecca repeated, climbing down. "Stop. She just wants to talk."
Nolan took a hand off his bowstring, grabbed her by the wrist, and stared into her eyes. She looked normal, not under any form of duress, but there had to be something. Why else would she be asking him not to shoot her captor?
"What have you done to her?" he demanded.
Rebecca put her hand on his arm. "She didn't do anything to me. I'm fine. Just listen to what she has to say, please."
"She's a demon, Rebecca," he said.
"Oh, I am, am I?" said a woman's voice in his head. "And yet your daughter stands before you, alive and unharmed."
He stared in shock at the dragon. "Did you just say something in my head?"
"How else did you expect me to hold a conversation?"
"This is a trick," he said. "Some kind of dark magic."
"Is it? You have studied my kind. After seeing us breathe fire, teleport, and so on, does this truly seem so impossible?"
"Well, maybe it's all magic."
"You may call it that, but it is simply a way of manipulating the natural energies of the world. Tell me, if your ancestors saw how you can start a fire with flint and steel, what would they think?"
"I suppose they'd consider it magic."
"And would they fear you for it? Might they call you a demon?"
"I suppose they might."
"Sit down, Nolan, and I will answer all your questions."
He sat. Rebecca joined him, and the dragon settled herself down across from them.
"So," he asked. "If you're not a demon, what are you?"
"Put aside your terms for now, Nolan. I do not think there is a word in your language to describe what I am."
"Okay, no pigeon-holing, then. But please, explain."
"Arceus, the being you call God, is my father."
Nolan leapt up, but Rebecca pulled him back down. "How is that possible?" he asked. He supposed that was technically true of everyone on the planet, but no one talked about Him that way. Who was she to talk about the Creator as though she knew Him personally?
"Why would it not be? Technically speaking, every living creature is his child. He created us all, after all."
"Then how are you different?" Rebecca asked.
"I am not unique. He created me and 46 others to serve as his…helpers, and sent us into your world nearly 300 years ago."
"The same time those creatures appeared," Nolan said.
"You know your history. He sent them here, and us to act as their guardians."
"Why?" Rebecca asked.
"Truthfully, I do not know."
"But His plan didn't work perfectly. He was betrayed," Nolan said.
"You mean Giratina." Nolan and Rebecca both winced visibly at the mention of that name. "You should not fear the name."
"Why not?" Rebecca asked.
"The story as you know it is partially right, although I do not know how he could have ended up as an evil figure in your religion when he only betrayed us about 150 years ago."
"Wait, what?" Rebecca asked. She wore the look of someone who had just had her faith deeply shaken.
"Giratina was Arceus' second-born child and first son, born 500 years before the rest of us, along with his brother and sister. For most of his life, he was a loyal son. But something changed. I do not know what. For 150 years, he has waged a private war against your kind."
"What does he have against us?" Nolan asked.
"He considers you weak, and at some point, he decided that the weak do not deserve to live."
"So you don't work for him."
"I would not dream of it. I have always been your kind's staunchest advocate."
"So what would you have us do?"
"Pass on what I have told you here today. Maybe one day our races can live in harmony."
"And if we refuse?"
"What response are you expecting from me? It is your choice, and yours alone."
Rebecca suddenly leapt up. "Reshiram," she cried. "Your tail!"
Three pairs of eyes swung around to look at the dragon's strange, conical tail. An orange glow pulsed within it, and even as they watched it brightened slightly.
"It's almost as bright as it was earlier," Rebecca said.
"It cannot be," the dragon said, her voice pained.
"What's going on?" Nolan asked.
"Well, it no longer matters what decision you make regarding whether or not to do as I ask, Nolan. I will not live to see the end result."
"What?" he asked.
"I don't completely understand it either," Rebecca said. "Basically, the source of her power is also killing her."
"I…I'm sorry."
"You had nothing to do with this. Either way, I am prepared to die. I am only a bit angry that my own body is doing what Walden could not."
"You know of him?" Nolan asked.
"How could I not know of the man who has hunted me for two decades? It was through him, indirectly, that I learned of you, when you left the Slayers."
"Wait, you were a Slayer, Papa? When were you going tell me this?" Rebecca asked.
"I should have told you sooner," he admitted. "I just didn't know how. That was where I met your mother. The Slayers is a men-only organization for the most part, as you know, but Andrea was the archivist at our headquarters. Thirteen years ago, shortly after you turned one year old, a dragon flew too close to our headquarters and several of us were dispatched to the courtyard to bring it down. It attacked us, in what I now realize was self-defense. We brought it down, but I didn't realize that Andrea had been in the courtyard at the time. She was killed in the crossfire."
"Mama…," Rebecca said softly.
"Walden expected me to want revenge, so he approached me for help on his White Dragon crusade. But I wasn't angry over her death. I didn't want revenge then, and I never have. What came of it instead was a desire to understand the creatures and why we had been placed in conflict with them in the first place."
He looked back to the dragon. Reshiram, his daughter had called her. "I will do my best to spread the word. You will not be forgotten."
"Thank you. I understand that standing up to your Church will be dangerous for you. Go home and plan. Good luck."
Nolan looked at Rebecca and saw that there were tears in her eyes.
AN: And here's part two. This story ended up running way longer than I had originally intended. I was originally intending for it to be maybe a ten-page story. It really came together after I watched Princess Mononoke with some friends, which inspired the addition of Xerneas to the story. Unfortunately, in the process it ballooned to 28 pages and over 12000 words.
Xerneas' role in this story is somewhat similar to the Great Forest Spirit from Princess Mononoke. Reshiram slowly dying was also inspired by that movie (if you've seen it, you know what I mean) and was added to give the story a much-needed sense of urgency.
As for why she's dying, all Fire-types (in my head-canon) have an internal flame that powers their Fire-type moves, but only those. Continually using Fire-type moves without any variety can stoke the flame to dangerous levels. Because Fire attacks are naturally easier than Dragon-type moves of similar strength, Reshiram has had a lot of difficulty learning any and only really knows Fire-type moves at this point. As a result, she's stoked her flame to such a level that it never truly subsides and is slowly but surely burning her up.
I really liked the idea that being so powerful doesn't give the Legends any insurance against certain issues. Reshiram's not the only one to have difficulty mastering moves that should have been easy for her.
One more detail about Reshiram in this is that I've always had an issue with descriptions that mention her having fur. Dragons are reptiles; they do not have fur. But then I remembered reading somewhere that human hair and fingernails are made of similar material, which eventually led to the idea that Reshiram's "fur" is in fact a layer of fine, hair-like scales overtop of her regular ones.
I love Flygon. He's a really under-appreciated Pokemon and I chose him for exactly that reason. Sawsbuck too. I loved the idea of each Legend having one or two regular Pokemon that work for them. Flygon's a general errand-runner and also brings any disputes among the dragons to Reshiram for resolution. Which is what's on the list mentioned in this chapter. Sawsbuck serves as a liaison of sorts between Xerneas and the inhabitants of his domain.
Also, regarding pronouns. I debated long and hard about whether or not to capitalize pronouns that refer to Arceus, as is the grammatical convention when referring to the Christian God. I finally compromised by doing it in the human characters' dialogue and the narration in their sections, but not doing it for Reshiram or Xerneas, because to them he's "Dad," not God.