Author's Note: Hello again, everyone! Chapter Four is up, and I believe it's my favorite one so far, so I hope you enjoy it too! This one's also a lot longer...I hope you'll read it anyway! ^ ^;

Disclaimer:
There once was a girl, age nineteen,
Who wrote fanfictions on laptop screen.
Though over the years, her collection has grown
The Pokémon franchise she still doesn't own,
But of this story, she is still Queen.

(...Hey, original Disclaimers are hard to come up with, and limericks are always fun.)
Enjoy!

Seven Nights

Night Four: Don't Look Back

Celebi looked over at her friend the next day, watching him out of the corner of her eye. It was already sunset again, and he had hardly moved or spoken at all the entire day, giving one-word responses to questions and refusing to eat much. Celebi was quite worried. She hated to see the little Pokémon in this state. Turning to face him as they sat on the forest floor under the Pecha tree, she tried once more to talk to him.

"Jirachi," she said gently, "Sachi wouldn't want you to be sad."

"I know," he told her, "I would not want me to be, either. But I am, Celebi. I am sad." He folded his hands in his lap, looking down at them sorrowfully. Celebi said nothing as she tried to think of something to comfort him, looking down at the grass beneath them.

"I am the Wishmaker, Celebi," he continued after a pause, making Celebi look up at him in surprise. Was he finally opening up again? "I grant wishes," Jirachi said. "Yet all the years I have been alive, I could do nothing while every friend I have ever had died around me, while I slept in peaceful ignorance." He looked up at the treetops. "I am useless," he concluded sadly.

"No," Celebi protested, putting a hand on his shoulder. "No, you aren't. You didn't know, Jirachi. And no one can stop..." she faltered, "...that... from happening. Not even you."

"If my friends had wished it," he said with a sigh, "perhaps I would have been able to grant them a life like mine. A life that goes on and on." He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the tree trunk.

Celebi shook her head. "No, Jirachi," she said gently. "It's... it's part of their life. It's...supposed to be that way." She winced then, realizing how terrible her last words had sounded.

Jirachi merely nodded, surprising Celebi. "I believe I understand that now," he said. He sighed again. "I only wish that I could go back and... say goodbye."

Celebi froze, her eyes widening. "Say that again, Jirachi," she urged him, grabbing his shoulder.

Jirachi looked at her, puzzled. "I wish I could go back and say goodbye," he repeated, his brows knit together in bemusement.

"Jirachi, that's it!" Celebi exclaimed, shaking him slightly.

"What is it?" Jirachi asked confusedly.

"We can go back!" Celebi told him excitedly, still clutching him. "We can go back and see Sachi!" Her eyes sparkled with joy.

"But...it was a thousand years ago!" Jirachi stuttered, but Celebi thought she saw a spark of his old enthusiasm rekindle in his eyes.

"I can do it!" Celebi said quickly. She didn't exactly know if this was true— she'd never traveled more than a hundred years before— but she was so eager to help Jirachi that the idea seemed very possible.

"R...Really?" Jirachi asked, clutching her shoulders back, a hopeful smile spreading across his face. "You could really take me to see Sachi?"

"I could try!" she exclaimed, practically bouncing with excitement.

"Oh, Celebi! That's wonderful!" he exclaimed, embracing her tightly in joy. Celebi grinned widely, her cheeks warming slightly in a faint blush. After a moment, Jirachi pulled back and cleared his throat, seemingly embarrassed by his impulse, a red flush covering his cheeks. "S—Sorry," he said bashfully, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

She giggled at him. "That's okay," she said happily. "I like hugs." She grinned at him, and he grinned back.

(-o-)

"So how does this work?" Jirachi asked curiously.

"You want me to try to explain time travel?" Celebi asked, raising an eyebrow at him incredulously.

He scratched his head, embarrassed. "Oh... I guess not," he conceded, grinning sheepishly. "I suppose it is quite complicated, huh? Even for you?"

"Even for me," Celebi agreed. It was true— though she could travel through time, she was hazy on the rules. She didn't control time; she merely moved through it. It was rather like trying to rationalize how breathing worked— it came naturally to her, and just wasn't something she thought about.

"Now take my hand," she instructed him, holding hers out to him. "I've never traveled this far back in time, so I don't know what it will be like, and it might be even harder since I have to take another Pokémon with me."

He took her hand, and Celebi was suddenly struck with how nice it felt, his hand clasped within hers. "Is it safe, then?" Jirachi asked timidly, and Celebi shook her silly thoughts of hand-holding from her mind as she answered.

"I think so," she said with as much confidence as she could muster. "I won't know until I try, though!"

"Then let us try!" Jirachi said, clasping his hand tighter around hers, looking at her with determination.

She smiled back at him and tightened her hold on his hand. "Okay," she said at last. "Here we go. One...two...three!"

They disappeared.

(-o-)

Everything seemed to be whizzing by at speeds that Jirachi could not even comprehend. A loud roar sounded in their ears. Jirachi looked over at Celebi, whose eyes were screwed shut tightly, her face contorted in effort, a blue, aura-like orb surrounding her and extending to surround him as well. The roar in their ears was powerful to the point of being painful, and Jirachi closed his eyes and screwed up his face in a wince.

A powerful suction, or maybe it was a wind, seemed to rise out of nowhere, pulling the two in opposite directions, and Jirachi yelped as he struggled to keep his hand clutched around Celebi's. He opened one eye halfway and saw Celebi panting with effort. The protective aura flickered around them and began to shrink. Jirachi pulled himself closer to Celebi as the colors whizzing by them seemed to fade into a single color that just couldn't be identified. With effort, he grabbed Celebi's other hand.

"Celebi!" he yelled over the roar. "What is wrong?"

"It... hurts!" Celebi moaned as the aura shrank a little more. Her face was twisted into an expression of agony. She grasped his hands tightly and let out a cry of pain. The roar seemed to get even louder, and the two were shaken violently by the mysterious windstorm. Celebi panted weakly, her blue orb shrinking to just barely cover them as her hold on his hands loosened slightly. She let out another cry as they were buffeted by the strange hurricane.

"Celebi!" he cried out, holding onto her tighter, becoming frantic as she began to exhibit more signs of pain. "Celebi, stop! Please, do not try so hard! Just take us back to the forest!"

"I have... to try!" she gasped, and the aura shrank to cover only Jirachi as she cried out and slipped from his hands, immediately being swept away and disappearing from sight.

"CELEBI!" he shouted, his hands reaching out uselessly as he felt himself compress strangely.

Suddenly, he hit the ground hard, his brain seeming to rattle from the impact. Extreme vertigo hit him all at once, the abrupt lack of motion making him dizzy. His surroundings were green, but that was all he could tell before they blurred. His rolling eyes searched desperately around himself, at last locating a blurry light-green shape. "Ce...Cele..." he panted, trying in vain to crawl toward the figure.

"Celebi..." he whimpered before the world went black.

(-o-)

"Uhhh..." Jirachi moaned, sitting up and holding his head. He closed one eye in a wince as he looked around, taking in his surroundings. Countless berry trees, trees of all different colors...he was back in the forest where he had met—

And suddenly he remembered. "Celebi!" he cried out, looking around on the ground. A small, motionless green body lay a few feet away. "Celebi!" he repeated, scrambling toward her and shaking her, his heart pounding rapidly.

"Nnn..." Celebi moaned softly, and relief washed over him. He heaved a sigh. Thank Arceus, he thought gratefully.

"Celebi, are you all right?" he asked gently as her eyes fluttered open.

"Jirachi..." she croaked, a faint smile of relief flitting across her face. He helped her sit up carefully. She coughed a few times, her small body shaking, and Jirachi winced internally. She looked so frail, not like the strong, knowledgeable Celebi he had come to know. She heaved a deep breath, turning to face him. "Thank goodness you're all right," she said.

"Me?" he said incredulously. "Celebi, I saw you in there... You were almost torn apart!" Now that he knew she was okay, he wasted no time in scolding her, though his voice broke on the last word, making the scolding rather ineffective.

Celebi shrugged her thin shoulders, sitting up a bit more on her own. "I've never traveled that far before," she explained simply. "I guess I found out I can't do it."

"Celebi," Jirachi pressed, still holding her hands from when he had helped her sit up, "When you let go of me... Why were you not glowing?"

She searched him with her large eyes, which looked a little glazed. "I was too weak to protect both of us," she admitted, averting her gaze.

Jirachi felt a surge of an emotion that was equal parts a protective anger and a touched warmth. "Celebi..." he began in a voice that was intended to be reproaching, but came out sounding more like a pained sigh. He didn't know what to say— she had hurt herself so badly, and all because of him. She was the one who should have been scolding him, not the other way around.

Instantly, he felt remorse. "Celebi," he choked, "I am so very, very sorry. I have been selfish. I have pushed you too hard."

She glanced at him with an expression that may have been annoyance. "It was my idea in the first place," she reminded him. "And you weren't being selfish. Please don't apologize. I'm fine, see?" She smiled at him to emphasize her point.

He looked her over, as if trying to detect whether she was merely lying for his benefit. But she appeared to be sincere. "Okay," he conceded quietly, and then added, "But please do not try that again. I... I did not like it."

She snorted. "I didn't really enjoy it either," she said.

He shook his head. "No, no— I mean, I did not like the sensation of time-travel at all, but— I meant, I did not like seeing you get hurt," he trailed off to a mumble, embarrassed.

She smiled at him, a fond glint in her eye as she looked him over. Jirachi thought there was a hint of a blush on her cheeks. "Don't worry," she told him, her voice sweet. "I won't do it again." Her eyes clouded over with regret. "I'm sorry I couldn't take you to Sachi."

He shook his head vigorously, his tags swaying back and forth. "It would not change anything," he assured her. He found himself searching her eyes, as if making sure every trace of pain was gone from them. "Thank you for trying," he said gratefully.

"You're welcome," Celebi responded. Suddenly, a rumble sounded from Jirachi, and Celebi burst out laughing. "Apparently time travel makes you hungry!" she giggled.

He flushed bashfully. "I guess we should fly around and look for something to eat, then," he said sheepishly.

"I would love to," Celebi agreed, "But I can't."

He blinked. "Why not?" he asked, puzzled.

"You're still holding my hands," she reminded him, glancing down at their joined hands.

He blushed red and yanked his hands away quickly, feeling himself grow heated with embarrassment. "S-Sorry!" he blurted.

She laughed at him, flitting up from the ground. "You're funny, Jirachi," she told him. He grinned bashfully at her. "You go on ahead," Celebi said. "I'll look around here. It's already getting dark; we'll collect more if we split up." He nodded assent and flew ahead, searching for new berries to sample, leaving her hovering in midair.

Celebi waited until he was out of sight to let herself falter in the air and let out a gasp of pain.

Author's Note: Well, how was it? Please let me know! I will love you forever.

I've run into a bit of a rough patch in the middle of Chapter Six, but I know exactly what's going to happen after that. All I need to do is get...through...chapter...six! It's a stubborn bugger. But it will probably be the happiest one yet (besides the ending), so stay tuned (this isn't a television show or radio, self...)! In the meantime, Chapter Five is pretty good too, and will actually include some other Pokémon! Ooooh! Excitement! XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you're liking my story in general! Thank you so much for clicking. :)