Unforgiven

by ryuredwingsreturn

The Ruins of Alph hold many secrets, including the ancient connection between Johto and Sinnoh. While on a seemingly uneventful assignment escorting an archaeologist in the ruins, International Police agents Clara and Peregrine are witness to the violent release of Giratina back into the world after thousands of years of imprisonment.

4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: And here we are! The chapter we've all been waiting for! Get ready because it's going to be one hek of a ride. Grab some popcorn and get settled in, because it's going to be a long one.

Happy reading!

Chapter Four

Clara squinted up at the mountain, the sky slowly turning into the strange, blinding darkness that came with the few hours before sunrise. She hadn't even known this part of Sinnoh had existed, but according to Ite and Nara, there was a good reason for that. Sendoff Spring was also the name of Sinnoh's fourth lake, the 'secret' lake of the north that blocked the way to Turnback Cave, entrance to the hidden Shaymin shrine. With a sigh, she turned back to their small group of nervous people. Ite and Hana were huddled together, the two of them checking over her flying gear so she could cross the lake with ease, and Peregrine was double-checking the stacks of supplies they had picked up for their stakeout.

The plan had been put together almost within seconds of Hana and Peregrine being two feet from each other; she had been lucky that she had caught any of it before they had started jumping around outside. The main issue they had been facing was how to communicate with Hana while she explored the shrine, and since none of them could accompany her into the caves, there was no way to know if she could be in trouble. Ite and Nara could theoretically do it, but after some discussion, it was decided that if Yumi saw them, she might perceive them as a threat and attack. Sending Hana in by herself was the safest option, if not the most for her.

The first idea had been to put a wire on her, but a wire transmitting to a radio wouldn't work deep inside the mountain. Then Peregrine had thought of something that didn't require any technical support at all.

Peregrine was a native to Johto, and the togepi line that he hailed from had a history of being born with psychic type powers. It was usually hit or miss for their children to be born with it, but he was lucky enough that he was one of them. While he was known more for his speed, he was also handy for his Psychic ability, and would be able to communicate telepathically with Hana while she was inside the mountain because of it. All the Shaymin would have to do was think about being in trouble, and Nara and Ite could swoop in and get her out. Clara was hoping that this would be a peaceful encounter if Yumi was in the shrine after all, given the history she seemed to have with the Shaymin.

Her eyes landed on the lake, the water strangely still and looking oddly deep for how small it was. It was just large enough to keep regular people from crossing by swimming, and the beach around was too thin to provide much of a walkway without risking falling down the narrow slope all around them. The mountain top the lake was perched on certainly helped it stay secret from people who may not already know it was there.

Nara was sitting at the water's edge, huddled in a small ball within her robes and a blanket tossed over her shoulders. Instead of going to join Peregrine in checking over the radios they had just in case they took Yumi into custody, Clara decided to join the Dialga. The Dialga had gone quiet again after explaining why Ite had been so against anyone doing anything at all, and while she believed Nara's explanation, she still had a few questions she wanted to ask her.

The Typhlosion carefully sat down next to her, grunting as she tried to angle herself in such a way that her healing midsection didn't scream in agony. Nara looked up, her red eyes glowing faintly in the dark, and Clara thought she saw a small, empathetic smile.

"...She got you pretty good too, huh?" she said once Clara was finally comfortable on the sand.

Clara rested a hand just above her stomach, indicating where Yumi had punched her.
"She nearly busted all my ribs," she admitted with a frown. "I'm lucky she didn't give me a hernia the size of my foot..."
She glanced at Nara, her amber eyes flickering over Nara's hairline and jaw. Peregrine had told her about the beating she had received at her older sister's hands, and yet the woman looked no worse for wear in the dark.

"It looks like you healed up pretty quick though," she said.

Nara looked away, staring back at the water again and tightened the blanket around her shoulders the slightest bit.
"I, uh… I was able to speed up my healing a little bit," she explained, gesturing with a hand towards her face. "It still hurts, and it's a bit dangerous since I pretty much compressed all the time it would have taken naturally which isn't great for a person's body, but... I didn't want to worry Hana..." She trailed off with a sheepish shrug.

"Mmm… That makes sense," Clara said, glancing over at the Shaymin in question.

She turned her attention back to Nara, not wanting to beat around the bush any longer.
"Can I ask you a few questions?"
Nara looked at her the way most people did when a police officer said those seven words, and Clara quickly put up a hand, waving it dismissively.

"Off the books, this is just me wanting to know something," she said, and gave her an apologetic smile. "I, uh… I don't like leaving things unanswered; it bugs me when I don't have all the puzzle pieces I want."

Nara shifted, getting more comfortable where she was. The typhlosion and her hadn't gotten along very well since the beginning of the investigation, but that had been due to how much dodging she and Ite had had to do. Clara was indeed very good at her job, and she had been making it very difficult to keep the truth from her the longer they were around each other, so Nara had done the logical thing and avoided her as much as possible. There wasn't any need to try and keep her from asking questions now.

"I'll try to answer you as best I can," she said, giving her a weak smile. "Although that depends on what you want to ask me. What is it?"

"From what you've told me about your sister, it doesn't seem like she should have had any reason to attack you at all," said Clara. "So why did she?"

Nara sighed, closing her eyes as she thought about her answer. She had been wondering if anyone was going to ask her or Ite about that.

"The Distortion Realm… Does things to people," she began. "The Yumi that's out here in the world now may be completely different from the one we used to know. It's a reverse world that messes with your mind, and makes things appear the opposite of how they really are. It can change your entire personality."

"So that's what Ite meant when he kept saying that it she might not be your sister anymore?" Clara asked. Nara nodded, glad that she was able to piece things together with what little information she had.

"People have wandered into the Distortion Realm before," she explained. "There are little breaks in our world that lead to it, and when they come back, they're completely different. Most of the time, the effects wear off after a few weeks or a month, but no one has ever been trapped there as long as Yumi has..."
She fell silent again, thinking about what her sister had been like when she had encountered her in the temple. Her older sister had always had a bad temper. Her personality was best described as intense and passionate, but the rage that Yumi had turned on her had been terrifying. It was a part of her she had known existed, but had never thought would have been directed at her.

"Yumi would have never hurt us," Nara finally said, and looked over at her brother. He looked as if he was trying to pass the time chatting with Peregrine and fussing over Hana's scarf. "I think that's what upset Ite the most, and why he's so afraid that she may have changed for the worst. I don't know why my mother thought the Distortion Realm was where she needed to be put after what she did when it could have done so much damage to her…"

Clara watched the Dialga, carefully studying her expression before saying the the next question that was on her mind. It had been what was bothering her the most the more she learned about Yumi, the Shaymin genocide, and her siblings' view of their older sister.

"So, you really don't have any idea why Amaterasu banished her there?" she said. Nara shook her head.

"Whenever we asked, she wouldn't answer us," she said, the sad confusion clear in her voice. "Or if she did, she said it was for her own good, or that it was what needed to be done."

She glanced at Clara, and nearly jumped back a few inches from her. The Typhlosion's face had clouded over with silent anger. Nara was half expecting the water in front of them to start boiling. Clara suddenly stood up, not faltering despite the healing wounds she had exhibited earlier, and looked down at her with the same determination she had seen back at the house when they had talked about Yumi's reason for imprisonment.

"There is no such thing," she said with finality. "As locking your own child up for their own good."

With that, she briskly walked towards Peregrine. He was testing the radios, a pair of headphones being held to one of his ears as he concentrated on finding the right frequency. He heard the crunch of Clara's boots behind him, and glanced back at her, giving her a quick thumbs up.

"We're doing pretty well, considering how far out we are," he said. She bent closer to take a look at the radio's needles. "I got a hold of Nefertiti and Loki; they're ready to give us back up if we need it. They're just a little ways down the mountain. They have to leave by o-six hundred though so they can handle any press that are nosing around Solace Town for leads. That gives us about two hours."

"Okay, good."

Clara took a deep breath, and looked towards Ite and Hana. "Let's get this show on the road then."

Ite caught her eye, and she nodded at him. He nudged Hana, and she looked up from fiddling with the sash tied around her waist. She didn't need her full flight ensemble to move across the lake, but Ite had suggested she wear it all anyway given how cold the caves could be so early in the morning. Peregrine had also brought up the fact that wearing the same things the last time Yumi had seen her in might help keep the Giratina from attacking her on sight. It was a thought none of them had wanted to say outloud, but he had had a point.

Clara walked up to the Shaymin, looking her up and down. She was a good half foot taller than the young woman, and for a moment, she wondered if what they were doing was the smartest thing. Sending in a nineteen year old girl to see if an ancient, confused legendary was hiding in a shrine was most likely one of their riskier ideas. Confronting it now that it was right in front of her made her heart skip a few beats in preemptive terror.

Hana gave her a huge smile, her pink eyes sparkling with a determination she thought she recognized. It almost entirely reassured her.

"I'm good to go!" she said, giving her a double thumbs up. Clara gave her a small smile, appreciating her enthusiasm in the face of something so potentially dangerous.

"Alright," she said, and motioned for Peregrine to come over.

He left his seat, and gave Hana a smile as he bent down so that they were eye-level.

"Are you ready?" he asked her, and she gave him a vigorous nod.

"Yeah! Let's do this!"

Peregrine returned her grin; he really liked it when people shared the same amount of enthusiasm that he did.
"Alright, so this is how it works," he said, and pointed to his forehead. "I'm going to touch my head to yours, and then use Psychic. That should create the mental link we need between us. You'll be able to tell if it worked pretty quick."

There was a little more he did on his end, like concentrating on the idea of her mind and who she was, but he didn't want to confuse her with the technical side of things. If she had questions later, which he wouldn't be surprised if she did since she seemed the type to want to know about everything, he could explain later.
Hana nodded her head again, understanding. "Okay, got it!"

Peregrine leaned in, and gently touched his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. Hana mimicked him, quickly closing her eyes and trying to stay as still as she could. A faint, purple glow started around Peregrine's closed eyes, swirling around them like a translucent mask, and then faded after a moment. He leaned back, opening his eyes.

"You alright?" he asked Hana as she looked around, frowning a bit in confusion.
Hana twisted her mouth in thought; this wasn't how she had imagined it would have felt like at all. There was no other strange presence in her mind, no feeling of someone else being with her.

"I don't feel any different," she said, obviously puzzled. "How do we know it worked?"

"Oh, uh…"

Peregrine closed his eyes again, a slight purple shimmer spinning around his head.
Hana nearly shrieked she gasped so quickly, clapping her hands to her mouth, and making Ite and Nara stare at her brief concern and the togekiss jump back a little. She quickly waved her guardians off, nearly bouncing in excitement at the prospect of this new form of communication.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she said to them, trying not to laugh. She leaned in, focusing her attention on Peregrine, her pink eyes sparkling despite the dark. "Wait, so, how do I do it back? If I get in trouble, how can I tell you?"

He gestured with a hand around himself, looking unsure.

"Well, ah… You just kinda think at me? Like, think of it like you're trying to yell something to me across a room, or something, but you're thinking." he explained. He wished there was a better way to describe, but he thought the idea of just tilting your thoughts towards a specific person wasn't what would help her.

Hana twisted her mouth again, looking down, and gave it a shot. After a second, Peregrine flinched, putting a hand up.

"Ooh, jeez, not so loud!" he said quickly, wincing.
Hana's hand flew up to her mouth, as if she had actually shouted at him. "Oh! Sorry, sorry!"
He gave her a sheepish smile. "It's alright, my example probably wasn't the best," he said. "But good job! I can hear you loud and clear."

He looked up at Clara, giving her a thumbs ups. "We're good to go!"

"Good. Let's make this quick," said Clara.

She looked to Hana again, and, this time, put both of her hands on the Shaymin's shoulders. Hana looked up at her, the determination back on her face but tinged with the anxiety she had wondered would show up when it came time to leave.

"Hana, I need you to listen to me very carefully," said Clara, leaning down so she was eye-level with her. Hana nodded.

"You're a very brave and smart young lady, but the second it gets dangerous, even a little bit, you need to tell Peregrine right away. Ite will come and get you, and we'll take it from there. Do you understand?"

Hana looked down, taking a deep breath, and then looked back up to her, nodding again.

"Yes, m'am," she said. Clara gave her a brief smile.

She patted her on the shoulder, and then gestured that she was free to go, waving towards the lake.

Hana quickly went to Ite and Nara, giving them both a hug, and Clara wondered if they would ever let go. Finally, Nara released her young charge, and Hana went to the water's edge.

The green and gold light of the Gracidea flower swirled around her as she used its power to give herself flight, and then the Shaymin was off, flying across the water towards the dark entrance of the cave across the lake.

Ite had been right about the caves. Hana tugged on her scarf, pulling it up higher to cover her mouth as she watched her breath puff into the air in white clouds. It was early summer in this part of Sinnoh, but the inside of the mountain didn't reflect it. Thankfully, the shrine wasn't that far ahead, and she knew once she was inside, she would warm up.

She was following her nose, sniffing for the crisp scent of grass and fresh air, and feeling along the cave wall for bumps of moss.

There were about three different ways to try and find Sendoff Spring inside the mountain: sniff out the smell of grass, get lucky and find the correct amount of mossy bumps in the walls, or get even luckier, and know the correct amount of pillars to look for when coming to an intersection. Hana was one of three people in the world who knew about all three, and so finding the shrine wasn't a problem. However, the cold in the caves was, and she had had to watch her step for the last ten minutes, the ground slick with half-formed ice puddles.

The scent of flowers suddenly brightened up the air, and she walked faster down the tunnel, recognizing the smell. Further down was a dead end, crumbled rocks and boulders crowding the low wall. Hana kept on walking, stepping around the boulders, and went straight on through the solid looking earth.

The sudden change of light nearly blinded her, spots dancing in her vision, and she threw a hand up to shade her eyes. She had forgotten how bright it was inside of the shrine.

Sendoff Spring was a sun-filled valley bursting with colorful flowers despite being inside of a mountain. It had been created by the Shaymin as a final resting spot before heading to Flower Paradise. On the other side of the valley was another doorway, a red gate that she could see from where she stood, that lead to a snowy plateau on the other side of the mountain. She took a deep breath, the Gracidea bushes surrounding the shrine making the air heavy with a sweet, light smell, the scent that had guided her through the last stretch of tunnel.

She put her hand down, her eyes finally adjusting to the light, and as her eyes landed on the shrine placed in the middle of small valley, saw Giratina.

Her heart leaped into her throat upon realizing she was actually there, and she nearly did what she had told herself she wouldn't do: turn right around and run for her life. She took an instinctive step back, her feet disobeying her will to stay where she was, and quickly telegraphed back to Peregrine that Yumi was in the shrine. Her heart slowed as she realized that the woman hadn't even noticed her at all.

She was sitting in the shrine, leaning against one of the red pillars that held up the tiled roof, with her eyes closed and her legs dangling off the stone platform. Her gold hair waved in an invisible breeze, rippling in the sun. Hana watched her, waiting to see if anything would happen. The initial shock had worn off, and curiosity was quickly welling up where it had been. She kept thinking of what had happened in the temple; the woman's chilly fingers on her cheek, and the pain on her face.

"I thought you were all gone…"

She could hear Peregrine asking a dozen questions, mostly pertaining to her safety, and she quickly shushed him, telling him that she was going to get closer. His protests were a dull cacophony in her mind that she pushed away, and she walked further into the valley. She quietly crept up to the small shrine, carefully watching Yumi as she did.

The woman suddenly opened her eyes, and Hana froze where she was. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, Hana's heart hammering in her ears and her brain screaming in indecision. Should she run? Should she talk to her? What did you do in the face of something that had the potential to wipe you out where you stood.

She couldn't focus on anything in front of her, not wanting to stare straight at her in case it provoked her, her gaze jumping from Yumi to the shrine and everywhere in between while she tried to decide what to do. The inside of the shrine finally caught her attention. Incense was burning in the holder, and fresh candles had been placed around the altar. It looked as if the stairs and the floor had been recently swept clean. Hana looked at Yumi again, who hadn't moved or stopped staring at her the entire time.

"Did you clean the shrine?" she blurted out, completely flabbergasted.

Yumi finally moved, and turned her head to look at the altar and floor in question, straightening from leaning against the pillar. Hana took the opportunity to creep a little closer to her.

"...Yes," Yumi slowly answered, as if speaking to someone was still something she was getting used to. She looked back towards her, and despite how Hana felt she was testing her limits, she continued to get closer. Yumi's eyes never wavered from her, following every movement as she stopped two feet from her.

Hana stared back up at her, trying to wrap her head around how big the woman was. She had thought it may have been her imagination, a trick from how dark the temple had been when she had first seen her, but she really was as tall as she thought she had been. She was bigger than Ite, and he was the tallest person she knew. There was no obvious muscle to her pale form, but even then, she didn't doubt that she could lift something twice her size. Looking at her now, with her gold hair floating around in a gleaming cloud and the sun bouncing off the golden sigil that floated above her head, she could see why Nara had described her sister as beautiful. Despite her ragged appearance, there was an air of majesty around her.

Yumi finally broke the staring match, looking down at the green grass waving beneath her feet.

"I know I'm not supposed to be here," she said, a tinge of guilt in her voice. "I thought it was the least I could do."

Hana blinked, thrown off by the explanation, and then quickly shook her head, desperately trying to regain her footing.

"No, no, it's alright!" she said, waving her hands. She bit her lip. "Ah… Well, did you take your shoes off at least?"

Yumi stared blankly at her. "...I don't have shoes," she said. "They disintegrated 3,000 years ago."

Hana mentally pulled at her hair, and vaguely wondered if Peregrine could feel what was going on inside of her head. She sincerely hoped that he couldn't. She ran a hand through her green hair, glancing to the side as she felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment from her oversight.

"Right. Um…" Hana nervously tapped her foot, and then looked up at Yumi, unsure.

"Do you mind if I come up there?" she asked.

Yumi's expression didn't change, her face still oddly blank. "It's your shrine," she said. "You can do whatever you feel like."

Hana decided not to argue with her, feeling like if she spoke anymore her feeling of intense stupidity would only increase, and started yanking off her boots. She climbed the steps of the shrine, quickly bowed towards the altar in a silent prayer, and then turned around to sit next to Yumi, dangling her legs over the edge much like she was. She started to unwind her scarf from around her neck, and then felt a hand touch her shoulder. Hana paused to look at Yumi, who was intently concentrating on the hand that she had pressed against her arm, and then looked up at her, her expression finally shifting to show a sense of wonder.

"You're real," said Yumi, sounding as if she still wasn't sure.

Hana stared at her for a moment, and then gave her a confused smile. "Well… Yeah," she said. She leaned in closer to her. "You didn't think I was real?"

Yumi shook her head.

"I thought… That maybe I was imagining you somehow," she said. She frowned, her brow knitting together and then looked at her as if she had just woken up from an intense dream. Her red eyes were clear and trained on her face.

"Who are you?"

Hana instantly gave her a smile.
"My name's Hana," she said, and offered her her hand.

Yumi stared at the gesture for a moment, and then carefully took it, her hand twice the size of the tiny Shaymin's. Hana gave her hand a firm but gentle shake, and felt the same squeezing in her chest as she had before, only this time it was bright and warm. It made her feel as if what was happening was right, like she was doing what needed to be done the most.

Yumi seemed to want to smile back, but her face didn't move much. Hana wondered how much the Giratina was able to feel at the moment; she was strangely distanced compared to how emotional she had been back at the temple.

"I'm… Yumi," said Yumi, pausing halfway as if she had to think about who she was for a moment.

Hana nodded her head, smiling. "Uh-huh, I know!"

Yumi blinked, obviously confused at this knowledge, and Hana quickly followed up. "Ite and Nara told me your na-"

"You know my brother and sister?!"

Yumi's hair had suddenly flared out a bit, the golden stream puffing up the slightest as the Giratina leaned in close. Her eyes showed more emotion then her face did, Hana studying the mixture of guilt and pain in them, and felt a pang of empathy for her. Thousands of years of isolation were in her eyes, and the thought reached deep into her. She reached and took Yumi's hand, making the woman look sharply at her, her eyes going wide in shock. Hana smiled gently at her, trying to help her feel the kindness she wanted to give her.

"Mm-hm. They raised me," she said, looking up warmly at her.

Yumi calmed down, her hair slipping back into the floating wave that it had been, and she looked away from her, staring down at the grass again. She didn't let go of her hand.

"How?" Yumi asked, the confusion back in her eyes as she looked her up and down again. "Where did you come from?"

"I, uh… I'm not very sure myself, really," Hana confessed, gently bouncing their hands up and down. "They found me in Floraroma Valley. I was just a little baby, and an old lady found me. She didn't even know what I was until I was probably 5…"

Hana looked up at the bright sky, studying the puffy clouds as they marched on by.

"She called the police as soon as she figured it out. After that, Nara and Ite picked me up, and I've been with them ever since."

"Have they cared for you well?" Yumi asked, a hint of anxiety in her voice.

Hana brightened considerably at the question, her pink eyes sparkling with happiness.
"Oh, I think so! I mean, they've done their best." she said. "They're not perfect, after all."
Yumi stared at her again, something flickering in her eyes that Hana couldn't quite place. The Giratina finally looked back down at the grass. "...I see."

Hana swung her feet, the silence hanging heavily between them. She thought back to what she had seen in the temple; Yumi furious and spattered with Nara's blood, and compared it to the woman who was sitting next to her that was trying not to squeeze her hand too hard. Clara suddenly came into her thoughts, how the officer was constantly looking for the pieces to the puzzle of what had happened 5,000 years ago, and what was going on now. It was time she tried to find some answers herself.

"Yumi," she said, and the Giratina looked to her grip on her hand tightened the slightest. "What happened? Nara told me a little about you… Why did you attack her at the temple? It doesn't sound like something you would have done."

Hana let the questions hang in the air, looking at her imploringly with concern in her large, pink eyes. She hoped Yumi could see that she wasn't asking to make her feel bad, or to accuse her of anything. She only wanted to know what was going on so she could try and help.

Yumi only stared at her once more, as if testing her to see if the emotions on her face were sincere. She let go of her hand, and looked out to the valley, lacing her pale fingers together nervously. Her expressionless face had finally changed, Yumi's mouth pressed into a thin line and her forehead creased as she struggled to piece together what to say.

"I was just… So… Angry," she said, each word laced with desperation, as if she had barely escaped hanging off a cliff with her bare hands. "I was angry at everything… Myself, my mother, Nara, Ite…"

She went quiet again, fiddling with her fingers. Hana was suddenly struck by how Yumi actually looked too thin for her size. There were dark circles under her eyes, her wrists and fingers seemed too boney, and there was slight hollowness in her cheeks. A sense of gauntness haunted her that she hadn't noticed before.

"I didn't know where I was at first," Yumi continued. "And when I try to think about when I got to the temple, it's a little… Blurry. Like I was there, but I wasn't at the same time. I just remember seeing Nara, and suddenly all I could think about was how wrong everything was and how angry I was at it all."

She fell silent, frowning hard at the grass, and rubbed the back of her head as if it would help her make sense of her rage impaired memories. She looked at Hana, her eyes flickering over her the same way when the girl had first settled down next to her.

"And then I saw you," she said with lingering disbelief. "I thought I had finally gone completely crazy..." She still looked a little unsure as to whether she was really there, even after touching and speaking to her for the past five minutes.

Hana listened patiently, letting Yumi work out what had happened from her point of view, and then gently touched her hand again, trying to reassure her. She cocked her head to the side to look into the woman's face better.

"Do you feel any better now?" she asked. "You're not acting like you were before."

Yumi looked up at the sky much like Hana had been doing earlier, her eyes following the clouds as they passed by.

"...I am feeling more myself," she said. "I don't quite remember how I got here, or why I decided to come, but when I came to the valley, I… It was like I could breathe again. I could… Think again."

She looked down again, closing her eyes so hard it looked as if she was angry. Hana recognized the expression; Ite made the same face when he was thinking hard about something or trying to make a difficult decision.

"...And I remembered everything that I did," Yumi said gravely, squeezing her hands into fists in her lap.

The guilt in her voice almost made Hana flinch, the emotions Yumi must have been feeling burying themselves deep inside her heart. She bit her lip, quickly sending to Peregrine everything that had happened in the small space of time, especially how Yumi remembered everything that she had done at the temple.

The plan had been that if Yumi was in the shrine and nonthreatening, was to somehow get her out of the caves and outside so Clara and Peregrine could take her into custody. Hana doubted that the Giratina would want to leave though given her current state of mind, and how the woman obviously felt remorse for what had happened. She didn't want to talk her into coming out, only to be faced with another form of punishment. She didn't want her to leave feeling as if she deserved to be put away, again, for something out of her control; it wouldn't solve anything. It wouldn't help Yumi remain who she really was.

Hana looked back to Yumi, who had resumed staring at the ground, and saw that her hands were still clenched in her lap. She took a deep breath, and reached to put a hand on top of one of her fists. The Giratina jumped the slightest and looked at her, mildly confused.

"...They're really worried about you," Hana said, and Yumi's eyes flickered, swimming with guilt again as she brought up her siblings.

"And they've missed you. Especially Nara."

Yumi shuddered, looking away from her, her chest heaving as she took a shaky breath, and squeezed her eyes shut again.

"I don't see why," she said, her voice threatening to crack. "I've done nothing but hurt them."

Hana took both of her hands, holding her clenched fists and gave them a squeeze.

"Because they love you," she said, meaning every word. "Isn't that a good enough reason?"

The emotionless wall that Yumi had built around herself began to crumble right in front of her. Yumi suddenly sucked in a sharp breath, her whole body shaking, and gritting her teeth. She suddenly turned to her, face contorted in pain, and her red eyes threatening to overflow with tears.

"Why are you being so kind to me?!" she demanded, her voice strained. "You're all alone, and it's all my fault! Why don't you hate me?! Why are you here trying to comfort me?!"

She turned away from her, jerking her hands out of Hana's hold, and gripping the ledge, bits of the stone breaking off in her grip.

"I don't deserve it! I don't deserve them!"

Hana silently watched the woman struggle for breath as she held back her tears, and then stood up. She was back down in an instant, on her knees, and wrapped her arms around Yumi, pressing her forehead to the top of her golden head.

"I have never been alone," she said to her, holding her as tight as she could. "I've always had my family…" Hana swallowed hard, trying to keep her voice steady.

"And they're yours too. And we all want you back."

If Yumi tried to respond, whatever she said was lost underneath her half-restrained wails, and she finally relented, turning into Hana's hug and putting her arms around her tiny waist. Hana rested her chin on top of the woman's head and rubbed her back as Yumi buried her face somewhere between her stomach and chest, and wept.

Nara nervously looked from the meditating Peregrine to the still empty entrance to the mountain. The togekiss had only moved to open his eyes and tell Clara what Hana was sending back to him, and the various emotions that were radiating off of her. So far, there had been nothing to cause them to worry, but the Dialga was doing it all on her own. She huffed where she stood, and started to pace once more.

"I really wish she would tell Officer Peregrine what was going on more," she said, twisting her fingers together nervously.

Clara looked up from the notebook that she had been writing in, watching the Dialga walk to and fro.

"If anything bad were happening, Pippin would tell us," she said, trying to reassure her. She felt as if she was speaking to a rock though; she had repeated that same fact at least ten times since Hana had left.

Clara looked up as she heard the strange static water sound of Ite returning, and saw him appear from the whirl of pink and black that appeared in the ground. He materialized with a few mugs of steaming coffee in his hands, and the portal disappeared as he stepped out. Nara quickly walked up to him, taking one of the mugs, and started to drink despite how hot it obviously was.

Ite came over to Clara and handed her a mug.

"Nefertiti and Loki are going to start packing up soon," he told her. He glanced over at Nara, who had resumed her pacing. "...I take it we haven't heard much from Hana?"

Clara shook her head, taking a sip of coffee. "The last thing we heard was that they were just sitting in the shrine and talking," she said. She looked over at Peregrine, who was sitting cross legged on the ground with his eyes closed.

"Pip's been trying to to give her space in her head, but with a psychic connection, emotions still bleed over," she explained. "From what he's been able to tell us, the worst thing that's happened is that Hana's been doing a lot of comforting on her end. I've been taking that that means it's going well."

"Mmm…"

Ite stared down into his mug, turning it around in his hands as his lips twitched into an involuntary frown. His forehead creased together, and Clara almost thought he was angry about something with how hard he looked at the ground for a moment. Out of the two legendaries, Ite was obviously the one more on edge, even with Nara's constant pacing and fretting, and Clara was suspicious she would have to watch him closely when Yumi finally arrived on the scene. Despite his coming clean about what had happened with his sisters, she had a hunch that there was something picking at him that he hadn't said yet. She was trying to stop herself from prodding him since everyone had issues with family, even legendaries, but the thought tugged on her nonetheless.

"Who knows what she's dealt with," he said quietly, surprising Clara. "All alone for 5,000 years, with only the memory of us and what happened…"

He took a sip of his coffee, though it didn't seem as if he really tasted it when he did.

"Sending Hana was probably the best thing we could have done for her."

Clara nodded her head. "She's a good kid. You and Lady Nara have done a fine job with her," she said.

"It's not just that," Ite said, looking down at her. "She has a gift for finding people when they need her the most. I don't think it was a coincidence that she found Yumi at the temple before anyone else got there."

He looked away from her and towards the cave entrance, anxiously turning the mug around in his hands. "Doesn't stop me from worrying though… Just because Hana may be what's best for her right now doesn't mean that my sister will be anymore herself or not."

Clara nodded, frowning, and then stared down into her steaming coffee cup to think. While she appreciated Ite's thoughts, her hunches were still kicking her like a misbehaving child in the backseat of a car. Something was insistently picking at her about this situation, and she didn't like it. She hated the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop and it felt as if this one was a steel toed boot tied to a brick.

Peregrine suddenly came alive out of the corner of her eye, making her look over as he quickly perked up from his meditating.

"They're coming back!" he said, grinning from ear to ear. He seemed rather proud of himself that this mission was looking like a success.

"Now?" Nara said, stopping her pacing and looking around, peering off towards the cave entrance.

"Yeah! They should be ba-!"

A chest-rattling reverb cut him off, the deep bass-like sound coming from behind them and close to the trees, and then a portal opened up, dark and swirling like ink being spilled into water. Hana stepped out, looking around as she did, and then beckoned for the hesitant figure behind her to follow her. It paused for a moment, and then Yumi finally stepped out of the black hole. The portal disappeared behind her.

Hana waved a hand at them all, smiling. "Hi! We're all done now!" she said cheerfully.

For a moment, no one seemed to know what to do.

Clara stared at the large woman in front of her, dumbfounded that this was the snarling phantom that had nearly broken all of her ribs. She was still as big as she remembered, but the uncontrollable rage was gone and replaced by a quiet sense of anxiety. Yumi's face didn't reflect it but she could almost taste the fear coming from the woman as she stayed behind Hana, the Giratina standing as stiffly as she could with her arms crossed tightly in front of her.

"Yumi…"

Nara's voice broke the brief silence, the Dialga going up to her sister before any of them could do or say anything. She looked up at her, her eyes shining in the dark as she tried to look into Yumi's face. Yumi glanced to the side, her shoulders shooting up the slightest as her breathing picked up, and Clara almost stepped over to pull Nara away.

Hana quickly put a light hand on Yumi's elbow, and gave her an encouraging smile. Yumi looked sharply at the girl, and then, slowly, met her sister's gaze, her breath slowing.

"Is it… Really you this time?" Nara asked, nervously wringing her hands in front of her.

Yumi hesitated, her eyes flickering around her younger sister's face before finally settling on her.

"...Yes," she said. She was quiet for a moment, looking down at her feet as she guiltily shuffled under her younger sister's anxious stare.

"...Nara, I-"

She didn't even finish her sentence before Nara had moved, quicker than anyone thought she could, and was hugging her tightly around her middle, her head pressed under Yumi's chest. Yumi froze where she was, looking straight ahead, and took a shaky breath as she pressed her lips together. Nara started to tremble, her arms tightening even more, and then finally looked up at her sister with a choked sob, tears streaming down her face.

"I-am-so-so-sorry-!" she gasped out, barely able to speak as she held her sister. "I should have done more-! Yumi, please, can you ever forgive me?!"

Yumi only stared at her, completely beside herself as Nara held onto the scraps of her kimono, the fabric threatening to rip in her grip. She sniffed, blinking rapidly as she cupped her little sister's face, and then gently took her in her arms.

"...There's nothing to forgive," she murmured, resting her chin on the top of Nara's head. Another sharp sob escaped the Dialga and she pressed her face against Yumi again. Yumi only continued to hold her as she cried.

"You were a child... It was wrong of me expect you to stand up to mother so long ago."

Nara vigorously shook her head. "But we should have done something! This is all our fault-!" she continued. "We should-!"

"Nara." Yumi cut her off, her voice firm as she tried to get her attention and suddenly let her go. Nara quickly looked up. Yumi's eyes had narrowed in anger, though it wasn't directed at her.

"What happened wasn't anyone's fault," she said firmly. "Mother was the one who pulled us all apart; not you or me. It was her and her alone, no one else."

Nara wiped her eyes as she listened, but still didn't let go. Yumi went still for a moment, as if absorbing what she had just said for herself, and then looked down at her sister again, her expression softening. She hugged her again, bringing her close.

"...I have missed you so much..." she murmured, resting her head on hers once more. Nara sighed in relief in the hold, trying to stifle her sniffling.

They stood together, arms around each other for a few breaths until Yumi seemed satisfied that Nara was reassured. She finally looked up past her younger sister and her immediate surroundings, and her eyes fell on Ite. He hadn't moved from where he stood, standing near the shore of the lake, and looked as if he was more willing to run then to approach his sister. His face was strangely still as he looked at her, and Yumi coolly stared back, regarding him with a more aloof nature then she had given Nara.

Yumi finally spoke after a minute of silence between them.

"Ite." she said, as if speaking to a business partner rather than her brother.

"...Yumi," he said. His hands were folded so tightly in front of him it looked like he might accidentally break his fingers.

Yumi looked him up and down from where she stood, and then inclined her head thoughtfully as she sized him up. Ite nervously cleared his throat and glanced to the side under her heavy gaze, waiting for whatever judgment he knew was coming.

"...You got rid of that ridiculous beard," she finally said.

Ite didn't react for a second, almost as if he didn't believe what she had said to him, and then shook his head.

"I, uh... Yeah..." he said, finally releasing his hands and rubbing his arm instead, still unable to really look at her. "Marinette didn't really like it, and, uh... Yeah, it did look pretty ridiculous..."

He looked up at her, and Yumi regarded him with as much expression as she had before, as if waiting for him to make up his own mind for what he wanted to do. He opened his mouth, took a breath to speak, and then quickly shut it, looking down and pacing a bit where he stood instead.

Clara and Peregrine both looked from younger brother to elder sister, waiting to see what would happen. Nara's tearful reunion seemed fairly normal, but neither of them could foresee what the result of Yumi and Ite's standoff would be. Clara couldn't tell if Yumi was pressuring Ite for something they didn't know about, or whether this was completely normal.

Finally, Ite stopped where he was, and looked towards his sister, his expression changed. His usual confidence seemed to have dwindled, his shoulders slumped with humility as he took a few steps forward with his hands folded in front of him again. Nara turned around to watch him, her hold still firmly on her older sister, and glanced up at Yumi, obviously puzzled at what was going on. Ite stood in front her, and looked at Yumi, eye level with her as she was only a few inches taller then him. He took a deep breath, but didn't seem to get near the calmness he was trying to reach for with it, his lip quivering.

"I... I'm sorry I wasn't there," he said quickly, his voice shaking. "I-I should have been, but I wasn't."

His voice cracked as his eyes darted down to Nara, her mouth dropping open at his apology. He looked down as his shoulders started to shake.

"I wasn't there when either of you needed me! I-I'm sorry-! I'm so sorry, I'm sorry for everything-!" He seemed to entirely fall apart at his own words, Ite giving up and putting his face in hands. Yumi didn't move, letting him cry, and watched him for a moment.

She took a deep breath, and put a hand on his shoulder. It didn't seem to do much as he refused to look at her.

"All I know how to do is run!" he said bitterly, his hands dropping from his face and balling into fists at his side. "So that's what I did, and I shouldn't have!"

"...You did your best," Yumi said, sounding as if she had said this to him before. Nara moved from her side, and stood next to both of them, putting a hand on her brother's back. Ite shook his head.

"No, I didn't! I'm your brother!" He looked up at both of them, a mix of stubbornness and regret on his face. "I'm supposed to protect you! Both of you! And instead I threw you under the bus!"

He threw his hands up, and gestured towards Yumi, getting frantic. Yumi looked like she was starting to worry about him, but wasn't sure what to do. Her brother had always been high strung, but this was a new kind of hysteria that she wasn't familiar with. It was if he had to get everything out all at once, or he would explode.

"I mean, Yumi, look at you! You're not supposed to be like this! You're supposed have been here, with us!" he said desperately. "Instead you got tossed into a hell hole! You got locked up and t-tossed away and we-! We b-barely did-! A-anything-!"

He was gasping towards the end, his eyes starting to overflow again, and he lost his voice under the strain. Nara rubbed his back, and looked up at Yumi, looking to her to see what they should do. Yumi gingerly put her arms around her brother, and pulled him close. Nara followed suite, hugging both of them as best she could. Ite cried in both of their arms, holding on to Yumi as if she might suddenly disappear in his hands.

Hana looked at the huddle of siblings, having not moved from Yumi's side the entire time, and very gently put a hand on Ite's arm. He jumped, startled at her touch, and looked down at her, confused. Realizing it was her, he quickly straightened, wiping at his face with his hands. Hana gave him a sympathetic smile and rubbed his forearm.

"It's okay now," she said, and all three adults stared at her in bewilderment at her calm reassurance. There was a kind of unfaltering faith in her bright smile. "Ite, you don't have to cry... Yumi's here now, and I don't think she's going anywhere."

Ite shook his head, brow knit together. "But-!"

Yumi's deep sigh cut him off, making him stare up at her, and she had to restrain herself from rubbing her forehead in exhaustion. Her poor little brother; what was she going to do with him?

"I said it before..." she said, pinning him with another stare. "It wasn't anyone's fault but mother's. There was nothing either of you could have done to change her mind. The only thing that would have happened was that both of you could have gotten banished with me, and what good would have that done?"

She sighed again, and passed a hand through her golden hair, obviously not happy that she had to repeat the facts. The group fell silent at her words, Ite and Nara glancing down as they both knew it was true. Another quiet moment passed between them all, and then Yumi looked up at them, her red eyes flickering from one to the other. Without any warning, she quickly enveloped them in another hug, pulling them as close and as tight to her as she could. Her whole body melted into the action as she fully relaxed with her siblings in her arms.

"I missed you… So, so much…"

Yumi's quiet voice was heard by everyone in the area, the murmur that reverberated in the small space thick with gratitude and relief. For the first time since she had emerged from the portal, the anxiety had been let go, and she seemed to be able to breathe again.

Clara silently watched the exchange, the determination to keep the small family together burning stronger in her then it had before. She would do everything in her power to make sure Yumi would be returned to where she belonged, to a life with her siblings and Hana, after the police were finished with her. Anyone who tried to stand in her way was going to get one hell of a surprise.

Peregrine nudged her arm, and jerked his head towards Yumi; it was time for them to do their jobs. Taking a deep breath, Clara approached the group as Yumi finally let go of Nara and Ite, and walked up to the Giratina.

"Lady Yumi?" she said, trying to gently get her attention.

Yumi looked down at her, mildly confused and surprised at her appearance.

"...You were at the ruins," she said, recognizing her and obviously shocked to see her again.

Clara gave her a wry smile. "Ah, yes, I was…"

She offered a hand to the tall woman, the action official and snappy. "Officer Clara Strongfeld, International Police," she said, introducing herself. She nodded to Peregrine, who stood beside her. "This is my partner, Peregrine Brooks."

Peregrine lifted a hand in greeting, flashing a quick smile. "Hello!"

Yumi stared at the offered hand for a second, and then carefully took it, bewildered at the strangers, especially since she was fairly certain she had tried to kill the typhlosion whom she was now shaking hands with.

"...Can I help you…?" she said, feeling as if that's what she was supposed to say to them. There had been no such thing as 'police' when she had been banished, but they reminded her of the locals that used to take it upon themselves to protect the communities.

"A little bit," said Clara, letting go of her hand. She glanced to Ite and Nara, watching them for their reactions. They had known that this would have to happen, but that didn't mean they would be happy about it or cooperate.

"I hate to ask this of you, but you're going to need to come with us. We need to ask you a few questions, and make sure that you're alright," she explained.

Yumi's face clouded over with suspicion and the slightest beginnings of outrage, and she opened her mouth to say something. Nara jumped forward instead.

"But-! Wait, does she really have to?" she said, trying to angle herself between Clara and Yumi. "She's fine! I mean, you've been here the whole time! Can't she just come home with us? ...Please?"

Peregrine spoke up before Clara could. "As much as we would like that, we need to make sure Lady Yumi is safe," he said and quickly turned his attention to Yumi to explain further. He didn't want her to think that they believed she was dangerous.

"Lady Yumi, it's been a very long time since you've been in Sinnoh, and a lot of stuff has changed. We know you want to be with your family, but we also want you to be comfortable and feel safe with all the changes." he said, hoping that she could see that he was being sincere. "It's why we're here; it's our job to make sure people like you, legendaries that have been out of the world for centuries, can adjust and live their lives like anyone else."

Yumi's expression had shifted from being completely suspicious to apprehensive, and even with the explanation, she didn't look as if she entirely trusted the situation. Nara had resumed hanging on to her as well, and she didn't want to pull away from her so quickly. Clara glanced at Peregrine, trying to see if he had anything else to add, and he shrugged, his hands open helplessly. He had been hoping that his explanation would help Yumi make up her mind, or at least reassure her, but it didn't seem to have affected her much. Clara quietly sighed and looked back up at Yumi again.

"We're not going to ask you to come with us immediately," Clara said. "And we won't force you either. But you will have to speak with us, or the local officers, eventually. We can't leave you without any resources."

Hana caught her eye, the Shaymin having been quietly listening behind her new trio of guardians, and had peeked out to watch Clara as she spoke. She darted forward, raising her hand.

"I can go with her!" she piped up. She turned to Yumi. "I can come with you if that makes you feel better. Officer Clara and Peregrine are really nice, promise! They were the ones that helped us find you!"

"Then I'm coming too!" Nara said quickly before Yumi could get a word in edgewise. The Dialga grabbed Hana's wrist, wanting something to hang on to in case she decided to take off like she sometimes did when she had an idea. "There's no way I'm letting you go by yourself some place where you could get in trouble again. I've had enough of that for one day!"

Peregrine raised a hand, trying to signal that he had something to say about that, but Ite interrupted him, making them all stare.

"Can't we all just come with her?" he asked, glancing at Yumi. "If she's not comfortable, then we could just go with her so we wouldn't have to be separated."

Clara put her hands up, protesting the sudden entourage. Her phone started vibrating in her pocket the second she started to speak, and she continued, ignoring it. Whoever it was could call Peregrine.

"Now, hey, wait a minute-! There's no way all of you can come! You won't fit in the car!"

The sudden grumble of nearby thunder and Peregrine's phone starting to go off wasn't helping her be heard. The Togekiss quickly answered his phone, turning and walking away about a foot while pressing one hand to an ear to hear whoever was on the other end.

"We need to fit Yumi, ourselves, and all the equipment in the car. One of you can come, maybe two if it's Nara and Hana," Clara said, half listening to Peregrine trying to understand whoever was calling and trying to talk over the rumble of thunder at the same time.

She looked up at a dismayed Ite, shrugging sympathetically. "Sorry, there's only so many tall people we can fit in it. You could meet us at the station if you want-!"

She jumped as a peal of thunder cracked directly overhead, and was quickly followed by a blinding flash of lightning. The lightning struck the ground where they all stood, sending the group flying.

Clara sat up, her vision blurry and full of dancing stars, ears ringing and quickly started trying to get up despite herself. Her midsection screamed with every movement. She blinked furiously, trying to see and count who was there.

"Is everyone alright?" she called out, her vision slowly adjusting.

Peregrine groaned next to her, and she heard Ite and Nara shout that they were fine. She squinted through her blurry vision, and sighed in relief as she made out the image of Ite on the ground, clinging desperately to Hana in his arms. Nara was next to him.

"Yumi…"

Clara scrambled to her feet, looking around.

"Where's Yumi?!"

There was a smoking crater where she had last been standing, or at least where Clara was sure where she had been standing before the lightning strike. A quick survey of the area proved that she wasn't anywhere nearby, and she hadn't heard her respond when she had called out to everyone. Had the legendary taken off somehow?

Her phone started vibrating in her pocket again. She had to restrain herself from grabbing it, and chucking it into the lake. Peregrine groaned again, sitting up with his phone still in his outstretched hand, and gestured to the buzzing sound.

"Ughhh, that's Nefertiti," he grumbled, picking himself up. "There are weird clouds covering Mt. Coronet… She was trying to warn us that a bunch were here too; must of been where the lightning came from…"

Nara gasped, and quickly started to shake Ite, her face contorted in fear. He looked about as alarmed as she did, unsure whether he wanted to let Hana go just yet given the circumstances.

"No!" Nara said. "No, she wouldn't-! Would she-?!"

"I-I don't know-!" he said, letting Hana down. "Hana, I need you to stay here, okay?"

Hana started to protest, but Nara cut her off.

"Ite! We have to go! We have to go now!" Nara said, tugging on her brother. "We have to stop her!"

"Go where?!" Clara demanded. "Stop who?! What's going on?!"

Ite stretched out his hand, and opened a portal in the ground, the strange static sound of his particular method of travel filling the air.

"Mom's gonna put her back!" Nara said, obviously on the verge of panic at her questions. "We don't have time, we have to go now!"

"Who's Mom?!" Peregrine said, getting to his feet. He could barely able to keep up with what was going.

"Arceus!" Ite turned to face the group, terror deep in his eyes.

"If we don't hurry, Arceus will seal Yumi back in the Distortion Realm. That's what that lightning was! She took Yumi to Spear Pillar to put her back in!"

"The hell she is!" Clara's snarl silenced the whole group. She was moving in seconds, stomping towards the portal and past Ite.

"I'm coming with you!"

"Hey, hey, not without me!" Peregrine scrambled to follow his partner, acutely aware of how Clara's eyes were practically smoldering. He knew that look of pure determination anywhere. "You'll get yourself blown to pieces knowing you- Ack-!"

Hana nearly bowled him over, darting past Nara. "Me too, me too!"

"You can't all come!" Ite protested, his portal wavering with his emotions. The pink and black hole flickered in the ground. "Hana, it's too dangerous! You need to stay here!"
"I am not!" the Shaymin said fiercely, whirling around to face him. She looked straight up into his face, her pink eyes burning with the same fire that Clara's had. "I told her that we were all going to be together! I am not breaking that promise!"

"She's in our custody!" Clara said with finality, standing with Hana. "We can't give her up, not now!"

Ite looked like he was about to close the portal until they got everything sorted out, his mouth pressed into a hard line as he stared at both women.

"Oh for goodness' sake-!"

Nara's voice cut through the confusion. She was already at the portal, waiting for all of them to make up their minds.

"Just let them come! We can send them back later if it gets bad! We need to get going! We've already given her too much time!" she said.

Ite groaned, and quickly started to wave them at them all to start moving. "Fine, fine! Go, quickly!" Nara jumped into the portal, followed by Clara and Peregrine. Hana was about to dive in after them, when Ite caught her arm, holding her back for a moment.

"The second it gets dangerous," he said. "We have to send you back."

Hana hesitated, her eyes flickering from him to the portal, and then, swallowing hard, nodded her head in resignation. She wouldn't argue with him about this.

Ite let her go, and she jumped into the portal. He quickly followed after her, bracing himself for the strange shift in gravity as the space they were currently in was overlapped with where they needed to be, and they were all dropped in Spear Pillar.

Spear Pillar was high up on Mt. Coronet, past the temple, and was the shattered remains of the first temple in Sinnoh. The top of the mountain had been carved into a place of worship, and then destroyed by a cataclysmic thunderstorm, much like the one that encircled them now. The sky was dark with thunderclouds; a thick, black wall laced with lightning that seemed to keep staying just far enough not to strike the mountain top. The broken pillars were scattered all across what had once been a marble floor, turned into rubble and stained walkways that hadn't been set foot on for centuries.

Clara reeled where she stood, still trying to gain her balance back after Ite had folded the space where they had stood to be on top of Spear Pillar. She snapped back to herself when her eyes landed on what was happening in the middle of the forgotten temple.

She was gigantic, at least ten feet tall or more, and white. The kind of unearthly white that belonged to stars and the sun when you looked straight at it, and even as Clara stared at her, she was having a hard time doing so. There was something unsettling about her as well, the whiteness felt unnatural, like it was erasing all signs of life from the god's body, and made her shudder where she stood. Yumi had struck terror straight into her when she had first encountered her, but it was nothing compared to the soul-shaking fear in her now that reminded her too much of looking down into a drained well and feeling the gravity start to suck you in.

Arceus.

She was fighting Yumi, though not physically. Yumi was screaming in the air, being held up against her will against a bright circle of runes that hissed when they touched her skin, and a black hole yawning behind it all, desperate to swallow her up despite her struggles. Arceus was trying to push her in, face emotionless besides a faint contortion of frustration around her mouth.

"Yumi!"

Nara moved towards the spectacle like a sleepwalker, horrified by what she was seeing. It was like someone had taken what had haunted her sleep for 5,000 years and dragged it back into reality. She gained more traction as she looked up at it, her feet slowly building into a run.

"No, no! Mom! Stop, no, please-!"

Ite suddenly caught her arm, stopping her from running headlong between the god and Yumi. She whirled to face him.

"We have to stop her!" she said, grabbing a hold of him. "Ite, come on-!"

She started to try to run again, but Ite's grip on her only tightened. She looked back at him, his red eyes pinpricks of terror in his near-white face, and he barely looked at her, only silently shaking his head as his chest heaved in panic.

"I… Can't!" he barely said to her, the fear making his voice weak. "You're the only family I have left! I can't-!"

Nara's eyes widened as she realized what he was doing. The sky behind him brightened for a brief second with another crash of lightning.

"No!" she yelled, pulling and tugging at his arm. He only held onto her more, dragging her into his hold as he wrapped his arms around her, pinning her. Nara screamed, the volume of it challenging the thunder, kicking her legs and struggling as if he was killing her instead of restraining her.

"NO! COWARD! YOU DAMN COWARD, LET ME GO! LET ME GO, SHE'S MY SISTER, LET ME GO-!"

Peregrine and Hana rushed to them, trying to pull them apart.

"Ite-! Stop, what are you doing?!" Hana pulled at the Palkia's arms with all her might. Peregrine did the same from the other side, but Ite's hold was like iron on his shrieking sister. "What are you-!"

"Clara! Where's Clara?!" Peregrine suddenly looked around, trying to locate his partner. They needed her, she had been right next to them only a moment ago, but where was she now?

He froze as he saw her marching right up to Arceus and Yumi. Nara noticed her at the exact same time, going still as she watched the Typhlosion doing what she couldn't being trapped in her brother's hold. Everyone stopped what they were doing as they watched.

"What is she doing?" Nara said, dumbfounded.

"I-I don't know. I don't know what she's doing." Peregrine said, terrified. He leaned forward, as if to help Clara hear his stage whisper to her better. "Clara, what are you doing?! Clara-!"

Clara continued to stride right up to the god, stopping three feet from where she stood.

"Hey!" she shouted up to her.

Arceus didn't even look at her.

"HEY! ARCEUS!"

"Amaterasu!"

Clara looked back at Hana's shout. Hana was hanging off of Ite, still trying to tug Nara from his hold. "Her name's Amaterasu!" the Shaymin shouted to her again.

Clara squared her shoulders, and looked back up, glaring at the giant woman.

"AMATERASU!"

The god finally moved, blinking, and looked around to locate the shout. She looked down, her eyes widening as she saw Clara at her feet.

Clara held up her badge. "Clara Strongfeld, International Police! Put the Giratina down! NOW!"

Amaterasu only blinked again, and the brief moment of disbelief was quickly replaced by consternation.
"Excuse you?" Her voice was intimidating, the tone making it clear that she didn't like being questioned, if at all. Clara didn't budge.

"Yumi is in our custody!" she declared, pointing at the Giratina, who had also stopped where she was. It seemed that while she had Amaterasu distracted, she was no longer being pushed into the blackhole. The only thing hadn't stopped moving was the constant lightning in the sky.

"You can't seal her back into the Distortion Realm!"

The god's brows furrowed, looking an awful lot like Yumi did when she was frustrated, and she leaned down the slightest towards Clara to get a better look at her. Clara had to restrain herself from taking a few steps back as the face drew closer then before, and she saw just how eerily similar Amaterasu's face was to Yumi's. The resemblance was uncanny.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Amaterasu demanded. "Listen here, typhlosion, you have no idea what you're asking of me-"

"Mom!"

Nara ran up to where Clara was, having finally broken away from Ite, who had dropped his arms the second Amaterasu had started to speak to Clara. He was frozen where he stood, looking as if he didn't want to believe what was happening in front of him was actually happening.

Nara stood her ground next to Clara, looking up at her mother. Amaterasu looked down at her daughter in surprise.

"Nara? What are you doing here?" she said, her tone changing entirely.

"Mom, please, you have to stop!" Nara begged. "You can't put her back, not now! She didn't even do anything!"

Amaterasu's expression softened. The stone mask her face had been was slowly melting as a deep sadness pervaded her eyes while hearing Nara's request.

"Nara, I can't-"

"She's right!"

Amaterasu looked up again as she was interrupted for the second time, watching Ite and Hana charge up with Peregrine quickly following behind. Ite stood next to Nara, and glanced down at her, guilty but seemed to have new determination to do the right thing.

"Nara's right," he said, his voice only shaking a little bit. His legs were shaking so bad he was having a hard time standing. "You can't put her back! You created the three of us to work together; how are we going to do that if you keep us separated? We need Yumi here!"

He restrained a yelp as a clap of thunder echoed over his head.

"We need her!" Hana said, clearly heard over the cacophony in the heavens. Her voice shot through everything in the area. "There's no point to her being locked up! She hasn't done anything to deserve this! The only thing it does it hurt everyone here!"

Amaterasu's eyes had only widened as Ite and Hana talked to her on top of Nara and Clara, and she seemed to be having a hard time even comprehending so many people standing up to her at once. She drew herself up again, standing over them despite the protests at her feet.

"You don't know what you're asking me," she said, avoiding Nara and Hana's pained expressions. "Yumi needs to be sent back."

"YOU CAN'T!" Clara's voice boomed across Spear Pillar, rivaling the thunderclouds, the typhlosion marching even closer to the god. Her amber eyes blazed in her face as she looked up at her.

"She's committed no crime!" she continued, pointing a finger at Yumi. "She's done nothing wrong! And even what she has done, is under our jurisdiction! Yumi is under the International Police's protection; you absolutely can not lock her away in another realm when she is in our custody!"

Amaterasu stared down at Clara, her eyes practically boring a hole into the ground the typhlosion stood on, and obviously not happy that the woman continued to talk to her the way she did. She took a deep breath, narrowing her eyes in a way that was reminiscent of a mother scolding a child that continued to beg and plead for something that wasn't within their reach.

"Be quiet, all of you."

Yumi's voice made Amaterasu pause in what she was doing, and she turned to look at her captive daughter. Yumi was glaring at her from where she hung, her red eyes burning in her pale face. She didn't break her stare as she continued.

"Don't you get? She doesn't care," she hissed, barely containing her contempt. "She just wants to be right."

Hana nervously looked from one of her guardians to the other, Yumi's statement making the determination in her falter. She could feel the morale in their group flicker, and as she looked up at the Giratina in the air, began to wonder if what they were doing was useless after all. Amaterasu was indomitable, and from what they had seen since their arrival, immovable. Even her own children's pleas seemed to do nothing.

Amaterasu stared back at her eldest daughter, her green and red eyes watching her seethe where she was. Something barely visible stirred in her eyes.

"...Is that what you think?" she asked quietly. The sadness that had been there before had creeped back into her voice as she watched Yumi fume before her.

"YES!" Yumi snarled, struggling against the unseen forces binding her where she was. She threw herself against them as if they were the only things stopping her from throwing herself at her mother and tearing her to pieces, teeth bared and eyes wide with hate.

"You locked me away in hell for 5,000 years, and for what?! An accident! Something I had no control over, and you punished me for it for all eternity!"

"You destroyed an entire race of people!" Amaterasu said, her voice beginning to sound strained. It was the most human she had sounded since they had arrived. "What was I-!"

"MY FRIENDS!" Yumi screamed at her.

The scream made Amaterasu jump. Yumi's eyes threatened to burn holes into her as she raged in anger and grief.

"My friends! The only people I loved more dearly than my family, gone! Gone forever! Because of ME!" she cried, desperate and wild. The hate snapped back into her as she looked at her mother. Purple black smoke began to seep from her mouth, the beginnings of dragon breath in her throat she was so angry.
"And then you threw me away like garbage!" she snarled, the words nearly catching on her teeth. Amaterasu's mask had fallen completely at Yumi's words, her eyes huge and full of the same grief that her daughter was throwing at her, although it seemed to be for something completely different. Clara watched her as best as she could; it was difficult when the god's face was so high up.

"...You are not garbage," she said, barely loud enough for anyone to hear. Her eyes looked far away with deep, endless sadness, even though she knew her daughter hated her with every fiber of her being.

Yumi didn't say anything, only continuing to stare her mother down as if she hoped to burn her to the ground where she stood. The thunder that had been rumbling so loudly seemed to have calmed for the moment as mother and child stared at one another. Clara quickly jumped on the opportunity, not given up on doing what she intended.

"Amaterasu!"

The god looked down at her, the brief expression gone, and replaced by the constant furrowed brow she had whenever Clara spoke to her.

"No matter what you say, Yumi is still under the protection of the International Police." said Clara, burning with determination to not be denied this time. "We depend on the trust we give to legendaries that they will not abuse the power they have in relation to the citizens of this world, and even you are answerable to that! If you seal Yumi away, knowing that you are breaking the faith that we put in the legends of this earth to listen and work with us, you are violating that trust."

She pointed up at her, emphasizing her point. Amaterasu narrowed her eyes at the judging finger. The thunder began to return.

"You, Arceus, the creator of this world and everything in it, cannot break that trust. If you do, then you are endangering everything that we are working towards, everything that we do to try and protect your children." Clara finished, not breaking eye contact with the god. Her amber eyes shined with an unbreakable will for what she knew was right, and she was daring Amaterasu to tell her otherwise.

The god silently stared down at the typhlosion, who was miniscule compared to her height and power, for what felt like hours as everyone held their breath. Clara did not look away.

Amaterasu heaved a great sigh, the entire earth breathing with her as she did, and looked away from the intense look, passing a hand briefly over her forehead in resignation. She looked back to Clara, obviously displeased.

"You are, without a doubt, the most stubborn and direct creature I have ever met," said Amaterasu. She closed her eyes, pressing her lips together like Clara had seen Ite and Nara do occasionally, and then turned her gaze to Hana.

"Hana. Come here," she said.

The Shaymin jumped, not thinking she would ever be addressed at all, and quickly looked to Ite and Nara. She hadn't even thought that Amaterasu had bothered to notice her. Both of her guardians looked at her with a mix of shock and terror, and, glancing quickly up at their mother to try and guess her intentions, feebly nodded in agreement for her to go. It felt useless to deny her.

Hana bit her lip, hesitating, and very slowly crept forward. Amaterasu regarded her imperially, the emotionless mask beginning to cover her face again. She gestured towards Yumi.

"You are the last Shaymin," she said. "You are alone in this world because of her. If anyone is to choose whether Yumi is to stay in this world, or not, it is you. What is your choice?"

Hana stared up at the stoney face, and then looked down, trying to think. What Amaterasu had given her was the undeniable truth, and one she had been trying not to think too much about. The destruction of her people was an accident, but until something else was done, she really was all alone. Ite and Nara were her guardians, but they weren't Shaymin. She knew they loved her, that she loved them, and they all clung to each other as family as best as they could. But the cold, hard truth was that she was it until something else was done, and the way Amaterasu flung it at her feet struck her to her core.

She looked up at Yumi.

The hate was gone now as she waited to see what Hana would do. She saw the same self-loathing and guilt that she had seen in Sendoff Springs when they had spoken, and another thought entered into her at the sight of Yumi hanging in the air, the darkness waiting to swallow her up behind her.

Hana remembered what she had said when Yumi had cried the same truth, and she could feel the single fact of her loneliness threatening to overtake the love that she clung. She pushed the fear and the thoughts that circled her in the late hours of night aside, and thought of her mismatched family, the people who loved her.

She looked back up at Amaterasu, who was still waiting for her answer. The thunder impatiently rumbled above them.

"I have never been alone. I have always been part of a family," she declared. She looked back up to Yumi, continuing. "I want her to stay."
Hana glanced back at the group, and saw Ite and Nara clinging to each other. Nara already had tears streaming down her face.

"Yumi is part of this family. We can never be complete if she stays away. I may be alone in being a Shaymin, but that doesn't mean she should be alone too," she said. She stared up at the god, giving her her final answer.

Amaterasu closed her eyes, and nodded her head. She had no intention of arguing with her.

"So be it."

She waved a hand, and the hole behind Yumi suddenly disappeared. The circle of runes were blown out with it, and the Giratina was gently placed on the ground. Amaterasu was entirely prepared for her daughter to come charging at her with everything she had, but instead, she only stayed where she was, speechlessly watching Hana.

"YUMI!"

Nara's cry echoed across Spear Pillar, and Yumi barely had any time to react as Nara threw herself at her. She threw her arms around her sister, wrapping her up in a desperate hug as she sobbed tears of relief, and was quickly joined by Ite skidding into the both of them. He hugged them both, picking them up and squeezing his sisters close to him. Not waiting to be invited, Hana sprinted over and wriggled her way into the pile, hugging Yumi with all her might, and laughing the entire time. Her family was now complete.

Amaterasu watched the reunion for a moment, her face strangely still for how happy it was, and then turned to Clara.

"You have what you wanted," she said. "Your trust is still intact, but now you are obligated to hold up your side of it." She leaned down close to Clara, her red and green eyes narrowed.

"You are now responsible for her, as you wished, and so you must do what you said is your duty: protect my children," she said. She glanced back at the joyous pile. "Even if it be from themselves."

Amaterasu straightened up, standing tall before them all. "Do not fail in this."

Thunder suddenly rumbled in a great crescendo so close and loud that Clara felt her teeth rattle in her skull, and then the lightning that had been arcing around Spear Pillar finally found a destination. It struck all at once in a blinding flash, and just as quickly as it had struck, it was gone and Amaterasu had vanished. The storm had as well, leaving the sky clear and full of fading, early morning stars. The sun was beginning to rise far off in the distance, pinpricks of light starting to peek over the horizon.

Clara stood, frozen, still staring at the spot Amaterasu had been only a second ago, and then her legs finally gave out underneath her. For a moment, she wasn't even sure if she was still breathing. The pain of her still healing rib cage crashed down on top of her, and she thought she was going to pass out right there. The whole world had stopped, her ears ringing, and her vision threatening to go dark. She was joined by Peregrine in an instant, the Togekiss shaking her as he practically shouted in her face. She was barely able to put up a fight, or say anything to try and get him to stop in his excitement. She briefly thought that if she threw up on him, it would be his own fault.

"You did it! Clara, oh my gosh, you did it! She gets to stay! Look, look-!" he said as he finally stopped shaking her and directed her towards the excited and still hugging pile of siblings and Hana.

Clara stared at the dogpile for a second, slowly coming back to her senses, and faintly smiled. The scene almost made the ebbing pain worth it.

"Y-yeah… Look at that..." she said, her smile growing bigger at the sight. She looked up at Peregrine, grinning as her energy bounced back. "That's it! We're done! We're good, we did our jobs! They get to stay together!"

She grabbed him and shook him like he had been doing to her before, laughing wildly. "WE DID IT!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Peregrine cheered, throwing his hands up in the air. His face dropped as suddenly as his excitement had arrived though, the color draining from it as he held the sides of his head.

"Ohhhhh my sweet Ho-Oh, we could have died though! We could have died so many times! Soooo many…"
He stared at the ground for a moment, as if contemplating his mortality for all of three seconds. Then he looked up, and started swatting at Clara's arm. Clara squawked, flinching at his half-hearted hits.

"Wha-! Hey-!"

"Crazy lady, what is wrong with you?!" said Peregrine, smacking her shoulder. "Seriously, warn me next time! I thought you were gonna get blown to pieces right in front of me!"

Clara put up her hands, trying to stop her partner from chastising her.

"Okay, okay! I'll remember that next time we run into a world-creating deity!" she laughed. She quickly ran out of breath, and leaned back on her hands, trying to recover from her aching midsection. Her ears were still faintly ringing.

She sighed, and then carefully eased herself back, lying down on the cold marble. Peregrine watched her, bewildered.

"Uh… Shouldn't we get over there and make sure they're alright?" he said to her.

Clara waved a hand at him. "Oh, they're fine. I mean, look at them."

She turned her head so that Ite, Nara, Yumi, and Hana were all within her line of sight. They had all finally untangled, and Hana was energetically chattering to Yumi. From what she could hear, she was telling her all about the house they had near Snowpoint, and how they had a guest room she could use. She could stay with them for as long as she wanted. Nara was trying to quietly read Ite the riot act for holding her back like he had, but seemed to only be doing it out of necessity and was glad that he had found his courage at the last second when it had counted.

Clara smiled, and then looked back up at Peregrine.

"Besides, I really need to lie down. I don't even think I can walk right now," she said with a tired chuckle.

"Ah, okay…" Peregrine said, understanding finally dawning on him. He had completely forgotten that she was still healing; it was hard for him to remember when she put up a good front a majority of the time.

He watched the group for a moment, and then flopped back next to her. He glanced over at his partner.

"Don't worry, I'll get up in, like, five minutes, and see what they want to do. I think Ite's getting us all back." he said.

Clara barely responded to him. "Hmmm… Okay…"

She slowly took a deep breath, her chest aching dully as she watched the sky begin to turn the brilliant colors of daybreak. The sun slowly rose over the horizon to bring with it the new day. From the looks of things, Clara thought it was going to be a good one.