Loud voices flooded Cresselia's ears as she floated around the Hall of Legends. Even though winter had stretched its icy fingers across the land the Hall was always warm which had put many of the legends at ease. Cresselia sighed happily. Often she would see Darkrai twitch in her peripheral vision during the meetings. Cresselia knew the constant bickering of the council could get to him.
As if on que the shadowy Pokémon appeared. He effortless avoided the others. His eyes caught sight of her and lit up as he made his way over to her.
"Cresselia." He greeted her, "How have you been?"
Despite the fear that churned in her stomach Cresselia smiled at him.
"I've been alright. And how about you?"
Darkrai smiled back halfheartedly.
"I've been good I suppose."
Cresselia swore that he was almost as perceptive of emotions as Mesprit. For his job he had to be. A nightmare finds fear and twists it against its prey of course he knew of her's. Cresselia felt guilt gnaw at her for even feeling so afraid. This was Darkrai, her counterpart, her friend and the one who had hurt her.
"I…that's good." She replied, her chest tightening.
"Umm…yes."
Cresselia inwardly cringed when she saw disappointment cross his face. Thick air rested between them. Is this what they had come to? Awkward small talk. Darkrai's eyes drifted off behind her.
"I apologize, Cress but I need to speak with Mesprit for a moment." He said quickly, "Might I catch you after the meeting?"
"Of course…" Cresselia replied as she watched him slip past her and float over to the pink sprite.
Curbing her own disappointment, Cresselia moved to her spot among the council. At the front of the Hall, Giratina stood, overlooking every bit of the meeting with her cold red eyes. Perhaps it was a trick of the light but the great dragon was slouching and her shadowy wings were drooping.
She looks like she's about to topple over and pass out. Cresselia thought.
It wasn't like Giratina to show any sort of weakness. Maybe she thought no one was thinking to watch her for when she caught Cresselia's gaze the dragon immediately straightened her spine as she cleared her throat and shouted above the crowd,
"It's time to begin!"
The meeting actually went smoothly for once. Few arguments occurred and any that did quickly dissipated before they could escalate. The comfort of the hall had made everyone sleepy and thankful the ticking clock of Arceus' hibernation was not mentioned. Cresselia found her gaze on Darkrai. He had taken his place beside her. His pale blue eyes were focused intensely as he silently took in the discussion at hand. Cresselia's mind wandered with millions of thoughts streaming through her consciousness. She was so busy sorting through them she failed to notice she was staring.
"Cress…" Darkrai's whisper pulled her out of her trance.
A blush crawled across her face and she felt a tinge of annoyance when she saw Darkrai's expression.
"Would you wipe that ridiculous smug grin off your face?" She responded keeping her voice low.
"If someone realizes a beautiful creature gazing at him, isn't he allowed to feel a little big smug?"
"Forget about talking after the meeting then…" Cresselia murmured pretending like the compliment had escaped her ears, "Unless you'd like to be frozen in a block of ice."
"Oh really?" The challenge in his eyes caught Cresselia off guard.
She was back. Back in that horrible dungeon, the scent of molten rock and the swell of dark smoke surrounding her. Darkrai loomed before her, his claws covering a blood splattered wound. A sharp pain dug into her neck where his ominous wind had hit. Her own paws were drenched in red.
"Cresselia. Are you alright?" His tone drastically changed from one of playfulness to concern.
Cresselia sighed. It was only for a moment, but she could pretend everything was okay before the memories caught up with her.
"I'm fine."
The meeting concluded on an average note much to everyone's relief. Cresselia looked over to see an empty spot beside her. She shook her head. Of course he would run off before she could apologize for her behavior.
"Cresselia!" The lunar swan recognized the high-pitched voice instantly.
A tiny pink cat hugged her neck. Cresselia smiled warmly at it.
"Oh hello, Mew."
Mew sprung away from her and beamed.
"It's so nice to see you again!"
The pink cat floated around Cresselia several times, her head turning every which way.
"Are you looking for Darkrai?" Cresselia asked.
"Yes!" Mew responded with several nods, "Where is my darling little baby boy? Usually he's always right beside you!"
Cresselia stifled a giggle at the nickname. She could imagine Darkrai's shoulders tensing at the sound of it.
"I don't know. He ran off somewhere before I could catch him."
Mew immediately surged with optimistic determination.
"We can find him together!"
Mew zipped away without another word. Cresselia chuckled and decided search as well. Within a few seconds she was able to locate him. He was standing in front of Giratina, his arms folded. Cresselia drew nearer to them.
"-you were falling asleep at the-"
"-mind your own business, Darkrai-"
"-this is my business-"
Their heated debate was interrupted when Mew decided to attach herself to the side of Darkrai's head.
"Mew." Darkrai huffed, exasperated, "I am trying to have a serious conversation."
"I just wanted to say hi to my darling little baby boy."
Darkrai deflated at the sound of his lovely nickname and Cresselia had to stop another laugh from escaping. Even Giratina's eyes lit up in amusement.
"Oh! Giratina! Hi to you too! How have you been?" Mew's attention span was consistently the size of a pea.
"Just as I was trying to tell Darkrai." Giratina said giving the dark Pokémon a pointed glare, "I. Am. Fine."
Mew let go of Darkrai and sat herself on the top of Giratina's head. Surprisingly Giratina didn't even respond to the pink cat encroaching on her bubble.
"You always say that though." Mew replied innocently, "You're wings could break off and you'd say that you're fine."
Giratina blinked in annoyance before turning away.
"Whatever. I have to get going."
"Awww…can't you stay a little longer?"
"No." Giratina responded coldly.
"Okie-dokie!" Mew said flying off the dragon's head.
Giratina opened a portal to the Distortion World and disappeared inside the chaotic swirls of color. Darkrai huffed in annoyance.
"So much for that discussion."
"Oh well! There's always next time!" Mew shrugged, "Anywhosy I gotta run! Celebi promised to help me with the winter festivities and Rayquaza, I haven't talked to him yet. Or Lugia! Or any of the Swords of Justice! Oh dear I must go catch them all! Bye bye! Take care you two!"
With that Mew wandered off to go bother more legendaries. Cresselia and Darkrai meanwhile decided to take the long way home, together. They both touched a glowing golden orb that transported them to the shore closest to both their islands, a little human village called Snowpoint. Despite each one's insistence that they would talk both Pokémon remained silent as the cold wind blew past them. The sun was already low in the sky and flecks of frozen flakes sprinkled around them. One lazily fell on the tip of Cresselia's beak. Her nose twitched.
"ACHOO!" Cresselia sneezed so hard she flew back a few feet.
Lowering her head so that she could wipe her nose with her tiny paws, Cresselia heard a distinct raspy cackle. She whipped her head around and caught the culprit. Darkrai was doubled over.
"Cress you should have seen yourself!" He said through bouts of laughter.
You think this is funny? Cresselia thought as she formed a spherical ball of snow with her psychic powers.
Then this will be hilarious.
Darkrai jumped as a snowball careened toward him and struck him right on the head. A clump of snow fell from his white hair when he looked over in shock and saw Cresselia's gleeful smirk.
"So that's how it's going to be?" Darkrai grinned, picking up his own mound of snow. "You'd better be prepared to lose then, Cress."
Cresselia squealed and giggled when the snowball hit her in the side. An icy imprint was left to cling to her blue and yellow feathers. Another snowball was flung through the air by Cresselia. It was bigger this time, so big it would have covered its recipient completely. Seeing his imminent doom, Darkrai sunk into the ground.
"Hey that's cheating!" Cresselia cried as her perfectly formed death ball plummeted sadly.
"Considering you can hurl giant snowballs at me without breaking a sweat. No, it's not." Darkrai retorted from the shadows.
Cold chilled Cresselia's spine as a snowball landed on her back. Cresselia twisted around only to see Darkrai melt into the shadows again.
"Come out and face me!"
"I'd rather not."
"Coward!"
Darkrai peeked his head out at her comment.
"Is it cowardice or is it cunning strategy-"
Another snowball struck him in the face. Cresselia puffed up with pride.
"That is cunning strategy."
They continued their little game well past the setting of the sun. Both became dusted in white powder that glinted with the light of the half moon. Exhausted they collapsed onto the snow drifts.
"I think I won." Darkrai said smugly as he caught his breath.
Cresselia scowled at him and dumped a mound of snow onto his chest.
"There. Now we're tied." She grumbled.
Darkrai brushed off the snow and sighed, closing his eyes blissfully.
"You know…that's the most fun I've had in while."
"Yeah." Cresselia turned over on her side to face him.
His flowing white hair was tangled up in the drift, it was hard to tell where his hair ended and the snow began. Cresselia almost blushed at the urge to reach forward and touch it just to feel it's softness in her paws. She tempered it. In this quiet she worried the contact would remind her of all that had been lost.
"I've missed you." Darkrai murmured forlornly.
"I'm always one island away if you want to visit."
Cresselia could barely believe the words that left her mouth but she wouldn't dare take them back. Darkrai's cyan eyes slid open.
"I wouldn't want to bother you."
"I would…like if you visited."
He glanced over at her. The warmth in his gaze brought her peace and for a while she could forget everything.
Author's note: Well this certainly took a lot longer than I would have liked. On the bright side most of the next chapters have already been written and at the moment just need some good old heavy editing. To those of you favoriting, following and just reading this work in general, I am grateful. I'm glad people think that this story is worth a minute or more of their time and I hope you are enjoying it. I'm always open to any constructive criticism you've got so that I can continue to improve my works. Sincerely, thank you. ~Dawneques