Darkness pressed into Darkrai's mind and he followed it further. Beyond existence. If he woke he would return to pain. Sinking deeper into the waves he could almost believe everything would be okay. Only darkness. For eternity.

A strangled cry roused him from his torpor. He couldn't call out to her. He had no voice. No breath. Alarms bellowed in his mind and he fought to free himself from the web that had once been a bubble of comfort. But there was no escape.

Cresselia's cries reached him again. Fury boiled within him. What foolish being would dare hurt a kindly creature like her? His eyes finally focused. Stretched out before him, his clawed hand.

Moonlight trickled down into a shadowy cave. His own cave. Alone. Nestled deep in a pile of straw, Darkrai lay unblinking. He let his arm fall and rubbed his face. It had been neither dream nor nightmare. A vision had snuck up on him while he lay awake.

He remembered the day before. Cresselia had passed out the moment he'd leaned towards her. Catching the slumbering lunar swan in his arms, he'd gently laid her on her nest. His hand brushed the side of her face, smoothing down stray feathers and then he had slipped away, returning to a place he could no longer call home.

The closer Darkrai grew to Cresselia the more unbearable Newmoon Island became. He couldn't ignore the vision. He returned to Fullmoon. Its wispy trees danced in the light of dawn. Scents of sweet herbs and crushed berries helped ease the anxiety that edged into his conscious. ]

Peaceful sleep was a rare but welcome sight. Nightmares contorted his victims' faces. Their whimpers and screams lingered long after he'd left them. Cresselia snored. Her wings still sparkled even in her sleep. Her chest steadily rising and falling with each breathe. She was safe. Darkrai sighed letting his shoulders relax.

"Darkrai?"

Bleary eyed and still half asleep she smiled at him. Darkrai cringed.

"I just wanted to check on you."

He decided to keep his vision a secret. After all it was a mere illusion. Why would he worry Cresselia with something so trivial?

"I fainted before-." Cresselia shifted and grass from her nest fluttered into the air, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sure you were exhausted as I was."

"And you didn't sleep well."

Not a wink. Darkrai hated that she could tell.

"My ability probably won't affect you but-" she hesitated, "You are always welcome to stay here."

Her head dove beneath the nest, tiny paws clutching onto shed feathers and straw. Even in Fullmoon Island's sheltered cave the bitter cold struck him. Curling up next to Cresselia and closing his eyes was a tempting idea. Darkrai shivered.

"I need to go to Sendoff Spring." He finally answered.

"I see..." Cresselia's tone changed as she rose, "You're going to visit her."

A mischievous smile spread across Darkrai's face.

"Is that jealousy I hear?"

Her wings shot out to her sides and she huffed.

"Oh! Don't tilt your head like that!"

"Like this?" He tilted his head the other way and laughed.

"Yes!" Cresselia rushed over to him, "You always do that when you tease me!"

Darkrai reached out and cradled her face in his hands. Cresselia inhaled. She relaxed at his touch. Moving toward her he closed his eyes as his forehead touched hers. Darkrai didn't know how long they stayed like that. A few seconds, a minute perhaps more. When he moved away there was only silence. His hands remained on the side of her face. Darkrai winced. He wanted nothing more than to stay. Perhaps one day soon he would always awaken to her beautiful face and soft snores.

"I won't be long." He nuzzled her one last time, "Take care, alright?"

"At the very least take her this." Cresselia plucked out a feather and placed it in his hand.

"I'm afraid she needs it more than I."

Pain pricked his chest and doubts bubbled to the surface. His past self wouldn't believe he'd be so vulnerable. The shade had made sure of that. Its isolating words creeped into his mind. Like icy drips it whispered. A nudge there and an idea planted there. The parasite consumed him. And he had listened.

"I was a fool." He said out loud to himself.

She could reject me. That's what I deserve.

Who could hurt someone like Cresselia? He had. His own claws had dared to harm the one he claimed to love. Darkrai glared at the offending limb. Mesprit had warned him that his guilty feelings though natural would only be a hindrance to his and Cresselia's healing. He couldn't change the past.

But I'd rather spend the rest of my life trying to make her happy. If an ending comes, we will face the end together.

There was no more time for regrets for before him lay the dark maw of Turnback Cave. Beyond the entrance sat the closest connection this world had to the Distortion World. Long spent boiling anger and malice sifted through the air so sickeningly preventing most anyone from even getting to the cave. Darkrai persisted inside. The fur on the back of his neck raised. Darkrai turned to see a pair of red eyes glaring at him in the darkness.

"Shouldn't you be with your darling right now? It seems all she wanted was for you to stay."

"You spied on me." Darkrai frowned.

"That's my job."

Darkrai remained, not moving an inch. Surveying the area he noticed a large imprint gouged in the floor of the cave.

"Have you been sleeping here?" Darkrai asked, "In the regular world."

Giratina turned from him, her body rigid.

"Maybe creatures don't like you not for your nightmares but instead your willingness to create a space for yourself in their business."

"That's my job." Darkrai repeated back in verbatim, "Being intrusive is the only thing I'm good for."

"I'm surprise Cresselia puts up with you. She always struck me as a more private individual. Do you sneak around her dreams too?"

Darkrai inwardly flinched. Giratina smiled smugly realizing she'd struck a nerve. She was trying to push him away. Darkrai folded his arms and lowered his stilt-like legs to stand firmly on the ground.

"I won't leave until I get an answer."

Instead of remaining cold as Darkrai had expected Giratina let a long low sigh.

"If you're determined to stick your nose into my problems then I want something in exchange."

Darkrai let his arms fall to the side.

"Give me a nightmare."

Darkrai froze. Surely he had not heard her correctly. Most creatures ran in fear from his nightmares.

"Pardon?"

"You heard me." Giratina scoffed gesturing with her wings, "I want you to give me, a nightmare. And not a mild one. The worst one you can possible conjure."

So the years Giratina spent in the Distortion world had turned her insane. Darkrai knew better than to argue with a lunatic so he raised his arms and created a dark void. Hesitantly, he launched it at Giratina. She sunk down her legs failing to hold her weight. The red glow from her eyes faded.

The world was dark. Above him the moon eclipsed the sun casting an endless shadow over fields of golden wheat. Gravity pressed down on him crushing the breath from his lungs. Bitterness filled his mouth as he gasped for air. Normally he could move throughout any nightmare with ease but the smog was threatening to suffocate him.

"This is your best?" An unaffected Giratina glowered over him.

She had tricked him. He'd been a fool to trust-

"Please. If I was going to crush you I'd have done so the moment you entered my cave."

The sky warped and changed to a dimension unfamiliar to Darkrai. Sparkling lights like stars drifted aimlessly in a violet void. Darkrai reached out and held one in his grasp. It was warm almost burning to the touch.

"You…you were able to dispel it?"

But the strings of the nightmare were still sewing together. Giratina froze in place. Darkrai followed her line of sight and moved back. Before him, a creature surrounded by blinding swirling light stood. A creature Darkrai had not seen in nearly a thousand years.

"Ar-"

The void turned blood red. The creature's eyes snapped open. It stared right through Darkrai, right through Giratina. It began to move. The creature past right through Giratina as if she were made of nothing.

"Stop." Giratina weakly called.

The creature's back was to them before it halted. It turned. An oppressive heat radiated from its brutal stare.

"Not until every last one of them is brought to justice."

The little balls of light snuffed out leaving Giratina and Darkrai in the empty void.

The nightmare began to fade as Darkrai left Giratina's mind. Chills shook his body. Never before had he heard Arceus talk in such a way. He had seen the intensity of the Trio's fervent and often misplaced rage before but Arceus. Arceus was compassionate and kind. His voice quiet like waves upon the seashore.

Arceus had only reacted with pity the day Darkrai had attacked him. Even Giratina's rebellion had been met with solely disappointment. Giratina gazed at the old burns that still scorched the walls. She touched one wing to the scored stone.

"I warned him they were selfish creatures. That those humans would betray him."

She had said as much when Arceus had introduced his plans to bring humans to their world. Most legends went along with Arceus wanted. Not Giratina. She'd question. She'd challenge. Perhaps, Darkrai thought, that's why Arceus had created her.

The two's arguments were frequent but boiled over quickly. Palkia and Dialga had been unfazed and even laughed at the two's squabble. The entire council brushed off Giratina's outburst. All but one.

Terror oozed from Mesprit as she floated over to him. Darkrai made certain to hide his latest injury, a pair of cracked ribs, by holding his side.

Mesprit was so worried about Giratina's rage. But Giratina was always angry.

Darkrai always wondered why she'd chosen to confide in him inside of her sisters. If he'd realized at the time what Giratina would do, he wouldn't have dismissed Mesprit's concerns.

Screams of agony and burning smoke snaked through a humble human village. A defeated Palkia and Dialga lay in rubble. A brilliant gold beam struck Giratina. An inky black wound sliced open in the world and swallowed her. The portal sowed itself shut. The gold beam faded leaving behind only an ash ridden bloody sky and Arceus. Within a moment Giratina had been given the only punishment more suitable than death. Banishment to a millennia of solitude.

She was alone for a long time.

"Perhaps if you had trusted Arceus' judgement he may have trusted yours."

Dust rained down as Giratina unfurled her wings. Her shadow swallowing him. Instinct screamed at him to hide beneath his collar and flee as Giratina leaned down to his level.

"His judgement is what got us into this situation to begin with."

Her ability to see beyond the Distortion World allowed her to see everything. Arceus gave his power and trust to the very creatures she had warned him against only for said creatures to betray him. From the beginning of Arceus' slumber Giratina had taken his place. All the world's responsibility had fallen on her shoulders. Her brothers never offered to help. Had she even asked? No. Giratina was too prideful.

Giratina narrowed her fiery eyes,

"Cresselia could relate to that couldn't she?"

Darkrai unflinchingly returned Giratina's gaze. The dragon was returning to her old tactics to get a rise out of him.

Sorry to disappoint you, Giratina, but you don't fool me.

"Despite all the hell you put her through she not only finds it within herself to forgive you but to love you."

This isn't about me.

"Even now you have audacity to even dream of binding your souls."

This is about you.

"Do you really believe you mask your fears by insulting us?" Darkrai crossed his arms, "Do you think you earn our respect by flaunting your own insecurities!?"

A dragon pulse was hurled his direction. Darkrai barely dodged the attack by sinking into the shadows out of the dragon's sight. He reemerged behind Giratina.

"I believe you asked for the strongest nightmare I could conjure."

Giratina snapped around to face him. A dark void formed in his claws. He waited. Giratina shifted her weight. Deciding whether or not to crush him for his insolence or accept his challenge.

"Well?" she scoffed, impatiently.

Darkrai let the dark void fall from his hands. The darkness overtook Giratina and she was thrown into another nightmare. Darkrai relaxed as Giratina's sleeping form shuddered. This time he refused the urge to enter her dreams. The nightmare could form on its own without his expressed interference. Strange as the situation was Darkrai admired how willing Giratina was to face her fears.

As he sat in that desolate cave he began to wonder. Arceus had once said he created Darkrai to balance the world. By showing Giratina her fears he was preparing her for whatever lay in the future. True his powers could be harmful but he could also use them for great good. Darkrai relaxed.

The nightmare ceased and Giratina stirred awake. She remained on her side. For a creature that had tremendous strength her aura was greatly weakened.

"Here."

Darkrai laid the lunar feather at Giratina's head.

"Cresselia insisted."

"She's very kind." A nearly softened expression flashed across Giratina's face.

Darkrai felt a surge of pride at the compliment. Cresselia would be flattered to hear the Renegade describe her as such and perhaps a bit shocked. Giratina's eyes began to droop.

"And you." Giratina yawned, "You're a good friend."

Darkrai let his arms fall limply to his sides. Emotion tightened his chest. The dragon herself was far from perfect. Some might even find her brazen attitude repulsive. But she'd freed him from the shade. Despite her flaws, Darkrai couldn't help but call her a friend.

"So are you, Giratina."

Darkrai exited the cave. A shock of cold wind breezed through his fur. The stars fell from the heavens to the earth. Darkrai extended his hand. A delicate icy flake landed in his hand before melting into his fur. Snow. Winter was upon them. Darkrai picked up his pace. He couldn't waste even a day. If he didn't hurry every flower in Sinnoh would freeze. Next spring would be too long a wait.