She awoke with a sharp hiss—it wasn't anywhere near night, however; the assassin had decided to crash for a few hours after two days of insomnia—and awoke the Legendary beside her—but that wasn't the case.

"Yveltal." Her voice, though disguised as somewhat steady, wobbled as the majestic creature approached her, and her aqua eyes shone especially bright—almost dizzying—and they stood out out against even the azure hues of the afternoon. "They are coming."

The response was immediate. "How did you know that?" he queried, as if not believing his ears—hoping that there would be one little discrepancy in his partner's statement. "Was it the time-travelling powers that Celebi granted you?"

"No." She shook her head, and it was evident that she was still in shock from what she'd just learnt. "It was not that—the Time Traveler only has the ability to look into the future—of which we both know what holds. This vision was sent to me directly by the Lord himself."

Sachi never knew that is was possible for Death of all entities to look surprised—much less shocked—after all, the creature was usually in a state of either mass destruction—though that phase had long since passed—or passive melancholy.

He seemed to take the news far better than her, however, and it only took a few moments for him to lower his head in a level of grudging acceptance.

"I suppose that there is nothing we can do," he finally replied, spreading his wings to their full glory and performing an effortless glide several metres ahead. "Arceus' word is absolute. The only thing we can do now is to wait for them."

A rigid nod flowed through her body, the action stiff and unconscious—and Sachi cursed her lips in a reluctant action of agreement. "You are right, Yveltal," she mumbled, though her voice contained a lingering sense of regret. "We have two hours to calm and prepare ourselves—I will look into the future to catch a glimpse of what they will do."

"Two hours would not be sufficient to ready our state of mind." In front of her, he stilled, a deep sigh escaping his throat. "In fact, I do not think that all the time in the world would ever be enough, but sinners like us should not be granted such privileges after all. Arceus is kind enough to grant us this time."

The assassin gave him a sad, weary smile—one that was more befitting of a jaded elderly man that had seen far too much in life. "Yes," she murmured, looking down at the exquisite mask resting in her palms. "I suppose so."

And, as she walked forward to match her partner, Yveltal wrapped a wing around her in comfort, taking care to avoid grazing her with his obsidian talons. "Who will you be meeting him as...?" he asked. "Will you be the Sachi that the current him knows? Or are you going to be the Princess Rinne that compensates for your sins in this timeline?"

She shrugged—a easy roll of the shoulders, and her cyan eyes died down to a dull glow—could it even be considered one?—as a contrast from the previous blazing radiance. "I don't know yet."

⚔ ∰ ⚔

The two stared at each other—on the surface, they seemed like ordinary eighteen-year-olds, but both of them recognised the aged wisdom hiding between the fine outer layers of their eyes' retinas—Sachi noticing the unconscious wealth of knowledge that the unassuming boy didn't even know he possessed, and Akoni already having long ago realised the sly intelligence in his master's irises.

A tense silence passed, and it seemed like an eternity that they studied each other—and it was Akoni that first initiated the conversation. He stepped forward—a meaningless attempt to close to the distance between them. "Uh, I—"

"You followed us here," came the cold reply, and the assassin lifted her head—now adorned with the elaborate headpiece of a mask that he had created for her—and every detail of her slim face was obscure—save for the striking ice-blue of her familiar optics. "I thought I instructed you not to."

Sometime during their short conversation, Yveltal had retreated behind his partner—and he raised his head in alarm as his employer spoke those words. He didn't know why exactly, but he decided to ignore that fact.

"I apologise," he uttered back, "but this was too big of an issue to ignore. I got a few visions—and I couldn't just remain stationary at the base. Besides—" he gestured at the Yveltal a few feet away—"what's going on? If Xerneas is on my side and Yveltal is on yours—why are we even on different sides, anyway?"

Despite his speech, something nagged at him from a rarely-accessed place in a corner of his brain—something that maybe, just maybe, Arceus had planted in him—something that told him that he did know what was going to happen next.

"Has my sister not yet told you this?" A sigh escaped Yveltal's throat, and he made his way forward, staring the boy with apathy growing in his onyx eyes. "Then again, I would not be surprised. Xerneas, you have always been far too kind."

"And so have you, Akoni." Sachi's voice was soft; dangerous. "One thing I hated about you was that you always too nice to everyone—of course, as time passed, it had become one of my favourite things about you too...how annoying."

A brief period of strained quiet followed—then, the cervine Legendary took a step forward, cobalt eyes regarding the both of them with her usual seriousness.

Xerneas lifted her dainty head. "Arceus has given him most of the information required," she started, gesturing at the boy with a simple nod and pawing at the ground in a restless pattern. "However, if you think we will simply relinquish this chance to have life again..."

This time, it was Akoni that stepped forward, shushing his partner with a raise of his arm. "Xerneas, this is not just between you and your brother. It's between me and my...employer as well—I'd like it if you gave us a while to sort things out."

Gracefully, the Legendary bounded aside, and the teenager made eye contact once more with the reluctant female across him—and this time, it was Sachi that decided to speak. "If both of you know why you are here, then we can carry on and end this quickly."

"...Yes." The redhead rocked back and forth on his heels, the anxiety evident, but remained silent for a long while after that. "I agree to that factor. However, Xerneas is ingrained into my soul, and she's a part of me—and it seems that she disagrees."

"I may have wished for a peaceful death once," the deer-like Pokemon mused, long legs easily devouring the ground as she stepped closer to Akoni once again, "but that is not the case now. Through my partner's soul, I am able to restore so much more life...and I want to continue doing the world such deeds."

Her speech was halted by a brutal strike to the face, and when she looked forward, she could see Yveltal curling his wing back to his side, his gruff voice rich with some form of broken anger.

"Even if that means that you defy the Lord?" Death's gaze simmered, and Xerneas looked downwards, not wishing to receive another such slap from her brother. "This entire timeline was our mistake—your present life is not meant to be for another thousand years."

The Fairy-type held his stare in equal power. "It is true that I was on the side of the Lord," she retorted. "Now, even though you claim this timeline to be wrong, I feel more alive than I ever have. I can give out life eternally without the need of death—all through Akoni's body."

She paused once again as a silver blade was thrust to her throat, and her erect head shifted down a few centimetres to properly study the blue-haired wielder, hands curled around the sword's hilt in a practiced manner as she doled out a mindless slice.

"It is as I thought," she confirmed, the slightest hint of an angered hiss dotting her tone. "Unless Life has the intention for death—or thousand-year sleep in her case—even Death's sword can only do mere damage to this body. Unless you have the will to die, neither of us can do anything to each other."

Frustrated, the female leapt, driving the weapon through her opponent's spiritual body—but all that remained was a hole, one easily filled in by more of the cobalt light that shrouded her silhouetted form.

"Akoni is not just a container for you to use as you please," she mumbled. "He is a human, too—and I will not allow you to talk to him like that. He is your partner, and I expected you to have at least looked after him. You are losing yourself in this new power—and, as a result, you are hurting him through it."

She didn't even seem to flinch as the redhead doubled over in pain—she knew that as Xerneas' lifeline, he'd feel some of the pain as well—but she was past caring about that. It would fade away in time—the damage had not been done to his physical body.

"Look, Sachi." The assassin took caution, but she withdrew her blade, casting a sidelong glance at the taller boy opposite her. "I'm still a little confused about all this, but I'm supposed to be dead, right? Then, I don't mind dying—"

"—but that will not happen," Xerneas interrupted. "Arceus has planned for this as well. Rinne Izosaki and my brother...if you can defeat us, then maybe you would be strong enough to make me truly see death."

⚔ ∰ ⚔

ohoho? what is this nyxie remembers this story

nothing much to say lmfao i'll be back...sometime.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for 837 reads and 124 votes! I really appreciate your support gais <3

Critiques are most certainly welcome, and don't forget to read, vote and give your thoughts in the comments! Please be 100% honest!

~ nyxia ☆