Chapter Text
People dressed up in the old clothes of men gathered on the top of Mount Coronet and seemed to be ready to celebrate like in the days of old.
Everywhere there was the light of candles, reflections on clothes cleaned for the occasion, smiles and a few quiet whispers. The sound of the traditional instruments, the gurgle of bells and the rustling of the robes contributed in making that moment magical, and perhaps a bit surreal.
Years had passed since something like that had taken place. No more than a few hundred people started to sit on their heels, or kneel, and waited.
Little by little, everyone was sitting comfortably, leaving a central corridor and a clearing on the very top of the Spear Pillar, what had once been Sinnoh’s temple.
In those moments, one could breathe the same uncontaminated air their ancestors had, and feel, with some fear, the same air created at the beginning of the world’s creation, or at least those were the myths’ words. And the faith of the people gathered there now, brought the mind back to simpler times.
As it was rehearsed, nine dancers emerged from the cave at the back. Their clothes were pastel colored, some candid, soft pink, cerulean or the same hue as the nature around them, and they walked with their eyes partially closed in a triangular formation, as one, light on their bare feet. They wore colored jewels on their ears, or on their arms as bracelets, and those moved slowly and sinuously with the wind and the dangling of their steps.
They passed through the whole crowd, who was watching them, revering them with a bit of trepidation. The dancers stopped in the clearing, and began to dance.
Their light robes fluttered while following the movements of arms and legs. The instruments played, mostly tambourines and bells, with a few rudimentary string instruments, marked the time, and the movements of the dancers did the same.
They danced calmly for a few moments, and after that, the leader of the dancers, a young girl with short blonde hair, decorated with pink jewels and among those a big oval stone right on her head, stopped and stepped closer to the crowd.
“It’s the beginning of yet another new year! Tonight, will be the last of the past time, and the time of the future will begin to flow! Sing, dance and rejoice, for the time we can still share together! For the places and the space we can still touch, for the lives we can still live! May this year be kissed by the Powerful Light’s benevolence!”
People exploded in applause and shouts at those words, and they finally started to get back on their feet. The lights on the path down Mount Coronet lit up festively, lanterns and torches as well, as people started to make their way down in euphoria.
It was New Year’s eve. The night between the thirtieth and the thirty-first of the last month of the year was when the ceremony used to take place, and for the next two days people would be partying and thanking the deities for the year to come. It hadn’t been long since the tradition had been picked up again, thanking and honoring the gods for the year passed, while hoping for their blessing in the future.
Even when it hadn’t been asked, the dancer knew that Dialga’s time blessing, and Palkia’s space blessing, had always been given. She hoped a festival like this would tranquilize and make more benevolent the Eternal Time and Infinite Space’s spirits. She hoped the Powerful Light saw them too. And remained lenient.
“Nice dance there, Crissara.” A voice behind her said. She turned around with a smile as her pink stone glistened in the moonlight. Quite a few people were already gone, and some of the dancers as well. Instead, there was a boy behind her, skin of the darkest of blacks, like charcoal. At least this time he’d had the decency of putting a shirt on, colored a dirty red. The necklace made of red corals was always on his shoulders and in the middle of it, among the corals, was instead a greenish feather, known as a Lunar Wing. His white hair was cradled by the wind ever-present on the mountain. His light blue eyes stared at her.
“Come on Derrek, that was a modicum of my power and you should know that. And, for your information, it wasn’t just a dance, but a ceremonial ballet.”
“One of those boring things you do, anyway. Hurry, let’s get away from the temple.”
No matter how much Crissara thought he was rude, she couldn’t disagree. It wasn’t safe for them to stay there, especially as people started to make their trek down.
Truth to be told, those kids talking weren’t exactly kids, but two minor deities who, taken a human form, took pleasure in living with humans and understanding them better. They were both deities of dreams as well as the moon.
The dark boy, appeared from nowhere among the shadows, was in reality Darkrai. Revered deity, even if timorously. Legends on Darkrai were many, but the most realistic ones were about the terrible nightmares he could cast on people and pokémon. It wasn’t exactly a power he could control, and for that, he was wearing a Lunar Wing.
The owner of said Lunar Wing was standing right beside him. Cresselia was instead the deity of the crescent moon, but as a secondary power she could wake people up, or turn their dreams sweet, and block Darkrai’s power.
In the past, the two had already been separated due to force majeure. Forces which, those days, they had just come to adore.
Truth to be told, they had received a warranty: they could meet, as people, in their human form, but only once every lunar month. The day when the waxing moon was perfectly half.
Even if the new moon was standing in a perfectly dark spot of the sky that night. No light was shining up there, and perhaps that had made the atmosphere even more magical.
Usually, one of the biggest deities would have come down, given them a lecture, a punishment perhaps, because they had disobeyed so openly, and then everyone would have gone on their way. But Darkrai and Cresselia had agreed the time and place. There were too many people, they wouldn’t have risked appearing in front of everyone.
And punishment was sure to come, but it had been along time since they’d hung out, among the people, and had fun at a festival like this. It was an opportunity they couldn’t afford to lose. Next one would have been the Moon festival, yet it was still months away.
They quickly slid down the stairs and followed the lights they came to the city.
It was decorated, like a gigantic party. Stands, garlands, traditional dresses. It felt like they’d traveled two-hundred years into the past. People smiled, exchanged pleasantries, and everywhere one could go there was the inviting smell of food.
“I’m hungry! Let’s take a caramel Leppa Berry!” Derrek proposed, taking Crissara by the hand before she could protest.
“Hey! Hey! Ouch, you’re hurting me!” She protested instead, the very moment they stopped in front of a candy kiosk.
“Sorry, I saw someone I didn’t like.” Crissara judged him with her gaze, before turning her hands over her wrists and say, feigning anger:
“Well, at least you could offer me something!”
“Hey, come on! You know I don’t have any money!” Crissara puffed, but then smiled at him. They got in a line in front of the shop and bought two caramel Leppa Berries on a stick, which they enjoyed for the rest of the festival. She knew well that Derrek ran around without any money. Truth was, he didn’t have any, and neither a way to obtain them which wasn’t stealing from people. Once Crissara had caught him doing it, and had scolded him a lot for that.
From that moment on, he hadn’t stolen anything.
She had started working as a dancer instead, so she always had some change on her, but it was mostly for cases like these, for recreation. Should they really need some food, they would walk into the forests and take what little they needed. Somehow, being generated by the Powerful Light directly meant they needn’t drink nor eat, but if they were to turn into humans, they had to pretend to be like them. And Derrek truly liked caramel Leppa Berries.
While he was walking, she looked at him when he engorged the treat. He was really cute in those moments, the white teeth twinkled and created the perfect contrast with his black skin.
Derrek kept on eating, and once he was done he noticed how she hadn’t even touched her caramel Leppa Berry.
“Are you eating that?” He asked, pointing at it and getting closer to give it a bite.
“A moment of patience! I don’t gobble like you do!” Crissara clenched the stick and took it away from him.
“But if you don’t eat it, you know you shouldn’t waste food.”
“Give me a break. Besides, look at your face, you have caramel all over it!” With some vigor, she brought her hand on his face and shook him, making the sugar plastered on his face fall down in the process. “Much better!”
“That was basically a slap!”
“Maybe, now we’re even for how you treated me earlier. Hasn’t anyone told you not to hit girls?”
“You’re a stickler…” Crissara stuck her tongue out at him and finally gave a bite to her caramel Leppa Berry. It was very sweet, perhaps even more than usual. She didn’t love the sweet taste, but it was okay. She’d make do with what she had.
“So, what did you want to do?” She asked, turning around to face him. Then she stopped right in her tracks, as nobody was standing next to her now. She stopped among the crowd, how could she lose sight of him in such a short time?! “Derrek…?”
Then she heard a voice inside her head.
“The Powerful Light and the other two are watching us… it’s better if I get away.”
“No, wait.” She replied, by thinking. That way, only he would have heard her. “Come out, we can still enjoy the festivities.”
“But they saw us!”
“So what? If they see us once or for the whole festival, I doubt their punishment will change. Come on, get out of my shadow.” She heard a grunt before an answer came.
“We shouldn’t have come here…”
Crissara felt a ping of sadness in her heart when she heard the answer, but she walked away from the lights and the crush of people in order to find a more private and quiet place close to a building. From its shadow Derrek came out, visibly upset.
“Out of all festivals, they had to show up to this one. They haven’t been here in YEARS, and the one festival where we decide to step out of line, they have to show up and kill our fun.” He lamented, still standing in the shadows.
Effectively, looking at the top of Mount Coronet, her trained eye could see an unusual light.
The Powerful Light was up there, and in her heart she knew they were waiting for them. She felt their burning gaze on her, and close to them there were two more lights, one with more of a pinkish glow and the other blueish. They were in great company tonight.
Derrek began fidgeting with the Lunar Wing in his necklace, worried.
If there were the three of them, then they might even get three separated punishments. And that was not even daring to think about the fourth, perhaps the one he feared the most, who didn’t emit any light. From their far place, he couldn’t tell whether the Deep Shadow was there too.
Truth to be told, he didn’t fear the Deep Shadow for the sake of it. They had fought against the Eternal Time, Infinite Space and Deep Shadow once already, Cresselia and him. But the Deep Shadow possessed moves which could seriously harm Cresselia, and even if he could somehow counter them, he couldn’t prevent all the damage if they chose to attack her.
She was the one in real danger.
“I’m sorry, Derrek.” She said, having followed his train of thoughts. “You were right. Meeting here was a terrible idea. But it was my terrible idea.”
“Don’t… don’t say that…”
“But it’s true. I wished so hard to spend the festival with you I went as far as to challenge them, and now we’ll both pay the price. I was foolish, please forgive me.”
“If it’s of any comfort, I wanted to spend the festival with you, too… And, even if our time together was brief, I had fun.” He tried to console her, peeking out of the shadows. “I just wish we didn’t have to see each other once every lunar month. But that’s not really a condition we can fight, isn’t it?”
He turned his gaze to the mountain as well, where the lights had begun fading out, but they were still clearly there.
“If you want, we can still have a look. Since what’s done is done…” He attempted to say, but Cresselia was miserable and looking down.
“I would have loved to try the shooting gallery, but I don’t they’ll let us do that.” People around them had begun to make their way back to the main plaza. They were almost alone and nobody was looking at them anymore. They shared a weak smile, while they joined their hand and felt the fabric of the universe tear and close in a moment.
It was a peculiar sensation, but it wasn’t the first time they’d felt it. The Eternal Time’s competent paws stopped the world in a frozen moment, at the best time they could see. Right after them, the Infinite Space made their own miracle, and opened the fabric of space. Cresselia and Darkrai were sucked in, their human bodies dividing and distorting until they were back to their normal looks, the ones they had been born in.
So in the blink of an eye, they were back at the Spear Pillar. Where people had been mingling about, now there was just silence. And the combined pressure of the three most powerful beings they had ever known.
Now back into their pokémon bodies, they turned around with no difficulty, if not a bit sore from the abrupt passage.
The Powerful Light’s austere gaze stared at them. Close to them, the Infinite Space and Eternal Time wore two similar expressions. Darkrai was almost relieved in seeing just the three of them. The Deep Shadow, whom the humans called Giratina, was not present.
“What do you have to say for yourselves.” Asked the Powerful Light’s voice. A voice without a sound, which sneaked like thoughts into their minds. Cresselia looked down.
“Nothing, Powerful Light. I dragged Darkrai into this.”
Darkrai would have loved to start a battle, and get back to the festival with Cresselia, possibly leaving all the others sleeping a long dreamless night. But he knew that, even for two beings like themselves, fighting against the Powerful Light alone would have been a difficult task. If one was to add the beings on their left and right, then it became impossible.
What Cresselia had admitted was not the complete truth, though. When she had proposed to hang out at the festival, on the last half waxing moon, he’d been euphoric. He had helped her form a plan, and he had been appearing more among humans, so they could keep a low profile. Yet, that hadn’t been enough to hide from the Powerful Light’s eyes. He could just wait for his own punishment, knowing well this would never stop him from plotting another outing with Cresselia, whether the higher deities liked it or not.
That and more for her.
The Powerful Light’s gaze was cast on Cresselia, and then on Darkrai.
“The pact, is that you are free to take on human forms and live among them if you so choose. But, you may not meet each other, not even by chance, with the exception of the night when the waxing moon is half full, as your vicinity brings confused dreams into the minds of pokémon and humans. Tonight, it is not one of those nights. You have broken the pact.”
Cresselia was quiet, looking down. She knew that well. If her abilities mingled with Darkrai’s, the end result could be a complete gamble, most likely unpleasant. The first of her punishments was always to help the poor and pokémon. It was important for the lives of people and pokémon who hadn’t done anything wrong.
Then came the true punishments.
“That is true. But please, do not punish Darkrai. As I said, he didn’t do anything, he was dragged into this by me.”
“If there’s truth in your words, Darkrai may leave.” Darkrai flinched at the words. He’d never been released before Cresselia. And what if they hurt her while he wasn’t there?
He didn’t know what to do.
“By staying here, you are implying this is not the truth.” He jumped again, but after a moment and a shared glance with Cresselia, he relaxed and fused with the shade the light created, and disappeared to their eyes, getting away.
He didn’t know what to do now. He tried going back to the festival, but he wasn’t convinced, and he felt a sort of sadness being there by himself.
He’d done was he believed was for the best. Had he not left, he would have been punished too, sure, but he was more concerned about what they’d do to Cresselia if, by remaining, would have claimed she was a liar. He would have gladly stayed and endured the punishments with her, but explaining why he wanted to do that, he wasn’t even sure he could say that himself. Explaining that to a creature like the Powerful Light, he was pretty much convinced they wouldn’t have understood. In some cases, they were completely cynic.
Only someone like that could have created a whole world and various other dimensions, he mused, but he couldn’t take his mind away from Cresselia.
When the dances lost their beat and became slower, the music started to diminish in volume, and people started to go away, he walked too. He ducked into a forest, behind a bush, and took on his pokémon form, zipping straight to Newmoon island.