Heartstrung Shadows

A crimson beast roosted atop her rocky perch, staring down at the flickering lights of a sleepy kingdom far beneath her. The last of the dim sunlight dissipated as the sun dipped beneath the horizon, finally allowing the moon to dance across the sky as cool winds swept in alongside the darkness encompassing her perch and the expansive plains below.

Yveltal, as the mortals called her, unfurled her wings, finally awake from her daily slumber. The other gods claimed it was unbecoming of her to take such periods of rest so often, though she never cared for their insistent nagging. The harsh daylight burdened her greatly, and she preferred to carry out her duties under the guise of darkness anyway.

She grunted in frustration as she tried to take off, wings flapping wildly yet the rest of her body remained stationary. Her wings were dripping wet, a rogue summer shower seemingly having left her plume entirely waterlogged. It was a miracle the combined weight of her body and water hadn’t collapsed the rock she rested atop. She really did need to find a better place to sleep during the daytime…

“Damn it Kyogre!” Yveltal cursed her colleague as she patted down her wings and fur. “When I see that fish-brained idiot I swear…”

“Big K rained on ya again?” 

“Gah!”

Yveltal squawked, nearly losing her balance. Her wings tensed as she hurriedly readied herself for an ambush, though she quickly relaxed at the sight of an all-too-familiar head crest poking out of the ground.

“Giratina! Quit sneaking up like that! We’ve been over this!” She scolded, though in a much more playful tone than she should have. Giratina was still relatively young and energetic in comparison to her old, senile self. They were made for different purposes anyway, lording over the dead and recently dying never did need as much moving around as Miss-Lord-of-Antimatter or whatever Giratina decided to go by for the day.

Yveltal took a couple more deep breaths. Having sufficiently calmed herself down she turned back to face Giratina, currently about halfway through wriggling herself out of her void portal. 

“Pfft.” Yveltal stifled a laugh.

“Gimme a sec!”

“You know, it would be much easier for you to fit through if you made that portal bigger.” 

“Palkia said I’m not allowed to make it any bigger than this…” Giratina replied disappointedly, barely masking the annoyance against her eldest sibling. “He said he would lock me in a pocket dimension if I did…”

“Well, I don’t care.” Yveltal replied flatly. Her talons nudged the serpentine beast, prompting Giratina to expand the portal just barely enough for her to glide by. “If he complains tell him to come to me. I’ll deal with him.”

Giratina rested on the edge of her newly enlarged portal, halfway between the material plane and her own domain. The slight glimmer of her deep crimson pupils hinted to Yveltal that her sudden appearance served a deeper purpose than simply ‘catching up with friends’.

“U-uh…”

Giratina stopped for a moment, trying to compose herself the best she could. 

“I was thinking…” she softly tapped her shadowy appendages together, trembling as her form slightly blurred into the shadows. “Maybe… you know… we could… uh…”

“Could what?”

“We could… g-go on… a date! Y-yeah! Would you go on a date with me, miss?”

Yveltal brought a wing up to her horns, rubbing them as she let out a loud, exasperated sigh. 

“Alright. Tell me. Who was it.” Yveltal deadpanned.

“Who… w-what?”

“Who set you up? With me, I mean.”

Giratina staggered away, her body fully materializing out from the shadows as she floated off. She landed a short distance away, giving just enough space between the two for the rocky outcrop Yveltal perched upon to not collapse under the combined weight of the two deities.

“So? Who was it?” Yveltal repeated, her gaze dimming slightly in irritation. 

The void dragon shifted nervously, eyes darting around, her struggling to find a response. “N-No! I m-mean… Me! I-I did it…” 

“Gira, really. Come on. With a shitbag like me? Besides, you’re a terrible liar.” The oversized vulture flexed her wings, hopping off her perch and landing beside the shadowy beast. She lifted Giratina’s chin, staring deep into her eyes, exuding just enough pressure for Giratina to begin trembling.

“Spill it, girl. Did Reshiram set you up again? Ho-oh? Lunala, even?” 

“A-alright! Alright!” Giratina capitulated, the beast hiding her face under her tentacles as she shied away from Yveltal. “I-It was Necrozma! He ordered me to a-ask you out!”

Yveltal raised her eyebrows, surprised. “Necrozma? Pfft, that old creep? He–”

She stopped for a moment, staring off into the sky as she scanned her surroundings. She gestured at Giratina, signaling them to stay quiet as she spotted something nearby. A jet-black crystal, cleverly hidden inside a rocky crevice a short distance away from the duo. Yveltal aimed her wings, accurately shattering the crystal with a single sharp gust of wind. 

“Sneaky bastard!” She screamed at the skies above, presumably to where Necrozma hid himself. “It’s rude to eavesdrop, you know!”

“So it was a setup…” Yveltal sighed to herself, rubbing her horns in frustration once more. It was pretty smart of him, if anything, to try to bring the two most problematic beings together so that he had an easier time keeping watch over them.

Giratina seemed to be on the verge of tears. Her form began to melt back into void, as she continued backing away from Yveltal. “N-no… Miss Yveltal… I-I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to– I-I’ll just go back…”

“What? No!” The crimson avian replied as she hurried over to Giratina, now mostly entirely melted into the ground. She sat atop the puddle, allowing Giratina to wrap around her red and black plumage. 

“Everything’s alright… This was never your fault, to begin with.” Yveltal cooed. “Who cares if Necrozma’s being a creep again? You don’t need to follow his orders all the time! We’re gods! Even Arceus doesn’t truly rule above us!”

“B-but Necrozma… won’t he–”

“Lose his trust in you? Honey, he already sees both of us as ‘problematic’, it’s why he sent you out here on your ‘blind date’ in the first place!” 

“I…” Giratina steeled herself, pulling the rest of her body out the ground as she fully wrapped herself around Yveltal “…okay. Then can I ask you something, Miss?”

“Go on.”

“Would you… uh… still be up f-for a date?”

Yveltal smiled and nodded, pulling her wings back around to embrace the oversized noodle wrapped around her body.

“Sure, on one condition.” She held up a claw. “We’re going somewhere Necrozma can’t snoop on us.”

Giratina’s eyes sparkled in excitement. “O-oh! Like my Distortion Realm? Or the Voidlands?”

“Ehhhh… Personally, I was thinking more like my temple…” Yveltal shrugged. “The Voidlands are a tad too depressing for a first date, and I’d rather not have your brother pestering me for hopping over into your distortion realm that much…” 

“I-I see…”

“Besides! I have my duties to complete still. You can help out if you want.”

Giratina tensed slightly at the mention of Yveltal’s responsibilities. “Oh r-right… your duties… W-we could catch up later instead? Maybe…” 

Yveltal understood her Giratina’s apprehension. As the god of death, she was responsible for lording over the lives of mortals closest to death, guiding them to whatever lies beyond. They both knew Giratina’s presence could potentially disrupt that. All mortals were afraid of her by instinct, after all. She was the world’s antagonist. The bad guy of every children’s story. It was her role to be hated by everyone, she was made to be the opposite of all that the world stood for. Unlike Yveltal, all beings feared her existence in the first place. They understood that death was inevitable, but the end of the world? Not so much. A cruel responsibility the world chose Giratina to bear, but one she must nonetheless.

“Nah. You’re coming with me~” Yveltal smiled, taking off with her new Giratina-scarf still bundled snugly around her body. 

“W-woah! Y-you sure?!” Giratina screamed, her tendrils flailing haplessly in the air. She made no attempt at untangling herself from Yveltal as they continued to soar higher and faster. “A-alright then… Please be gentle…”

“Will do!” Yveltal replied simply as she ascended into the clouds above, blushing slightly as she felt her newest partner snuggle up against her plume. She quietly thanked Necrozma, for his hapless attempt at spying having brought the two of them ever so closer together.

---

“Damned bastard!”

With a loud bang, the crystal Necrozma had been monitoring shattered, leaving behind only a pile of void-black rubble in the golden dragon’s claws.

“So… repeat to me again, what the point of this meeting was…?” A new voice appeared from behind the dismayed creature of light. It was seated itself across the room, grimacing as it glared at Necrozma. 

“I-“

“No, no, I already know. Spying on your colleagues, as always. If there’s nothing else for me today, I’ll gladly take my leave.”

“Wait! Lunala, please! It’s important!”

Lunala rolled her eyes, returning her glare back to Necrozma. He trembled slightly, anxiously rapping against the wooden table he was seated in. His tail curled around himself as he responded with an incoherent sputter.

“I-I… We– You-”

“Spit it out already! Ugh, I have better things to do than deal with your incompetent ass you know?”

Lunala rose from her seat at the other end of the meeting room. Her eyes glowed a reddish pink as she summoned her ultra wormhole. Necrozma lurched forward, claws of light extending from his wings as he slashed at the portal, vaporizing it in a flash of brilliant golden light.

“Hear me out! Lunala, please! I need you for this!” Necrozma begged. He held his arms out in a blocking motion, pleading with his eyes simultaneously. “Just once, alright? If it goes well, I’ll never have to bother you ever again!”

“You always say that…” Lunala sighed to herself. She floated back down, away from the golden dragon, and back into her own seat. “So?”

“I need you to spread my observation crystals around Yveltal’s temple. She would probably attack me on sight if I set foot there. I assume you’re more… acquainted with her…”

“So you want to use Yveltal’s trust in me to allow you to violate her privacy? That’s low, even for you.” Lunala scoffed. “What a joke… If that’s your entire plan, then no. Leave me the hell out of this, and leave me the hell alone.”

As she began flying away once more a golden ring of psychic energy surrounded her, pulling her back down towards Necrozma. She groaned loudly as if she had expected this outcome from the start.

“Lunala, please! A-as the new Arbiter of the Roundtable I comma–”

“Arbiter? Really? Give it up already, will you?” Lunala interrupted. She lobbed a tiny shadow ball at Necrozma, bouncing harmlessly off of his golden scales—a warning shot. “When will you learn to respect both my time and their time? You set them up, so let them be! Classifying both of them as ‘problematic’ was bad enough, and now you’re here trying to monitor every waking moment of their lives as well?”

“B-but…” Necrozma sputtered. He felt betrayed, the plan was perfect in his eyes after all. Why couldn’t Lunala see the same as him? 

“Lunala I–”

“This isn’t about your job anymore, you dimwit! You’re just a control freak, that’s all there is to it!”

A tense moment of silence descended across the meeting room, broken only by Lunala’s angered panting, as well as Necrozma’s near-silent sniffling. He was on the verge of tears, hiding away his face with his wings in shame. Lunala noticed as well, toning down her glare as she moved in to comfort the sniveling dragon.

“It’s unbecoming for a god like you to cry, you know?” She said, wrapping her wings around Necrozma. She always found it confusing why Arceus chose someone so pathetic and weak-willed like Necrozma as their successor, even more so why he decided Lunala as his assistant and overseer. Not even the mind and intellect of a deity like Lunala could begin to comprehend the decisions Arceus makes.

“Look, I get it. You’re new to all this. You’re not used to all the additional responsibilities and power Arceus left you with. But this isn’t it, alright?” She continued, comforting the sniffling dragon. 

“I-I don’t know what to do…” Necrozma admitted. “Arceus– before he left– told me nothing. I’m trying to keep it all together but… I wasn’t made for this! I was made to lord over the mental realm, not the whole world! All I can do is screw up and make things worse for everyone…”

Lunala stayed silent for a little longer, allowing Necrozma to air out his frustrations. She kept beside the golden dragon as his crying slowly let up.

“You’re being too hard on yourself.” Lunala cooed. “You’re trying too hard, doing too much. No one ever expected you to be as good with it as Arceus was– and that’s okay!”

“B-but then why would he leave me with all this? To deal with Giratina and Yveltal… a-and everyone else!”

Lunala hesitated. It wasn’t like she knew either, but she couldn’t simply answer like that. She was responsible for assisting Necrozma, after all. Picking her words carefully, she answered.

“Arceus knew his strength was waning. His time awake was nearly up, and he needed a good replacement. He knew and trusted you the best, did he not?” 

“I-I guess…” Necrozma calmed down a little. “Apologies– by the way… f-for that…”

Lunala chuckled. “Worry not, it’s my job to help you. Like how it’s your job to lead the rest of the legends.”

“R-right…”

She smiled, wiping a few droplets of golden tears off of Necrozma’s face. “Just… let’s do away with all the spying and stalking, alright? You did well getting Giratina and Yveltal together, now let them have this. Alone.”

The dragon nodded as the crystal monitors surrounding him whirred, shattering into fine dust before returning towards Necrozma. Lunala’s smile grew a little larger as she released him from her grasp and floated back toward her newly formed wormhole. 

“Well if that’s all, I really have to back to work now. I’ll keep an eye out for the two of them if that makes you any less anxious.” 

“T-Thanks… and sorry…” Necrozma answered coyly, the bottom row of his arm waving her goodbye. 

“And you should come over sometime!” Lunala winked. “My realm’s always open for you, got it?”

With her parting words, her form and the wormhole disappeared, plunging the room into a quiet darkness once more. 

Necrozma shook his head as he caught himself reforming the crystals he had just destroyed moments ago.

“…right. No more spying…” he sighed, waving the crystals aside once again. He would forgive himself for this slight, it was a big change, after all. 

Maybe I should take up Lunala’s offer… he thought. If Giratina and Yveltal were such a good match, maybe it could work out between the two of us as well… Wait… what is this– 

Necrozma’s cheeks flushed a bright pink. Was this feeling… love? Had this been what Arceus had planned this whole time? He would have to look into this later. For now, however, he too had his duties to attend to. 

---

“M-miss Yveltal? I’m not so sure about this…” 

The two deities nestled beside one another in a cave overlooking Yveltal’s temple. Giratina eyed the nearby Pokemon hanging around the temple grounds, beads of sweat forming on her head crest.

“Hmm…” Yveltal hummed. “I will admit, I did not expect this many of my followers to be milling about at this time… Must be something urgent…”

Giratina trembled, nervously switching between looking at Yveltal and the crowd of Pokemon gathered around her temple.

“What do we do? I-I wouldn’t want to freak them all out or something… I could stay out here, I guess… it’s probably for the better anyway…”

“No!” Yveltal shouted. Giratina flinched in shock, while she startled herself as well. The lord of death regained her composure, quickly amending her previous statement. “I-I mean… that won’t be necessary… Give me a moment, I’ll think up something…”

The Moon continued its path along the sky as Yveltal ruminated in silence. The pair of deities watched as the Pokemon hanging around the temple huddled up into small groups, starting tiny fires to keep warm in the frigid cold of night. Each flame cast long shadows up against the temple’s marble walls, dancing around as if they wished to appease Yveltal herself with their performance.

Shadows, huh… 

“I’ve got it!” the scruff on Yveltal’s neck puffed up as a solution hit her like a brick wall. Giratina sat up straight as well, her previously half-melted into the vulture’s fluffy tail. “Giratina, you previously mentioned having the ability to phase into shadows and reflections, did you not?”

“Wha– I mean, I do…” Giratina quizzically stared at Yveltal, scratching her head crest with her tentacles in confusion. “But I don’t see why that would apply here…”

Yveltal smiled, pointing her wing at the Pokemon encampment beneath them. “See that?”

“Your followers?”

“No, silly~ Above them!”

“Their shadows…!” Giratina’s eyes sparkled as she processed Yveltal’s suggestions. “You really think it could work?”

“Of course I do! They seem to be a whole lot more fixated on other matters anyway, no one’s going to suspect a thing if you’re quick enough~” Yveltal hummed with excitement. Had Giratina not still been sitting on her tail it would have begun violently wagging. “I’ll fly low enough to the ground to keep my shadow nice and dark for you. Though be warned, I’m quite fast~”

“You’re so smart, Miss Yveltal!” Giratina praised, hopping off her partner’s tail and diving into her shadow. Only two crimson eyes remained, eagerly zigzagging around inside Yveltal’s silhouette. “Your shadow’s super cozy, miss! I love it!”

Yveltal simply giggled in response. However, just as she prepared to take off, the goddess hiding in her shadow tugged at her feet.

“Yes, Giratina?”

“One last question, where should I hide once we’re inside? I-I’m sure your followers would spot me eventually if I kept hiding in your shadow.”

“Hmm…” Yveltal hesitated for a moment before shrugging. “I’m sure we can figure that out after we make it inside. Now get ready! We’re taking off!”

Giratina squeaked as her partner lurched forward, barely able to stay in her shadow. She sped out of the cave, gliding parallel to the cliff face, trying to keep her shadow as dark as possible. As she neared her temple, Yveltal could hear the relieved praises of her followers beneath her as she perched atop the roof of her temple. To her side, she could feel Giratina’s presence, twitchy and uncomfortably shifting around, practically begging for her to move past the crowd of Pokemon quickly.

“Hang tight just a bit more.” She whispered. “Trust me, they won’t notice.”

Yveltal bowed toward her followers, basking in their collective oohs and aahs before beginning her address. 

“My dear followers, what hath brought you all to my temple this day?” she smiled and winked at a few wide-eyed members in the growing crowd of Pokemon. “Whatever be the case, I am pleased to hearken unto your requests. I do hereby grant thee access to my chambers; meet me there, and we shall discourse upon the matter at hand.”

Her followers cheered, some breaking off and quickly making their way towards the temple’s main entrance. Yveltal tapped her feet twice, indicating to Giratina that she was ready to move on. She flew up towards the roof, and back down through a conveniently placed Yveltal-sized hole drilled directly above her throne. 

Her personal chambers were relatively quiet and peaceful, just as she liked it. She had intentionally built her temple atop a mystery dungeon for this reason, slowing down anyone trying to request an audience with her through a complex and everchanging maze of connecting rooms and corridors. Yveltal saw it both as a test of patience, as well as something providing a convenient moment of respite for the goddess herself. 

Giratina crawled out from the shadows, bringing Yveltal into a tight hug as soon as her limbs materialized into the physical plane. 

“Wow, miss! You spoke so weirdly that I thought I followed the wrong god for a moment!” Giratina giggled, releasing the bird from her embrace. “Why do you speak like that to your followers?”

“It’s a matter of old habits and expectations at this point.” Yveltal shrugged. “I’m sure the other legends have their own special manner of speaking to their followers as well.”

“A-ah… Yeah… I never really had any followers… heh…” 

Yveltal cringed, though she wouldn’t let such an unintended slight deter her.

“Well, I’ll be your first follower then.” She winked at Giratina. “How would you like to talk to me?”

“O-Oh! I don’t know miss…” The pair exchanged blushes, the bird nuzzling her head crest while she buried her face deeper into Yvetal’s plume. 

“Just Yveltal’s fine, you know~”

“Ah! Sorry mi– I mean, Y-Yveltal…” Giratina’s cheeks flushed even redder. “I-I thought you hated other people not calling you miss…”

“…and who told you that?” 

“Necrozma…”

Yveltal burst into a fit of laughter. “No way! He still believes that shit? It’s been over fifty years now!” 

She smiled at Giratina, who was covering her face in embarrassment. Swiping away the tendrils covering her partner’s face, Yveltal added: 

“Gira, no one’s ever called me ‘miss’ except Necrozma, and that’s only because I gaslit him into doing it all those years ago. Heh, and he calls himself ‘all-knowing’… What an embarrassment.” 

Before Giratina would reply, however, footsteps echoed from the doorway facing the pair. Yveltal squawked, flapping her wings in a panic as she hastily clambered atop her throne’s perch. 

“Shit! I didn’t expect them to clear my maze so fast! Hide! Quick!”

Yveltal watched as her date zipped around the room in a panic, diving in and out of shadows as she scrambled to find a hiding spot for herself. With a bit of frantic pointing as well as some box-shifting, Giratina managed to conceal herself well enough, hiding in a relatively dark corner of the room behind a pile of leftover temple offerings. They both breathed a sigh of relief, the goddess prepping herself as the light from her fastest followers broke through into her chamber.

“I-Is this it?” A Luxray was the first to stumble inside, holding a torch in its mouth. A leader, presumably. “This is it! Everyone! This way!”

As the chamber began to fill with Pokemon, Yveltal sat up straight, switching back to her distinguished and godly demeanor. She exuded an aura of confidence and power, as all gods of her caliber were expected to. Occasionally, she would sneak a peek behind her to ensure Giratina remained safe and hidden. A Tyrantrum and Braviary pushed through the crowd, joining the Luxray at the front. As a trio they prostrated beneath Yveltal, each muttering silent prayers and blessings towards their goddess.

“Oh, Lord Yveltal!” Luxray shouted, his voice silencing the crowd’s murmuring instantly. “We thank you for hearing our prayers! We thank you for granting us lowly peasants an audience as such!”

Yveltal cringed, trying her best to keep her stoic expression. To her, all these formalities and flowery words, all these praises and prayers, were worthless. Tradition and customs only got in the way of her duties, in her opinion. But she had to play along, her reputation and image among mortals was too important for her to simply throw away. 

“Thou hast brought many folk with thee this day, I spy. I assume ye three are the representatives of these Pokemon?”

Tyrantrum spoke next. “That is correct, Lord Yveltal. We are the leaders of a humble settlement in the nearby mountains. Well… we were… the leaders… a-ah–” The dinosaur sputtered as they choked on their own tears. 

“We were attacked, and our lands were stolen from us. Many of our people perished in the process.” The final leader, Braviary, continued. “We have come to ask for your assistance. Please! Help us take our home back!”

That straightforward, huh… Yveltal thought. 

She glanced around the crowd of followers. Her expression changed near-instantly, a pang of guilt striking her deeply as a regretful frown carved itself across her face. She had subjected her most loyal followers–already wounded, fatigued, and starving from war–to her own selfish ‘trials’ and ‘mazes’ for her own convenience. Yveltal froze, her confidence and dignity evaporating from her aura as she stared apologetically at the wounded Pokemon. 

Why didn’t I notice earlier? No… I never– 

She glanced back at where her partner hid. Giratina had also noticed, guiltily staring at the Pokemon in the room.

Giratina….

Before she could respond to the Braviary’s request, a scream rang from the crowd. 

“Over there! Look!”

Yveltal’s heart sank as more heads turned towards Giratina’s corner. Spears were pointed towards the beast slowly emerging from the shadows. Again, she had underestimated her followers, never expecting them to be this observant.

I got careless…

“Wait–” She attempted to take control of the situation. “It’s not–”

Unfortunately, Giratina’s presence had set the crowd into a frenzy. They hurled all manners of items at the ghostly dragon. Seeds, orbs, personal belongings, spears, anything the villagers could hold. They all harmlessly bounced off, none had any effect inside Yveltal’s temple, thankfully.

Her form wobbled. She was on the verge of tears, already melting back into the shadows. While the items didn’t hurt her, the insults thrown stung much more.

“Demon! Leave these sacred grounds!”

“Infernal Corruptor!”

“Lord Yveltal! You must resist! You must not fall under her control!”

“Save us…”

Yveltal growled. She could not stand watching Giratina suffer like this. Reputation be damned, this was much, much more important to her.

“SILENCE!”

With that, the crowd of fanatic Pokemon quieted down. There were still murmurs, some still praying to the other gods under the impression that Yveltal had been corrupted.

“M-My Lord! You—“

Yveltal cut the Luxray off. “What in my own name do you think you are doing? Have you no consideration for my mate?”

“M-Mate?” many voices echoed.

Yveltal ignored them all, silencing their concerned murmurs and a few screams of terror with her overpowering aura. “Yes, I am not under her control. We are partners. I assumed I could introduce her here to my most loyal followers, yet it seems I was mistaken. Disappointing.”

Her aura exploded, a wave of crimson spilling in all directions. Only the few strongest villagers, and Giratina, remained. The rest could not withstand her rage, either being knocked out and ejected from her domain, or were swept back into the temple’s dungeon. Of the followers that remained, they all cowered submissively, too terrified to even simply look at their god.

As for Yveltal herself, she hurried over towards Giratina. She patted bits of seeds and orbs off of the beast’s body and wiped away her tears, calming her down as she brought her into a deep hug. 

“There, there… It’s okay Gira… I’m here. They’re not gonna hurt you. You’re okay.”

“I-I know…” Giratina replied with a sniffle. “I thought… I thought that they wouldn’t… they still hate me…”

Movement to her left. Yveltal snapped around, her signature death glare on full display. Luxray had stood back up, a mixture of guilt, sheer terror, and regret in their quivering eyes.

“M-My Lord… I–”

“You come to me for help, then ignore my orders and attack my partner? Do you still believe I am willing to listen to you any further?” Yveltal’s pressure choked Luxray back into submission, pathetically cowering underneath, visibly shaken by her rage. 

“I-I’m fine! Please… I forgive–”

She ignored Giratina, giving her remaining followers no respite. “A god serves their loyal and faithful. Ask yourselves, were your actions made out of true faith? You yourselves believed I was weak enough to fall under Giratina’s ‘corruption’, did you not? And were you truly loyal? Acting out on my alleged behalf while ignoring my commands? Leave. You are no follower of mine.”

“Lord Yveltal…” Tyrantrum continued. “You… speak common…?”

“Is this how you choose to respond? Yes, I speak common! And what of it? Does that make your disloyalty any more forgivable?”

“I– We… Please!”

Yveltal was pissed. There was no getting through to anyone this dense. It was better for her just to start over. Her reputation would be as good as gone once word got out anyway. 

If word gets out, that is…

“Alright! Fine! I choose to forgive. I shall assist you in taking back your village, even.” 

The faces of the leaders brightened, while hoots and hollers of joy rolled out of the crowd slowly reforming behind them, the Pokemon she had ejected back into the depths of her temple returning one by one. FIne. Even better for her, actually.

“Yveltal… you’re really going to–”

Her slight smirk was enough of a tell for Giratina. 

“No… This isn’t… This isn’t forgiveness, Yveltal.” Giratina whimpered, her warning barely loud enough for only Yveltal to hear. 

“But! Of course, as all gods do, I require a sacrifice!”

“Yes, yes. O-of course! Although, we own nothing but the possessions on our backs…” Braviary replied, none the wiser. 

“Oh no no no!” Yveltal chuckled. “Your greatest possession has always been with you. You, everyone in this room, and all the Pokemon lying outside or in my dungeon have always held it. It’s the perfect sacrifice for a being such as myself~”

“…w-what?”

“That’s right! I’m sure you’ve guessed it by now~” Yveltal’s expression darkened. She extended a wing toward Braviary’s neck, quite unnerved by the sudden shift in tone. “Your life force. Mortals as pathetic as you never deserved any in the first place.”

A fierce storm of blood and darkness whipped up, centered around Yveltal’s outstretched claw. Braviary stumbled backward, terror returning to their face as they understood. This wasn’t an act of mercy from their god. This was divine punishment.

“No– Please… we’re sorry! I-I didn’t– I thought we were protecting you!”

“Enough.”

“No! You’re the one that’s going too far!” Giratina intervened. Ghostly energy surrounded the bloody storm, dragging it away from Braviary’s neck and into her shadowy body instead. Her tentacles wrapped around both of Yveltal’s arms, ensuring she could not attack her followers again. “Enough is enough! Please, I already said I forgave them!”

“But look what they did to you!” 

“And look at what you’re going to do to them!” Giratina snapped. “Maybe this is the reason Necrozma calls you problematic! It doesn’t have to be this way, Yev!”

“But…! You were crying! I can’t just–”

“It’s okay, Yev. They won’t change overnight. It’s frustrating, but I’ve lived like this for years… You’re the first to stand up for me… a-and that’s great! But, this is too much…”

She glanced around her room, at her followers. She sensed no malicious intent from them, it was true respect and fear for their god’s wellbeing that caused them to act this way. 

“I… Yeah…” Yveltal sighed. She turned back towards her followers. Most that were ejected had made it back into her room by this point. “…I may have overstepped a little. Apologies.” 

She bowed deeper than ever before. With Giratina’s encouragement on her side, she continued. “Let us put this moment past us. I accept your request! In exchange for your loyalty and faith, I shall lay waste to the enemy.”

“But!” Giratina flinched. “It is a difficult task! I shall be bringing Giratina as support. I’m sure nobody has any objections?”

“N-No! Excellent c-choice… my Lord. Thank you for your kindness and consideration” Luxray replied, a sigh of relief mixed into delight in their tone. The three leaders began rallying their people, encouraging them to leave the temple in an orderly manner. Before long, only Giratina and Yveltal remained.

“Gira I–”

“No, no need to apologize. We’re gods, but that doesn’t stop us from making mistakes.” 

Yveltal searched for a reply, yet none surfaced in her mind. Only one action felt suitable. She leaned in closer, pecking Giratina’s crest with her beak. A kiss, or at least, her impression of one.

“…!”

“Thank you, for everything.” Yveltal smiled, lifting her partner up and into another embrace. A happy chirp, followed by an equally cute trill. “As much as I hate to admit it, I am truly thankful for Necrozma bringing us together.”

“Hehe! I’m just glad it didn’t have to end with someone dying again! Thanks for caring so much about me as well!”

“All in a day’s work.” Yveltal grinned. Giratina was still wrapped around her. She twirled around, flipping the beast atop her back, aiming her ascent towards the open hole above her throne. 

“So, let’s wipe some invaders out, shall we?”