"N-Niss!"

Frantic steps, a pitter-patter of worry and fear. Then it stopped for a moment, as Barry and Metchi caught a glimpse of what was left from that pillar of light, the sight stunning them. There was smoke and little motes of fire and two unmoving bodies collapsed against the ground, Inyssa kneeling in between the two, the growing puddle of blood behind her starting to soak into the tip of her shoes and the fabric of her pants. Most of her weight was allocated onto her palm, which was strongly pressed against the smoking, blistered skin of what used to be Mars' face, fingers still gripping tight, unwilling to let go. The rigidness with which she held herself up against that grip was the only reason she hadn't collapsed yet.

"Niss! Niss, I'm here, it's… it's okay, I…"

Barry's knees slid across the stained rock as he fell at her side, grabbing onto her like he was scared she would disappear in a puff of smoke. Strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her away from the corpse, shielding her from it with his body. Inyssa collapsed onto him, her forehead resting against his elbow as she went limp, face almost completely hidden by locks of hair.

Behind them, Metchi approached Shadi's body and knelt at her side, face scrunching up at the sight of the wound on her stomach.

"H-hey, it's… it's gonna be okay," Barry repeated, both desperately and mechanically. He hugged her with almost enough force to hurt her. "Niss, c-can you hear me? H-hey…!"

But no reply came. Inyssa was not unconscious, but she didn't react in the slightest to Barry's voice.

"N-Niss?" he repeated, voice on the verge of breaking. "Hey, Uxie! A-are you there? Is she okay?"

Again, silence. A voice did eventually reply, but it was neither Inyssa's nor Uxie's, but Mesprit's.

"I… feel Uxie's presence inside her muffled," it said. "I don't understand. What the hell happened while we were away?"

"What!?" Barry yelped. "What do you mean Uxie's…?"

"It's just like that time, back in Canalave," said Mesprit. "The bond between them feels… severed. Even without context, I can… somewhat imagine what must have caused it."

"S-severed… but then…"

His fears wasted no time becoming reality. A gleam caught his eye, and he looked down in horror as the golden light coating Inyssa began to go out. Flickering on and off like a faulty streetlamp.

"No… damn it, no!" Desperate anger exploded from his chest, bursting out of his mouth. "Niss! Niss, I'm here, p-please don't… y-you have to keep it together! We're so close, c-come on…!"

Another light gleamed behind him, and Metchi spoke out.

"She's still alive."

Metchi had her hands one over the other, hovering mere inches from the wound on Shadi's stomach. A warm, powerful light pulsed from within them. Like a healing heartbeat, it flowed from her onto the unconscious woman, fueling her with the strength that was rapidly leaving her.

"Your sister is still alive, pipsqueak!" Metchi yelled. "Me and Azelf can keep her stable until we get her to a hospital, but we need to go now! Move your ass!"

The anger in her voice was not directed at Inyssa at all, but at everything around her, at the fear and uncertainty in her own heart. Barry understood, and he gave a quick nod before hooking his arm under Inyssa's, lifting her up without much trouble.

"It's okay, I'll carry you!" he declared, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "Come on, j-just a little more, we just have to cross the portal and w-we'll be home! It's g-gonna be okay, I promise, so…"

The noise behind them stopped.

It was curious. In the panic of the moment, none of them had realized just how loud the crackling of the portal was. Yet its sudden absence made their hearts seize up. It was the loudest, most terrifying silence any of them had experienced. They froze up for a few long breaths, like one would after suddenly hearing footsteps inside an empty house.

Then, slowly, they turned their heads in unison and looked toward the edge of the rocky platform, where the portal back home had previously existed.

"…What?"

"Wh-n…n-nonono, you can't be f-fucking serious."

Nothing was there.

----------------------------------------

A fountain of inky, swirling nothingness flowed down like a waterfall from the portal high above Mt. Coronet's peak. It ate into Spear Pillar, slowly consuming it as it grew. The darkness' advance seemed… contained in a way, as though it itself were trying to fight against its urge to invade their world. Even so, it could not fully stop. Cynthia and Lorencia were forced to step back as the pool of black at their feet continued to grow, almost pushing them back toward the staircase leading up to Spear Pillar.

She was shaken, hesitant. Even now, her mind and soul were trying to convince her that a man named Cyrus had never existed, that the aching gap in her memories was but her own delusion. Before, she would've been able to repel such an effect, like it'd happened with Shadi. But now she felt… weak, empty. Whatever had happened back in Lily of the Valley island, it had taken away a vital part of her.

But still she held on. Staring at the black pillar, hoping with every fiber of her being that Barry, Metchi and Inyssa would emerge out from it soon. If not…

Her hand went to the object in her pocket. In the worst-case scenario, she could use the Azure Flute's power to get them out herself.

"Cynthia!"

Voices resounded behind her. Then steps. She didn't look in fear the darkness might suddenly engulf her, but that voice was unmistakably Fantina's. She was soon at her side, standing on the edge of the last rocky step. There were two women alongside her; Sanbica and Candice, the latter of which remained engulfed in that aura of moonlight, provided by Darkrai and Cresselia.

"Stay back!" Cynthia barked. "We don't know how fast it'll continue to grow. If it gets out of hand…"

"What happened?" Candice demanded, her voice echoing unnaturally. "Something about you is… different."

It was then that Cynthia very pointedly felt Sanbica's eyes on hers, and said girl even more pointedly did not say a word. Did she know? Was she in cahoots with Riley, or…?

"The three of them… should have already come out by now," Fantina observed, lips pale and pursed. "Chaos… please, let them be okay."

Sanbica shook her head. "There's something wrong. I can feel it but I cannot, agh… perceive it."

"What do you mean?" asked Cynthia, fearing the answer."

"The three anomalies I felt in the flow of causality, months ago," she said. "I can feel them converging in this place, in this specific moment. My farseeing is nothing but darkness. Something's–"

Someone stepped out of the portal. Sanbica's words froze in her mouth, and a small gasp left Candice's lips at the sight. Both Cynthia and Fantina simply stared ahead, dumbfounded, a terrible fear suddenly stabbing at their hearts.

It wasn't Metchi, nor Barry nor Inyssa. Just a single man, stepping out of the realm of nothingness like he were out on a stroll, a cheery smile on his face. He was tall and dressed in all blue. One of his hands held a long, black object like a sword, and the other rested on the back of the woman collapsed against his shoulder.

Surprisingly, it was Sanbica who first spoke. And that single word confirmed what Cynthia suspected.

"R… Riley?"

The two of them were not working together. Somehow, it terrified her more than her initial assumption.

Fantina gulped. "Who on earth…?"

"W-what happened!?" Cynthia's voice burst up from her chest, echoing through the mountaintop. "What is this, Riley? Where are Barry and Metchi and Inyssa?"

That irritating smile never left Riley's lips as he took a few steps forward, getting far away enough from the pillar of darkness, before kneeling and gently placing the unconscious girl on the floor, where she lay motionless. Cynthia took a quick glance. She didn't recognize her in the slightest.

"Right… I can see how bad this looks," Riley said in that schmaltzy 'whoops, ain't I so clumsy' tone that made Cynthia's blood boil. "But hey, all the pieces just happened to fall together without me planning it. Only an idiot would let such an opportunity pass them."

"What are you talking about!?" Sanbica demanded. It was rare for her to raise her voice like this. "This isn't what we were told; we are not to interfere in these events unless–!"

"Unless it's of vital importance, right?"

No one liked the way he said those words. Riley took another step forward, facing the four women, and raised the ebon sword on his hand slightly, letting the light that Candice emitted reflect on its surface.

"That's Obsidian," Cynthia said flatly. "How did…?"

"Say… do you remember why we've always needed an Eight Stigma?" The question caught them off guard, silenced them. Riley looked down at the blade, and continued. "Because we don't have a choice. It's either having one or letting the world be consumed by nothingness, and all because of some dead nobody's hubris, thousands of years ago. Well… dead and stupid now, seeing as she never even thought to try this. Could have saved us millennia of trouble."

With his free hand, Riley fished into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out an… orb? The size of his palm. It was hard to make out its true shape; all Cynthia could see it as was a shifting and changing amalgamation of darkness and light.

"Part of our deal was that I'd ensure the Griseous Orb was in our world when the moonless night came, right Cynthia?" he asked. "Almost didn't make it. And all thanks to my dear coworker's meddling."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Sanbica actually looked away at that, a slight red tinting her cheeks. "I could have… never imagined Tulip would use it in such a way."

"All water under the bridge," Riley shrugged, dismissing her. "But thanks to the hoops I had to jump through to enter the world of Distortion and retrieve this… I found something I never could've imagined. It was just a thought experiment at first, I admit. Just something I figured I'd never have the opportunity to test. But when I found Nyss' sword just laying there…"

Realization dawned at the same time on both Cynthia and Sanbica, and their eyes flew wide open.

"Y-you didn't…!"

"It was you," Cynthia whispered. "That emptiness I felt… y-you…"

For the first time as he looked back at them, the perfect face pasted onto the front of Riley's skull truly did look like a smiling mask. It was only there for a moment, but they all saw it.

"We monitor and study singularities because we thought it impossible to destroy them," he said, tone illuminating. "But there is a way. Just as the lake siblings hold power over forces of creation vaster than them, a weapon forged from a soul can sever the link between our world and the next. Which means…"

And he dropped the Griseous Orb, let it fall to the ground in front of his feet. Then, he moved. His wrist raised the blade ever so slightly as his other hand moved to grip at the pommel. An explosion of adrenaline flooded Cynthia, and she threw her arm forward, a desperate scream leaving her lips. The three other women were slower to react; their own bellows never got to leave their mouths.

"LORENCIA, STOP H–!"

But her Garchomp was too slow, too weakened to reach him in time. And so they all watched, unable to stop him, as Riley raised Obsidian high over his head and then brought it down with all his strength onto the Griseous Orb.

There was an otherworldly crack, much like the one they'd heard when Cyrus had opened the rifts to the dimensionS of Dialga and Palkia. Only this time, the sound was… reversed. Like a vacuum of air, of sound. Thin, spiderweb-like cracks spread through the small surface of the singularity, glowing from within with a pale darkness. It shattered silently, pathetically. A few dozen pieces falling to the ground, then dispersing in tiny motes of smoke and vanishing into the air.

Two things happened at once. The massive pillar of darkness behind Riley froze, then began to swirl in reverse, like water being drained upwards, like rain being pulled back into the cloud it came from. It shrunk and shrunk, until there was nothing left upon the surface of Spear Pillar. The darkness climbed up, eventually disappearing into the rift above, which closed an instant later.

And then, a scream, not far behind C ynthia. The other three women turned in horror to see the girl fall to her knees, every inch of her body shaking as she painfully clutched at her chest. She looked to be in terrible pain. And the mantle of moonlight and darkness that covered her was getting weaker, flickering on and off, as though about to go out. It was only then that Cynthia understood, what had happened, and what Riley's plan was.

The Griseous Orb, the first singularity… was gone, and everything that had sprung from it would soon disappear as well. The Eight Stigma, the portal connecting the two realms…

…As well as Darkrai and Cresselia, whose very existence was tied to the singularity itself.

----------------------------------------

It was a joke, Metchi thought. Some kinda twisted prank someone was playing on them, because otherwise it was impossible. Literally impossible. Her brain couldn't even fathom a reality in which the fucking portal would simply close itself on them, it simply couldn't happen. No universe would allow such a thing. Even though she'd been proven wrong about that so many times before, now she believed it more than ever. It wasn't right, it wasn't…

"T-this… isn't fair."

Behind her, Barry blinked after not doing so for a long time.

"What happened? He whispered, fearful. "W-where did it go? Mesprit, where did it…!?"

"I-I don't know!" the Pokemon said. "I wasn't looking, I was… e-even so, it should be…!"

"It cannot be." Azelf's tone was curt, full of denial. "The portal couldn't have closed. Shadi remains here on this side."

"T-then what!?" Barry stuttered. "Did it move or something!? What happened!? W-we have to go back!"

There was no composure in his voice. He was frayed, furious and scared. He shook violently and held onto Inyssa like he would drown without her, so tightly it must have hurt. Yet no one answered his question. The worst silence settled around them for a few moments, so thick they could see it. Thick and dark, it spread from the empty space around them inwards, closing in on the rocky platform.

Metchi looked up. There, high above, the endless darkness that was Giratina hovered. Its burning red eyes looked down upon them with… sadness? Pity? It seemed to be holding the spread of its domain at bay, though only through great effort. She could see it already. Inky blackness like the opposite of white noise starting to close in around them. Eager, hungry. For the shortest instant, a part of Metchi wanted to throw herself at it. To end this fucked up joke once and for all. But then, as always, she took a deep breath and gathered herself, then tried to fix the mess they were in.

"Can we open another one?" she asked, sounding utterly exhausted. "Azelf? Is there any way?"

"I… I don't know if–"

"We have the three of you useless pieces of shit here!" she suddenly roared, angry, but not at Azelf. "If together you can control the gods of time and space then you can get us the fuck back home, can't you!?"

"…I don't know. But it might be worth the attempt."

"I agree," said Mesprit. "I don't know what happened outside, but I refuse to let this darkness consume me. There is always a way out."

Metchi nodded, expression suddenly strong, that limitless determination fueling her and Azelf's spirit crashing into her body like a wave of adrenaline. It spread outwards from her, the light pushing away the nothingness. Barry felt it. It was warm, like a mug of hot cocoa in a cold night. It gave him something back he hadn't realized he'd lost. It made him look up at her and nod as well, his body suddenly stop shaking.

But Inyssa did not move. She remained collapsed against him, conscious, but unwilling to do more than breathe.

"Up," Metchi ordered. "Come on pint-size, I know you're not fucking done yet. Get up and help us get your bitch of a sister back home."

"Niss, please…" Barry pulled back and did his best to cobble together a smile from the broken pieces inside him. "W-we have to do something. Everyone's waiting for us, s-so…"

"S-shut up."

Barry froze, and all the warmth Metchi had given him suddenly went out like a candle flame being blown on. His hands tightened on Inyssa's shoulders.

"…Inyssa, come on," Metchi said, eyes narrowing. "Stand up."

"S… S-Shadi's still alive, didn't you hear?" Barry tried to reason. "You p-promised to get her back! Even if not for us–!"

"SHUT UP!"

He felt a sudden, powerful force against his shoulders and his fingers slipped from Inyssa as his back hit the ground. His vision swam. Confused, he scrambled to his knees and turned to look at her, but whatever strength she'd used to push him away was gone now. She could barely keep herself sitting, every muscle in her body limp. Neither her face nor her eyes could be seen through the thick curtain of hair.

"I… don't want this anymore."

The sound that came out of her could hardly be called a voice. It was just a broken, disjointed handful of sobs and whispers cobbled together into a sentence. She veered forward. Almost fell flat on her face, but then caught herself with her own hands. Her fingers closed around her face like they'd done around Mars. Barry could see a trickle of blood running down her sleeve. Her lightning scars. The out-pour of energy had opened them, turned them into fresh lacerations. Inyssa was bleeding all throughout her arms and back. The thought made Barry want to wretch.

"This isn't real. It isn't. No o-one would…"

"Niss…"

She lifted her chin ever so slightly, and through her fingers the grayish green of her eyes could be seen. Cold, almost colorless.

"I'm so… so tired," she told him, begged him. "None o-of this is real, is it? It w-w-wouldn't be fair. I must've… yeah, I must've died that night. I did, didn't I?"

Unease. Barry felt something hard form in his chest. "W-what?"

"W-when I took the pills. I'm… dying, there right now, right?" she asked, tone delirious. "This is just a dream. It's no-ot happening. If… it is, I wouldn't wan…"

She let out a creaking laugh, like someone stepping on a branch. It was the saddest sound.

"I don't care. I want to c-close my eyes," she said. "I'm so tired… j-just let me sleep. Let me g-go…"

"L-like hell!" Barry howled. "Niss, please…!"

He shot toward her, but then he felt that tingling behind his eyes, and the brunt of Niss' misery slammed into him like a frigid wave made of an entire ocean's worth of water. It was impossible, paralyzing. His legs failed him halfway through and he collapsed to his knees, only inches from reaching her. The cold, sharp pain clutched at his chest, tightened his lungs, darkened his vision. This was worse. So much worse than anything else he'd felt from Niss before. This was…

This was it. The shadow living deep in her core. It was both the venomous fury prickling at her veins and the deep, crushing apathy that surrounded it, like a sea of boiling poison encased in ice. And he could feel them both drowning in it. He couldn't imagine how she'd been able to keep this at bay for so long. But it didn't matter. Whatever barrier she'd erected deep within her soul, it had just been shattered.

The shadow overtook her, and it was overtaking him too. The golden light protecting them… it was gnawing at it, hungry, so hungry. There was nothing they could do. Nothing anyone could do to–

NO! Barry groaned, clutching at the side of his head. His face contorted with effort. D-don't… let it get you…!

"NISS!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Snap out of it! I'm not letting you go again, this time I'm here for you! Niss!"

No response. His vision was starting to dim. Whatever power he and Mesprit possessed, it was being muffled by the weight of this horrible feeling. The arm supporting him began to shake.

"P-please… I don't want to…" His voice was almost devoid of strength by now. "I… I'm scared…"

At that, Niss moved a little. She dropped her hands from her face, and lifted her head very slowly. A glimmer of hope burst in Barry's chest. But it was immediately extinguished as Niss looked up toward Giratina high above, and spoke.

"Just take me."

Whatever force Giratina might have exerted on its own domain to restrain it, it was gone the moment she whispered those words. The darkness couldn't be held back. From the edges of the platform, from above and below, sharp lashes of inky nothingness cut through the air toward her, desperately hungry. There was a sound. It might have been Barry screaming, horrified, but he couldn't tell.

Because there was also a light, and a roar so potent and inhuman it sounded like a jet engine behind him. A golden arc exploded around him and Niss. A ring of force and sharpness that grew outwards and incinerated the darkness cornering them. Driving it back, if only for an instant. It was bright. Bright and… warm. So incredibly warm…

"Wh…" Barry's eyes shot wide open. "Metchi?"

She stood between them, hands raised in front of her, face carved onto the very image of poise and fortitude. Her eyes were beacons, and her skin was a spring of warm radiance. And between her hands… Barry had to blink, twice even, to make sense of what he was seeing. Glimmering, roaring sunlight poured upwards from her closed hands, flowing and swirling like liquid flames into the shape of a massive blade, easily twice the size of the one Nyss had used to fight them.

"I… I can't believe it…" Azelf's voice was high-pitched, astounded. "A weapon forged from a soul. Only Nyss was ever able to…"

But Metchi had more pressing concerns than whatever Azelf was saying, as the nothingness around them began expanding once more, repelled only momentarily by the slash of light. She roared with all her might and swung wide, burning the darkness before her, before turning on the ball of her feet and cutting behind her as well. The darkness retreated again, but not as far as it had done the last time.

"Fuck! Off!" She screamed with each swing, eyes wide, burning with fury. "You got the whole of fucking eternity to wait to claim us, I'm not letting you have us now!"

She swung, again and again. It was wild and uncoordinated, far from what actual swordsmanship looked like, but that clearly didn't matter to Metchi. All she wanted was to buy them another second, another breath. Inyssa saw this, peering through the curtain of hair over her face. She tilted her neck ever so slightly, and somehow her whisper was heard through the roaring of Metchi's blade.

"Why...? Let me… rest, please…"

Metchi swung one more time, then looked over her shoulder toward Inyssa. There was a deep spite in her eyes, but it was not directed toward her. And when she spoke, there was no scolding.

"I know… what it feels like, pint-size."

That actually got Niss' attention. She didn't fully turn to look at Metchi, but her eyes did widen slightly.

"But you're strong, stronger than I was back then!" She swung at another wave of darkness as she said the last word. "So take as much time as you need. I promised I'd get you two and Shadi back home, and nothing in this reality or outside of it is gonna stop me!"

One wider, much more powerful slash. It exploded in a circle just like the first time, the light expanding in a burning dome around them. It was enough to buy them a few more instants. Metchi used them wisely, relaxing her muscles, controlling her breathing, readying herself for the next strike.

"I'll keep this fucker at bay until you come back to us," she whispered, voice suddenly soft, warm. "Even if means swinging this thing for all eternity, I'll protect you."

Inyssa sobbed. "W… why?"

"Because you deserve better than this," Metchi said bitterly. "And if the universe ain't gonna pay up, then I'm gonna fight it 'til it does."

The explosion of light reached its peak at the edge of the platform, and just like before the darkness encroached upon them, faster, even more desperate than before. Metchi lowered her knees and got into position, eyes gleaming with determination.

"You got my back, Azelf?"

"I'm… sorry, Metchi," Azelf told her, barely a whisper. "This is pointless. You face a force larger and emptier than eternity. You cannot win this fight."

Metchi snorted, then spat to the side. "Oh yeah?" she whispered. "Well that's a real fucking shame."

And she threw herself at the endless twilight, blade held like a beacon above her head.