...a.k.a. "Rivercookie Forgets What She Was Doing Almost Immediately Into A Story"

But don't let me deter you from attempting to read this. Have fun!

Wasn't she so beautiful that day?

That bright day in the garden, sunlight glittering through the leaves...it would have been such a serene setting, were he not the demon he was.

He shut his eyes against the light and collapsed against a tree, trying to hide away from everything, trying to flee, but too weak to do so. His attackers all lay on the ground, moaning in tormented sleep, but he was too tormented himself to pay them any mind.

As much as the pain in his body took away from his attention, he still noticed when someone began to approach him. When he opened his eyes, he discovered that it was only a little human girl, gazing at him with a mix of fear and pity. In his maddened state, however, he could only think of shrinking away from yet another potential threat.

She reached out her hand, and he backed away, half-expecting claws to burst from the delicate little fingers. But no, it was only the soft touch of a child that met him moments later. "Are you hurt?" came her worried voice moments later. "Are you...in pain?"

...What a precious child she was. Her name was Alicia...

...Alicia...

It was no wonder that everyone else in Alamos Town adored her. Little Alicia's enthusiasm for everything and everyone was terribly infectious. While he was still shunned by both of those groups, he had to appreciate how joyous they made her. And when she grinned and motioned for him to come out of the shadows and join her in her frolicking, he couldn't help but oblige.

She'd told him that she could stay in this place for as long as he liked. And he did. For where else would he find another as sweet as her?

His joy was extinguished soon after, however. Spacetime had been compromised, and through its wounds bled a terrible prophecy. Two creatures of immeasurable power, as mindless as they were mighty, had picked this hallowed place as their battleground. It would be decades before this would come to pass, but as he watched Alicia laugh and skip in the sunlight, it seemed right around the corner.

In his despair, he sought solace in the garden, where the sweet melody of Alicia's leaf whistle would play a prayer for his soul. This was the only place he could remember ever feeling happy...what would he ever do if it were destroyed?

He brooded over the fate of the city for many years, and eventually came to a decision. He would defend Alamos to the end.

When the dreaded day came, he rose up to protect the city from the coming storm.

The oblivious denizens of the city didn't understand the strange happenings at first, and in their terror, they made him into their scapegoat. The warping of the city's structures and the ominous fog that shrouded all in sight became his doing, and they tried to destroy him in an effort to fix the problem.

But he didn't have time to deal with this age-old nuisance. He warned for them to leave while they could, knocked them down as nicely as possible when they refused, and set off to face the real perpetrators.

Oh, he fought so hard to cease the destruction. He took blow after painful blow to his body and got up again and again, prepared to endure the full wrath of the gods to protect what he cared for. Despite his efforts to protect the city, it was still torn away, bit by bit, until the tattered shards that remained threatened to be sucked into the void completely.

Near the end, he put all of his being into one last attempt to halt their rampage, to hold them in place for just long enough...but what was he to those gods but a little black gnat, nipping away at their impervious hides?

When his strength finally gave out and the gods were released once more, they cast their fiery gazes onto him. Finally fed up with his meddling, they briefly joined forces in ridding themselves of him. For a moment, the dark abyss was set alight with their rage.

His lifeless body was blown into the sky, and dissolved into oblivion moments later.

...Of course, he didn't know about that last part. He was already elsewhere by then.

Her name echoed in his mind. Alicia, Alicia...

Alicia.

She was here with him now, wasn't she?

He had watched countless generations pass by, coming and going like mayflies. She was as ephemeral as the rest of them, but her presence lingered with him long after her passing. And now he asked her...had he failed?

Before he met her, he was so filled with hatred and fear, after centuries and centuries of those being the only emotions he was ever greeted by. Those emotions seeped into his being over time, darkening his heart and eating away at his core. Nightmare became all he stood for, all he ever was, ever would be...and eventually, he resigned himself to the darkness.

Then she showed up. She rekindled the smothered spark of love inside of him, and gave him somewhere to call home. She gave him a reason to live.

The debt he owed to her was too great for him to repay, but he had tried his best in this crisis. Was...was it all for naught?

He looked up to see her smiling at him, as beautiful as he remembered. She reached out and gently touched him, a sweet smile on her face.

"You were wonderful. Everything will be all right now."

And, as if it were the old times again, she took out her leaf whistle, sat down beside him, and began to play.

The song...Oracion, wasn't it? That's what she called it.

It was so miraculous to hear on that day of dappled sunlight. The pain of everyone there that day faded away as soon as the first notes touched the air. For the first time in ages, he had a taste of acceptance...of peace.

But here, now, in this place of the in-between, Oracion's majesty had increased tenfold. Its melody seemed to reach into his soul, lifting him high above on wings of light. The city was before him then, made whole by the music's grace as he was.

As the last notes faded away, he looked to Alicia again. She still smiled at him, albeit with some sadness. "You'll be going back soon," she said. "It'll be a while before we meet again...but we will."

He was heartbroken by that thought. So many years of solitude...so many years without her...and he had to go back? "...Why?"

She hugged him. "...Alamos Town still needs you. I'm sure that after all you've done, everyone will be kinder to you now. Take care of my granddaughter for me, all right?"

Before everything faded to black, he heard her voice one last time.

"Thank you, Darkrai."

Sunset.

A lovely time of day, he thought. Night and day touching to make something beautiful...

He could see a few humans down below from his vantage point atop the Space-Time Towers. They seemed happy to see him, which made him happy as well. She was right after all!

Oh...that was Alicia's granddaughter among them, wasn't it? Alice.

...She was beautiful.