Everything around her was of no importance. The only thing that mattered to her was the life of the man she loved with all her heart. Layla fell to her knees next to Mark with a never ending supply of tears streaming down her face, like a river of sorrow flowing through. Her shaky hands pressed against the fatal wound that decorated Mark's torso, but despite all denial she kept telling herself, the reality was that the wound was beyond repair. The wound resembled a scarlet pool of blood that overflowed from the sides. Layla removed her hands from the wound and stared at them with horror.
"No way..." she mumbled in disbelief before looking back down at Mark. "No... no no no no no no..."
The brunette's hands fell limply to her side, her breaths quickening as her heart raced with anxiety. Her sapphire blue eyes kept producing tears as she stared at her lover's face, only catching glimpse of his empty grey eyes that were half covered by his eyelids. His mouth was slightly agape with dried blood staining part of his chin and his whole frame remained stiffly still. With denial still building up within her, Layla placed her hands on his shoulders and slowly shook him.
"Please Mark," she begged in a whisper. "Wake up... I can't lose you again. Please..."
She stopped momentarily, her vision being clouded by nothing but blurriness that was brought about by her own tears. Layla was trying her best to not break down, but it seemed like it wasn't working. All she wanted to do was cry, cry until she downed in her own tears of sorrow.
"All I wanted was to be with you again," she mumbled sadly. "All I wanted was to be part of your life once again..."
Layla brought her hand up and wiped away some of her tears, the blood on her hands now staining her ivory skin. It was the blood of the man she loved, the man who fought bravely to end the mess that involved her with something she had nothing to do with. However, was it worth it if the price was his life? The brunette tore her eyes away from Mark for a second and glanced passed him, her eyes landing on the slightly shriveled corpse of Fabian Starke. The fight to the death they both agreed to take on ended in a duel with both sides losing.
There was no real winner of this fight.
The brunette now placed her teary gaze upon Mark, who still showed no signs of moving at all. Layla moved a bit closer to him and used her hand to remove a stray lock of hair from his eye. She lowered her hand and caressed his pale cheek, one of her tears landing on it and sliding right off. From there, the sad reality of what had happened finally hit her hard. A sob escaped from her mouth before she collapsed onto Mark's upper torso and completely broke down.
Pain was all he felt as he slowly regained his limited amount of consciousness back. Arceus allowed him to say his final goodbye before he returned to the Land of the Dead because that's where he belonged. Mark flinched as he slowly opened his heavy eyes. He felt something heavy weigh down on his upper torso, vibrating with sobs. The first thing he noticed was a pool of dark brown hair, which instantly gave him the answer on who was sobbing on top of him.
With whatever strength he could muster up, Mark brought his hand up and placed it on top of Layla's brown locks. She froze upon contact, slowly lifting herself up to see who it was. Her teary eyes widened in shock as she saw Mark's eyes on her with a small smile on his face.
"Tears shouldn't stain your beautiful face, my dear," he mumbled weakly.
His hand dropped from her head and cupped the side of her face, using his thumb to trace over her cheek. All the while, Layla did not move an inch, still remaining in a shocked state. She thought for sure he was dead, but maybe Arceus showed him mercy and allowed him to continue living. Layla brought her hand up and placed it over Mark's hand.
"Mark... you're alive." She smiled. "Thank Arceus..."
However, her smile soon dropped into a frown when she saw Mark's regretful grey eyes. The two dropped their hands, all the while a sorrowful atmosphere began to form around them.
"I'm so sorry, Layla." He sighed regretfully. "But... I'm afraid I don't have much time left."
All hope was shattered at his words once they rang through Layla's ears. She couldn't believe what she heard. Mark was awake and if help arrived soon, he would be saved. At least, that's what she thought. But the moment he sealed the deal with Fabian, his death would have been inevitable.
"Why is fate so cruel to us?" she asked, more tears filling her sapphire blue eyes.
"I don't know," Mark answered truthfully. "But... maybe this is a sign for me. Maybe this is Arceus's way of punishing me for my past sins."
"Don't say that!" Layla cried sadly. "You did nothing wrong! I knew what I was getting myself into, but I was willing to take the risk because I love you!"
The dark haired man frowned from both the physical and mental pain. He knew that what Layla said was the truth; she willingly came to him because she loved him. He knew falling for someone like her was a mistake, but he never brought himself to regret it. If it hadn't come to this, he would've happily married her and start a family together. Maybe, if he met her in another life, none of this would had happened.
He was a greedy thief.
She was the jewel he couldn't have.
It just couldn't have worked out without one disappearing, forever lost.
Even if Mark did change for the better, it didn't change the things he did in the past. He didn't want to put the woman he loved so dearly in danger. He didn't want her to risk both their lives to be with her. He didn't want to fall in love with her.
But you just couldn't help how you felt.
"Layla," Mark whispered her name, staring at her slightly blurry face. "I didn't want any of this. I never wanted you to be in danger because of me. I... I didn't want to fall in love, but I couldn't help it. I knew you'd be an easy target, but I couldn't stop falling in love with you."
The dark haired man removed his gaze from Layla and looked up at the night sky. It was dark, almost pitch black. He could have sworn he saw the hooded figure of Death reaching for his soul, but he couldn't tell. All he knew was that time was running out.
"Maybe if we met in a different life, we could have lived happily together. We could have gotten married together, had children of our own, and raise them. Sadly... we can't choose the lives we are given, but love does choose who we're meant to be with."
Layla was at a loss for words. As a child, she had always read fairy tales that ended with the prince and the maiden falling in love, getting married, and living happily ever after. Since then, she had always yearned for that kind of love, a love that would forever live on no matter how far apart they may be, how wealthy or poor they may be, or what actions they may commit. All that mattered was the kind of person they were. Layla acquired that love she longed for when she met Mark and it certainly was like a dream come true.
But now, after all that's happened, it seemed as though the love she had wanted for so long would be taken away once and for all. Death was unforgiving; it made no exceptions to any one. Layla sighed sadly, wiping away tears that lingered in her eyes with the back of her hand. She agreed that if they met in another life, things would have been different. But that's not how it works, much to her dismay. Mark was one minute closer to death, and that was proof enough of her theory.
"I'm just happy that I saved you..." Mark whispered, feeling himself in Death's bony grasp. "The love I have for you will stay with me... even when I'm gone."
"I promise you," Layla mumbled, grabbing his hand into hers. "Your love will always live inside my heart because the love we have will never die."
"I'm glad... Layla, I-I... love... you..."
With those final words said, Mark closed his eyes, his body entering eternal slumber while Death walked away with his soul in hand. Layla still held his hand in hers, staring sadly at it as a tear trailed down her cheek. Footsteps emerged from the surrounding area, and eventually ran toward the scene. The first to arrive were Akira, Blake, and their Pokémon. Next were Soul, Aaron, Axel, and their Pokémon. Still, Layla paid no attention as she was still grieving over the loss of the man she loved.
They all stopped as they arrived closer to the three people there. Akira breathed heavily as she tried to catch her breath, many of the other knights doing the same. They all looked terrible, each one looking like they were caught in some sort of crossfire, barely making it out. Their clothes were torn up, their hairstyles were ruined, and they were covered in sweat, blood, and dirt. But that was the least of their worries because their top priority was their teammate.
"Where is he?" Blake questioned as she looked around.
"I don't know, we just got here," Axel answered.
"He has to be around here some... where..." Akira trailed off, only for her eyes to land on a very bloody corpse.
While the others were looking around, Akira mindlessly walked over to where Layla and Mark were. Her breaths became shorter than usual as her eyes became coated over with denial. Hearing the very close footsteps, Layla slowly took one glance to her left and saw Akira coming toward her. She also saw those eyes filled with denial as she stared at the corpse. The white haired woman stopped and fell to her knees right next to Layla.
Right there was when her denial went away, being replaced with overwhelming shock and sadness. An unbelieving gasp left her mouth as tears formed in Akira's eyes, one already falling down her chin. The person closest to her and Layla was Axel, which he heard her gasp. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Akira and that woman with the red hood kneeling next to a body. Curiously, he walked over to them and decided to see what was going on.
The first thing he noticed was Akira crying while Layla's tear stained eyes gazed down sadly. Axel knelt down next to Akira and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Akira, what's..." his eyes trailed off when he took one glance at the body.
His breath hitched and his eyes widened as he recognized the face. Removing his hand from Akira's shoulder, Axel stood up on his feet and took a few steps away from them. He turned around and hollered at his teammates to come over. Upon hearing his desperate call, the rest of the knights and Pokémon all came toward him. Once they reached his location, they were at a loss of words to what they saw.
"No way..." Blake mumbled, his eyes widened in disbelief.
"We were too late..." Soul mumbled, looking as shocked as Blake.
"But how..." Aaron mumbled mindlessly, completely at a loss for words.
Blake left his place and walked closer to Mark's corpse, his shock never leaving him for a moment. The others circled around the corpse, the air around them thick with grief. Each face had shock written all over them, while some shed tears. Mightyena whimpered sadly before nuzzling his face onto Layla's lap, his tears free falling as she ran her fingers through his dark fur. All eyes were now on Mark's face that would never wake up to see the next day.
Their comrade, their friend, had died.
• • •
In a dark room, a glass ball radiated a purple light as a woman with dark silver hair watched the scene before her eyes. Her hands were almost cupping the glass ball, but her pale lavender eyes seemed to never let go of the sight. A scowl was pulled back on her lips when she saw a certain spiky haired man lying motionlessly on the ground.
"That stupid gijinka!" she growled, her eyes flaring with anger. "I gave him specific orders and what does he do?! Ignores me! Even with his power, the idiot managed to get himself killed! Honestly, why did I allow such useless trash to work with me?! Same goes for those creepy clones! Ugh!"
The woman's hands fell to her side, causing the crystal ball to turn off and the lights in the room to turn back on. She still held her glare on the crystal ball, remembering the corpse of one of her fallen teammates. To her, anyone who failed a simple mission deserved to die, even if they were one of her own comrades. A knock on the door brought her silent raging to a halt. The woman walked over to the door and opened it, revealing another woman with caramel colored hair and stoic golden eyes.
Her scowl was pulled up into a smirk as she placed a hand on her hip, instantly knowing of her new plan of action. The brunette frowned one of her eyebrows as she looked at her mistress, waiting of her to say something.
"Good, you're here," she told the brunette.
"You summoned me, Mistress Claire?"
"Yes, I would like to show you something rather.. interesting." The woman, Claire, motioned for the brunette to follow her. "Come with me."
The brunette nodded and followed her to the crystal ball. The silver haired woman placed her hands near the supernatural device, causing the lavender light to radiant once again. What was revealed was the same setting, a bunch of people mourning over the loss of one of their friends. The brunette's golden eyes showed pity as she watched two of them cry out in despair.
"These people hold the answer to something I'm after," Claire spoke, snapping the brunette out of her small pity fest. "I sent Fabian to get information out of them, but the idiot disobeyed me and ruined everything. Now he's dead."
"I see..."
"No matter, he was useless anyway." Claire shrugged carelessly, showing no pity for her comrade. "Besides, there's only one person in particular I'm after."
With that said, the crystal ball zoomed in on a woman with blonde hair and grieving sea green eyes. She was gazing down at the ground sadly as someone tried to comfort her, telling her that it wasn't her fault. Once the image was clear, the brunette's eyes widened in surprise, which was the exact reaction Claire was expecting.
"Remember her? Your best friend?" she teased with an evil smirk, causing the brunette to narrow her eyes at her mistress.
"I don't understand," she spoke. "What does she have that you want? Why her? And why me?"
"She's an aura guardian, and also..." Claire scowled once again and balled up her hands into tight fists when she glanced at a familiar face. "There's someone in her team that needs... explaining."
"But why—"
"Her and her squadron are coming here to Viridian Village for a mission. What perfect timing to put my plan into action than now? Besides..." Claire turned around and leaned closer to the brunette's ear. "You finally get to be reunited with your best friend after all these years. Shouldn't you be happy?"
With that, Claire took her leave, leaving behind a shocked brunette. Her mouth was slightly agape and her golden eyes were incredulously wide. At first, she was glad her best friend was coming back, but then after that witch mentioned her plan, she couldn't help but feel demolished.
This wasn't going to be a happy reunion at all.
"Dammit all..." she mumbled, looking down at the ground with a glare before closing her eyes momentarily.
"I'm sorry I have to do this to you, Soul."