Chapter III: Final Warnings

The paper in front of him was bland.

As an artist, that fact was annoyingly clear.

An image of the Celebi had been dragged up on the large screen of the monitor in front of him, cerulean eyes seeming to pop out of the picture and eat at his soul, but all that he had managed was a messy sketch of the mythical creature's face.

To an untrained person eyes, this would have been something to be proud of—after all, the lightly drawn pencil lines had made up all the right proportions, and the colours he'd painted over had all been shaded in the right places.

If he'd put a little more effort into it, he was sure that the drawing could nearly pass for the real Celebi itself, but that wasn't his purpose here.

Sachi had given him the order to make this mask extravagant—from her firm tone and Xerneas' warning words, this was an important order, and important seemed like it would only scratch the tip of the iceberg.

However, the painting in front of him looked more like a two-dimensional drawing—a plain drawing that he hadn't been assigned to do. It was needlessly plain, almost bare in the light that his screen had shed on the piece of parchment.

Absent-mindedly, he lazily picked up the green pencil that he'd left lying to the side, adding a few more crisscross lines to make the sketch seem more three-dimensional.

Frowning, he set the drawing utensil down again, leaning his head against his arm and sighing. "I'm supposed to draw a mask prototype, but I ended up making a regular piece of art...maybe I really should change my job."

Of course, he was merely joking—he wouldn't quit his post. Being a disguise maker was refreshing—fun, sometimes—and some sort of unknown force commanded him to stay.

Silently grimacing to himself, he crumpled the paper into a ball, discarding it into the nearest bin and giving himself a mental reminder to ask Houndoom to incinerate the evidence later.

The redhead started over—this time, he'd drawn the basic template of a human mask. It was finished in a matter of seconds—after all, he'd lost count of the number of times he had to use this base to start off his disguises.

Fall into one of these trances, he tried to coax himself. One of these states that you go into when you doodle for fun.

He sat up straighter, clicking away from the image of the Celebi—thank Arceus, he wasn't staring at that darned creature any longer—and selected his music tab. He'd been listening to the same song for an hour now; no wonder he couldn't get any inspiration.

Clicking his tongue, he pressed the shuffle button on his playlist, satisfied on a sample of a Meloetta's singing, and reluctantly returned to the images of the Time Travel Pokemon, deciding to reference another picture instead.

The boy dragged his chair closer to his desk, cranking up the volume of his music and adjusting his position for maximum comfort.

It was time to start again.

⚔ ∰ ⚔

"How is the request going?"

Akoni appreciated that Sachi had made the effort to knock, but he had still jumped at the question.

Hastily, the teenager removed his headphones, turning to face the blue-haired girl with a tired smile.

He'd successfully entered one of his long-awaited reveries, but he hadn't actually been focusing on what he was doing. Sneaking a glance at the large sheet in front of him, he was filled with an odd sense of satisfaction.

Lifting the material from the table, he invited her to take a look at it. "Here's the progress—I think I'll have it done in a few days."

The assassin scrutinised the sketch, giving him a nod of affirmation. "It looks good. Thank you—you are free to take a break now. I will not mind—you more than deserve it."

"Right," he replied quickly, relieved that his employer was pleased with his work. His hand instinctively stretched out to grab his sketchbook at the work "break"—he couldn't help it; he was an artist and his hunger for normalcy ate at him.

Shooting him a knowing smile, the female stepped back from his workbench.

"I will be going, then," she uttered, and she seemed to almost disappear out of his room in an instant. The redhead honestly wasn't even surprised—she was an assassin, after all, and such tricks were to be expected of her.

Instead, he flipped to a fresh page of the well-worn drawing pad, switching the green pencil in his hand for a regular graphite one.

White noise buzzed pleasantly in his head once more—the familiar, hypnotising stupor of art was calling to him, and as soon as he pressed the tip of the sharpened lead onto the pristine surface, he'd lost all sense of the real world.

⚔ ∰ ⚔

Sometimes, the teenager would question himself on the deeper aspects of life—often, these were the times he was bored and had nothing better to do, or when he simply needed a kickstart to his inspiration.

Today, he asked himself what art was to him.

It was hard to answer that—art was part of his own human soul; art was dreams emerging from a part of ourselves and a way to communicate with the inner self of both the artist and others. The same piece of artwork could often invoke different emotions depending on the person—their perspective, and their experiences.

And, as he glanced down at the crafted illustration that he'd unknowingly created, he blinked in an expression of slight shock.

Scribbled on the page was a sketch of yet another mask—the first that had appeared in his personal sketchbook.

He'd picked up a brush that he didn't even remember having, and at some point in time, he'd dabbed strokes of brilliant azure over the surface of the parchment.

That wasn't the part he was concerned about, though—it was the pair of cobalt eyes that stared up at him, large, narrowed and containing fine cross-like designs in them, and the creamy, pale gold that had been painted upwards in an abstract fashion, forming the vague structure of a deer's majestic antlers.

A frown curved its way upon Akoni's face, and he leant forward, his grip unconsciously tightening on the composition.

"I've never fallen in such a deep trance before," he mumbled to himself. "And I don't even remember drawing this Xerneas, but it's here..."

Of course, he could calm himself by assuring his hassled mind that he was just more tired that usual—that he could just blame it on the complications that the Celebi mask had brought, but he had a nagging suspicion that there was something more.

The unease boiling within him wasn't unexplained—there was a factor to everything, and this situation was no different.

Memories of that dreamlike world a few nights ago started to shape themselves into crisp images, and they criss-crossed in front of his vision nastily.

It couldn't be a simple coincidence—Xerneas' visit and her actions was still fresh in his mind, but she'd simply left, saying something about how her time had been up. That had been enough to confuse him, but his workload had covered that part up, causing him to momentarily forget the significance of the event.

Now, however, that occurrence had come back in full force, and he knew that he couldn't put this mystery on a hiatus for much longer.

⚔ ∰ ⚔

"Akoni? Is my mask done?"

The assassin entered briskly, and the redhead gave a startled nod in return, attaching the final feeler in place and handing the disguise to his boss hastily.

With a practiced hand, the short-tressed female took hold of the accessory, effortlessly slipping it onto her head and attaching the threads at the back to keep it in place.

Kicking at the ground, the male wheeled his chair backwards and took a look at the killer.

The apple-green disguise fit perfectly with her features, and though she looked beautiful in the mask, she looked equally deadly—as if she could kill with just a single command.

He'd done as she'd instructed—he'd made it extravagant. It had all the fine elements and details the mythical Legendary would have, right down to the colour of the darker gradient its bulblike head contained. This was a rare mask where a pair of contact lenses wasn't at all necessary—the shade of her sharp eyes matched that of Celebi's almost perfectly.

She slid the ornamental item off, swiftly untying the cords and revealing her original face to the artist once more, a chilling smile forming on her face.

"It is very fitting for the occasion," she murmured. "Thank you. I like it very much."

"No problem," Akoni replied. "Do you have any other requests that I could work on while your mission is undergoing—you know, so I could save some time? Or is this a job where I'm needed to tag along—"

Sachi interrupted him quickly, her formal, collected tone now tinted with a hint of annoyance. "You are not required for this commission," she answered harshly. "More accurately, you will not accompany no matter what. Is that very clear?"

"Crystal," the redhead riposted instinctively, yet a sense of doubt and thought had rooted itself deep into the boy's mind—this had to be the mission that the Xerneas had warned him in his earlier vision.

"Good," the female pronounced eloquently, long fingers curling around the firm, rubbery material of the mask. "If that is all, I will be going."

With that, she stayed through to her words, not choosing to make a flashy exit but instead taking her leave quietly through the door.

Just as the wooden frame slid close, Akoni felt his chest tighten, and he lurched forward, pressing his eyes close as waves of nausea and pain rocked over him. He waited for the agony to end—which was a strangely short period of time, and he was then left with nothing but a dizzying emptiness.

He opened his eyes to meet with the sight of a familiar cervine, the beast's stature every bit as tall and elegant as he'd remembered.

The creature let out a sigh unbefitting to her status as a Legendary. You should have done something, child. Her voice carried unmistakable disappointment, but he was glad to hear the understanding she had mixed in with her tone.

Still, that Sachi is a problematic one, so I cannot be blaming your for this issue, the Xerneas uttered.

This is my last warning to you, child—if you follow after her now, it may not be too late. 

⚔ ∰ ⚔

Now I know why I liked writing this story. The chapters are so short that you can write them in a day :3

aHHH FRICK BUT WHY DID I GO ON A MAJOR FANFICTION SPREE I HAVEN'T FINISHED WRITING CAMP HOMEWORK AND ITS DUE TOMORROW SHIIIIIIIIIIT *runs around in circles*

Anyway, thank you guys so much for 427 reads and 67 votes! I really appreciate your support gais <3

Critiques are most certainly welcome, and don't forget to read, vote and give your thoughts in the comments! Please be 100% honest!

~ nyxia ☆