"Kaden!"

Isa flinched back when he heard Kaden's voice pierce the room. He turned his head away for a moment, quickly looking back. Kaden stumbled away from Valencia, falling on the ground just in front of Isa. Kaden refused to look up, kneeling and holding his chest tight. His eyes were clenched tight, and everything else about his expression screamed pain. Isa scrambled across the ground, grabbing Kaden and placing his hands across his chest. They grew moist and covered themselves with red before long.

Bad sign.

"You're such an idiot! You told me you wouldn't do this!" The healing energy flowed from Isa's hands, making no difference.

"I never promised this wouldn't happen for a reason." Kaden's voice was weaker than Isa had ever heard it. "You have to defeat her. Ayana can help you."

"You're gonna help us. We're all gonna get out of here." Isa's voice cracked up. "Just hang in there." He only looked away when he heard a few footsteps, seeing Valencia tower just above the two.

"A bit ironic how Xerneas and Yveltal are working together, is it not? Nevermind, I suppose it won't be for long." Her hair brushed across Isa's arm as she pointed her sword at him.

"Y-You..."

"What, are you going to call me a murderer? A criminal? It didn't seem to bother you when you were friends with this Admiral. Or has he not told you?" Isa could feel Kaden tense a bit at the comment. "But I've been stalling, haven't I? I believe history repeats itself. Is that a saying you've heard before?"

Valencia rose her arm and sword into the air, looking down at Isa and Kaden emotionlessly. Instinctively, Isa closed his eyes and turned away, pulling Kaden behind him. 

Isa heard footsteps, and a loud clang of metal. The attack never came. He opened his eyes, seeing Ayana hovering over the two and pushing against Valencia's sword with her own golden blade. "Get out of the way, and do whatever you need to do to keep him alive. Garchomp and I will hold her off!"

Ayana circled around Valencia, turning her attention away from Isa and Kaden. "Get going!" She demanded, stretching her head around to make sure Isa got the command.

Isa snapped back to attention, and gave Ayana a nod. He picked Kaden up, slowly moving away from the fighting. As he moved, he focused his energy on healing. "I'm gonna get you back up again, okay?"

"Don't bother. You need your energy more than I need it." Kaden glanced up at Isa, his dark eyes barely staying open.

Isa noticed red tinting Kaden's eye color. It was the first time he had seen it.

"But without that energy, you'll..." Isa refused to say the words, continuing to pour his energy into the healing.

"I remember something. From when we were younger." Kaden switched the subject, very slowly reaching for the sleeve of his jacket. He pulled off a small blue piece of cloth wrapped around the sleeve. "This is yours."

"What are you talking about?" The cloth was longer, and a little rough. It was clearly worn past its limits.

"Don't you remember? You taught me a couple games that day, and then you gave me this to remember you."

Isa fingered with the blue cloth in his hand, thinking back. A bit of blood rubbed onto the cloth, creating a brownish-purple color. "I don-" He started to deny the memory, pausing as it came back to him.

"Don't hurt me!" A timid boy calls, looking up at Isa with wide and fearful black eyes that hide behind hair colored darker than the night. He's holding a small doglike Pokemon that growls at Isa.

"Why would I hurt you?" Isa cocks his head at the boy, slowly reaching to pull him up. The boy on the ground flinches away, his feet kicking some dirt up as he moves. "I don't wanna hurt you, I wanna be friends!"

The boy looks clearly confused. "Friends?"

"Yeah! You wanna play a game?"

"Like what?"

"Hmm..." Isa thinks for a moment as the boy stands up, watching Isa. Isa lightly taps the boy on the shoulder. "Tag!"

"Tag?"

"Oh, well, you're it! That means you have to run around and try to touch me so that I'm it. You don't wanna be it, though. The person who isn't it wins." The boy waits for a moment, taking in the rules of the simple game, then gives Isa a soft push.

"Then you're it!" The boy laughs as he turns around, the Pokemon following on his heels.

"Hey!" Isa laughs a little bit before running after the boy. He's much faster than Isa is, but doesn't have as much knowledge of the area so Isa's able to tag him a couple of times.

They tag each other back and forth across the whole forest. Eventually, they stop to rest against the humongous tree that stands just outside Effervescent Village.

"Do you get to do this every day?" The boy asks Isa.

"Most days, yeah. Sometimes I have to help out around the village, but most days I get to run around outside it."

"Awww, you're so lucky!"

"But I don't think any other days have been as fun as this." Isa gives the boy a large smile, which sends the boy into a laughing fit. The contagious way the boy laughs causes Isa to laugh as well, and the two are so loud Isa almost doesn't hear his dad call for him to come home. "Awww, I have to go!"

"I wanna do this again tomorrow. Can we?"

"Sure! Maybe I can show you around the village too!"

"That'd be fun!"

Isa hears his dad call out again, and jumps to stand. He pulls the blue scarf from around his neck and wraps it around the other boys neck. "I'll see you tomorrow!" Isa starts running back to the village, waving to the boy.

"Bye!" The boy waves eagerly, holding the scarf with his other hand. It stands out awkwardly against his dark outfit, but Isa thinks it suits him.

The next day, Isa never sees the boy. He never sees him again.

"That was you? You don't know how much I wished I could have met him again, or asked why he was so scared of me when we first met."

"I always just wanted to return the scarf. Guess I did it now. And you got to meet him again." Kaden smiled back at Isa, looking up at the sky. "Funny how the world works, isn't it?"

"If the world thinks this is funny, then I'm going to teach the world a lesson or two." Isa's breathing started to grow a bit heavier, causing for Kaden to slowly push his hands aside.

"You're just stalling it at this point."

"What if I want to stall it?" Isa moved his hands back sharply, continuing to pour energy into Kaden's wound. "So what if I'm selfish? I don't want you to die!" Isa's voice shook as he yelled.

"Hey, calm down. I'm not dead yet. Might be in a bit, though. Can you hum a song for me?" Kaden once again moved Isa's hands away, this time holding them away. "Like a lullaby or something?"

"O-okay." Isa took in a deep breath, thinking back. He started humming a common lullaby that his dad had used for him as a kid.

"Warmth that feels like a fading spring, if I can bring that quietly to you, I'll smile for you."

Isa repeated the words of the song, singing them shakily to Kaden.

"You've got a pretty voice. Can you keep humming? And maybe smile? The song says you'll smile."

Isa nodded and continued to hum the song, a smile very unsteadily forming on his mouth. The tune froze up in his throat for a moment as Kaden quickly reached up, pulling Isa into a hug.

"Thank.. You... Don't forget me, okay?"

"I won't. I won't ever forget." Isa leaned his head against Kaden's shoulder, barely noticing that Kaden had been smiling.

"Heh..." The quiet voice choked out.

His eyes closed not long after.

Isa continued to hum the song, not finishing the phrase before he finally cracked. As the hug around him lost its grip and grew cold, Isa let out a choked up scream. He moved his shaking hands into his sight, covered in red.

He grabbed Kaden tighter, screaming. The screams lost volume before long, and he soon felt his face grow wet. "I'm sorry!" Isa kept yelling, burying his face into Kaden's shoulder. "I'm so sorry! Come back! Please!..."

...

...

There was no response.