Disclaimer: I own nothing in this fic but the urge to have written it.

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Alone.

He had never really thought much about it at first. Long, long ago it was natural, merely a part of his existence. He was meant to be alone, or so he had thought, all of those years, a furtive shadow playing at the corner of the human eye, spawning legends and terrifying tales. They had always been afraid of him, those humans, because of who he was, what he could do. He had never cared before. He had even preferred it that way. For a time.

Other Pokemon had feared him as well…fearing for their Trainers, or themselves, they would attack him with boundless determination. They would attack, and find themselves succumbed into a nightmarish slumber, where their worst fears came alive and stalked them. And he would move on to other places, other lands, a shadow on the ground, a blemish on what others thought to be a peaceful world, a pest to be eliminated. Each and every time they would be defeated, and he would move on once more, resigned to the vicious cycle, the circle that he had been sure would never end…to be feared, and hated, and then feared again…

And then he had come across the garden, and everything had changed.

He could still remember it vividly, an imprint in his life of shadowing and fighting. It had started out with a typical battle, though one of the greater ones he had ever fought…there had been many Pokemon in that peaceful garden, Pokemon that had sensed and immediately feared him, as they always would. They had arisen as one to attack, and he had put them to sleep, though the last of them had left him badly wounded. And there he had slumped, exhausted, against a tree, terribly aware of his own presence, free for any enemy to see, and yet he had not been able to rouse himself, to hide away…he had been so very weary…

He had felt it then. The strangest thing, something so odd that at first he had not been able register what it might have been. A ginger touch, the lightest tap of a tentative hand, a very small hand…a human hand…

He had tried to recoil, though he had not the strength. But nothing else had happened. The hand had merely stayed there for a moment, so light he almost couldn't feel it. Fearful, he had opened an eye, sure that he would see a towering human with an angry expression on its face, a human that would send out a Pokemon to destroy him or bind him in a painful net, to be taken to a place where he would be poked and prodded and examined. Surely that had been all humans could be capable of, of cruelty and anger and narrow-mindedness.

But he had instead found his vision focusing on the small face of a different human. A small human, with wide green eyes and a small nose and golden hair that framed its face. There had not been a trace of anger on its features, but instead its mouth had been turned down at the edges, and its thin eyebrows had been pulled together in a display of concern.

"Oh…are you hurt?"

He had understood the question then, of course - human speech had come easily to him, after lingering around them for so long. Not that he had loved them in particular. Humans were everywhere now, cutting down good forests and raising foul cities where peaceful plains had once stood. And now, slumped against the tree and at his most vulnerable, he had only closed his eye again and groaned inwardly, wanting no more than anything to melt away. To get away from this strange small human, to take shelter somewhere else. And he had thought this garden would be a nice place, too…

"It's okay." The pressure of that small hand had then returned. "Don't be afraid. Alicia will make you all better!"

He had understood this too, but found himself quite unable to believe what he had heard. Surprised, he had opened his eye again, to find himself gazing at the Alicia once more, except now there was a warm smile on her features. And he couldn't have helped but ask.

"Do you…mean that?"

The words had come out hoarse and deep in tone…he had never been one to speak in such a tongue often. The human called Alicia had opened her eyes in surprise for a moment, but then her small face had eased, and she had smiled again, nodding.

"Oh course, silly!" Her voice had been small and chirpy for a human…but he had found that he had liked that better. "This garden is everyone's garden!"

Everyone's garden…he had hardly been able to believe his ears. But at those words something in his heart had eased, as though a weight had been lifted. The Alicia's voice had been so simple and innocent, so truthful, and somehow he had known that she had meant every word. He would be able to stay here, in this beautiful garden that he had stumbled across by accident, and he would not have to move again…he could remain here, forever and ever. And a strange feeling had suddenly coursed through him, an emotion so warm and strange he was almost afraid of it at first.

That had been the day when Darkrai had ceased to be alone.

He had loved that place, that endless garden, with all its flowers and trees and Pokemon, who had come to accept him and befriend him. But most of all he had loved the Alicia, the tiny human with her small hands and lively eyes that had sparkled and shifted like green spring leaves laden with morning dew. He had loved the Alicia, and her leaf-songs, the sweet melodies she would produce when she pressed that simple plant appendage to her lips and closed her eyes. There had been many a day when she would come to a certain tree and perch on the worn roped seat that hung there, and she would take out her leaf and ask him what songs he might want to hear. And she would play them, and the other Pokemon would trickle into the area like dreamers that have found their way, and the garden would be filled with peace.

And then there had been other times, when the sun had grown weary and turned the skies gold, when he and the Alicia would sit side by side at the tree where they had first met, and she would teach him more of the human tongue or tell him stories. Many tales she had given him, but most of all she had told him tales of the place beyond the protective garden walls, of a human-built city, but a city so happy and beautiful that often he yearned to go there, though he never did. Instead Darkrai would listen to the Alicia's tales, the small human's voice gushing with wisdom and pride as she spoke of the city that she called the Alamos Town, of the wide cobbled streets and elegant buildings and fiercely honorable Trainers, and of the twin singing towers that 'the Grandfather', whom he had assumed to be the Alicia's protector, had been planning to raise, to fill the pleasant place with song.

But the days had passed like the leaves of each flitting autumn, and slowly but surely Darkrai had began to notice a change in his beloved Alicia. Slowly but surely she seemed to grow older and taller, and her voice lost its young tones and instead began to take on the fluent, mumbling sound of other humans. In his happiness Darkrai had then began to grow uneasy and uncertain, and though the Alicia remained just as kind, her leaf-songs just as sweet, his dread would not go away. Even when time had truly passed, and the Grandfather had built the singing towers…still, Darkrai could not shake off this new feeling of foreboding.

And then, one day, the Alicia had come to him, but she had seemed almost wild with sadness. Water had been leaking from her eyes, and for a long time she had remained in the garden surrounded by concerned Pokemon and had trembled and whimpered like a newborn Shinx without explaining why.

"He's gone," she had repeated over and over, and Darkrai had been unable to understand. But then she had found a leaf after many long hours, and she had put it to her lips, and had began to play a song, the most mournful song Darkrai had ever heard.

The Alicia had spoken to him clearly then, and her voice had been frail, and sad. The Grandfather had passed away, she had said, and she had added that she would not be able to stay in the garden, that she would be taken away, for a while. The Alicia had said that she would come back, too, one day. Then she had hugged him, and turned, and left.

She had never come back.

Darkrai had never forgotten that day, nor the kindness that single human had shown him. He found himself alone again, and though he was not as truly by himself as before, the gaping hole in his soul seemed endless, a void that he could not fill in. He had learned, in the end, to live on his memories of the Alicia, of her leaf-song and her bright eyes, of her young happiness and her colorful tales. Especially those of the Alamos Town. The Alamos Town, with its cobbled streets and elegant buildings and fiercely honorable Trainers. The Alamos Town, with its twin singing towers that chanted their music every day, one song in the morning and noon and night.

The Alamos Town that the Alicia had loved so much.

Living on these memories, Darkrai found a new sense of strength, a new purpose in life. He decided that he would protect the Alamos Town, with its happy humans and song-laden atmosphere. He would watch over the city, and make sure that no harm would come to it, so that it should become a place where all could be at peace. As he had been. For, as the Alicia had told him long ago…

This garden was everyone's garden.

A/N: Well, there you go. My first one-shot. Hope you enjoyed it. Please forgive me if some parts of it might be inaccurate in any way – I missed most of the intro for The Rise of Darkrai, so if I mixed up something or made a false assumption, then I apologize heavily. Anyway…could you spare a starving writer a few reviews? Please??