[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]she tries to think of the plate, of the water that seemed to never cease from its smooth edges. for the life of her, she cannot remember the look of the letters.

"it did look whole. i'm not sure of the language, though... i can try to find out."

perhaps the olive branch between her and Remiel Calcifet will be as simple as being able to see that odd looking plate again.

she does, however, in fact believe palkia and dialga will try to even the score eventually. whether it's now or decades later, they will try. they had defied their creator before. it ended up with them in chains.

what would become of them this time?

she has to wave the thought away with a quick hand before it takes root, before it causes eyes to flood with tears.

"i think they will inevitably do exactly that."

her expression is pensive, as if there's too much to consider.

"the future terminal in the cloud suggested something like a war. there were dead legendaries everywhere but palkia and dialga were not among the deceased."

meteors falling from the sky as well... it was truly the final judgement.

a smile rises, then, and she meets isaac's suggestion head on.

"i have already been searching for palkia before the meteor plan. trying to find it again after is exactly what i planned on doing. dialga, however, has not fully been on my radar before. perhaps it should be..."

her eyes look sharp in the dim light of meteor falls. more razorblades than ever before.

"i'll help it get revenge on its creator."

because, in the end, isn't that what she had been trying to do herself?

Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]"sort of?"

she doesn't quite know how to explain it. she believes it's due to too many moving pieces and thoughts and events but it's really quite simple in the end: she's overly ambitious, greedy, and rather paranoid.

the end result is a plethora of terrible choices that only alienate her more.

"there's not much of a story."

not one that she's aware of, anyway. it's more... a belief and a persistent bitterness of weakness that drives her toward the spatial deity.

"i nearly died against my doppelganger and it made me realize i need to be powerful if i want to kill her for what she's done to me."

anything else to the story isn't important enough to divulge. well... except for one thing.

her eyes are focused on him, almost analytical.

"did you know i used to be an avatar?"

no sense in hiding much about herself. he could've killed her already if he wanted to. she pays this small kindness with information.

Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]in a way, palkia has its own reason for being in her sights: the power it holds.

without palkia, she'd be unable to traverse the multiverse. and how else would she kill her other selves? how else could she come out as the sole champion?

"what are the other parts of the equation?"

what is she missing?

"i'd rather be ruthless than used."

before, she had been a pawn. now... she'll overthrow the entire board to ensure her own victory.

"tapu lele."

her expression looks wistful for a moment. and then, it's gone.

"it left because i was no longer of interest to it after the ultra beast war."

she was nothing after that. it is for this reason she'll now become everything.

Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]her eyes narrow.

"do you believe i have not exhibited any of those?"

and she knows, deep down, that he cannot believe in something he has not experienced. her path over the past few months hasn't been in the public eye. how could he know the depths of what she's done? of what she will continue to do?

"it had not been restored by tapu lele itself, though."

she looks to the stars for a moment. they do not look back.

"a primal crystal restored whatever fragments of my old power i still had."

to keep her in this role of a healer. and yet, she has not used it to clean the bloodstains off her own hands.

"tapu lele has a new tether in this world. we will not be connected again."

of that, she is certain. sometimes, she thinks of what could have been if they stayed together. and while she stares at the ceiling, a sleeping Felix Gallagher beside her, she knows she would not have evolved into something better if tapu lele still picked her.

the memory of that day is plucked out of her brain and placed on display for him. while it shows triumph, it also reeks of loss.

"it was where we stand, actually... the meteor falls warfront. i was here to keep everyone alive. tapu lele and i sustained major injuries to ensure everyone else left here in one piece."

her eyes shift out of focus, lost in the memory and their surroundings. had it been right here, where she lost everything?

"my avatarship was severed for tapu lele to recover and i left to go back to sinnoh. when i came back, i thought i could restore the bond."

silence falls and she has never looked quite so... small.

"i had been wrong."

Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]defensiveness comes from a woman long underestimated by those around her.

she had never been an important player on the board. small, naïve, innocent. a pawn in someone else's game. no longer.

palkia or not, she will become the most dangerous piece on the chessboard. and where FERNANDO SILPH had deemed her nothing more than a knight, she'll prove to be a mastermind of a king.

the laugh that escapes her is hollow, eerie in how it lacks amusement. bitterness clings to the sound.

"i have lost myself long before this began."

if anything, she's finding herself. coming into her own twisted, horrid ways. she is still, without a shadow of a doubt, her father's daughter.

"there's no way to know if i'd keep this healing ability even if another legendary decided to select me."

it could be erased over, lost to the confines of time and space.

and maybe out with the old and in with the new would be good for her. she still feels haunted by the island deity, even if the healing ability is a blessing plaguing her body. eroding it with something better might help her feel whole again. it'd be nice to not be seconds away from shattering into bits and pieces at any given moment.

"i doubt i'm on the legendary radar anymore, anyway."

she probably reeks of flowers and pink scales. forever marked. shamed for eternity as a failed avatar.

the realization is as infuriating as always.

"and besides, this isn't about avatarship."

she looks alive, filled to the brim with spite.

"it's about revenge and the power needed to carry it out."

her doppelganger is an avatar. she still has the land spirit. it makes her better, always destined to come out on top in their power struggle... for now.

illeana knows, in some small sort of way, that she'll change that fact. even if it's the last thing she ever does.

Isaac Merlo

[attr="class","illeana"]

[attr="class","illeana b"]

[attr="class","illeana i"]people are always lost. and then, they're found.

is she as lucky? is she worth redemption?

her path has become increasingly unstable with each movement forward. each twist or turn produces another undesirable result. she leaves broken husks in her wake, shells of relationships torn apart with her own hands.

"perhaps," is all she says on the subject.

and the question he asks of her is wrought with conflict. no matter which way she looks, the end result is the same: power, greed, revenge.

she can't discern what lies beneath.

"to never be weak again."

if she can just prevent personal history from repeating itself... she'll come out stronger, right? they say being forged in the fire is what makes a hero.

and yet, it can just as easily make a villain.

Isaac Merlo