Quietly stood the immortal beast on four legs as she bowed her head before her master.  A sheeny fur that was once a pure aquamarine was now a dulled, greyish slate; the white diamondlike patterns that once adorned it were no longer visible upon them.  The thick, violet mane that billowed across her back bore now a dusty and pale indigo, its vivid saturation lost to time unspoken.  Beneath a large, pale crystalline crest she gazed up at her master, her eyes betraying little of the emotion once in her.

"Lady Suicune of the Aurora," her master greeted her from his perch on a large boulder as his emerald-tipped, crimson feathering reflected rays of the evening sun.  He looked down upon the beast with a powerful, but calm presence as he shifted his position slightly and gave his large wings a stretch.

"Forgive me, Lord Ho-oh," she answered, pronouncing his name with her peculiar accent, a 'how-ow' pair of syllables much unlike the way other lay creatures would address the large avian.

"Well, you are in dire need of that, are you not?"  The large bird huffed as he broke eye contact with a momentary skyward gaze.  "You have tarnished your name greatly, my lady.  You have neglected your duties as one of the Aurora.  Where have you been for these past few years?"

"Running, my lord...," Lady Suicune answered as she bowed her head down to he ground, refusing to return eye contact when he looked back down on her.

"Indeed," Lord Ho-oh chuckled, but not in amusement.  "Lord Yveltal informs me you have been hounding him.  For the past few years he has barely been able to rest his wings without you dogging his tail and trying to harm him.  What do you have to say to this?"

Though he spoke of the interval casually, as if she'd been only at it for months, both of them knew she'd been pursuing the specter of winged death for hundreds, and nearly a thousand years.  "I was...," Lady Suicune began answering, before something interrupted her thoughts.  "Not now, love, I see that now.  Lord Ho-oh, I was blinded.  I could feel nothing but pain for the longest time...."

"So have you realized the gravity of your transgressions then?"

"Yes, my lord," Suicune answered with a shudder.  "Lord Yveltal was correct -- that one day I did receive understanding.  My mate knows this as well."  Then she stood back up and looked up to her master through her sullen eyes again.  "If it is your will that I should depart from this world without another incarnation, so be it -- I am ready for your judgement."

"Good," Lord Ho-oh answered as he spread his wings and stood up, obviously preparing to fly.  "Meet me at my roost, upon this mountain's peak.  I shall pronounce your fate from there."

And in a flap of those wings he soared into the air and disappeared up into the smoky clouds of the mountain ahead of her.

[i]Why?[/i]  A stray thought in her head inquired.  [i]Why did he not judge you now?[/i]

"Silence, love," Lady Suicune answered the thoughts as if talking to someone else.  "Lord Ho-oh has his reasons.  We shall see why soon enough."

A change of wind caught the greyed ribbons of her tail, allowing them to flap aside her flanks as they once used to, and with that to her advantage she darted forwards and began leaping up the slopes.  The mountain was steep but the large boulders afforded plenty of level footing as she bounded from one to the next, and well within the hour she was halfway up the mount.  She paused for a moment to catch her breath as she looked above her and paused in awe of the sight ahead.

The top half of the mountain was on fire.  Streams of burning rock carved out deep channels in the slopes as they vented smoke and gases into the fading sunset sky.  The air here was breathable but getting hot.  The way ahead would be very dangerous.

[i]So he wishes to test you, does he?[/i]  Spoke foreign thoughts to her mind.

"So it would seem," she answered.  "But we shall see his challenge met.  I am not afraid of some flames!"

[i]You will be -- Lord Ho-oh will make sure of it....[/i]

"Silence, love," Lady Suicune answered with a glance of her eyes at her back, in the general direction of that stone she'd buried deep in the billowy fur of her mane.  It was the source of the foreign thoughts inside her head; the last physical remnants of her mate, a mineral of concentrated spirit and emotions left behind after Yveltal had taken the life from his body.  Kept safe by generations of her descendants, the stone itself named in honor of them -- Absolite, as it became known.

"We shall do this together."

With a howl she summoned a gust of rain from the sky which soaked her body and the warm rocks around her, and she dashed forwards into the fiery paths ahead.  The ground burned under her feet but she cared not; her affinity was water, known to trump fires of equal strength, and she could see refuge from the blazing streams not far ahead.  She was quick to leap out and address her injuries, giving her singed paws a rest as she called out to the sky for another burst of rain to refresh her body.

[i]How much farther is it?[/i]  Her mate's thoughts spoke to her in her mind.  [i]The fires are growing hotter, you know....[/i]

"Are you doubting me?"  She answered back.  "Or is that a dare?  We both know we'll make it up to his roost.  Lord Ho-oh is waiting for us...."  And with renewed energy she dashed into the next chasm of fire and ran up as fast as the wind would carry her, her paws making contact with burning rock for mere split seconds as she continued to climb.  And after another minute of sustained endurance she leapt out onto another rock higher above the flaming stones to rest.

The smoke was thicker here, and the liquid fire below even hotter; she called out to the rains but barely a drop reached her body; the air was simply too hot, with most of the precipitation evaporating well before it could reach her.  Seeing this was a futile effort, she called out to the snow instead, that concentrated shards of ice may bless the ground with their falling; that they did, though they melted and vaporized into steam shortly upon impact.  But it was enough -- it had to be.  It was the best she could offer.  And she darted off through another channel of burning rock.

How much farther was it?  She found even herself questioning, quietly, limited to the confines of her mind where only her mate could hear such thoughts.  Her feet stung in pain but she pressed onwards despite her slowing pace.  There had to be another rock jutting out of this sea of flames upon which she could rest, but through the smoke of the mountains and the steam of falling, evaporating hail and rain she could see little of the way ahead.  The heat of the mountains was intensifying yet again as the searing liquid rock burned through her paws; the fires here were becoming too strong, even for her.  Though she had no doubts her brother Entei would be capable of traversing it easily, her endurance was wearing thin and her pace was slowing, with an outright run reduced to more of a jog, giving the burning earth underneath her even more time to sear its way up her legs and slow her down.  Soon she was reduced to a walking pace, her eyes cringed shut as she pushed her way forward in spite of the flames licking at her from all sides.  The path seemed to be levelling out but by now it did not matter.

[i]This is Lord Ho-oh's doing, is it not?[/i]  Thought her mate to her mind.  [i]He must be channeling his fire through this mountain....[/i]

"Maybe, but we can still make this...," Lady Suicune thought back as she pressed her body to continue stepping forward through the sea flaming rock and black smoke that precluded all her vision.  The comforting rains, even frozen hail could no longer reach her through the hot air of this mountain, and without it she could do nothing to quell the terrible heat.  She stumbled for a minute, teeth gnashing as the liquid rock burned underneath her; the fire repellant qualities of her fur were yielding, and the singeing, stinging pain of the flames was spreading far and wide across her sides.

"No," she cried out in denial of the flames.  "We will make this.  We shall ... we must!"

She called out to the winds, and columns of fire whipped past her from behind; the very air itself was on fire, and the winds only channeled it, but she pressed on regardless.  Ahead of her, she was sure of it, rose Lord Ho-oh's roost amidst the swirling sea of caustic magma, and she was going to make it.  But each step was slower than the last, the distance ahead growing longer in her mind despite that she refused to stop, pressing on ahead with eyes tensed shut, that she should not be distracted by anything, not even the pressure of the flames burning, eating away at what little fur still covered her bare skin now.  She stumbled again in a few steps, one of her hind legs failing to obey her will, and once again felt the mountain's fire pressed against her chest, now both inside and out.  Even the wind failed to answer her voice as the mountain's flames surrounded her.

She raised another paw and took another step forward -- Lord Ho-oh's roost could not be much farther, she insisted to herself, with her mate's thoughts choosing not to comment on that.  And with strength limited to her front legs she dragged her body further in defiance of the mountain's fires.  It did not matter that she could no longer feel much of anything aside from the stinging pain of her body, nor see the way ahead; the smoke and fires had no doubt burned out her vision by now, and she was navigating purely by instinct.

But she faltered again, and her body collapsed in the flames.

[i]Is this it?[/i]  Asked her mate in her mind.  [i]Is this all the strength you can muster?[/i]

She didn't answer as she lay there atop the sea of magma surrounding Lord Ho-oh's roost.

[i]I can sense his presence nearby ... can't you?[/i]  A paw clasping at the darkness around her caught her vision, and for a moment she swore she saw her mate standing in front of her:  The white fur and black claws of an Absol, and the majestic feathers that splayed out from his mane like wings.

"We have made it this far already, haven't we?  If you can do that, certainly you have strength to keep going?  We're almost there now...."

"You... you are...," Lady Suicune answered quietly in groggy disbelief.  Was she really seeing him in front of her, or just imagining him there?  His body was not consumed by fire as hers was.  He turned his body ahead and waited for her to move, and she did.  She forced her head up from the sea of flames:  It did not matter if he was really standing in front of her or not, his thoughts to her were as real as the stone of Absolite still buried in her mane for safekeeping:  Yes, Lord Yveltal had taken his body and his life, but his spirit remained in the world yet, concentrated and contained in the crystal, betraying his thoughts and emotions only in the mind of another.  That was no mere gem she carried with her, and she forced herself to take a few more steps out of the fire into the darkness ahead to reach her mate waiting for her.

And was that rain she could feel?  Was the wind back?  Each subsequent step became easier as the flames ceased to eat at her, and she stood proudly aside the vision of her mate as she finally set foot on Lord Ho-oh's roost and the pair of them bowed down in respect for the master that sat there waiting for them.

"Lady Suicune...," Lord Ho-oh called out to them both.  "I thank you for reaching me."

"Lord Ho-oh," Lady Suicune greeted him once more with her peculiar accent upon his name.  "We have reached your summit as requested of us.  What is your judgement?"

"Yes, your judgement ... for neglecting your duty as the Aurora, and harassment of Lord Yveltal all these years, it should be fitting that I deny you another incarnation, and return your soul to Lord Arceus above us.  You no longer have a place in this world in your current condition...."

Lady Suicune bowed her head further, as if trying to bury it in the ground, at her master's words.  While her mate simply looked on.

"However...."

The two creatures looked back upon their master.

"Is it not true that you shared your body and soul with another?"

"Yes, my lord...," Lady Suicune answered with a quick glance back at her mate.  "Though I do not understand how he can be standing here after Lord Yveltal took his life and body from me...."

"Yes you can!"  Her mate answered, casting a glance behind them where a cluster of flames distinct from the sea of magma that surrounded the roost, and she saw them too.  "My love, you are brighter than this...."

She looked back upon the flames, noticing the faint, charred remnants of a crystalline crest that looked vaguely familiar.  Wait -- of course!  Those burning cinders were hers!

"Do you understand now?"  Lord Ho-oh answered as she turned her gaze back to her master.  "It was vital that I cleansed your spirit with the sacred fires of my roost.  You have no need of the tainted body you viewed this world from; it is merely smoke and ashes now."

"So you did test us....," Lady Suicune answered.

"Indeed," Lord Ho-oh nodded.  "It is by my will that your spirit remains standing before me here ... so what shall I do with you?"

Lady Suicune bowed again.  "I am sorry for my actions.  You may judge me as you see fit...."

"And indeed I shall.  However, yours is not the only spirit I have to consider...."

Lady Suicune looked upon her mate, and he nodded silently.

"Are you not like two halves of one being now?  Was that not the reason that his passing grieved you so?"

Lady Suicune returned her gaze to her master.

"But did you not share each other's body one last time before then?  Did he not ask you one last favor?"

Her mate nodded to her, and she agreed.  "Yes, we did partake of each other that night ... even though I could not honor his final request:  The pain of seeing Lord Yveltal take his life was too great, and I did not allow my body to conceive the last of our children...."

"It was not my design that you should share your soul with another, but the fact remains that you have, and it has benefitted you greatly.  I have no cause to deny you that pleasure again, but I have decided upon the fate you shall receive."

Lord Ho-oh took a step closer, the brilliance of his feathers becoming brighter as he did so.

"All four of you."

"Four?"  Lady Suicune answered.  Her mate seemed less surprised.

"How could you not know that of your own body?"  Lord Ho-oh inquired casually.  "You had yet two children left in you.  Given another month or two they would have been born."

Her mate nodded at her; apparently he already knew of the pregnancy she ignored.

Lord Ho-oh spread his wings forward, and the cremated remains of Lady Suicune's body disappeared from view, scattering to the winds behind them.  "But as pertaining to your fate:  Your transgressions have been paid in full, and there must be another Aurora.  So, by the powers invested to me from Lord Arceus, and with the blessings of Lord Xerneas, it is my ruling ... that you shall both receive another incarnation in this world.

"Lady Suicune," Lord Ho-oh turned to her first.  "In honor of the daughter you would have had, her life shall become yours to call your own.  You shall be given to your family and borne into this world to be the next Aurora."  Then he turned to her mate.  "And as you are a part of her, the life of the son she carried shall be yours.  You will also be given to your family and be borne into this world with a spirit equal to her own.  The two of you shall recognize each other, and the memory of your previous lives will ensure you are faithful in your duties.

"That is my judgement upon you.  Fare you well, that we may meet again in favorable weather...."

And with a loud cry into the wind, everything went dark and all sensations vanished from them.  Lady Suicune and her mate were separated from each other's presence and Lord Ho-oh carried them in his talons back to the world, leaving two eggs in the care of their family, their clan of descendants.  Weeks later, to those Absol caretakers the two of them hatched on the same day, with their first sensations of their new lives being the task of breaking out of their respective eggs as a rare baby Suicune and one baby Absol, their births acknowledged by a rainbow on the tail end of a passing shower.  Though their previous incarnations were as but a dream to them and their young bodies did not fully recognize each other, their true identies were no secret to each other nor the family parents who fostered them, and they quickly became playmates right alongside the other young children of the family, both Absol and otherwise.

Nobody knew whether they'd become mates again as in their past lives, but it was already clear they were hardly separable.  Perhaps one day they would again.